Adjusting to School and Food Dilemma

We rode the bus to school day two. A boy at the school has been designated to make sure we get on and off the bus each day. I feel so vulnerable and ridiculous having to rely on someone the same age as my little brother to get around, but the language barrier really is a bigger problem than I thought it would be. Alaina and I struggled to find dinner once again last night. I am NOT picky at all, but adjusting to the food is much more difficult than I had imagined it would be. I NEEDED a good meal last night, so we were determined to find something substantial. Alaina remembered passing an italian restaurant, so we returned to look at the menu. Much to our dismay, it was not like the western food we had imagined....at all. All of it was heavy with seafood. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE seafood, but after walking the streets and seeing it just sitting there out in the open, I just can't make myself do it. In desperation, we saw a sign that read "pizza and pasta" and made our way through the rain to a second restaurant. Again, disappointed, and the prices were too exorbitant to indulge anyhow since it was an upscale restaurant. We finally were able to order some dumplings on the street, at the same place Harriet had taken us a few days ago.It's just really one of the hardest things about adjusting, not knowing when or how we'll get our next meal. Plus, we have determined that we are unable to eat the lunches at school and are quickly learning most of the teachers pack their own. So, back to Carrefour we went and we purchased some must-haves to get by. Today I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and my Cheeseburger Dorritos from home. I cannot wait for lunch time. We feel silly eating this type of food, but we just need a good lunch to get through this 8:30 to 5:00 school day. We decided we want to try cooking at home, too but even that will be a challenge. We coudl find very, very few familiar ingredients at the store. Even navigating the store is difficult. I'm sure we walked up and down each aisle 4 times, and the store is 4 floors high (and we definitely stand out). We were so confused one of the workers thought we were trying to leave without paying, and said, "Must go pay!" ....I think she thought we could just grab what we wanted and get out of there! However, good news! We told Harriet about our struggles, which she could already tell a bit, and she has agreed to help us cook dinner tonight, and also to teach us Chinese for a half hour each night. She has taught it to English students before and feels it will make us much more secure when looking for our meals. So, we feel much better today!


 On day two at school, they arranged for us to begin our observations. They do a lot of tracking here at this school. Students are divided into two groups. The first group is comprised of students who plan to go overseas to attend university. Thus, a western educatio nis imparative to prep them. The second group of students intends to remain in Taiwan for the duration of their studies. Within each of these two groups, students are tracked for English classes based on proficiency and ability level. The groups are: mainstream (highest), advanced, and intermediate. We will most likely be teaching the higher two levels.

The school day is set up much differently than here. Students have a block schedule. They have class from 8:40 to 5:30, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays, most students stay at school until 9:30 pm for studying and such. Also many students attend cram school where they can get remedial help after school. Consequently, many students are sleep deprived so falling asleep is a school wide problem. The periods are forty five minutes long, but most classes are double periods. Consequently, 5, 10 and 20 minute breaks are built into the schedule so students can burn off energy. Also, the lunch periods are 50 minutes. Most teaches will have 2 or 3 classes each day that are double periods. SO different than the US! In Ohio, I had planning first period then taught straight through the rest of the day, with only a twenty five minute lunch. The teachers we met couldn't believe that we had so little prep and down time during the day. It's funny because as we're being shown around the school people keep saying, "Feel free to browse the magazines or walk around the lake and observation area during free time!" Free time?!

Alaina and I were both overwhelmed when we observed our first class because it seemed to be mass chaos. We expected everyone to be studious and attentive, but not so! We are keeping in mind that the students are preparing for "Culture Day" this upcoming Saturday, so the condtitions are somewhat different. Still, it will be interesting to see how this compares to other lessons. We were surprised and relieved to learn that the school encourages us to be creative and use interactive lessons and get kids moving. We pictured more teacher-centered direct instruction, so we are thankful that the techniques we learned at Ashland will be very appropriate here.

Being at school is such a cultural experience. We sat in on a prep meeting for Culture Day and learned truly how many countries are represented by the teachers here. I am learning that I'll not only learn about the Taiwanese culture, but others from all around the world while I'm here too. I just keep thinking how cool it would be if students in the US could be exposed to such cultural diversity as the students at KC.