I had looked at scooters before at a shop, and it looked like the cheapest used one was around 20,000 NT (just under $700 US). I didn't want to spend that much, on top of my fears of driving here. Then there was a catalyst in making me actually take action. I was offered my own kindergarten class!! The only issue is that it's at ANOTHER branch of our company in another town, Longtan, about 20 minutes away by car/scooter ( about 45 minutes by bus). I wanted to take the kindy (the slang for kindergarten that all the cool kids use), but wasn't sure about busing it there in the mornings, back to Jhongli, then out to YangMei. Uhhh so much bus time and waiting! One of the foreign teachers here had a friend that was leaving Taiwan and looking to sell her scooter, and for cheap. I met her and test drove it, although I really didn't know anything about anything, I've never even driven a scooter back in the states. I decided to buy it for 10,000 NT ($340 US)! I accepted the kindy class, and my life schedule here in Taiwan has changed quite a bit!
My kindy class is the youngest class offered, called showban, they are 3 years old! There are 18 kids in my class and I see them every day from 9-11 30 am, I took this class over from a teacher (Dellie) who still works here but needed mornings off to volunteer to at an orphanage. She's an excellent teacher and clearly a great person for giving her time to orphaned children, so they have been trained well over the past 6 months with her. With the start of new semester that took place this week, a few new children joined, so I've been dealing with kids that just sit and cry for their momma's allll day long. It's great.
I'm still on my first week of being with the little guys, and it's gonna take some getting used to. I had subbed some classes before, but they were all older levels, so the level of English with those kids was great and they were very independent. My class needs to go the bathroom every 20 minutes, they don't know much English at all, and they need to be assisted with everything. I mean yes, they're only 3, of course they need help with everything! I just need to get used to their level. They are so stinkin cute and full of love, that it's easy to be with them.
The schedule of kindy is as follows:
9-915 Exercise Time. Do you remember having this in American kindergarten? I think we had something like it. At my branch the foreign teachers take turns making music mixes to dance to and teach the kids their dance. The whole school is together in the morning for this time and it's unbelievably cute to see these tiny kids strutting around and signing to Lady Gaga, Britney, even some (mild/censored) rap songs.
915-930 Sharing Time. How do you feel today? I feel happy. What's the weather like today? Today it is rainy. That's that.
930-10 Snack Time. Might as well be breakfast time. My kids take ages to eat half of a bun or 7 flakes of cereal.
10-1045 English Time. This is really the only time I spend actually "teaching" if you can call it that. A few words and sentence patterns, ABC's, phonics, numbers, songs, tons and tons of games! Not even all on the same day of course.
1045-1130 Fun Time. This can be whatever you want to do essentially. Arts and crafts, obstacle courses, PARACHUTE!
1130- Lunch Time, and that's when I go bye-bye.
That's the morning of kindergarten, the afternoon is Chinese since it's bilingual.
So then Monday, Wednesday, Friday I scooter to Longtan in the mornings, then over to YangMei for my class at 130, then home to Jhongli at night. Tuesday and Thursday I go to Longtan and then back to Jhongli since I don't need to be in YangMei until 440.
I've had my scooter for like 2 weeks now, and I really love it. Dellie gave me a lesson on how to drive it, half hour of practicing in back alleys doing turns and such, then out into the streets! I was freaking out a bit, I felt so nervous, but once you're in it, it's really not that bad and doesn't seem as intense when you're driving through it as walking on the sidewalk seeing it all rush by. I got a super protective helmet and am really cautious. The thing is that there are soooo many scooters here, that people grow up knowing how to drive with and around them. The cars seem to watch out for you. Of course there are accidents, Dellie has actually been in like a dozen accidents, many because she admits she likes to drive too fast! There are idiots that don't pay attention, so I try to be as aware of everything around me that I can. While in Helen's car I always saw scooters swerving in and out of cars, around buses, just being crazy. I don't drive like that.
Today I needed to get gas, and I learned that the Chinese to say "fill it up" is something like "jah-mahn" Like jammin, yah man Jamaican! I felt pretty bad ass pulling up to the station and telling them which kind of gas I wanted, just numbers people, and to fill it up all in Chinese! I probably sounded stupid, but they understood and I now have a full tank!
Ready to go!
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