First Full Day

on Monday, September 1, 2008

So I completed my first day of school yesterday, and it went pretty well. I like all of the people that I work with, so that's a plus too.
I teach two "Level IV Listening & Speech" classes, a Level II "Effective Academic Writing" class, a Level I Listening & Speech class, and a Level I Writing class. And just recently Steve volunteered me to teach the English Drama class Also, on Wednesdays I have been asked to be an English Club Advisor/ Instructor for 2 hrs after school. It sounds like quite the load, but when it boils down, I realy still only have about 12 hrs a week.
The school is kind of in the countryside, I don't really know what the town is called but it's a pretty neat little place. The school is called the Chung Shan Industrial School, and their school buses are the nicest charter buses I've ever seen in my life.
Most of the people I work with in the IA office are Mormons. We have Steve who is the first counsellor in the stake presidency, Scott Huang who is the bishop in the 7th ward, Amberlee Green who is the young women's presidency in the 7th ward (she's an American from Sandy) , Mark (something Canadian) who is in my ward, and I don't know the other Mormon girl's name for sure, I don't think she speaks much English.
I got refunded for my plane ticket yesterday. Steve just refunded me out of the ATM, so I was walking around all day with $38,000 NT cash in my wallet, I couldn't even close it.
I went to a noodle shop with Andy, the guy who's desk is next to mine and who is my soon to be roommate. He took me down to the "town center" which is very small, and halfway through the meal he had to run back to the school to prepare for his next class. I've never felt so alone in my lfe. The restaurant lady kept trying to ask me questions in Chinese, she just didn't get it. I managed to find my way back though, it wasn't too hard, considering that It's just a straight road back to the school.
I braved the streets of Feng Shan alone last night to walk the 6 blocks to 7/11 to get a Sprite. I was a little nervous, mainly cause I almost got hit by crazy scooterists about 4 times, but I made it there and back in one piece, so I was pretty proud of myself.
The price for things here is not much different from the States. it's either about the same or more expensive because it's been imported. The only thing that is way cheap is food, you can get a full big dinner from the little carts and stands for the equivolent of about $1.50- $2.50 USD. There isn't a lot of counterfeit stuff here like there is in Mainland China, most of the stuff I've seen (actually everything I've seen) is legit. a bus ride is ony about 40 cents USD, which I can tell you it's not worth much more than that.
I like it here a lot now that I have stuff to do to keep me busy, and different people to interact with.
I like teaching my seminary class a lot... but then again it's only been one day.
Today, Scott takes me out to drive my scooter around town to make sure I'm not going to die. I hope I don't.

1 comments:

Karl Mellor said...

AJ, if you're going to ride a scooter over there, please keep it to yourself. You have us all worried sick about you. When it comes to your personal mode of transportation, the less we know, the better.

Karlos