Considering it's been over a month since my last post, I think we can scratch off "blogger" from the list of Amanda's future employment options.
First things first... Merry Christmas! For the first (and hopefully the last) time of my life, I had to go to work on Christmas. Weirdest feeling ever. Luckily though we were just doing classes with 1st Grade, and they were amazed that Santa knew all their names to send them candy canes. But then when I reminded them how we wrote letters to Santa in our last class, they simply felt special that Santa took the time to respond to their letter... and send them candy. Some of you might be wondering how we handled writing letters to Santa in class because what if they don't receive the present they asked for on Christmas morning? Well according to my fellow ETA's co-teacher, in Taiwan Santa is more of a symbol/figure of happiness. He doesn't have the 100% direct correlation to present delivery like he does in Western cultures. Some of the 1st Graders even asked Santa in their letters for health and happiness for their family.... talk about mature! I didn't get to that point until at least 3rd Grade.
Now that it's hit a steady fluctuation between freezing cold in the morning/evening (honestly it's only about 54 degrees or so) and slightly chilly in the afternoon (probably around low 70s), Taiwan has a lot less mosquitoes and a lot less sweating going on. But now it's a lot more shivering. Since low 50s are about as cold as Taiwan gets, Taiwan buildings/apartments/schools/etc do not have heating. Any sort of heating. If you want heating, layer up and/or buy a space heater. I've opted for the former.
It has actually hit about the halfway point of my journey in Taiwan. There are lots of wish-I-would-have's for the first half, but I plan to improve on that in the second half. But to celebrate the completion of the first half of my adventure, I'm going to make two lists.... 1- Where was I naive about Taiwan? and 2- My goals for the second half....
What I didn't know about Taiwan
1. It gets really really cold here. People from northern USA are probably reading this and thinking, "50 degrees? Girl, you don't know cold." Well let me tell you something.... you don't know survinging in "cold" until you don't have heating. Not in your house, not at your school (which is actually constantly open to the elements- the classrooms nor the office is insulated from the outside), not in restaurants, not in cars, not ANYWHERE. When you have to rely solely on layers, scarves, and gloves (that you didn't think to bring because everything/everyone says "Oh it's so warm in Taiwan").... all day long... all night long... then you know surviving in the cold.
2. Teaching 20 hours a week does not mean working 20 hours a week. If a teacher ever says to you "I work X number of hours, always rephrase your question to how many hours a week do you work?" Coming into the program, we were told we would be teaching 20 hours a week. And that's true... but we actually work more like 40 hours a week.
3. (To jump off my last statement) I imagined working half days at school, having lots of time to travel around Taiwan, having lots of time to practice Chinese, go explore the community, etc. Not true. After coming home from working a full day teaching 6-12 year olds???? You just wanna sit, and eat, and not think. I'm not nearly adventurous as I originally thought I would be, but I suppose that's ok.
4. I'm not a huge fan of bubble tea after all. There! I said it! Bubble tea here... or should I say the "real" bubble tea is actually not for me after all. The American style now also sounds very.... processed.... and when I go back I probably won't drink it nearly as much as I did before.
5. They don't have pepperoni here. I've been to a few legit pizza places, and when we ask, they all say "Yes, we have pepperoni pizza. It's this one." It's not. It's salami or some other form of circular sausage type meat. So needless to say, that's what I want as soon as I get back to the States in July. Oh, and Chipotle.
My Goals for the 2nd Half of the Taiwan Adventure
1. Travel more around the island. I need to not be so afraid/hesitant to take weekend trips to places. Maybe it'll help now that I have a better grasp of getting around the island now with buses, trains, etc. But I planned to see more while I'm here, so that's what I'm going to do.
2. Make more of an effort to improve my Chinese. Many of the people here actually have a really good grasp of English, and it's easy to slide into speaking English. But I need to force myself to concentrate on attempting to speak more.
3. Dress a little more put together. At my school, more than half the teachers walk in in work out clothes or a very relaxed cold-weather set. Not to say that I'm not enjoying following their example, but (to quote a friend of mine from Taiwan) "as a foreigner, you are always on display. How you present yourself and your behavior is always on display."
4. Cook at home more. I need to be a little more adventurous with my cooking and sometimes it's hard to know here what is healthy and what's not. So I'm going to try and cook more to learn how to cook with limited access to ingredients. Or even better, learn to cook with a new set of ingredients.
5. Be happier. This past few months (mostly spurned by the holidays I'm sure) have left me pretty depressed at times. I've been going through quite the emotional roller coaster some days as some can attest to. But I need to remember who I am, and I'm not one of those people who is "not happy." Sure I have my down days like everyone, but I think I've let myself have too much of a pity party these past few weeks and it's time to make the best of things.
Side note: I think everyone should experience not celebrating Christmas in the States at least once. Or not with their family. I know that sounds depressing, but it made me appreciate Christmas so much more. The atmosphere, the traditions, being with my family to celebrate... I really didn't know how much I loved Christmas until I was on the other side of the world.
