I want to start this post by sharing two articles!

First is an article published in the Jewish Exponent over the summer:
http://www.jewishexponent.com/headlines/2015/07/doylestown-resident-heads-to-taiwan-as-a-fulbright-scholar

(Minor corrections to this article include: there are 76 Fulbright Grantees here this year, and many schools here go until 4:00 pm, after which many students go directly to "cram schools" for additional lessons.)

Next is another article that may be of interest, published this past week in a San Diego Jewish newspaper:
http://www.sdjewishworld.com/2015/08/27/jewish-fulbright-scholar-teaches-english-in-taiwan/

This week has been our transition week. We finished training this past Monday and start school this coming Monday.  We have been busy preparing, meeting with our co-teachers and administrators at school, continuing to further set up and settle into our apartments, and using our bit of less-scheduled time to explore the city.

I spent most of the workday at school on Friday, and I am so excited to begin working at Chong Qing.  The teachers and staff have all been very welcoming, and we had the chance to start working together yesterday. The school is trying something new with Grade 5 this year. In years past, it has been difficult to teach classes that are made up of such a wide range of abilities, so this year Grade 5 students will be split into three classes according to their English language skills. Yesterday I worked with Patty and Pauline, two of my LETs (Local English Teachers; our acronym for our co-teachers) to develop the screening test that we will use on Monday. It was great to have the chance to be able to help these teachers during the last-minute craze of getting school ready for the students, and a wonderful experience to collaborate on our first project together.  Six of us also went out for lunch, and it was nice to get to know everyone a little bit more.

I have a bicycle now! Chong Qing had one they lent to the ETA who worked there last year, and it is now mine for the year. Patty has been so helpful in teaching me how to ask for everything I needed to do to get my bike set up.  I successfully used Chinese to get air in the tires, buy a helmet and lock, and have the seat raised. I rode the bike to school yesterday, complete with my new bright yellow, full-body raincoat (meaning it is wide enough to go over me + my backpack, and long enough that it covers my legs as well)! It is quite the adventure to ride on the road alongside cars, trucks, and scooters, especially in the rain ;)

Food: As expected, the food here is amazing!! Below are noodles, dumplings and soup .... mmm.... I am greatly increasing my chopsticks skills, which includes building muscles I didn't even know were in my hands :) It is very common to eat out here; restaurants are EVERYWHERE and very inexpensive. Some people say it is more expensive to buy and cook your own food, and it is part of the culture to pop into a noodle place for a quick lunch, for example, and it is very common to see people eating alone. Restaurants are small and the service is quick, so it is very practical to eat there.

 

Funny signs: I thought this was great ~ this is the alcohol section of a general, all-purpose store. It seems "Don't drink and drive" is taken very seriously here. We have been studying to get our driver's licenses here (for scooters) and that is something that comes up often in the materials we are studying from, both as a general rule of the road as well as something for which there are major fines.

Rain: It's been raining so much lately! I love having roof access at our apartment :)

Next time I post, I will officially be writing as "Teacher Sara" :) 

It is the end of my third week here. In just a few days we will be finished with training, and school will begin one week from tomorrow! 

Just for fun, here is an old picture I forgot to post, showing 8 of the 10 of us Taichung ETAs - fresh from our 15-hour flight 3 weeks ago ;)

 I have been placed at Chong Qing Elementary School, a school that has 435 students in grades 1-6. I will be teaching English to students in grades 1-5.  I have already met some of the teachers and am so excited!  

At least twice a month, I will also facilitate what Fulbright calls "English Camp."  Along with 3 other ETAs, I will lead one-day English workshops for students at different schools all around the county. These are all schools that do not have "foreign teachers," as we are referred to here, and so they applied to Fulbright to be granted one day of programming led by native English speakers. We will be visiting a wide range of schools, including tiny schools and schools in the mountains.  Our group is currently working to develop our curriculum; we will pick one topic and then modify it as necessary for each school visit (depending on students' age and English-speaking ability).

I have enrolled in a basic Chinese class, which starts on the first day of school! I have also found a language partner whom I met this past week.  She is wonderful and her English is fluent, so we plan to exchange Hebrew and Chinese lessons :)

Temples: I very much look forward to learning more about religion here, as well as going inside some of the beautiful temples.  This is one that we pass every day on our walk to orientation, and I thought the picture was worth sharing.

The Wonderful people of Taiwan: Before I came here, everyone I talked to told me that the Taiwanese people are EXTREMELY friendly and helpful.  This has proved to be 100% true; I have heard about and experienced so many acts of kindness already!  Two great examples before I get to the explanation of the picture below:   1) One of our program coordinators accidentally left behind a folder with money and important information in it; someone found it, called her, and returned the folder without touching anything inside. 2) Another one of our coordinators had a friend who parked a scooter and forgot to take the keys out of the ignition; the friend later came back to find that someone had removed the keys and thoughtfully left them in one of the scooter's side compartments, out of sight from anyone who might have stolen it.

My story is from last weekend, when 4 of us were trying to hail a taxi on our way home from the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art. We passed by a bakery that was closing for the night and admired the bread we could see through the window.  Moments later a man came out and asked if we wanted some bread.  He immediately ran inside and came out with an entire loaf of bread, wishing us well and returning back inside.  We thanked him and waved to all of the other bakers watching from inside the bakery, who waved excitedly back at us.  After a minute, once we had turned and continued walking, we heard the man again - running to catch up to us, holding out 3 more loaves of bread! Again we all thanked him and he smiled and left :)  Oh the privileges of being a foreigner here ... It was such an interesting and thought-provoking experience.  Most people here love foreigners from the U.S. and go out of their way to be welcoming and treat us kindly.

Scooter Highlights: I have seen so many crazy things on scooters, and this is definitely one of the highlights.  The picture isn't zoomed in enough and it's not too clear, but if you look closely at the scooter father away from where I was standing on the street corner, you might be able to see the little pink step-stool on the floor of the scooter.  This mom has her child strapped to her with a little seat belt that ties them both together, and the boy's feet are resting on this step-stool!  Other things - funny yet practical - that I have seen on scooters include: dogs sitting at their owner's feet and balancing to stay on, kids standing up in the front, and two kids in front and one behind the parent/driver :)

Discovering food: Part of our orientation has been trying soooo many new foods! It is quite simple to be a vegetarian here; people are very happy to make any dish without meat, and many other people here are vegetarian as well. The picture below shows mango shaved ice, which is similar to water ice but with fresh fruit mixed with flavored syrup and plain ice. 

Skies: Of course I have taken many more pictures of the sky than most anything else ... Here are a few that show sunset at a night market, clouds over the nearby mountains, and the busy city streets under the cloudy sky.

That's it for now ... Please feel free to post below so that I (and others!) can read your thoughts/responses to anything I have shared. I would love to know what you think!

Nĭ hăo (hello) from Taichung!

It has been quite an exciting first week here. We just completed our first week of training, which will continue through the rest of this month.  Training so far has included workshops about education in Taiwan, Chinese language, classroom management, teaching English as a foreign language, and Taiwanese culture.  Our coordinators have also helped us accomplish settling-in tasks such as getting Taiwanese sim cards for our phones (we were in a tiny shop for 2 hours trying to figure out all of our phone plans!), buying bus passes (the bus here is free!), and opening local bank accounts.

There are 10 Fulbright ETA (English Teaching Assistant) Grantees in our group in Taichung.  There are about 60 ETAs in all of Taiwan; we are spread out in 5 locations around the island and will meet formally all together in a few weeks.  In our group, nearly everyone has just graduated this past May with their Bachelor's degree, and I am the only one who has my Master's.  This helps to balance things out because I am also the only one who has never been to Asia or studied Chinese! Everyone in my group has studied Chinese at the college level, studied abroad and/or traveled in Asia for an extended period of time, and/or has family who lives here.  So the 9 other Taichung ETAs have the advantages of knowing the language and culture well, and I have the advantage of significant experience in the classroom.  It is a good balance and so far we have all been sharing and learning quite a bit from each other.  Not surprisingly, it is an extremely intelligent, well-traveled, and motivated group. I look forward to continuing to work, learn, travel with the other Taichung ETAs!

Below are some pictures to illustrate a bit of what Taichung is like.

Everyday life in Taichung: Mopeds are called "scooters" here, and there are so many!!! It's great to see parents riding with their kids, dogs balancing on scooters, baskets piled up by drivers' feet ... people here make anything and everything fit onto their scooters.

                           

Greenery: The city has quite a lot of plants and trees, which is nice to see. Still, I look forward to hiking in the nearby mountains!

Taichung Park: There are many parks here, and Taichung Park is a big one! One night this week a group of us walked around the park and played frisbee in the fading light :)

    

Chinese/English: There are many little mistakes made here when translating words to English.  Here is one funny example: the yogurt is 100% natural, "Born with only natural ingredients!" Now I am not one to complain, as I came here knowing NO Chinese ... but still I am appreciating the challenges of speaking a second language! I look forward to enrolling in a Chinese language class, which I plan to do as soon as possible. For now though, I have been learning as much as I can through osmosis :)  Everyone in my group have been wonderful teachers, looking out for me and guiding me through the basics of everyday Mandarin!

The view from up high: For our orientation, we have been hosted by a local elementary school. One night this past week, one of the deans (Dean Min) invited us to her house to eat dinner together.  While there, we met other teachers who teach at Shangshi Elementary School as well as some of their children, and enjoyed a delicious meal and a gorgeous view of the city!

Sending my best to everyone ... until next time!