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" :)