Saturday my flatmate Bekah and I baked blueberry bread in our mini oven. We took some around to each of our neighbors and introduced ourselves. There are 3 other apartments on our floor and we wanted to get to know the people in them. Directly across the hall is Mr. Pong, a retired man who spends much of his day at home. He doesn't speak much English and was surprised to see us at his door. To the right of our apartment is Ms. Xie (said sort of like Shay). She speaks a little English and was very friendly to us. Shuiguo mianbao (fruit bread) is a favorite of hers, apparently. Lastly in the opposite corner of our floor is a young couple who both speak very good English. Unfortunately, I cannot remember how to say their names yet! But they invited us into their apartment and we exchanged emails. They plan to show us around the city sometime. We are lucky to have such friendly neighbors!
Sunday I visited a church for the first time since I've been in Taiwan. In a fluorescent-lighted basement, the Bilingual Community Church met and performed the service in simultaneous English and Chinese. A good number of other foreigners were there and overall people were friendly. I think I will try other churches before settling on one though. The biggest problem for me finding a church I like is not usually the people who attend, but the poor quality of the sermons and the shaky theology (especially in comparison to my dad!).
After church, several of us Fulbrighters attended a football (soccer) match at the World Games stadium. It was Hong Kong versus Taiwan and sadly, Taiwan was terrible! They lost 5 to 0 and had maybe one legitimate shot on HK's goal. The stadium was huge and we had fun cheering and booing with the crowds, chanting "Tai-wan, jai-yo," (Taiwan, add oil -- a typical phrase of encouragement used in Mandarin).
Monday began all day tours of our potential elementary and junior high schools. We saw 7 schools on Monday, 8 Tuesday and 4 today. It was so intense and hot, but we still tried to put on a smile and learn as much as we could about each school. The downside to all of these fun events has been my development of a sore throat and slight earache. Probably from lack of rest, I have a cold now.
Luckily, yesterday I saw a doctor and I was blown away by the quality of the Taiwan National Healthcare System. For less than $4 US, I waited 15 minutes to see a doctor and received medicine. Unbelievable. The doctor was able to communicate with me in English, though some of his instruments for looking into my ears, nose and throat were different from what I'm used to at home. I can't be too impressed yet, however, because the medicine hasn't done much to improve my sore throat. We'll see what happens over the next few days!
Winnie, hopefully my future coteacher, took me to the doctor that she has gone to for years. It was really wonderful of her to do that for me because it took time away from her birthday dinner. She turns 32 on Friday and had originally asked me to come to dinner with her and her family yesterday. She kindly postponed the dinner for an hour to take me to the clinic! We ended up having dinner at Mamma Mia, an Italian restaurant chain, where I ate the most delicious lasagna I've ever had anywhere. I also met her husband, younger sister and spent time with her two daughters again.
Her 6 year old, Lily, tries to help me learn Chinese. We played tic-tac-toe and sang the Chinese version of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." She does get frustrated with me rather easily and will start saying things very loudly and slowly in Chinese...hoping that I will somehow figure out what she's trying to say. Winnie's other daughter, 4 year old Angel, sat across the table from me and kept shouting "athlete's foot" in Chinese! It is a new phrase her mother learned recently and when directly translated from Mandarin means "Hong Kong feet." I felt so welcomed by this family and Winnie has already begun to call me her younger sister. She and her family are such a blessing to me.
Finally, after finishing the school visits today, we did speed dating with the teachers from each school. We asked the teachers a few questions and they asked us about our teaching personalities. Both the teachers and Fulbrights have been stressed and nervous over the past couple of weeks. People are very concerned about which school they will end up teaching at and which Fulbright will come to their school. I really believe that we are all great teachers and will succeed wherever we are placed. I was shocked today to find out that the junior high schools adamently wanted me to teach at their schools. They pressured me to list them as number one on my ranking of schools. Several other Fulbrights really want to teach there and I had no idea they were interested in me! It was difficult to explain that I have to turn down their offer. But I found out from Winnie, Firefly and Shopping that they also planned to put me first on their list of teachers. And they are the schools I want to work with most. We find out tomorrow morning which school we will be at for sure.
I am excited to become a teacher and begin a regular routine.
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