Hey Everybody,
So I guess some of you are wondering what I have been up to for the past few weeks. Has anything exciting happened, and have I had any more adventures. Well sit back and let me begin . . .
Alot has happened to me in the month of October. And I have also had alot of dead time. October was a month of stress and sickness. I had to get my Resident Visa before October 30th, I had to work to keep my job, and I had to fight through 2 brutal colds.
I landed in Taiwan on August 30th and had 60 days to get my resident visa. If I didn't get it then it was either back to Canada, or off to Hong Kong for a few days while I applied for another Visitor's Visa. The process should be easy, but it isn't. I had to take my passport, a Chinese translation of my degree, some passport sized photos, and a medical check up.
oooh . . . I had to go to a Taiwanese hospital. That was a hell of an experience. Wew! Luckily I had a chinese person with me when I went. It was a student from one of Adrian's classes. She picked me up in her car and drove me to the hospital so that I could do my physical check-up. She had just done the same thing with her son so she had the routine down. I had to fill out forms, give them my money and then go get poked and prodded. The first stage was the blood sample. We went upstairs to this desk where they took my name and then I sat there and waited my turn. I sat there and watched a lady with rubber gloves stick needles into people's arms. Then after one of the people ahead of me she stopped to scratch her head. That's when I noticed that although she WAS wearing latex gloves, she wasn't changing them between all of the people. After she scratched her head she got up and left the room and then came back and sat down. She didn't once take off her gloves r change them. And then it was my turn. After two horrific experiences trying to donate blood at the U of C, I didn't really feel like having another needle stuck into my elbow. So it took a few tries to finally get the blood out of me. And the bruise lasted for over a week.
After that it was time for the urine sample. "Here's your jar, there's the urinals. Have at 'er." That's what it was. No one watched to make sure I didn't use someone else's urine. I mean how secure is that. They want to make sure I don't use drugs and I am disease free, but they don't check to make sure it's my pee I hand to them. But I don't think anyone in the world would step up to the job of watching strangers pee in a hospital bathroom to make sure they don't cheat the urine test. I know I wouldn't want it.
After that it was off to the radiology van to get my x-rays done. Really, it was a VAN! I walked outside on the loading bay and went into a van with two strange men and had my chest x-ray done. Just a little strange.
Then it was to the waiting room to wait for the doctor to check me. While waiting I looked at the form to see what he would be checking. That's when I spotted the box labelled "External Genitalia." Well, I don't know about you guys, but that freaked me out. But all the doctor did was take my weight and height. He then looked at my eyes for about 2 seconds. Touched my throat and told me I was fine. Wow, so complete and exact.
Then after I gave all of that to the secretaries at work I had to wait and pray that the forms would come in on time. Luckily they did. The secretaries returned my visa and gave me my work permit and a letter from the ministry of education. These had to be taken to Taipei so that I could apply for my Resident Visa. So one Monday I woke up at 6:30 and took the bus to the train station and got on a train to Taipei. In Taipei I did the whole application thing and then headed straight back to Chung Li. The whole trip took just over three hours. The only scary thing was they wouldn't have my visa ready until Nov. 1. So that meant that I would be here illegally for two days. I talked to some people who had gone through the process and they told me that I should be ready to take a small vacation to Hong Kong. But on Nov. 1 I picked up my visa and asked if I was overstayed, and they told me I had 15 days to get my application for my Alien Resident Card ARC into Taoyuan. So on Nov 2 Adrian and I hopped on the bus and I submitted my application. And next Monday I can go and pick it up. WOOOOOHOOOOOO!! I will finally be 100% legal and official in Taiwan.
So what's up with my job? You ask? Well let me tell you.
When I got my job at the young school I was basically given the text book and pushed into a classroom with no training. So I winged it. I did what I thought was the right thing, and it seemed to work. So I stuck with it. Turns out my boss didn't think it was so good. He waited one month and then told me that he wanted me to improve my skills and do it quickly. I had a few problems with this. If the kids were learning and having fun in my class, then I think that my style is fine. If he wanted me to teach a certain way, why didn't he tell me when I first got the job? If I suddenly changed my style then the kids would get confused and that would be worse. And how am I supposed to change my style when there are no teaching tools available in the school? And there are no stores in Chung Li to buy these tools? So I basically stressed out while I tried to figure out how to keep my job. I sat in on a few other teachers classes and talked to the other teachers to get ideas from them about how to teach better. I guess I am doing OK, since Jeff (my boss) hasn't really said anything. And Adrian said I should just say nothing and not bring it up since Jeff will probably just let the issue slide. So I still have my job and am raking in the dough.
How's my health? Well I have contracted what is simply known as the Taiwan cold. It basically starts as a sore throat from all of the pollution here. Then after about three days it heads north to the nose and then it's stuffy nose time for about 4 days. But the throat is still screwed up. So for about a week, you don't have the ability to raise your voice or add inflection to a sentence. My voice cracked every second sentence and I didn't sound like myself at all. People couldn't believe it was my voice. The first time I got the cold it was brutal. But eventually it went away. This second time though, I have had a bad cough for over a week. ARRRRGGHHHH!!! Plus I have had no time to go shopping so I can't get any Orange juice for my cold. So a few more days and then it's off to the grocery store.
One very exciting thing that happened in October was the Robbie Williams concert in Taipei! It was so cool. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am glad I took it. It was only 1.5 hours long, but can he ever put on a good show. Every song was great and it was so cool to hear them live. Ohhh it was good!
So I guess some of you are wondering what I have been up to for the past few weeks. Has anything exciting happened, and have I had any more adventures. Well sit back and let me begin . . .
Alot has happened to me in the month of October. And I have also had alot of dead time. October was a month of stress and sickness. I had to get my Resident Visa before October 30th, I had to work to keep my job, and I had to fight through 2 brutal colds.
I landed in Taiwan on August 30th and had 60 days to get my resident visa. If I didn't get it then it was either back to Canada, or off to Hong Kong for a few days while I applied for another Visitor's Visa. The process should be easy, but it isn't. I had to take my passport, a Chinese translation of my degree, some passport sized photos, and a medical check up.
oooh . . . I had to go to a Taiwanese hospital. That was a hell of an experience. Wew! Luckily I had a chinese person with me when I went. It was a student from one of Adrian's classes. She picked me up in her car and drove me to the hospital so that I could do my physical check-up. She had just done the same thing with her son so she had the routine down. I had to fill out forms, give them my money and then go get poked and prodded. The first stage was the blood sample. We went upstairs to this desk where they took my name and then I sat there and waited my turn. I sat there and watched a lady with rubber gloves stick needles into people's arms. Then after one of the people ahead of me she stopped to scratch her head. That's when I noticed that although she WAS wearing latex gloves, she wasn't changing them between all of the people. After she scratched her head she got up and left the room and then came back and sat down. She didn't once take off her gloves r change them. And then it was my turn. After two horrific experiences trying to donate blood at the U of C, I didn't really feel like having another needle stuck into my elbow. So it took a few tries to finally get the blood out of me. And the bruise lasted for over a week.
After that it was time for the urine sample. "Here's your jar, there's the urinals. Have at 'er." That's what it was. No one watched to make sure I didn't use someone else's urine. I mean how secure is that. They want to make sure I don't use drugs and I am disease free, but they don't check to make sure it's my pee I hand to them. But I don't think anyone in the world would step up to the job of watching strangers pee in a hospital bathroom to make sure they don't cheat the urine test. I know I wouldn't want it.
After that it was off to the radiology van to get my x-rays done. Really, it was a VAN! I walked outside on the loading bay and went into a van with two strange men and had my chest x-ray done. Just a little strange.
Then it was to the waiting room to wait for the doctor to check me. While waiting I looked at the form to see what he would be checking. That's when I spotted the box labelled "External Genitalia." Well, I don't know about you guys, but that freaked me out. But all the doctor did was take my weight and height. He then looked at my eyes for about 2 seconds. Touched my throat and told me I was fine. Wow, so complete and exact.
Then after I gave all of that to the secretaries at work I had to wait and pray that the forms would come in on time. Luckily they did. The secretaries returned my visa and gave me my work permit and a letter from the ministry of education. These had to be taken to Taipei so that I could apply for my Resident Visa. So one Monday I woke up at 6:30 and took the bus to the train station and got on a train to Taipei. In Taipei I did the whole application thing and then headed straight back to Chung Li. The whole trip took just over three hours. The only scary thing was they wouldn't have my visa ready until Nov. 1. So that meant that I would be here illegally for two days. I talked to some people who had gone through the process and they told me that I should be ready to take a small vacation to Hong Kong. But on Nov. 1 I picked up my visa and asked if I was overstayed, and they told me I had 15 days to get my application for my Alien Resident Card ARC into Taoyuan. So on Nov 2 Adrian and I hopped on the bus and I submitted my application. And next Monday I can go and pick it up. WOOOOOHOOOOOO!! I will finally be 100% legal and official in Taiwan.
So what's up with my job? You ask? Well let me tell you.
When I got my job at the young school I was basically given the text book and pushed into a classroom with no training. So I winged it. I did what I thought was the right thing, and it seemed to work. So I stuck with it. Turns out my boss didn't think it was so good. He waited one month and then told me that he wanted me to improve my skills and do it quickly. I had a few problems with this. If the kids were learning and having fun in my class, then I think that my style is fine. If he wanted me to teach a certain way, why didn't he tell me when I first got the job? If I suddenly changed my style then the kids would get confused and that would be worse. And how am I supposed to change my style when there are no teaching tools available in the school? And there are no stores in Chung Li to buy these tools? So I basically stressed out while I tried to figure out how to keep my job. I sat in on a few other teachers classes and talked to the other teachers to get ideas from them about how to teach better. I guess I am doing OK, since Jeff (my boss) hasn't really said anything. And Adrian said I should just say nothing and not bring it up since Jeff will probably just let the issue slide. So I still have my job and am raking in the dough.
How's my health? Well I have contracted what is simply known as the Taiwan cold. It basically starts as a sore throat from all of the pollution here. Then after about three days it heads north to the nose and then it's stuffy nose time for about 4 days. But the throat is still screwed up. So for about a week, you don't have the ability to raise your voice or add inflection to a sentence. My voice cracked every second sentence and I didn't sound like myself at all. People couldn't believe it was my voice. The first time I got the cold it was brutal. But eventually it went away. This second time though, I have had a bad cough for over a week. ARRRRGGHHHH!!! Plus I have had no time to go shopping so I can't get any Orange juice for my cold. So a few more days and then it's off to the grocery store.
One very exciting thing that happened in October was the Robbie Williams concert in Taipei! It was so cool. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am glad I took it. It was only 1.5 hours long, but can he ever put on a good show. Every song was great and it was so cool to hear them live. Ohhh it was good!
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