Kindy Day
We've finally resumed training post-typhoons and we're back on schedule. They've cut those two days from the training so we are still going to be at our branches by mid-week next week. I'll definitely be in Taichung and I've already got a roommate lined up. She's in my training group and, interestingly enough, speaks French. I imagine that could work to our advantage if we find ourselves in the midst of either Taiwanese who speak English or expats who speak Mandarin and we want to talk about someone. :)
Inevitably the conversation with me turns to poop, so I'll inform you all that I have been lucky enough to avoid traveller's diarrhea thus far. Some of the people from our group haven't been so lucky...four people ate at a little Mongolian BBQ near a night market and have been having some...problems. Immodium, anyone?
Exotic Taiwanese Food stories: Well, not really, but it's definitely weird. Most things around here taste slightly sweet. The meat is, of course, included in that slightly sweet category. I'm not really a fan of sweet meat so that will definitely take some getting used to. Also, they put some sort of spice on all the meat that makes it taste the same. I haven't been able to find anyone who can tell me what it is, but it's weird when the chicken, beef, and pork all taste exactly the same and vary only slightly in color.
I was in the mood for a little taste of home so I stopped by the 7-11 (there really is one on every street corner, and even though I am prone to exaggeration, this is *not* one) to pick up a bag of chips. I grabbed a bag of Cheetos not really taking time to examine the bag. Mistake number one. When I pulled the bag from the sack I noticed it said "Cheese puff." "Oh well," I thought, "I don't mind eating the balls instead of the regular Cheetos snacks." I have, however, again neglected to fully inspect the bag and instead tear it open and pop one in my mouth. Mistake number two. "This tastes weird." That would be because it was not "cheese ball," but rather cheese puff...like the pastry! In my rush of recognition of Chester the Cheetah, I missed the picture of a cheese puff on the front of the bag! So my Cheetos are neither particularly cheesy, nor salty. They aren't even sticks! They are round, sweet, and slightly cheesy in a way that makes me feel a little oogy. Like most of the other things I've tried so far, it wasn't bad...just not what I expected.
Today we were trained how to teach Kindergarten classes. A group of 6 yr olds came in to sing us a song and I nearly wet myself from the amount of cuteness overload I experienced. They made us each a card that said "Welcome to Taiwan" and asked us where we were from. My student was a little girl named Cherry who has two brothers and one sister. She has a pet fish and her favorite song is the Rainbow Song. She even sang it for me! I'm so jealous of all the teachers who get to teach those kids right away! I won't start teaching kindy until 6 months from now! An older group of kids came in later to sing us a song too and they were super adorable too. From what I understand I'll be teaching kids from 8-14 in the different classes, so I'll probably be teaching kids that young. I'm pretty excited to get in there and find out.
Inevitably the conversation with me turns to poop, so I'll inform you all that I have been lucky enough to avoid traveller's diarrhea thus far. Some of the people from our group haven't been so lucky...four people ate at a little Mongolian BBQ near a night market and have been having some...problems. Immodium, anyone?
Exotic Taiwanese Food stories: Well, not really, but it's definitely weird. Most things around here taste slightly sweet. The meat is, of course, included in that slightly sweet category. I'm not really a fan of sweet meat so that will definitely take some getting used to. Also, they put some sort of spice on all the meat that makes it taste the same. I haven't been able to find anyone who can tell me what it is, but it's weird when the chicken, beef, and pork all taste exactly the same and vary only slightly in color.
I was in the mood for a little taste of home so I stopped by the 7-11 (there really is one on every street corner, and even though I am prone to exaggeration, this is *not* one) to pick up a bag of chips. I grabbed a bag of Cheetos not really taking time to examine the bag. Mistake number one. When I pulled the bag from the sack I noticed it said "Cheese puff." "Oh well," I thought, "I don't mind eating the balls instead of the regular Cheetos snacks." I have, however, again neglected to fully inspect the bag and instead tear it open and pop one in my mouth. Mistake number two. "This tastes weird." That would be because it was not "cheese ball," but rather cheese puff...like the pastry! In my rush of recognition of Chester the Cheetah, I missed the picture of a cheese puff on the front of the bag! So my Cheetos are neither particularly cheesy, nor salty. They aren't even sticks! They are round, sweet, and slightly cheesy in a way that makes me feel a little oogy. Like most of the other things I've tried so far, it wasn't bad...just not what I expected.
Today we were trained how to teach Kindergarten classes. A group of 6 yr olds came in to sing us a song and I nearly wet myself from the amount of cuteness overload I experienced. They made us each a card that said "Welcome to Taiwan" and asked us where we were from. My student was a little girl named Cherry who has two brothers and one sister. She has a pet fish and her favorite song is the Rainbow Song. She even sang it for me! I'm so jealous of all the teachers who get to teach those kids right away! I won't start teaching kindy until 6 months from now! An older group of kids came in later to sing us a song too and they were super adorable too. From what I understand I'll be teaching kids from 8-14 in the different classes, so I'll probably be teaching kids that young. I'm pretty excited to get in there and find out.
posted by CJ at 4:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home