Chinese Proverb: He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.
My Photo Links
- The first week back
- My smallest class
- Scootin'
- 195 - A new school
- 193 Options
- Day 191 - Blur
- The Lottery!
- Camera Thoughts
- Summer Camp Revisited
- 180 days ago
My Taiwan Adventure
Monday, August 15, 2005
205 - Chinese names
Greetings All,
Despite attending a going away bowling party for my cousin Bryce, getting my Chinese name and buying a used scooter this weekend was uneventful. I get the feeling that my blogs have become more and more boring as I become more and more used to things that happen in Taiwan. Things just seem less newsworthy than they were before.
I believe I'm starting the 6 month "down" of the culture shock cycce and you can see how my writing has just trickled off into nothing. I've also stopped photography, drawing and painting. Given this reaction I'm going through a period of stress. I'm not really depressed but rather more tired and unsettled. I'm sure I'll weather this in fine fashion as in all things.
I'm teaching quite a heavy load with 6 full 60 minute contact hours each day. The kids are great but the end of the day finds me quite tired. When September starts the teaching will change somewhat so I'll be able to have a couple of days where I'm not tied down in 2 hour classes. I'm starting to wonder when I'm suppossed to do the grading and lesson planning for all this. Then I realize that it's a little different from my old school. Here they don't expect me to make worksheets but rather to follow the workbook. As it is summer school not all the kids have them so it is a bit of a challenge sometimes.
Kindergarten kids rock the house. They're fun bubbly students and once you establish who's boss things go very smoothly. This week I'm really enforcing the discipline. Mostly that consists of having them sit out for one activity and then bringing them back into class. It's pretty hard for a kindy kid to watch everyone else having fun while they have to sit but it is an effective way of gettting control.
Hope I get control of myself one of these days! More about my chinese name later.
Cheers,
T. Destiny
Despite attending a going away bowling party for my cousin Bryce, getting my Chinese name and buying a used scooter this weekend was uneventful. I get the feeling that my blogs have become more and more boring as I become more and more used to things that happen in Taiwan. Things just seem less newsworthy than they were before.
I believe I'm starting the 6 month "down" of the culture shock cycce and you can see how my writing has just trickled off into nothing. I've also stopped photography, drawing and painting. Given this reaction I'm going through a period of stress. I'm not really depressed but rather more tired and unsettled. I'm sure I'll weather this in fine fashion as in all things.
I'm teaching quite a heavy load with 6 full 60 minute contact hours each day. The kids are great but the end of the day finds me quite tired. When September starts the teaching will change somewhat so I'll be able to have a couple of days where I'm not tied down in 2 hour classes. I'm starting to wonder when I'm suppossed to do the grading and lesson planning for all this. Then I realize that it's a little different from my old school. Here they don't expect me to make worksheets but rather to follow the workbook. As it is summer school not all the kids have them so it is a bit of a challenge sometimes.
Kindergarten kids rock the house. They're fun bubbly students and once you establish who's boss things go very smoothly. This week I'm really enforcing the discipline. Mostly that consists of having them sit out for one activity and then bringing them back into class. It's pretty hard for a kindy kid to watch everyone else having fun while they have to sit but it is an effective way of gettting control.
Hope I get control of myself one of these days! More about my chinese name later.
Cheers,
T. Destiny
Posted by T. Destiny in Taiwan at 6:31 PM 
Glad to hear your enjoying work. Not painting????
Well lets see this time next week. Well WOoohooo. I'm in a foreign country speaking with a friend and enjoying myself. What more can a mad englishman ask? To sit in teh mid-day sun and go red like a lobster?
But seriously it's all good fun. Again e-mail that list of things you need and I'll see if I can bring them.
Gavin
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