Tonight, most of the bushiban teachers went out with E to celebrate her departure from our school. She decided that it was time for her to find a new direction in her life and that teaching English was not what she wanted to do anymore. I guess the salary, the managerial pressure and the nasty students could also explain her decision.

 

This is a sad moment because we shared two classes and that I appreciated her presence. The saddest thing for me though is the fact that the manager will be taking over her classes!!! That means that the manager will be attending 2 of my 4 classes weekly. Hence, I will have to be on my toes all the time because any slip into boredom and she will bitch at me and tell me that her friend is no more boring than I am.

 

I will have to prove to her that I'm the best and not her crappy friend.

 

Now, I'm really tired. Tomorrow we will watch a movie in kindy because inspectors are coming to the other side of the school, thus displacing us.

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

Last Friday, I spotted one of my kids in a classroom that was not ours and on a day that was not his normal class time. So, I asked him what he was doing there? He said that he was in that class now and that 2 other students from his (my) class were there too. Then I realized what had happened. THEY closed my class without telling me about it! I was furious and I just wanted to bitch at the manager for being such a f**king Scrooge, I was depressed because there was really no one there that I could release my anger with. I just had to calm down and go prepare for my Friday class which they have not yet cancelled.

 

Why did they close my class? There were only 6 kids, the minimum is 7! The only problem for this class is that the real number of students is 8, two were sent to a different class because they were too old. Hence, I did not lose these kids and they are still paying to attend the school. Furthermore, there is a 9th student who took the summer off and who is back in school. So, technically speaking this class would still exist if those 3 kids had not been moved. I could state these facts to the manager. But, what's the point? She is now thrilled to have me out of work. Think about it, close a class but keep all the students, you just saved the school the foreigner's pay and the chinese teacher's teaching and CT pay every week for 3 months. That is a lot to save. I understand why it was done, I am just furious at the fact that everything was done in my back AND that these kids were going into the last level of their program. They would have been the first to graduate with this specific curriculum. They could have had a great graduation show to show off 2 years of learning English together. But, NO, here the bottom line is more important to managers than the quality of the schooling that if offered.

 

Given the frustration that I was experiencing on Friday, I just turned to my closest friends in Taiwan for the weekend. I started with a slow 25 min jog. I can't believe that I managed to jog most of the time and this without pain. Then we rented a tandem and just rode it along the bikepath on Saturday. It was really nice, although there were lots of people, I still managed to zig-zag in between them and get a pleasant and fast ride. On the way back, there was an 8 years old kid who wanted to race. Man, did he ever give me something of a workout. We were riding at full speed and he would overtake us, so I'd have to dig deeper to overtake him again. We did this for about 10km. It finished on a hill where the kid just bursted up the hill and left me two bike lengths behind. The funny thing is that once I crossed the top of the hill, I saw the kid leaning on a wall half dead of exhaustion. I smiled and asked my friend to tell the kid that he's really good in Chinese, "Ni Hao Bang!"

 

After the ride we went for a foot, neck and head massage. The foot massage was really cool and funny because my friend was having a tough time not yelling in pain. I was totally in pain too, but I was too concentrated on understanding the Chinese being spoken and laughing at my friend, to yell. My masseur was deliberately pressing harder on my feet because he has the reputation of making everyone yell, I am his first exception! Now, believe it or not, this guy's neck and head massage was just as painful as the feet massage. I ran out of there as soon as I had the chance. I will be returning there in a week or two for another foot massage, but this time I'll also try the leg massage.

 

After that our tummies were yelling for food, so we went to a Korean hot-pot/ BBQ restaurant. It was pretty cool and the food was excellent.

So, this is how I tried to get my head around the fact that the manager is still not on my side.

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

Hey guys, I forgot to tell you about A. She is a very cute girl that I met during the weekend.

She is tiny, but she has sparkles in her eyes when she looks at me and she has a huge smile.

Yesterday, she even came to school and was very concerned because she could not find me.

However when she saw me walk up behind her, her big smile popped unto her face and she immediately became

intensely happy. The funny thing about this story is that A is a student of mine. I recruited her last Saturday during

the OH. She signed up, just because she "loved" the funny teacher.

 

Oh, also yesterday, when I bought my Coke fix for the evening, the male clerk at FamilyMart told me that I was handsome.

Now, that is something that made me blush because it is rare that Taiwanese guys will use English to tell you things like that.

I heard other guys tell their girlfriends to stay away from me because they thought that I was handsome. Hilarious! As though,

I would go for a girl that was already taken! I had to cross half the world to find a place where men like me can instill passion

in the hearts of those whom meet me. That is cool for me and for them too as long as I don't abuse them. I hope I can keep a

cool head about this and becareful.

 

Today in kindy, we made some glassbead glasses. Initially, we would put glue on the glass and then drop glassbeads onto the glue.

That was ok, it made a total mess of my classrooms, but the kids had fun and it worked OK. The only problem is that the glue did not

harden quickly, hence gravity worked its magic and most of the glasses look like crap. The beads migrated down the sides of the glass

with the liquid glue. Most glasses have their beads packed at the bottom of the glass and nothing at the top. This was not at all what was expected. I totally dislike crafts in kindy because the projects seem to be too challenging for the kids and I take it personally that my kids

do a better job than the other 3 teachers' classes.

 

Am I vain or what?

LeTouriste

What's up?

 

Mom is recovering well in the hospital. She will return home on Thursday, but will be confined to her room or to the floor on which her room is for at least two weeks. She has a 6 inches (15 cm) long scar that runs the length of her lower belly. The fibroma which was removed by the two hour surgery was as big as the head of a big baby! It is quite fortunate that it did not develop into a cancer. This also explains why my mom has been feeling weak very often for the past years. Chances are, she will emerge from this surgery feeling 10 or 20 years younger. I guess, my dad won't be able to keep up to her anymore !

 

I have been incredibly busy with work. There will be a speech writing contest early next month. I am helping seven kids prepare for the contest. I have to correct their speech, record it on a tape, type it and send it to my Chinese colleagues. Then I have to prepare the kids to deliver their speeches. Of the seven kids, only 3 are well prepared. Two of these kids are the students of a great teacher who really prepared them well before sending them to me. The other 4 will need to hurry up if they want to do well. The sad news is that I won't be a judge during the competition. More senior teachers "kicked" me out! The second bad news is that all these extra hours could end up being voluntary work because of the company's niggard attitude.

 

I am still waiting for my evaluation. The senior teacher feel ill this afternoon. I hope he gets better soon, because we don't have the resources to lose any member of our staff at this moment, especially not the most senior one.

 

 

My mom is being operated. Well, the procedure may be over, I just don't know how long it takes to remove everything from down there.

If all goes well, she will be back home this Friday. Hold on Mom, we are all behind you, if not in prayer, we are there in thought!

 

I am coming down with a cold or what I think is a cold. Hopefully, it does not develop into one. I'll drink it out with orange juice, iced tea and water. The kids find it hilarious to hear me sneeze in class. Ok, I tend to sneeze quite loudly! I take after my dad on this point.

 

To bed now, I need rest and fluids.

 

LeTouriste

Hey guys,

 

Today, I confirmed with the head foreign teacher that he would evaluate me next week to get my 1 year work appraisal in both kindy and bushiban. He looked distressed when he realized that he would have to fight for another raise in kindy because I was just awarded one which was retroacted back to July. The schools' owner is known to be stingy with her money, so this will definitely raise her eyebrows.

 

I finally was able to teach my new class, though the manager had wanted to hold me back due to low student numbers. Since only 4 students have fully paid the tuition, the manager wanted to save some money by getting the Chinese teacher to teach all the classes until the class was filled to the minimum of 6. Out of 10 potential students, 6 showed up and of those six. I think that 5 had a great time, while the 6th was sick and did not really want to get involved. I really loved that class because the kids had fun and were responding very well to all my games. This is the lowest level, so the first class is really boring since there are no phonics or reading. It's just classroom discipline (stand up, sit down, take out, put away...) ABCs and numbers. There are various games that can be played with them, but I had to invent 2 new games as the kids got the hold of every concept easily. I am really looking forward to seeing them again next week.

 

My mom seems to be getting nervous about her operation because she scolded me by email for yesterday's blog. Actually she denied one sentence in the blog. Sorry, mom, but its true and no one knows who my bro is anyway! However, people who read my blog do know that I am very proud of my brother's accomplishments. It is amazing to turn around from the life he was leading to the one he has had for the past 2 years.

 

I am really looking forward to tomorrow because my kindy kids will get to separate M&Ms by color and then count them. Afterwards, they will eat them... and so will I ;-)

 

I am in a cheery mood right now. My manager is coming back tomorrow, we will see if things continue going well. Oh! I was invited to be a member of the panel of judges for the National Speech Writing Competition. Man, I am in demand right now! Do I have motives in the back of my mind? Either I think that something will happen and I'll have to leave Taiwan OR I am showing the school's direction that I am the guy they should respect, not the boring newcomer!

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

My brother has finally got around to leading a steady life and has become a truck driver. Not a delivery guy, but an international (Canada-US) 43m long van driver. He usually crosses the US-Canada border 6 to 10 times a week. These events are usually uneventful because he has a special epass meaning that the content of his truck has been inspected and approved. However, his grunge looks can sometimes irritate the US border guards like this one time in North Dakota, just South of the town of Drink Water!

 

The guard looked at my brother's dirty curly hair, bearded face and bulging belly and decided that he was probably a junky. Well, fortunately for my bro, he isn't anymore! Anyhow, he was completely searched and his cabine was thoroughly inspected. The guards could not find anything, even after checking inside his wallet. At this point, and probably in frustration, the guard pushed my bro to the wall. Place my brother's arms and legs apart. My brother started sweating when he saw an inspector put on some latex gloves. My brother thought, "oh no! He's [the inspector] is going to conduct an anal search! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

 

Fortunately for my brother, the gloved inspector was only goinng to check his pockets, but this gave a good fright to my brother.

 

I have never had problems with any customer officer except once when I told a guy that I was going to go race in a bicycle race in the US. Seeing the guy's reaction, I immediately stated that I would not win anything, so there was no need for a VISA or any work related documents. He let me go... ouf!

 

LeTouriste

Yesterday, I bought the double DVD of the mega-production of Notre Dame de Paris. This is a musical analogous to Les Miserables. The story is from the same author, Victor Hugo, but there is a major difference. Les Miserables is truely a mega production which will tour around the world and bring delight to millions of spectators. The theatricals, the costumes, the music and every thing related to the show is huge. Why? Because te show is sang in English. Notre Dame de Paris is not a real mega production. It is in fact a French mega production, which when translated to the English world ends up being a middle sized show. There seems to be a French complex with Notre Dame de Paris. The lyricist, Luc Plamondon is the French God of lyrics. He has worked with all the big names in French Canada and is behind some of Celine Dion's biggest hits. Similarly, Richard Cocciante, is the music composer and has a lot of big hit experience. If I am not mistaken, this duo is also responsible for the first French mega-musical, Starmania, a few decades ago. Yet, in both these shows, they fail to deliver a product that is as flamboyant as their English counterparts. An English musical will have tons of catchy tunes, dynamic music or music that will transport your soul. Sadly, it seems that the French can't deliver this. Why? The productions can't be as big as those done in English because once you've played in Montreal, there is not other North American cities where you can go. If you want to play in Quebec City, you have to be small unless you settle for the arena (Colisee) which is not really practical. After Montreal, it's off to France. Everyone knows how snobbish the Parisians can be. If you fail in Paris, you fail in all of France. Hence, where do you go after Montreal and France if you're a French production. A brief visit in French Belgium and back home because although Africa does speak French, they don't have the means to attend a musical. This explains why the French productions are always smaller. For there to be a profit, the costs have to be down because of the smaller customer population. However, this does not explain why most French productions can't deliver music and lyrics that stick in your head? This question, I can't answer. Maybe, I have a different mindset than other French Canadians. Maybe they find the French song catchy whereas I prefer the likes of the Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables. This could be true because after listening to Les Miserables in both French and English, I preferred the English version whereas a French friend preferred the French version.

 

In conclusion, the French complex is not real. It is caused by pure economics. With a sampler customer sample, the product has to be cheap in order to generate a profit. The songs aren't as catchy as the English ones because I have a preference for the English ones. However, a truly French customer may think differently. Finally, the French can produce real mega-productions, but they have to forfeit the language. The best example is Le Cirque du Soleil. This is the biggest and most succesful circus in the world because it has not been scared to innovate, be flamboyant and be dynamic. This tiny troup back in 1984 has become a multi-billion enterprise with no less than 4 permanent venues in Las Vegas; one in Tokyo, one in Orlando and soon one in Macau! They also have three touring shows in Asia, North America and Europe. All their productions are created and produced from their HQ in Montreal. Despite their world success, they have yet to be accepted by the Parisians. It goes to show that Paris's heart is not an easy thing to understand and conquer.

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

Wow, who would have thought that working with Chinese is so complicated. There is this American teacher that I hate with a passion for her inappropriate dressing, utterly boring teaching methods and general lack of enthusiasm. Already, she has the most teaching hours of all the teachers old and new! Managers know that I want to work, but prefer her because she is NT$20 cheaper per hour and soon probably NT$45. Now, the school is gearing up for the annual speech writing competition. I thought that I would get to work with all 10 kids. This would ensure me a great bonus on each of the next two months pay. Surprise, today I learn that the bi*ch will get a share of the students! What is wrong with those Chinese teachers? Just last week they complained that the teacher was boring in class... The Chinese teachers were complaining about the American teacher, but nothing happened and now they are bestowing extra gifts on her.

 

Managers, I appeal to your senses, think twice before acting. This is yet another incident which makes me think that maybe, I won't wait until 2008 to leave Taiwan! I know some of the teachers look at my blog, I truly wish they could read this entry.

 

At least tonight, I'm going out with teachers who dislike that American teacher, so I'll be able to vent some of my disgust.

 

Sorry I was not joyful for you guys tonight,

LeTouriste 

Hey guys,

 

I finally got paid all my back pays... 5 months of salary appraisal added to my pay. Oh yeah, that's sweet, but the good news is that I am due to get another raise next month because I'll have been here for one year. And next month, I'll get my perfect attendance bonus paid for the past 11 months. At NT$800 a month, that is going to be another sweet month.

 

I went for another foot massage tonight. It felt pretty good. My left foot was almost pain-free. My right foot, however, was still painful in the same spots as last time. I guess my stomach is not totally well though I personally have no complaints.

 

I got some kids to try the costumes that I prepared for the fashion show. It is going to be a blast. My smallest sleeveless shirt looks like a labcoat on a 4 year old student. That's a detail that I forgot in planning all these costumes. Hence everything will be disproportioned and it will be funny.

 

I got to run and prepare some number sheets for tomorrow's bingo game and I need to sleep well tonight because I'll be going out tomorrow to celebrate a teacher's b-day. It's going to be a small party with only the b-day girl, my Chinese teacher (guy), his roommate (girl) and myself. I am supposed to bring juice and a big watermelon. I wanted to bring a very sweet chocolate cake, but I'd be stuck eating the whole thing... maybe that was why I suggested that cake in the first place .

 

On a sadder note, my mom will undergo a major operation on the 20th. Courage mom!

Hey guys,

 

This is the daily recap. Winter has finally engulfed my Northern Taiwan city. When I opened the shower curtain after a steamy shower, my body feel into near hyperthermic shock because the air in the apartment was so cold. Ok, what am I complaining about since my family is in the snow right now.

 

I am in the process of completing all my costumes for Friday's fashion show. But I still have a few more days of work.

 

I tutored the broken-armed kid. He was OK for a first visit. The funny thing he said was that he does not like his own teacher. I wonder if his parents' won't try to send him to my class.

 

Ok, back to work,

LeTouriste

Hey guys,

 

After visiting the doctor on Saturday, I have now been on his medication for 2 full days. It really does work, so I guess I only have sprained muscles or tendons. The only problem is that his three pills... muscle relaxants... have a very limited time effect. I take my first dose around 8:30AM after breakfast. It usually kicks in around 9:30 - 10:00AM. After that my knee is fine to walk or stand on. My second dose comes around 12:30PM, hence 30 minutes after meals. This dose will prolonge the benefitial effect until about 16:00. This is very unhelpful because at that time I have to speed walk to bushiban for my night classes and my afterhour obligations toward students. The final dose is taken 30 minutes after supper. This means that the last dose is taken anywhere from 19:30 to 22:00. This last dose has absolutely no effect for my comfort.

 

From this I conclude two things. I should eat the last dose with a snack around 15:30. This should get the drug to affect my pain around bushiban time. Secondly, my diagnosis of a chipped bone was wrong because a muscle relaxant relieves all my pain.

 

The blood pressure seems to be much lower when I read it at home. I could be taking the pressure badly or my efforts have finally kicked in and reduced my pressure. I could also be more relaxed at home than at the doctor's office. Conclusion: continue what I am doing, I am on the right path.

 

RELAXATION

 

I have more interesting exercise routines.

I bought Sarah Brightman's DIVA CD-DVD set. It's pretty good. I like when she sings in Italian. Her voice is nice, but I can't say if it is clear or accurate. I'll just say that I like it.

 

I have tons of work this week, so bye for now,

LeTouriste 

Hey guys,

My knee is Ok, apparently I only have sprained tendons. The doctor did some "pseudo" acupuncture on my arm and now my knee hurts all the time. What he did was exert pressure with glass rods on two spots on each side of each arms. This was really uncomfortable, but I could tolerate the pain. He was surprised and even wondered if I was not faking my condition. I guess the pain that I now feel must be caused by accelerated an recovery process. I also have to take some unknown medicine for a week. I have to take 3 pills after every meal.

I figure that since it's muscular, a foot massage could also help in feeling better. I'll have another one done next Wednesday after payday!

 

My blood pressure is 140 which is high, but almost normal. I'll still have to get it checked next month to have a better idea of what my real heart condition is. 3 high readings is conclusive of hypertension, right now I am borderline and physical activity and diet and lowered stress could improve my health. I am also going to look for a blood pressure reader to test it myself. My really fat relatives have those machines because their health conditions are bad and they have to check their hearts. In my case, I am physically fit, but my heart is bad, so I have to check it.

Anyhow, don't worry, I'll be fine.

Enjoy,
LeTouriste

A few years ago, there was a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where you saw a stream of water, then a river, than a lake, then a sea, then a giant tidal wave and the last image was Calvin jumping out of bed and racing to the bathroom. His physical need to pee caused him to dream about his need. Well, I had a similar dream for the same reason. I dreamt that I was naked in the kids' bathroom in kindy. The only problem was that the stalls in that bathroom are intended to cover the top of a kid's head. When I was there... naked, I was visible from my chest up! Hence, all the kids were having a blast looking at their teacher in their bathroom. Anyway, I woke up just in time to make it to the bathroom. Damn late night tea!

 

Yesterday, I met X., a friend which went to Europe to meet the family of her boyf. It was really cool to see her after such a long time. She seemed quite happy about the trip and meeting the in-laws. She had interesting stories and awesome pictures. I was surprised to know that she only took 1500 pics in 3 weeks. While in Shanghai I took about 1000 in 1 week. Ok, I shoot anything and most people say that most of my pics are not good, but still, I take more pics (it must be the Japanese influence!)

 

My knees (especially the left one) are so painful, that I have decided to visit a hospital during the weekend. I guess I'll wake up early Saturday and check in with a hospital created by a Canadian missionary, Rev. MacKay. A teacher has agreed to take me there since I doubt that they can understand my Chinese! I'll probably have X-rays and then we'll decide what to do from there.

 

I'll keep you posted,

LeTouriste