alive.

I know there has been some speculation as to my whereabouts and such. I assure you all that I'm alive. But just barely. Training kicked all our asses. It was a grueling schedule. 10 days staright and no days off. 9am to 7pm everyday and homework every few days. The very next day after training at the main office in Taipei, my boss, Elbert, whisked us away for 4 more days of training at on of our local schools. We had to observe 8 classes and keep track of where we were headed to next. 

We did sign a lease for an apartment. It's a gorgeous building in the village of Taishan. It's a european style building with marble floors and a foyer. We use remote controls to enter the building and activate the elevator. We have a security guard that I have still to give a nick name, but we will call him Bill for now. 

This town is a lot smaller than Taipei. It's much more rare for a caucasian to be walking down the street, let alone residing in the town. A lot of people just stare, but I was told just to wave hello and they promptly go back to their business. There isn't much immediately around and since we do not have a car, we must walk. We've been spending a fortune on Taxis. They are only $5 US to get back and forth some times, but if we do that 4 times a day it adds up. 

We visited the worlds largest IKEA twice already. It enormous. We pile all our purchases into a taxi when we're done. We're waiting for our first paychecks to get more furniture. We had to buy beds when we first got here, but they weren't ready until the next day. Therefore the first night we camped out on the tile floors using kids sleeping bags from the school. Not fun. And it's getting quite annoying to live out of a suitcase. 

What else... oh everyone has a scooter. You look down at the street and its a sea of scooters. The government places high taxes on cars just encourage people not to get them. There just isn't enough room for everyone to have a car. The taiwanese are crazy drivers as well. Green means go, yellow means go faster and red is optional. They run red lights all the time. 

Well tomorrow is the first day of class. I observed my kindergarten class on friday. They are soooo cute, but the majority can't even say their own names in english let alone chinese. I guess I have a long road ahead with them. Besides kindergarten I teach about 7 more classes in the afternoon or evenings. It's a 6 day work week, so I also teach on Saturdays. I never had weekends off at home, so nothings new.

Wish me luck with my classes and lesson planning. I'll write more often as soon as internet is installed.