Settled in at Neihu

Hi Everyone,

I’m sorry I haven’t been good at updating but hopefully I’ll have more time now. I got offered a job at the Hess School (the biggest English school in Taiwan) and I have three branches in Taipei to teach at. So I basically have three bosses. I’ve met two of them and they are really nice, as are the rest of the staff (teachers, Chinese teachers). I am really happy- I feel totally comfortable at this job.

The training was super intense. For nine days we had to spend all day at the MinQuan branch (where I’m actually going to be working) with 60ish other people. We listened to lectures, watched demonstrations of lessons, and had to do our own demonstrations in front of teachers and fellow trainees. It felt a little bit like Kairos (a Catholic retreat I went to in high school), only because we all bonded pretty fast. The trainers were awesome- entertaining and enthusiastic about their jobs. I was listening to Australian, New Zealand, English and South African accents all week and eventually I couldn’t differentiate between any of them. It’s fun though- I love anything foreign.

Turns out there’s another Rachel at one of my branches so I go by Rachel Marie there. :P I’m sure Grandma Genny and Aunt Foo are pleased. Haha!

I haven’t had time to do much sight-seeing. We took a bus tour of the city on our first day of training and stopped at the Chang Kai Shek Memorial. It was raining so it was not exactly fun. The weather’s been nice lately. It’s warm and sunny. Random tangent: At one of my branches there’s a lot of outdoor areas for the kids to play in, and I think it is really awesome. No other branch has that.

So right now we’re living five minutes away from that branch (just outside central Taipei, in Neihu) and I take a 20-30 minute bus to the MinQuan branch for observations. I get to start teaching this Saturday. I hope it goes well. So far I’m having a blast, even though I’m too tired to go out after I come home.

So I’m getting pretty tired right about now. I’m going to get ready for bed. I will make sure to post new pictures on facebook when I can. Love you all!

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