Greetings from Taiwan

What an interesting 4 days it has been! First and foremost, I've already survived my first typhoon! Typhoon Sepat passed through yesterday (the worst one in years apparently), and I was stuck inside all day. The worst of it was not seen in Taipei (where I am), but some areas did get gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. I was only freaked out a couple of times when some large gusts were coming through and I could hear things flying & banging in the street below. I went to the school I'm teaching at for the first time Friday to meet my Academic Director and work on some lesson plans with her. I was supposed to observe 2 classes that evening, but they closed the school down early because of the weather. So I'll go back on Monday evening to observe. It seems as if I cannot make any big move from home without a huge storm coming through! (My R-MCers will remember Hurricane Isabel during our first week of school freshman year and having to go home for a week!) I was recounting this to my Taiwanese apartmentmate yesterday and she said "This seems to be a tradition with you. You're not going to France next month, are you?" (She's going there to study French.) I don't see her that much, but she has been very friendly and helpful to me with maps, advice, etc. There's another new English teacher coming to stay tomorrow, as well.

I am in a temporary place right now through my school company, and will be moving out in about a week to a great apartment I found on Friday right near my school! (4 min. walk to school, 1 min walk to MRT--their subway.) I am very excited about it. I'll have 3 apartmentmates (1 girl and 2 guys.) I have only met the girl (another American English teacher), but I believe the two guys are teachers, as well.

Getting around has been fairly easy so far even though I know no Mandarin. I've taken taxis a bunch, but finally ventured on to the MRT Friday without any incident. It's very easy and clean. Way nicer than the D.C. metro! I am a little surprised, however, at how hard it is to find people who speak even a little bit of English. It doesn't really bother me though, I've been able to get everything I need and find my way around (with some help from my Instant Chinese book---thank you, Scott Frantz!)

As far as the teaching goes, I will have classes in the late afternoon & evenings. The kids go to regular school and then come to us later in the day. I am not teaching preschool as I was previously told might be the case (yay to that!) I'll be teaching various ages from about 7 through teenagers. I have more training this week, and teach my first class on Thursday night. The teaching seems to be very straightforward and very much "by the book." There is a set formula of warm up, exercises, games, and review for all classes at my school, so that makes it fairly easy for me to plan! It is my responsibility to come up with activities and games to enhance the learning. (So to all my teacher friends back home who have offered, I may be calling on you for some ideas!)

In other news, I got a cell phone set up all by myself which I was very proud of. It's only .16/min to the U.S. so don't be suprised if you hear from me on birthdays & holidays! I've been using skype a lot, too. So if you have that and I don't have your username, let me know! In terms of food...I've been going to the night markets some. The fresh fruit is great, and they also make you fresh squeezed juice which is amazing! I am not crazy about Chinese food these days (I'm more into Thai and sushi), so I haven't eaten too much of it yet. I attempted to get some chicken from the market on Friday before the storm, but then I got scared of the way it looked and threw it away. Once I get into the apt. I will (maybe) start some "cooking." Today I am excited to venture out to the Dunkin' Doughnuts I found on Friday!

Well, that's it for now. I will try to post fairly often! Please email me, too. I want to hear from all of you!