I'm back in Asia again...
I started my trip in Bangkok with the intention of travelling south in Thailand before crossing into Malaysia. That plan didn't really pan out. I ended up spending the whole week in Bangkok. I don't have a lot more to say about the thai capital ontop of what I've said in emails from my last trip. I love the city and I'll probably go back there again this year. The Thai food is a major part of the draw for me and I wish there was more, and cheaper thai restaurants here in Taipei.
After more than a week in Thailand I flew to Kuala lumpur to visit some friends who live in a very shitty yet fun guesthouse that I've stayed at several times before. Once again didn't do anything all that interesting in KL but I had a good time and I was happy to be there.
I arrived in Taipei on a monday afternoon and went directly to the same hostel I stayed at during my last visit. I chose to stay there again because it was a very social hostel last time and I knew the staff there would be very helpful with assisting me in getting organized. There were several other people at the hostel who were also job-hunting and had been doind so for weeks. I was a bit discouraged to hear that but it seems to be that one of them is just really lazy and another has a thick scottish accent which makes it a wee bit hard to find a teaching job.
I started looking for both jobs and apartments as soon as I arrived. I managed to find a furnished 3 bedroom apartment shared with 2 Canadian english teachers for only $ 265 per month but had to wait a week to move in.
My first job in Taiwan came via the staff at the hostel. One of the girls who works there knew of a movie shoot that was looking for a young foreign man for a few hours work.
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| Tuk-tuks in BKK |
I started my trip in Bangkok with the intention of travelling south in Thailand before crossing into Malaysia. That plan didn't really pan out. I ended up spending the whole week in Bangkok. I don't have a lot more to say about the thai capital ontop of what I've said in emails from my last trip. I love the city and I'll probably go back there again this year. The Thai food is a major part of the draw for me and I wish there was more, and cheaper thai restaurants here in Taipei.
After more than a week in Thailand I flew to Kuala lumpur to visit some friends who live in a very shitty yet fun guesthouse that I've stayed at several times before. Once again didn't do anything all that interesting in KL but I had a good time and I was happy to be there.
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| China-town in KL |
I arrived in Taipei on a monday afternoon and went directly to the same hostel I stayed at during my last visit. I chose to stay there again because it was a very social hostel last time and I knew the staff there would be very helpful with assisting me in getting organized. There were several other people at the hostel who were also job-hunting and had been doind so for weeks. I was a bit discouraged to hear that but it seems to be that one of them is just really lazy and another has a thick scottish accent which makes it a wee bit hard to find a teaching job.
I started looking for both jobs and apartments as soon as I arrived. I managed to find a furnished 3 bedroom apartment shared with 2 Canadian english teachers for only $ 265 per month but had to wait a week to move in.
My first job in Taiwan came via the staff at the hostel. One of the girls who works there knew of a movie shoot that was looking for a young foreign man for a few hours work.
Being a "young foreign man," I was perfectly suited for the role and ready to make my debut in the Taiwanese movie industry. The movie was about a Taiwanese aboriginal dancer who makes it big at the end by being recruited by an American dance company. My role was that of one of the recruiters for the dance school and they had me dress up in a tight pink t-shirt and a women's sweater. The director said I need to look artsy but I'm pretty sure he meant gay...
I didn't have any lines in the movie but I had to make facial expressions ranging from "friendly smile" to "shock and awe". The movie is supposed to be on Taiwanese TV at some point this year and I was paid about $65 cad for 3 hours of sitting and making faces. It was pretty awesome.
Not long after my acting debut I began to recieve calls from English schools wanting me to come in for interviews. At my first interview I had to give a 20 minute teaching demo by playing flashcard games with 3-5 year olds. I was pretty nervous but I thought I did ok. Just after I had finished that interview I recieved a call from another school that wanted me to substitute teach the following day for 3 days in a row. I jumped at the opportunity to get some experience teaching.
The day of my interview was also the day I moved out of the hostel and into my apartment. The apartment is in a great student area of Taipei and I lucked out with my roomates as they are great to hang out with and both are teachers here so are full of useful info to help me get set-up. Both my roomates are Canadian guys,, one from Nova Scotia and the other from Saskatchewan.
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| My Room |
I had my first day teaching last Wednesday and I was expectedly nervous. Everything went pretty smoothly and I had local chinese-speaking co-teachers in each class to assist me. Over the next two days the teaching only got easier and getting paid in cash on Friday felt pretty good.
I guess I did alright as a teacher because the principal called me again on Saturday and asked if I could work Monday and Tuesday as well. So now I have 5 days teaching experience and I have another substitute job for this thursday and Friday teaching 4-5 year olds. I also have an audition this week for an English learning video and an interview with another school tomorrow.
So to sum it up, life is good here and everything has been really easy thus far.
Some random things I've noticed in Taipei:
Some random things I've noticed in Taipei:
-Free wifi everywhere: on buses, in metro stations and some random streets
-Garbage trucks here sound like icecream trucks in North America but the song signals people to bring their garbage out to the truck. I have met Chinese people with ridicules names: ie. White, Swallow, Pinky and one of my female co-teachers... Chubby.
-Garbage trucks here sound like icecream trucks in North America but the song signals people to bring their garbage out to the truck. I have met Chinese people with ridicules names: ie. White, Swallow, Pinky and one of my female co-teachers... Chubby.
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