Shobz in Taiwan

Documenting my year as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Taipei, Taiwan.

[hoorayfortaipei]

Hi, newcomers!

I embarrassingly haven’t touched this space in a while, but was reminded today that this blog actually exists AND is searchable on Google, meaning many of you have stumbled upon it while doing Fulbright research. 

A big congratulations to all the new ETA recipients! I’ll try to do a few posts before the end of the year in regards to packing/unexpected things pre-departure, but in case you have any questions, you are more than welcome to reach me at [email protected]. :)

[hoorayfortaipei]

Without Janitors, Students Are In Charge Of Keeping School Shipshape

In Japan, many schools don't employ janitors. Instead, they ask the students to pitch in with the daily upkeep. Some U.S. schools are doing the same.

Not only a daily routine in Japan, but also in Taiwan.

(3:00-3:25 PM is cleaning time, and usually by then kids are so tired of learning that they really look forward to it!)

[hoorayfortaipei]

This Isn’t Real

Three months ago, I arrived in Taiwan and wrote a blog post outlining my fear of leaving America in its then-political state; a fear of living in a foreign country and representing the United States while blatant racism and xenophobia (to name just a few of the egregious things) were espoused by a leading political candidate. While nervous, I was hopeful, and was confident in my abilities to show that America could be multifaceted in its values; that while there had been setbacks, America was still progressive and inclusive. We had the first female presidential nominee, and that woman was the most experienced presidential candidate in American history– what glass ceiling!? It could hold no bounds. 

But I don’t know who I’m representing anymore. I don’t know what to tell my students or what to tell my local co-teachers when they ask about the election. This can’t possibly be America, and yet here we are. I woke up this morning just as votes were beginning to be counted. Like in August: nervous, yet hopeful. In my head I already imagined talking excitedly about the election with my American Culture Club later that day; crying joyfully about electing the first female president, crying joyfully about electing an amazing candidate. 

Instead, this has been my hardest day in Taiwan: impossible to teach without feeling nauseated, feeling guilty to even smile, let alone give vocabulary lessons my normal disgustingly overly-peppy bad acting. Big apologies to 丙班, because I could barely keep it together at the beginning of class. And I can barely keep it together now. This. Is. Not. America. This can’t be America, because the America that I know not only accepts me, but as a biracial American, also accepts my heritage. A country that acknowledges that I am a woman and that was making strides towards gender parity. A country that accepts my friends and their heritage, and that was slowly accepting their genders and sexualities. While the man in the White House doesn't actually define who the American people are, to foreigners, it does. 

For many people in my immediate circle, it might be easy to shrug and try to keep optimistic and wonder what’s the worst that could possibly happen– probably nothing, right? To laugh and joke out of nervousness and say that Trump can’t get away with many of the things he’s promised. But with not only Trump as president, but also a Republican House AND Senate? We can be optimistic, but we shouldn’t be foolish– this is dangerous. Where will our years of fighting and progress go when a new Supreme Court Justice is sworn in and LGBTQ+ rights are put back on the table? If you, yourself, are not an immigrant to this country, think of your friends. Think of their families. Think of your friends who look different, even though their families might have lived here for years. Think of your girlfriends, who may no longer have access to free contraception. Think of those who struggle with mental illness, think of your mother who might get paid way less than your father, even though she deserves the same and worked longer hours. Think of expats, like me, who will have fewer opportunities to work overseas and show others what Americans are really like. If none of this applies to you, by god, think of your investments that are plummeting as the rest of the world’s economy reacts to this news. While you may be insulated from the immediate effects of a Trump Presidency, know that others are not, and please fight for them. A Trump Presidency may not be the end of the world, but for some individuals affected by his decisions, it certainly may seem like it. 

Americans, please vote in every election, not just the Presidential one. Stand up for bigotry in everyday life. Educate your peers. Stay optimistic, but not foolish.

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."

Ending upset garbled mumblings now. This has been a very long day in Taiwan. 

[hoorayfortaipei]

I realize that I am hopelessly behind on blog posts... I think at this point I’m simply too overwhelmed by the amount of photos I’ve accumulated, and therefore haven’t been posting too much. I promise I will get back to actually blogging soon!

In other news, my 5th grade class has decided they’re going to sing “It’s a Small World” for the English competition coming up at the beginning of December. I think I might possibly die from the incessant singing. 

Here’s a Chinese version if you’re so inclined to watch LOL

[hoorayfortaipei]

(From my Facebook)

I have been teaching in Taiwan for almost two months now, and as a brand new teacher, it’s naturally had more lows than highs: sometimes lesson plans that I spent hours on turn out to be complete flops, sometimes my students don’t understand a word I’m saying, and sometimes I want to rip my own hair out because I know that the required material I’m teaching is just so boring or impractical. I teach at a performing arts school which means that learning English is not always very high on students’ lists of priorities. Every morning, students wake up at 5:30 AM, practice their craft (traditional opera, music, or acrobatics) until 8:30 AM, and then have a mix of classes until almost 8:30 at night. Take that, and then add in a major performance (in front of President Tsai Ing-wen and the rest of Taiwan) that everyone has been practicing for since August… this leaves exhausted and distracted students, which can be very frustrating when everyone is either asleep or daydreaming in class. Despite this frustration, I am happy that they are so tired and distracted– this means that they are throwing their entire hearts and souls into their performance, and that was SO evident today. I am so, so humbled and grateful to have the privilege to teach such incredible, talented, and passionate young people. My heart is full to the brim with pride to see the result of weeks and weeks of hard work, and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings. To my students, thank you for giving your craft your all: I wouldn’t expect anything less. You are truly amazing. ❤️ Happy National Day, Taiwan! 🇹🇼

[hoorayfortaipei]

Life Lately, According to my iPhone (9/26-10/2)

This will actually be a mishmash of random photos from the past three weeks because nothing much interesting happened this week. 

(1-2) I went to Taiwan Designer’s Week last Sunday with Sonia and some other friends, which was a big expo at the Songshan Artist’s & Creative Park featuring a lot of really cool industrial/product design! The light in the picture is turned on by the power of pumping a blood pressure pump-like device. The second picture features some art that was in both the expo and the MRT station nearby– these drawings were done by special needs students in Taiwan, and I think they’re absolutely gorgeous! I want to cover my wall in the print!

(3) This is from a while ago, but my lovely aunt sent ANOTHER care package several weeks ago of brownies! Such a welcome surprise right before our first typhoon!

(4) Another highlight from that same week– I caught a pikachu when I went to Maokong for the second time with Zack. Very rare :) 

(5) This sign was from the hostel I stayed in with Zack. So happy that this “Slow Descending Device” was not needed. I guess it’s better than having no form of security, but I think I would be completely panicked if I had to use it!

(6) A cute matching couple in the MRT station. <3

(7) We have made a very quick and unexpected friendship with one of the security guards at our school, Chen Li. I heard from the previous ETAs that he loves coffee, so I asked him about it one time when we were coming back from school... he immediately invited us in for several cups even though it was 9:30 PM! We speak mainly in Chinese, but he knows several English words and seems excited to learn a little more English and also learn about American culture. His coffee-brewing is at a whole different level: everything is super precise, with the beans weighed on this cute little portable food scale, the temperature is measured to exactness, and everything is timed. The coffee is amazing, and I’m slowly learning to drink coffee black! Very exciting. Chen Li is the sweetest. 

(8-10) Scenes from the awful typhoon we had this past week. While we got not one, but two days off, my students have become extremely difficult to motivate, especially when we have another holiday coming up this next weekend. This typhoon was bad enough that we were completely cooped up (definitely not safe to go outside), so I spent my first day watching the debate (ugh), netflix, and other tv shows. We don't have a kitchen and the school cafeteria was closed, so we were stuck with eating instant noodles and my stockpile of cereal bars. (8) shows my stockpile of receipts– here in Taiwan, the government started an initiative a couple of years ago to persuade shopkeepers to keep track of their stock and give customers receipts by printing lottery numbers on each receipt you get back. Every two months, the government issues the winning lottery numbers: you can win quite a bit of money if you hit the jackpot (all numbers matching), but it’s also apparently pretty common to win around $200 NT for matching the last three digits of any of the numbers the government issues. Sadly, I did not win this time, but I am determined to win for the next cycle! (9) shows some of the typhoon damage to a potted plant outside the teachers’ offices. :( Megi was a really terrible typhoon, and several people died because it was so destructive in coastal areas. I’m really hoping that there aren’t any more this season. 

[hoorayfortaipei]

Maokong Gondola (8.7.16)

This is an incredibly delayed post, but waaaay back in August, our lovely coordinator, Sonia (and fellow Fulbright staffer, Vicky) took Celia and I on a little adventure to the Maokong Gondola! This was a really great first introduction to Taipei– although by that point we had been in Taiwan for a week, we had been back and forth from Taipei to Yilan, and hadn’t yet had much time to explore the city. 

Sonia and Vicky! They are the cutest. ^_^

The Maokong Gondola is located at the end of Line 1 (Brown) on the MRT, at the Taipei Zoo station. You can line up for either a normal gondola or a glass-bottomed one, although I think the glass-bottomed ones might be a little more expensive and the queue is much longer. 

The decorations on the sides of the gondola are not only cute, but also help acrophobics with their fears!

Being extremely afraid of heights, Maokong made me nervous. I sucked it up and did it anyway (and luckily convinced everyone to stick with the non-glass ones) and actually found it to be super enjoyable! I definitely think it’s because the stickers on the sides make you feel like you’re more contained, although I’m sure some people might feel like it blocks the view. 

This temple is supposedly “ruled” by a goddess who hates love– you’re not supposed to visit it with a significant other, because then you’ll be cursed by the goddess and split up! 

The view from the top of the gondola is amazing– here you can see it raining over Taipei City. 

What’s even more amazing is the view once you get off the gondola at the top:

If you turn left when you get off, you end up reaching several windy paths that lead to several scenic overlooks and cafés. 

One of the best treats at the top of the gondola! Matcha soft serve with the cutest (and tastiest) cat cookie on top. 

There’s also a tea museum! The Maokong area is famous for its tea. 

There are also several nature hikes with many stairs. Here’s a picture of us struggling:

Overal, Maokong is a must-do if you come to Taipei. Since August, I’ve gone back again, and it was still just as fun and magical as the first time! If you go at different times of the day/different weather, the view can be completely different! Here’s one from the last time I went, a couple of weeks ago:

[hoorayfortaipei]

This Woman Ate A Pork Bun In A Typhoon And Now Everyone Loves Her

A true hero.

I can’t get over this. 

[hoorayfortaipei]

Spent part of my typhoon day kicking my butt into gear and finally editing this video!

I realized it’s been exactly one month since all the Taipei ETAs went to Kuo Yuan Ye Bakery to learn how to make Pineapple Cakes. Pineapple Cakes are one of Taiwan’s specialties, consisting of shortbread and pineapple filling (like a really tasty, pineapple-y Fig Newton). While it was more mixing pre-prepared ingredients together rather than actually learning how to make the cakes, it was a fun bonding experience... and I ended up eating pineapple cakes all week! :) 

[hoorayfortaipei]

On Learning Chinese (the Taiwanese way)

 On the way to Chinese class last Thursday, I looked up as I was reviewing the lesson for the week. To my left was a girl studying English, and man in front of me was studying French.

Come this upcoming Saturday, I will have been in Taiwan for two months. This isn’t yet the longest I’ve lived in a foreign country (see: Shobz in China), and life here has treated me pretty well so far. Culture shock has been minimal (potentially even nonexistent) and I’m truly enjoying my life here. Taipei is such a wonderful place to live for the friendliness and generosity of its people; the food is wonderful and there are millions of things to do; the city is clean, convenient, ridiculously safe, and accessible. (If you didn’t know: Taiwan was just ranked the number one destination for expats!)

Despite ease of accessibility (I would say you could get around just fine without an ounce of Mandarin), I am continuing my Chinese studies at National Taiwan Normal University’s (NTNU) Mandarin Training Center (MTC)– conversing with shopkeepers about what food to order isn’t cutting it in terms of improving my language skills. Unfortunately my teaching schedule is all over the place; Mondays and Wednesdays I facilitate culture and conversation clubs that stretch till 7:00 PM. This means I couldn’t enroll in MTC’s famous 15 hours/week Chinese training. Intense but great for improving! Instead I’m taking (outrageously expensive) one-on-one lessons for 4 hours/week. 

This has actually been godsend, because I didn’t really realize how little I knew in terms of language usage differences between Mainlanders and Taiwanese. Some of the major differences that I’ve picked up on are...

When you say 谢谢 (thank you) here, the appropriate “you’re welcome” response is 不會 instead of 不客气.

垃圾桶 (trashcan) is pronounced all funky like le se tong instead of la ji tong. Obviously trash is also pronounced le se instead of la ji. 

People don’t say 早上好 (good morning). It is 早安.

I usually say MRT in reference to the metro system here, but in China you would say 地铁 . Taiwanese say 捷運.

There are definitely many other spoken differences, but these are some of the common ones I can think of off the top of my head. 

I love my Chinese teacher and the curriculum we’re learning– hooray for just-updated textbooks! The textbook content is very specific to young Taiwanese, discussing a lot of modern topics like online dating and pressure from parents. This is really helpful because most of the Chinese I’ve learned in the past two years has been related to China’s foreign affairs or businesses, so learning some actually-useful-for-daily-life words has been great. 

Another huge change has been adjusting to learning traditional characters versus simplified. Many of the words in my textbook I already know, but I feel so dumb because I can’t recognize the word in it’s traditional form! It’s been slow and I’m working on recognition more than writing (the perks of having one-on-one classes: being able to focus on what you want in class), but it’s been rewarding to begin noticing patterns and common changed words.  

Anyway, I’ve been keeping a running list of cool/useful words on my phone, most of which I learned outside of Chinese class (ha, mainly at restaurants!)...

奶昔：milkshake

河粉：rice noodles (usually in reference to vietnamese or thai food)

你很乖: you're so smart! so well-behaved and diligent! (used when talking to students/kids)

辛苦: refers to hard work and sweat, but with good pay-offs! working hard in a good way. 

妖怪: demon/goblin (this I learned because a teacher was telling me about this popular dance) 

蘿蔔絲餅: radish pancakes

帳篷: tent (this we learned because our lovely and generous school guard, Chen Li, has graciously asked us to go camping/fishing with him in Hualien!)

Blah出來：a form of Chinglish which means to vent– literally "Blah coming out"

偏見: bias/stereotype (from fascinating dinner conversations with friends) 

Although I swear I could hardcore study Chinese for the rest of my life and never reach an acceptable level of proficiency, I definitely think living in Taiwan is helping a little bit! 

[hoorayfortaipei]

Life Lately, According to my iPhone (9/11-9/25)

The last two weeks have been wonderful, albeit incredibly busy, and therefore I completely missed my weekly roundup of life events. Some of the excitement included school visitors, Mid-Autumn/Moon Festival (aka a blissfully long weekend), ONE OF MY COLLEGE ROOMMATES VISITING, two typhoons, my first full week of classes, unfortunately getting a little sick (I feel much better now though!), and tons and tons of really good food. Click below to read more about the last two weeks!

(1-3) The Wednesday before the Moon Festival weekend (9/15-9/19) our school welcomed several foreign visitors who attended the APEC Innovation for Women and Economic Development Project Conclusion Meeting (that’s a mouthful). Our school is sometimes a tourist attraction for foreign visitors, and guests are often treated to a tour of the school, a performance, and an arts & crafts activity/opportunities to learn more about Beijing/Taiwanese/Hakka Opera. Celia and I were asked to attend these gatherings to help welcome the group, which meant we also go to participate in some of the activities! (1) is a picture of Celia, myself, and Iris (one of our lovely students!) with some masks we painted. (2) shows two of the APEC women who volunteered to get dressed up as the Monkey King (popular character in opera) and a character who’s supposed to be the most beautiful woman on earth. (3) is from the tour of the acrobatic facilities– our students are so talented!

(4) The Mid-Autumn/Moon Festival is celebrated all over East Asia in ethnically Chinese and Vietnamese countries, and always falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar year. While different countries have different ways to celebrate, Taiwan keeps it pretty simple with traditions such as barbecuing, “looking at the moon”, and eating pomelos (the fruit pictured– it tastes like a grapefruit). “Looking at the moon” didn’t work out so well this year because the holiday was quite literally dampened by two typhoons that sandwiched the holiday. 

(5) It typhooned. This picture is from the second typhoon, which was mild but ended up hitting Taipei (unlike the first one, which was the strongest super typhoon, but hit Taiwan’s southern coast). When I first heard about typhoons, I got excited, because it’s an excuse to get off school and stay holed up in your room, eating candy and watching Netflix. They are not fun, because (at least in Taipei) you rarely get off school/work, and you can’t go outside because it’s either too miserable or too dangerous. As you can see, Taipei 101 (the 5th tallest building in the world) was completely shrouded by mist and clouds. 

(6) My college roommate, Zack, came to visit during the holiday weekend! Zack is also an ETA, but in Macau, so not too far. :) More on that visit later!

(7) When I first arrived in Taiwan, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t eat ice cream the whole year that I was here. That lasted a good week, when I easily succumbed to the wonderful refreshing green tea soft serve in Maokong. Since that moment, it has been incredibly difficult to resist any sort of ice cream, especially since it’s ubiquitous (very easily purchased at the various 7-11′s and Family Marts that are literally on every corner) and super cheap. Luckily after I took this photo, I haven’t touched ice cream since (IT’S BEEN FIVE DAYS), although I’ve found that my second vice here is a hopeless addiction to coffee shops (and trying to go to a different one each time). This is possibly much worse because it is much more expensive. Also more on that later. 

(8-9) Every Wednesday, Celia and I co-teach an American Culture Club (#ACC) for our senior and junior high students. The past couple weeks have been pretty quiet because many students are required to practice for their 10/10 performance, so we’ve taken the opportunity to do more fun things with the small group. This past week we gave a lesson on Hispanic Heritage Month, which started in the U.S. last week! We made nachos with them (we don’t have access to a kitchen, so unfortunately this is the best we could muster) and I also taught my first solo salsa lesson! 

(10) This was back from Monday when Zack was still in town, but I thought this was the prettiest sunset ever. Taiwan is so, so beautiful, and I’m really loving living here. :) 

[hoorayfortaipei]

Life Lately, According to my iPhone (9/4-9/10)

(1) My students continue to be super impressive. I walked out of class on Thursday and was greeted by this sight. Many of them are practicing super hard for their upcoming 10/10 performance! 

(2) Celia and I have befriended a wonderful professor at the other (木柵, Muzha) campus of our school. His name is Bear and he’s a professor of set design! He has asked us to help him with IELTS prep for upcoming graduate school, so we will try to meet with him once a week. In return, he treated us to lunch at this cute Japanese café near our school. 

(3) Celia and I taught American food during our American Culture Club meeting this week, discussing the top 10 foods Americans consume each year, the heterogeneity of cuisine in America, and also several “weird” foods Americans eat. We asked the students to brainstorm what they thought some of those foods were (we gave them a list of words), and then they drew pictures. I loved this one, particularly the drawing of the Easy Cheese. :) 

(4) My 5th graders were giggling before class on Thursday, and I soon found out that this picture on the whiteboard was one of me and Celia. Celia is 6′ so I think you can assume who is whom. 

(5) ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: receiving school uniforms! The school generously gave us lovely “monogrammed” (that’s my Chinese name) short-sleeved athletic shirts, long-sleeved shirts, and this awesome jacket! We also received pants but we’re not going to talk about those... they are so small!!!! 😳😳😳

(6) I had a really bad class on Tuesday and was feeling pretty bummed so I decided to go to one of the Eslite bookstores here. An odd, but super relaxing activity. I feel a little deprived of bookstores since my hometown Barnes & Noble closed several years ago (yes, still salty about that), so it was nice to wander around. Eslite obviously mainly carries Chinese language books, but they also have a really nice selection of English language books. Many of them are really beautifully designed/illustrated, like this Penguin Classics coffee table book. I really appreciate how Taipei seems so design-centered: aesthetically-pleasing objects are a big priority here. 

(7) & (8) I needed something to do after registering for Chinese classes last Thursday, so I wandered to Voodoo Doughnuts by myself (re: bitchy but semi-accurate from time to time... I LIKE DOING THINGS BY MYSELF OKAY). Voodoo is a really famous small chain from Oregon, and does “specialty” donuts aka fancy flavors (at a stupid high price point). They were okay, in Voodoo’s defense I went kind of late so maybe they had been sitting out for a while? I got the maple bacon one (pictured) and then a Taipei Cream for Celia who said it was okay. I’d go back because I want to try more flavors, but I would say it’s not necessary to visit (at least the one in Taipei). 

(9) UH SO also after registering for Chinese classes on Thursday, I wanted to find a coffee shop to wait out the impending rain (black clouds that started at 3:00 PM and still weren’t gone by the time I got out of registration at 5:30 PM). I google maps’ed coffee shops in the area and found La Belle Coffee, which had really great reviews. I headed there straight away, and in my rush to avoid the rain, didn’t try to decipher the traditional characters left in the reviews (reminder: at the moment I’m semi-illiterate because I can only read simplified). I got there, and was greeted by someone who asked me if I wanted a table, then asked me if I would be drinking coffee (yes? it’s a coffee shop?). I sat down and then she asked me what kind of coffee I would like, and I asked if they had a menu. She said no, and proceeded to ask me a million questions (what kind of acidity do you like? bitter or sweet? etc etc etc) and I didn’t know how to wiggle out of this situation because I already sat down and I didn’t want to get stuck in the rain. She then said she’d prepare me some coffee from somewhere and I was like yes sure, can you put milk and sugar in it? BIG NO NO, this coffee shop only serves black, so I was like uhhhh it’s fine and nodded and smiled along. A man came out from behind the “bar” area with the bottom of a grinder, and asked me to smell the ground beans (good!) then did something and said something and had me smell again (not as good smelling), and then did something to them again, said something about acidity, and then had me smell again (still not as good smelling). Long story (not-so-short), I got myself roped into this fancy coffee tasting thing (he showed me the correct way to taste the coffee, too– it’s a weird slurping noise as you could expect), BUT ON THE PLUS SIDE, I think I am finally able to drink coffee black! Small steps towards being an adult. However, the coffee was $250 NTD (~$8 US) so that wasn’t so fun for my not-so-adult wallet. 

(10) This past weekend was our first meeting of all the Taiwan Fulbright Grantees here in Taipei. More on that later... but I will say that the weather has been atrocious here the past couple of days. We were supposed to go on “cultural visit” yesterday afternoon (i.e. mini field trip) but the rain was so bad it got cancelled. Earlier this week, some of us had offered to volunteer for the Daniel Pearl Day music festival hosted by the American Institute in Taiwan. Although the rain was so bad, the event was still held, and we had to at least show up at the event. It would’ve been really cool if the weather wasn’t so crummy– lots of good food (empanadas!!! what!!?), the music was good, and lots of friends were there. Anyway, this was my first experience wearing a poncho, and I will say that it was incredibly convenient (albeit sweltering). 

[hoorayfortaipei]

China’s tyranny of characters

The Communist Party wants all of China to speak Mandarin. One reason is to prevent places like Hong Kong doing a Brexit

“Characters may be beautiful and ooze history but they still have trouble absorbing anything new, unconventional or foreign, or representing anything said in slang or dialect. Europeans solved this problem by starting to write not in Latin but in their local language. Cantonese is the only Chinese language that has come close to accomplishing this (helped greatly by the separateness of Hong Kong under British rule). A host of special characters represent unique syllables of Cantonese, enabling books and magazines to be printed in Cantonese rather than Mandarin, and fuelling the party’s ire at Hong Kongers intent on asserting their distinct identity. But the fact that other Chinese regions have been unable to do so has helped central authorities avoid European-style fragmentation. “

[hoorayfortaipei]

Not a huge fan...

...of the way this tumblr theme is looking once there’s a bunch of content. There might be some changes to the layout of the blog; I apologize if it’s a little schizophrenic-looking in the next couple of days. 

[hoorayfortaipei]

The Lasting Impact of Mispronouncing Students' Names

Pronouncing students' names incorrectly can isolate students and affect learning. A new campaign is raising awareness of this often-neglected issue.

One of the things I’ve struggled with the most in the past two weeks of teaching is connecting with my students– something that some of my co-teachers seem to place less emphasis on than others. The most shocking part of the first week was that I had to barrel right into the first lesson, with only a quick introduction on my part, and little to no time for me to ask my students their interests and expectations, let alone their names. 

For me, remembering names is an easy way to make students (or really anyone) feel valued, but this has suddenly become a huge (perhaps insurmountable) challenge because all I have is a list of Chinese characters and no way to identify which student matches the name. I’m slowly learning and memorizing, but so far I haven’t found a good way to learn all ~200 students’ names without having classroom time to do so. 

I thought this article was really interesting because, while I never had the issue of my name being mispronounced, my name was (and still is) constantly misspelled. I used to not correct anyone because I thought it didn’t matter (at least they remembered the sound of it!) but in the past couple years I’ve placed more emphasis on makings sure people get it right for me, and that I get it right for others. A name reflects so much more than people think, and mispronouncing it or spelling it wrong means that others aren’t getting the full picture of who you are. (Thanks, Tab, for making me realize this.) 

This article also brings up another point that I find fascinating, particularly given the current cultural context I’m living and working in. Most of my students are given English names by prior local English teachers, with the insistence that a) they need to have one, and b) they need to pick something easy to spell and easy to say... all for the benefit of going to an English-speaking country and not having foreigners butcher your name. Even though I do understand why teachers here prescribe this, I still find it ludicrous. Chinese is hard to pronounce, but by changing your name simply to fit the needs of others... you’re wiping away your identity! 

I wish I had had the time at the beginning of the semester to ask students what they want me to call them, not what their name is. If they want to go by their English name, that’s fine by me. But people should be addressed by the name they want to be called, not by another name chosen by someone else. It’s who you are. :) 

[hoorayfortaipei]

Life Lately, According to my iPhone (8/27-9/3)

(1) This week was a tough one, being my first week of teaching. While I’ll elaborate on my first week at some point, I will say that a lot of the difficulties came from (obviously) unexpected differences in the way things work. Students are more disruptive, my LETs have different expectations of what my role is, the way one teaches is extremely textbook-geared and leaves little room for cultural lessons or fun activities. All the same, the week ended on a positive note. My students are sweet at heart, even if they do act out pretty frequently. Here is a picture of some of my 5th grade cuties. 

(2) This picture was actually from last week, but it shows all of our co-teachers (plus our Dean of Academic Affairs and two people who led a teaching workshop). They are all so great!

(3)  I received such a wonderful surprise this week– my aunt sent me literally a year’s supply of cereal bars of varying kids. Set for breakfast for the rest of the year! Thank you, Shirley! I almost never received packages in college, so all this special treatment has been so great. I really appreciate it! 

(4) Despite having a rough beginning of the week, it ended on a really nice note. Here’s a snapchat after I had a really great class. Shoutout to the music department for having such wonderfully behaved and attentive students!

(5) Our talented students are super busy right now because they’re all prepping for a big performance on 10/10 day (October 10th), the Taiwanese equivalent of 4th of July. I was told that I shouldn’t take pictures yet because they haven’t practiced enough, but I think they’re doing a great job already! So talented!

(6) We are lucky enough to get free school meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). So far Celia and I have only tried lunch and dinner, but it’s pretty mushy and blah, usually consisting of a rice, some overcooked veggies, and some tofu stir fry. This was what the first day’s lunch looked like, but apparently having watermelon is a special treat for the first day. Overall just happy we can save some money though, so no HUGE complaints about the food... yet. 

(7 & 8) This is also the week where we’re all really getting sick of eating lunch boxes and school lunch-type food. GIVE ME ALL THE BURGERS. On Friday night we headed to a local cafe, and luckily got a taste of home by ordering mozzarella sticks and a salad. Small comforts. :) 

(9) Spotted: little heart shaved on this dog’s butt. This really surprised me, but tons of people have dogs here. Some people even stick them in strollers and push them around. A lot of them shave their dogs with patterns like these, or shave them so they look funny and have an extra poofy head, but small body. 

(10) On Saturday we spent a great day with Sonia and Vicky (and met really great new friends, too!) who took us to Sanxia (an area of New Taipei City). Sanxia has a lot of great things, including Indigo dyeing workshops (like tie-dyeing but with indigo dye). Sonia, the ever-crafty, made this fantastic Psyduck! Mine was pretty lame in comparison, just some geometric patterns. 

[hoorayfortaipei]

How to get a Fulbright ETA Grant (The Unofficial, Non-Expert Guide)

Hello! As many of the in-school scholarship deadlines are coming up soon (September 12 for all my UVA people!), I figured it might be helpful to put together some advice from my application process, along with some other tips I received from other people. I am by no means an expert on getting this grant (a lot of this “guide” is pure opinion), and while I did receive one, I wholeheartedly believe a good chunk of the application process rests on plain luck. All the same, I hope this is encouraging and at least semi-helpful for those of you considering to apply! 

Step 1: Decide whether Fulbright is right for you. (MOST IMPORTANT!!) 

Read up on the program. The Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Awards place grantees all over the world to provide assistance to local English teachers. Grantees also serve as cultural ambassadors for the U.S. during their stay in the host country. Grant lengths are typically about one year long, although some can be as short as six months. Some countries give you an opportunity to extend your grant length to two years. 

While the Fulbright name on résumé is pretty freaking great, it is not worth expending the energy on the application, waiting around forever, and then spending a year away from home if you’re not committed to the actual end goals of the program. If you don’t want to teach, if you don’t like little kids (more on this later though), if you don’t like being away from home, if you can’t represent the U.S. well, if you can’t survive in a foreign country for that long without some of the things you’re used to in the U.S....Fulbright is not for you. And that’s okay. There are a million other opportunities (domestic or abroad) to do something similar. It’s not worth wasting your time being miserable for a year if you don’t think you can do it for various reasons. While it might seem glamorous and fun to be in a foreign country for an extended period of time, the bottom line is that teaching is hard. While Fulbright is pretty good at ensuring that ETA countries are safe and not State Department-level hardship posts, there are some places you can end up that are pretty isolated and lack support. Sacrificing your mental well-being for cool Instagram photos is not worth it. 

That being said: moving out of your comfort zone is good. Do some self-reflection (I’ll be repeating this a lot) and decide whether pursuing an ETA would be manageable and lead to positive personal growth! 

This was some reflection from one of my friends who was a 2015-2016 Vietnam ETA:

“Everyone single person I've met has a bunch of the following 3 qualities:

1) Language skills- one dude is fluent, another 3 people are conversational, but lack reading and writing. Many others (maybe 2/3 of those remaining) speak an unusual foreign language (Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Nepali). I'm one of maybe 2 or 3 people with no foreign language skills. Believe me, now that we have started learning Vietnamese lessons, it shows.

2) Teaching ability- some (but not all, and certainly the people who don't have language skills) are certified teachers. Three have taught professionally before (5th grade teacher, 11th grade teacher and one dude who taught in Japan), and others are TEFL certified. Most aren't (I'd say maybe 7 out of the 14), but certainly most of the none-language people are.

3) Experience living abroad- many, many, many of the people have lived abroad for a substantial period of time. I'm not talking semester at sea (although, I, and one other girl both did that). I'm talking about a dude who spent a semester in nepal, then a semester in Uganda and then the summer in Buenos Aires. One girl spent a semester in Hanoi. Another spent a semester in Greece.”

If you can fall into any one of these categories, Fulbright is probably a pretty good fit for you. I’ve seen the same qualities in the Taiwan ETAs as well. 

Step 2: Pick your country. 

The ETA program is structured so that you have to apply for the grant in a specific country. 

I think most people who pursue the ETA program tend to do it because they want to live in a specific region or country for an extended period of time. Sometimes others choose the grant for the program/teaching aspect itself. That being said, take some time to look at the possible countries to get a grant. There might be countries you never thought of visiting. There also might be countries you thought you could go to, but that don’t have a program (e.g. there is no ETA program in Mainland China). There are also language requirements for some countries. If you want to work with a specific age-group, note that some countries work with primary school, some university, some secondary, etc. If you hate little kids, find a country that is university-teaching only! 

I also highly encourage you to look at the Grant Application Statistics. In the 2016-2016 year, Andorra only had 8 applicants, and 5 of those received a grant. Those are pretty good odds! If you’re nervous that you might be a poor candidate, try to work the system a little and see where you might have the best chances. 

Step 3: Familiarize yourself with the application process. 

Check out deadlines: the 2017-2018 deadline is October 11, 2016 at 5:00 PM. If you decide to submit an application through your school (highly encouraged), most institutions have internal deadlines. I’m not sure how it works at other schools, but at UVA, you submitted your application through the web portal by the internal deadline– this didn’t have to be your final application, because the school coordinator would read your application for a general sense of whether you were prepared, then you have the school interview, then the online portal was opened back up to you to do final edits. You have to re-submit your application by the official deadline! 

Check our the application timeline: note that if Fulbright is just one of your options out of other jobs and grad school, you don’t hear back at least till January/February (for first round) and final decisions aren’t made until anytime between March and June. This means that making final decisions on grad school deposits can be tough if it’s May and you still haven’t heard anything from the applied-to host country. 

The application itself consists of the typical administrative questions, some very short answer responses, and then two essays (Statement of Grant Purpose and Personal Essay). You also have to have three professional references. ASK YOUR REFERENCES NOW. Depending on which country you apply to, you also might have to submit a language evaluation. Give this person (usually a foreign language teacher) a heads up now. 

Step 4: Start your application.

It’s almost September [by the time I’m actually posting this... it is September!]. Start your application now, even if it’s just doing all the admin questions and contacting your references. You’ll feel like you’ve done something even if you haven’t touched your essays. 

I think by this time last year, I had done all the admin questions and had perhaps just started thinking about the essays? Even though the school deadline doesn’t require polished essays, it behooves you to submit the most polished materials as they can be by that point. Genuine feedback is good– you don’t want to get feedback on materials for which you already know the reasons why they might not be so great. 

I don’t think I was mega ahead of the curve, in terms of submitting polished materials, but it was super nice to not feel like I needed to tweak much after the school opened the application back up for edit (especially because my school year tends to pick up around the time of the official deadline). For me, when the school year started, I set aside some time every Sunday morning to go to a coffee shop to just work on Fulbright stuff alone. People have different ways of getting stuff done. Find out what works best for you and get it done.

Step 4: The essay-writing portion...

The essays are actually really short– one page single-spaced each. Don’t go over. Follow the guidelines provided in the application. As you can tell, I’m a really wordy writer and editing was the hardest part for me. 

The essays might seem really similar, but try to make them distinct in their own ways– these are opportunities to convey as much information as possible to the selection committees. 

The Personal Statement should address the questions provided in the application. Even if you’re pursuing the ETA for non-teaching reasons, convince the readers that receiving the grant would be essential for your interests (current or future). The Personal Statement is the WHY: why you want to teach, why you want to be in the chosen country, why would you pick the chosen country over other countries, why receiving an ETA would be a necessary step in your life’s trajectory. Why do you want to be a cultural ambassador? Why is pursuing the ETA in X country a culmination of all your interests? The personal statement should be personal, obviously. It should share information about you and also show how you stand apart from other candidates. 

The Statement of Grant Purpose should also address the questions provided in the application, but should primarily explain the HOW– if you get the grant, what are you going to do with it? How are you going to engage in the host country? How are you going to be a good cultural ambassador? How have your experiences up to this point prepared you for living in a foreign country for a year? How will you be a good teacher?

Chances are there will be situational factors that restrict your ability to actually implement some of your ideas for host country interaction, but go ahead and talk about them anyway. This sounds kind of bad, but there’s no follow up– no one’s going to check in and ask why you haven’t done what you said you were going to do. So, be creative. Be specific. Think of cool out of the box ideas (or really simple ones too!) of how you’re going to be a bastion of cultural exchange. The biggest thing is to make them personal. What are your interests? How can you tie these interests into cool cultural exchange? Do you like cooking? Do you like TV shows? Do you, like me, enjoy salsa dancing? Find an interesting way to incorporate these interests into tangible ideas. Personal is good. :) 

As for the how are you prepared part– THE STATEMENT OF GRANT PURPOSE IS NOT A PLACE TO REITERATE YOUR ENTIRE RÉSUMÉ.  Make sure you can tie previous experiences into a narrative on why a similar experience would be good for the host country (i.e. you started a peer advising program at your school, and want to do the same at your new school), and why previous experiences have prepared you well for this job. Do you have teaching experience? Do you have experiences that can be translated to good teaching habits? Do you have experiences with cultural exchange? Show that you are capable in adapting to stressful or foreign situations. 

Hopefully these are all useful question to prompt good essay responses!

Step 5: EDIT EDIT EDIT

These tips are all basic writing habits, but read over your essays multiple times in different sittings. There’s a good chance you won’t like chunks of your essays anymore, or you catch some mistakes. 

Have as many other people possible also looking over your essays. Have someone read over your application as well (there could have been typos in the short answers, or maybe your short answers no longer correspond with your essays). If possible, have someone with ties to the host country read over your essays. Fulbright applications are vetted by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and then a chunk of finalist applications are sent to the host country. Try to avoid writing about culturally sensitive topics, regardless of how well-versed you are on these topics. Maybe you’re coming off as incredibly offensive and you don’t realize it. 

If your school has a good scholarship office, ask around to see if a staff member can quickly edit your essays as well. It can be reassuring to have someone who’s an “expert” to change around some wording or tell you to eliminate some parts. 

I like editing essays so please send them my way if you’re willing! :) 

Step 6: REFERENCES

Make sure your references have been contacted at least a month before the final deadline. 

References made me most nervous, particularly as I didn’t have that many people who could speak to my teaching ability. 

Try to get professional references who can speak to as much of the following as possible:

Your teaching abilities. 

Experiences that can translate to teaching abilities. (e.g. I had a lot of experience with peer advising, teaching people course registration, and explaining certain web portals). Have you trained a co-worker before? Do you have good presentational skills?)

Your work ethic and/or ability to work in stressful situations. 

Your experience in a similar country. 

I’m not sure if professors are always the best references because sometimes they won’t be able to answer questions like this. Make sure your references can not only attest to how great you are, but how you’ll thrive as an ETA and thrive in the host country. Give them a draft of your essays so they have something to work with. Maybe even give them suggestions on things they could talk about. 

Step 7: Submit!

This is obvious. Submit your application by your school deadline. 

Step 7: School Interview 

This can be a little nerve-wracking because you’re told the school interview is supposed to be a nice conversation that can only add to how great your application is. At UVA, I felt that the interview was designed to trip me up... some of the questions were a little weird, and it seems like interviewers ask different things based on where you’re going and what your application looks like. 

My experience is that it’s probably best if you treat it like a job interview anyway. Dress appropriately and be prepared for anything. Review your essays ahead of time, and do more self-reflection on why you want to be in that particular country (especially over other countries), and why you would be a best fit for this experience over other people. What are you going to do there, besides teaching? Why will you be a good global ambassador? These are all things that should have been addressed in your essays, but sometimes they might ask for more details about some of your ideas for cultural engagement. 

If you picked a random country because you thought it sounded cool (this is okay!) just make sure you’re familiar with the country– do some research about current news, maybe a little history, the spoken language, some customs. One of my friends got asked about what would be a headline in the newspaper there. 

I remember talking about an American TV club, and they asked me specifically which shows I would teach. This seemed a little odd since it depended a lot on what age levels I would teach, so I said that, then tried to grasp at straws about popular American shows in Taiwan. They also asked me something about the language and I said I planned to learn traditional characters. This elicited a “Really?” and an odd look plus some scribbling on the paper. Moral of the story: some of the questions might not make sense, and you might come out of the interview thinking you did terribly because of this. I think they just want you to think on your feet. (I would love to hear if this experience is similar to other schools!)

Step 8: Edit and Re-submit 

After the interview, your school will open the application back up for editing. Edit some more (sometimes after the interview, the school will make suggestions on ways to improve your application) and have more people read over it. Submit your application the day before it is due. If this is impossible, try to do it at least a couple of hours before the final deadline. Technology can suck sometimes and better to be safe than sorry– Fulbright won’t make exceptions for late applications. 

MAKE SURE YOUR REFERENCES SUBMIT BY THE DEADLINE. 

Step 9: Wait

The worst part is waiting around forever. Your application will be reviewed by IIE and then a decision about “semi-finalists” will be made. Last year (2016) I found out on January 16. After notification, you have to submit an official transcript to the host country. 

“Semi-finalist” is a silly word because it just means you “passed” the review by IIE and your application is being sent to the host country. I don’t know if there are official statistics, but usually this means that about 1/3 of the entire applicant pool has been eliminated, and 2/3 remain. So you have about a 50% chance of getting selected after this round, which is pretty great! Sometimes the ratio can be 1.5-2 times the finalist number. 

I have no idea how the decisions are made, but from what I can tell, they can be stupid and arbitrary. I’m not sure why people are eliminated, but I know several extremely qualified people who were. Sometimes it’s just luck and it can suck. 

Step 10: Wait some more...

The period between January and final notification takes forever. FOREVER. It particularly sucks when all the “What are you doing next year?” questions amp up and you don’t know whether to tell people you might be in a different country next year. Everyone around you already has a cool job and have their lives figured out. Meanwhile, you’re sitting around WAITING. WAITING FOREVER. 

You can find out if you’re a finalist anytime between February and May 15th. I think most people tend to find out around mid to end of April. No official decision dates are publicized, and they completely vary based on country. This is the part that caused a lot of anxiety... and a lot of trolling around on other Taiwan Fulbright blogs to see if I could find any semblance of a possible date. 

I found out about Taiwan on the afternoon of April 4. This is uncharacteristically early for Taiwan, since most of the time they notify by mid-April (I was expecting sometime around the 17th). My roommate who is a Macau ETA found out in mid-April. It completely varies, and this suuuuuucks. It sucks so much. 

You can find out if you’re a finalist (P), denied the grant, or waitlisted! Waitlisted is not a bad thing and Fulbright does not treat waitlisted applicants any differently than others once accepted. I know a couple of people who were originally waitlisted (and also really stellar applicants) and then received the grant! The sucky part about this is that it means more waiting. Usually you’ll know about your waitlist status by mid-May (I think?) so it’s not really great in terms of solidifying future plans, but it does mean that there’s a good chance. Have hope :)

This post is already crazy, crazy long so I’ll refrain from talking about my personal experience with post-acceptance logistics. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions (“Ask Me Anything” on the blog or you can email me at [email protected]). I am more than happy to elaborate on anything, answer questions, or edit essays. Best of luck to everyone who’s applying! 

Also note that again this is all opinion based on my personal experience, so maybe people have other helpful suggestion or different experiences. Please share if you do!