The Training Begins...

I am beginning to think that I take abnormally short showers. Either that, or all of my hostelmates take abnormally long showers. Of the eight-or-so who have been in and out over the last few days, many have taken at least a half hour or longer in the shower, not including getting changed. Granted, I know my five-to-ten minute shower sprints are short, but everything gets cleaned, and those showers are only so short because I wait until the last minute in the morning and would rather sleep than spend ten to fifteen extra minutes zoning out under a burning-hot rain spout.

I was awake before 6am and ready by 6:15am to catch the train to Hsinchu for teacher training. My head was NOT happy with me. However, I still managed to run late for meeting the other teacher at the train, but she was also running late, and we had arranged to meet almost a half hour before the train left, so it worked out. We did not meet up with the third teacher from Taichung until after arriving in Hsinchu. He looks kind of like Trent from Daria, but with longer and lighter hair, and potentially fewer tattoos. Trains in Taiwan have assigned seats, which seems useful until people pile recklessly into the trains regardless of whether they have a seat or not.

Regarding training: The first trainer has the same voice and mannerisms as one of my friends, but with a slight Irish accent. I kept writing down a bunch of games and activities that I can use in the classroom--constructive zoning out! We were in the same room for the whole day, which was tedious. The seminars, however, were great. I am pretty sure I learned more in a day here than in three weeks at the ITF orientation. This is probably because my school has been around for a lot longer than the ITF program, so it has a well-established curriculum which every teacher in every branch of the school uses. I did start to zone out later in the day, but I think that had more to do with being over-caffeinated and waking up far too early. Also, I realized around the last hour that although the classroom decoration seminar is not until Wednesday (the last day of training), the craft corner is already set up. ALL the excitement.

After training, the group of us from Taichung went to our hotel to drop off our bags, then went wandering around Hsinchu. We ate dinner and talked for a few hours, and it was great, especially because these we will all be in the same city for at least the year. There is even a guy from Philly! We went back to the hotel after dinner; I am rooming with the girl who is the other teacher from my school who came to training. It is a good thing that we spent the day together and got to know each other a bit, because there is only one bed in the tiny, tiny room. Due to certain clues, such as a cutely-arranged plate of condoms, Band-Aids, pornography, and mouthwash by the bed, and a container of "Bethes the breast" (a crude translation of body wash, perhaps) in the bathroom, we determined that this hotel is most likely a sex motel; the listing of hourly rates at the front desk did not help its case. Good work, school, for putting us up in this hotel for the duration of training! But seriously, it is hilarious. The only thing missing is a mirror on the ceiling. We spent the rest of the night watching a Japanese horror show.