Wednesday is my favorite day, because the classes that I teach are really fun and I get off of work at 7 rather than 9. In what seems to be becoming a usual thing, Willy one of the kids I teach, (the one that said "Chotto mate!") comes during the 10 minute break and talks to me. I think he doesn't have a lot of friends in the class or something. His English is quite good, so I just asked him about his day and why he always seems about to sleep in class. Which is because he goes to school, comes to Kejian and then goes to another cram school I think. I also asked him who his friends were in the class and found out that Loud and Quiet Andy are ok in his opinion but that he doesn't like Tim.
Also, there's a dog that is chained up outside a building near where I am, and when I go by, I scratch its head. Now it knows me, and so it wags its tail. I'm not equating Willy with the dog in any way, but as much as I like Taiwan this place and particularly this workplace can be really lonely and it's nice to be able to be friendly with someone once in a while.
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5 comments:
I thought that you might be feeling lonely.
You havent met any native taiwanese people that you could be friends with?
-Michelle
I have one very good Chinese friend, to whom I will always be indebted. But other than that, I've found little opportunity to meet Taiwanese people. All the teachers at my school are very businesslike and either people think I'm Taiwanese or when I flub a tone I become a foreigner. What people seem to do with foreigners is compliment them on their Chinese and then try to speak English to them. I guess it's just going to take some time.
i see
i guess you have to find someone more fluent in english, although i think you dont have any opportunities to really hang out with people. have you tried volunteering stuff? theres a very famous organization called Tzu Chi, which is buddhist based but they have lots of fun youth programs where you can volunteer. they might even have an english teaching program where you can go for a couple weeks and teach english to underprivlaged youth in rural areas.
ill give you their website:
english:http://www.tzuchi.org/global/
chinese:http://www2.tzuchi.org.tw/go/go.htm
its a HUGE organization, and it was founded by a lady monk (i dont know what to call them in english...haha) in Taiwan. It has saved a lot of people.
-Michelle
ah, that's too much work. just rock it like a hurricane and you'll meet tons of people. =) i went to the same place almost everyday to eat and the people there just naturally took to me. try that. it's easy. or, or, if they have craigslist over there. you can post on there.
This might sound mean Clara, but I've been reading your blog and talking to you about visiting a friend in Taipei I thought "damn, why does Clara have friends and I don't." Although I have the girls I live with (fellow fulbrighters) and my co-workers are all really nice and welcoming, I don't feel like I have friends much either, especially Taiwanese friends. Its nice to know we're in the same boat.
A
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