Meet Teacher Ryan...

Hi, my name is Ryan, and I am now officially a Kindergarten and Grade 4 teacher. I'm not really qualified, I just got hired because I showed up in Taiwan and my skin color is white. It will no doubt be a learning process for me, especially considering I have to figure out how to entertain and teach kids all day by myself. For the equivilent of a $70,000 a year salary back in Canada, however, I think I am up for the challenge.

So, as I struggle with the ethical issues of spreading western culture to little taiwnese kids via the english language, I will begin fine-tuning my singing voice and refreshing my memory with the words of 'itsy bitsy spider'.

While my grade 4 teaching gig doesn't start for another month, I begin teaching my kindergarten class tomorrow morning. In case anyone happens to have any awesome activities and games to play with kindergarten children that don't really speak much english, fire em at me. I need all the help i can get!

Pulling the Plug

So, just how do you go about solving a week's worth of constipation in a foreign country?

Just go to MacDonald's... Works every time!

On the 8th Day...

Thanks to those of you who sent me suggestions as to what my chinese name should be. As funny as some of them would be, I have kinda come to realize that i should probably take it a bit more serious than I originally thought. While 'Chief Moose Hairy third nipple the 4th' would be funny for a week or so, it would not exactly present a respectable image to the parents of the children I will be responsible for educating.

So, with that in mind, I think I will leave it up to my chinese friends who know me best and also know the significance of the mandarin names they would choose. That, or i may translate the Gaelic meaning of Ryan, which happens to be 'little king'. Sometimes, I do feel as though I am royalty...

As for life in Taichung after one week, I'm managing to settle in quite nicely. I took the job that was offered to me at amanda's school, working 4 hours a day in the afternoons. I am going to try and find a morning gig, which will mean i should be raking in the dough. My job does not start until the end of February, however, which leaves me with some time to kill in the meantime. I am substitute teaching for a kindergarden class during the week of feb 12-16, which should give me a little extra cash to blow during the next week off for chinese new year.

the search for a scooter is still ongoing, as I have decided to suck it up and face my fear of death and try to find one. I'm tired of walking 10 kms a day. I need wheels.

last night while studying some chinese, i felt like a beer. So, I walked to the corner and bought one for 80 cents from the 7-11.

Scooters get set to take off down Xiengshang Rd near my house

My new Crib, starting to feel a bit more like home

Ryan needs a Name!

How would you like a hand in giving Ryan a brand new name? This is your chance!

Have you ever thought to your self, man that ryan is a 'sarcastic ass' ? Well, perhaps that should be my name. Or maybe even 'Raging Alcoholic', or 'Super Genius'. See, now that i am applying for a working permit here in Taiwan, i need a chinese name. it can be anything you or I want it to be, translated into chinese.

So the search begins.... kinda like the time i tried to give myself a cool nickname, only to end up with scurvy inadvertently. Only this time its for real.

Ryan needs a new name! If you have any ideas that would reflect my character or personality, then post a response and let me know what you think. If you speak chinese and understand the deeper connotations behind different possible names, then it is a bonus. I'll take any suggestions at this point though.

Would you like some blood with your rice?

What would a Ryan Harrington travel blog be without updates on my Bowel Movements?

So, somewhere between the coagulated duck blood and the sheep intestines, I got constipated. I suppose this is better than the alternative - the gushing diahrea that I was warned to expect from my last meal.

And I am not complaining by the way. The food here sofar has been amazing. lets take a look at just a few of the interesting foods I have sampled as of yet:

A big hunk of Coagulated Duck Blood
1000 year old eggs
dove eggs
Bovine stumach
Sheep intestines
Squid (complete with inky stuff)
Blood rice (pigs blood mixed with rice)

And i'm sure there is much more to come!

Q & A With Ryan

Instead of a usual post, lets try a Q&A taken from an edited msn conversation with mom:

hey kiddo, how are you?
i'm good, i think i have a job

okay, so does that mean you got through your interview and 25 minutes infront of the class?
yeah

so, tell me the details about the job
its the job at amandas school. the other teacher turned it down because of politics....long story

grade 4?
yes, and they are a bunch of little hell raisers apparently. 9 boys, 5 girls

at the daycare, you learned how to be firm, but kind too. You can do it. I have faith in you. What a great opportunity for experience and you are only committed for 4 months. do they speak any english?
yeah, they're english is pretty good. i would essentially be a grade 4 teacher. follow a basic curriculum, but make up all my own tests, quizzes, worksheets, homework etc. there is a chinese teacher in the class too.

so, are you up for this challenge?
i think i'd be dumb to turn down a job. as it is, it won't start for another month

and how is the pay and when do you start?
pay is about $1700 a month. not bad for 4 hours work a day. mon, wed are longer, i'm teaching for 4 hours, but the other 3 days, only real class instruction time is about 1 hour and 20 mins. rest of time is lesson planning and marking and stuff. winter break starts next week, and is 3 weeks this year instead of 2, and then a week off for chinese new year. and it ends in late june, so i will really only have 4 months.

so, have they offered it to you?
yeah, she essentially offered me the job and sayed she wanted me to let her know by today

so are you going to say yes?
only thing i'm worried about is the chinese co-teacher is amanda's friend, and i don't want her to dislike me and cause any rift between them

Ryan, she won't dislike you. You are VERY LIKEABLE!!
I know. How could anybody not like me?

maybe you being a guy will help out, just like you helped at the daycare?
maybe, but their current teacher is a guy too, but he seems kindof lazy and doesn't discipline them at all. its not fair here though, i'm starting to see things differently. amy (co teacher) has lived in canada, has her ECE from vancouver, and has been teaching for like 7 years in taiwan. she is essentially vice principle, puts in insanely long days working, and and is super stressed. I'm affraid she would build resentment towards me.

is it because you have a degree and she only has a certificate?
no, its because i'm white. its like that everywhere, and foreign teachers have a reputation for being arrogant and are generally dispised by all the chinese teachers. i don't really blame them for being bitter. its only because i am a native english speaker. thats it. the rich parents want my accent. i'm just a white face that sells an image to the parents. it doesn't matter that amys english is excellent and she is a great teacher

well, you can go into the school and show the chinese teachers that you are different, compassionate and understanding?
yeah, i know. I will. i am really ecited about the challenge and having my own class

so, tell me more about the apartment. What are you sleeping on, can you cook, do you have a toilet??
we have a kitchen, but no fridge and no gas for the stove, so i just eat out. the appartment is nice than i expected, but amanda says her old one was much nicer. i have a bed to sleep on, and some dressers and a desk. bought some sheets and a pillow yesterday. up till then i was using my sleeping bag along with the sheet and 2 pillows i stole from the airplane. shower now has hot water and pressure, which is a bonus

toilet?
yes mother, i have a toilet.

and is the rent still $200 canadian a month?
rent is actually free. han's (amanda's friend) parents own the appartment building and won't let us pay. the appartment has just been empty for a few years. its either a half assed addition on the top of a builing, or a penthouse suite. depends on your perspective. The 5 flights of stair with no elivator is gonna whip my buttox into great shape though.

how far is it to the school? can you walk to work?
its about a half hour walk

so are you going to buy a skooter?
mmm.....not sure after what i saw yesterday. i am realizing that the thailand truck incident has left me with serious psychological issues. and i saw two scoters collide full speed right in front of me yesterday, and one lady was just lying on her stumach unconcious or dead and nobody seemed to be doing anything. i assume somebody called an ambulance, but everyone was just kinda wantering around looking at her

is it HOT to walk?
not at the moment. i want to just get a bycycle, but amanda seems to think that is more dangerous than a scooter. we'll see. the accident happened because they both ran through a small intersection without slowing down and looking. if i get one, i'm gonna be the most cautios person on the road. if i don't get one, i really limit myself in terms of getting multiple jobs and tutoring gigs

so, what are you going to do with your free time until the job starts?
i'm thinking about taking chinese classes. i'm gonna apply for more jobs too

and Amanda is doing okay?
yeah, she seems really happy to be back. she said on the plane she was wondering what the hell she was doing coming here, but as soon as she got here she couldn't believe how much she missed it. i'm sure i'll go through phases of wondering what i am doing here. but its also funny how much i just feel at home here allready

so, are you going back to the school now to accept the job?
yeah, i think i will later. it'd be pretty dumb to turn it down. i'm also considering teaching till june, travelling for only a couple months in the summer, and then coming back in september, signing a year contract and just getting all student loans paid off. we'll see how i feel about that in a few months.

Ryan, how did you become such an amazing person?
oh mom, stop. You know I am too humble to answer that question!

66 stairs to the Penthouse

Welcome to my new home. So, given what i was expecting when Amanda's friend said she had place lined up for us to stay that was "maybe little broken", its actually pretty nice. The gas for the stove does not work, and its pretty dusty because nobody has lived there in a few years, but it will do just fine. The shower might take some getting used to, having about as much water coming out of it as a stream of urine. My urine stream is also probably much warmer, but i'm not complaining cause i have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep on!

We are on the top floor of the appartment building, and there is a pretty nice deck on the roof across the hall. If amanda and i ever make friends to entertain, it will be the place to be.

I need to learn to speak Mandarin. That, I have definitly learned in the last few hours. Its pertty tough and i can't imagine how i'm going to order any food when amanda and her taiwanese friend amy are not around. its gonna be a lot of guess and pointing at menus.

I have really good vibes so far, and i think its gonna be a pretty good adventure. I love being back in asia; the sights, sounds, smells, food, markets and daily life are so much more diverse and interesting than back home. I need to get myself a scooter.

So yeah, thats all i'm going to say for my first post, check back in a few days and i'll probably have posted some stories in more detail.

View from my balcony

Here I go again...

I've recently begun to notice a trend developing in my life. Since I graduated High School almost 8 years ago, my life has pretty much gone in one year cycles. Itching for a change of scenery, I always seem to get bored and restless around the one year mark, and my time is up once again.

Graduating from UVic at the end of August (with distinction!), I found myself in a state of limbo. Not really knowing what I wanted to do for a 'real' job, I just kind of passed the time working part time at the Uvic caffeteria and contemplating what to do next (thanks to Dre, Amanda, and Ming for the hours invested listening to me talk about myself).

Then my friend Amanda got an email one day offering her a job back in Taiwan where she taught a couple years ago. That kind of put the idea in her head of going back, and I was right there to push her into it cause then I'd have a buddy and an excuse to get the hell out of my state of limbo.

And, so, thats what brings me to my current situation. After switching my state of limbo from Victoria to Squamish for about a month and a half, I'm now about to hop on a plane Friday afternoon and embark on my next adventure. I think its time for Ryan to get his ass in gear and do something productive. I just need to find myself a job, and hopefully the Orient is kinder to me this time and doesn't send me home prematurely with two bunged up legs again.

Tofino