Training Week!

Training for our new jobs this week has been insane. Sorry for the lack of updates, but we haven’t been doing much to write home about! We head out the door at 8 am every morning and usually get home about twelve hours later, so by the time we take off our shoes we’re too exhausted to do anything else. We've been learning a lot about teaching English and I'm looking forward to putting it into practice, but our grueling schedule at the moment is a little overwhelming!

Today is our one day off so I’ve been Skyping (and festering) all morning while waiting for Brett to get home from some additional stuff he needs to do for his work permit. This afternoon we’ll be doing lots of laundry and then this evening we’re going out for dinner with our new Taiwanese friends from last weekend.

I guess there is one newsworthy item: We were told this week that we’ll be spending the year teaching in Taichung City (臺中市). Brett and I will be teaching at branches that are about twenty minutes apart, so on Thursday when we arrive in Taichung (臺中) we’ll be looking at apartments somewhere between the two schools. Taichung is the third largest city in Taiwan, and is located about halfway down the west coast between Taipei and Kaohsiung. It’s home to a lot of museums, performing arts venues, and cultural centers as well as a winery!

On the minus side, I’ve been told that there is very little Romanization of street signs in Taichung, so B and I will most likely be carrying around maps at all times. There’s also no MRT which means we’ll be relying a lot more on our feet and the bus system, at least until we figure out how to get a scooter. I’m not terribly worried about all this. It’s nothing we won’t get used to!

Before I go get ready for the rest of my day, I’ll leave you with a fun fact! Taichung’s Canadian sister city is Winnipeg, Manitoba! This relationship was established in 1982! How exciting!