Interview Time

At noon on Wednesday I left for my second interview of the day. Five minutes previously the light rain had turned into a downpour. I ditched my original plan of walking and instead shelled out the 100 NT (abt $3) for a taxi ride to the school.  May, a slight built Chinese women in her 40s, was in charge of hiring teachers for the Happy Marion School. She gave me a form to fill out where I listed my name, address, specialties, and hobbies. After asking if I liked Taiwan and if I liked kids she took me to a classroom to give a teaching demo to 10 first graders.  May handed me a Xerox copy of the story “Deep Diving,” about a woman pilot and 2 scientists whom steer a submersible deep underwater and discover a volcano. I was instructed to go over the story with the kids and answer a worksheet with questions about the story. Trying to shake off my nervousness, I introduced myself to the class as Teacher Sarah. There’s already a teacher Sarah several of the students informed me. Hmm.

I had the kids read the story out loud, and then we started going through the questions. The students were very informative, letting me know that I need to end my sentences with periods and capitalize names. I then broke the students into groups of three to practice reading the story, which worked nicely since there were 3 character parts and 9 students. Actually, this is the point when my “demo” started going downhill. There weren’t really 9 students - there were 10 students, one of the girls had gone to the restroom. So of my 3 groups – the first group was getting bored after already re-reading the story 3 more times, in the second group two boys kept having a dispute what characters they would play, and the third group had 4 students for the 3 parts … and this is when all the kids started talking to me at once with their different problems. I fuddled around best I could but I was losing any semblence of class control quickly.  May stood up and told me we could go back to the office now. Okay, I botched up the demo but there would be others. As we walked out the door I heard one of the students ask in a bored tone, “do we really have to present this?”

To my surprise when we got back to the office May told me what the hours would be and asked if I wanted to see the contract. “Um, sure.” She then asked if I would like to sign the contract. I tried to control my jaw from dropping. As of Monday I’ll be starting at the Happy Marion School as a first grade teacher. The hours and pay are nice – I’ll be working 12:30p-4:30p teaching first graders, then 4:30p to 6:30p teaching 6^th graders. The school provides all the materials and lesson plans, plus will give me a one year work permit and free medical care. Stepping back onto the street I felt a great sense of relief that I had found a job, though I admit I don’t think it was merits that landed it – just the selling power of being a white girl from the states. Oh well, I can live with that.

It was still raining outside. I opened my umbrella and started walking back to the apartment. I guess I’ll become very familiar with this 25 minute walk to and from the apartment and school. It’s a pleasant walk that passes the Sun Yat-sen memorial hall, Taipei 101, and the Dunhua market. I was in a deep level of contemplation as I started walking down the busy sidewalk lined with shops and neon signs. It’s hard to believe not even a week has gone by, but I’m already set up with an apartment, job, friends, and even a cell phone. Back to the grind I guess, but this time with an Asian flare …