After training ended, it was time to move into my apartment!! During training, we were told where we would be teaching and that the school would help us find an apartment near by. It was a little crazy going from training all day to looking at apartments at night, but it must by done!! By the end of the search, I decided on a place close to my school and in downtown Taipei. A little pricey but a great location!! (and still cheaper than what I would have paid at home) On August 5th, we all had to leave the hotel and go to our apartments or cities, for those of the teachers that were placed else where in Taiwan. It was a sad day watching everyone part ways but we all still talk in one form or another.

After a short taxi ride, I arrived at my apartment. However, the room I signed on to rent still have someone living in it, so I lived in an empty room down the hall. The transition room was much bigger than the room I was renting and kept forgetting that I would not be living here for a year. I spent half a week in this room before I could move down the hall into my real room. During this time, I met with teachers in my school and was shown around the area by the director of the schools in that area. Her name is Vicki and she helped me get adjusted into the new life I was about to start. I live near Taipei 101 which is one of the tallest buildings in the world!! Also, the Living Mall is a 5 minute walk from my place and it 8 floors with a movie theatre in one of it's 2 basement levels. I explored some in my first few days, and watched lots of tv too!!

I also began to observe other teachers teach class and got the chance to take notes on what they did. Eventually, I began to teach half a class with a more experienced teacher. This helped out a lot. Soon I began to get the names of the students and become better at lesson planning. A week or so later, I began to teach a class alone. At first it was a little rocky, but gradually got better. Every day I am learning new and better ways to teach English and become a better teacher!!

After about a day long plane ride, I got to Taiwan!! The weather was hot, as was expected, which didn't help my stomach after I got a little sick on the plane flight over. There was a van waiting to take those of us on the plane to the hotel where we would be the entire duration of training. Fortunately, most of the new teachers on the plane all met together at the gate before take-off and we all got to know each other. It was a fairly short ride to the hotel were we all dropped our luggage and waited for the rooms to be ready. While we waited, we decided to explore the area around the hotel. We went into a coffee shop for a bite to eat, then stopped in a nearby park. After several hours, we returned to the hotel and were given keys to our rooms. I stayed in Room 537. It was a nice room but the beds were very firm. My roomate was Tom, who happened to be on the plane with us. We were all tired the first day so after our first adventure, we all went to sleep early.

Training began the next day. The training classes were held in the main office of Hess. It wasn't very far from the hotel, so everyone walked there every morning. Good Exercise!! Training lasted until August 3rd. Everyday, except for the weekends, we got up early and didn't get back the the hotel until abou6:30 or 7 each night. Yet, we all still managed to find time to do fun things like go to karaoke!! Training was essentially a crash course on how to teach all different age groups and which method works for each. It was very helpful but a lot of information was packed into every session. Early on, the trainers divided the new teachers into smaller groups which we stayed in for the duration of training. My group consisted of Aimee, Brandon, Laurel, and I. We were Group 11. After groups were made, the trainers would play games with us to see which group could amass the most points. Initially, Group 11 didn't get many points and were falling behind everyday, until one day when that changed. We began to play every game and volunteer for everything!! Soon, we were in second place!! Unfortunately, this story does not have a Cinderella ending. The last day of training, there was a trivia game involving a lot of points and we did not get very many, but the most important thing was that we became good friends and still keep in touch. Our entire training group became close to one another and maintain contact. Those of us in Taipei City see each other a few times a week.