like some of you might already know, I’M leavin Canada in August to study in Taiwan for a year. I just found out in which school i’ll be going, Ta Tung senior high school in down town Taipei, if any of your heard about that school please make me know. I want to find out more, but since the website is in chinese I don’t undertsand anything and sometimes my pc doesn’t even accept the characters… I was looking for some pics and some infos about the school in general. I thought you might know since most of you are teaching English. I was also wondering if any of you live in downtown Taipei… coz that’s where I’ll be living and even though I’ll be living with host families… it will be a big change since I’m used of my little town of 3500 inhabitants! So you you have tips or information to give me, feel free to contact me by email: valland@hotmail.com
I posted the messaged 3 times in differents treads, because I know I don’t read every tread, so I thought I should post it in the 3 that could be useful so more people would read it and then I could get more help. Sorry… I won’t do it again, I didn’t know it would offend anyone.
I moved your post to “Teaching in Taiwan”. I’ll let Alien and Christine deal with the multiple posting issue. Juba’s right, but he could have been a little NICER to a Cainiao (vegetable bird) poster such as yourself. I think he’s just miffed that you didn’t write Ta Tung in Hanyu Pinyin. If you had instead written Datong, he probably would have researched the history of the school for you, interviewed everybody who had ever worked or studied there and taken you out to dinner upon your arrival. Welcome to Taiwan!
I think it’s useful to post in 2 or 3 different forums if there’s different aspects to a question. Not all of us lead boring enough lives to read every forum. I myself even skip the Housing Ads occassionaly
Sorry you didn’t get a very warm welcome. I agree with Bri, nothing to get upset about.
I personally don’t know anything specific about any local high schools. I can only tell you that high school in Taiwan is very different from most western high schools. You’d get the best info from a student at the school. Have you got any such contacts?
In regard to life in Taipei, look back through old posts; there’s a lot there. And don’t forget to pick up the ever-handy Lonely Planet guide.
I’m just curious… you mentioned host families… are you part of some kind of exchange program? Will this count towards your graduation? Could you give more info? It sounds interesting.
I really felt bad about it and I didn’t know it either… will do for my further posts…
Anyway… I found out there was a link to a translation of the website on the school website, so was able to find a little more
To answer to ckvw’s question, I’m leaving through Youth Exchange Program of the Rotary Club. So I’ll be living in 4 host families during my year over there and will go to normal school with taiwanese students at the same time than having private mandarin classes. I’ll learn the culture, langue, the way they live… I won’t have any choice to adjust… I’m doind ti for my own personnal satisfaction… I’ve been dreaming to study aborad since I was 10 ( i’M 18 now) and I thought I should study in a country I don’t know anything about and that would teach me a lot… so I choose Taiwan… big challenge though because I’m leaving in a month, I don’t speak a word of the language and my family won’t speak a lot of English… The year i’ll do in Taiwan will not be credited here in quebec, but it is worth it!
So if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
and I’m still really sorry about what happened…
Sorry to have subjected you to such a traumatic experience, Valerie. If you knew me, you would find that my bark is worse than my bite. I happen to live near Tatung/Datong school, so I can give you a guided tour of the environs when you get here. Would you be so kind as to post here the URL of the school’s web site, so that we can have a look?
I was wondering how come people were soooo rude over here No seriously it’s fine now… ehehe
Geez yesterday I realized how my culture shock will be since I don’t speak a word of Mandarin… yesterday I called my 1st host family and was never able to speak to someone because the girl who took the phone didn’t understand English and I started to pannic, I didn’t know if it was my host mom or my host is, I didn’t know what o do… I was trying to look for my words in the dictionnairy… and she finally hung up on me … But there was nothing else to do in fact! ehehe but Finally my counselour in Taiwan called me and they had mixed up my papers, so I called to the wrong place…
and now I’M really reassured… I’ll be living in a big and great house, with a brother and a sister about my age and a little sis of 4, and I don’t quite know if they are good in Enlighs, but he assured me that the maid was form the Philipines and her Enlgish was great… Geez what a shock… I’ll have a maid… I feel kind of bad for her… anyway I’m really asnxious to arrive…
Auhgust 12, taipei!!! yahooooo ehehehe but my parents are freaking out since the cheapeast air plane ticket is with China Airline… Any suggestion? Should I take it anywa? only have less than a week tot hink about it because I have to look for my visa…
Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you… at least… not anymore…
so heres TaTung (Datong) senior high school : Tatung
quote[quote] and I don't quite know if they are good in Enlighs, but he assured me that the maid was form the Philipines and her Enlgish [/quote] Well I bet the maid's spelling is a bit better than yours. How many different ways are there to spell English? [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] I realise you're touch typing.
Val, personally I wouldn’t go anywhere near that airline. I’d pay a bit extra for peace of mind. Plus I heard their food is pretty terrible. No I actually I just made that last bit up.
Yeah I did manage to find that later on… my pas was full of little symbols, not characters… that’s why I had problems finding it…
It doesn’t say much in th English part and has less pictures than in the chinese section.
but anyway… in a month I’ll know more… since I’ll be there…
And I’ll be leaving through China Airlines, the other lines would have been really expensive and it would have take me much longer with a lot of transfers… Since i’ve never taken a plane before, I think all the hours I already have will be enough
Hey one quick question… maybe you will be able to help me…
I’ll have to bring some gifts for my family and other rotarians ( business men)… I don’t quite want to give them little gift I bought at the 1$-shop with Canada/Quebec…
What would eb great gifts from Canada
for business men?
my taiwanese teenagers?( my bro and sister)
for my host moms?
pls help me … sure I want to bring maple syrup… thats an easy one… but what else???
Food is always popular. Treats, snacks and candy they can’t get over here. Exotic, expensive candy with liquor in it.
The problem with foreign edible goodies is that unless it comes from Japan, you can’t predict the reaction you’ll get. They may hate it, they may love it. Who knows. In the end, it doesn’t really matter since they’re probably not expecting a gift from you, anyway.
Actually, now that I think about, the best gift you could give your host mom is to eat everything she puts in front of you and then ask for more. If you turn something away just once, she’ll think you’ll hate it (even tho’ you may be full) and never ask you to eat it again. Being a foreigner, you won’t offend her too much. But, you’ll miss out on future goodies.
I’m going to bring some maple syrup, thats for sure, might bring some mapple candy too.
I might do a little gift putting these candies in a canadian mug and put other stuff in it… i don’t know…
I want a symbolic gift, something they will be able to keep all their life and never forget me…
And about the food my host mom will make… hmm I don’t quite know if she does it… they have a maid… I don’t really know the role the maid is playing in the house since I haven’t been with them… But yeah I’ve been tld that it’s really important to eat for them…
I don’t want to buy a too expensive gift either because i have 4 host families and 1 counselour…
so I’m still thinking about what I could buy them…
What Fuzzball said. But avoid super-sweet candies, because they’re not to the taste of most people here. And don’t be offended if your hosts don’t open the gifts immediately, don’t eat everything, or don’t even keep the presents. (People here sometimes pass on gifts they aren’t much interested in to others. Don’t take it too personally if this happens to you.)
Many Taiwanese like to collect stamps, which have the additional virtues of being light and easy to fit into your luggage. Perhaps a presentation sheet of postage stamps showing something of the area you’re from. You can buy frames here. Even if you end up in non-stamp-collecting families, they’d probably appreciate the gesture.
And don’t worry too much about “a symbolic gift, something they will be able to keep all their life and never forget me.” If you really want that, it can come much later, after you get to know them. Maybe even after you leave Taiwan and then come back to visit.
(Did any of the rest of you look at that school’s website? The English and Japanese pages didn’t surprise me, but simplified Chinese?! Are there a lot of small local sites like that?)
quote: I want a symbolic gift, something they will be able to keep all their life and never forget me....
Chinese prefer status gifts. “This candy is from Japan”, “this wine is from France etc”. Local produce (from your home) is good too, so I buy New Zealand wool and stuff for my gifts.
I always bring maple syrop, candies and cookies back from a visit to Canada but I have a hard time sharing them here and not because I’m greedy. As others have mentioned, the locals here don’t seem to like our western sweets. That said, you can bring a box of maple syrop cookies for me
Many people here like smoked salmon, though. If you can afford it you could bring some aboriginal art. My wife’s family really liked the pieces my parents brought for them last time.