Today was an action packed day up at 5am as usual to do my exercises and stuff around on the Internet. I then headed to Rebecca's School to have a look around, meet her colleagues, meet some students and see how the education system works here. The first thing I noticed was the abundance of amenities - 10 basketball courts, tennis courts, squash courts, running tracks, swimming pools and climbing walls you name it they have it. The next thing I noticed kids sweeping and cleaning - they are the cleaners of the school. No apparent loud screaming, yelling or kids being wild it is so strange they are so well behaved. I went and met all the other teachers in the English department and they were all very nice and incredibly relaxed - as they only teach 20 hours a week which is actually less as each class has 15 minute turnover (more like 15 hours) they have loads of free time so they study, play sports, socialize (they expected to be at school most of day). We then all went for lunch and wow the best school lunch I have ever had - 2 cafeterias 1 vegetarian and 1 meat: I had BBQ pork, tofu, cabbage stew, green bean stirfry, sweet and sour fish, chicken satay and delicious egg plant along with a savory soup and guava to finish it off! The students can eat as much as they like and have choice of about 10 things and it costs them less then a dollar a day.
After lunch a couple of Rebecca's students gave me a guided tour of the school. Nap time? Every student from 4 - 18 has 45 minute nap time after lunch which they must take and the bad students for punishment must stand outside like soldiers at attention - so strange and they have like military style teachers in uniform who teach discipline - a teachers dream. I must say though the kids start at 7am and finish at 5pm and then most go to CRAM CLASS - after school English or subjects students are struggling in: the effect of all this 80% of students continue on to university. As I walk around the school I get a feeling of belonging and a sense of being able to teach however one likes here. Food for thought - Teaching in Taiwan. I headed back to the house where I met Eva and her sister, for the rest of the afternoon we were off out to the coast to visit the fish markets and the coast. The fish markets were incredible - I tried various sea snails, fish strands, dried fish, dried squid and then things got really interesting: I met this fisherman who let me take a photo with this ginormous salmon and then invited me to eat salmon and swordfish sashimi (raw fish) dipped in wasabi - one of the best tasting things I have ever eaten, so fresh and melts in your mouth - I could definitely live here and eat sashimi everyday. Next I tried steamed shark and boiled fish stomach in a spicy sauce also incredible. We headed out to the coast but unfortunately it had started to rain so we snapped a couple of photos and then headed home. Tonight Eva and her sister were teaching me to cook Taiwanese style - we cooked steamed sea bass (done in rice cooker), tomato and spring onion omelette, lion head home made boiled pork and vegetable meatballs, sautéed vegetables and green veg & shrimp. The one thing with Taiwanese cooking is they always use the freshest ingredients, cook very simply with soy sauce and fish sauce and tend to boil as opposed to fry. I got some great tips and will certainly use in my future cooking adventures. The meal was mouthwatering delicious even if I had a terrible stomach ache from the mass of food I ate today. My favorite had to be the boiled meatballs so tasty.