Tuesday, October 05, 2004

long day

yesterday was long. i did a teaching demo (pretty poor) and i was disappointed to find out that there was no critique after, no info on what was good what was bad. listening to other teachers give the same lesson on beginning english for 3 1/2 hours was incredibly boring/deadening, and by the time i got up there i felt drunk. so we finished and left. sherry and i went to a huge buddhist temple which was beautiful and interesting. lots of incense and fruit offerings. we caught the bus to keelung near the temple and i kind of dozed off (it was hot and uncomfortable, but i was exhausted.) in keelung i went straight to the school to watch some teachers in class. the first woman i saw teach was very good - she was strict but nice to the kids and they seemed to like her and learn from her. i also saw r teach for 2 hours - he was also good, though he was teaching a lesson plan he didn't like or create. more time spent on tests and repetitive vocab. when he wrapped up around 9:30 we needed a drink so we went next door to the the bar. r was excited to watch the football game. we had a few asahi and a little bit of the scotch he keeps there, along with some snacks. they're very friendly there - the bar girls were teaching r some mandarin and the shorthand symbols. we walked home, picking up fried snacks on the way (the squid was especially good, but everything was good and loaded with cayenne). r's dog, now to be known as "princess" after the animation, followed us home, but she is still too dirty to be invited up. r's friend zoe came over and they stayed up for who knows how long. i took a shower and went to bed for some well deserved rest. until this morning when some bastards started cutting cement over the river - the noise was very unpleasant and i am sure to be cranky all day today.

No comments: