From B1

Sea ImApenaneseceaen

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 12, 200! - B3

Life is beautiful in Taiwan

Exhausted, we arrived
in Kaohsiung just after 9
p.m, in what was the mid-
dle of typhoon season,

Cabbing (with a driver
who didn*t really seem to
know his way: around the
city himself), we finally
made our way through the
city’s narrow alleys to the
hostel.

A second act of divine
intervention occurred
when, not thirty minutes
into Kaohsiung, the man-
ager. of a well-respected
bushiban (cram school)
came knocking on our door
asking if we were both

My students
range from age
three to 40-plus,
with the younger
wanting to climb
all over me while
the older ones in-
viting me out to
coffee houses
and their homes.

available ta teach the next
day at an elementary
school, ;

In: two months time,
Pve managed to become
an elementary school tea-
cher at Da Hwa (one of
Kaohsiung’s more affluent
schools), an English ‘in-
structor at Mae Cha
Christian College (the col-
lege is an administrator of
Cambridge University’s

“First English Certificate),
.and a day care worker
(why not?).

- The latter is used more
as a siress release simply
because colouring and

playing. “Duck duck
goose” can be quite thera-
“peutic.

My students range from
-age.three to 40-plus, with
the younger wanting to
climb ‘all over me while
the older ones inviting me
“out to coffee -houses
“their hoines. “*
Jove what I do, and I
love the pay. Ail in ali, |
- currently work 24 hours a
week and make at least

four times more the aver-
age Taiwanese who works
30° to 60 hours a week. It
certainly does pay to be a
“native-speaking “yingyu
~ jiaoshi.”

St. Nick
gets email

IT’S A SIGN of the times.
That jolly old elf beloved
by children everywhere
has finally taken advant-
age of the Internet revolu-
tion.

As

Santa Claus now has an

email address.

That means for the first
time ever, Santa can re-
cieve and send email mes-
sages.

Anyone wanting to send
Santa a message — or who
would like to recieve an
“F.Jetter? — should write
santasoffice@sympatico.ca

Be sure to include the
name and email.address of
the sender.

Firefighters
come
carolling

IT’S A TRADITION 25
years strong.

Every holiday season
the Thomhill firefighters
deck their trucks in Christ-
mas lights and hit the
streets of Thornhill and
oullying areas playing
Christmas carols,

“People phone us up on
those evenings and ask
when we are going to be
coming by their house,”
said Cpt. David Grubb
about the popular event.

This year they will be
touring Thornhill proper on
the evening of Dec. 16.

Dec. 17 the carolling
will be in Gossen, Jack-
pine Flats, Kleanza and
Lakelse Lake.

The carols will be blar-
ing but if you ask nicely
the firefighter may just
sing along too. - .

and

I find myself adapting
rather well te my surround.
ings. I’m in the process of
becoming a registered

alien, I now have a fixed

living address,

I no longer notice that
certain latriné odor that
wafts about the air while I
zoom in and out of traffic
on my newly acquired
scooter. (here, traffic laws

-and the lines on the roads

are mere suggestions).

[ think it perfectly nor-
mal for sidewalks to be
used for scooter parking
and not as pedestrian
walkways. I now under-
stand that there is a cultur-
al reason why there's a 7-
Eleven on every street cor-
ner with two inter-net
cafes stacked on top and a
KTV (kareckee bar) across
the street,

[no longer think twice
when I see people run-
ning out onto the streets,
garbage bags in hand,
while the parbage trucks
wind through Kaohsiung
blaring their familiar ice
cream truck tune. 1 now
recognise certain Mandar-
in words when spoken,

. and I can’t wait to start

private lessons offered
free of charge by one of
my college students.
Most important, however,
is that my Taiwanese
friends now call me by
my Chinese name ‘Pu
Kai Da”. [ definitely think
a two-year stint is very
doable (especially with
Costco only a 10-minute
scooter ride away),

Ever mindful of the
three reasons why I left
Terrace in the first place, 1

look forward to the next

STUDENTS in class at an elementary school in Da Hwa, Taiwan, Krister Par-
jel, a former Terrace resident teaching in Asia, spent time there.

two years here in Taiwan,

I came to Taiwan in
order to pay off my stu-
dent loan in a responsible
manner, however, [ also
ventured across the Paci-
fic in order ta have one

last adventure before re-
turning to Ottawa,

Vm eager to explore
those things that are not
familiar, and I feel very
fortunate that being born a
native English speaker

will allow me finance
these adventures.

From Kenting to Tai-
pei, Hong Kong to Beii-
ing, all of Asia is mine
for the taking.

Life truly is beautiful.

Do You Think Sant

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