Jacky

The day after I arrived in Taiwan, my Director of Studies, Ruby, took me to find an apartment (more on this later in a post on Taiwanese real estate) and to buy some bedding and other small home furnishings. At a local store I can only describe as Wal-Mart reduced to Taiwanese scale, the checkout girl told me my money was no good.

"No good?" I said.

"No good," she said again.

I asked Ruby what the problem was. She took a look at the bill I had attempted to use and said that that particular bill had been withdrawn from circulation a few months ago, when the Taiwanese government changed designs slightly to foil counterfeiters. I would have to go to the local branch of the Bank of Taiwan and get it exchanged.

A few days later, Ruby took me to the bank. I was having difficulty getting the teller to understand what I needed. Luckily, a very nice young Taiwanese man, who was doing business at the same counter, explained the situation to him.

I thanked this stranger who had come to my aid and introduced myself. He told me his name was Jacky, and that he was also exchanging defunct money, having just returned from studying in the United States. We struck up a bit of a conversation and decided to meet for coffee.

Today, that meeting finally took place. It was good to see Jacky again, and even better to feel as if I've made my first real friend in Taiwan. Our conversation mostly centered around, of all things, EFL methodology. Jacky is very critical of the way English is taught in most schools in Taiwan. He described it as heavily reliant on rote memorization that failed to give students any real ability to use the language to express their own thoughts and ideas or, for that matter, to ask for directions on the street in simple English. I told him I expected to use very different techniques in my school, with much more emphasis on practicing for fluency, particularly with teenage and adult students.

We agreed to meet again once my teaching schedule settles into place, and he told me he could teach me some basic Chinese for day-to-day transactions and activities. This I am especially grateful for, because I really need Chinese for shopping. He has also said he would be glad to take me out and help me get acquainted with the area, as my life really doesn't extend far beyond my apartment, my school, and the local internet cafe at this point.

At last, my social life in Taiwan begins!