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Ghost Month

I woke to the smell of food combined with burning incense because today is August 3, 2016, the first day of Ghost month in Taiwan.  This blog chronicles my life as an English teacher and gives information about working in Taiwan, but mostly I will describe the culture. The reason I am able to learn so  much about the culture is because my son and I are living in the home of  our employers and have daily access to their culture.  My next four posts are about ghost month and after that I will backdate my post to May 10,2016, my exit date from Vietnam and my arrival date in Taiwan.  Then the posts will give information about getting a teaching job in Taiwan, but I since I happened to be starting this post on the first day of Ghost Month, I am going to go with that.  After all, what could be more interesting?  Who are the ghosts?  They are the dead who have no living relatives to provide them with their daily food and water.  During ghost month...
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How to find a job in Taiwan or Vietnam

My plan was to walk down the street and knock on doors as a more efficient method of finding a job.  This works in Vietnam but not in Taiwan.  Your bet for finding a job in Vietnam is to employ this method. You can read my Water Bottle Chronicles to get a feel for the English education in Vietnam.  Basically, they are desperate for teachers.  My first Vietnamese job was obtained while in the USA by Skype interview and then there was the whole stress and expense of driving all over the state of California to apostalize and authenticate documents in order to obtain a Vietnamese work permit.  I taught at a place for four months and though I submitted my documents the first day I was there, I never did see the work permit. Hence, it is not actually needed.  I soon discovered that most schools in Vietnam prefer to pay cash, and then have you do what is called a Visa Run every three months.  This is where you cross the border and cross back again. The first ...
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Cinji, a beach for ghost month

Let me tell you about the Asian's relationship with bodies of water and the sun.  They don't like either.  Also, nobody walks anywhere; they ride scooters.  And when they ride scooters, they cover up; whereas the Vietnamese literally dress as mummies covered from head to toe in masks, skirts and gloves whenever venturing onto their motorbikes, the Taiwanese are not quite as fearful.  The Taiwanese will wear a long sleeve shirt to cover their arms, but their feet sport only flip flops.  Yes, you heard me. In Asia, riding a scooter as well as everything else is done in flip flops.   In Vietnam I saw a man arc welding in flop flops.  The reason for this is simple.  Every home, as  well as many restaurants and offices must be visited only in bare feet.  This tradition facilitates frequent changing in and out of shoes, thus the advent of the easy to remove flip flop.  Myself, I wear Crocs. Crocs saved my life. Many thanks to my sister Ja...
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