For the last 2 weeks, I have been training for my job as a TEFL teacher. It has been informative and stressful. There were several demos we had to do, to show off what skills we had learned. For most of us, this was our first teaching job, so the pre-demo night at the hotel was a lot like college exams. People in the coffee shop, lobby, and rooms testing out things on each other. My first demo did not go as well I had hoped, I broke out into a sweaty mess, lost my place several times….but held it together as much as possible. It's going to take time for me to get over my fears of public speaking, and this will be a great way to do it. As I hoped, the second demo felt much better, and by the third demo I had worked out most of my nerves. Though I'm sure they're going to show up again once I'm at my actual school. But now comes the scary part. Tomorrow is the last day of training! The company shall help us celebrate by renting a KTV room for our group. KTV is the popular past time of karaoke here, but you get an entire room just for your group. After our celebrations, Thursday I will be moving out of the hotel, and make my way to the branch.
But before I worry about teaching my very own classes, I need to find a place to live. I went to look at a few apartments tonight. The two that I saw are extremely close to my branch. They are small, but manageable for a single girl in Taiwan. They both came with a queen size bed, a dresser, mini-fridge, tv, desk, and bathroom (a wet room actually, where there’s no division between shower/toilet/sink etc.) One came with a washer, and I can hang my clothes out the window. The other one I liked better, even though you shared the washer with the floor because it came with a giant window with a sitting ledge on it. I have two more to look at Thursday, and then it’s decision time!
And reality hits me now, this is happening!