Gee Duh Bao ... Wo ai ni!

In other words, KC, I love you! Forgive me for the company line; I actually haven't worked for Kid Castle in nearly 6 years, but my memories remain mostly positive.

So ... I was new to Asia and new to teaching, and here I was at the biggest Kid Castle on the island (Sanchong branch). I was given some training and then thrown into the field - and swim, did I ever!

I never had a problem getting books or supplies, and when the staff and I felt like going outside of the box a little bit (without compromising the cirriculum), we had the support of management to do so.

Speaking of staff support, this went as far as a coworker letting me stay at his apt until I could get on my feet, co-teachers taking their free time to cruise the neighborhood and look at places to live with me ... heck, KC even gave me a room full of free furniture, just to get me started.

There was a good (but not great) line of communication, be it between fellow foreign teachers or with the Taiwanese staff, and I think this has improved even more since I moved on to other pursuits, as management seemed to be trying to upgrade this facet of how things functioned at school.

There were things I didn't love about working there. The pay was good, but not great. Working Saturdays, which I sometimes did, wasn't ideal. Dry erase markers run out of ink sometimes. I saw a cockroach (or 3) skittering about the tile floor. The thing I learned soon enough was THIS IS THE NORM IN TAIWAN, and that's OK!

In all of my experience at other schools, I'd say the quality of facilities is good (not great) at KC and my fellow teachers became my best friends (nearly 10 yrs later, I'm still in touch with many of them). I still get emails from ex-students, keeping me apprised of their lives. I wouldn't say it was like a family at Kid Castle, but I definitely felt embraced by my coworkers (even the owners, who knew me by my name at the outset, which is rare) and pleased with the teaching conditions at the school.