Month: July 2011

  • Taiwanese Sour Grapes…

    So, some guy who had an interview at my school last week was pissed off about it not going well.  He decided to go onto a forum board for living and working in Taiwan and place our school on the ‘Blacklist’.  Of course this is usually for school who screw over teachers in many ways, not for people who don’t get a job.  Here’s his post about my school and supervisor…

    leviathan926 wrote:

    dear prospective english teachers.

    I would like to help contribute to the blacklist of schools. Can someone please take note?
    Sunshine American School Munzha branch. A staff by the name of Diana is one of the rudest and most inconsiderate interviewer I have ever met. My primary source is from my own personal experience after being interviewed by them. I can hardly call it an interview, because I was interrupted more than a dozen times and often before I could even finish my sentence. They interview you at the front desk prone to interruption from phone calls, parents and children. While this may be a norm in small private buxibans, how it was managed by the incompetent staff was by far the worst. The interviewer didn’t even do her homework in printing out my resume in advance, and did not handle the interruptions with any sort of urgency or regard for the fact that I’m in front of her, while she expected me to prepare for a lesson plan to demo after the interview. Talking to her on the phone, I mistook her eagerness for being the green light and thought that the school was in dire need of a teacher immediately and so that’s why I made the trip to the interview.

    I walked out of the interview after being interrupted for the 20th-some time saying that this was a completely unprofessional and showed a complete disrespect for my time.
    STAY AWAY FROM THIS SHITTY BUXIBAN. I am SURE THEY WILL NOT SURVIVE FOR LONG.

    He really caused quite an uproar at our school today.  They thought it was a new teacher who had just begun to work for us and has had some teaching issues, but after a few minutes I figured out just who he was.  I hope this guy has some good backing since in Taiwan writing something online about a person in this manner can be cause for a charge of slander.  I don’t always agree with the lawsuits here, but I do think this time Diana should teach this little guy a lesson.

    He’s what I posted there (being the evil writer that I am)…

    So let me get this straight? You had a bad interview and this school should be blacklisted on the internet, including naming the supervisor and putting rude remarks about her because of it? Have you never been interviewed in Taiwan before for an English school? Were you expecting the red carpet treatment because you gave up your precious time to go all the way there to interview for them? Maybe a private interview room with all the fixings? Wouldn’t that be great!

    So what is the problem with the school that makes you want to blacklist it? Do you know anything about it? You claim it won’t last long, but Sunshine has been around longer than 95% of the schools out there with branches in every corner of Taipei. Most teachers in Sunshine have been there for more than five years, many more than ten and aren’t complaining, so you must know something we don’t. And I mean WE because the branch and school you are slandering here on Forumosa is where I work, every day, for more than five years.

    I’m sorry if you felt that your time was wasted, but I think theirs was as well since you feel that the daily running of a school, including the pop-up issues that managers and teachers have to deal all the time was not as important as interviewing YOU, talking to YOU and focusing on YOU. At least YOU are right about one thing, YOU did mistake her eagerness to interview you for being a green light. Who walks into an interview so self-assured that they will get the job just from talking to someone on the phone. You should have had your degree, copies of your resume and anything else they may have needed or asked for ready, and on you. Did you think you were interviewing at Tim Horton’s? Getting an interview is the first step… FIRST! You then have to impress them with demos, the actual interview and everything else that comes with being a teacher here, not just ‘Well, I thought you liked me from our conversation.’

    Grow up. I would expect to see schools on here who withheld pay, didn’t do ARCs correctly or broke laws and rules set by the government that pertain to having a school in Taiwan, not ‘I had a bad interview and now I will slander the school and the interviewer because my little feeling are hurt.’
    Talk about being unprofessional. Wow!

    And for the record, I’m sure they would have wanted you to teach grammar and proper usage of the English language. This would include sentences like… “A staff by the name of Diana…” A staff? So you were interviewed by a long wooden pole? I would have thought you would have been interviewed by a STAFF MEMBER. Also when you are speaking about a person in general (ie. Diana), why would you begin a sentence with ‘“They interview you…”‘ When did she split from being a singular to being a plural? Are you insinuating that every Sunshine and every supervisor does things in the same way that your interview went? You also need an ‘it’ in the final sentence before the word ‘showed’, but that’s okay. You’re a busy guy with little time to spare on things like proper English, proper interview skills and, well, knowing when you have overstepped what you should and should not say when your feeling were hurt.

    Good luck in your future endeavors. I’m sure someone out there is ready to roll out the red carpet for you and welcome you into their school with wine and roses. I’m staying where I am!

    What a total (words removed… you know… just in case I hurt his feelings a little more)…

  • 31 Things About… Bubba

    1. Bubba’s real name was Tommy when I adopted him.  His name was changed to hide his identity.  By the end his name was fully Thomas ‘Bubblicious The Pooh’ Thompson… and sometimes Beauford!
    2. Bubba was pure black, including whiskers, lips, pads on his feet and all his fur.  Most black cats have a spot of white somewhere, but not Bubba.
    3. I’m 6’4’’ and when he would sleep on my legs while watching TV he would stretch out to the point that he could touch my stomach with his back feet and my feet with his front paws.
    4. Bubba always slept at the foot of my bed, right on the corner closest to the door.
    5. His favorite toy was a small stuffed Pumba from a McDonald’s Happy Meal.  He carried it with him like it was his baby, played with it and even slept with it.  Pumba now goes everywhere with me including over eight countries.
    6. Bubba would drink from the far side of his water dish and would end up with a wet chin and chest.  He would also pull the water dish out from the wall, sometimes spilling it so he could drink properly.
    7. Bubba was a breast man. Any chance he got he would always climb into a girls lap, act all cute and innocent, then push his face directly into their cleavage and start purring really loud.  I think it was his version of the motorboat.
    8. When Bubba lived with Koko (my sister’s cat) he protected her like she was his cat.  When Megan would cut Koko’s nails and she would fight, he would go up to Megan and growl at her, protecting Koko from her.
    9. Bubba always wanted to be outside, but was mostly an indoor cat.  When he did get to go out, he would go no more than about 2 meters from the door and just lay down.  He never strayed.
    10. Bubba was already fixed, declawed and was about 2 years old when I got him.
    11. Bubba was the youngest of all my cats when he passed away, He was just under 10 years old when he died.
    12. Bubba was obsessed with collecting and stealing dirty socks.  After being away for the day I would come home and find my socks all over the house, most at the front door as if they were gifts for me when I came home.  He would also walk around with them in his mouth meowing loud and sounding strange with the sock in his mouth.
    13. Bubba liked to watch TV, and one day we found that he not only watched, but reacted to The Jungle Book.  He would sit and watch the entire movie, meowing and talking to characters on the screen, especially Bagheera, the black panther.
    14. Bubba was given his name ‘Bubba’ one night when he was running all over the apartment like an idiot and I was trying to watch Forrest Gump.  He came into the room, stared at me for a minute and the second they yelled Run Forrest on the screen, he took off like a shot.  Since Bubba was big, black and a little slow at times ,I started yelling ‘Run Bubba’ when he went crazy. From then on the name stuck.
    15. Bubba was good in the car and usually did not need a carrier, but he always wanted to be on my lap when I was driving which made it difficult.
    16. From the time I was about 2.5 years old, I had always lived with a cat in the house.  When I went to my second year of university it only took me one weekend in my apartment without a cat to decide to go and adopt one from the Humane Society.
    17. Bubba’s adoption was a mess.  I got him, took him home and a week later they called me and said they needed him back.  His family had left for a two month vacation and left Bubba in the care of the grandmother.  When they returned home they found out she had put him up for adoption and wanted him back.  The grandmother claimed she thought she was putting him in a care facility, but she filled out all the adoption forms and never paid for boarding.  I almost returned him, but when I was told they traveled a lot and the next time they went away they made sure that the grandmother would not do it again, I decided it was better if he stayed with me.  The Humane Society was not too happy, but I had legally adopted him and they had no real right to take him away.  This began his time under an assumed name in the Feline Witness Protection Agency (my house).
    18. Bubba began having seizures when he was 8 years old.  After a short time it was discovered that he would only turn to his right hand side as the seizures had taken his ability to see properly to the left.
    19. I used to take catnip and make trails of it in the carpet of the apartment.  He would rub his face into the carpet and then follow the trail through the house with his nose to the floor like a bloodhound.  He was a total catnip addict.
    20. Unlike most cats, he seemed to like dry cat food more than the canned food. 
    21. I’m not sure if it was the action, the sounds or the breasts (his favorite), but whenever there was any kind of sex scene on the television (we had a cable crack box that got every channel) he would come running and watch.  He also watched wrestling with me, but he seemed way more interested in the porn.
    22. Bubba actually enjoyed having a bath (well, not near the end of his life) and would just sit or walk around in the water.  He would even have a small drink while in the water.
    23. Bubba was terrified of waterguns.  He was caught in the crossfire of a massive waterfight in my apartment and from that point on all you had to do was pick up a supersoaker and he would run.
    24. Bubba was placed on a very strong steroid when the vet figured out his illness was most likely due to a brain tumor or lesion.  The steroids eased the swelling and actually gave him about four more months where he was back to normal and in much less pain.  After time they did not work anymore. Without the steroids he was very confused and paranoid, sometimes attacking for no reason.  In the end I had many scars and cuts on my from him, but never punished or got angry at him for it.  I knew he was scared and in pain and I just tried to make everything as comfortable as I could for him.
    25. I could have a 30 minute discussion with Bubba, with his responding and talking to me the whole time.  He would respond every time I stopped talking and would follow me to other rooms to keep talking.
    26. At bedtime, he would run down the hall to the bedroom ahead of me and dive into the center of the bed.  Once I was in and settled he would curl in with me for a few minutes, then move to his position at the end of the bed.
    27. A girl I dated for a while took a pair of really soft, fuzzy socks (his favorite) and sewed catnip into them for him.  He pretty much stopped stealing my socks and would carry these socks everywhere with him.  I think this fed his catnip addiction even more.
    28. Even when he was almost 18 pounds at one point, the vet examined him and said he was really only a small bit overweight as he was just a very large male cat, much like a baby panther.
    29. The day Bubba was put down, I gave him valium so he could relax in the car on the way home.  He was very well sedated, but the second the vet took him out he was full of energy.  It took me, my father and the vet to try to hold him down, two needles and lots of blood (ours, not his) to finally put him down.  He scared the other animals at the vet’s so much that they ran to hide from him and the vet was shocked that a sedated cat with a massive brain tumor would put up such a fight before being put down.  I got to hold him and look into his eyes as he passed and it was the most calming moment I have ever felt seeing my Bubba finally go with no more pain.  He was purring as I stroked his head when he passed.
    30. Once when Koko was in the yard behind ours she was approached and cornered by another cat.  She let out a loud screech to try to get the cat to go away.  Megan and I ran outside to see what the problem was and Bubba ran past us, saw Koko and ran as fast as he could toward her to save her.  He was so set on saving her he didn’t see the chainlink fence between the two yards and ran, full force and full speed into the fence.  He bounced back about two feet and I swear I saw cartoon birds flying around his head when he stood up and looked at me.
    31. Bubba is buried with Tiger, Whiskey and George in my parent’s backyard.  Before burial we cast his footprints in plaster of paris and made footprints with ink for a tattoo I still plan to get.  I almost buried Pumba with him, but I know he would have wanted Pumba to stay with me and continue protecting me and to live the long life he never got…

      

  • 31 Things About… Mouthy

    1. Mouthy was meant to be the first of ten cats picked in a TNR campaign through Animals Taiwan.  She avoided capture for over three months and was #35.
    2. When Mouthy was captured, she went into the trap to eat the food (the first time into the trap) and the trap would not go off as she was so light.  It only went off when she picked up the whole chunk of food in her mouth.
    3. I named her Mouthy the first night I met her when she was a baby kitten.  She talked to me from the top of a set of steps, but would not let me tough her.
    4. Mouthy has a Time Machine which is a large washing machine box which sits under the balcony window.  From there she can spend/waste time in the sun, watching the neighborhood cats and talking to the golden retriever on the rooftop across the alleyway.
    5. The orange parts of her body are actually Orange Tabby markings.  The mix of pure black, orange tabby and white stomach and paws make her look like four cats chopped up and put back together.
    6. Mouthy’s right ear was half removed by the vet who ‘fixed’ her in the TNR.  Usually they only take a small nick off the end of the ear to let people know they have been fixed, but they took half her ear!
    7. Mouthy loves rough, bumpy bathmats.  We now have four in the house now.  When they come in from the wash she goes to each one and rubs her face and body into them to feel the texture on her face.
    8. Mouthy’s mother, Toughy, was born at the Bitan Bridge and has lived there for more than eight years now.  The life expectancy of most street cats is about two to three years.
    9. Mouthy was part of a litter of three or four kittens.  When she was small, Toughy and Mamacat took care of the group of them.  There were two calico’s like Mouthy, an orange and white kitten and a black and white kitten.  Only the orange and white kitten is gone after three years.  Her sisters, Crazy and Calico still live by the river.
    10. Mouthy steals hair elastics, then shoots them around the apartment with her mouth and paw.
    11. You can hear Mouthy calling from the sixth floor window if you are down on the street.
    12. Mouthy is scared of the sound of a plastic bag.
    13. She loves cardboard boxes and will squeeze herself into any sized one.  OF course then she has to destroy it from the inside out ripping at the edges and leaving pieces everywhere.
    14. Mouthy was fixed and returned to the street, but she was found a month later with a very bad flu where her eyes and nose were so clogged she could not see or barely breathe.  When the vet cleared her eyes out, they found her left eye had been damaged by a severe cut.  The vet thinks she may have done it herself trying to clear the gunk out of her eyes.  After attempts to let the eye heal, it was found that the damage was to severe so the eye was removed.
    15. One of Mouthy’s nicknames is Goonie… this is because her favorite pirate is One Eyed Willie.
    16. Mouthy loves to pub her face into my chin and really dig into my beard.  She loves anything rough on her face.
    17. She is not very scared of the vacuum, but she is terrified of brooms.
    18. The day I agreed to foster her at my house I picked her up from Animals Taiwan, about 40 minutes from my house.  I drove her home in a carrier on my scooter.  I got lost, ended up across a river and could not find my way home.  Her first scooter trip with me ended up taking almost four hours.
    19. Mouthy lived for almost four months with a cone on her head so she could not touch her damaged eye.
    20. She loves to touch nose to nose with people as if giving them a kiss.
    21. One night while trying to catch her for the TNR she finally let me scratch her on the bum.  I thought that meant she trusted me so I tried to grab her.  She was eating beside a fountain and ended up diving into the water to avoid me.  The second she hit the water, she turned on me and jumped right at me, soaking me in the process.  When is was all over, I was soaked, the ground looked like a tidal wave had hit and there was a trail of wet cat prints off into the distance.
    22. Mouthy is the best cockroach and spider catching cat I know.
    23. If you are reading a book, she will place herself in between you and the book, but looking at the book as if she wants to read it first.
    24. She likes to have conversations with me while I am in the shower, but will not come into the bathroom to do so.  She calls to me from the living room.
    25. When she is very scared of something she will go on the balcony and hide behind the washing machine. 
    26. The balcony has interlocking foam squares on the floor that I put there for her when she first came to live with me and she only stayed on the balcony (the balcony is approx. 7’x30’).  She has always used these to pick at and sharpen her claws on.  Even now, she never picks at the furniture, only the foams mats.  I have to replace them every few months and find little foam pieces everywhere in the apartment.
    27. She likes to chew on bubble wrap.
    28. When she sleeps in her favorite chair she is most comfortable when sleeping completely upside down like roadkill.
    29. When Mouthy lived on the street she was the only female in a large group of streetcats that lived by a set of stairs near the Bitan Bridge.  Her best friends were Moustache, Wrong Place, Baby, Big Orange, Princess (male), Kangaroo and Wulai.  Toughy was never part of the group, but always came to the territory to visit and eat.
    30. Mouthy loves to lay beside the computer when I am using it.  She usually goes to sleep, but always hits the keyboard with her tail when she wants attention.  She can hit it hard enough that it types things.
    31. The first time I met Mouthy I said that she was so cute and friendly that I would love to have her live with me if I was going to get a cat.  Just over three years later, she’s laying beside my laptop as I write her ’31 Things…’ like she’s the queen of this house and I am just here to feed her, clean her litter and talk to her when she is bored…