The Decision

"Let me begin by saying that this summer has been very exciting for me. I am referring specifically to my job search here in Taiwan. It has presented certain challenges, but it has been everything I expected and more. It has included meetings between various schools and my team and me, interviews, midnight calls from Canada, and lots of seeking advice from friends and family. I have changed my mind a lot during this process. I finally made up my mind this morning, and I have no doubts about my decision. I was able to make up my mind after talking with my mother, who told me I had to decide what was best for me and what would make me happy. So here it is. This fall...this is tough...this fall I will be taking my talents to the Taipei Oxford Institute. I know that the other schools will not be happy with my decision, but as I said before, I had to decide what was best for me and what would make me happy. Oxford is the place."

I just wanted to give you a snippet of the hour long special that played out on Taiwanese tv last night incase you haven't already seen clips of it on American tv this morning. The special was called, "The Deciding of the Mind of American Native to Speaking of the English Spoken Language in the Situating of His Employment of the Teaching of This Language in Small Childrens." I have not signed a contract with Oxford yet, but we have agreed in principle. I start observing classes tomorrow, and start training next week. Fans of other schools have been seen burning replicas of the shirts I generally teach in. I think I will be happy at Oxford, though.

In other matters, it has come to my attention that some readers of this blog are concerned with my use of the English language. They have noticed some oddities in grammar and vocabulary usage, particularly in the opening paragraph of a recent blog, that brought about grave concerns about my command of my mother tongue. This was particularly troubling considering the fact that I am about to embark on a career involving the teaching of English. To these persons I first want to express my gratitude for their concerns on my behalf. I also want to assure them that I have taken their warnings to heart. With laborious and assiduous study, I shall endeavor to improve myself in this area.

I shall close this blog with some words of wisdom that I garnered from a Korean notebook that I purchased this evening. I picked this particular notebook out from all the rest because of these words. In the bottom corner of the notebook rests the picture of a bicycle with a little word bubble pointing to it and stating "Ride bicycle!" The notebook doesn't leave you hanging as to what kind of bicycle you should ride either, for in the top corner stand the bold words "Ride Green." It goes even further by imparting these sage words on which one should meditate while riding the green bicycle: "No matter what kind of world you want to write, Think Nature on green field, let's start at the basic. History starts now." The punctuation and capitalization comes straight from the book. Once again I say, "Good said."