Taipei day 7 - First day of training

Today was the first day of training, and admittedly it was quite light. We were led to the Hess Main building by some of the Hr team. The first session was an introduction to Hess and dealt with things like housekeeping,professional expectations etc.

We then had to leave our "cool hats" behind and play some fun games. Four of the training team produced an impressive feat of memory. They managed to remember the details of 13 people, their home town, field of study, why they came to Taiwan and something quirky about each of them. And they mostly remembered them all! Wow!

We then played some high energy games outside in a communal area. Some to do with names, some to just get people having fun!

Before lunch all the South Africans were taken aside and asked about their visa and documents experience. It was hilarious to hear how inconsistent our government is with regards these things. Lunch was a "lunch box" which consists of rice meat and veggies, although I took the vegetarian option, Renalda and I shared her chicken and my extra veggies.

After lunch was a hilarious exercise to illustrate the implications of ending up in a culture that you don't understand. Directly after which there was a lecture on culture shock which was quite enlightening. We will see how we both do in this completely new situation.

Then we had a Mandarin lesson, Hess style, full of energy and movement and games. All the things that we love, although I did struggle to remember the Chinese for Rock Paper Scissors. 

The next lecture was about the documents process. There are 5 different items to get from government departments. First a medical check, then a work permit, residence visa, then an ARC and finally the medical card...I think! We can expect to have our work permits sorted before we get to our branches. The rest of the items may take a while longer, but these guys clearly have done this before and know what they are doing.

Then we got a brief intro to housing in Taiwan and what to expect. All will be good I'm sure.

Finally they discussed how placements were made and that the decisions were final. We were pretty sure that we were going to Taichung and this was confirmed, although, I'm still somewhat intrigued as to why we seemed to be the only couple who had a predetermined spot. Perhaps they wanted a 'mature' couple at these schools, or perhaps we were just very flexible. Most people seemed quite happy with their placements.

We then had to get 10 photo's for the HR process!!!!! Apparently the Taiwanese need a photo on every single submitted document!!

Finally we found a vegetarian buffet for supper with great food. We just knew none of the names of any of the items! And the soup was free!! While walking home, Renalda noticed that a huge hole and large construction site that had been there yesterday was suddenly gone, it's insane how quickly these people do things! Yesterday it was a huge hole, last night we smelled asphalt and saw a tip truck and today there is a whole new lane open in the road. Unbelievable

All veggies from a buffet

We now have a call from our branch manager after which, bed time!!