Scuba Diving

This past weekend I travelled down to Kenting, a town and National Park at the southern-most part of Taiwan, to finish up my open water scuba diving certification! I completed the classroom portion here in Taipei, but due to scheduling conflicts and the change in weather on the North coast, the water was too cold to comfortably dive in by the time I needed to do the dives in the ocean. Since we wanted to make the most of the weekend, the 7 of us - our instructor, 4 students, and 2 other divers along for the trip - met downtown just a bit after midnight and piled into a big van to make the 6 hour drive south. We only stopped once, but the road was so bumpy and jiggly that none of us got much sleep. When we arrived at sunrise in Kenting, we pulled over at a beach to eat some cereal and wait for the dive shop to open so we could rent some extra equipment. We also checked into our room, which was dorm style with 7 single mattresses lined up in a row. We got the equipment and headed off to the beach to start the dives!
The first dive was wonderful! We had to swim out in between some rocks to get into the open water. We practiced some skills and then got to look around a bit underwater. Once we were done, we swam ashore (underwater) and then got out onto the rocky beach. There was a Taiwanese family picnicking and they seemed quite shocked to see foreigner after foreigner emerging from the ocean with all this gear on! They followed us up to where our van was parked, and seeing that some of us were really cold, offered us some nice hot tea. Yet another example of how friendly Taiwanese really are. Then we did our next dive and I saw a huge(~3ft long) sea snake! I didn't learn until after I got out of the water that their venom is 10 times more poisonous than a cobra's!! But they are not considered very dangerous because their mouths are too small to bite anything except fingers...!
After we finished with our dives for the day, we showered and headed down the main street to see the stores and find a good place to eat. Amongst all the street shops selling flip-flops, board shorts, squids on sticks, and various carnival style games we found a suitable restaurant and had a nice meal (although extremely spicy!)
The next morning we headed off for our 2nd set of dives in a unique location: right next to a nuclear power plant! We suited up and headed into the water...this time we saw even more fish than before (including yellow and black angelfish, blue, white, and yellow striped butterfly fish, and a clown fish) and near the end of our last dive we saw a huge cuttlefish! The creature looks more like a squid than a fish, and is a master of disguise. It can change to reflect it's surroundings so quickly and drastically that I had no idea what it was for the first few minutes. It was really cool to see these sea creatures and plants that I have only ever seen on film or in pictures before; I can't wait to see what Kenzie and I come across when we go diving in Bali over Christmas!
After we showered again and packed up, we hit the road for Taipei around 6pm. We stopped for a brief dinner and at most of the rest stops because our van kept giving ominous beeps to alert us that the water level in the radiator was low; we had to jump out every so often and pour more water in... We arrived back in Taipei a little before 2AM Monday morning. Just in time to scooter home and get a few hours rest before another week with the kiddos! It was a really great trip and made me quite excited about going diving, not just around Taiwan but especially in Bali!

Taroko Gorge

This past weekend I visited Taroko Gorge National Park, Taiwan's most popular tourist destination. I set off at 9AM Saturday morning with Kenzie, Katelin, and her friend Jessica. We took the 3 1/2 hour train (which was freezing, even in a jacket and several layers because of their love for air conditioning, even in colder weather) down the east coast, where there were spectacular views of the ocean on one side and steep cliffs on the other! We got to Hsincheng, the town at the entrance to the National Park, and were met by the lady from our 'hotel.' (Booking the hotel was a strange experience and left us wondering if we were really going to a hotel or somebody's house where they would charge us to sleep on the floor...) She had a friend (of course!) who rented scooters and so even though you are supposed to have a Taiwanese driver's license to rent them, all we had to do was give her the money and off we went! There was no signing of papers, paying a deposit, or leaving collateral! Things like this are a lot more casual and trusting here, which is nice.

So then off we went to the hotel (which did indeed turn out to be a hotel, with a whopping 6 rooms.) We then headed off to scooter up the gorge. It was so amazing...the gorge itself is extremely steep walls of marble carved out by a river of blue-green water. There are lots and lots of tunnels and caves (apparently over 450 people died to make this road) and every time you emerge there is more pretty scenery. The water is really blue-green and is never made murky by flooding because there is a dam further upstream. We took our time going the 20km up to the little village and then turned around to make it back to the hotel before it got dark.

We went to the town of Hualien (about 3 times the size of Hsincheng, which didn't have much to do) and hit up some of the little night markets there. One of them was right on the seaside and there were stands to buy any size firework to light off over the ocean! So the whole time we were there it looked and sounded like fourth of July. As we drove the 20km back to our hotel, we were marveling at how little traffic there was compared to Taipei. When we got back, we were relaxing for a few minutes in our room when all of a sudden I saw a HUGE spider scurry under our bed! With it's legs, it was about the size of a grapefruit. We all screamed and jumped onto the bed. After a lot of commotion and planning, we moved the bed and tried to capture it underneath the trashcan but we missed it and it ran underneath the opposite bed! What followed was a lot of disassembling of furniture to get at the spider, shoe-throwing, laughing and shrieking, but we finally killed it because we all knew that we wouldn't sleep with it lurking in the room. We made quite a bit of noise, but there were no other guests and if our hostess noticed the noise and wondered what the heck was going on, she was too polite to say anything the next morning. None of us slept too well that night and as a result most of us felt the earthquake that night (a magnitude 5.6, which is common weekly occurrence for this area.)


The next day we scootered back up the gorge and stopped at some different places and then picked up some lunch to eat in the park of the little village. While we were eating, a Taiwanese Jehovah's Witness tried to convert us all; we tried not to be too obvious about throwing away the pamphlet she forced on us. Once we were finished, we tried to drive the 1km further up the road to start our hike, but the road was closed due to a landslide...what an inconvenience! (There are signs everywhere instructing you to wear a helmet while in the Park - the most famous area where tour buses unload actually has baskets of hardhats for borrowing.) So we drove down to the Park headquarters where there was another trail close by. It was so well kept and maintained that women were 'hiking' it in high heels. It went along the gorge where the water was especially blue! There are also aboriginals who live right in the Park and were selling candied flowers and marble sculptures. (While we stopped briefly at one of these stands, a Taiwanese tourist was surprised to learn that I was an American because he "didn't know they came that small!" He was sure I was Canadian.) Monkeys are supposed to be plentiful in this area, so we were kind of disappointed when we didn't see any. When we finished the hike, we went back to our hotel and sat out front with the owners for a bit to have a quick snack, then we went off to a beach area they recommended. It was another 30 minutes away and it was so, so pretty! On our way there it started to get fairly windy and stormy but it made it even more exciting (especially on the scooters...). Although the water looks so inviting, only the suicidal swim in it (according to our Lonely Planet book!) because of the strong undertows and currents.

We had dinner at a cute little restaurant on the side of the road and then went back to the train station to return our scooters and wait for the train. We got there early and figured there would at least be a little something to do, but as it was a Sunday night in a small town...there was only a convenience store about .5 km down the road! So after killing about 2 hours, our train arrived and we made it back to Taipei just after midnight...just in time to catch the last MRT home and into bed to start another week of teaching the little ones!

Taiwan Tidbits

This is a part of a funny list I found recently entitled 'You Know You've Lived in Taiwan Too Long When...'; it captures many of the hilarious things that I love about Taiwan!

1. Someone doesn't stare at you and you wonder why.
-I've had numerous people stop me on the street or in restaurants just to ask to take a picture of me, not with me.
2. You stare at other foreigners.
-My roommates and I have a game going called "spot the foreigner" - goal is to see the most foreigners first when we are out together!
3. 70 degrees Fahrenheit feels cold.
-After the sweltering summer heat, this is true!
4. You don't notice the smell.
-Everywhere and everything has a smell here (not necessarily bad), especially the streets.
5. You see three people on a motorcycle and figure there's room for two more.
-Or at least a dog or 2.
6. You leave the plastic on new furniture and appliances.
-The cling-film plastic that protects new things during shipping is always left on things here, along with the stickers of all the selling points...I guess they will be prepared at any point should they need to return anything!
7. The shortest distance between two points involves going through an alley.
8. You wear blue rubber flip-flops at work.
-Everybody wears indoor shoes here, at home and work and even some stores, and these cheap 30NT (~US$1) flipflops are very common. Many of the street food vendors also wear them.
9. Over half of your clothes were bought at night markets.
-The selection is very hit or miss, but there is an absolutely huge assortment of things, all very cheap. So cheap that I find myself rejecting a shirt because it is 'so expensive' . . . when it is 500NT (~$15). Many decent shirts are about 200NT ($6).
10. You become an expert on bug zappers: the best brands & where to get them.
-While I have yet to buy one, I have heard discussions amongst very different groups of people about why certain electric racquets are better because 'they don't just kill mosquitoes, they kill cockroaches too!'
11. Pizza just doesn't taste right unless there's corn on it.
-It is hard to find pizza without it.
12. You can de-bone a piece of chicken in your mouth within seconds.
-A necessary skill in order to not go hungry. Chicken here is just chopped any which-way with a huge cleaver to cut through any bones that are in the way. As a result there are also many bone slivers to watch out for...
13. Squat toilets seem normal.
-These toilets are built into the floor and you 'squat' over them. I still wonder how elderly people use them, and often there is no other option in restaurants and public places.
14. When the fashions in the stores look really hip.
-Many of the stlyes are unbelievably put together and are so strange looking. Just one example I saw on the bus today: A 45-year-old woman wearing a Scandinavian looking knit sweater with big green camouflage pants with 'Love' written in big pink letters on the backside. High-heeled sneakers completed the look.
15. Your pinkie nail is over one inch long.
-This is getting less common but you still see it on a lot of people. I've tried to ask why, and I've heard everything from it being a status marker showing you don't have to work very hard to it warding away evil spirits and casting spells on your enemies.
16. You've left umbrellas in more than 3 restaurants.
-I'm already on umbrella #5. It would be a bigger problem except they are dirt cheap and just about every store under the sun (or rain clouds) sells them here.
17. You keep stuffed animals in your car.
-Enough said.
18. You get used to the habit of not paying any tips while traveling.
-All prices here include tax and tip (if applicable.)
19. Your first reaction in buying things is to ask for discounts.
-Most places, except department and proper grocery stores (as opposed to outdoor markets), you are expected to bargain for things. If you look hesitant when looking at something for sale, usually the sales person usually offers you 'a special price, just for you!'
20. "A", "an" and "the" aren't necessary parts of speech, but "so" is.
- When speaking to a Taiwanese in English, the first 3 are all optional. "So" is so commonly used along with adjectives that it seems they learned it was mandatory. (You are so young, so good, so bad!...etc)
21. Your answer to an "either/or" question is "yes".
-Again, common when speaking to a Taiwanese.
22. You say "Wei?" instead of "Hello?" when you pick up the phone.
-This word is like 'hello,' but it is only used over the phone. Even though it's such a short word, I've heard oodles of slightly different pronunciations.
23. You can no longer tell the difference between a cracker and a cookie or toast and bread.
-These are used interchangeably.
24. You go into 7-11 at least once a day.
-7-11s are different because you can pretty much do anything there: pay bills, buy movie and concert tickets, find Hello Kitty wine, pickup internet shopping purchases, order a latte, scan documents and make copies, buy dried fish snacks or freshly microwaved popcorn or dumplings or beer or special garbage bags or hot dogs....
25. The main reason you stop at a 7-11 is to buy tea eggs.
-Strange as these sound and look (they are hard-boiled and are a dark brown color), they don't taste like tea but are very salty.
26. You look both ways before crossing the sidewalk.
-Scooters, weaving bicyclists, stray dogs and cats, and tofu carts are all common occupants of the sidewalk, as well as very slow walkers.
27. You turn left from the right lane.
-Scooters cannot make direct left turns on most streets; they have to go to the perpendicular street to the right to wait in a special box until that light turns so they can go straight (confusing as it sounds, it seems to make traffic flow easier.)
28. There are more things strapped to your motorcycle than you ever put in a car.
-I've seen 7 canisters of compressed gas strapped on the back. . . !
29. You drive on the shoulder to pass traffic.
-Because it is regarded by everyone here (including the police) as just another lane to drive in.
30. Your preferred parking spot is on a sidewalk.
-This usually just applies to scooters, but on any road except a main one, it also applies to cars. I am in awe at some of the amazing park-jobs I have seen. No wonder the driving test includes a portion on driving backwards in an 'S' shape!
31. Most meaningful conversations take place in doorways or on slow-moving motorcycles.
32. You start cutting off the gravel trucks.
-Even though scooters are smaller and more vulnerable, they have no hesitation about cutting in front of any moving vehicle.
33.The red light is merely suggestive to you.

Sun Moon Lake

This past weekend I visited Sun Moon Lake, which is the largest lake in Taiwan.

Kenzie and I took the train out of Taipei to Taichung, about 2 1/2 hours South of Taipei. From there we were going to catch a bus to take us the rest of the way to the lake, but when we emerged from the train station, we happened upon a traditional festival/performance/parade! There was a musical performance, then the 'dragon' costumes came out and danced with people who were watching. Next came people in colorful costumes who were on stilts about 3-4 feet high. The main character in this group did some amazing stunts that looked like kung-fu, but 3 feet in the air on these painted stilts! There was also a dance with people who had their faces painted very intricately. The end came when the whole ensemble marched off through a busy intersection with delivery trucks, buses, scooters to continue the festivities in parade form throughout the city!

We eventually found the right bus station a few blocks away, which was more confusing than it sounds because there are apparently numerous bus companies in the city and most of the 'stations' do not resemble what we were picturing - they were little hole-in-the-wall spots with a few chairs inside. Once we found the right one however, we bought tickets and headed the 2 1/2 hours more on to the lake. When we arrived in the early evening it was extremely humid and overcast so we made it to our hostel (actually called a Youth Activity Center even though we were the youngest people there by far...) and settled in for the night. Part of what was interesting about this experience was that we had heard the lake is so famous and popular that there are crowds everywhere and everything is always busy. When we went to dinner at the restaurant in our complex that evening, there were only 3 other tables with people in a huge room with at least 40 tables. We finished eating our Taiwanese style meal (lots of different dishes of vegetables, meats, and soup) at 7 and were the last ones - the lady promptly turned the lights off before we were even all the way out of the door...a huge contrast to Taipei where 7 is considered extremely early for dinner! I think perhaps why it was less busy is because of the economy and it is the end of the summer season. In Taipei it is hard to tell that the economy is down at all, but in Taichung and Sun Moon Lake things definitely seemed slower with more people waiting about for customers.

We got some snacks and decided to take advantage of the quiet and relaxing atmosphere (we could hear crickets, which I haven't heard since I arrived in Taipei!) and just read. Kenzie bought some dried wasabi peas (which sounds pretty strange, but are a common snack and surprisingly good.) She opened up the bag and found that instead of seeing lots of peas, there were about 20 individually wrapped packets, each containing about 15 peas! We both were laughing uncontrollably because this epitomizes packaging in Taiwan so well! Everything here is wrapped in (it seems) as much packaging as possible. Postcards, books, magazines, shoes for sale, toiletry bottles, bananas, and milk are just a few of the things that are always wrapped in celophane. Usually packages of crackers or cookies that look like the ones back home are not loose inside; packets of 3 or 4 items are individually wrapped. I guess it is to keep things from spoiling because of the humidity and heat or getting dirty, but it seems extremely excessive, although quite funny.

Anyhow, we got up the next morning early and rented bicycles to ride partway around the lake road (the total length of the road is about 30km) to a temple, complete with a pagoda that Chiang Kai-Shek built for his mother, and saw amazing views since it was nice and sunny! Growing up with such clean air, I never really noticed it and took it for granted but after having been in Taipei where I can feel the grime on my skin at the end of the day, I immediately noticed the fresh, clean air. The water in the lake is almost aquamarine colored which makes it look more like a tropical ocean. As tempting as it looks, people are forbidden from swimming in the lake except one day a year (on that day over 10,000 people show up for the annual swim across the lake event.) No one seems to have any idea why they limit swimming! An interesting note about Taiwanese though; apparently most of them do not know how to swim! I wasn't sure I believed this when someone first told me, but I have since read that there are numerous drownings each year when people are tempted by rivers and lakes on the first few hot days of each summer season. The government is trying to fix this problem though by mandating that kids take some form of swim lessons by a certain age.

We also took a boat tour across the lake which stopped at a few different places, including a tiny, tiny island in the middle that is made about 8 times as large by the surrounding floating bamboo squares. Originally (as well as currently) an aboriginal tribe named the Thao lived on one side of the lake, so for lunch we ate a traditional meal on the waterfront. It was amazing and presented so nicely! However, I was unable to eat the little fish because it was no different from when it had been in the water except that it had been fried with seasoning - all the scales, fins, tail, etc were still on. I have tried a fish like it before and the crunch of the head and tail are just a little too much...


It was a great weekend and nice to leave the city behind for a few days (even though I do love the hustle and bustle of Taipei and all that it has to offer!)

Kiddos

Here is a video of my kids on the schoolbus while we were on a field trip. This is really how crazy they are - imagine trying to teach them phonics and ABCs! Still, they are very cute...

Life Update

So...a general update about how life is here...

Everyone is really paranoid about the H1N1 flu thing, so probably about 75% of people everywhere are wearing those surgical masks to protect themselves. At first it seemed really strange but now it just looks normal to me! Even my kids have to wear them, so it's hard to tell if some of them are talking. These masks are so common that they come in a variety of colors, patterns, sizes, and even materials - paper or fabric. People also wear them when they ride on their scooters because of the pollution. Another note on attire - in Western culture people usually want to be tan, whereas here they want to be as white as possible! So, many people use umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun. On the scooters, they try to cover themselves up as much as possible so that they end up looking like they're on their way to rob a bank! They put on masks under their helmets and even little covers on their hands that look like oven mitts to keep the sun off their skin. Basically all that is left visible is their eyes... You also have to be careful when buying skin products, like face wash or cream, because sometimes they contain 'whitening elements'! I can only imagine what kind of chemicals might lurk in there.

I decided to take a scuba diving certification class since I am going to Bali, Indonesia over Christmas with my roommate, Kenzie. She is already certified and the diving there is supposed to be excellent, so I figured why not?! Two weekends ago I had the first part of the class, with 3 other students - one is another teacher I work with. Our instructor is a Canadian I met on one of the hash runs. Saturday was the classroom portion where we just reviewed the information from the 250+ page manual (although there were a lot of pictures) and took the written test. The next day we actually got to go underwater with all the equipment, in the pool! The air tank and all the other equipment is about 45 lbs, so out of the water it is very awkward and clumsy to get around. We went to a government (public) pool and practiced skills we had learned about in a shallowish pool, then went to the 5 meter pool to do the deeper things. It was really fun, but I started to get really cold even though I was wearing a wetsuit because we were in the water for about 6 hours, not moving very much. My lips matched the blue wetsuit I was wearing after about 2 hours, so I had to get out every so often to take a hot shower. My instructor made the comment - 'I wasn't cold until I looked at you!' Ha ha. Normally I will be ok, but this was a rental suit that wasn't quite thick or small enough. Some of the other things were too big as well, so for next week my instructor is going to find me kids sizes! Ha ha. Anyway, it was really neat to be able to breath underwater, although it was hard at first to trust because it goes against how you've always breathed before! Next weekend we are heading out to the North coast to make the 4 required ocean dives. Kenzie went to the same location a few weeks ago and said that both underwater and above water is gorgeous, so I'm excited!

This past weekend was a busy one! I hiked to a temple near my house (only about 30 minutes up the road) and looked around. There are tons of temples here in Taiwan (I've read that Taiwan has the highest temple-to-person ratio) but some are definitely bigger and more interesting than others. (Some look like little store fronts because they are on main roads in the city, between a convenience store and a bus stop...) It was amazing because the temple is so elaborately decorated and there are so many people just hanging out there. It is a really peaceful place where some people are praying, and some are just sitting around chatting with friends. The whole place has a really unique smell (one that I like) because spirit money is always being burned, in little metal bins and a big special oven built especially for that purpose (as pictured). Spirit money is just a special paper printed to look like some kind of ancient money and people buy it, then burn it, to show respect to their ancestors and deceased relatives. This temple, Bishan Temple, is up on a hillside so there is a complete view of the city from there. I just love finding new things all the time that are so close - it is impossible to ever be bored here.

As I mentioned before, Kenzie just bought a scooter last week so we have been driving to school on it. Back home it is just accepted that only one person will be on a scooter at a time, but here it is way more common to see at least 2! And it is not uncommon to see a whole family - mom, dad, and 2 kids standing in the foot area...! Equally as strange (and common) is to see a dog or 2 riding in the foot area of the scooter - I guess they have better balance than dogs back home?! Kenzie and I decided to make the 45 minute drive north from the city to Yangmingshan National Park. It was just absolutely gorgeous! In some ways it felt like national park from back home because of the openness and abundance of hiking trails, but different in that there are not as many rules and there is no admission fee! We had bright sun and when we got into the park it felt like a completely different world even though you could see the entire city below. We did a 2 hour hike up to the highest peak (1120 meters) through bamboo and tall silver grass. There are also so many hot springs etc around here (actually in all of Taiwan) and here is no exception! From the trail head we could see a huge vent of steam coming out of the ground. Then on the way up there were also hot spots with steam and hot bubbling mud right beside the trail. Very cool! We have noticed another thing - there has been virtually no wildlife other than bugs and insects. Which reminds me: Taiwanese hold a special love for beetles. Kids love them and will pick them up and bring them for show-and-tell.

Scooters!

So, after being here in Taiwan for 3 months, I have decided to make the jump and buy a scooter! Before I came, I never thought I would buy one, but after riding with some other people and seeing how much more of the city is accessible, I have decided to do it.



Most foreigners who drive scooters do so illegally because just like many other things here, the law requiring licenses does not mean that's what people actually do! So many people drive scooters without the proper Taiwanese license - they just use one from back home. The standard practice if you get pulled over for something is to speak English really fast, since most of the policeman only speak Chinese. They usually just waive you away because they don't want to deal with the hassle of trying to make themselves understood or to lose face, which is big here. Crazy, but that's just the way things are done here.

I thought I would try to do it legally and get my scooter license, but of course a strange rule kept me from being able to. My ARC (resident visa and working permit) is only valid for 51 weeks, and it needs to be valid for at least 52 in order to be able to take the test and apply for the license. We don't really know why the rule is there - but we've also learned not to try to think too much about the 'why' behind some things here. We only found out that we weren't eligible to take the test after we had gone to the driver testing center during our lunch break, taken the necessary photos, and studied what some of the cryptic road signs mean. (There is actually a sign here for Wheelbarrow Crossing, as well as No Motortricycles or Animal-drawn Carts...)



Kenzie was especially keen to get a scooter right away, so since she had the rest of the day off she found an ad online for another foreigner who wanted to sell their scooter. Off she went to meet the person and get her scooter! She picked me up from school and we scootered on home...very fun and so much more direct than the lurching bus (some of which are structurally questionable: I was sitting in a seat one day when it was raining very hard and water was dripping onto my head from the light fixture in the ceiling.) The traffic really is quite something - weaving around the parked cars, bicyclists going against traffic on a 5 lane road, buses quickly swerving from the far left lane to pick someone up on the righthand side of the street...there's always a surprise, and then often it is sprinkling rain as well! There is also a very confusing way of turning left when you are driving a scooter - you have to turn in two sections. Instead of going into the left lane and waiting for an opening in oncoming traffic, you have to first turn right onto the perpendicular street and wait in a special box (white lines painted on the road) for that light to turn green so you can go straight through the intersection...but of course! Just another quirk about driving here.


Since I will be getting a scooter soon, it was a great introduction to driving in Taipei because I helped navigate but also got to experience the craziness first hand.
Tomorrow we are going to go exploring again, and I will take a video of what the traffic looks/feels like from the scooter!

Kickboxing

Last night I got to try something really different: a kickboxing class! It might not seem that unusual, but the difference was that my roommate, Kenzie, and I went to one that meets outside of the Chang Kai-Shek memorial in the evening. It is a huge open area paved with square stones and there are lots of people just sitting or walking around. On three sides there are massive ornately decorated buildings, one of which is the actual memorial and another is a concert hall. The fourth side has the huge gateway made up of white archways leading into the whole area.

This particular night there was a jazz festival about to begin in a different part of the memorial, so there was live background music the whole time.
Kenzie and I arrived not really knowing what to expect. We saw the group (mostly foreigners) sitting by the gateway and several minutes later the class began. As newcomers, the other people warned us that it was going to be a hard 2 hours! They said we would be sore for days after... It truly was a total body workout; no muscle went unused! We began with a 'warm up' and after those 20 minutes I knew that the evening was going to be very intense as I was already completely drenched with sweat and winded! It was non-stop starting with aerobic exercises, then stretching, strength training, technique (which I have none of just yet!) and finally a little break for water, then running the 89 steps up to the memorial countless times, then ab exercises!

The teacher is a guy from Denmark who was a world champion but is now living in Taiwan teaching English, leading these classes on the side in the evenings. He is pretty funny and nice, but also really pushes people and encourages them to keep going when it gets tough. We went to different areas of the memorial and did different exercises...all the while many Taiwanese people were walking around and watching, sometimes in amusement, sometimes in confusion as to what we were doing...I heard one couple wondering if we were a cross-country team out for training! The people in the class were all really friendly and just like most other groups here, they get together often outside of the class for nights out, potlucks, and camping trips.
The humidity and heat (about 95F and 80% humidity) was so different from what I am used to exercising in and everyone was just dripping with sweat about half an hour into the workout! (The whole workout lasted a bit over 2 hours, but it just flew by!) I just loved it because back home, classes like this are just in boring gym studios and here we were outside of this amazing cultural sight with beautiful buildings all around, just the night sky above us! It was unlike anything I've done before and such a fun experience. I left feeling really good (but also incredibly tired) and ready to do it again, so now every Tuesday and Thursday evening that's where I'll be!


This is just one example of what I love so far about Taiwan - something that we have in the States is just in such a different setting or done in such a different way that it becomes so much more exciting! There is always so much going on that it is impossible to be bored.

Hash Run

So this past weekend I went on this event called a Hash run and it was a blast! These runs are actually held all over the world. It is a completely cross-country run through unique terrain. Basically by going on it, you see really unique areas of Taiwan that you wouldn't otherwise get to see, like farmers planting in their fields and tiny villages.
I went with my 2 roommates Katelin and Kenzie and we met the group at an MRT station in Taipei. Then we all boarded a chartered bus and it drove us north near the coast. The start of the run was at the top of some hills, so the bus started to make it's way up. Then the road did a complete U-turn going uphill and the bus wasn't going to make it. So this massive bus with about 50 people on it started to do a 6-point turn on this steep curve, getting perilously close to the edge each time it backed up....about 5 minutes later we somehow got all the way turned around and continued upwards! Amazing - it felt like the ending to the original 'Italian Job.' The bus couldn't make it all the way, so we walked the last 5 minutes or so. Then we started!

The trail is about an hour or so long (depending on how fast you run or walk, and what the route is like.) There are the 'hares' who pick the route (they go in advance and choose the route, sometimes clearing away the bamboo or other vegetation with machetes...) and leave the start line about 5 minutes earlier than everyone else to mark the trail with blobs of flour. Then the girls start and the guys go about 10 minutes later.

This particular one was amazing because it was all downhill and through really cool areas - through rice fields and little villages with people sitting on their balconies cheering us on, overgrown creeks, thick bamboo stands, irrigation ditches and tunnels where you had to grab onto a banana plant to keep from falling when you emerged on the other side, along the edges of crops (one in particular had a farmer shouting Chinese at us...) then eventually about an hour later we ended up on the beach!

It's a new course each week in a different location and the trail is supposed to be difficult to find in parts, so you really have to keep an eye out for white patches of flour while navigating down steep rocky areas and creeks. My legs got fairly scratched from running through the low down vines and pushing aside the branches and twigs, but definitely worth it!
Afterwards we met the bus at the bottom of the hill, right next to the beach where we all dove in (and surprisingly the water was extremely warm! This coming from someone who normally gets blue-lipped in the ocean...) Then we moved further on down the beach to a traditional Taiwanese restaurant specializing in barbeque. It is different from western barbeque in that each outdoor picnic table has it's own hot plate/grill, and you just choose whichever raw meat you want to cook and bring it back to your table. It was all you can eat and drink, so everyone definitely got their fill!

It was a great way to spend a Sunday and an even better way to see parts of Northern Taiwan that would be hard to get to otherwise. Everything is planned by the organizers so all you do is show up at the right time and place and off you go!

Daily Living

I have now been in Taiwan for almost a month, and things are still going great! I have gone to so many places and have figured out many different things for everyday living, and started my job, so there is lots to tell!
I moved into an apartment about 3 weeks ago with three other girls who happened to be on the same plane to Taipei. We are on the only apartment on the 5th floor and have an amazing rooftop garden above us! It has lots of plants, a little pond with some koi fish, and amazing views of our neighborhood. It makes a great place to exercise in the early mornings before school! It is nice getting settled in and having some of our neighbours say hello and recognize us. As far as we can tell, there aren’t many foreigners in the area, so everybody remembers us. A man who sells stinky tofu lives right at the entrance to our building, so we get a smelly welcome home in the evenings!
Everyday there is something new to figure out or discover – there will never be a dull moment! Just yesterday I came home and checked the mail box, which is metal and has a little slit to put mail through. I opened it up with the key and found a large bag of mushrooms: how did they get there and who put them there?! The answer is a common one here – who knows! It’s little things like that that make me laugh every day.
Another interesting part of the everyday life here is the buses. I had read before I came that some of the drivers were not exactly concerned with the comfort or safety of the riders, but the first couple of weeks I had had good experiences, except for the jerkiness as they lurched in and out of traffic. Just this weekend however, my roommate, Katelin, and I flagged the bus down when we saw it and the back doors opened. There were two other ladies running to catch the bus so we let them get on first. As soon as the first lady set foot on the step, the doors suddenly closed and the bus started to pull away! She fell out of the bus onto Katelin and as soon as somebody else stopped the bus, the driver got out and we figured he was coming to apologize, but instead he started to yell at the lady! It was rapidfire Chinese, so we had no idea what he was saying, but it was pretty strange. Another time we got on a half empty bus and upon seeing us, the driver started shaking his head and gesticulating wildly, and shooed us off. Just another day in Taiwan!
Despite some of the bus drivers, everybody else has been very friendly and helpful. The times we have gotten lost, it only takes about 5 minutes looking at a map until somebody stops and asks if you need help. When you tell them where you’re trying to go, they try their best to help. It’s just very welcoming and makes getting around even easier. The traffic however is just unlike anything I have ever seen! No space on the road is wasted, so if there is even a foot between a bus and the curb, there will be at least 2 or 3 scooters. Everybody drives bumper to bumper and must really know the dimensions of their car, because I still have not seen one accident! There are lots of honking of horns, but it is more just to let other people on the road know that someone is in front of/behind them. Something that took a while to get used to is crossing the street at a crosswalk: in the US it is usually expected that cars will wait to turn until the pedestrians are all the way across the street, but here they will give you about a foot of clearance while they whiz on by. So at first it constantly felt like I was going to be runover, but now that I am used to it I realize that everybody walks and the cars and scooters go around and just use the other space. I think if they waited the American way, no one would get anywhere because of how much traffic there is.
Starting teaching has been interesting – fun, but really different and more challenging than I thought it would be. Our very first day we had to teach a class for half an hour...no training! Then our next couple of days were meetings with our boss and she went over some of our working duties and what levels we would be teaching, then we observed a few classes. Then because it was the end of the semester, all the experienced teachers, along with our boss, left for the Philippines! So the only 3 English teachers at this school were me and my roommates – that week was pretty stressful since it was the blind leading the blind and we didn’t have a clue. The only people we could ask questions were the Chinese teachers who speak sometimes-questionable English.
This week we started teaching our permanent classes with the students we will have all semester. Apparently kids are not placed in classes based on their English ability or their age, but instead what time they first enrolled in school. (One of the kids who is 2 has been at the school since he was 10 months old...amazing!) This means that although I am supposed to be teaching the middle level, I have kids aged anywhere from 3 to 6. It is really hard because some of them can’t even hold a pencil while others can write their name well. This is really my first time dealing with kids and it’s fun but exhausting! I am always chasing after them and keeping a constant eye on them, or else one of them has glued their worksheet to the table, spilled their breakfast milk on their neighbour’s pants, or shoved a sticker up their nose. A good thing is that I am being forced to speak (or yell!) louder, which has always been a problem for me. Already I can get the attention of my 11 kids in a sea of about 50.
From what I remember of kindergarten in Boulder, we had it easy! Here they have a very specific routine each day and have homework each weekend. First thing before class starts, all the students have Exercise Time in the lobby where we lead them through stretches and dances to kids’ songs. Then each class goes to their room and they eat their snack. Each student has 3 bowls that they use each day – one for morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack, all between 9am and 4 pm. Even the really young kids (2 or 3) know which bowl is for what time, etc. There is a lot of eating that happens in Taiwan! The cook at the school makes really good food though and all the teachers are encouraged to eat with the students, so I get to experience different Taiwanese foods each day while at work.
There is a huge focus here not on the student directly, but what the parents want or will think. So if a student has a problem doing something in class, instead of telling the parents, we are supposed to find something good about their child to tell them instead and ignore the problem. But then on the opposite side, they recommend pinching as a form of discipline! Very strange. It is really nice that 2 of my roommates are also teaching at the same school because we can compare what we are doing and what we are told to figure things out on our own – crucial at this school because things are very disorganized.
So...there is lots more, but since things are so busy here with exploring and work (lots of preparation time involved for lesson planning and materials) I can’t even begin to list it all – also this post is so long already!
More updates to follow...

Photos

I have a flickr page with pictures on it...the website address is right underneath my profile picture...or:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40597501@N06/?saved=1.
Enjoy!

Arrival!

I'm here in Taiwan! The flight was long, but 'night time' the whole way, so I got a lot of sleep and arrived in Taipei at 6 am, wide awake. I followed the directions to look for someone holding a sign with my name on it once I went through customs and met up with 3 other girls -- Rachel, from Tennessee; Kenzie, from Minnesota; and Katelin, from Ontario -- and our taxi driver Simon. He spoke a bit of English and told us that we would all take one cab to the hotel. Other than that, all he had was a half-sheet of information about who our representative for the school was (Rita), the branch name that we are going to be teaching at, and notice that we would be going to the hospital on Monday for our government health check. We all felt that we were pretty trusting, just going with whatever Simon said! (Simon says get in the van and follow me!) When the van arrived, we all piled in with our luggage and headed off. Just about 5 minutes later, we pulled into a shady parking garage and the driver started to unload our luggage while we had no idea what was going on...apparently we were transferring into 2 separate cabs to go all the way into the city. Our next stop was the hotel (actually a hostel) where the other 3 girls would be staying. All Simon said was, "go to the 22nd floor to check in"...and then he and I were off! Then I was driven to the apartment and delivered, with instructions to call Rita on Monday morning.

When I got to the apartment, I was greeted by Atty, Marissa, and Sharon, the 3 maids who run the apartment. They had prepared a breakfast, some kind of bun/pastry with a sausage in the middle, as well as some fruit. Sharon and Eddie (the driver) then accompanied me out to show me how to buy an MRT Easy Card and load money onto it. From there, they showed me how to cross the streets (usually it is 'safe' when the little green running man shows up, but you still have to dodge the zillions of scooters, that apparently have no rules to follow! Then there's the intersections that constantly have a red blinking hand, where it's just up to you to find a suitable time to cross without being runover...) When we got back around 11:30, I thought I would take a quick nap even though I had been feeling pretty good so far. When I woke up, it was past 8:30pm! I hadn't meant to sleep the entire day away, but I got up for some dinner. This consisted of about 8 different small dishes, all for me! There was duck, mushroom soup, broccoli, red cabbage, a whole fish, fruit salad, some sort of green vegetables, and more fruit for dessert...all quite tasty. Since I couldn't go back to bed just yet, I watched some Taiwanese TV with Marissa and Atty, which consisted of various talk shows where everyone laughed a lot, and some news channels where I learned that a small typhoon was headed our way! I could understand very little of what was going on, but it was so fun to watch! After all this, I went back to bed, since I was going to meet up with Kenzie and Katelin in the morning to tour the city.

I took the MRT (which is very convenient and clean, although there is a shocking lack of trashcans anywhere -- either they are hidden or trash just magically disappears, I don't know!) from the apartment to Taipei Main Station and met Katelin.

From there, we walked around, got some bubble tea (since I had no idea what the choices were, I picked option #3 just because there were 2 Qs in the name...) then looked around for a cell phone. Here it is very easy to get a cell phone...although it is all done in steps at different stores. First you go to an electronics store and choose a phone -- the cheapest ones are only about US$45! Then you go to one of the phone company's stores to buy a SIM card and a phone number. The last step is to go to any 7-11 (which is hard NOT to do, with one about every third store!) and buy a prepaid phone card. The only trick in a few of the places was finding a way to communicate when neither of us had a common language...but a bit of gesturing and writing prices down seemed to do the trick.

Next we met up with Kenzie and the three of us headed off to see the Taipei 101 -- the world's tallest building. Once we arrived at the outside of the building, we had to find our way through 4 floors of shops and eateries. We took the world's fastest elevator to the top -- 84 floors in 37 seconds! It was amazing how we could barely tell we were moving, except that our ears kept popping! The view from the top observatory deck was great, but for being on the highest building, none of us felt like it was that far up there! Next we stopped at a market we had seen from the Taipei 101 for some lunch. We got some sort of fried fish balls (or maybe squid, octopus?) and pork dumplings. Everything is so cheap here, the whole meal only cost each of us about US$2! Once we were done, we walked to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. There are two guards who stand watch for one hour at a time inside, and they don't move at all! It was impressive to see. Then we watched the ceremony of the changing of the guards, which involved lots of gun twirling, boot stomping, and precision! After being inside where the mood was very quiet, we were all surprised to see several young hip-hop dance groups practising just outside the entrance doors!

After this we headed back to the hostel to sit down for a bit and then headed out to the most famous night market of Taiwan -- Shilin Night Market. It is just North of downtown by MRT. We thought we knew where we were going, but we ended up walking in a circle and then some, so we took a cab. Since most taxi drivers don't speak English, having our Lonely Planet guide book with the place names all written in Mandarin proved to be very useful so we could just point and the driver understood! When we got there, it was insane how many people are packed into such a long, narrow alley! There is everything for sale here...dinners, drinks, fruit, pet birds, shoes, jewellery, household items, and of course numerous t-shirts with strange English sayings...my favourite was "Giraffe goes the Moose!" We ended up getting some food from a stand by pointing at the pictures. I ordered a shellfish dish, when it came it looked great but smelled just awful! I mustered my way through about half of it, but this overpowering smell/taste was just a bit too much to even think about finishing the whole thing!


This was all just my first day here, and there is so much more that I saw and experienced, it's hard to write it all here! But the main things that so far all three of us have noticed: Taipei is extremely hot and humid (about 95F/32C with 85% humidity!), everyone is very helpful and friendly, and none of us feels any culture shock yet! I think the last part may change, because right now it just feels like we are on a vacation, but once we start to do more everyday things like finding an apartment and buying groceries and teaching, perhaps it will seem like more of a difference. This is not to say that things seem the same (because almost everything is somehow different and new, or funny because of the little illustrations that accompany any sign or because the English translation is just slightly off) but I don't feel really out of place. I think that this is because I have been with 2 other English speaking girls, and everyone else is just really friendly!

It's getting late here and I should try to adjust to the time change, so time for bed! Tomorrow is more sightseeing...

Almost There

There are only 4 days now until I leave! I now have all my paperwork and most of the items ready that I will be bringing with me. One of the more interesting steps in this whole process was applying for my visitor's visa (good for 90 days) to enter Taiwan. American citizens are allowed to be in Taiwan for 30 days without a visa, but since it takes just a bit longer than this to receive my work permit (that I cannot apply for until I am in the country), I needed to have the visitor's visa. I even had to go so far as to buy a refundable plane ticket to 'prove' that I would be leaving Taiwan after 50 days! Once I get to Taiwan and fill out more paperwork with my school, I should have my proper work visa/permit in about a month or so.

I will be teaching kindergarten at a Hess Language School. The school is one of the largest in Taiwan and they have over 25 branches throughout the island. I know that I will be teaching at one of two of the branches in Taipei, but I don't find out which one until I arrive next Friday (after an almost 14-hour flight from Los Angeles!)

I am lucky to have a family friend contact who used to live in Taipei for 15 years (now in Hong Kong) and still owns an apartment there. They generously offered for me to stay there for a week or two until I find a permanent place to live. The apartment is staffed with a driver, secretary and several maids so I'm sure I will be very well taken care of! The driver will be very helpful to get around the first few days since I will not know where anything is and am unable to speak Chinese to ask for directions. I'm sure it will be interesting!

Well that's all for now, I'm off to do some more packing and final visiting...my next post will be once I have arrived!

Welcome!

I started this blog because several people have mentioned that they want to hear about my travels over to Taiwan. This way people can check in and see what I've been up to!
More to follow as my departure date grows closer...