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!