The first two weeks...

The first two weeks I was in Taiwan passed in a flash of activity that involved having my first day at work a little over 48 hours after landing. Students were still on break, and we started out having half days. Work consisted of looking at some of the lesson plans from last year, but more importantly, finding a permanent place to live as hostel living had lost most of the charm it had during my Europe adventure ten years ago. Also, one a.m. disruptions from dorm mates when you have work in the morning prove to be rather unpleasant.

Each day I would spend several hours looking through apartment listing and having one of the Taiwanese teachers that work in the Penglai Elementary English Wonderland department (there are three: Linda, Minhsien, and Renee) call the landlord for me, as most of them did not speak English. If the apartment was still available, I would make an appointment to check it out, and then my foreign teacher compatriots (Dan from Boston, and Willem from South Africa) and I would go and check it out. Willem is entering his fourth year teaching in Taiwan, and he was incredibly generous with his time in helping me navigate Taipei and check out apartments.

The price and quality of apartments in Taipei varies greatly, and being willing to spend a little more money, or live in one of the districts outside Taipei proper can be the difference between living in a small, poorly designed box (I saw a couple of these), or having a relatively spacious two bedroom apartment (which I ended up with). The first few days were a bit frustrating as most of the apartments that I looked at online were either too expensive, or too small. When I say small, I mean really small, as in about 200 sq ft and change. Basically enough room to have a bed, a desk, and a bathroom. Depending on where in the city you were looking, they could be as much or more than the apartment I ended up with (which is about 700 sq ft).

Between work and looking at apartments I did manage to do a little exploring which included stops at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall:


A walled garden area nearby:



Taipei 101:



This included a visit to the food court for spinach dalh courtesy of India Palace:



Oh, wait a moment. That was my second visit to Taipei 101 that I got the Indian food. This is what I got the first time:



This, my friends, is an oyster omelet. It had the potential to be good, but due to the addition of cornstarch, is a little too rubbery for my tastes. At the time I didn't even know it was cornstarch, so I was left speculating about why my omelet could be stretched to and fro. I didn't finish it. The oysters were good though.

During this time I was so caught up getting acclimated to having a job and trying to find an apartment, that the fact I was halfway around the world from Portland didn't even occur. However, I was prone to random "oh, s__t" moments, where the realization that I had finally made it abroad to teach filled me with a sense of overwhelming excitement. However, that was often tamed by my return to the Happy Family hostel, which gave me an "oh, s__t" feeling of a less positive variety.

After a search that took most of the week, I finally found my current apartment which is located in the Yonghe District of New Taipei City, and at one point in time had the second highest population density in the world. The apartment is owned by a really nice Taiwanese couple and they were incredibly helpful when I first moved including dropping off a little foldable sofa bed that I slept on until I could get a real bed (which they also dropped off for me).


This guy was the first visitor I had after moving into the apartment.





It's about a 45 minute commute for me to get to work, but I have found myself enjoying this time, as part of my commute takes me through a park near the Yonghe branch of the Taipei public library system. This park is consistently active, and when I walk through at about 7:15 in the morning there groups of ladies (mostly in the age range of probably 40s-60s) doing dance routines, even larger groups doing tai chi and qigong, people exercising, general socializing, and playing games. It is really great seeing so many people out and about early in the morning.

With the apartment search out of the way, I could finally focus on actual lesson planning, and the next week was filled with long days on the computer modifying and updating last years lesson plans and creating worksheets, but also included a visit out to the immigration office to apply for my ARC (Alien Resident Certificate) card. The ARC card is about the size of a driver's license and is my proof that I'm legit for working and living in Taiwan. It also means that if I fly to another country while I'm living in Taiwan I can go through the resident line at immigration, which is significantly smaller than the normal line for foreigners. With all my paperwork completed and getting close to wrapping up the lesson planning, the only thing left was waiting for the students to come back to school...