Hey, blogger has a new interface. You can now expect visually dynamic masterpieces full of pictures and keen insight into daily happenings in Taipei, starting with this one.
I also decided to rename my blog. Unlike the new interface, it probably won't make me a better writer, but I do feel it has given me a clear theme to draw ideas from. It also represents an approach to the world that I would like to embrace. I feel that I often become very narrowly focused on one thing, and in the process proceed to ignore so much of what's going on around me. Coming to Taiwan to teach is a perfect example. I convinced myself that I merely needed to idle away my time until I left, and missed out on a lot of opportunities to make life more interesting while wrapping up my time in Portland (and perhaps more financially stable).
A narrow focus is also something I would like to avoid while having such an amazing opportunity here in Taipei. Already I've caught myself falling into too much of a routine, and putting up the blinders while on my commute to and from work. There's a lot here to absorb and experience, and it would be a pity if I closed myself off to it.
I'm also growing back my beard. It has inspired this haiku:
Oh beard, you were missed
How naked my face had felt
Make me whole again
Wow, that's terrible! If I had more sense I would just erase it now...
Monday, November 14, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
On trying to learn Chinese...
As many or most of you may know, Chinese (Mandarin) is a tonal language where words that look the same in Pinyin have completely different meanings depending on the tone you use. The easiest example is "ma." It can mean "horse" using one tone, "mom" using another, and I think it can also mean to scold someone. I've been using flashcards to learn Chinese characters, and each card has a phrase to showcase the use of the character. It's been a slow process but I am picking up on some Chinese and am able to recognize more and more characters all the time. I can't piece them together into anything coherent, but I'm working on it.
One thing that helps is having three native Chinese speakers in the English office. Good for me, but perhaps bad for them as I think I'm actually driving one of my co-workers, Linda, rather batty by practicing Chinese phrases on her in my terrible monotone, American dude trying to speak Chinese, accent. One of my other co-workers, Min-hsien, has spent a lot of time around foreigners and so she can understand what i'm trying to say pretty easily. Linda, however, just looks at me with an incredulous look that says "what the hell are you trying to say?" What makes things so difficult is the fact that when she repeats the correct pronunciation back to me, to my untrained ears, it really doesn't sound so different. This has also happened in a couple stores where I have actually asked for something in Chinese and they just give me a blank look. When I finally say it correct enough to understand, they repeat it back to me in what pretty much sounds like exactly what I just said. In response to this, I have learned the Chinese equivalent to "That's what I said."
"Na shi wo shuo de."
I'm sure I butchered that, but what more can you do when trying to learn a language? The tonal subtleties are definitely going to be the biggest mountain to climb in my Chinese language acquisition, but I've definitely been enjoying trying to learn it.
While it's going to be a long process, I guess when I can finally start passing the Linda test I'll know I'm on the right track. Wish me luck, because it is not going to be easy.
One thing that helps is having three native Chinese speakers in the English office. Good for me, but perhaps bad for them as I think I'm actually driving one of my co-workers, Linda, rather batty by practicing Chinese phrases on her in my terrible monotone, American dude trying to speak Chinese, accent. One of my other co-workers, Min-hsien, has spent a lot of time around foreigners and so she can understand what i'm trying to say pretty easily. Linda, however, just looks at me with an incredulous look that says "what the hell are you trying to say?" What makes things so difficult is the fact that when she repeats the correct pronunciation back to me, to my untrained ears, it really doesn't sound so different. This has also happened in a couple stores where I have actually asked for something in Chinese and they just give me a blank look. When I finally say it correct enough to understand, they repeat it back to me in what pretty much sounds like exactly what I just said. In response to this, I have learned the Chinese equivalent to "That's what I said."
"Na shi wo shuo de."
I'm sure I butchered that, but what more can you do when trying to learn a language? The tonal subtleties are definitely going to be the biggest mountain to climb in my Chinese language acquisition, but I've definitely been enjoying trying to learn it.
While it's going to be a long process, I guess when I can finally start passing the Linda test I'll know I'm on the right track. Wish me luck, because it is not going to be easy.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Of all the days to not have a camera...
As many of you already know, Andrea is currently in China advancing her knowledge of Chinese medicine. Perhaps unknown is that we currently only have one camera and it is currently in her possession. This is OK as I had the camera for the first several weeks I was in Taipei and was able to take a lot of pictures. What is unfortunate is that today is definitely a day that I wished I had a camera (this is an exaggerated misfortune. I'll have other opportunities to take the necessary pictures in the future).
I have now been in Taipei for over two months, and while I'm embarrassed to say it, today was actually the first time that I left the house with absolutely zero agenda about my final destination. I've done bits of wandering here and there, but it usually was tied to some eventual goal. Wait a second. Even leaving the house without an agenda is technically an agenda. It's just a little less specific.
"I will leave the house with no destination. I will just walk."
Sounds like an agenda to me. With a liberal bias I might add.
Since I have been in Taipei, I have been relatively content with my walk to the MRT station, to work, and back. So today, I walked down a street I had never walked, looked down alleys I have yet to walk, crossed a bridge I had never crossed and found myself in what was for me, uncharted territory. What was interesting about this uncharted territory, is that as soon as I crossed the bridge, I found myself back on the street that passes right by my apartment (Zhongzheng, which is also another name for Chiang Kai-Shek) and crosses a different bridge. I decided to walk down this street and see where it lead.
Well, it lead past a lot of businesses, and a park, and buildings, and then it ended. I hadn't anticipated walking this major road to its eventual conclusion, though I have to admit there is something satisfying about it. I had noticed early on that it did lead toward some rather attractive looking forested hills, and so I wasn't disappointed when I reached its end.
For those unaware of Taipei's geography, a brief word. Taipei is a vast metropolis that has gradually absorbed surrounding towns and is composed of the original city and New Taipei (the surrounding areas that make up Taipei County). If you are viewing this area from higher ground, it looks like an almost endless urban landscape surrounded by mountains. This is actually one of Taipei's most charming attributes. No matter where you are, if you want to get into a little bit of nature, it's really not that far away.
So once I reached the end of Zhongzheng Rd, I found myself at the foot of what looked like a rather impressive hill (mountain). I wanted to climb up that mountain but was not sure if there was a good route to take. I made a couple attempts by going up a couple of Taipei's seemingly infinite alleys, but was thwarted both times. Eventually I just decided to walk down the major street parallel to the mountain to see what would happen. At first, not much. But right as I was about to give up, I discovered the entrance to a little hiking trail that ended up being less of a trail, and more of a stair master. Really, it was just a bunch of stairs. A bunch of stairs that took you up almost 2000 feet in elevation in about a mile.
Taipei is a city of contrasts. This is exemplified by tall, new buildings next to building that look like they could have been torn down years ago. These same old buildings are also interspersed in the most luxurious shopping areas you can imagine. The view I find at the top of my short and steep hike was also one of contrasts.
If I looked one way, I had an amazing view of the seemingly endless urban sprawl that makes up Taipei and New Taipei. It's not a bad view. I have long been a fan of big cities, and there is something awe inspiring about all the pieces that must come together to make a large city work.
However, looking the other way was truly breath taking. Before I came to Taiwan, the non-urban image of SE Asia that I had composed from movies and pictures was one of layered, rolling mountains shrouded in mist and mystery. This was my other view, and what was amazing about it was that all I had to do was look left rather than right. I had my layered, rolling mountains covered with a thick green forest; what looked like tea fields; and the ethereal haze that added something extra to the whole panorama.
After making my way back down the trail of stairs, I made my way to the riverside bike and pedestrian trail that I had also yet to explore. This further added to my joy of Taiwan's natural beauty (and dismay of not having a camera) as I was treated to the sun setting behind forested hills with the small batches of clouds lit up with colors of pink, red and orange and the sun's rays reflecting on the river.
As I walked down the riverside trail the view of the river was eventually obscured by tall reeds, though every once in awhile you'd get a glimpse of a little garden that someone had made after making a small path through the reeds.
Have I mentioned that I really like Taiwan?
I have now been in Taipei for over two months, and while I'm embarrassed to say it, today was actually the first time that I left the house with absolutely zero agenda about my final destination. I've done bits of wandering here and there, but it usually was tied to some eventual goal. Wait a second. Even leaving the house without an agenda is technically an agenda. It's just a little less specific.
"I will leave the house with no destination. I will just walk."
Sounds like an agenda to me. With a liberal bias I might add.
Since I have been in Taipei, I have been relatively content with my walk to the MRT station, to work, and back. So today, I walked down a street I had never walked, looked down alleys I have yet to walk, crossed a bridge I had never crossed and found myself in what was for me, uncharted territory. What was interesting about this uncharted territory, is that as soon as I crossed the bridge, I found myself back on the street that passes right by my apartment (Zhongzheng, which is also another name for Chiang Kai-Shek) and crosses a different bridge. I decided to walk down this street and see where it lead.
Well, it lead past a lot of businesses, and a park, and buildings, and then it ended. I hadn't anticipated walking this major road to its eventual conclusion, though I have to admit there is something satisfying about it. I had noticed early on that it did lead toward some rather attractive looking forested hills, and so I wasn't disappointed when I reached its end.
For those unaware of Taipei's geography, a brief word. Taipei is a vast metropolis that has gradually absorbed surrounding towns and is composed of the original city and New Taipei (the surrounding areas that make up Taipei County). If you are viewing this area from higher ground, it looks like an almost endless urban landscape surrounded by mountains. This is actually one of Taipei's most charming attributes. No matter where you are, if you want to get into a little bit of nature, it's really not that far away.
So once I reached the end of Zhongzheng Rd, I found myself at the foot of what looked like a rather impressive hill (mountain). I wanted to climb up that mountain but was not sure if there was a good route to take. I made a couple attempts by going up a couple of Taipei's seemingly infinite alleys, but was thwarted both times. Eventually I just decided to walk down the major street parallel to the mountain to see what would happen. At first, not much. But right as I was about to give up, I discovered the entrance to a little hiking trail that ended up being less of a trail, and more of a stair master. Really, it was just a bunch of stairs. A bunch of stairs that took you up almost 2000 feet in elevation in about a mile.
Taipei is a city of contrasts. This is exemplified by tall, new buildings next to building that look like they could have been torn down years ago. These same old buildings are also interspersed in the most luxurious shopping areas you can imagine. The view I find at the top of my short and steep hike was also one of contrasts.
If I looked one way, I had an amazing view of the seemingly endless urban sprawl that makes up Taipei and New Taipei. It's not a bad view. I have long been a fan of big cities, and there is something awe inspiring about all the pieces that must come together to make a large city work.
However, looking the other way was truly breath taking. Before I came to Taiwan, the non-urban image of SE Asia that I had composed from movies and pictures was one of layered, rolling mountains shrouded in mist and mystery. This was my other view, and what was amazing about it was that all I had to do was look left rather than right. I had my layered, rolling mountains covered with a thick green forest; what looked like tea fields; and the ethereal haze that added something extra to the whole panorama.
After making my way back down the trail of stairs, I made my way to the riverside bike and pedestrian trail that I had also yet to explore. This further added to my joy of Taiwan's natural beauty (and dismay of not having a camera) as I was treated to the sun setting behind forested hills with the small batches of clouds lit up with colors of pink, red and orange and the sun's rays reflecting on the river.
As I walked down the riverside trail the view of the river was eventually obscured by tall reeds, though every once in awhile you'd get a glimpse of a little garden that someone had made after making a small path through the reeds.
Have I mentioned that I really like Taiwan?
Saturday, October 8, 2011
My day in pictures...
Breakfast: Rice crackers with peanut butter and jelly. Cereal has recently taken it's place. But I meant to post this a long time ago.
Perhaps a cup of tea to go with it. This is a chrysanthemum pu er tea, and it is amazing. It is also super cheap. A box of 40 tea bags is around $4.
Now it's time to go down the apartment stairs, and off to work...
...through the alley outside my apartment...
...down De He Rd...
...through the park...
...past the library...
...to Yongan Market MRT station...
...onto the MRT...
...down Minsheng West Rd (not a lot is open at this time of day, though there are a lot of breakfast places)...
..."Good morning, Steve!"...
..."Good morning everybody! Lovely to see you all today."...
...and then I have a seat at my desk. I don't actually teach,
I just watch videos about teaching...
...OK, that's not true. Here we are in the clothes store scenario...
...and now it's time for lunch. I never thought I'd eat school lunch, and yet here I am. It's actually not half bad, though I decided to pursue lunch options outside the school for the month of October (if you want school lunch you have to pay for the month in advance. It's pretty cheap, maybe $25 or so for the month).
After some more teaching it is back to the MRT to start the journey home...
...down Zhongzheng Rd...
...through the produce stand...
...back into the alley...
...back up the stairs...
...and then a little dinner. Tonight's selection is an egg, tofu, kimchei mishmash. Yumm!
Anti-climactic? Perhaps. Thoroughly enjoyable? Most definitely. Good night!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
A reflection on learning to teach...
I was just looking through some pictures from a few years back and came across two pictures that I hadn't looked at since I was a student teacher. The biggest reason for this is the fact that I'm no longer a student teacher and haven't had to critically analyze anyone's work in the time I've spent as a substitute teacher. Looking at this also made me realize that maybe I wasn't such a bad student teacher after all. The following two pictures are from the poetry unit I did with my sixth grade students. I'm actually blown away by how well these students captured the poems I assigned to them.
"A Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
I think my teaching classes also made me paranoid about copyright and fair use laws, but hopefully no one will take offense to my using such amazing poems to showcase just how awesome students can be. As much as I am loving being able to teach abroad, I do have a certain amount of frustration that I am not able to teach in the States and further pursue exploring literature with a class of my own...
"A Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes:like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
like a heavy load.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Singsby Maya Angelou
The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
I think my teaching classes also made me paranoid about copyright and fair use laws, but hopefully no one will take offense to my using such amazing poems to showcase just how awesome students can be. As much as I am loving being able to teach abroad, I do have a certain amount of frustration that I am not able to teach in the States and further pursue exploring literature with a class of my own...
Friday, September 16, 2011
And a month has now passed...
...since I first left Portland and I sometimes feel as if I'm still waiting for the full gravity of how far I am away from home to hit me. My other thought is that maybe it already has, and it wasn't as climactic as what I initially anticipated. I think it is easy to sometimes confuse what you think you should feel with what you actually do. Bleh, this is not the venue for going into a stream of conscience ramble about the complexity of emotional thought (well, it would have been a ramble if I had kept typing the last five minutes of what was going on through my brain, but I'm keeping the babble filter on while writing about my time in Taiwan).
Well, now that it's taken me twenty minutes to write a short paragraph about my self-assumed subdued emotional reaction to a new environment, I suppose I will move on. But first let us pause for a moment of inspiration:
Taipei is amazing. I feel incredibly lucky to be here, and that is further accentuated by my getting to work in what has so far been (and by so far, I'm not assuming it will change, it's just a reflection on things so far) a very positive and supportive environment to teach in. The last two weeks were the first in which I had a regular teaching schedule and was really able to start interacting with students and get a feel for what their English speaking level is, and if the lessons I had prepared would be effective.
Before I go too far into talking about the teaching itself, I should probably give a little background about my school. Penglai is a public elementary school that is in its third year of having foreign teachers as part of its English Wonderland. There are six teachers that teach as part of this program, three foreign teachers (Me, Dan, and Willem), and three from Taiwan (Renee, Minhsien, and Linda). Of us six, Minhsien is the only teacher to have been at Penglai for all three years of the English Wonderland program.
While we do teach regular lessons, the thing that sets Penglai apart from almost all other schools in Taipei, is the scenario center on the top floor of the school. The goal (or my interpretation anyway) of Penglai's English language program is to give students exposure to real world scenarios and give them the vocabulary and potential dialogue necessary to interact in English in one of these scenarios (such as a restaurant, clothes store, airport, etc.). Each class is split into two forty minute periods, with a short break in between. I can't make a sweeping generalization about what my overall teaching style is going to be, but so far I have been using the first period to focus on vocab and introduce the dialogue in the regular classrooms set aside for us,
and have been using the second period to try and get the students into the scenario center (below is the clothes store).
I have been very impressed with the students' participation in acting out the scenarios with each other and being willing to volunteer (I use that term loosely, as I am more than willing to volunteer students if necessary) to perform in front of their peers. I am fully aware of how difficult learning a second language is, and their engagement in the lessons so far has been very encouraging. Penglai's English program is a cyclical process, and students spend four weeks on a scenario, and then move onto the next one. I keep teaching the same scenarios to the same grade levels, but I will be working with different students throughout the semester.
Everything is still very new, and I find myself frequently updating my lesson as I try them in the classroom and see what works and what doesn't. After a summer of not working with kids, it's definitely been a re-learning process in establishing classroom management strategies and trying to make my lesson both fun and informative. Luckily, I have a whole school year to keep improving. Oh yeah, and thank you PowerPoint for helping me create visually effective vocabulary lessons.
Other highlights of my time in Taipei over the last couple of weeks have included seeing temples:
Getting out of the city proper:
and exploring relics of a country's complex colonial history:
This last month has been a very positive start, and it only leaves me looking forward to the rest of the year ahead, and what may lay beyond it...
Well, now that it's taken me twenty minutes to write a short paragraph about my self-assumed subdued emotional reaction to a new environment, I suppose I will move on. But first let us pause for a moment of inspiration:
Taipei is amazing. I feel incredibly lucky to be here, and that is further accentuated by my getting to work in what has so far been (and by so far, I'm not assuming it will change, it's just a reflection on things so far) a very positive and supportive environment to teach in. The last two weeks were the first in which I had a regular teaching schedule and was really able to start interacting with students and get a feel for what their English speaking level is, and if the lessons I had prepared would be effective.
Before I go too far into talking about the teaching itself, I should probably give a little background about my school. Penglai is a public elementary school that is in its third year of having foreign teachers as part of its English Wonderland. There are six teachers that teach as part of this program, three foreign teachers (Me, Dan, and Willem), and three from Taiwan (Renee, Minhsien, and Linda). Of us six, Minhsien is the only teacher to have been at Penglai for all three years of the English Wonderland program.
While we do teach regular lessons, the thing that sets Penglai apart from almost all other schools in Taipei, is the scenario center on the top floor of the school. The goal (or my interpretation anyway) of Penglai's English language program is to give students exposure to real world scenarios and give them the vocabulary and potential dialogue necessary to interact in English in one of these scenarios (such as a restaurant, clothes store, airport, etc.). Each class is split into two forty minute periods, with a short break in between. I can't make a sweeping generalization about what my overall teaching style is going to be, but so far I have been using the first period to focus on vocab and introduce the dialogue in the regular classrooms set aside for us,
and have been using the second period to try and get the students into the scenario center (below is the clothes store).
I have been very impressed with the students' participation in acting out the scenarios with each other and being willing to volunteer (I use that term loosely, as I am more than willing to volunteer students if necessary) to perform in front of their peers. I am fully aware of how difficult learning a second language is, and their engagement in the lessons so far has been very encouraging. Penglai's English program is a cyclical process, and students spend four weeks on a scenario, and then move onto the next one. I keep teaching the same scenarios to the same grade levels, but I will be working with different students throughout the semester.
Everything is still very new, and I find myself frequently updating my lesson as I try them in the classroom and see what works and what doesn't. After a summer of not working with kids, it's definitely been a re-learning process in establishing classroom management strategies and trying to make my lesson both fun and informative. Luckily, I have a whole school year to keep improving. Oh yeah, and thank you PowerPoint for helping me create visually effective vocabulary lessons.
Other highlights of my time in Taipei over the last couple of weeks have included seeing temples:
Getting out of the city proper:
and exploring relics of a country's complex colonial history:
This last month has been a very positive start, and it only leaves me looking forward to the rest of the year ahead, and what may lay beyond it...
Sunday, September 11, 2011
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...
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...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)