Sick is no fun, thankfully, there are many hot springs in Taiwan :]

For the past month, ever since I fainted, I haven't felt well.  Right now, I'm just getting over a cold/cough.  Thankfully on Thanksgiving day, I'm actually feeling better for once.  I can't recall a time that I've been sick for a month straight.. It's crazy what a new environment and climate can do to a person's body.  Other foreigners told me, your bound to get sick.  They all told me they got sick very badly when they first got here.  But, I kept thinking no that won't happen to me; I've always been so healthy. 

So, for the past month I've been taking it pretty easy.  When I first got my cold, my whole body just ached.  I thought to myself, this might be the perfect time to check out the hot springs nearby.  So, two weekends ago on Saturday afternoon, I took the MRT to Beitou hot springs.  The hot springs in Beitou are the most popular in northern Taiwan.  The area of Beitou both the facilities and manmade attraction were established during the Japanese occupation.  Before heading into the outdoor public baths, I stopped to look at the hot spring museum right beside it.  There were many tourist looking at the historical bathhouse as it's one of the largest Japanese-style wooden buildings in Taiwan.  Looking at the Japanese style building and hot spring bath facilities in the museum, I was reminded of the ones I saw in Japan with my family.  : ) It brought back the memories of when we went into the hot springs 'nude' in Japan. 

The entrance fee to the hot springs was very cheap.  It was 40 NT, which is less than $1.50!  There were a total of 6 different soaking baths: 2 cold, 2 hot, and 2 extremely hot baths.  I was very surprised when I first saw the baths.  My first reaction was, it wasn't as beautiful as the ones I went to in Japan.  After soaking in the water for awhile and talking to some of the people there, I began to really enjoy the hot baths.  Sadly, an hour later, a whistle blows and everyone had to get out of the water and leave the baths to allow the next group to come in.  The baths are organized in a time schedule.  There are 2 1/2 hour incriminates of time allocated to each group.  If you want to stay longer, you could pay an additional 20 NT, but you still had to get out for cleaning purposes.  It's recommended not to stay longer than an hour, so I decided to leave and come back another time.  It was very nice!  For free you can check out the stream that also has the spring water. How many times do you feel a hot stream! 

After, I walked a few minutes up the road to Thermal Valley, one of the sources supplying the area's hot springs.  I read on a sign that thermal valley contains green sulfur; this type of water can be found in two places n the world, Taiwan @ Beitou and Japan! Many people were taking pictures and looking at the hot sulfur rising from the ground.  The water temperature ranges from 80-100 Celsius.  I'm glad I stopped to look, it was very cool! 

Just this last Sunday, I invited Kristin to go on a day trip with me to Jinguashi and Jiufen.  All week the forecast said, it was suppose to rain the whole day, but the night before I saw the forecast change to sunny day on Sunday.  My plan was to visit the geological park in Jinguashi and climb tea pot mountain, but the weather prevented us from doing so as it rained the entire day! Thank you forecast for making a wrong predicting.  The rain put a little damper on our trip, but we still managed to make the most out of the rainy day.  

We took the local train from Taipei to Ruifang (about an hour) and from there took a bus to Jinguashi (about 25 minutes).  The area of Jinguashi is amazing!!! You can see the sea and the mountains in one shot.  It's absolutely stunning area. I would have to say this is my new favorite destination, and it's so close to where I live. Besides, the great view, the area of Jinguashi is famous for gold-mining.  We spent the afternoon walking around the gold ecological park and looking at the numerous attractions including the gold refining building (originally a guesthouse when Taiwan was a Japanese colony), Crown Prince Chalet residence and the variety of exhibitions.  We even took a special tour of Benshal No. 5 tunnel to get a closer look at gold mining in Jinguashi.  After the tour, we climbed up a bit of stairs to see Jinguashi Shinto Shrine, as we were climbing up, we saw to the left of us tea pot mountain.  It actually looked like a tea pot : )  I'm hoping to come back and climb it!  On our way out of the park, we decided to stop and take a tour of the Japanese-style residence.  It was once a dormitory for high level Japanese company employees and now is turned into a display area for visitors to see how they lived.  The building is one of the few remaining in Taiwan and has become a popular location for filming movies as many people love the Japanese old style architecture.  Kristin, is big into history and saw on the tourist map there was a POW memorial.  We started walking towards it (actually we never made it there), but we came across Cyuanji temple that has the big bronze warrior statue.   You can see this statue from far away, so it was cool seeing it up close.  We took the bus back in the direction of Ruifang train station to Jiufen old street.  The bus ride back wasn't as beautiful as the way there with the thick gray clouds and the heavy rain.  Kristin and I enjoyed a nice dinner together in the cute old street of Jiufen that overlooked the sea and mountains.  We walked along the old street looking at the shops until it was time to catch the train back to Taipei.  It was a nice day and the views make me want to come back on a sunny day : )  

It's been three months since I've moved to Taiwan, crazy to think it's already been that long.  Just a few days ago, on my half day, I got my Taiwan bank account set up.  It took a bit of time to open my account since I had to wait for my ARC to arrive.  I feel so official now : )  After I opened up my account, I decided to climb a mountain near Yongning station.  The hike was steeper than I expected.  It was very well paved path and light poles alighted the way.  I started the climb around 4 p.m., so by the time I came down the sun had already set.  It was cool to see both the day and night view of the city from up above.  I remember before coming to Taiwan I wanted to do a lot of hiking. So far, I haven't done as much as I wanted to, but I'm hoping to do more. It's so easy to get to the mountains as they are all around Taipei. When else will I get such easy access to so many great mountains : ) 

~I am thankful for.. my family, my few close friends, the countless people I have met who have helped shape me, my home in America, my health, food and water, my job in Taiwan, my co-teachers, all the great experiences and traveling I have been fortunate to have, my education, Bradley University, the few jobs I have had, and my computer that I spend hours on ;)   

Couch Surfing: Bike Riding Events

I went to my first couch surfing event!  It was a great experience : )  The guy that organized the ride has biked around the world.  He's started about 10 years ago and has biked all through the Middle East and Asia; he is really incredible.  There were about 20 people at the event both foreigners and Taiwanese of all ages. There was one Taiwanese lady who was in her 60s, she was in great shape!  There was also a guy from Pakistan.  He was on a two week business trip and had the weekends off to enjoy the city. Another guy, who I had the pleasure of talking with during the ride started his own company in Taiwan.  Originally from Canada, he and his co-founder came with the idea of "making the ordinary, out of the ordinary." Take a look www.mohzy.com/world/en The ride was 20 kms total, 4 of which were up a steep hill overlooking Taipei 101 building.  The hill, known as Elephant mountain, goes through the biggest cemetery in Taiwan.  Most people call this path the cemetery walk.  We made a circle, starting at Gongguan MRT station, up the hill and down past Taipei zoo and along the river route and then back to Gongguan.  It was a nice easy ride with views of south Taipei.  Afterwards, most of us stayed and ate at an outdoor mexican restaurant outside Taipei water park.  It was fun chatted with the group, sharing our cultures and stories.  The couch surfing community is a great way to met so many diverse people from all over the world while sharing and learning from one another.   

 

The following Sunday, I went on my second couch surfing event, but it didn't go so well.. I fainted before we even began our ride.

Sunday, October 21st 

I woke up early, made myself a nice balanced breakfast and made perfect timing on the MRT.  I spotted the CS right away, the guy with the bike kinda gave it away ;) I introduced myself to a German girl, Finland guy and a Taiwanese.  We all began talking and getting to know each other.  The rest of the group were sitting by some benches, which we didn't see at first.  It was great to see many familiar faces from last weekend.  The people who didn't have bikes all went to rent ones.  When we got back the group had doubled in size.  We all were talking like usual.  I was standing talking to a guy I had met last weekend, originally from Africa who later moved to Australia and now has been teaching in Taiwan for almost 20 years. All of a sudden, things began to get blurry around me and in the middle of a sentence I quickly went to my bike to grab my water bottle, thinking it would help.  I drank my water and about 30 seconds later, I said to myself I think I need to sit down.  I sat down on the bench and apologize to this girl because there really wasn't any room on the bench, but I needed to sit down.  I told her I think I'm going to faint.  She said, I wasn't looking too good and to continue drinking water.  Not even a minute later, she is like yeah your not looking good.  The guy next to her said, she needs to lie down.  As he was having me lie down, I just fainted.  

I could hear the group of CS around me say, open your eyes.  But, all I wanted to do was lay their for awhile. They grabbed someone working at the train station and asked me if they should get an ambulance, but I just said to them, no I'm fine.  The sweet girl from Germany told me my face had turned purple.  We all agreed I shouldn't ride today and instead take it easy. I returned my bike with the help of the nice guy from Africa.  I was bummed I couldn't go on the ride.  But, it's better to be safe than push it even more.  So, instead I decided to at least enough the day around Xindian, where I was, and explore the area.  

As I was walking across the bridge, not to long after I left the CS group, I ran into a girl I had met through Torin (the guy I stayed with when I first arrived in Taiwan), another Hess teacher.  She was with two guys.  I hadn't seen her for awhile, so it was really nice to catch up with her.  They invited me to explore the area with them and I gladly said yes.  There was a nice trail at the other end of the bridge.  Even though I should be taking it easy, I decided to join them on a hike.  Initially, we didn't know where it was going to lead us or how intense it was going to be.  We ended up climbing up many stairs to a summit in which you could see the whole city even Taipei 101. It was stellar!  

Later that night, we were walking through the market and stopped to grab something to eat at a middle eastern vendor. A few people in back of the line called my name, it was the CS!  They had finished their bike trip and were also getting something to eat at the same vendor.  I had told them I stayed around the area and ended up going on a hike.  They were really scared for me, I tried to tell them I felt okay.  Once we got our food, we all took it back by the waterside and sat and chatted for awhile.  It was relaxing. 

That night I took a nice shower and went to bed early to recover from my day.  I woke up on Monday feeling well.  But, later that afternoon I began to get dizzy and had to take it easy.  I spoke with my co-teachers and they said I could sit down and teach my classes.  I decided to go to the hospital right after school to find out what the deal was.  It's better to be safe than sorry especially because I fainted and that never happened before.  So, immediately when I got back, I took the MRT to Far Eastern Hospital.  It was unfortunate that the clinic wasn't open that evening so I had to go to the  ER if I wanted to be seen today.  I wanted to take care of the issue that day, so I just decided to pay the extra money (basically triple in price since I still didn't have my medical card) and go to the ER.  After speaking with a doctor, we agreed I would take a blood test and have an EKG test.  I waited for over a hour for the doctor to give me my results.  He said everything was good, my blood test and my EKG.  He gave me some medicine for dizziness and said I had motion sickness.  I kept telling him I don't think it's motion sickness... But, that's what he think it is.  He said he's seen many people like me before.  

I'm thinking it might of been a combination of heat exhaustion (it was a really hot day on Sunday) and altitude sickness.  The next few days I wasn't feeling the greatest.  In the morning, I would be fine and towards the afternoon and evening, I just become dizzy : ) I took some of the medicine he gave me for two days and by Thursday I felt a lot better.  I'm not sure what it was, but I hope that doesn't happen again!   

 

 

Double Tenth Day

Wednesday, October, 10th is Taiwan's independence day.  Teachers don't have to work because it's a national holiday.  It's actually the only holiday all semester other than new years that teachers get off at Principal school!  Since it was a day off, Kristin and I decided to do something on this special day -- so we joined in the festivities.  We heard the day before there would be a Parade starting in the morning, but no one know what time it started.  We even looked online, but couldn't find a time.  We decided to meet at 9:30 a.m. hoping to catch the parade.  We arrived at the Presidential building, where supposedly the parade started.  There were many security guards everywhere and they had roped off a large perimeter around the Presidential building, so no one could get through.  The security guards told us (and a nice family we had met while searching where we could watch the parade) we had to take the MRT to the other side at Sai Ka Shek memorial hall.  So, we got on the MRT, took the train 1 stop and got off.  When we got there, we found out it too was roped off and we couldn't get through either.  The officer told us we had to go around, but we already did.  We decided to not chase the parade all day.  And, just try to watch from afar.  A few minutes later, we heard helicopters.  We looked above and saw 5 helicopters in a straight line.  The first and last helicopter had a Taiwan flag hanging down.  It was quite cool.  We were disappointed we couldn't see any of the parade after waking up early on our day off, but at least we tried to participate in the holiday cheer.  

Kristin and I spent a nice afternoon together.  We first walked around Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall since we were already there.  I hadn't see it yet, so I really wanted to take a look.  Chiang Kai Shek, 'is a famous monument, landmark and tourist attraction erected in memory of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China.' The buildings and ground were beautiful!! I would have to say it's one of my favorite spots in Taipei.  Since it was double tenth day, there was a small market to buy little trinkets and different foods.  Kristin said, there were many more people here today than usual, which made sense since many people had the day off from work.   

Afterwards, we took the MRT to Danshui, a really nice area many tourist enjoy, located right on the river. Right near the train station, was a popular street that had cute shops and many food vender's including German ice cream!  At the end of the long strip, a few minutes by foot was a fort.  Kristin, a history major was very much in love with this.  We both learned some things about Taiwan's history in this old fort, San Domingo.  'The fort was first built in 1628 by the Spanish when they occupied the north of Taiwan.  Over the years, Fort Santo Domingo was owned by different nationals including Dutch, British, and Taiwanese.  It was rebuilt by the Dutch in 1644, and was used as consolation office by the British.  The property was not handed over to the Taiwanese government until 1980!  

One of the biggest draws to Danshui is the beautiful sunsets over the river on lovers bridge. In fact, you can see the lovers bridge on many postcards throughout Taiwan. We took the bus, not far from the fort to fisherman's wharf. Kristin and I sat and talked waiting for the sunset.. We waited and waited.. And, never saw the sunset!  It was too cloudy :(  We walked along the bridge and stopped at a few shops.  We both agreed fisherman's wharf is beautiful at night compared to the day.  At night, you can see the changing colors of the bridge.  It's quite lovely, especially when the bridge changes to red-- very romantic.   

Each year the government puts on a big firework show on double tenth day located in a different part of Taiwan every year.  Sadly, this year it was in Miaoli, located about two hours by car on the west side of Taiwan. So, we weren't able to see any firework show.  Instead, we decided to take the MRT to Shilin night market, the biggest night market in Taiwan.  We ate dinner and enjoyed a few hours of looking at the many shops!!  It was fun!  

We had a fun day despite not being able to celebrate much in the festivities. 

Sometimes it's the journey getting there that means the most

Early Saturday morning, August 22nd, I met Kristin at Banqio train station to head south to Kenting. Kenting is located at the southern most tip of Taiwan.  The train ride was almost 5 hours.  However, there is no train or even bus that goes directly from Taipei to Kenting.  So, we took the train to the largest city near Kenting, Kaohsiung; the second largest city in Taiwan. Kaohsiung is located on the west side of the island.  The train ride was very nice and relaxing.  I enjoyed a nice conversation with Kristin, however, the train ride was nothing compared to the weekend before to Hualian.  The west side is filled with cities and buildings while the east is filled with mountains and greenery, my personal favorite.  The train made stops along the way, one of them being Taichung.  We coordinated train times with Amanda, Kristin's friend from back in Canada, so she got on the train in Taichung, where she lives and works. 

Once we made it to Kaohsiung we took a taxi to Kenting.  Kristin, had been to Kenting many times before so she knew the taxi was the best route to take.  We had trouble finding an inexpensive shared taxi, so we took the Kaohsiung MRT to the main station.  There we found a shared taxi for 400 NT each.  We shared the taxi with a young girl about 30 years old and an older lady with an elderly woman.  I sat next to the older lady and found out she is from the Philippines and has been working here for 5 years.  There is no work in the Philippines, so she had to leave her two kids behind and look elsewhere.  Many foreigners (such as Filipino's) come to Taiwan to help the elders with every day tasks; it's about the only job they are able to get here.  It's very hard on parents when they can't provide for their family and have to leave their own children behind.  The lady told me she only sees her kids once a year!  She and I talked the whole two hours to Kenting; she was an incredible lady.  She made my day!  I tried to keep eye contact with her, but it was hard not looking out the window, everything was so tropical.  The trees, fruit plants, change in climate; it was fabulous!  

We arrived at Kenting around 3 p.m. !  Kristin, Amanda and I were all hungry so we had a nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  I had a beef burrito; It was the nicest and most expensive meal I have eaten since I've got here! Kenting is considered a touristy area, so there were many western restaurants, but all were rather pricey.  Afterwards, we rented scooters.  Kristin and Amanda taught me how to ride a scooter!!  It took me a couple of tries to feel like I could ride to the beach where the group we were meeting was at.  The group took the overnight bus from Taipei to Kaohsiung (1 a.m. to 6 a.m.) and then renting scooters, and rode three hours to Kenting.  Kristin didn't want to ride that far, so I decided to go with her and Amanda on Saturday by Train.  The group, about 20 of them, were all very nice.  They all have been in Taiwan for a year or so, some even 4 years or more.  

That evening we enjoyed drinks on the beach and chilled; all the beaches in Kenting are so beautiful. Late into the night, most of us took a dip in the ocean.  As we moved through the dark water we could see hundreds of tiny star-like bioluminescent plankton! We were all so mesmerized by the tiny glowing dots every time we would move. It was a spectacular sight, something I will remember for a very long time.  That night we all passed out on the beach.. and wake up very early the next morning.

Sunday, we all separated.  Most of the group went back early, the rest stayed for a few hours and enjoyed the sun.  It was a very hot day!  Kristin and I rode scooters along the coast to the very south tip of Taiwan.  As we looked to the left we could see the east and to the right we could see the west.  It was very cool!  We took some awesome pictures, very pretty scenery. Afterwards, we had some breakfast/lunch and rented snorkels.  We went to two coral reef locations that were right next to each other.  The reefs were great!  We saw some excellent coral and many beautiful fish.  I got a little sea sick unfortunately, but I was still able to enjoy the reefs.  It was about 3 p.m. and we decided to return both our snorkels and scooters and head back to Taipei.  We managed to get a shared taxi for 350 NT and then decided to take the bus back (530 NT) instead of the train.

It was a great weekend!  I loved the south!  It was so tropical and extremely different than the other parts of Taiwan especially Taipei.  We spent a big chunk traveling as Kenting is so far away, the farthest you can go from Taipei.  But, we still managed to enjoy the area and have a fun weekend.  Sometimes it's the journey getting there that means the most.  ..riding the train along the coast, meeting the Filipino lady, taking a cab through the farmland, and learning to ride a scooter.. =) 

My first couch surfing experience!

Hualien, Taiwan. 

During my last day in London, I was traveling by bus to the London airport to take a flight to Ireland to begin my backpacking trip.  While I was waiting for the bus, I met a couple that told me about couch surfing.  I had never heard of couch surfing at the time.  Couch surfing, is a online community where people are able to meet and stay with others from all around the world.  Travelers can search for surfers in the area they are traveling to and send a message to that person to ask if he/she/they can stay with him/her/them for a night or two on their couch, or just simply meet up for lunch or a drink.  The couple I had met that day told me what a great experience they had while couch surfing and highly recommended me trying it during my trip.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to couch surf during my backpacking trip because I didn't know which area I would be traveling to each day nor did I have computer access.  Most of the time you need to give people at least a few days or a weeks notice upon your arrival.      

Fast forward 1 year

I'm back abroad traveling the world!  I thought I would take a chance and try couch surfing.  'Last week, Angela told me I didn't have to come to work until 1:30 p.m. on Monday, so I thought I should take advantage of the long weekend I had and go somewhere outside of Taipei!  I decided to travel to Hualien as I've heard the east coast of Taiwan is just gorgeous.  It was already Wednesday and I felt it might be to late to find someone on couch surfing to stay the night, but I decided to anyways.   I began searching the surfers in Hualien and came across a lady that was 38 years old, and had spent 1 year in Israel.  I was very surprised to of found someone in Hualien that had volunteered on a Kibbutz for 1 year.  I decided to message her to see what would happen.  I wasn't expecting a replay back in a half hour!  She had said, her apartment was not available at the moment, but if I didn't mind, I could share a room with her in her house.  She went on to say, 'it would be a pleasure to meet me since both of us are new to couch surfing and both traveled to Israel twice.'  The end of the message wrote, 'I can pick you up at the train station when I arrive.' My whole face just light up.  I was shocked!  I thought wow, this is too good to be true.  I decided to quickly walk to the train station and ask about train times.  After half hour of trying to communicate with the lady at the ticket window, I bought a round trip ticket for 728 NT (about $25) to Hualien!  I was soo excited that night! 

Saturday, I woke up early and boarded the train at 9:03 a.m. to Hualien!  The train ride was 4 hours.  The ride all along the coast was beautiful!  It was a nice change of pace to see the countryside and get away from the city.  The entire way I was looking at the mountains and the Pacific ocean.  At 1:15 p.m. I got off the train and walked to the tourist information center where Jessie (the girl from couch surfing), and I decided to meet.  Sure enough she was in the tourist office gathering maps for our weekend!  I gave her a big hug and we connected right away.  We went in her white Toyota to downtown Hualien for lunch.  We both enjoyed a bowl of noodle soup (I had green bean noodles, she had rice noodles) while getting to know one another and sharing stories of our time in Israel.  After lunch, we went to her place and rode bicycles around her hometown.  It was wonderful.  She showed me all around the area she grew up in and pointed things out along the way.  We rode to the coast where we stopped to take pictures.  We also went to the fish market and enjoyed some fresh fish soup.  The ride was about 3 hours and afterwards by legs were so soar.  It was so windy that day that I had to peddle even harder.  We relaxed for an hour until she was scheduled to work at the local pub (8:00-10:30).  I decided to go along and walk around the downtown while she was working.  Downtown Hualien is very small, but still a nice city center.  I think I walked around the city center three times, stopped by this nice street to listen to a band play for awhile and still had a half hour to spare.  I went back to the pub and waited for the live music to play; the pub has live music every Friday and Saturday night.  It started just as she was off of work, so we listened to one song and then left to go back to her home.  Jessie, insisted I sleep in her bed as I was the guest.  I told her I didn't want her sleeping on the floor, but she refused.  She was so nice to me throughout the whole weekend.  That night, I had such a hard time sleeping as my legs were so soar from biking early that day.  I finally went to sleep and felt much better in the morning.

Sunday, we woke up at 9 am to travel about 40 minutes to Taroko.  Many people come to Hualien to see the beautiful Taroko national park.  Before we began our day we stopped at the local supermarket to grab some freshly baked bread for lunch. Her sister had given us fresh grapefruit to enjoy on our trip; Jessie told me the longer the grapefruit sits out the better. We traveled by scooter to Taroko, which was really fun!  Along the way, we stopped and took pictures and of course she pointed out everything to me.  We ate our picnic lunch at a nice rest stop where their were tables and chairs along the beautiful gorge.  It was a magnificent location.  Once we were full we hiked one of the many trails in Taroko park.  The trail went into the lush gorge and we could see the road from up above.  We walked through two dark caves; the caves were so dark you couldn't see your feet or anything in front of you.  The trail wasn't very long; it was about an hour total.  We drove up the road past the hotels/hostels (there was a church that was made into a hostel) to a place where there were hot springs!  We climbed down the stairs for about 10 minutes and there we were at a small hot pool.  There weren't many people at the hot springs as it wasn't a marked sight.  I met a 26 year old guy, Dennis that came to Taiwan with his family; they were from Singapore.  Dennis was very friendly.  We talked about our travel experiences and careers.  He works at a company that tests air crafts.  The hot springs were very hot (apparently the springs can get even hotter in the summer) and the water relaxed my muscles from the bike ride yesterday.  We walked back and stopped at a tower where you could climb the spiral stairs to the top.  At the top we had a nice aerial view!  We continued taking many pictures and riding along the gorge.  Her sister had invited us for dinner at a restaurant by the coast, so we decided to head back around 4:30.  It was sad leaving the beautiful Taroko.  The resturant we ate at for dinner was beautiful, but the entire time we were there (two hours) we were the only ones!  It was so strange.  For dinner we had chicken soup, squid with vegetables, 2 vegetables dishes (one almost tasted like cooked cucumbers) and my favorite was this fish dish (I don't know the name of the fish).  It was all very tasty and we had watermelon for dessert too.  We enjoyed a nice stroll after dinner :) Jessie sister's son was teaching me Chinese that evening, it was great! 

My train left at 9 am Monday morning.  Jessie, took me to the train station, it was a 15 minute drive.  It was sad leaving Jessie and the beautiful area of Hualien.  I couldn't of asked for a better first experience couch surfing.  Jessie was such a kind and friendly host. I was very fortunate to of found her. She made me feel very comfortable and was very pleasant to be around.  It's cool how a complete stranger would stop their life and show you around their hometown.  I got back to Taipei at 12:15; I took a faster train this time.  I made it back just in time for work at 1:30.  It was a great weekend. :)  After seeing the country side I felt like I was in Taiwan, Taipei doesn't feel like Taiwan at all.  Taipei is just one big city.  It's hard to imagine what my experience would be like if I took a teaching contract in a small town in Taiwan.

This weekend I'm going to Kenting, the southern tip of Taiwan!  Kristin had invited me a few weeks ago.  The group we are going with will be about 35 + people!  I'm very excited!  It should be another great weekend.   

I always seem to meet very nice Taiwanese locals whenever I go out exploring

This last Sunday, I decided to take the MRT to Taipei main station, the biggest and busiest stations in all of Taiwan.  Taipei main station is the central location to the government buildings and museums. Before I left Taipei main station, I saw a sign for the indoor shopping mall. I decided to take a peek before exiting the station.  The mall had many nice shops from clothes to shoes and of course food stands.  It went on for quite a ways, but I decided to turn back before going too far.  Apparently, there are 4 shopping malls in Taipei main station!  So crazy!  I'm glad I turned back or I could be going for quite awhile.

Once you walk out of Taipei main station (in the Zhongzheng district) the first thing you see is the Shin Kong Life Tower.  This is Zhongzheng's landmark skyscraper.  It's the second tallest building in all of Taipei, the first one being Taipei 101.  The Shin Kong Life Tower measures 245m tall. I decided to walk south in which I came to the 228 Peace Memorial Park.  It was a nice park, but nothing compared to London parks!  In the park was the National Taiwan Museum in which entrance was less than $1 U.S. dollar.  I didn't stay because I wanted to enjoy the day outdoors.  I continued walking through the park (saw many lovely pavilions) to the Office of the President.  It was a beautiful red and white building with many security guards surrounding its proximity.  From there I had two options to either walk straight to the botanical garden or head to Ximen, a very trendy district for young people.  Even thought I heard Ximen is best at night, I decided to check it out anyways since I was curious what all the hype was about.  It's definitely a fun area to walk around that has many cinemas, restaurants, shops and clubs.  There were all sorts of young kids with unique fashion styles.  After a bit, I decided to walk back (knowing I will return again) and head to Longshan Temple. I followed the signed to the temple, but decided to make a stop on the way.  I stopped at the Heritage and Culture Education Center of Taipei.  I took a quite walk through the museum.  As I was walking out a man said goodbye to me in a vary clear voice.  I quickly looked back as I don't hear English that often.  He started asking me all sorts of questions about what I'm doing in Taiwan.  After 5 minutes, he asked if I would like to have dinner with him and his family.  I quickly thought about it in my head and responded yes. He was surprised and very happy.

Most people would be hesitant saying yes to a complete stranger, but I feel like I have good judgement of character and could tell he wasn't a bad guy.  Him and I continued talking for 30 minutes until the end of his shift; he volunteers at the Heritage and Culture Education Center every Sunday until 4:30.  The conversation was very interesting.  He told me all about the history of Taiwan.  He explained the influence from the UK, Denmark and Japan and in 1949 Taiwan became an independent country.  He taught me why the district we were standing in was such an important area, which was significant for the business man in trading goods.  He pointed out the school, hence the educational center, at one point it had 10,000 students.  Back in the day, it was the largest elementary school in Taiwan.  Now, it has only 800 students I believe he said.

At 4:30, we walk to the MRT station together to head to his house to meet his family and have dinner.  On the way to the station, he showed me the hotel (first hotel in Taipei) and gave me a tour of the Longshan temple!  I was very excited to have a personal tour guide.  We entered through the dragon entrance rather than the tiger.  The dragon brings good luck. The temple was very beautiful, big but not too big.  He pointed out the different deities and what there significance are, which I thought was the most interesting part.  There was one deity in which young girls pray to when they are trying to have a baby.  Another deity was for those who wanted success in their business.  We left the temple from the tiger door this time.  The temple is located right on a popular square in which a big fountain surrounds the center.  Every day at 5 p.m. the fountain does a 5-10 minute show.  We were just in time to watch the last five minutes of it!  What good timing today, meeting this fine man and seeing the fountain show.

We arrived at his home just after 6 p.m. and I meet his wife and one of his sons, he was 20 years old.  His other son is 28 years old.  The mom gave me apple/yogurt juice she had made, which was delicious, and we all talked for awhile.  I thought we were eating dinner at their home, but they took me to a nice village in the country side that was about half hour away by car.  We ate at one of the nice restaurants. We ordered the famous tofu (the area is known for their tofu), bamboo, some green vegetable (apparently it's the leaf from a potato type vegetable in Taiwan) and a squid dish with vegetables.  We all shared the dishes, which is common here. Everyone has their own bowl of rice and then takes what they want from the dishes with your chop sticks.  The family all made fun of me for eating with my bowl on the table.  They told me it's a sign of disrespect to the cook when eating with your bowl on the table.  The proper way to eat is holding your bowl in one hand.  My favorite dish was definitely the tofu.  Afterwards we ordered the Taiwanese style ice cream from a stand along the path.  I was very surprised the Taiwanese call this ice cream.  Basically think of it as a soup not solid ice cream.  In the bowl was these gooey balls and then to make it cold they added shaved ice.  There were different toppings you could add to these gooey balls like peanuts, beans, jello, pineapple sauce, etc. Nothing like the toppings you would find in the U.S.  It was a very strange flavor, I think I will try it again to see if I like it for sure.   The evening was very nice walking around the old village and enjoying some nice company.  I'm happy I decided to say yes to this fine man.  I made some nice Taiwanese friends and hopefully will see them again during my stay here.  They invited me to the grandmother on the mother's side of the family home in the country side. Any chance I get to enjoy the country side, I will surely take!

More stories to come.

The start of teaching older kids..

Last week was the beginning of the p-classes!!  The older kids, oh my!  On Wednesday and Fridays, I teach the older kids after regular school hours.  School ends at 4:10 and then all foreign teachers have a break from 4:10-4:40.  At 4:40, I start teaching the first p-class.  Unlike the kindergarden classes which are 30 minutes long, p-classes are 40 minutes.  The first p-class goes from 4:40-5:20, 10 minute break, and the second p-class is from 5:30-6:10 p.m.  My first class is P-6A; the students are around age 15.  My second class is P-3A, in which the students are a bit younger about age 12.  The two p-classes I teach are very different from each other like most classes are (teachers you can relate to this). I'm beginning to think I will enjoy teaching the older kids more compared to kindergarden.   But, we shall see as time goes on.  They are just very different from each other.  

The p-classes are a lot less games and NO songs.  The kids are at the level where they can understand English, but at times I must go slow for the students to comprehend and answer questions I propose. The first lesson I had with P-6A, I really enjoyed.  I began class by introducing myself for a bit and then went around the room getting to know them, their name and 1 thing about themselves they would like to share.  I stated my classroom rules and then asked if they had any for me or each other.  Then, we went over our 10 vocabulary words for the unit.  I explain the definition and such.  We practiced reading and also worked from our textbook.  I felt like I was actually teaching and not just playing around like I do with kindergarden.  My second class, P3A, went a lot better on Friday then it did on Wednesday.  My co-teacher, Angela, is the head of the school.  She basically wanted me to dive into the first lesson right away, no introduction or going over classroom rules or anything.  After teaching P-6 and having a great time with them, I think I was just hoping for the same in my next class.  I think I just hadn't transitioned very well between the two classes.  Also, Angela wanted me to cover too much content on Wednesday for a 40 minute lesson, forty minutes goes by really fast! I feel Friday went better because I cut down on the content by half; I also incorporated a fun learning activity.  Angela and I both thought the activity went really well.  In class we are learning the words: up, down, over, into, between, through, etc. from our story about the dragon.  So, I had the students create an obstacle course in the classroom.  I had one volunteer go through the course at a time, while the other kids said the path the dragon took.  The kids loved it and I know it will help them remember the words better.  

After three weeks of teaching kindergarden, I know have a lot more respect for kindergarden teachers.  Kindergarden takes a lot of patience and the ability to entertain in a fun and creative way all day.  It takes a lot more energy than I ever imagined.  I'm still in the process of learning how to incorporate fun, kid games into my teaching.  I know all it takes is time and practice!  

I really do like the school atmosphere and teaching older kids reminds me of when I was a student. At this time in my life, I feel I can relate more with the older kids. When I'm teaching kindergarden I'm more of a babysitter than anything. .. A lot more to still learn.

Details of my New Job - - Teaching!

On June 27 2012, I signed a 1-year teaching contract to work at Principal school in Tucheng, Taipei.  Principal, an all day kindergarden school, has been in operation for about 10 years where kids ages 4-6 learn both Chinese and English.  In Taiwan, English is a required course from primary school through entrance exams at university.  Many parents want their child to have a head start on learning English, therefore, they place their kid in one of the many kindergarden schools located throughout Taiwan.  With many teaching position available, my reasons for signing this specific contract was: the Monday - Friday work week, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. schedule and the school was located in Taipei.  Side note - Many schools are a Monday thru Saturday schedule with Sunday's off and one other day, most likely it will not consist of two consecutive days.  These schools also start in the afternoon and go into the evening.  If you want a regular schedule than your only option is teaching in a kindergarden school!

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are my full days where I start at 9 a.m. and end at 4:10 p.m.  Tuesday's I'm done at 11:30 a.m. and Thursday's I end at 3 p.m.  Full days consist of teaching 6 classes, half days are 3 classes.  Each class is 30 minutes long.  A nice perk about Principal is they pay for your prep time (another reason I decided on this school).  I have 30 minutes in the morning (9-9:30) and afternoon (3:30-4:30), and 15 minutes between each class.  With that said, the most I'm ever teaching in one day is two hours and fifty minutes (the last class is only 20 minutes long).  Unfortunately, we have a two hour unpaid lunch break.  Although, the flip side is our lunches are free.  The school has their own kitchen and prepares food for all the kids every day, so we all eat the same food.  Lunch consists of rice (occasionally we have noodles), 3-4 sides, soup and we always have some kind of fruit for dessert.  It's buffet type style, set up in the teachers room; the lunch is always tasty.  It's nice not to have to buy lunch M-F! :)  

The school provides the curriculum and structure, but I'm free to do what I want with each class.  The structure I must follow goes like this.  When I walk into each class the students greet me as Miss Gabriela.  Oh, Miss Gabriela's here :) I stand at the front of the room and the kids are all facing me in a semicircle.  The first two minute's of each class goes the exact same way.  I say to the class, "Stand up" and all the students stand in front of their chair and say, "1, 2, 3, Yes Mam" and salute.  I say, "Good morning (use the class's name, for example K2D)" and bow.  They say, "Good morning Miss Gabriela" and also bow.  I then ask the students, "What day is it today?" They respond, "Today is (Tuesday for example)." And, hold up two fingers.  Each day of the week has a hand gestures that the students quickly taught me.  I often ask the older kids (K3C for example) (K3 means their third year at Principal roughly age 6) "What day was yesterday?" or "What day is tomorrow?" Then, I go onto asking about the weather.  I say, "What is the weather like today?" They respond, "Today is a (sunny, cloudy, rainy) day.  Again, there are hand gestures for each type.   Then, I usually say very good and always have everyone sit properly in their chair afterwards.  After the short dialogue, class starts with a song of my choice.  

I teach from 2 books.  My K2 classes have 1 book and my K3 class has another.  Each book is divided into units and each class spends 2 weeks on each unit.  Every unit has it's own vocabulary, dialogue, chat box and phonics.  In every lesson we try to cover each (vocabulary, dialogue, phonics).  However, most class periods the foreign teachers doesn't get to phonics and hardly ever does chat box.  During each section (vocabulary, dialogue, phonics), we play an activity and in between each section, we sing a song.  So, each class should have three different activities and sing around 3-4 songs.  Let me tell you we play more activities and sing more songs than I feel necessary!  It becomes a little ridiculous in my opinion.  I've started to almost do only 1 activity, so I can spend more time on the hard core teaching.  I've come to really enjoy teaching the kids English :) The kids want the activities : / so I'm still in the process of learning a good balance.  

I have three main classes I teach: K2C, K2D (all just started learning English this semester, so it has been quite a challenge so far), and K3C (the most advanced kindergarden age group).  I teach each of those classes 7 times a week with 1 block time for each class (back to back periods).  I also teach speech to each of my main classes as well as four additional classes (K2A, K2B, K3A, K3B). For speech, we use a fun picture book which also follows the bi-weekly schedule, but is only taught once a week.  Classes begins the exact same way, stand up, good morning, what day is it, etc. And, again starts with a song.  Before each unit, I prepare my own flash cards to teach the kids the target words as the vocabulary is not laid out like the curriculum books.  We begin speech class by going over the vocabulary (+ an activity), then singing a song, I read the book to the class and have them repeat words/phrases (+ an activity), we sing another song followed by question and answer (+ an activity, but I hardly ever do because I'm so caught up eliciting the book).  Speech class is more laid back and were able to free talk with one another.  I really enjoy teaching speech class compared to textbook classes, which makes having speech 7 times a week in my teaching schedule so great!  

Every Friday morning from 9-9:30 is the all school assembly.  The assembly is run by the foreign teachers, so Kristin, Dino and myself.  The school provides the topic for the assembly (ex. school is fun, be polite), but we are in charge of coming up with the rest!   We are responsible for preparing 30 minutes of entertainment, which we then preform on stage to the school.  The foreign teachers are also in charge of the 10 minute goodbye at the end of the day (4:00-4:10).  The goodbye begins just like every class (good afternoon "Principal School", day of the week and weather).  We say good afternoon to each of the classes, we go down the line K1A, K1B, K2A...etc. One of us will begin on the mic, good afternoon K1A, the kids repeat and bow.  And, continues.  We also follow the exact line up at the end (4:09) except say goodbye instead of good afternoon.  We always say goodbye to the principal, Uncle Victor, and the head of the school, Angela. The middle chunk is taken up by whatever us foreign teachers want to do; we mainly sing a variety of songs and sometimes do short exercises.  One of us will take the beginning, another the middle and one will do the closing; we always trade off.  These two things may seem scary, but thanks to Herzl camp this past summer I feel very comfortable performing in front of large groups.  Herzl camp has definitely prepared me in many ways for this job.  :) 

Before coming to Taiwan, I was told I would have some training, but once I arrived I quickly found out I was on my own.  I did observe a few classes, but never received any formal training.  Actually, I received more advice from the other two foreign teachers than I did from the school.  I soon realized how fast of a learning I was.  I feel I picked up teaching fairly quickly, it almost came natural to me. Tomorrow, I start my P-Classes.  P-Class (stands for Primary education) begins after K-Classes (kindergarden), which are the older students that attend Principal after their primary school hours.  It will be so different teaching 15 year olds.  I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm very excited! :) 

Moving & Settling in Taiwan

On August 15th 2012, I boarded the plane in Minneapolis and began my dream to work and live abroad.  After about an 1 hour flight to Chicago, 13 hour flight to Japan, 4.5 hour layover and about a 4 hour plane ride to Taipei, I had arrived in Taiwan.  It's hard to imagine it has already been two weeks since I moved to Taiwan.  So far, I feel like I have accomplished quite a bit.  For my first 10 days, I stayed with Julie and Torin in their nice, spacious apartment in the Daan District in Taipei City.  I had met Julie sister, Staci, at a Jewish event in Minneapolis before arriving in Taiwan.  As Staci and I were talking I told her I was moving to Taiwan in August and she said her sister was also.   (You got to love networking!)  Julie and I began e-mailing back and forth this past summer, but were unable to meet up until I arrived in Taipei.  Julie and Torin became like my family here in Taiwan.  I feel so grateful to have met such great people especially having them when I first arrived.  

The first few days I decided to take it easy before starting my first day of work that Monday.  I spent my afternoons that weekend relaxing after the busy summer I had at Herzl Camp and recovering from the jet leg. I did manage to eat at the night market right by their apartment and buy a few things at the grocery store. On Friday night, I went out to a bar near by with Julie, Torin and one of Julie's best friend, Amy.  We all enjoyed a nice Friday evening together drinking and playing pool. After the bar we all went to a club, which was great! Saturday night, Julie and Torin had a house warming party.  I arrived on Thursday evening and Julie and Torin moved into their apartment on Sunday.  So, they hadn't had much time in their apartment before I arrived.  It's quite funny the day I left Torin said, "It's going to be weird not having you here, because you have been with us longer than we have been in our apartment alone." It was sad leaving, but I had stayed with them a lot longer than I had expected, so I knew it was time to leave.   It was great getting to know some other foreigners at the house warming party.  They all met Torin at Hess's (teaching organization) training week when they all first arrived in Taipei.  After the party, we all went out to a club within walking distance from their apartment.  It was a great two nights out in the city!! 

Sunday, I did my first 'tourist thing' with Julie and Torin.  We spent the afternoon at Taipei 101, which is a landmark skyscraper in Taiwan. From 2004-2010, Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world!  And, received the name seven new wonders of engineering and the largest green building in the world.  We bought tickets for the observation deck where we could ride the fastest elevator (only 37 seconds) in the world up to the 101 floor.  The 360 degree view was incredible!  It was great to see all of Taipei from an aerial view and think of all the great things I want to do in Taiwan!  Taipei 101 also has a trendy, international recognized top brand shopping mall. While I didn't buy anything, it was still great to look around.   

My first week at work was very long!  Between the two buses I took to work (which definitely wasn't so easy), I was commuting about an hour and a half one way. With a full day of teaching, I felt the three hour return journey was too much.  When I arrived at Principal School in Tucheng, New Taipei City, I received a warm welcome.  The principal greeted me and brought me to the head of the school.  There I also met the two other foreign teachers, Kristin and Dino. The head of the school, was very nice and brought three course books for me to look at while she finished up her work.  That week I officially signed the contract, took a picture for my visa, went to the hospital for the medical check, observed a few classes, did 2 demos and began my first full day of teaching on Thursday!  By the end of my first week, I felt like I went through a world wind.  Kristin and Dino were very helpful and gave me lots of advice, which I greatly appreciated.  

It wasn't until Saturday, more than a week after I got there, that I actually looking at apartments.  'I had researched apartments online during the week, but never managed to go out and look because I was just so tired. The head of the school took me to look at apartments in Tucheng, but I told her I really wanted to live in Banqiao because I would be closer to Taipei city and still close enough to work.' Julie and Torin wished me luck as I left their house to search for a place of my own.  They had warned me I needed to call the landlords ahead of time, so they could make sure to be at the apartment to show me the place.  But, I insisted I would be fine and left.  There I was in Banqiao, spending the entire day calling Landlord after Landlord and waiting for someone to pick up.  Thankfully, I met a very nice girl, 22 years old, in front of the Fucheng MRT.  She was kind enough to help me make phone calls (as I hadn't bought a phone yet) and be my personal translator as none of the landlords knew any English.  We got in touch with only one landlord from my list.  The landlord showed me the apartment I had seen on the computer and also showed me a larger room that was more expensive.  I quickly thought to myself the larger room was more than I wanted to spend.  The two rooms were nice, but I didn't want to make a decision before looking at least one more.  I had my new friend say to the landlord I need to think about it before I sign the contract.  She offered for me to use her computer and she would keep calling the other numbers on my list.  We spent the afternoon at her apartment where I met her sister (they share this very nice apartment) and friends; She also cooked a very delicious dinner for us and her sister introduced me to avocado/milk shake! So Yummy! I ended up only looking at two apartments that day and told myself I have to make a decision today.  I debated between an apartment that was 6,800 NT/month ($227/month) and the larger apartment I first saw, which was 8,000 NT/month ($267/month.  I decided to go with my gut and chose the larger apartment that I first saw at the beginning of the day. I must say this was by far the fastest big decision I have ever made!  I was very proud of myself.  

My apartment, located right down the street of the Nanya day and night market, and only a three minute walk to the Fucheng MRT, makes it a great location!  It's also only a 20 minute bus ride to work and 10 minute walk to the Banqiao station (one of the main train hubs). 

More details on my job soon!