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!