Sunny Days in December

So it's December in Taipei. A sunny, pleasant December at that. The coldest it's been thus far is about 9 degrees Celsius ... and that is cause to panic; usually it's about 15-20 degrees. Some days I'll be walking home from yoga in a t-shirt and others I'll be snug in my "winter" coat (a Columbia shell does the trick). My students can be pretty funny when it comes to the weather. It'll be a mildly cold day and they'll arrive at school fully equipped with a parka, winter hat, gloves and even those hand warmer bags that heat up when you shake them! I guess when you live in a semi-tropical country you're allowed to react this way to 12 degrees Celsius...

In the month of November Kate and I managed to take advantage of our Sundays off by taking some day trips. We visited the Tittot Glass Art Museum and saw some really magnificent pieces. We even got to make our own glass beads! Another day we finally went to Danshui, the "harbor town" of Taipei. It was great to finally see some water (despite living on an island)! We even took a short ferry ride to the small island of Bali (not Bali, Indonesia...) where we bought tasty Asian donuts and street food! This picture is a view of the mainland from Bali Island (it was a cloudy day).

Kate and I also purchased a large toaster oven in November. It was necessary given that our Chinese kitchen is equipped with a sink and a two-burner stove (and believe it or not, this is a luxury kitchen). For about two weeks the two of us were consumed with cookie-baking mania... until we both felt sick from how many cookies we had eaten. Since then, we've steered clear of making cookies, but have started to explore other tasty uses for our oven. In fact, I'm eating a delicious baked-apple right now... a creation inspired by Oma Vandeven's baked apples that I used to love while growing up!

As Kate and I share the apartment "suite" with two other people (an older Chinese woman whom we refer to as "grandma" and a 25-yr-old Chinese girl who is always at work), we try to include them as best as possible by offering them our baked goods. After all, it would be torture to smell the magic and not be able to try some! On the rare occasion that we do in fact see grandma out of her room and offer her some tasty goods, she backs away cautiously while muttering in Chinese and laughing. We are quite certain that grandma is afraid of us. Sometimes, when I am in the kitchen, she will peek out of her bedroom to see if anyone is there. Once she sees me, she'll quickly shut the door and I won't hear her emerge until I have returned to my room. At other times I will enter the kitchen to put on the kettle and she'll quickly gather up everything she's been doing and shuffle back into her room... It's quite funny, but I feel bad sometimes that we cause her such an inconvienence, not knowing the language and all. Other than that, grandma mostly stays in her room with her television blaring Chinese soap operas and at 10pm every night she may or may not have a dance party (as that's when I hear her flick on and off her light-switches like crazy for a few minutes). The other girl, Echo is her name, has slowly warmed up to accepting our food offerings and I believe she now enjoys receiving them!

There are an abundant amount of stray dogs and cats in this city. Through careful observation I have concluded that they are industrious and resilient animals and are quite possibly the smartest creatures (this includes humans) in this city. They carry themselves confidently through the busy streets and seem to have developed an art of crossing dangerous roads. The stray animals organize themselves based on territories and so I can expect to see certain dogs and cats when I visit particular places. Near the yoga studio, for example, I will see a light-brown cat and a scruffy brown lab scouting their domain. Perhaps the only actual disturbing part of the stray animal population when it comes to my life is what happens when the organized "street" system is disrupted in some way and quite literally, an animal "fight club" results. On numerous occasions, I've been woken up in the middle of the night by awful, vicious cat and dog sounds that sometimes go on forever! It's literally a dog eat dog world out there at night.

My friend, Veronica (yes, the friend-date was successful!) has just recently adopted a tiny kitten, whom she named Chay, as he was left by his mother, a stray. They paid Kate and I a visit and here he is, pictured on my bed! I had started to consider fostering a cat after meeting Chay (there is a group here who rescues strays from the streets and allows foreigners to foster the animals as long as they stay in Taiwan). This consideration lasted until I realized that having a cat would probably just keep me in the apartment more, which is what I'm trying to avoid!

I will try to update again soon in order to avoid such a long blog entry next time! Until then, Kate and I are doing our best to try to feel the Christmas spirit over here. Yesterday we celebrated the ever-loved Dutch tradition of "St. Nicholas Day" (December 6) where the Dutch exchange small gifts in wooden shoes. We used our running shoes instead of wooden shoes, and unfortunately there were no chocolate letters involved (all of those who are Dutch will know what this means).

Of course, Christmas mail is always welcome and appreciated! I will include my Taipei address in the email of this blog... as I prefer to keep it off the public domain. Until next time, Zaijian! (goodbye!)

Friend Date

Last week I was speaking with a friend of mine who recently moved her life to Vancouver for a few years because she's got a great job with the Vancouver Olympics. We have both been finding that making friends once you're out of university is more difficult than expected. From the toddler years through to high school my friends were usually determined by proximity. Who were the children of my mom's friends? Who did I sit the closest to in fourth grade? Who was in my drama class and in choir (to maximize friendship "hang" time)? Once university hit it was even simpler. Who in residence didn't mind if I plunked myself down on their bed and proceeded to complain for an hour about my History of the English Language class? Who wanted to order pizza at 4 am? Potential friends were everywhere and it was really a matter of picking and choosing. Please note: I'm not saying I'm "Mrs. Popular" here; this is more a description of the general experience of most extroverts that I know.

Now that I'm no longer in school and not to mention, living in a foreign country, friends are harder to come by. I have little in common with the Chinese teachers that I work with and most people at yoga do not speak English (or speak to the foreign girls in general...). So I was talking to my friend in Vancouver about all of this and she said that she had felt the same way after her big move to a new city. She had decided to look on craigslist.com under the personals for friends. She said there were tons of ads from people looking for platonic friendships. This struck me as odd at first; I mean, this girl is probably the most friendly, social and out-there friend I have! Why would she have to answer friend advertisements? I also couldn't believe that there were friend advertisements to begin with!

I mentioned this to Kate to see what she thought. We were both quite skeptical of the idea of advertising for friends. I mean, doesn't that make you desperate or even just a big, fat loser? But as the idea marinated in our heads a bit longer, we both began to come around. Realizing that there were few other options for making friends here. There are some clubs to join, but very few. Our jobs are not changing any time soon. It seems that in the real world you don't meet as many new faces everyday! (I bet some of you are saying, "duhhhh," haha). While Kate and I have not placed a friend ad thus far, I no longer discount it as an option. In fact, I've even begun to navigate through some ads, seeing what the pickings are like here in Taipei (unfortunately, quite slim!).

I also now find myself wondering what the next step would be like. Perhaps I see a potential friend, someone with similar interests and genuine motivations for friendship... what will I do? Send them an email and ask them out on a "friend date"? This causes me to chuckle, though it makes perfect sense. I would sure like to screen someone before I commit to going on a day-long hike with them, or something else of that nature. So, a Starbucks friend date it is. I'd have to ask the necessary questions: "What types of books do you read?", "What types of activities do you enjoy?", "Do you like cookies?" (question number 3 is perhaps the most important). Maybe I should ask three separate people out on the same friend date, line them up on stools and blindfold myself. This way it can be like a dating show! I won't judge based on appearance and all three of them can compete for my friendship! ... I guess I'm getting a little carried away.

I have made one step in the friend department as of late. I had noted to Kate that one of the staff at the yoga studio, Veronica, seems very cool. She even passed one of the hardest tests: Laura's random outburst of crying! haha (For those of you who don't know, when I am filled with emotion I can't hold back tears based on who's around me). I had just finished an emotionally-draining yoga class, one that had challenged my mind/thoughts more than my body (yoga opens up many avenues to emotion that we may not have known existed within us!) and Veronica happened to be standing in the shower que behind me. She asked me how I was doing and I suddenly burst into tears and started droning on about how much I miss my mother (here's where you laugh). She did nothing but lend me a compassionate ear and gave an empathetic smile, perfect friend protocol.

Back to my story, Katelynn agreed that Veronica showed great promise as a new friend for us both. Although we really do enjoy talking to each other about deep topics and important world issues (especially ones that arise from all the books we are reading here in Taiwan), Kate and I have started to yearn for a larger friend circle, one that introduces us to new things but also keeps us grounded in the things we love and enjoy (like yoga, health, food!). So today after morning class I found myself in a conversation that went something like this:

Veronica: "Hi Laura, how are you today!?" (she works there, she has to say stuff like this.. haha)
Me: "Great! I wish it would stop raining though!"
Veronica: "Yeah, maybe tomorrow"
Me: "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you ... erm... would you like to go out sometime? ... umm, like for coffee or something?" (please remember, I've never asked anyone out on a date, let alone someone for a friend date!)
Veronica: "uhhh, okay" (clearly wasn't expecting to be asked out, haha)
Me: (trying to figure out how to clearly state it was a friend date) "Well, 'cause, you know... Kate and I are looking for some friends and you are really cool" (now I feel like I'm in second grade)
Veronica: "Oh, cool! Okay, well I'm off on Saturday! How about dinner?" (YAY!)
Me: "Sounds great!"

Then Veronica gave Kate (who had joined us) and I a big hug! Success! a friend-date it is! I have high hopes for this new friendship. I also feel like I'm back in the primary grades of elementary school when friendship usually began with a note that bore the words: "Will you be my best friend? Circle one: Yes or No"

Hello Dear Family and Friends! I hope this update finds you all healthy and happy! Kate and I have been up to quite a lot since my last blog. For one, we went up Yangmingshan Mountain (the mountain that we live beside) with some friends with the intention of going to a fancy restaurant at the top. Unfortunately this experience wasn’t fantastic due to bad planning. It was dark by the time we got up to the top (on a sketchy bus…) and then we seemed to be stuck in the middle of a cloud for quite sometime. It was the first (and only) time I’ve felt that cold in Taiwan! After going on a small hike (which we weren’t dressed for, Kate in high heels) and encountering wild cows (they are much scarier in the dark) we had to wait for taxis to come get us (the buses had stopped at 6pm) for a whole hour! Finally we arrived at the restaurant an hour and a half after the time of our reservation. Despite all of that, we did have a lovely dinner and the view was spectacular from our VIP room!

The following day I went rock climbing with my friends Thomas, Matt and Brittany. I started rock climbing indoors in London in my last year of university and it felt so good to get back on the wall! We went to this free outdoor wall on the other end of the city. It was in the middle of a park, so we have a constant flow of people watching us and trying to make conversation in Chinese. Brittany got this really cute picture of little kids watching me climb. The problem with a "free outdoor wall" is that its maintenance was poor, if it is maintained at all... Many of the holds would turn when I grabbed them and I fell many times! I didn't mind that much because I find falling to be quite fun! But for Matt and Brittany who were first time climbers it was scary.

My school celebrated Halloween on October 24th. I'm not quite sure why it was so early, but classes were canceled for the day and we had transformed 3 classrooms into a haunted house. It was quite scary for the kids. While I didn't see any candy whatsoever, I'm told once they completed all of the activities they got some. Maybe they hid it from me, knowing that I LOVE candy! My job was to sit in the haunted house for 3 HOURS and scare the kids coming through. The problem with this was... I'm scared of the dark! I know, I'm a little too old for that... but it's true! The pitch black creeps me out! So those 3 hours were filled with Laura wandering out of the haunted house for some human interaction at every chance she got! Here's a picture of the teachers at my school (some foreign, some Chinese) and our costumes! I was a zombie fortune teller! ooo!
Kate and I spent one Saturday afternoon wandering around the streets near Taipei 101 (took over the "tallest free-standing structure" from the CN Tower and has since been replaced by the tower in Dubai). We didn't go up the tower (it was too cloudy to have a good view) but we did somehow find ourselves in an Organic Food Trade Show (like one you would see in the Toronto Convention Centre). That was pretty cool, I enjoyed all the free samples I could and even had my Chakras re-aligned (if you know yoga, you know what I'm talking about).

Most notably, we spent this past Sunday at the Taipei City Zoo! Just an MRT ride away (with 2 transfers) and only NT60 ($2 CDN) to get in! The Zoo surpassed all of my expectations with it's beauty and variety of animals! Please visit this link to see all of the pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2376923&l=4ab70&id=58004131

Apparently, the same company that designed the famous San Diego Zoo designed this one. We were so exhausted that we only saw half of the zoo before having to go home! Soon we will go back and see the rest of the animals. Which animals did I like the best? The elephants, penguins, and the Koala! So much fun!

Other than going out for dinner a lot, drinking tons and tons of bubble tea and practicing yoga like it's my second job, nothing else is going on here. Sometimes I feel like I should be doing more, but then I gently remind myself of the very fact that I live here and I'm not able to play tourist every day of the week!

However, I am thrilled to announce that Kate and I are in the middle of planning our trip for Chinese New Years (we get 1 week of vacation). We are going to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! I am so excited to continue preparing for this trip! I'll keep you all posted! Lots of love from Taiwan!

Snakes and Temples and Incense, oh my!

Last Sunday Katelynn and I took the MRT down to the oldest part of Taipei, Wanhua District. We met up with our Taiwanese friend, Viva, on the way and then readied ourselves to be tourists for the day! It's funny to say tourists, since we live here as well. We visited three temples.

The first was Longshan (Dragon) Temple (see left), a very large and famous temple. It was originally built in 1738 and was dedicated to the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy (Avalokitesvara); since then, many Taoist deities have been incorporated into the temple, but it remains largly Buddhist. The coolest thing about this temple is its history. It has survived more than its fair share of disasters over its lifetime. According to my guidebook, "the temple was leveled by an earthquake in 1815, rebuilt, and badly damaged again by a typhoon in 1867. It was fully reconstructed between 1919 and 1924, only to fall victim to a wayward Allied bomb in 1945... it was restored once again in 1957." Talk about battle scars! We can learn a lot about endurance from this temple.

After Longshan Temple, we ventured through "Snake Alley," a true alley that yes, did indeed offer snake to buy, eat, drink (its blood), etc... This opens a window to an older China, where snake is believed to have magical properties. Needless to say, we did not try any snake... but Kate touched this one! Even the cute little boy beside her looks surprised! Afterwards, we were yelled at in Chinese by the "snake keeper." It seems that you are supposed to PAY to touch the snake. Oh, sometimes its great being a foreigner because no one expects you to understand! Unintentional oblivion!
Next stop was Cingshan Temple, my favourite! Pictured to the left, you can see Kate standing with 4 gods (I guess they are called gods...). These guys were super scary but so colourful and beautiful all at once. While Longshan Temple was filled with flocks of people, we were the only ones in this temple! The detail is so magnificant and I got some really great photos! At the bottom of this entry, I will place a link to the facebook album where you can see all of our pictures from this day. I hope you check it out to get a better idea of the temples! Another cool fact about this temple is that it is wedged between two very large buildings (I believe apartments). This is typical for Taipei... the culture and religion is overshadowed by the growing city. It's like one beautifully planned community (picture Oakville...) gone horribly wrong. Even Toronto looks organized when compared to Taipei (and I sure can't find my way around Toronto)! This isn't meant to be a criticism, just merely an observation from someone whose travelling has just barely begun.

Our day ended with one more Temple (Cingshuei Temple that looked very much like the second temple we saw) and then a visit to Ximen shopping district! You can move me across the world, but you cannot take the shopper out of me! What fun this strip of the city is at night! Being obvious foreigners (you can't hide the blonde hair in a sea of black), we get a lot of attention in areas such as these. It can be annoying at times, but this particular evening was a lot of fun! There was a man with his pet/trained squirrel (who tried to get us to hold the squirrel, so we ran away!), there was a man playing his traditional Chinese string instrument (I didn't catch the name of the instrument) and another man cutting people's silhouettes using just plain paper and kitchen scissors! Just picture the buskers down-town Toronto and you'll get a good idea of this strip.

The man cutting silhouettes got very excited when he saw Kate and I... eager to try a new face shape, he insisted on "cutting" us for free! It was hilarious! While cutting he was dancing around and singing polka songs, blabbering on like crazy! All Viva could catch in Chinese, was that we was so excited to have us there! It was all pretty silly, but the finished product is very neat! (I'm on the left)

Today is Saturday, and we are going to have another fun weekend! Soon we are meeting some of our new (and awesome) Taiwanese friends on Yangmingshan Mountain for dinner at a ritzy restaurant called "The Top." It gets its name from the mere fact that it is located on the top of the mountain and has a spectacular view. Tomorrow we're going rock climbing with another few friends of ours! I can't wait to climb again, that's something I really miss from London, Ontario!

I also forgot to mention that Kate and I have joined a Yoga Studio called "Space Yoga" 10 minutes from our house! It's a wonderful place (http://www.withinspace.com/english/studios02.htm) and I couldn't be more excited to pick up where I left off in my yoga practice!

Here is the link to see the facebook album of our "Tourist Adventure": http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2368806&l=99667&id=58004131

I hope everyone is doing well! and please remember how much I love your updates from home! I miss you all so much and I'm quite homesick right now! But still, my heart is very happy to be here.

remembering why I'm here...

I've made a change today that I'm so excited about! Before I tell you about this change I've got to rewind a bit... When Kate and I arrived in Taiwan, I was on fire with getting things done as quickly as possible. Within 1 week of living in the country, I had two jobs (33 hours a week of work), an apartment, a cell phone and I was looking for tutoring jobs. Given my work-a-holic nature and being so employable in this city, I was so excited to begin working like crazy and start kicking that OSAP debt's butt. In the beginning working this many hours as a new teacher was exciting and energizing, until last week when I realized that I had been running on adrenaline the whole time. Last week I crashed! I was coming home every day, exhausted and unhappy only to go to bed to rest up for another crazy day! With some great advice from Kate and my mom I realized that I must take a month or so to really focus on teaching and resting; not to push myself too hard in order to avoid burning out.

This week I began to do just this, focus on teaching and resting. Then last night I was out with Kate and some friends at a delicious Indian restaurant and I was talking about how utterly exhausted I am continually; how I seem to have lost my love for teaching in this whirlpool of a life that I've created for myself (in just one month!). Oh, you've got to LOVE the outside perspective in times like these. The great friends that they are stopped me and said something alone the lines of, "Laura, why are you even working two jobs right now?" It was at this point that I realized, Yeah! Why AM I working two jobs right now? The thought of cutting down my working hours had never crossed my mind until now and I was instantaneously delighted at the idea! Again, being the great friends that they are, the dinner conversation then led to hashing out a plan for Laura's sanity and happiness in Taiwan. I decided that leaving my morning teaching job at the Kindergarten was not only feasible but exactly what I need to begin remembering why I'm here! It seems that in all of this "look how employable I am overseas" business, I've completely forgotten that I came here to a) have an adventure and b) learn about a new culture.

So, today I went to work and announced that it would be my last day. I was finishing up my month trial (where either the employee or employer could end it) and while they were very sad to see me go (I've got boast, I'm a very good catch, hehe) they understood completely. They've witnessed each day how very tired I am and they are still going to call me as a substitute for vacations here and there. They also would love to see me return as a teacher when I am more settled.

Well, that's that! I wanted to share this because upon reading these blog entries, one might think that it's all been so easy! And certain things like getting jobs, settling into an apartment, etc... really have been easier than anticipated. However, climatizing and teaching have been very draining and so that's the other side of the coin shared! I am very optimistic about my next few week with only one job. Kate and I have discussed how we can both use our mornings to continue running, go on hikes, find great places to eat, etc... Just making this decision has given me a burst of energy! Good thing too, we're visiting the most famous night market in Taiwan tonight! I'll be sure to take my camera!

Happy Month-A-Versary!

Yesterday (October 4, 2008) was our '1-month-a-versary' of being in Taiwan. Luckily enough, this particular event landed on a Saturday! After teaching our Saturday morning classes, Katelynn and I headed to IKEA (yes! there are many in this little country!) in hopes that enough employees knew English for us to purchase and arrange delivery for what we were looking for: comfy chairs! (Note: we've both grown tired of living in what feels like university residence; having only a bed, a desk, a closet and a small fridge. So we've started accumulating inexpensive items to make home feel more like home).

Our first challenge was communicating to the taxi driver where we'd like to go. On many occasions, I call our friend William (who speaks Chinese) and then hand the phone to the cab driver. However, yesterday we attempted to take matters into our own hands. I took a picture of IKEA's Chinese address off of my computer screen and upon getting into the cab, had the driver examine the photo on my digital camera. This ingenius plan proved a success! For fun, here is the photo that we used.
This was also our first experience taking a cab with a female driver. Not once did we feel like we would lose our lunches... or our lives! It was fantastic!

Once we arrived at IKEA, we took a good look around the city street and we were delighted to see an Outback Steakhouse! It was then decided that we would shop at IKEA and then eat the meal of our dreams in celebration of our Month-A-Versary! IKEA was exactly the same as at home, it was comforting in an odd sort of way. Though, take away all of the multiculturalism that you would see in an Ontario IKEA and replace it with strictly Asians... that's Taiwan for you! (My students can't believe that Toronto can possibly be that multicultural... it is).

Once we found sofas the next mission was to try and have them delivered to our apartment. We had quite a time trying to communicate this to the employee (who spoke very little English) until a woman standing nearby began to help translate for us! (Thank God for the friendly-bilingual Taiwanese!) and as a result? our sofas will arrive on Tuesday morning!! I cannot wait!

After serving as our translator, the friendly-bilingual Taiwanese woman began asking us about ourselves. She then asked if we would each be interested in tutoring her children; we gave her our email addresses. So THAT'S how you get private tutoring jobs! Just be as useless as possible at IKEA! haha. I guess I should mention here that private tutoring jobs are what everyone wants. They pay more than double what teaching at a school pays (equivalent to $40-50CDN/hour).

Post IKEA, we headed to the Outback Steakhouse, only to have the most fabulous meal (after our favourite Indian restaurant that is) thus far in Taiwan! Yes... I acknowledge that it was fabulous because it was familiar, but it takes time to fully experience a culture in its entirety and my stomach is telling me to wait a bit on the food part of this culture. I could describe dinner in 4-5 paragraphs but I will restrict myself to one picture and a mere list of our dinner.

Drinks: Pina Colada and Strawberry Daquiris!

Appetizer: A delicious deep-fried onion platter (pictured left)

Meal: A savoury hamburger with french fries and coleslaw (Note: we have both been craving a delicious hamburger ever since we arrived on this island)

The result of this scrumptious month-a-versary meal? Two, very-full Canadian girls wandering the streets of down town Taiwan looking for nothing other than... dessert! We decided to head home and purchase dessert at the bakery that we live beside (literally... right beside). Here I'd like to boast to my old boss at Western Foot Patrol, Samantha. We can literally step outside of our apartment door, walk 10 steps and purchase the most delicious slices of CAKE that you can imagine! (Samantha continually craves CAKE). So this is what we did.

Later in the evening we joined some of our new friends (people that we met at a roof-top party in the mountains last weekend) at KTV. For those of you who don't know, KTV is Asian karaoke and it is the most popular thing to do in Taiwan. We went to a place called PartyWorld that is apparently the biggest and best karaoke joint in Taipei. Now, when I say joint I don't mean a dingy little bar in an alley. No, this place looked and felt like a high-class hotel. The lobby was full of beautiful (and huge) chrystal chandeliers and each floor sported rooms and rooms of private karaoke that are reserved in advance. Room service? Yes please! All you need to do is pick up the room phone and order from a large menu of alcohol and food! I cannot tell you how much fun this was! I lost my voice (yet again) after singing my little heart out all night to tunes like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and every Avril Lavine song you can (and can't) name. While most of the songs were in Chinese, every time an English song came on, the microphones were immediately passed to us!

All in all, our 1-month-a-versary was a day to remember! Katelynn and I decided that for at least the first few months we will treat ourselves to a lovely dinner on the 4th of every month in order to recognize the realization of our dream of coming to Taiwan! We are here and we're doing so well!

Beyond Nesting

Greetings to all my wonderful friends and family in Canada! It is time for a lovely update from Asia! Thank you all for your wonderful emails that you respond with! I love hearing how everyone is doing!

This picture I've posted is simply a photo of the first ride Katelynn and I took on the MRT (basically like the Toronto Subway system but much better! and cheaper!). We were on our way to visit a friend from my university who also lives here; just downtown Taipei.

One thing that I'd like to do in this email is thank my parents for letting me play as a child! I teach children here between the ages 2 to 12 years old. TWO YEARS OLD!! These kids (the wealthy ones of course) are learning the English Alphabet before they learn Chinese (for it is far too complicated!). At my cram school I will take the older class out to the park to play soccer between classes if they are well behaved. The thing is, they cannot kick a soccer ball! It's actually very sad. Many of these children spend 10-12 hours a day in school and on Saturdays they will have piano lessons and other "extra-curriculars". I am teaching about 'leisure time' in one of my classes, but I know that they cannot relate! The class was asked to write paragraphs about what they do during their leisure time and more than half of them said they do homework! So, thank you Mom and Dad for letting me play after school!

I also had my first ride on a scooter!! This may not seem like a big deal... but despite being the sister of 3 car/dirt bike/go-cart obsessed boys, I have never rode on a motorcycle or anything of that "2 wheel" nature (minus a bicycle of course). My friend who was driving (he has been living in Taiwan for 8 years) brought me up Yaming Mountain (we live beside a mountain!!) to view the city lights at night! It was so magical! It only took 10 minutes to get to the top; however, once there we realized that at 12 am it was a couples-only hangout! We had a good laugh... and didn't stay long! I may consider getting a scooter. There is someone who rents them by the month, this is a good way to test whether I like it. Getting a scooter licence here is a computer 'true or false' test and a short drive around pylons (it's too dangerous to test on the actual street!!).

Last week I was very tired and overwhelmed with my new schedule; however, this week things are becoming more of a routine for me. While I had planned to give up coffee upon moving here, I quickly accepted that this was not bound to happen in the near future! My mornings contain a wonderful Starbucks Coffee or a coffee from Mc Cafe (surprisingly, fantastic!) before I head to the pre-school to teach the A B C's. I usually have a break for at least two hours between the preschool and the cram school and I will use this time to send some emails, do some shopping, take a run or nap! I teach at the cram school until either 6:30pm or 8:30pm and then go out with friends (which I am still in the process of finding more!!!), do more shopping or hang out at home.

Need I say that the shopping here is FANTASTIC!? I am in love with clothing stores and am developing an unhealthy adoration for shoes! Everything is so different and inexpensive that it's a wonderful excuse to spend spend spend! (don't worry Mom and Dad, the loan payments will be made!) Soon I will be looking for private tutoring jobs as well. I had a temporary one last week (to prepare a university graduate for an English portion of a finance interview), and it paid $40 CDN an hour!! I'll take that no problem, whether or not I know anything about finance (I don't!).

I love and miss you all! Please let me know if you would like a phone call! I've finally figured out how to call landlines and cell phones in Canada and the U.S.A. through my computer! It's fantastic and unlimited for only $3 CDN a month! Everyone should use Skype! -Peace-

"Teechur Rora"

Hello to everyone that reads this! I'm sure once things in Taiwan become less and less novel I will be blogging less, but as it is here is a short update! The title of this post is something that continually makes me smile as a teacher in Taiwan. Most of the children here cannot say my name. Instead I am called, "Rora, Rola, Dora, etc...." Dora is a big one, and I'd like to say it's because of that Spanish explorer phenomenon... Anywho, it's really cute watching a class of 12 adorable pudgy faces try and work through my name. The ones that sort of get it then love to repeat it over and over again (which soon loses it's cuteness...).

I guess my big news after this weekend then is to report on Super Typhoon Sinlaku that "took us by storm" so to speak. Though Kate and I were excited to see our first tropical storm, we were majorly disappointed! Lacking true windows in our apartment (we only look out to see city balconies), we mostly experienced Sinlaku by sound (it was quite loud!). Unfortunately we just spent most of the weekend bored inside the apartment itching to get some fresh air. We did make a mission to Pizza Hut on Sunday evening (after we had lost our umbrella's on Saturday evening...). The pizza was definitely worth getting soaked to the bone and lost in Taipei on a bus!

Today I read in the Taipei Times that we clearly did not experience the worst of the Typhoon as apparantly 18,000 households lost electricity and hundreds lost water (ironic in a rain storm...). In our neighbourhood we had some trees fall down but most of the cleanup was done before I went to teach this morning. Here is a photo from Saturday night (we went to the local bar during the beginning of the Typhoon...)

I'd like you all to believe that I pushed that tree over myself... Though, it's pretty tiny so not the greatest accomplishment... Anyways, hope all are doing well in Canada! More updates coming soon!

Job, Explained

Lots of news since I last "blogged"! Firstly, I've got myself a second job!! Perhaps I should explain that most foreign teachers here keep a main job (usually in the cram schools - after-Chinese-school - a.k.a. "bushibans") that gives them National Health Insurance and an ARC (Alien Resident Card). This ARC is very important, if you don't have one, you cannot get a working visa and thus, you must leave the country every 60 days and re-enter on a visitor's visa each time.

Aside from their main job, most teachers acquire 1 or 2 different jobs on the side that the government doesn't know about. These are the real money-makers (because you don't pay tax). Because they are more risky, you usually make quite a bit more at these jobs. My second job is at this really awesome Kindergarten, just a 5-minute bus ride away from my apartment. I work here 9am-11:30am Mon-Fri and then at the bushiban any time between 2pm and 9pm Mon-Fri and always 9am-12pm on Saturdays. I learned that my second job is less risky than most because they pay the government under the table to always alert the school before they come to visit (haha, things work very differently here). Thus, I do not work tomorrow because the government is coming.

The picture in this post is of this beautiful river/park that I found close to my second job. It is a beautiful area. There were many groups of people in the park this morning practicing tai chi, dance, exercising, etc... I believe this is my new favourite place. I cannot wait to get into the mountains!!

I got a cell phone number! Please email me if you would like to have it. If you are up for paying the international calling fee, I get free incoming from whereever! Please keep in mind the 12 hour time difference :) Also, an English address is on it's way for everyone who has asked to write me a letter. I need to ask a Chinese friend to translate it from our lease, not everyone can be trusted to do this. Even if they don't know how, they will do it wrong just to "save face". Kate and I are slowly learning about how the Chinese "save face" and how annoying it can be for people like us that want a real answer! I especially learned this lesson after asking directions to the hospital yesterday and being sent on a 1/2 hr detour! Now, I just follow my instinct and internal compass!

It's All Chinese to Me!

Finally Internet in Taipei! I've written a couple of entries on Word and pasted them here, enjoy!

September 4, 2008

Well, Kate and I have had an eventful and exhausting day! We arrived in Taipei at around 5:30am Taiwan time. After registering into the country we headed down to baggage pick-up only to find that our luggage didn’t make the transfer at Las Angeles onto Singapore Air. This was because our 2.5-hour layover ended up being a 30-minute one (that WE were lucky to make!). There seem to be more positives than negatives in this delay. Singapore Air gave us NTD2200 (CDN73) each (to tide us over) and is delivering our baggage to Joyland (our school) tomorrow (thus, we didn’t have to drag it around Tien Mu today!).

Tina (our boss) and her husband Andy met us at the airport as planned and on the ½ hr drive to Tien Mu we learned the horrors of the Taiwan road. Not only are there a lot of cars, but also the proximity of each to the other is unbelievable! Scooters are everywhere and it seems to be a miracle each moment that pedestrians are not run down by them.

Once in Tien Mu, Andy took us to Taipei City Hospital to have our health checks done. Other than an unnecessary concern for our abnormally large lymph nodes, all went well. The hospitals here are a) filthy b) crowded! And c) very open concept (you will be watched while you’re having your blood taken, x-ray performed and will be walked in on by other patients while having your check-up with the doctor). That being said, the health care is very inexpensive and somewhat efficient.

We spent a greater part of the day watching classes at Joyland in session and walking around Tien Mu. I impressed myself with my use of Mandarin while purchasing and attempting to barter with sales people. I shamefully realized that even in Taiwan, one does not barter in a department store! The two English teachers that we met at Joyland were very unfriendly towards us, but we later figured that is because we are a possible threat to them (to take their hours).

In the afternoon we met Virginia in front of her school: Taipei American School. We are staying with Virginia until we find a place for ourselves. She is great, even provided us with a long distance calling card so we could call home tonight! It is only 7:35pm Taipei time, but I am done like dinner. – L

September 8, 2008

This is long… so grab a green tea (in the spirit of what you will read).

We’ve got a home and have started nesting! It’s very exciting. We signed a one-year lease on Saturday for the place. This means no turning back now… unless I want to lose a 2 MONTH security deposit! The place is awesome! It is located in an alley (no alley is sketch in Taiwan, seriously…) just off the main street of Tien Mu (our district in Taipei). We live beside a huge (and FANCY) mall (Coach, Burberry stores), across from the Tien Mu baseball stadium (also huge) and down the street from Starbucks!! I especially like the view from our street, MOUNTAINS! Very large and beautiful mountains border Tien Mu and I love it! I cannot wait to run towards/in the mountains.

We pay the equivalent of CDN300 (NTD9000) a month for: our rooms (huge and each with an on-suite bathroom), furnished (bed, air-con, desk, wardrobe, bar fridge), cable tv (no tv yet, but our boss is loaning us one free!), internet, cleaning/maintenance, laundry machine, hydro and gas. All we need to pay is electricity which is only CDN0.13 (NTD4) per point on the meter. So, to sum it up, Kate and I have a pretty sweet deal! Signing the lease was hilarious. It’s all in Chinese so we had our boss Tina and her husband Andy negotiating and translating for us. For about an hour there were 5 adults and Kate and I all squished in Kate’s room “negotiating”. But even a simple Chinese conversation sounds like yelling to Kate and I.

On Sunday, after moving our suitcases into the apartment, Kate and I ventured to Carrefour, the “Walmart” of Taipei. We bought everything from shower brushes to clothes hangers (key in Taiwan w/ no clothes dryers) to slippers (this is also a MUST as outside dirt can never be trekked in to the home, school, etc…). It’s funny, but after living in Taiwan for only 5 days, overhearing someone speak English has become strange. You just expect to hear Chinese gibberish everywhere you go.

I’d like to focus on some specific surprises/moments/anything of interest now to entertain everyone back home.

• The Streets – Many aspects of the streets in my neighbourhood of Taipei (Tien Mu) may or may not surprise the readers of this blog. Traffic is INSANE (and that is the only word to describe it. Intersections can have up to 6 different roads leading into them and U-turns are an accepted and standard vehicular maneuver. Pedestrians, despite the signs at every intersection that state, “Pedestrians have the right of way,” are never safe while crossing. Thus, it is extremely important to always stay alert in order to avoid being hit by a car/bus/truck/bicycle/scooter/another pedestrian/an opening umbrella (they do NOT look before opening those damn things!). Crosswalks all have a countdown with an animated “walker” on them and they can give you anywhere from 10 to 100 seconds to cross any size street (I have yet to figure out what this time depends on).

• Sidewalks – may or may not exist depending on where you are walking. Most alleys do not have them, despite the fact that many alleys function as main streets. As when walking across the street, one must be extremely alert while walking on the sidewalk. I have so far had to dodge: bikes, scooters (yes, they also drive on the sidewalk…), people, millions of vendors EVERYWHERE, stray dogs (there are a lot), poo (yes, dog poo on the sidewalk, Kate and I believe there is a street sweeper who removes this…), and a child peeing in the drain (I know).

• The food – okay, this is a favourite subject of mine. Before leaving Canada I was worried about what I would eat while living in Taipei (where the main food is fish, fish and rice). While there is A LOT of fish EVERYWHERE, it is easy enough to avoid. To my great surprise, I love the food here! Ordering food is one thing (very difficult, and often I don’t get what I meant to order, or I get laughed at) but eating the food is another. My favorite is: this breakfast thing (no idea what it’s name is) that is made by throwing scrambled egg on the pan, covering it with a circle crepe thing, fried (add bacon and cheese if you want), rolled and cut. This is served with a scoop of something that looks like soya sauce but much tastier and the whole thing taste delicious!

• It is HOT – very hot. Especially after such a cold summer in Oakville, Taipei is a sauna! Katelynn is not as affected by the heat as I, but the first few days I felt like I was going to pass out every time we went outside. However, once you walk inside a store, the school or even your own house (if the air-con is on) you’re freezing. There’s never really a happy medium. Despite the warnings I received regarding Taipei pollution, I see nothing. There are always random smells (fish, scooter exhaust, nasty un-identifiable smells) but when I look up in the sky, it is blue. Maybe it’s because wind currents sweep all of the pollution that the island produces over to Mainland China ☺. Probably about half of the people (mostly women) that you see walking around on the street have an umbrella up. They do not like the sun! The sun seems to have a different power over here, no matter how much time Kate and I spend walking in the blazing hot sun, we are not burned and barely tanned! It’s very odd.

I was positive before I left Canada that in one way or another I would succeed in making a fool of myself daily in Taiwan, and I was right. I entered a bakery in the fancy-pants mall that is right near our apartment and for the life of me couldn’t spot a bag in which to place the tasty pizza bun that was calling my name. I went to an employee and asked her what to do (assuming that Bakery etiquette must be different on the other side of the world). She called over her friend who then walked me over to the trays and tongs (which I didn’t not see before), picked up one of each, took the pizza bun, placed it on the tray and walked it to the cash. Then all SEVEN employees began to laugh. Humiliated, I paid and shamefully carried out my hard-earned pizza bun.

There are so many more things that I want to write about, but I fear that readers’ eyes will grow weary. All in all, when I look around while walking on the street I think of three things: 1) Take away the Chinese signs and replace them with English and this place could basically be Toronto; 2) I am truly on the other side of the world, if not on another planet, this place couldn’t be more different than everything I’m used to; and 3) Stop day dreaming and be alert or you will be hit by something! ☺ - L

For more pictures click on/copy and paste this link into your internet browser:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2356830&l=15726&id=58004131

Embassy Adventures

Last week Kate and I paid a visit to the Taiwanese Embassy in Toronto. After much delay, we finally arrived in Toronto and luckily found the Embassy very easy to find. We got there at 3:20pm and filled out the necessary paperwork to each obtain a 60 day, multiple entry, extendable, visitors visa. We need to enter Taiwan as visitors and once our contract is signed, we pass our health checks, etc... then we can stay on the work visas that our school will apply for. At about 3:50pm (the Embassy closes at 4pm) we found out that payment is "cash only" and that the doors are closed and locked at 4pm exactly. After a short panic, we rushed down the elevator, down Younge Street to a TD Bank and then all the way back. On our elevator ride back up, the time was 3:58pm. Kate and I made it back just in time for the doors to be locked behind us. It doesn't seem that rushed now that I am writing about it in the comfort of my kitchen... but we experienced a small taste of some of the stressful situations that are guaranteed with moving to a foreign country.

Now that our visas are in place, health insurance is set up and all of the travel shots have been administered, all that's left to do is pack pack pack and bid Canada farewell! This weekend Kate and I will be visiting Harbourfront's TAIWANfest (which happens to take place at such a convienent time!) I cannot wait to get a feeling for the culture in which we will soon be submerged.

If anyone has any suggestions on what to pack that we may not think of, please feel free to let us know! Also, if anyone would like to pay a large portion of my osap debt, that is also warmly welcome :)

Prep 101

Great News! Kate and I have both secured jobs with Joyland! We have been communicating with our boss Tina and she is helping us find accommodation for the first couple of weeks once we get to Taipei. We will begin looking for our own apartment as soon as we get there.

We have bought our plane tickets!!! We are leaving on September 2nd in the evening. We arrive in Taipei on September 4th. It's odd, but we don't really get a September 3rd, 2008. A couple of my friends were joking saying that they're going to have a September 3rd party and that I'll have to miss out entirely...

So many preparations are coming together now... because they have to! there's less than a month left before we're gone. Kate's already got most of her immunizations done. I had my first appointment today. We've got a travel doctor from Mississauga who's given us the 411 on what we need to do to protect ourselves before we move and once we're there. Unfortunately... it's very pricey to do this! The immunizations include: Japanese Encephalitis, Hep A/Typhoid, Meningitis and Whooping Cough/Tetanus. We also have prescriptions for Malaria pills, jet lag pills, sleeping pills and immodium-type pills. Soooo many drugs!

This coming week Kate and I are going to the Taiwanese Embassy in Toronto to get our visas. After that we are meeting with Allison (our cousin who went to Taiwan and taught for a number of years for the same employer) to ask her our millions of questions. We've been trying to get as much information as possible from our boss Tina, but the language barrier has so far proven difficult, albeit funny. Kate emailed asking about a dress code as we're wondering what to pack. Tina emailed back saying something along the lines of, "I don't understand about the 'dress code.' Do you mean the age range of the children?"

Thus, meeting with Allison will answer more questions at a faster, more coherent pace. I'm excited to hear more of her stories, I'm sure it will pump us up even more than we already are.

As this blog now indicates, I've arrived at a clever title! As those who travel by plane know, each international airport in the world has a three-letter code. Toronto (Pearson) is YYZ and Taipei International Airport is TPE. When you put it together it means: "from Toronto to Taipei to teach English." Neat eh!? nerdy...

Until next time, "keep fit and have fun!"

Best Name Wins

So the planning has begun. Kate and I have formally applied to teaching jobs with Joyland, the school that Allison worked at in Taiwan. We are looking for decent hours to start out, but nothing that will overwhelm us as we settle into a new country. Most 'full-time' teaching jobs for foreigners will offer 20 hours a week, part-time jobs range from 10-15 hours a week. This is much different than in Canada where the average worker slaves for 40 hours or more each week to make ends meet. I like the idea of working less and having more time for pleasure! Kate and I plan to explore the whole island and other countries as well! We can't wait to take advantage of the low low cost of living and spend more money on leisure than we can in Canada. Once we get into a groove, we both plan to find part-time teaching and/or tutoring jobs to bring in some extra cash. Legally, we cannot work more than 35 hours a week in Taiwan. This will be beneficial as it will stop us from biting off more than we can chew. 

As for now, we're both working and planning. We spent the Canada Day weekend camping up in Restoule Provincial Park, dreaming about when we will move up North for good (after Taiwan and other travels of course). We visited Nipissing University in North Bay and took a good look around. I am excited to go to a smaller school for teacher's college once I'm back from traveling I had the big Western experience, and I'm ready to move on to something more subdued (again, after big-city Taipei). 

This blog will be where Kate and I report on our travels, regularly I hope. We will post the best pictures and I'm sure keep everyone back home entertained with stories of large spiders and cultural faux pas. I cannot, however, think of a witty name for this blog. I will continue to brainstorm, but any and all suggestions for a title are warmly welcome. 

Laura