Some final thoughts on Taiwan

The countdown is down to just two weeks. I can hardly believe it!! I've done two touristy things in the past week and a half that I promised myself I would do before I left. The first was visiting the National Palace Museum again. I went there back in December when Charlie was here, but didn't see all that I wanted to. So I went back and saw a lot. It's nearly impossible to do the whole thing because it's huge. The museum holds the largest collection of Chinese art in the world and is on the same scale as the Louvre and British Museum for European art. But, I saw a good bit of stuff, mainly paintings, religious figures, some ceramics I hadn't seen when I was there the first time. The second thing I did was Yangmingshan National Park just north of Taipei. I saw the famous Flower Clock which is a huge, circular flower bed and is actually a working clock. I also saw the Siaoyoukeng geyser which, of course, reminded me of Old Faithful and all the geysers I saw in Yellowstone National Park. I'm glad I finally got to the place everyone's been telling me to get to. You can see my pictures from that adventure here.

Some final thoughts on Taiwan:

I'll miss....
-Convenience (As in always being able to run for milk at any hour or get money out of the ATM anywhere)
-Inexpensive and delicious fresh fruit and juices (perks of living on an island)
-Being able to eat out so cheaply and never having to cook

I won't miss...
-Relying on public transportation (I'll probably take this back after my first visit to a gas station at home.)
-Air pollution
-Crowds

Well, that's it for now. You'll probably get one more post from me while I'm here!

28 days to go

As a teacher, I am just as excited to have school canceled due to inclement weather as I was as a student. Today yet another typhoon came through Taiwan. Luckily it was not as lame as last week's, and everything in Taipei was shut down for the day. So my day has included catching up on grading quizzes, laundry and reading. I've had a pretty lazy day.

Now I have just under four weeks to go. I am starting to do all the "business" type things I have to sort out. But most importantly, I got my room rented in just three days. I am so relieved and happy to have that out of the way! I've said goodbye to more friends in the past couple of weeks. I hate goodbyes, but it means my time to leave is coming up fast, so that party I am happy about.

During the past couple of weekends I went to the beach and also back to this awesome national park south of the city called Wulai. I'd been there once back in the fall for hiking. This time we headed far into the park, where there weren't many tourists, and we sat in the river all afternoon. The water was freezing which was a nice relief from the heat. There's such a difference in the air quality out there, too. It's so clean and fresh, unlike in Taipei.

Well, that's it for now. I have some new pictures in my "Out and About in Taipei: The Second Half" album, if you want to take a look.

Yeliou, etc.

This past weekend I went up to Yeliou, a geological park on the Northern coast of Taiwan. The park is on a cape jutting out into the ocean and has rock formations of all kinds which are really strange, but really cool to see. It almost feels like you're walking on another planet because it's just bare rock. It was interesting to see where fish were now swimming in puddles, and sometimes larger and deeper areas of water, which had been formed between the rocks. The day, apart from being pretty toasty temperature-wise, was really beautiful. The water was very, very blue and there was hardly a cloud in the sky, so the spot was really beautiful and a great photo opportunity! It is definitely one of my most favorite places I've visited in Taiwan. Afterwards we cooled off in the water at a nearby beach. Here are the photos.

It turns out that I'm not going to be getting a summer session class. Enrollment is too low and so there just aren't enough kids for a class. I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to it. I enjoyed the writing class I taught during the winter session. But I'm continuing with my regular classes. Some are ending though. Since our classes go in three month sessions, some of my classes are getting new teachers since I will only be here for part of the next session.

It is very, very hot here in Taipei. Today was 95 degrees (it's been mostly in the upper 80's lately.) I tell people here it's basically like a D.C. summer, just a bit more humid. They are really surprised at this, I can't understand why. I asked a Taiwanese friend about this recently and she said it's because everyone thinks the U.S. is cold all the time!! What?!

I'm continuing with yoga, volunteering at the orphanage and language exchange. It's hard to believe I have just a month and a half left. In some ways I feel like I've been here a long time, but in most ways I feel like it's been a very short time. Hope everyone had a great 4th! I enjoyed a nice TGIFriday's hamburger with friends which (kind of) reminded me of home.

Two months to go

Life in Taipei since my return from Thailand has been pretty busy. My first weekend back was Dragon Boat Festival. It's a really big deal here. If it hadn't fallen on a Sunday I would have gotten the day off and there are races throughout Taiwan. People attend whether or not they know anyone racing. There are teams of people from different organizations, neighborhoods and city government offices,etc. One of my old co-workers/friend's boyfriend was racing. He has been practicing every week day at 5:30 a.m. for several months with a group of Taiwanese men. So it was cool to see his final race and also to see some of the activities going on for the festival. There are tons of booths set up kind of like a fair. They were selling and showing different products, etc. My favorite part was seeing the egg laying race/game which is a tradition for the little kids on the weekend of the festival.

Two weekends ago I went to a water park north of the city, "Formosa Fun Coast." I didn't know quite what the expect and I'm not really a water park type of person, but it was actually really fun. I'd say it was pretty much equivalent to water parks in the U.S., complete with the "lazy river." We didn't have to wait in any lines because the kids weren't out of school yet. But it's already SO hot and humid here, so it was a good thing to do to be outside but stay cool!

I've been continuing to go to Fulong beach a lot on Sundays with a bunch of friends. When we were getting up to leave this past Sunday this group of Taiwanese photographers with their huge cameras came up to my one friend and I and asked us to be their "models." This is not something I'd probably ever do at home, but for some reason I thought why not, so we did it. I don't think they're actually doing anything with the pictures except for practicing their photography, as they are a photographers association/club. Anyway, they had us do a few different poses and it was pretty fun. They sent us a few pictures and I have posted them on my photo site.

I now have less than two months before I come home. It has really flown by, but I'm really ready to come home. Summer session classes will be starting next week, but I am still not sure what I'm going to be teaching yet. I've been applying for jobs in Richmond like crazy. If I don't have anything by the time I get back I will do some volunteer campaign work while continuing the search. I'm also continuing with yoga class and my language exchange. I'm always putting more photos up under my "Out & About in Taipei- The Second Half. The photos from events in this post start here. Enjoy! I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone when I get back!

Adventures in Thailand

We began our trip with two days in Bangkok. Saturday morning we were up bright and early (7:15 am) due to Charlie's cell phone clock not changing times correctly. That day we did the majority of the highlights of BKK. We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us around for a while before the Grand Palace opened. (For those not familiar with the term, a tuk tuk is a little truck-like vehicle where the passengers sit on the back which is covered but open on the sides.) He took us up to the Golden Mount which has amazing views of the city, and also to the nearby Wat Saket . Of course we had to do the obligatory shopping stops along the way (the tuk tuk driver gets a commission from the stuff we buy, plus free gas) so they take the tourists to jewel shops and suit/dress making shops. We didn't buy anything and had some time to kill so the $1.50 US tuk tuk tour was well worth it.

Then we were on the Grand Palace, BKK's most famous tourist attraction and also to some of the most famous temples, Wat Pho (with the large, gold reclining Buddha) and took the ferry across the river to Wat Arun (and climbed the steps to the top--not my favorite!) I don't think people realize BKK is a city on the water and that's still very much a part of life there. One of my favorite things was taking the one hour tour of one area of canal by boat. We had our own private boat and it was a really cool way to see a non-touristy part of the city. It was really interesting to see the people living along the canal. The canal is literally their backyard. Women in small boats go up and down selling fresh fruit, beer, etc, and people shop from their back decks. It's pretty cool!

Sunday we took a day trip to Ayuthaya, a town about an hour north of BKK. It has Angkor style temples, so they are much older than the ones we saw in BKK and very, very similar to the ones I saw at Cambodia's Angkor Wat in 2006. Again, we hired a tuk tuk to take us around to all of them ($5US for 2 hours!) My favorite of the temples there was Wat Chai Wattanaram. It's been well kept and sits right on the river, so the grounds and structure itself are really beautiful. We also visited Wat Phra Ram, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Ratburana, Wat Thammikarat and Wat Wihaan Mongkhon Bophit. It was probably the hottest day we had on the trip, but well worth it!

The next day we were off to the island. Ko Samet is the closest island to mainland Thailand. It's about a 3 hour bus ride south of BKK and a 40 min. ferry. We stayed at a resort on the northern coast of the island which is pretty quiet. But we rented a motorbike, so we could drive around and explore some other parts of the island. One day we drove all the way down the island (it's small, so it didn't take long). That morning we found a beautiful, secluded beach. Definitely the most beautiful beach I've ever been on! We also got massages right on the beach. We ate dinner on the beach, literally in the sand, at the island's main nightlife area every night. It was definitely a relaxing few days. We returned to BKK on Thursday night for one more night of sightseeing and shopping around Siam before we flew out on Friday.

I am so happy that I got to Thailand. I've been wanting to go there since before I ever thought about coming to teach in Taipei. So now I have been to the two places I really wanted to visit while I was living over here. Now I have just about two months left. I don't think I've "announced" this on here yet, but I'll be arriving at Dulles the night of August 24th.

And for the most important part, here are the Thailand pictures and also a link to pictures from a few things we did in Taiwan before heading to Thailand.

Taroko Gorge trip, etc.

Things have been busy during the past few weeks. The coolest thing I've done was my trip to Taroko Gorge with some friends. Taroko is the most "touristy" place on the island and I now know why. It's gorgeous! It reminded me a lot of the mountains in Colorado. We rented scooters and drove through most of it, stopping to take pictures at random spots and to get out and see different sites. There were some buildings to see (one pagoda, one shrine), but mostly it was just the incredible scenery! At the end of the day we visited some cliffs on the coast just north of the gorge. We got there at the perfect time of day and the water was a gorgeous blue. Pictures are up on my photo site, so take a look.

I saw James Blunt in concert last weekend. Wow! He's great. I've never been a huge fan, but I really, really enjoyed the concert. I was surprised to see so many Taiwanese people who were obviously fans. They even sang along to all his songs! I've made a couple trips to the beach already which has been nice. It's a beach called Fulong which is about an hour and a half away by train. It's the same place I went camping back in the fall. So I've done that a couple of the past Sundays.

Charlie arrives this Sunday. I cannot wait! We'll be in Taipei through Friday and we are then off to Thailand for a week. I'll post after that. Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Quick update and some new pictures

**Update: I just found out that my little kids class that I talk about in this post is actually going to continue now with three students! Ten students are required for a class, so they're paying extra to continue on. I think it will be fun to have such a small class. I'll write later about how it's going!

Just a short update on my life. It's really beginning to feel like summer. (Well, summer weather for home, only spring weather for here.) It's been in the 70s and 80s and fairly humid for a few weeks now. I know it will only get worse from here in terms of heat and humidity. Things are going to be pretty busy for the next couple of months. I've got a lot of things planned. First, this weekend, Susan arrives from Japan. She'll travel around the island for the week by herself, but will return to Taipei next weekend. So hopefully I can see some stuff I've yet to see around the city! I've also got a short weekend trip with friends planned to Taroko Gorge. It's apparently one of the most gorgeous places on the island, and is certainly one of the most famous places. Hopefully the weather will be good and we'll rent scooters and drive all around and probably do some hiking. Also, James Blunt is coming to Taipei, so I am going to see that concert with friends which I am so excited about! Then there's Thailand in June with Charlie. We have everything booked now. We'll be in Bangkok for a few days and on the island, Ko Samet, for a few days.

I have some new pictures up on my site. One of my favorite classes, my youngest class, ended this past week. A couple of them were going on to our school-aged program, so there weren't enough to continue with the class. Anyway, I took some really cute pictures with/of them. They're here in the school album on my photo site. I went on a crazy hike this past weekend with a couple of friends. I call it crazy because I think the Taiwanese idea of hiking is a little insane. Oh how I miss hiking regular, dirt trails at home. Their idea of hiking is to have stairs going straight up the mountain, I kid you not. There are no switchbacks, but stairs literally straight up. It's a heck of a workout, that's for sure. Of course This wasn't the first hike I'd been on, but each time I go the concept continues to amuse me. Anyway, I have pictures of the hike and more stuff I've been up to in my Out&About in Taipei- The Second Half album on my photo site.

Adventures in Japan

My trip to Japan couldn’t have been better, really. It was the end of the cherry blossom season there, so prior to getting there I wasn’t really sure they would still be in bloom. But they were everywhere, literally, and it was amazing! They were really everywhere I looked. My first impression of Japan was just how darn clean it is. They literally wash the sidewalks, it’s incredible. It definitely makes for a nice place to travel. I arrived in the evening and took the train to my friend Susan’s town, Gifu, a suburb of Nagoya in central Japan. That evening I went out with her and some of her friends. I really enjoyed the Japanese plum wine, Umeshu. And I was a bit wary at first, but really enjoyed the jelly fish I tasted. Yum! I was already liking Japanese food a ton better than I’ve ever liked Chinese food.

My first full day I went to some of the sightseeing spots in and around Susan’s town. First, I went to Inuyama castle, Japan’s oldest wooden castle. It was gorgeous, of course, especially with the cherry blossoms. Inside the castle you have to take your shoes off and climb the very steep wooden steps up to all the different levels. Next, I returned to Gifu to visit the Gifu Castle. To get up to the top you could either hike or take the cable car. I opted for the cable car after I couldn’t find the right hiking path. There was somewhat of a hike still when you got off the cable car and the top and some amazing views of the mountains and surrounding area. I also saw some smaller temples around Gifu, including one that houses a 45 foot tall Buddha. It’s a really pretty gold color and made of lacquer. It was pretty awesome to see a Buddha that large. It was also nice because for the first part of my visit there weren’t any other tourists around and it was really peaceful. I think seeing that statue was one of my favorite things in Gifu. (And in a small way made up for not seeing Hong Kong’s Big Buddha--the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha--while I was there because it was raining and the line was too long.)

That evening I had the best meal of my visit with Susan and some of her friends and co-workers. It was at a fairly traditional Japanese restaurant (take off your shoes) kind of place. I sampled a lot of different foods (mostly fish and some meat.) Pretty much every single thing I tasted I really liked. I think her Japanese co-workers were surprised to hear I liked the Japanese food so much better than any of the food in Taiwan.

The next morning I took the train to Kyoto. It was about an hour and a half ride. I checked into the hostel and then began one of the walks suggested by the Lonely Planet guide which guided me through a lot of the must-see temples. The first temple, Kiyomizu-dera, was probably the most amazing one I saw the entire time. It was an amazing complex of buildings. The main hall is a huge tower which was a really cool site from far away, especially with the cherry blossoms. After that the walk took me through some of Kyoto’s very old, traditional streets which brings me to another thing I really liked about Japan, the architecture. I really liked the way everything had a fairly simple structure and was mostly wooden or other earth tones. Much of isn’t really bright or ornate, it just seems very functional and practical. So these old streets I walked through were full of buildings like this. The next temple I saw was Kodai-Ji which has some beautiful gardens, teahouses, zen gardens and bamboo. The zen gardens I saw at many of the temples were amazing! I didn’t even really know anything about them until I got there, but wow! They’re immaculately kept. I just want to know what they do when it rains! The next thing I saw was Kyoto's most famous cherry tree in Maruyama-Koen Park. I’m really not quite sure why it’s the most famous tree, but the book said so, and when I got to it there were tons of tourists taking pictures of it. To me it wasn’t much different than all the other hundreds of trees I saw, but hey, it was the most famous one and it was cherry blossom season, so I figured I’d better see it. That park was really neat though. There was an area under this huge group of cherry trees where they’d laid out tarps and there were tons of people picnicking and hanging out there, literally under the cherry trees. It was a really cool site. The next temple I just saw from the outside. It’s called Chion-in and had a really impressive front. Just outside the park I saw Yasaka-Jinja. It was a really bright orange color and had tons and tons of lanterns.

That evening I met a Japanese friend of a friend. She took me to dinner, took me around the Gion/Geisha district and then we had traditional tea and dessert. It was really cool to go around with a native. The Geisha district is a very interesting part of the city. It contains many high end restaurants where the Geishas entertain men with their musical and art skills, and also in conversation. I walked down two famous streets filled with these restaurants, many of them being so exclusive they don’t have menus on the door, which means you are not invited in. It is a very secretive world and I was told before I went that it is very uncommon to actually get to see a real geisha. There are women all over Kyoto dressed like them. You can even pay to get the outfit, hair and makeup done for about $100 and walk all over the city. But, there is one defining feature in which you distinguish the real geisha from the “fakes,” a silver accessory the real ones wear in their hair. Anyway, I actually saw two real geishas! The first was with my new Japanese friend. She had only seen one other one in her whole life and was really excited when one walked right past us on the street. It was so cool! The other one I saw the next night when Susan and I decided to walk down some of the back alleys where they are typically walking between appointments. She actually stopped and posed for a picture which we were really surprised about. Learning more about this part of the old tradition and culture was one of the most interesting aspects of Kyoto to me.

The next day we began another walk from the Lonely Planet guide which took us through some of the other major temples. First we went to Heian. This temple had a huge square of bright orange buildings. I always feel like I’m really in Asia when I’m in one of these kinds of squares. The temple also had probably the most amazing gardens I saw in Kyoto. The blossoms were gorgeous and they way they reflected off the water came out fabulously in my pictures. This place was just exactly what I think of when I imagine old, traditional Japan with the buildings on the water and the gorgeous gardens. I think these pictures turned out to be the best ones out of the whole trip. Next we started to walk along the canal lined with cherry blossoms. There were tons of temples off the canal walk so we just started walking and stopped at the ones the book highlighted: Ginkaku-Ji, Eikan-do, and Hinode. The zen gardens at Ginkaku-ji were especially impressive. We also walked through some of the neighborhoods off the canal walk. The houses were gorgeous.

On the last day in Kyoto we went to Nijo-jo Castle, which is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy that day, but really I couldn’t complain because all the other days were gorgeous! Even in the rain the gardens around the castle were beautiful. The last site we saw was the Golden Temple, also know as Rokuon-Ji or Kinkaku-ji. It really is gold and was an amazing site. Here I was able to get my fortune in English. I got one called “very good,” but if you get a bad one you’re supposed to leave it hanging at the temple. People also leave their wishes on wooden pieces and hang them at the temple. I obviously couldn’t read any of them, but heard that they wish for things such as good luck on exams, good wishes for new houses and new cars, etc. Really I think they’d leave their wishes for just about anything you could think of!

That afternoon we took the train back to Gifu and I flew out the next morning. Overall I had a wonderful experience that I will remember for a long time. I am so lucky that I made it during cherry blossom season. It was incredible! My passport is certainly filling up and I might have to get some new pages added soon--definitely the mark of a well traveled girl! Next up: Thailand with Charlie in June. No rest from trip planning for me! Take a look at my Japan pictures here.

Spring has sprung- A general update on my life

I think spring is officially here and that I can finally put my heater away. The weather has been in the 70s this past week. Apart from a couple torrential downpours, it’s been fairly nice and sunny. I’ve been sick with yet another cold this week, but it’s not too bad. I have been working out a lot. I’m continuing with yoga, of course, but the weather has allowed some good runs by the river in the past couple of weeks. My city is just across the bridge from downtown and there’s a good running path on my side of the river. Well, I call it a running path, but I think I’m the only person I’ve ever seen actually running on it. There are some walkers, and just a few people passing through on their scooters. Of course they look me up and down, bewildered by why a girl is running there. Exercise? It’s a foreign concept for many here. I actually made it back to the night market I used to go to all the time in the fall. I hadn’t been there in months! I think I’ve just been too lazy to 1. walk there after work and 2. deal with the crowds of people strolling through (those that know me well know that I do not stroll.) Anyway, hopefully now that the weather’s nicer I will get there more often.

Language exchange is going well. In these past two weeks I have mastered colors in Chinese. I really have a lot of admiration for people who really learn the language. It’s so hard! For example, my city is Young Ho. You’d think that would be fairly easy to pronounce, but NO! It seems that every time I get in a taxi I have to say it about 10 times for the driver to understand where I’m talking about. In my best Chinese pronunciation I say “Young Ho” (pronounced in Chinese it’s more like “Young Herr”.) And they’re like “Huh?” and I say it again and again and finally they’re like “Oh! Young Ho!”…like exactly they way I’ve been saying it for the past 2 minutes. Ah! Anyway, I doing language exchange and helping my partner out with her English. And I feel that I am getting some Chinese out of it, as well.

I’ve been doing a fair amount of reading the whole time I’ve been here, but realized I never mention it on the blog. I just finished A Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. (My Dad actually sent it to me from home.) It was written by a Chinese girl (from mainland) who studies in England for a year. She writes about all of her experiences and especially about her relationship with an English guy she meets there. At the beginning of the book she writes in very broken English. But by the end it’s pretty good. It was interesting for me to get some more insight into what it’s really like to learn English. She talks a lot about the language and why it was so difficult for her and about the things that just don’t make sense to someone learning it as a second language. Now I am reading “Eat, Pray, Love.” Mom and I bought it in Hong Kong. A 30-something writer from New York gets divorced and decides to take a trip to Italy, Indonesia and India for a year (spending 4 months in each place). She has a specific thing she wants to get out of each place (“the art of pleasure” in Italy, “the art of devotion” in India, and “the art of balancing the two” in Indonesia.) I’m about 100 pages into the book and it’s a really good read so far.

In other news, Taiwan elected a new president yesterday. Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalist Party won. It was expected to be a very close race, but in the end he won about 60 percent of the vote. He supports better relations with mainland China. For example, he would like to establish direct flights between mainland and Taiwan. (As it stands now, there are no direct flights between Taiwan and mainland.)

Yesterday I went to the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine just north of the city. (Thankfully, was nearly empty due to it being election day.) The complex, which honors those who have fought for Taiwan in war, is full of buildings and greenery. We were there in time for the changing of the guard which was also cool to see. I’ve added pictures to my “Out and About in Taipei-The Second Half” album on my photo site.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m off to Japan in about 10 days, so my next post will probably be about that. Happy Easter to all at home!

And the second half has begun…

Hard to believe I’m over halfway through my time here at this point. I am keeping really busy. This past Thursday was a national holiday, Peace Memorial Day or “2-28.” Some friends and I went out to a town called Ilan about an hour bus ride out of the city. One of my good Taiwanese friends is from there and took us all around. We rented scooters, ate food, drove out to a hiking area, and went to an amazing hot springs hotel in the nearby town of Jiaushi. Hiking was great because the air was so fresh out there. The hot springs hotel was amazing. Hot springs are extremely popular with the Taiwanese. I’ve been twice now, once to a public one north of the city, and once on my trip down south to Kenting. Neither were nearly as amazing as this one. The complex had one large pool with different types of jets for different parts of the body, a few smaller pools for different things (“beautification,” muscle pain, pure mountain water, and one scented pool), and a water slide. But the best part was the pool just for your feet with small fish that swarm and bite the dead skin off of them. It felt so weird at first but then I got used to it! It was so fun and so cheap (about $7 US). We decided we’re definitely going back (possibly next weekend.) I've posted pictures of this trip on my photo site.

In other news, I’m going to Japan for a five day trip in about 4 weeks. I have a friend from R-MC who is teaching English a couple hours outside of Kyoto. I will probably spend about two and a half days seeing Kyoto which is apparently amazing. Hopefully I will get to see the cherry blossoms, too. Japan was one of the top places on my list of things to do here, so I am very excited.

I’m going to start volunteering at an orphanage on the outskirts of Taipei. I just visited it with a friend of a friend yesterday. She’s been volunteering there for a year now so she took me along to meet some of the staff and see what it was like. It’s run by a Catholic organization and the facility houses kids of all ages. I am going to be volunteering in the nursery for the smallest babies (under 1 year). There was one baby who was sleeping the whole time I was there who was just about one month old. I didn’t really know what to expect when I went there, but was surprised to see how nice the facility is. The babies want for nothing and are very well taken care of. The youngest ones share cribs and the older ones have their own larger cribs. They are bathed, fed and changed on schedule, and they all look like very happy babies. So as a volunteer I will be holding them, playing with them, and helping with feeding and changing. Most of them are orphans, but some have mothers who are trying to get on their feet and come in to feed and visit them. Really the only thing they lack is one on one attention and human touch and contact, so I think that’s really where the role of the volunteers comes in. I held some of the smaller ones and took a couple of the older ones out of their cribs to a play mat together. They are all so adorable and it was so fun to see a huge smile come to their faces when I started to play with them. (And a few started to scream and cry when I put them down, so sad.) I will be going once a week for two hours.

It’s warming up here finally and the best part is it has stopped raining every single day. It rained for 40 straight days and finally stopped last week. Thank goodness because that was really getting old. So it’s back up in the 60s and 70s now. Hopefully I can put my heater away for good soon! But I’m sure I’ll be complaining when it’s 90 and humid soon enough.

Mom's Visit & Hong Kong

Mom and I had a wonderful visit over the two weeks she was in Taipei and we traveled to Hong Kong together. Taipei is not the same city it was when Mom lived here from first grade through fourth grade. The area where their house was just outside the city, where water buffalos roamed in the rice farm next to their house is literally downtown nowadays. The two things she did recognized were the Grand Hotel pool where she swam as a kid and Fu Jen University where her Mom taught English conversation. I did let her venture onto the MRT (metro system) by herself while I was at work one afternoon so she could see Longshan Temple. She didn’t get lost (probably due to my full page sheet of directions). I had a great time showing her around Taipei and am glad that she saw what my life is like here! We had a nice day trip out to one of my favorite spots outside of town, Jiufen. We had afternoon tea at the Jiufen teahouse which I’d been to back in October. We also had tea at the Grand Hotel (we drank a heck of a lot of tea during her visit.) We stayed in a very nice hotel downtown for some of her time in Taipei which was a nice treat for me. I felt like I was on vacation, too! She was also able to meet a bunch of my friends at dinner one night which was really fun.

We had a fabulous time in Hong Kong. It was a really good break for me because it is SO western (a former British territory, after all.) It was also cool for Mom to go back since she’d lived there from fifth grade through eighth grade. The first full day we had we spent in the area she used to live, Repulse Bay, just outside the city. We started out in Stanley Market, just down the road from RB. I bought a traditional Chinese dress and some other Chinese stuff. Then we headed to Mom’s old neighborhood and were excited to see that her old apartment complex, Repulse Bay Mansions, was still standing (in the shadows of the other huge buildings around it). It’s a pretty small complex, and RB is very built up now, quite a change from her time there. After sneaking up the private steps Mom was proud of remembering, and having the security guard try to shew us away, we took some great pictures, and I think it’s really neat that I’ve now been to all four places she lived abroad: Paris, Taipei, HK and London. We also walked out onto the beach and went to the famous RB Hotel which was torn down and rebuilt since Mom’s time there.

On our second full day we took the tram up to the highest peak in HK, Victoria Peak. The view of the city from the top was amazing!! We then ventured over to the Kowloon Island side to the Ladies’ Market (for my fix of fake luxury goods! I finally own a “Louis Vuitton”). Mom was really impressed with my newly perfected bargaining skills. After that it was on to tea and a visit to the Man Mo temple, one of the most popular temples in HK. It was pretty busy since it was Chinese New Year, so that was neat to see. I’ve stepped foot in quite a lot of temples, and I thought this one was one of the prettiest I’ve seen. That evening we had a really good French dinner. (No Chinese food was allowed on this trip-I’m not a fan.)

The next day we went to mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church where Mom went as a kid. The priest was an American with a good sense of humor, so that was nice. Then we went to Aberdeen, a fishing village, for a Sampan boat tour. We saw a bunch of the fishing village, houseboats, etc, and also the largest floating restaurant in the world. We also visited the HK “zoo” and botanical gardens. I use the term zoo lightly…there were some flamingos and a few other birds. The flowers were gorgeous though, and it was nice to walk around. And then of course we had afternoon tea, this time at the Regal Hotel in Causeway Bay, and visited another temple, the Tinhau Temple. This was the afternoon I decided we needed to take the tram (double decker street cars which run up and down one of the main roads in HK). Mom didn’t like the experience too much—they’re really cheap which means they’re really crowded, but I liked riding on the top deck and getting that view of the city. That evening we took the Star Ferry a short trip across the harbor to the Kowloon side. The view is beautiful with all of the buildings lit up at night, some with New Years decorations. There’s a light show every night at 8pm and we saw that from the Kowloon side. And the next day we took the same ferry, but this time for an hour long harbor tour which was cool, too. Overall, Mom and I had such a great time together, both in Taipei and HK. I was very sad to see her go! And of course, check out my pictures of her visit and our trip on my photo site.

Happy Chinese New Year!

(A little early.) Chinese New Year begins Feb. 6 and continues for several days. It’s the biggest holiday over here (equivalent to our Christmas, if not bigger.) Everyone has vacation from work and travels back to their hometowns to see their families. They have large family dinners, exchange gifts, and the adults give the children “lucky money” in red envelopes. To get ready for the new year people clean their houses and buy new clothes. They also post poems on red paper outside the doors of their homes. There are parades, fireworks and other festivities during the new year celebrations.

For the past week I have been extra busy with work. The kids have their winter breaks from their Chinese schools, so they’re coming to English school for extra classes. On top of my regular 12 afternoon/evening classes, I have been teaching a writing composition class from 1:30-4:00 everyday. It began last week and goes through this week. The kids range in age from about 11-13. I have a basic lesson plan, but have been able to get a bit more creative with what I’m doing which has been nice, as my regular classes are very much by the book. Last week they wrote an essay about holidays. Many of them wrote about Chinese new year which was good for me since I don’t know too much about the traditions and meanings. Teaching this class has been a good experience. This week they’ll be writing a letters to friends and then their final project will be to write short stories in groups.

Overall life is good in Taipei. I’m continuing to stay very busy with friends doing stuff around the city. After feeling guilty for not having done something “cultury” in a while, I went to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum with a couple of friends last weekend. That was pretty cool and they had some interesting exhibits. One temporary exhibit was art by this German guy who writes poetry to go along with his pieces. They also had a huge exhibit of Taiwan Surrealist paintings which was really cool. After Chinese New Year some friends and I are going to start a tango class on Sunday afternoons. So random, I know! I went to see the class last week and it looks pretty fun. Not sure how great I’m going to be at it, but hopefully they won’t move too fast. I’m continuing to meet with my language exchange partner each week. Things are going well with that. I really never expected to get much from it, but it’s a good experience. I’m learning little phrases here and there. This past week I worked on numbers a bit. I know 1-10, but really didn’t know how to say numbers much higher than that, so we practiced and I caught on pretty quickly. For her English part, she brings a consumer/business magazine which is partly in English. She will have read the article beforehand and underlined vocabulary she doesn’t know. Then I read the article out loud and we go over the vocabulary as we read. A few weeks ago we read an article about how the iphone works which was actually pretty interesting!

Mom arrives on Wednesday! I can’t wait! We’re going to stay at a hotel downtown for four nights over the weekend, and then we’re off to Hong Kong Feb. 7-11. I hope to take a couple of short day trips while she’s in Taipei, but also just go around the city. In Hong Kong we’ll do some sightseeing (take the tram up the highest peak on the island, take the ferry around the harbor at night, etc), do some shopping (of course!) and visit her old ‘hood, Repulse Bay.

The adventures of Charlie & Annie in Taiwan

Charlie and I had so much fun during his time here. He saw a lot, but we also had time to just hang out and relax. So it was perfect. The first weekend he was here in Taipei we went up in Taipei 101 (currently the world’s tallest building, everyone in Taipei is so proud). It wasn’t the clearest day ever, but we could see a good bit. One of the coolest things, though, is that you get to the top by the world’s fastest elevator. It’s pretty awesome! We also went to the National Palace Museum, which is the equivalent to the Louvre and the British museum for Chinese artifacts. It’s absolutely huge. We took the hour and a half English tour which was a good introduction to the museum, but there is still so much to see and I definitely plan to go back. We really enjoyed the garden they have outside the museum, full of little pavilions, ponds, bridges and various animals.

We spent New Year’s Eve day at the Taipei Zoo which was so much fun! The zoo is fabulous, probably one of the best, if not the best, I’ve been to (maybe even better than D.C.) It’s huge. I was especially excited to see the koalas and the two hump camels. (But, I was disappointed that the kangaroos weren’t out while we were in there area. ) It was an unusually cold day, so many of the animals (especially the apes) were huddling together. It was kind of cute and sad at the same time. One of the apes had even put a rag over himself in an attempt to keep warm while huddled in his cave! That night, for New Year’s, we met up with some of my friends for the fireworks at Taipei 101. They were amazing! They actually shoot them off from the building and it’s quite a show. Definitely far, far surpassed anything I’ve ever seen in D.C. for July 4th fireworks. We sat about a block away from the building, so that made it even cooler.

The next day we were off to the southern tip of Taiwan to a beach town called Kenting. We took the relatively new high speed train which gets you from Taipei, almost at the northern tip, to Kaohsiung in the south, in an hour and a half. It takes about 6 hours by regular train to make the same trip. After haggling with the taxi drivers, we finally got a good deal, and made our way to Kenting. We stayed in an area called Nanwan Beach just outside the town of Kenting. Our hotel was awesome ($45US per night for a very nice hotel just like back home). Oh yea, and did I mention the ocean view from the room? It was amazing! The staff was really helpful and we set up our scooter rental for the following two days. The weather was warm (70’s), so it was really pleasant to be on the scooter, even with the wind blowing. The whole area is a national park and forest recreation area. On our first full day we drove in a huge loop which was mostly right along the coast. Our first stop was Erluanbi which is about 15 minutes from Kenting. This is where you can walk out to the official southern tip of the island. After that we made our way north up the coast. The water is a gorgeous blue, and most of the coast has coral rock formations. We stopped several times for pictures. It’s really nice because especially at this time of year it’s not crowded down there and there’s hardly any traffic. There’s an area of the coast, Jialeshui, where some of the rock formations look like animals. We ended up taking this ride up a bit of the coast on a open air bus/cart thing. I don’t even know what you call it! The driver was announcing, in Chinese of course, what the formations were supposed to be as we passed them. We had no clue what was going on, and honestly I think that thinking that these formations looked like animals was a bit of a stretch in most cases. But nonetheless, it was fun, and the water and the rocks were beautiful, of course. After that we started driving inland and making the rest of the loop back to Kenting. That part of the drive was interesting and pretty, as well. It was mostly rice fields and mountain views. It’s cool to go through some of those tiny little “towns” out in the middle of nowhere. Later that evening we went up to a hot spring village called Sichongshi about 30 minutes away. It’s a town full of hotels dedicated to hot springs. We found a really nice one and about 20 minutes after we got there everyone left, so we had it pretty much to ourselves. There are various pools some cool, some warm and some really, really hot. We sat in the second hottest one (a bit hotter than a regular hot tub) for the whole time. Charlie hopped into the cool pool a couple of times, though, which apparently feels good after having been in the really hot one, but I couldn’t take the cold.

The next day we went to the Aquarium (officially the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium). It’s huge and extremely modern and nice! It also sits right on the ocean, so it’s beautiful. We were there on a weekday, so it was very empty and we managed to get in between the huge school groups. In some parts we had the place completely to ourselves. There are three different main areas: Coral Kingdom, Waters of Taiwan, and Waters of the World. The coral area was the coolest. There’s a huge tunnel you can walk through with the fish swimming all over. There’s also a sunken ship where it was interesting to watch the different kinds of fish swimming together and interacting. The coolest (literally and figuratively) part of the world waters area was the penguin area. The viewing area was much better than any zoo I’ve been to and you could even hear them making sounds. The beluga whales were also really cool to watch. After the aquarium we did most of the drive along the coast that we had done the day before. At one point we stopped at a beach area and I was in the water up to my knees. The water was so warm! (We could have spent the day on the beach, but had decided that we wanted to do things and take in the scenery instead of sit on the beach.) Charlie did all the scooter driving, but I also had a short scooter lesson in an empty parking lot. I sort of got the hang of it, but it’s hard!

We had a couple of great meals in Kenting. We ate at a couple of very nice western style restaurants. I ate mostly curry dishes, and Charlie had beef and rice mostly. It’s a very popular destination in the summer, but much slower in the winter, so everywhere we ate we were almost the only ones in the restaurant! Overall, Kenting was amazing. It was Charlie’s most favorite part of his trip out here, and definitely mine, too.

Back in Taipei, I wanted to show him some stuff I’d been to before. We went to Longshan Temple which is right in the city, rode the Maokong Gondola (without incident this time!), and went to the Jade Market. We also went to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. I’d been on the outside several times, but the inside had been closed for renovation since I got here, so I hadn’t been up in it yet. So that was really neat. I think that memorial and the gardens around it is my most favorite site in Taipei. We also went up to Danshui, which is north of the city and along the ocean. We walked around mostly and took a ferry to Fisherman’s Wharf which was a beautiful place to sit by the water. It’s amazing to watch the sun set up there.

Charlie and I had a wonderful time. I am glad that he was able to see some of Taiwan and what my life is like over here! Now it’s time to gear up for my next visitor. Mom arrives in about two and a half weeks. I can’t wait to see her and for us to go to Honk Kong! It’s hard to believe it will have been six months and that I am just about halfway through my time here. Pictures from Charlie's visit are now up on my site in an album called "Charlie's visit." I condensed the 600 pictures he took into just over 100, so take a look!