The Curtains?

I slept through the entire night on my first night! Hurray! I woke up around 7:30, laid in bed for a while and decided people die in bed so I got up! Checked e-mails, made notes of everything I had done, and waited for the rest of the household to awake. Ali had coffee plans with a friend (I would like to think it was with a secret lova, but she denies it), and planned to pick me up on scooter after so we could go for some hotpot with some friends. She ended up running behind so I went with Nikki in a cab. I couldn’t figure out why Nikki was taking forever to get ready. Turns out my clock was set an hour ahead.

Lunch was amazing! I met a tonne of people and had Thai iced tea. The kind I remember from Australia! After lunch we scooted over to look for an apartment for three of the gals. Rent is sooo cheap here! At one of the stop lights this lady on scooter started talking to Ali and told her I had beautiful skin. I am glad someone other than me can appreciate the pink complexion!

Mik showing us her new mask. People wear these everywhere! I guess they should be fashionable too.

Then we hit up a couple markets, and I bought a towel. Yes, I forgot one! I know exactly where I left it on my bedroom floor. Not that I had room for it anyway.  There are lots of stores around. Only one problem: Everything is one size fits all. Eeek. I hope I don’t need to buy clothes anytime soon!  After this we went for a quick swim at Kelly’s apartment before heading home for a shower.

We went for dinner at this great little place down the street. They cook everything in front of you. Teppanyaki? I think this place is a hidden gem! Depending where I live, I could myself frequent this place. After dinner, we took a cab over to this parking lot where we partaking in the Hash run. I am not sure exactly what it is, but we walked around following chalk marks on the road all around Kaohsiung! It was extremely hot and humid! At the end of the walk, we covered about 5 km, my new Birkenstocks were well broken in, I was sweating bullets, and I vowed to never wear jeans again regardless of bugs being present. The end of the run/walk is in a park, and they “nominate” people for things and then they have to drink beer. It was extremely refreshing in the heat.  Once that ended the rest of the crew decided to head out for some drinks. I had been there just over 24 hours! I was exhausted! So I opted out of the fun and walked home around 11:30.

We walked most of the evening along love river

Of course I woke up at the first sign of light. Ali took me to breakfast at a cute little place called Calorie. Yes they have a place called Calorie, and they serve fantastic food! We then headed to the junk market where I found a cell phone with a battery, and a charger. Of course it worked for the guy, but of course not for me. It was a dud. I will take it back this weekend.

Not French or in Saskatoon, but it will do!

After this we headed out on scooters to monkey mountain to spend the afternoon relaxing at the hidden beach.  There was just us and a few older gentlemen. I don’t think they had seen many Caucasian people before. This was the location of my first photo shoot. A man was taking pictures of the scenery, saw us, and asked if it was ok to take some pictures of us. This old man then came over. He was super shy, and asked the first guy to ask us if he could take a picture of us. He was delighted when we said yes, and he scooted away to get his camera phone.  

Can you feel the serenity? 

Unreal!

Beach bums! First time I had ever saw black sand.

After hours in the sun, we headed to a small roadside café where we had a little snack. We headed back into the city. On the journey home, this little grey thing scurried across the road in front of us. At first I thought it was a cat, but no it was my first Taiwanese monkey! There were many more staring down on us from the embankment! It was a fantastic day! The scenery here leaves me speechless.

Monday was another early morning. I had some breakfast and waited for Leon to come and pick me up! He arrived with his adorable daughter Betty. We went and had my professional pictures taken. Leon warned me that they do a tonne of photoshopping on them and nothing would be left but white. More white is better. I didn’t believe him. I now officially know what my face would look like without freckles, red cheeks, and less eyebrows than I already have.  The photo also makes me look like a convict. A convict without freckles.

We went to get me a SIM card, and this was where I found out my junk phone was indeed junk. I invested in a new one to save myself from anymore hassle.  We dropped Betty off at her school, and I spent the rest of the day apartment searching on a Chinese website. Needless to say it was time-consuming.

Yesterday morning I was once again picked up by Betty and Leon. We headed to the hospital for my health check. They have quite the setup. Betty is a celebrity there since she comes in with all the newbies. She assisted me in disclosing my medical history to the doctor, and double checked that the doctor didn’t miss finding anything in my ears with one of the ear checking things. The health check was a breeze. All the doctor asked me was how long I had Diabetes for, and then she responded with, “Oh that’s a long time” and sent me on my way.  Oh by the way I am obese in Taiwan. They have this nifty little machine that calculates your weight and measures your height at the same time with invisible laser beams (or so I imagine). It then calculates your BMI, and puts it on a health scale. It ranges from underweight to overweight. The child before me was underweight according to the scientific calculations.

Everywhere!

I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around. I went to a large park a ways away. It has the gallery of fine arts in the centre. BY the time I finished taking in the beauties of the park, it was almost closed.  There was this murky pond that all these children were staring into. Naturally I went over to inspect the situation. In the pond there were tonnes of turtles, a few ducks, and koi fish! It was interesting watching them all interact with another. I wonder what Jamie would think if I got a pet turtle from the brown water?

This is Michelangelo

The next time I attempt to go to the gallery, I will be less distracted! It was just so gorgeous there! It had rained most of the day so everything was covered in raindrops. There was this older man in a marble shelter. He was playing a flute of some sort. I walked around to the other side of where he was to admire a sculpture. I went back to watch him play his splendid instruments, but he had noticed me already and thought I was more interesting to watch than his instruments were to play. Where is my invincibility cloak?  

I could have listened to him play all day

I am still trying to get used to people staring at me. It is such a weird feeling. Children especially are mesmerized by white skin. I thought people were exaggerating about this, but no, the stares never stop. It is such a strange feeling to be watched by everyone.

I was up at 5:30 this morning, but thankfully was able to fall back asleep till 7:30. My room is too bright in the morning to sleep once the sun starts rising. I will have to purchase blackout curtains as soon as I am settled into my own place. *feel free to make a Monty Python joke here regarding curtains J

Today I went out with Jacki. He is a sneaky, independent agent here that helps people find apartments. Unfortunately he is one of the only options to finding places here. It was a total bust. We are going out with a lady named Lillian tomorrow and with Jacki again on Friday.  And by we, I mean Emily and I. She is an ESL teacher from Colorado. She is super nice, and I just found out that her degree is also in anthro. I hope we have a place by the weekend. Wish us luck! P.S. I saw my first rat this morning while waiting for Jacki and Emily. It was in the shrubberies by the McDonalds where I was waiting. I feel like I am slowly piecing together the story of the ninja turtles. If only I liked pizza and brought my yellow jacket.

Almost got my ducks in a row

So most of my days are filled with wondering around. Ali and Nikki teach in the afternoons until around 9 at night. I can only spend so much time in the sun and walking in the humidity. This leaves a fair bit of free time right now. I really think that this is going to be a great experience. It just feels so right. I will be extremely busy once I start training on Monday! I hope, hope, hope I have a place by this time!

Sketch of Kaohsiung in a cafe.

Park, buildings, and mountains. These are my surroundings.

Rain or shine,

Teri

Where's My Fork?!?

My last 24 hours in Canada were quite hectic, and sleep was not included. There were so many loose ends to take care and a tonne of packing, which still isn’t finished! Good thing I have trusty parents to take care of this for me! They do get some food out of the deal!

I arrived at the airport around 7:30 and was sent off by my family and a couple wonderful friends! I was in a slight panic because I thought they were expecting me at the gate soon, but it turns out I was an hour ahead of myself. I suppose that is what a lack of sleep will do to a person.  I made it through airport security with all my belongings and insulin without any problems, and to my delight, my baggage was going to be transferred the entire way! Yippee!

Good-bye Canada!

The flight to Calgary was uneventful. I had a starbucks and chilled out when I arrived. Just before boarding the plane for Tokyo I was suddenly struck with panic. I don’t think I have ever thoroughly screwed up a Sudoku, but the craziest things happen when you place a 2 in the wrong spot. I regained my composure, finished one more puzzle, and hopped on the plane to Tokyo. I had an entire row of seats to myself, meaning I was able to get a few winks in on the journey. All the children on the plane were quiet. Probably because most of them were in executive class and we couldn’t hear them through the barrier. I am not sure why everyone hates Air Canada so much but I really enjoyed my long flight with them. The male employees though were somewhat unpleasant. I have a few theories on why they were not the friendliest characters I have met.

   

Hello Japan

I think I should take dad golfing here.

There was an array of people on the flight, and at this point I didn’t feel like everyone was watching me. As we reached Japan, I was surprised to see that Japan was not as densely populated as I imagined. There was lots of agriculture land where we flew over. I had the perception there would be people everywhere! After I got off the plane, I had to go through airport security again, and there was this little girl that was completely mesmerized by the snowflake imprinted on the inside of my backpack. I think this made her parents and the airport security lady a little uneasy. Once I arrived in Tokyo, it seemed as though I had to pass through every portion of the airport just to get to my gate. The people were extremely friendly and helpful! I was a little wiped once I got to where I needed to be. It was a very slow-paced airport, which I greatly appreciated.

I felt very welcome here.

Then, I went and had a meal. I have no idea what it was or what was in it, but it was incredible! I also had this amazing iced tea… yum, yum. There was one piece of advice people failed to give me: Take a travel fork until you are competent enough to use chop sticks in public. Apparently those who can’t use chop sticks in Asia slowly waste away. Maybe that is why Prebble was always hungry in Japan! Anyway, next time I travel I have three options. 1- Take a travel fork. 2- Enrol in Tex’s School of Chopstick Higher Learning or 3- I could just become a pro in Taiwan.

I managed to find a plug-in while waiting for my flight.  I checked my e-mails chatted with some people and realized youtube does not work efficiently in airports. I will have to watch the video of the Cordyceps taking on the ants some other time! It looks pretty sweet!

 I thought I was doing extremely well on the exhaustion meter until about 15 minutes before my flight boarded to Kaohsiung. Damn! My eyes were so heavy. I was concerned I would not be able to stay awake for boarding.  I decided it would be in my best interest to stand up and move around. Big mistake! Teri was about to experience her personal bubble being popped. People just started pushing and crowding around the gate. Oh boy. I managed to board the plane. I sat next to what I would say was a nice man. We didn’t talk though. He just observed my weird mannerisms. I passed out before the plane reached its desired altitude, and woke up to a lady coming down the aisle with FOOD! She was speaking Mandarin to everyone, but when she got to me, she sneakily changed to English. Was it that obvious? There were only 2 Caucasians on this very large flight! I just happened to be one of them!

And then I ate everything! Right bottom: Japanese pickles. They tried.

The food looked amazing! One problem. NO FORK!?! But luckily they had a spoon for the ice cream! I ate my dinner with a spoon. The guy next to me must have thought I was nuts. He seemed to be a master of the chopsticks! I really don’t think that many Asian people have an intolerance to lactose just from my observations! Every single person around me was eating ice cream. Suspicious! But then again, how could they resist such a delicious dessert!

I stepped off the plane in Kaohsiung, and was hit with a massive wave of heat and humidity. Within moments, I could feel my back becoming moist. Nice mental image! It was a mad rush to the customs gate. I asked the lady at the help centre if I had filled out everything correctly before getting into the aggressive line. She told me I needed an address for where I would be staying. I didn’t have one so she said a phone number would do. People were extremely pushy in the lines. I was tired and didn’t feel like being in close proximity to people so I decided to wait patiently. Consequently I was one of the last people through. 

On a side note, I think they allow everyone into this country who wants to come! At customs they looked at my form, asked if I had been in the country before and sent me on my way! I exchanged money once I grabbed my bags and walked through the gate where I was met by Leon, the guy who hired me. He thought I had troubles getting through customs because I was one of the last to leave. I explained it was because I was new to this pushing through lines business.  I am sure I will catch onto it eventually.

We packed all my luggage into his VW and headed out. He explained I would be staying with Ali and her roommate. He explained a weird dichotomy in Taiwan! People here are ridiculous when it comes to driving and pushing through lines, but on the other hand they are the friendliest people  to interact with on a personal level. So far I have to agree with this! Even though they stare at me they are extremely polite!

We arrived at Ali’s place. She will be teaching at the same branch as I will be. I was quickly introduced to her roommate Nikki and her friend, Kelly. They were extremely warm (maybe it was just the humidity) and welcoming. Ali invited me out to the fish market, but I felt disgusting and was extremely swollen from the altitude changes. I hope my fingers go back to normal in a couple days! They are extremely sore.

I settled into my room, had the most glorious shower, and retreated to my comfy, air conditioned room where I slept soundly for the entire night. Pff Jetlag???

Old Propaganda photo in my room

Ali has much planned for me this weekend apparently! I am excited and hope I can keep up. Monday I am getting a cell phone and photos with my residency card. I also have been told I have to get a scooter! Watch out!!!

I look down and this is what I see

I know these next couple weeks are going to be extremely busy and tough, but already it has been far easier and more welcoming then I ever imagined possible!

View from the balcony

From the balcony of an apartment that overlooks a city of beauty,

T

P.S. Don't worry my next post will be more short and concise!

Ready to Taiwan on

Teri Here!

As some of you may know, recently I made the somewhat abrupt decision to finally buy a plane ticket to Taiwan! Will a little over three weeks, I am managing to pack up my life and prepare for an adventure of a lifetime! I will be teaching English in either Kaohsiung or Tainan! These cities are located in the southern part of Taiwan

I would like to share a few things I am looking forward to on this excursion!

• To know what it actually feels like to be a minority
• Fresh, fresh food all the time!
• Giggling the first time someone tries to pronounce my last name
• Learning a new language!
• Teaching children the joys of sidewalk chalk
• Battling pickle withdrawals. I have done this before. If I can accomplish this, then I can accomplish anything!
• After hanging out with someone for 6 months +, having him/her build up enough courage to ask me if I knew that one of my eyes was larger than the other.
• Finally being able to look the majority of the population in the eye
• Teaching children the proper technique of a Judo chop!
• Allowing my hair to run wild in 80% humidity. Things could get crazy
• Learning, learning, learning!
• Experiencing, experiencing, experiencing!
• Growing, growing, and growing!
• And… having you all come visit me!

I know I am going to struggle with being in close proximity to people all the time, but as long as I remember to breathe I will manage for short periods of time! You never know when I return home I may have been transformed into a snuggle bunny, but let’s be realistic probably not.

Alas, after pondering many things over the past couple weeks, my biggest regret is I am unable to take you all with me. But as my good friend Arnold says, “I’ll be back!” With all this being said, I am off! I wish you all the best! I have Skype and know a few airlines that have flights to Taiwan. Come on over!

Take care,

Teri The Traveler