Looking Lost and Making Friends

Today I finally had nothing to do for the school, so I took the chance to travel into Taipei. I have heard so much about how friendly people are in Taiwan, and today I really got to experience it first hand. On the bus this morning, a girl sat down next to me and started talking about Harry Potter and Twilight. On the train the boy next to me talked to me the whole ride and then walked me around the train station and gave me a lesson on how to use the subway. While waiting for another bus an old man came up to me. We rode the bus together and he helped me find the museum I was looking for. At the train station on the way home another old man helped me find my train, and talked to me the whole way home. We talked about America, his daughter, he gave me a talk about not walking down dark streets alone, and then told me I am like a young eagle flying out of the nest. Lesson of the day: when in Taiwan, hold a guide book, look confused, and people will flock.
When I got to Taipei I wandered along the Shuangxi River. Although it had a slight smell, it was very pretty. Under one bridge there was a ballroom dancing class going on, and there was also a really random exercise course complete with a metal elliptical.

Next I made my way to the Zhishan Cultural and Ecological Gardens. It is this hill in the middle of the city with a temple at the top. There are all sorts of wooden boardwalks winding around, some with wandering through the trees, and some with amazing views of the city and mountains. Along the paths were different shrines and statues. It was very separated from the city and was very peaceful, something I needed after the few days constantly surrounded by crowds of people.






I then made a brief visit to the CSK (Chiang Kai-shek, but apparently they are trying to remove his name from all things in Taiwan) Shilin Residence Park. It was one of CSKs homes in Taiwan, and is supposed to have some pretty impressive gardens. I didn't make it too far because there were mobs of people, but what I did see was an odd mix of flowers and cheesy art.
I finished the day at the National Palace Museum, which has an impressive collection of Chinese art. Apparently they have so much stuff that the collection is rotated every few months.

Settling In

I've now been here a little over two days, and it's had been very busy and overwhelming. They have already had me start sitting in on other peoples classes, and on Tuesday I will begin teaching all by myself! They have a system of teaching the lessons so each class follows a similar format. They do a lot of vocab, reading, games, and questions and answers, and it is like a 2 hour episode of ADD with the teachers dancing around the room.

The school is a 'cram' school, somewhere the kids go after they have already completed their full day of regular school. They come twice a week for 2hours at a time, and are also probably attending other cram schools on other nights. Even the kindergarten students study until about 9pm and then leave with homework to finish. They seem a little overworked, demonstrated by my favorite question and answer:

When are you happy?
I am happy when I get a good grade.

We'll see how it goes when I have it all to myself.

I also had to go to the hospital yesterday to get my checkup for my work visa. They took a chest x-ray, checked my vision, took my blood pressure, temperature, height, weight, and waist size (no idea why that is necessary). And then the grand finale was a blood draw. They wanted to do it in the middle of the office at a desk and I obviously was not ok with that. They all acted like they had never seen someone afraid of needles, but let me go into an exam room. I'm used to the US where all doctors offices are so sterile with the plastic beds and the paper cover they move for every patient. Here I was on a bed with a faded floral bed sheet and a towel for me to put my feet on. They all wear face masks to not get H1N1 but don't seem to care about stuff like that. I survived my first blood draw all by myself, but I missed my favorite nurse talking to me about Beyonce punching a bitch. Somethings just can't compare with home.

There was also an election going on yesterday, so there was some weird stuff going on.
Who knew they had cotton candy and corn dogs in taiwan?

Political add. They have these ALL over. Looks like something Stephen Colbert would do.

It takes a long time to fly around the world

I traveled for about 26 hours, leaving from State College and ending up in Taipei. I got in around 11 at night and was pretty delirious, but luckily found the woman from the Gloria school quickly and she drove me to my new home. I am in an apartment over the main school office. I think there are about 7 of us here, and there is another apartment one floor down. I have my own room, which thank god has wireless internet. There is a kitchen (complete with ants, so i feel just like i'm still in Baltimore), a few bathrooms, a living room, and a washing room with a washer and dryer. We are in a suburb of Taipei, about 40 minutes by train to the city.

Since I arrived at night I didn't see much, so this morning I ventured out to check out my surroundings. About a block from my apartment is a cute little park complete with old men around a table playing some game. Next to them sit the old women in rocking chairs. There also seem to be a pack of stray dogs, all of which I want to adopt. I made the mistake of looking at one, and he followed me down the street for a long time, and I was pretty sure he was going to get hit by one of the many scooters flying down the road. The sidewalks around here are very hit or miss, they start and stop all the time and I had to walk down the road a lot. I found a little noodle shop for lunch, and the woman spoke no English so I just pointed at something and smiled. I ended up with a ginormous bowl of soup with noodles, chicken (i hope), bean sprouts, and chives which I ate while enjoying the Chinese soaps on the TV. It was delicious and was only 35NT which is a little over a dollar. I think I'm going to like this place.

Tonight I get to experience my first class, and I will teach the last 10 minutes.