Communication is Underrated: Taiwan's East Coast

Well, part of the reason it has been so long since I have updated is that I just had no idea where to start!  It has been a little daunting to think about.  This post will just be about a trip that we took and then whenever I get the next chance, I'll try to wrap up Taiwan altogether.  Eventually, I'll tell you about what's actually going on with us right now!

Anyway, the trip was with a family in our ward (church congregation).  I'm not quite sure how it came about because they don't speak English and we speak hardly any Chinese.  I'm sure you're wondering how going on vacation without any communication works.  Well, it's interesting for sure.  Basically, we never had any idea what was going on or where we were going.  They would try to explain, it wouldn't work and we'd just indicate that we didn't care.  Eventually we'd get somewhere and sometimes would be like, "oh, thaaat's what they were saying," and sometimes we'd still just be confused.  Alright, so let's begin!

Day 1 started with us meeting them at 5am, piling into their van and driving for a few hours.  They have two little boys, aged 3 and 1.  In Taiwan, seat belts aren't seen as essential, so the 3 year old just wandering around in the van.  We became good buds, the three of us.  Also, we were driving through VERY windy and thin mountain roads at breakneck speeds.  On top of the terror involved with that, we were sitting in the back seat and were constantly being jarred up and down.  I'm not complaining about this though, because it's all just part of the adventure.  I assure you that most of the time we were just cracking up about it.  Below, you can see our first stop:

The way it was explained to us, is that it had something to do with the ground shaking.  We never really did figure out what it was though, because we never got it.  We drove up, talked to the guy (about what?  who knows!) and waited around for a while.  Then, we drove to a place I'll show you below, where we took a bit of a hike.  After the hike, we came back, waited around for even longer and then we eventually left.  I couldn't tell you what the problem was.  We just did what we were told and went with it.

The van.

There were some pretty entertaining pictures displayed there.  This one's for you mom.

We assume this is demonstrating what happens when the ground shakes...

Ok, so below are pictures of the place where we hiked.  It was quite nice.

Some water buffalo.

Tom with "the older one."  Don't ask us what his name actually is.

So, these pictures are a bit out of order here, but this amazing bug flew up while we were waiting at the earth shaking place.

Please take some time to notice his shirt.  Also, he carried around the plant that's in his hand like all day.

This is the little one.  We kind of know his name.  It sounds like "Shao Sheen."

After we left the shaky place for the 2nd time, we drove around for a long time again.  Then, we went to  this place where they cook a whole chicken (and I do mean completely whole) in a big tin can thing, on top of some fire.  If you saw my post about the English camp that I did, I talk about it there too.  Anyway, we don't get grossed out by it, but I think a lot of Americans would.  The dad loves all the innards the best.  We stuck to the breast meat.  I love the picture below, because I feel like our facial expressions are so accurate.  

 Then, we went to this really cool High School.  I think we were there to meet up with some of their friends who work there.  It's an athletic high school, so the kids just do sports all day.  The facilities were AMAZING and better than most good college sports facilities.  Like, way better.  I would have LOVED to go to a high school like that.  No pictures though, because my battery died after the shaky place, so the rest are from the dad, whose English name is Andy.

Here we are playing a simple but obviously extremely entertaining game where he hits my leg and then I pat his back.  Repeat.

After the high school, we had 2nd dinner.  This time at a cool aboriginal themed place with the friends from the high school.  They had dancers and everything.  The food was pretty good.

This whole day was VERY exhausting.  Like, on the one hand, we really enjoyed ourselves, because it was a great experience and we really thought the family was great, because they were doing all of this for us and they were so nice.  On the other hand, it gets exhausting not having any clue what's going on or when you be done driving or walking around a high school or whatever.  And sometimes you just want to get to the hotel room and be alone, ya know?  So, after the dinner, we drove for a while longer, all the way up this windy mountain.  When we got up, we checked into our hotel.  We were really hoping that would be the end of the day, but then we went on a little hike together.  Then, they said we could go in and change, etc., then come out like an hour later (around 11pm) and we'd go on another little hike.  We couldn't imagine why we were doing this, when we figured they must be tired too, but we said ok.  It turned out that there was some kind of eclipse or something.  So, after that, sometime after midnight we went to sleep.  Of course, then we met up at 5 am so that we could watch the sunrise.  

If you click on this, you can see us, on the left, sleepily watching the sunrise.

We were SO tired, but the sunrise was pretty sweet.  The location was especially nice, looking down over this very green tropical mountain to the ocean below.

Then, we went on a hike up this windy road that went along the side of the mountain.  There were some pretty nice views.

There's a boar in that cage up there.  Apparently they're a big problem in the area and are very mean.

Isn't Tom endearing?

After the hike, we were given a little time to go shower (read: sleep) before breakfast.  After breakfast, we took a bunch of pictures around the hotel.  The hotel was pretty cool, by the way, because it was situated on the edge of the mountain and had this amazing view.  See below:

Then we went on another hike:

After the hike, we packed up and left.  We drove for a while and then went to this...natural food place.  Basically, they grow a bunch of herbs and other things and built a really cool and informative (if you speak Chinese) museum/activity center around it.  They also had a store and a restaurant, which we ate at.  We ate so much unfamiliar food on this trip.  A lot of it was good, but there's just something about new food.  You can eat a little, but after a while it gets really overwhelming and you're body just say, "Ok, this MIGHT be good, but I just need something familiar for a change."  Like, even if it's good, you have to get used to it before you really like it.  We secretly brought some snacks that we stashed in our backpacks, so whenever we'd eat something strange, we'd just pop in a pringle or something afterward.  

Anyway, the other thing they have at this place is a bunch of animals.  The best part of that was the ostriches (or emus, who knows?).  People would hold out some vegetation to them and when they'd grab it, MAN they were powerful!  It was scary and cool.  Also, they are really strange looking.

After that place, we just drove home.  It probably took like 5 hours or something.  Of course, we had to stop at this rest stop and look around at the bridge that crosses the street and the playground and everything first.

Here we are on the bridge.

When we finally got back, we went by their house first.  We were so ready to go home, but we had to settle for going inside anyway.  But it ended up being good, because the dad (who's a chef) showed us how to make this really yummy warm drink that involves milk, Taiwanese brown sugar and chocolate.  

Then we drove home!  In the end, it was a really great trip with some VERY nice (and cool) people.  We are amazed at Taiwanese hospitality.  Where else can you go and have people who can't even communicate with you take you on vacation?  Truly amazing.

Quick Update!

So, I don't really have time right now to update you on everything, but I'll just give a quick synopsis for now.  Basically, after a 4 hour bus ride to the Taipei airport, a 12 and a half hour flight to LA, 4 days packing in CA, a 10 hour drive to Salt Lake, 5 days packing in Utah and a 36 hour drive to Philadelphia (with a visit to my sister along the way) Tom and I are finally in the city of brotherly love!

We have been here for 2 or 3 days and have moved into our apartment and started putting it together.  We have gotten to see a bit of the area as well as the school and are still in that crazy stage where you don't have chairs yet, so you eat on the floor and you don't know how to get anywhere and don't have internet, so you call your mom so she can look up and tell you how to get to the public library, but then you can't use the internet once you get there because you don't have a library card and can't get one because you haven't received any mail addressed to you at your new address yet.  I feel strangely comfortable in this stage, have moved 18 times since graduating from high school 7 years ago.

Nevertheless, I anxiously await my favorite moving stage of all - the stage where you finally have designated spots for all of your possessions, you have your systems in place so that you know where to go no matter what you need, and your day has a happy rhythm to it, tailored just to you.  I haven't always been able to achieve that stage with each move, but I really feel like I will with this one.  One last sentiment before I go - Philadelphia is blowing my mind! I love it!

Our Philadelphia Apartment

Since I made a post a while back about the misery of trying to find an apartment in Philadelphia and since we recently found and were approved for one, I thought I would introduce it on here!  We're so glad to have found one!  

I think the first and most obvious thing I should say about our apartment is that, well, it's tiny.  I would say that it's AT MOST 300 sq. feet.  Also, we will be paying the same amount for this apartment as we do for our current apartment, which has 2+ rooms and is probably at least 1,200 sq. feet.  Location, location, location.  We could, in fact, have gotten a bigger place for the same price, but then we would have been in the ghetto + we wouldn't be in the nice Victorian area we are in now.  Those two things were big on our list.  Honestly, I'm not that worried about the size, even though I really probably should be.  Anyway, onto the photos.  There's a video of the place on youtube, but since my blog is public and the youtube video states the actual address, I decided to just take some screenshots.  They start out from the front door and go around the apartment clockwise.

The apartment is now finished and has a new fridge/freezer, stove, oven, dishwasher and microwave.    Boy have I missed ovens, dishwashers and microwaves!!!!

You may, at this moment be thinking that you must have missed something.  No, the apartment really is that small.  We won't be spending THAT much time there though, right?

Now for the outside.  Most of the apartments in this area are old Victorian houses that have been converted into several individual units.  The blue building below is ours.  Isn't is cool looking?

One thing I LOVE about the place is that nearly my entire walk to school will be along tree lined streets of charming Victorian houses.  That actually makes a big difference for my happiness.  Also, it will be a huge improvement from my current walk to work, which is along a dirty, crowded street lined with trash, and suffused with rotten, stinking air and on which I am routinely, nearly hit by cars as there are no sidewalks.  Yesterday, as I walked to work, I was surprised by a rat scurrying over my toes.

Lovely little apartment, here we come!!!

Foundation Camp in Niemen

So, in the beginning of July I was a teacher in a 3 day English camp for some "disadvantaged" kids outside of the city.  It was one of those experiences that is difficult and grueling at the time, but a great memory to look back on.  The team of us running the camp included 5 Taiwanese high school kids who are former Hess students, a current Chinese teacher at Hess, one other foreign Hess teacher and me.  They all knew much more about what was going on than I did, because I didn't find out I was going until after the camp training and because they all live and work in Kaohsiung, while I live in Tainan.  I basically had no idea what I was in for.  Luckily, I am pretty used to going with the flow by now.

The days went like this.  We'd wake up early, get ready, eat breakfast at a breakfast shop, head over to the local elementary school where the camp was held, entertain the kids who were already there and prep for the day, then start the camp at 9.  There were about 70 kids who were separated into 5 groups.  Each group was headed by one of the high school kids.  Most of the day the other foreign teacher, Rachel, and I just assisted or did nothing while the other did team building activities with the groups.  Then, each day Rachel and I would have 1 lesson each for an hour or two.  It was definitely a challenge to teach 70 kids at once, ranging in age from maybe 7 to 13, with little to no prior knowledge of English.  The lesson plans we had from Hess were basically useless, so we just made it up, sometimes beforehand and sometimes on the spot. :)

I'll take a break from typing for a sec and just show you some of the (many) photos I took.

the school

One of my favorite boys - he was such a punk. :)

This group had mostly boys and was my favorite.  Why do I always identify more with little boys than I do with little girls?

The room we used when inside.  The first day the kids sat in these chairs, but it was waaaay too cumbersome, so the next two days they just sat on the floor.

Grounds adjacent to the schoolyard.

elephant slide

random animals abandoned behind a shed

One of my favorites.  English name was "Key."

The other foreign teacher, Rachel.

During any downtime, it was Rachel and I's job to entertain the hoard of kids.  They were fascinated with us and I think they hadn't really seen, or at least talked to, any foreigners before.  The conversations went like this:

Kid: (says something in Chinese)

Me: Uhhhh....ting bu dong (means "I don't understand")

Kid: (more Chinese)

Me: Uhh...(laugh)...do eh bu chee ("sorry") ting bu dong

You get the picture.  I tried real hard to communicate though and so did they and sometimes we would get a small thought through the confusion.  When that happened it was always cause for great celebration.  The kids were very endearing.  It's so strange to be such a celebrity for absolutely no reason.

Most of the day Rachel and I had no idea what was going on, because all the games and activities were explained in chinese.  It was pretty amusing sometimes to try to figure out why they were doing what they were doing.  At the end of the day, hearing so much of a language you don't understand can really make your brain hurt.  It's exhausting.  Another exhausting element was the heat.  We just sweated constantly, all day.

Finally, at the end of the day, we would get a ride to a Buddhist temple, which had some dorms on its grounds that we stayed in.  Kind of cool to stay on the grounds of some Buddhist temple.  Definitely one of those, "I'm not in America anymore" feelings.  I shared a room with 3 of the others.  We would chat for several hours and then go to bed and do it all over again in the morning.

She was one of my favorites.  Very small, well behaved and sweet.

This kid was hilaaaarious.  So outgoing.  His name was Kevin.  Anyway, to illustrate, one time Rachel and I was up on the stage trying to teach this horribly cheesy song.  It was VERY awkward and pathetic and he, seeing our misery, jumped up on stage and started doing it with us.  That got everyone else into it and saved the song.

Another favorite.

Another favorite.

One of the days, after we were done with the camp for the day, we went to this local farmers place for dinner.  He had hundreds or thousands of chickens.  We sat around for quite a while, then were fed SO MUCH FOOD.  First we ate frozen lychees.  Then....

...we at the 4 dishes pictured below plus some other ones.  Honestly, at first they looked nasty and I didn't know what several of them were.  But, miraculously, they all ended up being really good.  After that I was already full, but the main course was yet to be eaten.  In the above two photos you can see our chicken and the guy cooking our chicken.  After it was cooked, we all just gathered around it in a circle and pulled bits of with our fingers.  Everything was eaten, including the innards and the egg that you can see in the chicken picture.  It was fun.  After that, we still had watermelon, mango and more lychee.  There was probably even more, but I can't remember.  It was a great experience though!

I had no idea what this was at first, but it's mushrooms.

I didn't even try this because it had eel in it and eel just isn't my favorite.

Another mystery dish.  This one ended up being my favorite.  It's bamboo shoots with sweet mayonnaise.  I avoided the mayonnaise, but the bamboo shoots were very refreshing.

Anyway, like I said at the beginning, the camp was really tiring and hard, but very worth it.  The kids were wonderful and endearing and it was great to be even more immersed in the local Taiwanese culture.  On top of that, I really enjoyed working with the other members of the team.  It was refreshing to have some girl talk!  They really were all great to work with and I have zero complaints about them.  I was especially impressed with the maturity of the high schoolers.  I know this was a super long post, and I'm sorry for that, but I really want to remember all of this!