Arriving in Taipei, Taiwan!
I've been in Taiwan for six days, and it still hasn't really sunk in that I'm actually here, that I will actually be here for the next 10 months. I left Portland, Oregon on Tuesday, August 22nd, and had a relatively uneventful flight to Tokyo, Japan. There were no other students on my first flight, and I was expecting to be alone on my second, but as I was walking to my gate, a girl about my age stopped me and asked me if I was an exchange student. It turned out that we were both on our way to Taiwan, although we were going different districts. Because our flight didn't start boarding for a few hours, we went together in search of Japanese food, stopped to buy some green tea, and then found a ramen restaurant where we ate lunch (despite it being about midnight Portland time, and 3 am in Atlanta, where she was from). We talked for a while about our excitement, our fears, the US, Taiwan, the eclipse, etc. Unfortunately neither of the people sitting next to us on the plane were willing to switch seats, so my next four hours were spent listening to podcasts, playing solitaire on the seat back game console, and slowly tracking our plane as it left Tokyo and crossed the Pacific, getting closer and closer to Taiwan.
Our plane finally touched down at the Taoyuan International Airport. I quickly ran into the bathroom to change out of my sweats into a dress and my blazer, and we got off the airplane. Luckily, there weren't too many people so getting through customs didn't take more than a few minutes, and we were able to find our bags quickly, and head into the arrivals area where our host families were waiting for us. It was about 9:30, Taiwan time, which meant I'd been awake for almost 24 hours. I was exhausted, but there was much to come before I could go back to our apartment and go to sleep. Not that it wasn't very exciting to meet everyone. Not only were my host mother and sister there, so were about half a dozen other club members and district exchange officers. We took photos, exchanged business cards, and talked for over an hour. After a little while, Mati, a girl from Italy who is in my club, arrived at the airport with her host sister and three cousins who were close to our age. When we finally left the airport, it took about half an hour to get home, and we arrived around 11:30 or 12:00. When we got to the apartment, my host mom showed me my room, and gave me a short tour of the rest of the house, then started in on the paperwork. We mostly just went over the first night questions, and a few of the forms I would need at the orientation, but it took quite a while, and by the time we finished and I started getting ready for bed, not only was it close to 1:00 am, but I was starting to have a second wind. Instead of going to bed, I decided to start unpacking because having my bags packed in the middle of the room was somewhat stressful. I went to bed around 1:30, after 28 hours awake since Portland.
On Thursday, I woke up early, at about 7:30. I unpacked completely, which was strangely exciting to me. My host mom has two daughter both about my age, possibly twins, although I'm not sure because I've heard them referred to as twins but also as the elder sister and the younger sister. They're both going on exchange this year, and Claire, the elder sister, left a few days before I arrived for Belgium, while Claudia will leave on Sunday for France. I'm in Claire's room, and it felt nice to have all of my clothes on the shelves, and everything organized so it kind of feels more like my room. Still, there are books in Chinese, and a view of the city right outside my window, so it also feels very Taiwanese. I love my room, it's relatively small, but I think it's the perfect size, especially because there is a huge window right above my bed which lets in lots of light and allows me to look down on the streets of Taipei at any time of the day.
After unpacking, I went into the kitchen, where my host mom was just starting to make breakfast. I had a hard boiled egg and an oat drink which was very interesting, not bad, just unlike anything I'd had before. Then my host mom showed me how to make lemon honey water, which we subsequently drank. My host mom and sister were planning to take me out and show me around the area, but at the last minute my host mom remembered there was rotary meeting at noon, so I threw on a dress and my blazer, grabbed my gift to the club and my Portland Pearl Rotary Club banner, and we were on our way. At the meeting Mati and I were asked to introduce ourselves and give a quick presentation about ourselves. Both of our host moms had told us this wouldn't happen until the next meeting, so we were unprepared, but the club members were just happy we were there and looking forward to our year in their club. It was still really exciting when they actually nodded and understood what I was saying in Chinese, even if it was just a brief introduction. Because Chinese tones are so specific, its easy to make no sense even if you know all the right sounds, and even after practicing for a few years, if I'm not careful I'll leave out the tones entirely and people I'm talking to will have no idea what I'm saying.
During the meeting, they brought us plate after plate of food, which we made our way through slowly as the meeting proceeded. The main agenda item from what I could understand was a lesson in Taiwanese and Taiwanese culture.
After the meeting, I went back to Mati's apartment with her, and we talked for a while and got to know each other. It had started raining out, and it was the first time I had seen rain in Taiwan, although I had heard there would be lots to come. Eventually my host mom came to pick me up, and by the time we got to our apartment around 6:30 or 7:00 I was exhausted and ready for bed, but bed was still a few hours off. We went to dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant, which was again very interesting and very different from American Chinese food, but very good. We had so much food, but I was so tired that it was hard to keep eating, so unfortunately I didn't try very much of it. After dinner we went to a few phone stores, to figure out what plan would work best. At one of the stores, I ran into another exchange student who I had texted a bit in the past. After learning all we could about the plans, we finally headed home. My host mom had to go return our microwave, and asked if I wanted to come, but I very graciously strongly declined and instead took a shower and promptly fell asleep.
I woke even earlier, at 5:00, on Friday. After breakfast, my host mom and I went out to run some errands. She showed me how to take the bus to school, and then we went to the hospital to send a packages, withdraw money, and exchange money (you can do all of this in the hospital, as well as rent books from a giant vending machine and somehow also get medical treatment and checkups, etc.). We went to a little store to buy frozen bags of dumplings, then went to a restaurant to eat unfrozen dumplings, sweet and sour soup, a very interesting, but strangely compelling squash dish, broccoli, which tasted the same as it does at home, and some plum tea. The dumplings were flavorful and perfectly steamed, and I probably could have eaten another plateful if we'd had them. The plum tea was kind of smoky which made for a very unique combination of flavors. I'm sorry for the excessive detail, but it was great meal, especially because I was surrounded by Taiwanese people eating a normal Taiwanese lunch, and speaking Chinese.
After lunch, we went to the bank to try to withdraw money for my Rotary trips later in the year, and we drove to several ATMs to try, but unfortunately were unsuccessful at all of them. My host mom dropped me off at the apartment, and I practiced my Chinese and watched Chinese television for a few hours while she was at a meeting. Later one of the YEOs from our district who is also in my club came by with her two children, a girl who was 23 or 24, and had gone on exchange to Denmark 9 years before, and a boy who was 15. We exchanged some documents and fees, and then they left, and I went to bed.
Throughout the past week there has been an international university sports tournament in Taipei, fairly close to my apartment. On Saturday, Mati and I went to watch tennis there in the morning, and then left around midday, and I took the MRT for the first time to go downtown with her, where we spent the rest of the day exploring part of the city. We were in Taipei Main Station, which apart from being an MRT station, is also a huge shopping center, so we spent a little time going to the top of the dozens of floors, and then buying some matcha custard filled bread and little sweet bread balls. Before I left the US, one of the things I was really excited to try was bubble tea, so we went out of the station to look for some. After walking a half mile we somehow could find none (usually there are stores everywhere), so instead we went to a juice place where I got an apple and dragonfruit smoothie, which was delicious. Then we took the MRT again and went to Lung Shan temple where people were lighting incense, leaving food and flowers as offerings, and praying. The temple was beautiful, but something I thought was kind of interesting was that there was a giant, flashing, LED sign across the century old facade with the name of the temple. We also saw a black cat running around the roof of the temple. We left the temple and found a park along the water, where we sat for a while and ate some fruit my host mom had given me. They were green balls, a little bigger than a grape, and when you peeled the skin they looked and felt like the inside of a grape, slimy and translucent. They tasted kind of like a melon, but were very sweet.
It was really fun to spend the day in the city on my own with another exchange student, and begin to get to know her. I didn't want to speak English for most of the day, but there wasn't really another option because I don't speak more than a few words of Italian and she doesn't know very much Chinese, although I taught her a few more words throughout the day as we went.
We finally headed home by MRT, and after Mati got off I was on the MRT by myself in a huge city, which was very exciting and not too nerve-racking. I thought about taking the bus home, but I wasn't completely sure of the station near my apartment, and I tried to take a u-bike, which are bike share bikes around the city, but I needed a functioning cellphone to rent it, so I ended up walking about a mile home, and was relieved and also a little proud when I found my building, waved to the doorman, and went up to my apartment on my own. About an hour later my host mom came home with some traditional Taiwanese desert. It was mostly a mix of different jellies and little jelly balls, all with different flavors, some sweet, some bitter, some really soft, and some dense and thick. Many of them were pretty good, but after about half of the bowl it was texture felt kind of gross in my mouth, and it was kind of hard to finish, just as a big bowl of jello would be. My host sister, host mom, and I watched some television in Chinese together, which I could understand a decent amount of, then I took a shower and went to bed. It's so humid here that it's essential to take a shower every night, and it's tempting every time you come inside from the sticky heat in the city.
On Sunday, I went to another tennis match in the morning with Mati. The players were a girl from Taipei and a girl from England, so the cheering was monumental as the Taiwanese girl slowly but surely beat the English girl. We decided to cheer for both sides because there was just a small section of about 10 people cheering for the girl from England, and the Taiwanese were very passionate with there clapping and shouting.
After the match, we took the MRT back to Mati's apartment, from where her host mom drove us to a mall where a Japanese festival was being held. We weren't really sure what we were going to be doing there, but we went into a back room, where some of Mati's host mom's coworkers (I think she owns a business in the mall) dressed us in traditional Japanese clothing, which they were also wearing, and then we proceeded to walk a circle through the mall, stopping to take about a hundred photos at each of the little photo background scenes we encountered every 20 feet throughout the mall. Most of the times we stopped, while we were smiling for the camera, other people in the mall also dressed up would come up to us and ask to take photos of us, with us, or of us with their kids, and also just to talk to us. This was very interesting, and something I had of course heard would happen, but hadn't experienced yet. At first it made me kind of uncomfortable, but ultimately they were just curious about us because we were foreigners. It is surprisingly rare to see any people who are not Asian in Taipei, especially dressed in traditional Japanese outfits, so I could certainly understand their curiosity, and it was simply a cultural difference where it is much more acceptable to be very open and personal with strangers, which can be a good thing. We certainly met a lot of interesting people who were just walking around the mall, including an origami teacher who, upon learning we spoke "一點點"(a little bit) of Chinese, talked to us for about 10 minutes in rapid Chinese, while I nodded, trying to keep up with the general idea of what we telling me and asking me.
After a few hours of walking around, we went back to Mati's apartment, and then to a Japanese restaurant where we ate sushi, seaweed, sea urchin, beef, fish eyeballs, oysters, miso soup, and tofu, which was all very interesting and mostly delicious. For desert there was honeydew and watermelon, dragon fruit, which tasted like a less flavorful kiwi, and sesame ice cream, which had a very unique flavor and was a deep black color, and therefore was very fun to eat.
After dinner we drove to the airport to see my host sister off to France for the year. Even though I left less than a week ago, it still felt like looking back on a version of myself that hadn't had many of the experiences I've had now. It was also so exciting to see her going off to have her own amazing year in another country that is so completely different from here.
On Monday morning, my host mom and I drove to a tailor to be measured for my school uniform. After that my host mom dropped me off at the apartment, and drove to my school for a meeting about my class, and the school, and what I would do while I was there. She didn't think I would have to come, but when she got there she called me to tell me I did have to. It worked out well though because it meant I was able to practice taking the bus to school on my own, as I normally would. At the meeting, I met the other exchange student who would be at my school, a boy from Canada. He was really nice and also excited to be there.
After the meeting, I was planning to go downtown to meet up with some exchange students. However, on the bus on the way to school, I hadn't had enough money left on my card for the bus, and I didn't know how to reload my card anywhere except at the MRT station. It turns out you can reload the cards (which work for the bus, MRT, and the u-bikes) at any convenience store, including the one right below the apartment. The cashier at the convenience store was very helpful, and spoke to me in slow Chinese, even though he spoke very good english. I really appreciated that because at most stores, no matter how much Chinese you use, the people who work there will always answer you in English. I definitely understand that they want to practice their English, and show that they can speak English and that you don't have to speak Chinese, but it was really nice of the man at the convenience store to talk to me in Chinese.
After that, I took the bus to the MRT station, and then took the MRT downtown, where I managed to find Mati and the other exchange students, despite having no form of communication because I still don't have a phone plan. We walked around the area near Taipei 101, then took another MRT to an area called Ximen, where I got a bubble tea, a tempura soft boiled egg, and a rice ball with some kind of very spicy fish inside. We spent a while talking about our exchange so far, and then we took our respective MRTs back home.
When I got home, my host mom took me to the class she helps teach at a Buddhist institute. The Class is for CEOs, and I'm not really sure what it's about, but I think its something about mindfulness in the workplace. While I was there, I had noodles at the all vegetarian, organic, non-GMO restaurant that was part of the institute. The noodles were good, but since I've been here, I've gotten used to eating meat surprisingly quickly. I only completely stopped being a vegetarian a few weeks ago (kind of, I've been incorporating more and more meat into my diet for a couple moths), and I was a little worried about eating meat because when I did in the US it felt really strange, but since I've gotten here, most of the food I've eaten has been at least a little strange, but in a good way, so eating meat has been pretty normal. The best part about the class was that I met a girl at the meeting who was in her twenties or so and who had lived in Seattle and spoke perfect English, but who had an hour long conversation with me in Chinese. Sure, she had to repeat herself a few times, but besides a few obscure words, she didn't speak any English, and I could understand everything she said. It was such a good feeling to be able to have a real, in depth conversation with someone in Chinese. She has been to Portland many times while in Seattle, and it was nice to talk to someone who actually knew where Oregon was besides just "the state above California".
On Tuesday, I went downtown again to meet more exchange students. It's so exciting to meet so many new exchange students and explore the city with them, although it is frustrating that I can only speak in English with them because most of them don't speak Spanish, or any Chinese. I met a bunch of exchange students at Daan Park, which is a huge park in the middle of the city full of trees and lakes, with lots of shady benches to sit on. We then walked to Taipei 101 where we met even more exchange students. Later in the afternoon Mati and another American from Texas arrived, and most of the other exchange students left, so the three of us and a guy from Belgium, Arnaud, went to a night market where we tried stinky tofu and shaved ice. The stinky tofu smelled bad, but not as terribly as I had expected it to, and it tasted fine, but I don't think it was anything particularly special. The shaved ice was amazing, and nothing like American shaved ice. Instead it was just long, folded up sheets of really thin ice in a pile with fruit and ice cream on top. It was another exciting day of exploring and trying new things, especially because most of us exchange students are starting school today or on Friday. I don't start until Friday, so I'm trying to use my free time as effectively as I can by spending every day learning new things about the city and about Taiwanese culture,
As far as the language, every morning, because I've been waking up so early, I've spent about two hours practicing my Chinese on a great app I have on my phone, or with a book I brought. It's been hard to speak Chinese with other people, but I've already grown a lot, even if not in vocabulary or knowledge, in comfort listening to and understanding when people talk to me in Chinese. On Thursday, my first day, I talked a little in Chinese with my host mom, but mostly in English. She went to get her masters in Michigan and PhD in New Zealand, so her English is very good, and it was difficult to ask her to talk with my in Chinese, but on Friday we started talking a lot more in Chinese, and by Sunday she was talking to me mostly in Chinese, with just a little English recap after she would say something complicated in Chinese to make sure I got it.
Another interesting thing I noticed that I feel deserves some space in this post, is the driving. Taiwanese drivers are as amazing as they are terrible. While traffic laws seem to be mostly a suggestion, with everyone else moving so unpredictably around them, it is incredible how casually the maneuver the roads without crashing or hitting anyone. Also, as someone who comes from a city where it's illegal to text or talk on the phone while driving, I was shocked to see all of the drivers not only doing those two things, but some also watching tv on the consoles built in to their cars. Not that I feel unsafe, it just took a few days to sit back and remember that this is how all of the drivers have been driving for years, and I have yet to see a single crash. Still, if I lived here I might avoid the roads and instead opt to stick the very convenient and extensive public transportation system.
Finally, the weather: It's very hot and humid, but not nearly as hot and humid as I had imagined it would be, mostly because it was all anyone who had been there seemed to talk about. It has rained a few times since I've been here, but has never been heavier than a slight drizzle. Still, I hear that as the seasons change, the weather will change too, and the rain and wind should get much more extreme.
My first Rotary meeting in Taipei A traditional diner including greens with garlic, a scrabbled
egg dish, tofu, and pork.
A traffic light in Taipei, it's hard to tell This is pretty typical street near my apartment. There are
but next to the red light is a countdown lots of small shops crowded very close together.
until the light turns green. Usually the
countdown starts around 60 seconds.
Dumplings at the frozen dumpling store, dumplings at the restaurant, along with sweet and sour
there were about a dozen different types soup, squash, and broccoli
At the dumpling store, you could just a delicious egg and spinach fried pancake at the
go up to the shelf with vegetables and tea restaurant.
and take whatever you wanted to go along
with the soup and dumplings.
A fruit store near my apartment. Included A black cat on the roof of the Lung Shan temple.
in this photo are dragon fruit, guava,
peaches, and a bunch of other unknown
fruits.
A dragon fountain at the Lung Shan Temple The front of the Lung Shan Temple
Inside another small temple near the river the Dan Shui river, the city of Sanchong is across the river
Another small temple near the river A giant ferris wheel I pass everyday on the MRT
The MRT The Universiade tennis match, Taipei vs. England
Tempura egg and rice wrap at a Japanese Another small temple
restaurant
Our plane finally touched down at the Taoyuan International Airport. I quickly ran into the bathroom to change out of my sweats into a dress and my blazer, and we got off the airplane. Luckily, there weren't too many people so getting through customs didn't take more than a few minutes, and we were able to find our bags quickly, and head into the arrivals area where our host families were waiting for us. It was about 9:30, Taiwan time, which meant I'd been awake for almost 24 hours. I was exhausted, but there was much to come before I could go back to our apartment and go to sleep. Not that it wasn't very exciting to meet everyone. Not only were my host mother and sister there, so were about half a dozen other club members and district exchange officers. We took photos, exchanged business cards, and talked for over an hour. After a little while, Mati, a girl from Italy who is in my club, arrived at the airport with her host sister and three cousins who were close to our age. When we finally left the airport, it took about half an hour to get home, and we arrived around 11:30 or 12:00. When we got to the apartment, my host mom showed me my room, and gave me a short tour of the rest of the house, then started in on the paperwork. We mostly just went over the first night questions, and a few of the forms I would need at the orientation, but it took quite a while, and by the time we finished and I started getting ready for bed, not only was it close to 1:00 am, but I was starting to have a second wind. Instead of going to bed, I decided to start unpacking because having my bags packed in the middle of the room was somewhat stressful. I went to bed around 1:30, after 28 hours awake since Portland.
On Thursday, I woke up early, at about 7:30. I unpacked completely, which was strangely exciting to me. My host mom has two daughter both about my age, possibly twins, although I'm not sure because I've heard them referred to as twins but also as the elder sister and the younger sister. They're both going on exchange this year, and Claire, the elder sister, left a few days before I arrived for Belgium, while Claudia will leave on Sunday for France. I'm in Claire's room, and it felt nice to have all of my clothes on the shelves, and everything organized so it kind of feels more like my room. Still, there are books in Chinese, and a view of the city right outside my window, so it also feels very Taiwanese. I love my room, it's relatively small, but I think it's the perfect size, especially because there is a huge window right above my bed which lets in lots of light and allows me to look down on the streets of Taipei at any time of the day.
After unpacking, I went into the kitchen, where my host mom was just starting to make breakfast. I had a hard boiled egg and an oat drink which was very interesting, not bad, just unlike anything I'd had before. Then my host mom showed me how to make lemon honey water, which we subsequently drank. My host mom and sister were planning to take me out and show me around the area, but at the last minute my host mom remembered there was rotary meeting at noon, so I threw on a dress and my blazer, grabbed my gift to the club and my Portland Pearl Rotary Club banner, and we were on our way. At the meeting Mati and I were asked to introduce ourselves and give a quick presentation about ourselves. Both of our host moms had told us this wouldn't happen until the next meeting, so we were unprepared, but the club members were just happy we were there and looking forward to our year in their club. It was still really exciting when they actually nodded and understood what I was saying in Chinese, even if it was just a brief introduction. Because Chinese tones are so specific, its easy to make no sense even if you know all the right sounds, and even after practicing for a few years, if I'm not careful I'll leave out the tones entirely and people I'm talking to will have no idea what I'm saying.
During the meeting, they brought us plate after plate of food, which we made our way through slowly as the meeting proceeded. The main agenda item from what I could understand was a lesson in Taiwanese and Taiwanese culture.
After the meeting, I went back to Mati's apartment with her, and we talked for a while and got to know each other. It had started raining out, and it was the first time I had seen rain in Taiwan, although I had heard there would be lots to come. Eventually my host mom came to pick me up, and by the time we got to our apartment around 6:30 or 7:00 I was exhausted and ready for bed, but bed was still a few hours off. We went to dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant, which was again very interesting and very different from American Chinese food, but very good. We had so much food, but I was so tired that it was hard to keep eating, so unfortunately I didn't try very much of it. After dinner we went to a few phone stores, to figure out what plan would work best. At one of the stores, I ran into another exchange student who I had texted a bit in the past. After learning all we could about the plans, we finally headed home. My host mom had to go return our microwave, and asked if I wanted to come, but I very graciously strongly declined and instead took a shower and promptly fell asleep.
I woke even earlier, at 5:00, on Friday. After breakfast, my host mom and I went out to run some errands. She showed me how to take the bus to school, and then we went to the hospital to send a packages, withdraw money, and exchange money (you can do all of this in the hospital, as well as rent books from a giant vending machine and somehow also get medical treatment and checkups, etc.). We went to a little store to buy frozen bags of dumplings, then went to a restaurant to eat unfrozen dumplings, sweet and sour soup, a very interesting, but strangely compelling squash dish, broccoli, which tasted the same as it does at home, and some plum tea. The dumplings were flavorful and perfectly steamed, and I probably could have eaten another plateful if we'd had them. The plum tea was kind of smoky which made for a very unique combination of flavors. I'm sorry for the excessive detail, but it was great meal, especially because I was surrounded by Taiwanese people eating a normal Taiwanese lunch, and speaking Chinese.
After lunch, we went to the bank to try to withdraw money for my Rotary trips later in the year, and we drove to several ATMs to try, but unfortunately were unsuccessful at all of them. My host mom dropped me off at the apartment, and I practiced my Chinese and watched Chinese television for a few hours while she was at a meeting. Later one of the YEOs from our district who is also in my club came by with her two children, a girl who was 23 or 24, and had gone on exchange to Denmark 9 years before, and a boy who was 15. We exchanged some documents and fees, and then they left, and I went to bed.
Throughout the past week there has been an international university sports tournament in Taipei, fairly close to my apartment. On Saturday, Mati and I went to watch tennis there in the morning, and then left around midday, and I took the MRT for the first time to go downtown with her, where we spent the rest of the day exploring part of the city. We were in Taipei Main Station, which apart from being an MRT station, is also a huge shopping center, so we spent a little time going to the top of the dozens of floors, and then buying some matcha custard filled bread and little sweet bread balls. Before I left the US, one of the things I was really excited to try was bubble tea, so we went out of the station to look for some. After walking a half mile we somehow could find none (usually there are stores everywhere), so instead we went to a juice place where I got an apple and dragonfruit smoothie, which was delicious. Then we took the MRT again and went to Lung Shan temple where people were lighting incense, leaving food and flowers as offerings, and praying. The temple was beautiful, but something I thought was kind of interesting was that there was a giant, flashing, LED sign across the century old facade with the name of the temple. We also saw a black cat running around the roof of the temple. We left the temple and found a park along the water, where we sat for a while and ate some fruit my host mom had given me. They were green balls, a little bigger than a grape, and when you peeled the skin they looked and felt like the inside of a grape, slimy and translucent. They tasted kind of like a melon, but were very sweet.
It was really fun to spend the day in the city on my own with another exchange student, and begin to get to know her. I didn't want to speak English for most of the day, but there wasn't really another option because I don't speak more than a few words of Italian and she doesn't know very much Chinese, although I taught her a few more words throughout the day as we went.
We finally headed home by MRT, and after Mati got off I was on the MRT by myself in a huge city, which was very exciting and not too nerve-racking. I thought about taking the bus home, but I wasn't completely sure of the station near my apartment, and I tried to take a u-bike, which are bike share bikes around the city, but I needed a functioning cellphone to rent it, so I ended up walking about a mile home, and was relieved and also a little proud when I found my building, waved to the doorman, and went up to my apartment on my own. About an hour later my host mom came home with some traditional Taiwanese desert. It was mostly a mix of different jellies and little jelly balls, all with different flavors, some sweet, some bitter, some really soft, and some dense and thick. Many of them were pretty good, but after about half of the bowl it was texture felt kind of gross in my mouth, and it was kind of hard to finish, just as a big bowl of jello would be. My host sister, host mom, and I watched some television in Chinese together, which I could understand a decent amount of, then I took a shower and went to bed. It's so humid here that it's essential to take a shower every night, and it's tempting every time you come inside from the sticky heat in the city.
On Sunday, I went to another tennis match in the morning with Mati. The players were a girl from Taipei and a girl from England, so the cheering was monumental as the Taiwanese girl slowly but surely beat the English girl. We decided to cheer for both sides because there was just a small section of about 10 people cheering for the girl from England, and the Taiwanese were very passionate with there clapping and shouting.
After the match, we took the MRT back to Mati's apartment, from where her host mom drove us to a mall where a Japanese festival was being held. We weren't really sure what we were going to be doing there, but we went into a back room, where some of Mati's host mom's coworkers (I think she owns a business in the mall) dressed us in traditional Japanese clothing, which they were also wearing, and then we proceeded to walk a circle through the mall, stopping to take about a hundred photos at each of the little photo background scenes we encountered every 20 feet throughout the mall. Most of the times we stopped, while we were smiling for the camera, other people in the mall also dressed up would come up to us and ask to take photos of us, with us, or of us with their kids, and also just to talk to us. This was very interesting, and something I had of course heard would happen, but hadn't experienced yet. At first it made me kind of uncomfortable, but ultimately they were just curious about us because we were foreigners. It is surprisingly rare to see any people who are not Asian in Taipei, especially dressed in traditional Japanese outfits, so I could certainly understand their curiosity, and it was simply a cultural difference where it is much more acceptable to be very open and personal with strangers, which can be a good thing. We certainly met a lot of interesting people who were just walking around the mall, including an origami teacher who, upon learning we spoke "一點點"(a little bit) of Chinese, talked to us for about 10 minutes in rapid Chinese, while I nodded, trying to keep up with the general idea of what we telling me and asking me.
After a few hours of walking around, we went back to Mati's apartment, and then to a Japanese restaurant where we ate sushi, seaweed, sea urchin, beef, fish eyeballs, oysters, miso soup, and tofu, which was all very interesting and mostly delicious. For desert there was honeydew and watermelon, dragon fruit, which tasted like a less flavorful kiwi, and sesame ice cream, which had a very unique flavor and was a deep black color, and therefore was very fun to eat.
After dinner we drove to the airport to see my host sister off to France for the year. Even though I left less than a week ago, it still felt like looking back on a version of myself that hadn't had many of the experiences I've had now. It was also so exciting to see her going off to have her own amazing year in another country that is so completely different from here.
On Monday morning, my host mom and I drove to a tailor to be measured for my school uniform. After that my host mom dropped me off at the apartment, and drove to my school for a meeting about my class, and the school, and what I would do while I was there. She didn't think I would have to come, but when she got there she called me to tell me I did have to. It worked out well though because it meant I was able to practice taking the bus to school on my own, as I normally would. At the meeting, I met the other exchange student who would be at my school, a boy from Canada. He was really nice and also excited to be there.
After the meeting, I was planning to go downtown to meet up with some exchange students. However, on the bus on the way to school, I hadn't had enough money left on my card for the bus, and I didn't know how to reload my card anywhere except at the MRT station. It turns out you can reload the cards (which work for the bus, MRT, and the u-bikes) at any convenience store, including the one right below the apartment. The cashier at the convenience store was very helpful, and spoke to me in slow Chinese, even though he spoke very good english. I really appreciated that because at most stores, no matter how much Chinese you use, the people who work there will always answer you in English. I definitely understand that they want to practice their English, and show that they can speak English and that you don't have to speak Chinese, but it was really nice of the man at the convenience store to talk to me in Chinese.
After that, I took the bus to the MRT station, and then took the MRT downtown, where I managed to find Mati and the other exchange students, despite having no form of communication because I still don't have a phone plan. We walked around the area near Taipei 101, then took another MRT to an area called Ximen, where I got a bubble tea, a tempura soft boiled egg, and a rice ball with some kind of very spicy fish inside. We spent a while talking about our exchange so far, and then we took our respective MRTs back home.
When I got home, my host mom took me to the class she helps teach at a Buddhist institute. The Class is for CEOs, and I'm not really sure what it's about, but I think its something about mindfulness in the workplace. While I was there, I had noodles at the all vegetarian, organic, non-GMO restaurant that was part of the institute. The noodles were good, but since I've been here, I've gotten used to eating meat surprisingly quickly. I only completely stopped being a vegetarian a few weeks ago (kind of, I've been incorporating more and more meat into my diet for a couple moths), and I was a little worried about eating meat because when I did in the US it felt really strange, but since I've gotten here, most of the food I've eaten has been at least a little strange, but in a good way, so eating meat has been pretty normal. The best part about the class was that I met a girl at the meeting who was in her twenties or so and who had lived in Seattle and spoke perfect English, but who had an hour long conversation with me in Chinese. Sure, she had to repeat herself a few times, but besides a few obscure words, she didn't speak any English, and I could understand everything she said. It was such a good feeling to be able to have a real, in depth conversation with someone in Chinese. She has been to Portland many times while in Seattle, and it was nice to talk to someone who actually knew where Oregon was besides just "the state above California".
On Tuesday, I went downtown again to meet more exchange students. It's so exciting to meet so many new exchange students and explore the city with them, although it is frustrating that I can only speak in English with them because most of them don't speak Spanish, or any Chinese. I met a bunch of exchange students at Daan Park, which is a huge park in the middle of the city full of trees and lakes, with lots of shady benches to sit on. We then walked to Taipei 101 where we met even more exchange students. Later in the afternoon Mati and another American from Texas arrived, and most of the other exchange students left, so the three of us and a guy from Belgium, Arnaud, went to a night market where we tried stinky tofu and shaved ice. The stinky tofu smelled bad, but not as terribly as I had expected it to, and it tasted fine, but I don't think it was anything particularly special. The shaved ice was amazing, and nothing like American shaved ice. Instead it was just long, folded up sheets of really thin ice in a pile with fruit and ice cream on top. It was another exciting day of exploring and trying new things, especially because most of us exchange students are starting school today or on Friday. I don't start until Friday, so I'm trying to use my free time as effectively as I can by spending every day learning new things about the city and about Taiwanese culture,
As far as the language, every morning, because I've been waking up so early, I've spent about two hours practicing my Chinese on a great app I have on my phone, or with a book I brought. It's been hard to speak Chinese with other people, but I've already grown a lot, even if not in vocabulary or knowledge, in comfort listening to and understanding when people talk to me in Chinese. On Thursday, my first day, I talked a little in Chinese with my host mom, but mostly in English. She went to get her masters in Michigan and PhD in New Zealand, so her English is very good, and it was difficult to ask her to talk with my in Chinese, but on Friday we started talking a lot more in Chinese, and by Sunday she was talking to me mostly in Chinese, with just a little English recap after she would say something complicated in Chinese to make sure I got it.
Another interesting thing I noticed that I feel deserves some space in this post, is the driving. Taiwanese drivers are as amazing as they are terrible. While traffic laws seem to be mostly a suggestion, with everyone else moving so unpredictably around them, it is incredible how casually the maneuver the roads without crashing or hitting anyone. Also, as someone who comes from a city where it's illegal to text or talk on the phone while driving, I was shocked to see all of the drivers not only doing those two things, but some also watching tv on the consoles built in to their cars. Not that I feel unsafe, it just took a few days to sit back and remember that this is how all of the drivers have been driving for years, and I have yet to see a single crash. Still, if I lived here I might avoid the roads and instead opt to stick the very convenient and extensive public transportation system.
Finally, the weather: It's very hot and humid, but not nearly as hot and humid as I had imagined it would be, mostly because it was all anyone who had been there seemed to talk about. It has rained a few times since I've been here, but has never been heavier than a slight drizzle. Still, I hear that as the seasons change, the weather will change too, and the rain and wind should get much more extreme.
My first Rotary meeting in Taipei A traditional diner including greens with garlic, a scrabbled
egg dish, tofu, and pork.
A traffic light in Taipei, it's hard to tell This is pretty typical street near my apartment. There are
but next to the red light is a countdown lots of small shops crowded very close together.
until the light turns green. Usually the
countdown starts around 60 seconds.
Dumplings at the frozen dumpling store, dumplings at the restaurant, along with sweet and sour
there were about a dozen different types soup, squash, and broccoli
At the dumpling store, you could just a delicious egg and spinach fried pancake at the
go up to the shelf with vegetables and tea restaurant.
and take whatever you wanted to go along
with the soup and dumplings.
A fruit store near my apartment. Included A black cat on the roof of the Lung Shan temple.
in this photo are dragon fruit, guava,
peaches, and a bunch of other unknown
fruits.
A dragon fountain at the Lung Shan Temple The front of the Lung Shan Temple
Inside another small temple near the river the Dan Shui river, the city of Sanchong is across the river
Another small temple near the river A giant ferris wheel I pass everyday on the MRT
The MRT The Universiade tennis match, Taipei vs. England
Tempura egg and rice wrap at a Japanese Another small temple
restaurant
sesame ice cream and fruit at another Japanese restaurant
Wow! What an amazing start you have had! Keep up the writing! Its so great to hear what you are up to!!
ReplyDeleteWow, Zaidie! Thanks so much for all the details about your new exciting experience!! It totally brings back memories of going to Malaysia on AFS when I was 16.
ReplyDeleteFish eyeballs!!??? Wow!
Where's a picture of you in your Japanese garb??
Neat to see blue sky; I sort of expected gray sky and big buildings everywhere. Neat that your window looks out on Taipei!
Zaidie, your proud mama shared your blogspot :)! This experience looks amazing! Keep posting so we can live vicariously through you! Our family is planning an Asia trip for 2018.
ReplyDelete--Auntie Esther
We missed you at Scouts tonight, Zaidie! Hope all is well!
ReplyDelete