Becoming Asian...

Hello Again!! 

So it has been a couple days since I wrote last, but don't worry I was just giving you enough time to start missing my blogging. Oh and enough time for me to write my interesting stories. So for the past couple days I done more site seeing (alone) and walking that my feet literally hurt! 

A couple days ago I decided that I need to get out and start becoming acclimated to Taiwan and familiar with certain areas, areas like this place called Xinyi. Naturally I decided I needed to become familiar with this area, because it is one of the wealthiest areas in Taiwan and has all of the best department stores. :) I headed into the malls to look around and they were so elegant and beautiful, they had every designer store imaginable, so I pretty much felt right at home when entering, ha! I then left and walked around the area. I pretty much walked around the whole day, going from department store to department store. It was a really educational. 

The next day, I had a lunch planned with a father of a girl who I went to high school with. How weird is that? He works for a company owned by 3M and the company is headquartered in Taiwan, so he lives there! Such a small world. So I headed over to this place called the American Club Taipei. Ok well they should call it "The rich and I am pretty much living back in America Club Taipei." I entered the place and it was extremely nice. It had 3 different restaurants, a bar, a pool with outdoor tanning (which is extremely rare, since all of the asians want to stay out of the sun, so nobody tans) a work out center, salon, American grocery store, tennis courts and way more. Mr. McKenna and I sat down for lunch and I realized that I was probably the only person in this club who wasn't here on business. Lucky I dressed super cute though!! After eating an amazing cheeseburger and fries and talking for about an hour and a half, it was time to go. It was a great time and I hope that one day I can join a club like Mr. McKenna, when I am traveling around Asia doing business. 

Taipei American Club

I then left "The rich and am pretty much living back in America Club" and headed to the Sun-Yet San Memorial Hall. This hall is dedicated to Dr. Sun-Yet San, who was obviously some kind of doctor and is very well respected (thats pretty much all I know about it). I was just there for the pretty building, hah! Then since the Taipei 101 was so close, I decided to head over in that direction because I wanted to take a hike up Elephant Mountain. On my way to the mountain, I am embarrassed to say it, but I pulled out my umbrella to shield the sun that was screeching hot. I was dripping sweat and looked like a disgusting pig, so I had too. I AM SLOWLY, BUT SURELY BECOME A TRUE ASIAN!! haha. So to continue, I was heading to the mountain, searching, searching and doing some more searching and I just couldn't find the entrance!! Ugh...can I just pleassse just NOT get lost one day!!? Well I gave up and just decided to go shopping at the Taipei 101, haha! Good choice. 

Longshan Temple

Yesterday, I got up and was pretty pumped about doing a lot of temple site seeing. I headed over to Longshan Temple, and it was soo beautiful. I stepped out of the MRT and when I reached the temple, it had the most beautiful entrance and a waterfall that was splashing down on rocks below it. (I mean it wasn't that big of a waterfall, but it was pretty). Then I headed inside and there were many people praying and burning incense. It was very interesting to see how other people practice their religion and I just sat there, next to this nice German couple I met, watching them for a good 20 minutes. I was yet again a very lovely, but HOT day and so I got moving to try and hit all of the other 2 temples I wanted to see.....Well, I headed to find the other two temples...and I am not even going to finish this story, because you can probably already guess what happened. I GOT LOST. Of course. Typical. So I didn't even get to see them and I was too hot and tired, so I ended up going home! It turned out to be a good thing that I went home though, because it gave a chance to catch up on a nap and most importantly, Jersey Shore, ahah! After I was finished with my napping I headed out to a Jazz festival that was being held in the Cheng Kai Shek Memorial Hall. This hall was very beautiful and had many temple like buildings with amazing chinese architecture. After this was finished, I headed to a bar called revolver to meet some Scottish guys named Euan and Lewis for the first time! I don't even know where to begin talking about these guys. They came here know ONLY Ni Hao (hello) & xie xie (thank you). I don't think I have ever heard one word so many times in one day before. For everything they do say "Ni hao, xie xie," "ni hao, xie xie," hah and every day I have been teaching them a new phrase. Today we were working on "I want a beer" and "how much is this?" The two MOST important phrases one needs to know while living in Taiwan, haha.   I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more great times to come with these two. 

Me, Euan & Lewis

Lastly, today I finally found an apartment in the area called Jiantan. It is located very close to the MRT station and also near the largest night market in Taiwan. The Danshui River is also near by and my commute to work will only be 15 minutes by bus.  I will be living with a English girl and an american woman and they are both very nice. I am really looking forward to it and I hope it is a good fit. 

Well I think I have pretty much given every last detail of the past 4 days here. Hope you enjoyed reading it and STAY TUNED for more!!!!! 

Zai Jian. ~Olivia 

Blonde and the city..

Ni Hao! 


The day has finally arrived and I have finally made it to what is called The Hidden Jewel of Asia, aka. Taiwan! It has already been an adventure and I have only been here 3 full days! 

Maggie, Myself & Pei

It all started when I got off the plane to find that my driver who was supposed to pick me up, didn't show. Great, what the heck was I going to do now? Well, I did what any normal person would do, got into a random cab and tried to find my way to my hostel when I had no idea where it was, the driver didn't speak any English and the address wasn't in Chinese, so he couldn't read it. This situation = PROBLEM. So I am in the cab and we are both trying to talk back and forth to one another to find the hostel, every time we spoke to one another our voices got louder, maybe we though if you yell, you will understand better? No that is not true at all. He kept on saying, "I AM HOTEL DRIVER" and I kept saying, "Ok, I need hostel." It was a mess! After a good 45 minutes of driving, we finally reached my hostel. The problems didn't stop there, I arrived so early I had to let myself inside and when I opened the door, there were about 40 stairs in front of me. So, needless to say, I had to drag 2, 50 pound suitcases up the stairs ALONE! After getting settled in, I left to go meet my friend Pei Wen who lives in Taipei. I don't know what I would have done without Pei, because she helped me with everything on the first day.  Pei met me at my hostel and we went out to lunch and I met many of her Taiwanese friends. I am definitely going to have to get used to people staring at me, because everywhere I looked people were looking back at me. Haven't they seen someone with blonde hair before? Or do I just look like a freak? ha. It also doesn't help that I am about a whole foot taller than some of them and I must look like a giant!! BFG. We then left lunch and Pei and her friend Maggie helped me get a phone and a Metro train pass and then we went site seeing. These two pretty much were my translators all day! It was an exhausting day, especially since I was so jet lagged, but I couldn't believe I had finally made it to Taiwan. 

Elena- student at my school

After I had gone to bed and slept for 12 hours, hah, I woke up and today was the day I would be heading to my school where I would be teaching!! My school is located in a town called Da Zhe in the Nei Hu area and I am very lucky, because my school in located in the one of the wealthiest areas in Taipei!!  After heading out of my hostel, I first had a very unsuccessful mission to find breakfast, so I only really had a coffee from the 7/11 down the road (there are 7/11 everywhere!!) I then proceeded to take the train from my hostel to where my school was located! I was pretty impressed with myself, because I made it to my school perfectly without getting lost once!! Pretty good for the first day alone. When arriving at my school, I met with my  manager Rita and she took me to the hospital, because every new teacher needs to get a heath check. So Rita and I spent a good 3 hours in the hospital, waiting, waiting and doing some more waiting. Then we left and went out to lunch and Rita got me some Milk Bubble Tea (I am OBSESSED)! So for the past 2 days I have been drinking milk bubble tea. I hope I don't get too fat! ha. 


 It has been a pretty good adventure here so far in Taiwan and I can't believe that I will be here for the next year, WOW! I definitely need to work on my Chinese so I can navigate more easily and actually be able to talk to other people! I have never talked so little in my life!! You would never know that I scored an 100 on my extroversion test, ha! Well, there will be many more amazing experiences and stories to come, so stay tuned for the next blog! 


Zai Jian (Goodbye)