Through a green colored perspective...

萬聖節 (Happy Halloween)

Hello again, 

So I hope you all had a good Halloween and enjoyed seeing all the costumes, decorations, going to costume parties and just plain old getting into the Halloween spirit, because you know for sure I enjoyed it!! 

Paul & I

This past weekend was jammed packed with things to do. First, on Saturday during the day, my roommates and I along with some other friends went to Taiwan's gay pride parade. First, I just wanted to go to see what it would be like and second, I found out that Taiwan has the largest gay population in all of Asia, so that was another great incentive for me to check it out. So before we headed out, my friend Paul, roommate Brittany and myself thought that we should get in the spirit and dress up for the parade ( no, not get all fancy dressed up, costume dressed up). 

So myself, the green man, Paul the rabbit and Brittany the zombie and Tasha all headed out to the parade. I honestly can't believe that I had the guts to wear that green man suit. I only did it, because the other two were dressed up as well. Although I get starred at every day, just walking around in my normal clothing with my blonde hair, I have never been starred at like this. People, snapping pictures and laughing on the train, it was so funny! So we finally arrived at our destination and were standing around waiting for some other friends to arrive, people started coming up to Paul and I and asking if they could take a picture with us....AND, that was the beginning of what was going to come ALL DAY LONG. (I guess I should have known). 

Brittany, Myself and Tasha = roomies

As we stood in the train station for 20 minutes, I have to estimate that about 100 people asked to take either a picture of us or with us. People were starring, giving us the piece sign, wanting their children to have pictures with us...it was crazy. We had to get out of there.....not like it was going to get any better outside though. 

So, as we walked outside, into a massive crowd of gay activists and supporters who were dressed up ridiculously themselves, we were then again asked to have our pictures taken. We were standing next to the parade that was passing by and even the people marching in the parade were stopping to take pictures with us. I am not kidding, I swear I was taking pictures with different people for one period of time for at least 10 minutes straight.....ugh, my face hurt from smiling and saying "xie xie"/ "thank you." But, all in all it was hilarious and so much fun. I definitely was proud of myself for wearing that suit. After we spent a couple hours watching the parade/being watched, we left and went home to get ready for that evenings festivities. 

After a few hours of recovering, I put on some green......face paint, black and green stockings and a witch hat and cape and was reading to play the part of the wiked witch from the Wizard of Oz. I then left with my friend Euan and we headed to meet everyone at the Halloween event/party that was being held that night. Once again, although my costume this time wasn't nearly as crazy as "green man," Euan and I were still being starred at as if we were idiot Americans. It was ok though, if I could go out in a skin tight spandex green suit that day, I think I can do just about anything now, haa. Well the night went on and the event was pretty good. Some dancing, some drinking and all in all a good time with friends. Its weird to think that this was my third Halloween outside of the states. First London, then Australia and now Taiwan and each one was so different. 

Well  know this was a short post today, but I thought I would start and try to keep you updated with smaller blogs with less information, but more frequently! Keep following and hope you're all enjoying the fall weather back in the states and the coming of winter. Oh, its still almost 80 here...but humid! Yikes. 

My little kids all dressed up

Keep and eye out for another post soon.                       

Olivia 

Its a small world

Last week on Tuesday, my roommate, Brittany and I, decided to get some exercise and go hiking, because it was one of the most beautiful days I have had here in Taiwan so far. No humidity, it wasn't scorching hot , therefore I wasn't sweating profusely!! I knew of this hiking trail that is about a 5 minute walk away from our house, so we thought to go there. I feel so lucky, because the locals here in Taiwan consider the area in which I live to be the place with the best "feng shui." To one side of us, we have the Danshui River, then to the other side of us are the mountains which is where the Jiantan hiking trail is. Also, there is the largest night market in Taipei located about a 5 minute walk away as well. 

Jiantan Hiking Trail Entrance

So after reaching the entrance to the Jiantan Hiking trail, we headed upwards. I thought this trail was just going to be a short little hike with some stairs and then you head back down. OH NO, I was completely wrong. I couldn't believe how many amazing things that were buried inside of all the shrubbery and trees that appear on the outside. At the first stopping point, we reach a wonderful temple that has large Buddhas to pray to and amazing painted details all over the temple. We then kept moving onward and upward. We then arrived at another, larger temple. This temple was incredible. It not only had the amazing accessories that a temple has, but it also had a flourishing flower garden and a look out over a part of the city. I had to stop and stay there for a while just look at and take in all the amazing sites there was to offer. 

As we headed upward, I randomly looked to my left and told Brittany "look there's the Taipei 101." When you looked to your left you could see another part of the city which included spectacular views of the Taipei 101. After getting more good exercise for our butts with all of those stairs, we came across some very interesting and funny daily activities in the lives of Taiwanese people. We not only came across very old Taiwanese men working out in the dilapidated gym area, randomly placed within this mountain, but as we walked higher, we came across a large group of people doing KTV (or Karaoke singing)!!! It was fantastic, I wanted to sit there and watch them sing to their Chinese songs all day. Then lastly, we came across this lone woman who was talking (or more like having a conversation) with her cats and trying to feed them. It was so funny! So after all of this, we finally hit the top of the mountain, where you had to walk past the people singing KTV and there was the most.......wait for it.......wonderful views of the area in which I live and beyond. Rivers, mountains, people below, cars below, the hustle and bustle of everything happening below us seemed so non-existent as we were so focused on looking at everything that was so beautiful. It made me realize how I should appreciate the wonderful things Taiwan has to offer instead of getting so caught up and frustrated with how many people there are around all the time and all of the cultural differences I haven't gotten used to yet. 

Random gym in the middle of the mountain

But after we had hiked up for a good hour and a half, we headed back down. It was one of the best, most calming days I had in a long time. 

KTV Singing 

As the week went on I went to school, worked out, taught class and private tutored. Did the usual routine. But, this past Thursday, I was out and about and decided that I would kill some time before I had to go teach and get my nails and toenails done as I haven't gotten them done since I left the US. So you can probably imagine how gross they might be...hah!! So as I entered the nail salon, none of the girls spoke English so I knew I was in for trouble. But, there just so happen to be one other Taiwanese lady getting her nails done as well and she offered to help me since she spoke wonderful English. We started to talk and I asked her how her English was so good and she told me that she did a language exchange in the states when she was in college. She told me she did her exchange in .........WINONA, MN!!! Wait....what? First of all, I am FROM Minnesota and second, why Winona? hah. We both couldn't believe that we were the ONLY people in the salon and that she had lived in MN for a year of her life and absolutely loved it. But, wait. It only gets weirder from here. After getting to know each other I found out that she used to be a host/have her own Travel Asia TV show here in Taiwan (Ok pretty much my dream job). Now that it is done and off the air, she works for a  PR/Marketing firm and hosts events for foreign banks and their staff who come to taiwan. Banks like AIG, HSBC and more. OK WHAT? I got my degree in Marketing and I also held an event/marketing internship two summers ago...I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. So we exchanged numbers and she said that I may be able to help her and her company out later in the year, because they are going to be really busy. I am so stoked!! 

I just couldn't believe this kind of thing happened, especially to me. These things only happen in movies. I just feel very fortunate and I feel like it was kind of meant to me. Hopefully something comes out of this meeting and when it does I will let you all know for sure! 

Well thats all I can tell you for right now. This weekend I didn't do anything, because I didn't to catch up on some sleep and get prepared for next weekend.....HALLOWEEN!!! Look forward to another post soon. 

Look out over the city

Zaijain (goodbye)

Olivia 

Dear Friends, I'm back!

Can you believe it has been almost nearly a month since my last post? I can't believe how fast time flies. I guess I should get this blog post started by telling you that I have never been so busy in my LIFE! I thought that by coming to Taiwan and escaping another year before getting a "big-girl" job would be easy and relaxing, but its not and I am pretty sure I look like a mad woman that is running around the streets of Taiwan. To catch you up, I am currently taking Chinese class everyday from 8:00-10:00 am. I then head back home to my house to gather my stuff, eat and head off for work in the afternoon. I then head to private tutor on Tuesday/Thursdays as well. All of these things + how long it takes to get from one place to the other = NO LIFE!

On Maokong Gondola 

Anyway, I am still trying to make the most of my time here and do as much as I can when the weekends roll around. About two weekends ago, my friend Julie and I headed to Maokong Gondola. We took the gondola up 4000 kilometers to the top and had the most splendid views on the ride up! It was such a pleasant ride and you could see over all of Taipei. We then got off and walked around the little touristy town there and soon sat down to eat lunch. It is very interesting here, because while walking throughout the town, there are absolutely no sidewalks and the streets are very narrow. So I am wondering what the Taiwanese were thinking when they decided to make no room for people to walk and cars to drive. So, while Julie and I were walking to the place we were going to get lunch, we were dodging scooters and cars at the same time. Nightmare. We then sat down that this adorable tea house, which had a view overlooking Taipei and a direct view of the Taipei 101. It was amazing and we ate the most amazing food as well. After having spent most of the day site seeing and looking at random temples, we headed back into the city for Jordan and Conor's housewarming party and a night out.

Kenting 

Not this weekend, but the week before, a group of us, decided to head down to the southern most point in Taiwan for the holiday weekend. We decided to head to Kenting. Kenting is known for its great beaches, water activities and laid back feel. It is also known as the "spring break" place in Taiwan. I was so excited to head down south and get out of the city. Also, I was excited to spend some money because I FINALLY got my first pay check (or pay cash I guess, because I get paid completely in cash, ha). I was so excited to finally get paid at my first real job after graduating college. So, I was ready to head down to Kenting and the morning on October 8th, Mary and I boarded the HSR (high speed rail) and headed down to the southern most point of Taiwan. We arrived in Kenting about 3.5 hours later, found our hotel, threw our stuff down and headed to the beach. The first day in Kenting was great, but a bit windy. As Mary and I "tried" to tan, we not only were getting "hit" with rays, but we were also getting hit (well let's say pelted) with sand as well. I am pretty sure I left the beach with welts on my skin from the sand blowing around so much. That evening, we met up with Conor and Jordan and went out for a great dinner at the place called Amy's Pizza. It was so nice and relaxing, we all ordered great western food and sat around chatting for a good 2 hours. That night we headed out to scope out some of the bars and good places to go out. 

At the Reggae bar outside

As we woke up the next morning to head to the beach, our plans and dreams were shattered, because OF COURSE, it had started raining. Great. We thought we would wait it out, but that was going to be pointless, because it ended up raining to for the next two days that we were there. FUN. In a town where all the fun/activities are pretty much based on water activities and its raining. Awesome. So our weekend pretty much consisted of looking at the ocean and eating and drinking. I felt like a fat cow by the time I left there. ha. So all in all, it was nice to see a new part of Taiwan and hang out with nice people, but I didn't get any tanner. Actually, I think I may have gotten whiter. Gross. But, that night all of us decided to go out to dinner to this place called Smokey Joe's mexican restaurant for dinner and it was excellent. Then we were determined to go out afterwards, even though it was pouring rain. So we made the smart decision to stop at the truck that is parked on the side of the road and it serves beer and plays reggae music. So then, we all decided to stand out in the rain for a good two hours and dance in our ponchos in the rain to reggae music. It was the most random night ever, but pretty fun!!
Then Monday afternoon, October 10th (Taiwan's 100th birthday) we decided to head out early, because yet again it was still raining.

All the girls outside the W Hotel

After the week went by (which was a 4 day week, thank heavens), the weekend came and it was Mary's birthday weekend. So on Saturday during the day, the girls and myself all went shopping and got ready for Mary's birthday night. A large group of us first went to the WOO Bar in the W Hotel. The bar is on the roof of the W Hotel and is pretty ugly and not nice at all, NOT. This bar was amazing. There was a pool right outside of the bar and couches and seats to sit on which looked over the pool and city below it. It was very beautiful and it was amazing to see all of my friends who I hadn't seen in a while.

Although I have been here for a short period of time, I have already done so many things, met so many people and have taken on so many different responsibilities, but I am also starting to miss home a lot.

Sorry for the delay in blog posting, but I am trying the best that I can. I hope you all are enjoying everything I am telling you and you will never truly understand what Asia is like until you come here yourself.

Look forward to another blog in a couple weeks.

Olivia

Mountains, Waterfalls, Hiking & More

Hey again! I am finally back with more stories from these past couple days...well week. 

Can you believe that I have already been in Taiwan for almost 40 days? (yes I have been keeping track). It has been a crazy ride so far and I can't believe everything that I have done since I got here. 

Recap:

-Found an apartment

-Moved out of hostel -> into apartment

-Started working 

-Started taking Chinese class

-Will start private tutoring

-Figured out how to use the buses and MRT 

-Go site seeing

I am very happy that I finally feel like I am getting somewhat settled in to my new life in Taiwan. It has still been very difficult to get used to the cultural differences and sometimes I just want to have my car here with me so it isn't such a hassle to get from one place to another....but I am considering getting a scooter. Don't worry!! (Side note: Taiwan has the most scooters per capital anywhere is the world). 

But other than doing all of this I am really enjoying my Chinese classes. Although they are very early at 8:00 am, I think that they are going to be very helpful and I love my teacher. I also am enjoying teaching and like my co-workers, but it gets very tiring. Some of the students are so wild and they definitely aren't afraid of misbehaving!! Wednesdays and Fridays are my longest days and on Wed. I have to work from 2-7 and on Fridays I have to work from 2-9.  

Now for the fun stuff: 

At the Pool Party!

This past weekend was nice and on Friday night and bunch of friends and myself all went out to this ex-pat bar called Revolver and sat outside and drank for a while. We ended up going home a little bit "early" around 2:00, because we were tired. But the next day, Mary, Colleen and myself all headed to this pool party that was happening. The party was held at the Taipei Country Club and the whole place was pretty much all foreigners. It was really fun and super wild. Then in the evening all of us headed to another ex-pat bar, that is called On Tap. It is a really cute British-type pub and it is very fun. 

In Wuli

On Sunday, there was a Reach to Teach event that was being held in Wuli. Wuli is about an hour or more outside of Taipei City and it is a beautiful town. Wuli is very mountainous, with trees stretching as far as the eye can see and fresh air...(which is nice to have). We had the most beautiful weather and the sun was shining for most of the day and the R2T group and myself hiked for about 3 hours. After hiking, and walking past water streams running down the mountain-side and rivers, we reached this triple waterfall that all of us had been wanting to see. It was so beautiful and it felt so great to just be outside of the city. I realized how peaceful and tropical Taiwan can truly be outside of the hustle of the city.  We then headed back to the little town of Wuli and tried some amazing food, which was native to the mountains...like "Mountain Pig" (which was AMAZING) and Bao zi, which are these dough balls with pork and scallions on the inside. It was such a great day spent with great people and I think it was one of the best days I have had here yet. 

Waterfall in Wuli Mountains

Finally I had to come back to reality and go back to work and school. This week has been very busy and on Wednesday I met with a family from South Korea, because the father wants me to private tutor his girls. The girls are 12 & 14 and they seem very sweet. The family is here in Taiwan, because the dad is the Head of Marketing and Sales for Samsung (heck ya...maybe I can get a job!) and he was transfered here for 5 years. I will start tutoring them next week..so wish me luck!! ahh

Also, after work on Wednesday, Pei Wen and I went out for my first nice dinner here in Taiwan at this place called Tasty! We sat there for a good 2 hours just talking and having fun eating this great meal. Then....we decided it would be really great if we told them it was my birthday!!!! hah. ( well I mean you could "technically" say it was my birthday, because yesterday was my half-birthday!) But it was sooo great, because the servers came over to me and sang me Happy Birthday in Chinese and English and then made me wear a birthday hat and were taking pictures of Pei Wen and me, hah. I think we are going to start saying its my birthday everywhere to see how many present we can get!! ha. 

So I have had a pretty busy, but uneventful week so far and I am already definitely ready for the weekend to come. I am so tired and I plan to relax and do some more touristy things this weekend. I think I may head to Maokong Gondola (which I am pretty sure is where the "Bachelorette" went with JP on her date in Taiwan to look over all of Taipei City! I am very excited. SOOO Stay tuned and I will try and post blog updates more frequently, so you do not loose interest....You better not loose interest!! ha. 

Asian Style photo!

Anyway, I hope everyone is well and am missing back home!!! 

Look for another blog post soon. 

Olivia. xx

New Beginnings

Ni Hao & Dui Bu Qui...(Hello and I'm sorry!)

I'm back!! Sorry for the delay in writing, but I have been extremely busy doing many things to create more amazing stories for this blog!!

MY ROOM!

So last Saturday I moved into my new apartment. This was a STRUGGLE...because once again I had to move both of my 50 pound suitcases down the stairs as well as my backpack, purse AND another backpack that I acquired since being here. It was pretty ridiculous, because the owner came out to help me carry my luggage and he was SMALLER than me...so I don't know how he though he could do any better of a job carrying them, ha. But, I let him do it. I finally arrived at my apartment and was ready to move all of my things in and finally get settled. But, after arriving, I found out, a little too late, that my bed is pretty much a mattress that has probably been used by at least 4 people before me that sinks directly to the floor when laying on it...GREAAT. So, I decided the couch would be more comfortable and sadly enough it was. So I staying on the couch in the middle of the living in room for about 4 days...kinda awkward. So, I finally moved back into my room and decided to suck it up and sleep on my bed. I have been doing alright so far...don't worry. A new mattress will be on the way...thanks to the landlord!

The outside of my school!

The next day, Monday, August 29th was supposed to be my first day of teaching English! I am so happy that I am getting paid to teach something that I don't even have to think about and learned all of my life...what a great job!! So, today I am planning to go into work when I find out that school has been cancelled due to a TYPHOON...ok great...what the heck and I am supposed to do? Do I run out to get food just in case I am trapped in my house? Well, it turns out that the typhoon didn't even hit Taipei and I got the day off to relax and get settled into my new place. Tuesday finally came and now it really was my first day to teach English class. I was soo nervous because I didn't have much experience teaching...actually I take that back....ANY experience teaching English, so I was kinda freaking out. Well, here it goes!! It was pretty brutal teaching the first couple of classes. The kids were vert shy, because I was a new teacher and they probably thought I was a giant and were scared of my blonde hair and blue eyes, but as the week went on, the young kids started to become louder and louder and by that time I kinda wished that they were still shy, because they are SOO LOUD. *side note: it is very interesting, because when the kids get older and become better at speaking English, they become less likely to talk English and become more shy** I guess English Isn't the "Cool" thing to do when you get older! But, all in all, my classes are pretty good, but I have to play a lot of games with them in order to get them engaged.
After the week finished, I was ready to FINALLY have some fun. So, that called for some drinks with friends. I met with some of my friends on both Friday and Saturday night and we all went out to a couple bars and hung around and talked. On Saturday night, we went to this ex-pat bar, called Brass Monkey, which was pretty fun, but you HAD to wear pink to get in, so all of the men in the bar were wearing bright pink....it was pretty funny. I am definitely going to have to get used to the way things work around here, because pretty much everyone stays out until 4 am. I can't believe it...I am going to become nocturnal on the weekends.  OH also, after arriving home from the bar on Saturday night/morning, I saw my first COCKROACH...SICCCK!! It was soo disgusting and I was like a mad woman trying to kill it in my bathroom with a plunger at 4 am in the morning...haha. You would have died laughing if you were watching me try to kill this thing!

Mary and I at Fulong Beach

 Anyway, this past Sunday I surprisingly woke up at 10:30 and met up with my friends Mary and Colleen to catch the bus to Fulong beach. I was pretty much a zombie after waking up and getting 6 hours of sleep. So, Mary, Colleen and I went to catch the train, which is usually extremely packed going and coming from the beach and just accepted the fact that we wouldn't get a seat for the hour long train ride. While waiting in line to get on the train we saw some seats open and to say the least, we pretty much just bulldozed our way through the crowd and GOT a seat...ahha.
Well anyway, Fulong Beach was awesome and it was nice to get out the city and see open land for once. It was also nice to go swimming and visit a beautiful temple that was really close by.

Well that is literally almost every detail of what has happened to me since moving into my new place. There have been many new beginnings....Stay tuned for more.....and keep reading!!

Olivia

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)