Hello there!

I can't believe I've been in Taiwan for almost a month now. It simultaneously feels like I've just arrived a few weeks ago but also like I've lived here for a couple months. Yesterday was our last day of training, so today we all went to the DMV to either take the written test (which allows you to drive a 50cc scooter without taking the driving test) or the written plus the driving test, which is necessary if you want a scooter more than 50cc. Since I have no intentions of buying a scooter, I opted to take the written portion just in case I ever have to rent or ride a 50cc scooter. The DMV in Taiwan turns out to be pretty similar to DMVs in America. In short, it was not very exciting and pretty crowded. I took my electronic test, which consisted of 40 questions all about road signs and road safety. I gotta admit, they threw in some tough questions and I was pretty nervous that I would fail. Luckily, I passed, and headed along with HKSG members to take a 90 minute course, all in Chinese, on scooter safety. Our teacher was one tough cookie; she started the class by separating all the HKSG members and then listing a set of rules, like no talking, sleeping, phones etc. I ended up breaking one of the rules when I nodded off and closed my eyes, in which she abruptly shook my shoulders to wake me. Out of fear of this woman's wrath, I stayed awake the rest of the class. I couldn't understand anything the woman was saying, but we did watch a series of escalating and terrifying real life scooter accidents. So if I took away anything from the class, it's that scootering can be very scary. And that most people in Taiwan aren't following proper road protocol.

A few days ago, a some ETAs and I were asking each other what things we have done here that we normally wouldn't do in America. I've done a lot of things in Taiwan that I normally wouldn't do back home, like eating out everyday, talking to strangers on the bus, using public transportation, etc. But overall, I think being abroad pushes you to do things outside your comfort zone, which sometimes leads to sort of bizarre events. A prime example of this is when we all went out to try some Vietnamese food, and ran into a Vietnamese-American man named Danny, who was super nice and spoke great English. He gave us his card and suggested we visit his restaurant. A few days later, we call him and ask whether we could stop by his restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, Danny's restaurant is only open on weekends, but he suggested we meet him and he would show us another Vietnamese restaurant. So we met up with him and follow him into this large semi-run down mall. It's one of those places that seems like it would have been hopping back in the day, but is now sort of past its prime. We went up on the elevator and step out into a huge area where most of the stores were either closed or barred up. Immediately, we're also hit with loud Vietnamese karaoke coming from afar, which was slightly eerie considering there was no one there in sight. In the end, the pho we had was delicious! Looking back, we essentially followed a stranger into a large fairly deserted building. I probably would've never done that alone, but it makes for a good story now!

Among other things I normally wouldn't do in the US is grueling tough workouts. The Hello Kitty Scooter Gang recently started doing Insanity workouts. While I'm doing the workout, it feels like I can vomit at any moment. That being said, I enjoy working out overall and it sort of helps balance out the multitude of sugary teas and desserts I've eaten so far. Sometimes, if we exercise in the school's playground, we even get a crowd of adults and kids watching and making comments like "Oh, that one is slowing down." Sometimes, they even mimic our movements, which is sort of really cute! As the saying goes, the group that sweats together stays together!

Getting fit on the playground

We also recently went to visit Rainbow Village, which consisted of really cute buildings all painted by one man.

I start classes on Monday (EEEKK), so till next time!

Chia

And the school goes to...

Greetings friends!

I finally found out last Friday what school I will be teaching in for the rest of the year. That morning started off with everyone buzzing with anticipation and excitement. Normally, our mornings begin at 9AM with a (relatively) silent hour of reading our assigned book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” However, that day was an exception—hardly anyone was reading their book and instead busily chatting with their neighbors as different school representatives filed into the classroom. After brief presentations introducing ourselves, the big reveal was finally about to come! In a rather dramatic fashion, Iris opened up the envelope that contained one individual’s school placement and read it aloud, Academy Award style. Luckily, I was called first, so I didn’t have to wait too long. I’ve been placed in SanHo Elementary, which has approximately 900 students! I’ll be working with 3 local English teachers teaching 1^st-3^rd grade.  One of the most prominent features of SanHo is its focus on the arts and language—the school was decorated with  an array of students’ impressive artwork. My school placement also determines where I will be living for the remainder of the year. I'll be living in Fengyuan, a more suburban area of Taichung. At the reveal ceremony, I got the chance to meet one of my co-teachers, Christine, and the dean, Crystal. They were both very welcoming and friendly, and I'm so excited to join them at SanHo and start teaching!

(From left to right) Iris, our Taichung coordinator; Dr. Liao, our academic counselor; Crystal, the dean of SanHo; Christine, one of my co-teachers.

This past Saturday, Iris took the Hello Kitty Scooter Gang (HKSG) and I biking on a very scenic trail in Fengyuan. The bike ride started off really nicely, a soft breeze brushing by us, as we admired the beautiful sites. 10 minutes in, however, a downpour of rain hit us. Although many of us initially took shelter under a bridge, we finally decided to keep peddling ahead, despite the rain.  We ended up getting pretty soaked, but the rain stopped after about 20 minutes, so we eventually dried albeit feeling a bit sticky. Regardless of the rain, it was really fun and it felt good to engage in physical activity again (although I ended up being the slowest one again)! I’m hoping since I will be living in Fengyuan, I will get to bike a lot! Later, we stopped by the night market in Fengyuan. A few of us stopped to get some noodles and this delicious mango shaved ice dessert. To this day, I still think of that mango shaved ice. I think we deserved a sweet treat, especially after our 24 km bike ride!

Our group loves jumping photos. This is right before I landed and just fell to the ground. Obviously, I need more practice with jumping photos.

The group jumping photo. Why do I always look so scared?!

Joyce and I can't wait to eat the mango shaved ice!

Last week, one of the ETAs, Diane, and I also traveled to Taipei to visit her Taiwanese friend, Kevin. The morning started off pretty darn early—about 6 AM, since we bought tickets for the 7:20AM train. It was about a 2 hour train ride and they ran out of seats, so we would have to stand for the duration of the train ride. For the first hour, Diane and I were able to sit on the floor and chat (we sat near the bathrooms, so perhaps not the most delightful place to sit, but since nevertheless, somewhere to sit). As more people piled in, we ended up having to stand for the duration of the trip. When we finally arrived in Taipei, we were greeted by Kevin at the train station. Kevin was gracious enough to show us around Taipei and took us to Tamsui, a district of Taipei near the water. There, we went to the day market and bought some street food. I finally tried stinky tofu, although I am admittedly not the biggest fan of it. Diane and I also went floppy hat shopping, since the sun was pretty darn bright. The floppy hat has turned out to be a pretty good investment, and has helped it out quite a bit since then! Later, we biked along the waterfront, and wound up touring Fort San Domingo. All in all, it was a pretty great trip!

At Fort San Domingo

Picture right before trying the stinky tofu!

The HKSG also went to sing some karaoke last Sunday at a place appropriately named Party World. Karaoke here is no joke-- Party World's interior was super fancy and grand, similar to a swanky hotel. We had our own private room (which was nice considering I was one of the rather tone deaf singers) and a buffet! Throughout the karaoke, we had some breakout stars and boy, did we sing our hearts out! 4 hours of nonstop singing in fact, with everything from Britney to the Backstreet Boys to TLC to Michael Jackson. Okay, so maybe the karaoke place didn't have the most up to date American tunes, but it was great fun nonetheless!

Till next time!

Chia 

The Hello Kitty Scooter Gang starts training.

Hello friends!

It's been a few days since I've posted, so I figured I would fill you all in on a few things we have been doing!

Last week was our first week of training. We usually start around 9AM and end around 4PM, followed by an hour of scooter training (which I will talk more about too). Each training day focuses on different aspects of teaching. So, Wednesday, we had one of our TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) instructors, Emily, come to give us a TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) overview. I learned a few new strategies to encourage participation and we ended up doing a mock teaching session. We were given instructions on how to teach different skills. In my case, I had to teach two other ETAs how to clip two paper clips together without touching the paper clips. It was a pretty neat trick, so I'm going to stash that trick away and whip it out at the next time I'm at a children's birthday party. But that activity just shed light on just how important clear, concise directions are. Teaching English, especially to foreign speakers, is also a rather deliberate conscious effort, where you really have to think about word choice and clarity. Now that we are in the midst of training, the fact that we are going to be teaching students is starting to feel more and more real!

Then, there was the day of training where all we did was play games. Needless to say, it was awesome! We played games that were familiar, like what seemed like the German adaption of Jenga and Twister. But we also played games I've never heard of before, like Ugli Doll and Halli Galli. But it wasn't all fun and games, because we then had to brainstorm ideas for how to adapt these games for English learning. It's pretty neat to see and experience all the ways of English learning!

Trying not to make the building tumble! It was a success!

As I mentioned before, after training, we normally have an hour of scooter practice. I'm not going to lie--riding the scooter for the first time was, to put it lightly, mildly terrifying. I was incredibly nervous getting on the first time and let out quite a yelp when taking off. Iris was even chasing after me to make sure I didn't crash! The following scooter practices have been better; I'm less nervous and getting the hang of it, but I'm pretty sure I won't end up investing in a scooter since it's pretty dangerous. And as someone who once fractured her toe trying to do a cartwheel, let's face it--I'm not the most graceful gal.  I will just have to appreciate this aspect of Taiwanese culture from the confounds of a parking lot!

First day of scooter practice and nervous as a clam! Luckily, Iris is only a few feet away for moral and physical support!

But that brings me to what one of my fellow ETAs, Chris, has lovingly named our group the Hello Kitty Scooter Gang! We even have our official symbol -- a gentle pawing of the face not unlike something the glamorous Hello Kitty would do. Considering my preexisting love for Hello Kitty, I'm pretty happy with our name. We will probably even purchase official Hello Kitty Scooter Gang T-shirts (pictures to follow when that imminent day comes)!

On Friday, we toured 6 different elementary schools and we tour 6 more elementary schools tomorrow. In a few days, we will rank the schools by preferene and then be placed in one of them! Although I was initially nervous about what school I would be placed in, after touring the first 6, I can honestly say I think I would enjoy any of the schools. Each school had incredibly warm and welcoming staff. It almost felt like we were celebrities; we had our private bus, and were showered with beverages and snacks while staff members snapped candid photos of us throughout our tour. Although there were slight differences in the school size, location, and extracurricular activities, each school shared one thing in common -- they were all genuinely devoted to providing quality and well rounded education to their students. I feel so fortunate to work in any of schools, given how incredibly inviting the staff are and the pride each school took in caring for their students.

On the next post, I'll have to talk about my weekend trip to Taipei and karaoke. Hopefully, I will know my school placement by then too!

I'm going to hit the hay!

Chia

Hello friends and family!

I figured I would start a blog to keep those of you interested updated about my life abroad! For those of you who don't know, I'm currently serving as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Taichung, Taiwan. I'll be here for 11 months and am super pumped about this opportunity to explore, learn, and teach in a completely new environment. Right now, I have one month of training and then will officially start teaching in September.

So, I officially arrived in Taiwan August 1st, after having a really great time with my family in California and my friends back home in Lexington. Even as August 1st drew nearer, it was hard for me to really digest the fact that I would be spending almost an entire year abroad. And I've gotta say, even though I'm here now, it still feels a little surreal, sort of like I am taking a little vacation and am gonna head back to the US anytime soon.

But despite only being here for 4 days, I feel like we have done SO much already. And by "we," I mean the 8 other ETAs that will also be teaching in Taichung! They're sort of from all over the US and are really cool people! In the past few days, we have done logistical things like applying for our alien resident card, opening a bank account, and setting up our cell phone service. Luckily, the other ETAs and I have help from the equally wonderful Iris, the Taichung ETA coordinator, and Mari, a former ETA. They've helped make the transition to Taiwan go really smoothly!

Besides logistical stuff, we've also done a bit of exploring. On the second day, we went to the Eye Clinic, a really beautiful and majestic chocolate and ice cream shop. It seriously looked like a place in Hogwarts, with its tall ceilings and bookcases that extended from the floor to the ceiling. We waited for about 15-20 minutes for ice cream since the line was pretty intense. I ended up getting a scoop of mango and a scoop of tea flavored ice cream, in a waffle bowl topped with four different types of cookies. Needless to say, I think I went a little overboard, but it was definitely worth it and oh so needed to beat the Taiwanese heat.

Later that night, we also went to the night market, which I was really excited for. The night market is exactly what it sounds like -- a market at night. The streets were crammed with people, food stands, and vendors selling all types of stuff. Besides having to weave through people, we also had to watch out for scooters that zoom by. Scooters, by the way, are a pretty popular form of transportation here. Because I filled up on ice cream, I wasn't too hungry so I didn't get anything, but next time I definitely want to try papaya milk and stinky tofu! If you can't tell already, I live for food!

One of our first selfies!

Yesterday evening, we all decided to go hiking at Dakeng Scenic Area, located in a more rural area of Taichung. This was a nice change of pace, since we are currently staying in a more urban area of Taichung. Let me tell you, I have never sweat more in my entire life than while hiking up one of those mountains. The entire trail we took was a long series of what seemed like never ending stairs in order to reach a temple at the top. The stepmasters, combined with the hot humid air, really got me huffing and puffing. Pretty soon, I was drenched in sweat trailing behind all the other ETAs and being passed by elderly men in their 50s. But despite feeling like I would pass out, it was so worth it. It was such a beautiful area and the view from the top was incredible! Oh, not to mention all the adorable dogs we passed while hiking. One street vendor we passed on the way to the trail let us hold her puppies and they were the very cutest!!!!

Most of the ETAs and I, along with a nice family. 

The view from the top, as the sun was starting to set.

How can your heart not melt when you look at that face?! #proudmama

Anyways, I think that is probably enough writing and enough reading (if you've made it this far) for me to do today. I hope I didn't bore you to tears!

Good night!
Chia