Time Flies When You're Having Fun

I've now been in Taiwan two months and this last month flew by. And it was a really good month for a number of reasons.

I have had so much this past month with my friends here. We hung out a lot and I have had some wonderful conversations with them. I spent a lot of my first month alone in my apartment being homesick, but I'm getting over that. Going out and getting Starbucks to read or talk with friends is a much better way to spend my time. We also had some crazy, fun nights out on the town that I can hardly remember but I will also never forget. Getting out and doing anything really has made this month fly by.

I have been trying a lot of new things this month too. I have tried many new foods and beverages, most of which I have liked. The exception is bubble tea. That stuff is disgusting. I think going to eat new places and trying random things has expanded my horizons and made me feel like I'm getting to know the area and the culture a lot better.

My attitude about my job has changed as well. I was starting to get down about it, and didn't think I was really cut out for this job. I've thought a lot about it and changed my attitude towards the job and myself. You have to be able to adapt from class to class and it takes time to figure what works for what class. Now that I know my classes and my students better, I feel better about what I am doing here. I have realized this job isn't everything that I wanted to be and that isn't a bad thing. It is just different than what I thought it would be. It is a different experience than I thought I would have, but I will benefit from it nonetheless.

There are a few things I miss a lot (aside from family, Bobby, and friends). I really miss taking baths because my apartment doesn't have a bath tub. I miss singing in the car, and pizza with sauce on it. You never know what really matters until you don't have it.

Two months down, ten to go. If the next few months go by as quickly as September did, I'll be home in no time.

New Foods

 Recently, I have branched out from my usual meal of fried rice and tried some new things. Some very delicious new things. I thought I would write a post and show you guys some of the things I've been trying.

First up, the rice burger. Instead of bread buns, it has two sticky rice patties on top and on the bottom. And the beef inside is not hamburger meat, it is more like pieces of beef with some lettuce. I had read about these rice burgers when I was still in the states. It is surprisingly delicious. Definitely better than a lot of the hamburgers I have tried here. You have to eat it with this wrapping around it so it doesn't all fall apart. I got it at this place called Mos Burger, which is kind of like a McDonald's. I will definitely be back for another one soon. Here are two pictures:

Next, I went to a night market with some friends Saturday night and tried a food I had seen around a lot. I have no idea what it is called but I've been calling them squid balls (which is a really unattractive name). Basically, it is a ball of dough/bread-like stuff with squid in the middle, a sauce, and a flaky pastry-like topping. There are stands EVERYWHERE selling this type of thing so I thought I would give it a try. They were pretty good. The squid in the middle was really chewy, and it tasted and smelled really seafood-y. I would try them again. Here is a picture:

Lastly, the rice triangle. They sell these at 7 11, and I see them all the time but had never tried one. One of my foreign teacher friends has been talking about them nonstop so I ate one tonight. IT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER EATEN. I want to eat a million more of them now. They come in a variety with different meats/fish. I had one that was chicken. All it is is a triangle of white rice, chicken, and dry seaweed on the outside. I can't even tell you how amazing it was. I wish I could send one to all of you. Here is a picture of what that looks like:

Trying new things is what this experience is all about for me. I will definitely continue to try new foods that I find around town because so far, I really like everything I have tried.

Moon Festival

 Moon Festival (a.k.a Mid-Autumn Festival) was yesterday. The Moon Festival is used to celebrate the gods, give thanks, and to celebrate the end of the fall harvest. It is a public holiday so there was no school yesterday. Some of the ways people celebrate are by eating mooncakes, bbqing, and praying. It is always held when there is a full moon.

Mooncakes are definitely an interesting food. They can come in many different flavors and fillings. The kind I had was a more savory cake, with meat in the middle.  It was very filling and not what I expected.

On Wednesday night, I hung out with some new Taiwanese friends. We drank a few beers and ate some barbecue. It was really fun. There was bbq fish, lots of vegetables, and we roasted marshmallows. You could see people everywhere, also barbecuing and lighting off fireworks. Here are a few pictures from my evening:

It was also my teacher friends birthday. So after we barbecued, we went out for a few drinks and I had pretty stellar night. 

The Streets

I think the most dangerous, and worst part, about living in Taiwan is how dangerous the roads here are.  That is the one thing I am still not comfortable with here.

Most people here ride scooters, like Vespas, but they are THE MOST unsafe drivers I have ever seen. They weave in and out of the tiniest spaces, drive on the wrong side of the road, and stop their scooters in the middle of traffic so they can talk on the phone. I ride a bicycle, so I am constantly dodging these people and also trying to not get hit by cars. No one seems to have any concern for their own safety, let alone anyone else's. Also, no one waits for the light to turn green before they go.

People in cars are just as bad too. They park wherever they please and reverse without looking around at all the people on scooters and bikes behind them. Instead of driving behind the scooters, they always try to go around them by driving in the wrong lane and I can't tell you how many times I have almost been hit by a car because of that.

One of the Taiwanese teachers at my school was in a horrible accident last week. She was riding a scooter and a truck got too close to her. Her handlebar got caught on the truck and it dragged her down the road and threw her off her scooter. She is in a coma and won't wake up, along with 5 broken ribs, a smashed in cheek, an arm broken in two places, and more. I will admit that I do not know her all that well, but she is such a sweet girl. It is scary when things like this happen to people you know. It is making me be extra cautious when I bike, but now I'm also more scared than I already was. I try to be as aware and as safe as I can, but you can never predict what other people are going to do.

Funny English Misspellings

I went shopping again the other day, and this time I took pictures of some of the clothes with misspelled things, or strings of letters that just make no sense.

"Tanfastic Swoh"

"WTAHC TEH COLKC"

"challemyck be the mikaho your dreamro conne true that's wolec"

"The world weasked the DJ to play is record
tofu is a healthy food
my dream is to study abroad
medicines are mostly chemicals
spiders feed on small in sects"

I had a great time walking around, trying to figure out the shirts were TRYING to say.

One Month Down

I've been in Taiwan for about a month at this point, so I thought I would write a post reflecting on my time here so far. It has been a pretty good first month. I think that's because everything has been so new and different from the states. I've had a lot of fun so far, and had many experiences I never would have thought I'd have. 

I've really enjoyed being in a place where I understand nothing. I thought it would be really stressful, but it is kind of a freeing feeling. I thought it would be more embarrassing trying to order food and things and not knowing Chinese, but people are generally friendly and work hard to help you out.  I like that I can't understand what any one is saying about me. 

I am surprised that I like the food here. I've never been one to eat vegetables, but I love the way they prepare them here. The thing I eat the most here though is fried rice. I love some chicken fried rice. And I still really, really love iced green tea. 

I have discovered that teaching is not something I want to do with my life. I am not as good at teaching children as I thought I would be, but I'm learning. It is exhausting being a teacher. I have so many friends in the states who want to be teachers, and I give them so much credit now. It is a hard job. 

I've been somewhat learning Chinese, but I need to get more serious about that now. That is an important part of this journey for me.

As much as I have liked being here, I am still really homesick. This experience was the right thing to do, but I do not think I would go abroad for a year again. This has been both the shortest and longest month of my life. And I think I miss my family, friends, boyfriend, and cat more than I like being here. It will be a long 11 months, but I still have so much to experience here. 

Sunday Fun Day

I really like Sundays here in Taiwan. Every Sunday, I've done something different and super fun. This Sunday was no exception. Sunday afternoon I went to this little city called Lukang with my teacher friend Julie. It was about a 15 minute scooter ride away. I went to two beautiful temples while I was there. The first temple we went to is called Chenghuang Temple, and it is small but gorgeous. The lanterns that were everywhere was my favorite part. Here are some pictures:

The temple at night

Temples have the prettiest ceilings

The walls outside the temple

The other temple we went to was much bigger and it is called Tien Ho Temple. It was STUNNING. I learned how to pray properly at the temple. According to an adorable little boy who taught me, you think about your name and age and then wish/pray for something. After that, you bow three times and put three incense sticks in the ornate incense pot (I know there is a better word than pot but I can't think of one). There were five of these pot-like things throughout the temple, so you start out with 15 incense sticks and place three in each pot. It was a very relaxed and therapeutic experience. There is a special god for each year, and a nice Taiwanese man helped me find the god for my birth year, 1991. Here are some pictures of Tien Ho Temple:

This god is the god of 1991

My favorite part of the temple was the area that was for worshipping the love god. It was beautiful. We left offerings because we were told it will give you luck in love. Here are all the pictures I took of the area dedicated to the love god:

Love God Shrine

Love god

Beautiful wall

Ceiling of the love god area

Here are some other random pictures of Lukang, and a few of the purchases I made:

Lukang

Ripley's Believe it or Not!

Gourds are good luck

New rings and bracelets!

Sundays are always fun for another reason. Every Sunday, my friends and I go to the Thai/Vietnamese part of town and hang out with a big group of Thai guys. It is so much crazy fun. They act like we are celebrities. It's really fun and silly. They just take pictures with us and tell us how beautiful we are and that we should go visit Thailand. I've earned some street cred with them because of my tattoos, and the fact that they think I'm a "rocker" chick. They call me "little sister". Here are a few pictures of my Thai guys:

It was a jam packed day but it was amazing. It definitely put me in the mood to have a good week.