ariaintaiwan

[ariaintaiwan]

Elephant Mountain

I already talked about when I went to Elephant Mountain in another post but I just realized I don't have pictures uploaded so I'm fixing that now

[ariaintaiwan]

228 Peace Park

My class went on a trip to the 228 peace park which is named after the 228 incident where on February 28th, 1947, the nationalist government of Taiwan massacred an anti-government protest. The tour guide took us around the park and explained the significance of various sites first in Chinese then again in English, which was very impressive. This wasn't mentioned in the tour, but the park is also known for being a famous site in the LGBT history of Taiwan, where it was a meeting place for the local queer community. There's even a famous novel inspired by this history called Crystal Boys

[ariaintaiwan]

Taiwanese Hospital

I went with my host family to their doctor's appointment so they could show me the Taiwanese medical system, and I'm so incredibly jealous of it. They saw two different specialist doctors, got some tests done, and got a month's prescription of insulin for roughly 40 USD total. I took some photos of the little historical section they had with a biography of the hospital's founder, and also a picture of the general hospital area that I found interesting because they had some bible quotes on the wall.

[ariaintaiwan]

While in Sanzhi with my host family selling their old apartment, we went on a walk on the beach. I got some really nice sunset photos as well as some photos under the boardwalk that look almost surreal.

[ariaintaiwan]

Stunning Shell Temple

Last weekend, I went with my host family to their old apartment because they sold it and were going to move their stuff out. While we were in the area, we went to this amazingly beautiful temple where all the decorations are made of coral and seashells. The temple is dedicated to Matsu, a sea goddess and probably the most famous deity in Taiwan, as well as Ji Gong, a famous buddhist monk/folk hero.

[ariaintaiwan]

From what I've seen, most spicy foods in Taiwan aren't all that spicy. I have pretty high spice tolerance by American standards, so take that with a grain of salt if you don't, but almost every spicy food I've gotten, even ones that were hyped up to me as being spicy, was totally fine. That said, I recently went to a place that humbled me. I went with my host family to a fried chicken stall that their friend runs, and I got some fries. I ordered them spicy and my host family asked for them 小辣 (xiao la/mild). Every other time I'd gotten something mild, it's been barely spicy and I wanted it hotter, so I asked for 中辣 (zhong la/medium). They tried to warn me, but I'd had people warn me about things being too spicy before, so I still went with medium. I pretty immediately realized that it was a bad idea when I saw the owner putting on the spice powder. He used a shaker of the spice powder and was shaking it on for a literal solid minute. By the time I got the fries, they were a deep red from all the spice powder. I started eating them, and it was doable at first, but that spice built up super quickly. I ate them with some fruit when I got back to my host family's apartment, and I finished all of the fruit I had trying to fight the spice. At that point, the fries were cold, and it just wasn't worth trying to fight through that spice for cold fries, so I gave up on it. I ate some more over the next day or two, but it was only a few at a time because any more than that would have been too much. I even tried drinking a mango smoothie with it, and the one I got should have been the ultimate spice killer. It had fresh mango, a lot of ice, and some condensed milk. Dairy + sweetness + ice should beat anything, but it barely made a difference with these.

Definitely getting the mild next time.

[ariaintaiwan]

It's been way too long since I posted but here I go lol. I've been either busy or tired and most days have been pretty similar so writing the long detailed description of every day is too much effort to just describe what specifically I had for lunch everyday. I'm just gonna post some highlight reels from now on

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 8: Moving Day

Today was move-in day with my host family, and the plan was to meet with them pretty much first thing. I got up, packed up the room, and went out to get breakfast. I just had a sandwich, rice ball, and tea from 7/11, but it was all good. After I finished eating, I got the call that my host family had arrived and I went to go see them. We packed my bags into their car and drove to the apartment. They pointed out important things in the area and told me about the shuttle bus that stops by their apartment that I can use to get to class. Once I got to their apartment, I got to meet their two dogs J-Hey, named after Jason Heyward, and Xiao Xiong, which just means Cub in Chinese. Once I got my stuff put away, we took the dogs out quickly and went to get some lunch. I tried Dan Bing, which are Taiwanese mini omelettes, and those were very good. I spent the day just talking with my host family. We took the dogs out one more time later to go to the dog park, and then we watched a Taiwanese movie called Monga about Taipei gangsters in the 80's. It was a great movie in its own right, and it was really interesting watching it with someone who can explain some of the historical context that I wouldn't be familiar with otherwise. Once the movie ended, we talked for a while longer before I finally took a shower and went to bed.

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 7: Dragon Boat Day

Today was the second day we had off for Dragon Boat Festival, and today was even more filled. My whole class went together to watch the dragon boat race and climb Elephant Mountain. We all took the bus together and went to the vendor area to get food. There was a vendor selling fresh-baked mini pizzas, and once I saw a margherita pizza I had to get it. I also got an honey tea drink from the bee farm's stand next to the pizza stand and talked to the lady running it for a while. I wasn't able to follow everything she said, but it was a really fun interaction. She asked where I was from, how long I'd been in Taiwan, how I felt about the weather, etc, and I mentioned how I really like bees and think they're very important. Shortly after getting that drink, the races began and we all went over to watch. I stood under the tent for a while to stay out of the sun. There was seating, but it was all wet so I decided to just stand until a nice old man next to me saw and grabbed a folded-up cardboard box and put it by where I was standing so I could sit and not get wet. It was cool to get to see the race, but the part I remember most about the whole event was just everyone being so nice to me. After the race ended, we all went back to the buses to go to the train station and ride to Elephant Mountain. By the time we got there, it started raining, and I didn't have my umbrella, but luckily my classmate let me borrow one. It wasn't an easy climb up the mountain either way, but it would've been a lot worse without the umbrella since I have glasses and wouldn't have been able to see. While the rain was slightly inconvenient, it also made for a very pretty climb, and something about rain is just magical to me, so it was a great time. After we got back from Elephant Mountain, the same people from yesterday were continuing the parade. I was hungry and went with my classmate to get lunch, but afterwards I went to see the parade. Whenever people in the parade noticed me or one anyone else they could tell was a foreigner walking by, they were always excited and greeted us, so I asked a group of them if I could walk with them for a while. They said yes and that was a very fun moment, but it was short lived. A traffic cop saw me and gestured at me to get out of the road. I think it was probably because I was walking off the to the side to not get in the way of the drummers, but it was still disappointing. Interestingly, they didn't shut down the road fully for the parade, so there were still some people in cars that were just going very slowly, and also people on motorcycles just going around the people. After that I went back to my hotel and had planned to stay in my room for the rest of the night since I had already had an incredibly packed day, but one of my classmates ended up inviting me out since they hadn't eaten yet, and so I went with them. We went to get mango shaved ice and had a really nice conversation. The classmate I was with is one of the less experienced ones, so I let them try to order but ended up helping them. We shared a mango shaved ice because they were really big, and I tried to pay for half of it, but they ended up treating me since I helped them order. After that point, I finally got back and got to sleep since I had to be up the next morning to move in with my host family.

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 6: First Day Off

Today was the first day not having class for the Dragon Boat Festival, but I still had to get up early to meet my language partner. We had an assignment where we have to go and find zongzi, a dish of sticky rice wrapped in leaves that's associated with the festival, as well as a bunch of different fillings that they can have, and record a video about it. We took the train to Taipei proper (I'm living in Tamsui, part of New Taipei City), and went to a market there. I was with my language partner, her other American student, and another language partner with his two students who we happened to run into at the train station. We got to the market and got the photos we needed as well as trying the zongzi. They were good, and the lady who sold them to us liked me because we're both vegetarian.

After eating the zongzi and getting the photos, we went to get lunch. I had some noodles and they very good, but they were also not spicy enough. I asked for them to be really spicy but my language partner asked the cook to only make it a little spicy. I get why it's better to undershoot than overshoot, but it was still slightly disappointing :( After lunch we explored the mall in Taipei. It was built right into the train station and had a ton of cool stuff. There was an arcade that I want to go back and try some point, as well as a lot of interesting little shops. After we explored the mall, we got on the train back to Tamsui and split up. I went to get lunch and walk around for a while since I had free time. While I was out walking around, I saw some people out prepping for a Dragon Boat Festival parade, and by the time I got back to the hotel the parade started. It ended up lasting for hours and having super loud fireworks going off in the street that threw off an impressive amount of smoke.

I was tired by the time I got back to the hotel, so I ended up just resting for the rest of the day.

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 5: I Did More Things Today

Today was the last day of class before we get some time off for Dragon Boat Festival. Class was relatively normal, but I had a good time getting lunch with classmates at a new restaurant afterwards. When we got there, one of my classmates and I both wanted to get the Mapo Tofu Omelette Rice, but it had a three chilies next to it on the menu, and she was worried it would be too hot. I figured that since nothing else on the menu had any chilies, it was unlikely that their one spicy dish would be that spicy. We both marked it on the menu to order it, but then the waitress came back to tell us that it was really hot and asked if we were sure. I'm a big fan of spicy food so I stuck with it, but my classmate ordered something else. I was glad I stuck with it because it was really good and it wasn't that hot, but my classmate who also wanted it tried a single bite and decided they made the right choice. After I finished up, I left the restaurant and rushed to campus because I had a one-on-one meeting with my teacher. We went over homework and I generally did well, and I did pronunciation practice. Surprisingly most of my mistakes involved fourth tone which is just the tone that starts high and ends low, so I would think it would be an easy one, but evidently it's not. After that I had an hour or so to kill before I met with my language partner, so I went over to the place we were going to meet at and explored for a while. I spent some time just standing in a convenience store half looking around and half just enjoying the AC, then I went to go get some fruit from a stall I saw across the street. I got a bag of cut up mango and pineapple, and I still can't get over how good all the fruit is in Taiwan.

After that I met up with my language partner and talked to her for about an hour and a half. It was definitely not the most fluid communication, but was still an hour and a half Chinese conversation, so I was pretty happy with that. After I got back to my hotel room, I just rested until dinner. I didn't feel like doing much for dinner, so I just went across the street to the 7/11 and ran into some classmates there. I talked to them for a while and got some things at 7/11, but I decided I wanted something different for dinner, so I went to a vegetarian restaurant right next to the 7/11. It turned out that they were closed already, but the lady at the counter saw me looking at the menu and gave me a bowl of leftover soup for free, which was a great way to end the night.

[ariaintaiwan]

Sorry I didn't post anything for a bit I just had a few days in a row where I was either busy or just tired at the end of the day when I normally write these. I'm gonna go back now get up to date

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 4: Much Of The Same

Today was honestly strangely similar to yesterday. I luckily didn't have any problems sleeping or getting up on time, and I got a good breakfast before getting the bus to class. I got spicy numbing noodles which were delicious. I'm a big fan of spicy breakfast in general because it's such a good way to wake yourself up. Class largely went well, but today was also similar to yesterday in the bad way as well. I misunderstood what I was supposed to do with the homework, so I had to make up for that today again, but I didn't have a problem with understanding instructions during the class, and I spoke well when I had to. After class got out, we had a group meeting, and we talked about general logistics, made a community agreement, etc. There was a major highlight though in that Friday is the Dragon Boat Festival, and we have classes off that day, so we found out about our plans for going to watch a dragon boat race and go for a hike that day. After the meeting ended, I went with my classmates to the same restaurant as yesterday. It was a lot easier this time since we already knew that allergies weren't an issue. We still had one issue with filling out the menu but I was able to smooth it out fairly easily. After eating, my group of four again split into two groups of two. Two of the people I ate with had one-on-one time with our teachers today, so they left for that and I went back to the hotel with the other person. Once I got to the hotel, I rested for a while, did the homework, and went to go get dinner before coming back here to eat, write this post, and go to bed. I definitely need to make sure I do something different tomorrow, but for now I'm ready to get some sleep.

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 3: That Went Better Than Expected

Today was the first day of classes, and I wasn't nervous going in because I knew that today would be introductions and the like, and I've spent a lot more time speaking Chinese in Chinese classes than anywhere else, so when I have to only use Chinese everywhere, a Chinese class because the place I'm by far most comfortable in. After the introductions, we had a break, and during the break, I had the only bad thing of the day happen. It turns out we had two assignments before the first class and when I checked my phone yesterday it had only shown me one, so I didn't do the reading that I needed for the second part of class. Thankfully it wasn't a big deal since I had a bit of time to read the story during the break and the reading was mostly words I already knew so I didn't need to memorize a ton of vocab, but it was definitely embarrassing and I did slip up on one of the words when I had to read aloud. After the reading, we had a group assignment where we had to discuss our answers to some opinion questions that post them online as a group. It was mostly fine but we didn't have enough time to answer them after the discussion so that was a bit annoying. It was no big deal though since I at least understood the questions and instructions, and that was the last part of class since we didn't have the meetings afterward that we're going to have in the future. We got out of class at lunch time, so I left to go get lunch. I ran into a group of classmates and we started talking, and I ended up going with them. They were trying to figure out how to say something in Chinese, and I was able to help them. That surprised me as I generally don't think I speak very good Chinese, and I was expecting to be one of the worst on my program, but it turned out I was the one in the group who spoke the most Chinese. They kept asking me questions, and I was able to answer a lot of them, so they started calling me "teacher" which was really funny but also genuinely gratifying and a nice confidence booster. Before getting lunch, we stopped at a stationery store and explored for a while. I ended up getting some compression gloves for my hands since I've wanted them for a while and they were half the price that they are in the US. I tried them out and omg I love those things. I never thing that my hands hurt in my day-to-day life, but then I put those on and suddenly feel a ton of relief from pain I didn't know was there. I also got some utensils so next time I want to eat fruit, I don't need to go on an hour-long quest to borrow a Swiss army knife that's nowhere near big enough for the job. After we left the stationery store, we started walking towards the hotel and looking for a restaurant on the way, and we ended up at a hot pot restaurant. Ordering was a challenge as the person in our group who spoke the least Chinese also has a severe peanut allergy, so we had to ask about that. There were separate issues with ordering that I don't really know what were since two of the other people went to order and I didn't hear it, but I eventually went up to help them since by that point I had accepted that I was the one there who spoke the best Chinese even if I'm not particularly great at it. The staff didn't understand what I was saying the majority of the time, but we eventually got our food, and it was incredible. I went with three other people, and it was only about 16 USD to feed the four of us. Rice, drinks, and ice cream were all free. They even had a passionfruit slush that I had a good few cups of, but they also had tea, soft drinks, etc.

After eating, we started heading back to the hotel. On the way, we ran into some old Taiwanese men eating outside a restaurant, and one of them apparently lived in the US back in the 90s, so he started talking to us. He asked my friend where they were from and talked to her for a while before mentioning that his friend's son was single and living in Seattle if anyone was looking for a Taiwanese man, which was funny. After that, we split up because two of us wanted to go back to the hotel and the other two wanted to go to get more time on their phones since the SIM cards we got only last until July 1st. Once I got back to the hotel, I wanted to do my homework since I had to do today's as well as go back and do the assignment I missed, but I was super tired when I got back and ended up having a nap first. I woke up at about 6:30, did homework for the next 3 hours, and went to 7/11 for a late dinner. I saw two of the people who I had lunch with there as well as another classmate, and I ended up talking to them for a while before heading back to the hotel to finish my food and write this post. It's now 11:15, which, incredibly shockingly by my standards, is later than I've been up since I got to Taiwan, so I'm ready to finally get to bed. Hopefully I can sleep quickly since I need to get to class early tomorrow, and tomorrow's also the first day that I travel there alone instead of with a group, so I've gotta give extra time for figuring that out. I'm a bit worried about that since I had the nap earlier, but it should be fine.

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 2: Things Start Getting Real

Today was less activity-packed than yesterday, but it also felt like the start of the program proper. I woke up early, sat outside and ate breakfast, then met everyone to head to campus. We finished the orientation and then signed our language pledge. From that point forward, we're no longer allowed to use English amongst ourselves or with our host families, language partners, or roommates. That's definitely going to be a challenge but I was pleasantly surprised with how doable it was. After signing the language pledge, we had lunch and some of our classmates who had epipens showed everyone how to use them in case they went into anaphylactic shock and couldn't do it themselves. After lunch, I finally met my language partner. She showed me her art and we talked about some shows as well as where she studied in the US. While we talked, people started lining up to meet their host families. We're not going to be living with them for about a week still, but we introduced ourselves, talked about how we'd go from campus to their apartment, and talked about what we'd want to do together. That was the last activity for the day, and we then went back to the hotel to do our first homework assignment. It wasn't a problem since it was just a 300-word self-introduction. I've had to do that for so many Chinese classes at this point that when I got told to introduce myself, I basically just black out and come to afterwards having done it all in auto-pilot. Before I did my homework though, I wanted to finish eating the fruit I got yesterday, but I didn't have a knife and the fruits I had both needed that, so I spent an hour trying to find one at the front desk of the hotel or at a convenience store and ended up just borrowing one from a classmate.

I had my fruit, then I went to get dinner. I failed to speak to the lady at the counter, which was funny because that should be an easier task than writing 300 words, but it wasn't. I eventually successfully got my noodles and went back to the hotel to eat and finally pass out.

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 1: Getting My Bearings

Today was my first full day in Taiwan. I started off by taking a shower because I was far too tired to do it last night, getting ready, then heading out for breakfast. I ate at the hotel, but the breakfast wasn't complimentary, so I first went to 7/11 to use the ATM and get Taiwan Dollars as I hadn't done that yet. I ate with some of the other students, and then we all went to check out the temple by the hotel. After that, it was meeting time for our whole group, so we headed back to the hotel then went to the bus stop to get to class. For the first day, we just did orientation and icebreaker activities. We went over program policies, toured the campus, and played some games to get to know each other. Some students got to meet their languages partners, but mine wasn't here yet. After the language partners were introduced, we went on the campus tour and immediately discovered how humid the weather is in Taipei. It was 30 C/86 F, but the humidity made it feel 10 degrees warmer, and whether you were in the shade or the sun made no real difference. After the tour was over, we took a bus back to the hotel. Before going back in, I stopped to get some fruit and a cake from a couple of small shops along the street by the hotel. The cake was good, but it wasn't as sweet or rich as I would like. This wasn't surprising though as desserts in Asia as a whole tend to be less sweet than those in the US. The fruit, on the other hand, was amazing. I got a mango, a dragon fruit, and some kiwis. I still have the dragon fruit and kiwis, but I ate the mango and it was far and away the best mango I've ever had. Mango was already one of my favorite fruits, if not number one, and this one somehow brought it up a tier. One of the other students who had been to Taiwan before mentioned how good the fruit here is, and they couldn't have been more right.

After I got back to the hotel and had my snack, I relaxed until it was time to go back out and explore the night market. We left to go out at around 6pm and spent 2 hours walking around. I saw a person doing a dance routine with flaming rods, tried some nougat treats, and bought a neck fan and a milk tea. The store where I got the milk tea is definitely my new favorite milk tea place for the simple reason that they had a pet duck in the store. It mostly stayed in the back, but it came out while I was there and was biting at my shoe. It was a very interesting sensation, but it was also super cute to watch.

After I got back to my hotel room, I laid down in bed to relax and watched some YouTube videos while writing this post. This is going to be the last thing I do today. It's been a fun and exciting but long day, and I'm very ready to get some sleep.

[ariaintaiwan]

Pumpkins

Some decorated pumpkins as well as candidates for a largest pumpkin contest