4ever Discovering

I can’t believe we have been in Taiwan for over a

month already!  Time really does fly when you’re

having fun (or when you are just too busy to notice). 

With working all day, joining a gym after school, and

planning excursions every weekend, I have barely

noticed that we are already reaching October.  It also

doesn’t help that the temperature is still 30 degrees

plus humidity here!  There are no signs of autumn yet;

the leaves haven’t changed colour, the air isn’t crisp,

and there isn’t any pumpkin spice anything to be found. 

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After one month of living in Taipei, I can definitely say there have been many ups and downs.  Anytime you have to adapt to a new way of life and new culture, there are always challenges.  Since my time in Europe, I have found that I am very adaptable to many situations.  Nothing seizes to amaze me, whether it is having fish served to you with the head still attached, or seeing a family of 5 ride down the street piled on one scooter.  I have learned that sometimes you just need to embrace it, rather than question it.  With that being said, there have been a few changes I have encountered in Taiwan that I can say have definitely been a first for me.  For example, not everyone can say that they have witnessed 3 typhoons, and even survived the walk to McDonalds during one.  What can I say, when you’re hungry, you do what you have to do to get food.  Point noted, next time it is probably best if we do not chance it and stay indoors.

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So far, I have loved living in Asia.  I love the food, the culture, and the liveliness of the city.  Everyone here is so friendly; people go out of their way to make sure we feel comfortable.  I mean, we stick out like sore thumbs here, so people notice if we look lost or can’t understand the menu.  It must be that Canadian innocence look we give off.

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With that being said, I have found that people stare…a lot. 

Almost too much.  Sometimes I feel like these people have never

seen a white person in real life before.  I guess when people tour

Asia, Taiwan isn’t at the top of the list to visit; but you would

think in the capital city there would be more foreigners.  I also

expected more people to speak English here.  I have found that

the language barrier has been extremely difficult sometimes. 

In the beginning, we always seemed to have a Chinese-speaking

person with us to translate, whether it was someone from head

office or from the school.  Now, I find that when Emily and I travel on weekends especially, we get a little frustrated with the language.  After traveling Europe, I was convinced English was truly the universal language and everyone spoke it.  After 6 weeks in Taiwan, I have re-evaluated that statement.  I guess the only option is for us to learn Chinese (better wish us luck in advance).

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One of the most unique experiences about living in Taipei has been the garbage disposal.  Like any other city, the garbage truck comes to collect trash and recycling.  Normal, right?  Wrong.  Here, you have to bring your garbage to the truck itself.  In order to know when the truck is coming, you will hear one of Beethoven’s symphonies playing loud from the speakers on the vehicle.  That gives you about a 3 minute warning from our apartment.  That means we have to run down 5 flights of stairs and try to catch the truck.  It only stops when the driver sees a big crowd, so depending on the night, you may or may not be in luck.  So far, we haven’t gotten lucky.  On both occasions, we have found ourselves (cough, cough, Emily) running down the street in our pyjamas, chasing the garbage truck to get him to stop.  Quite the experience, eh?  I can just imagine what the locals were thinking.  Maybe we deserve some of the stares I was talking about after all.  Just another memory to add to this list we call life.

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For anyone wondering how it has been going so far; it has been awesome!  I have loved every day here, good or bad.  Every day I learn something new and gain a new perspective into a new culture and way of life.  I keep telling myself to be open to any new experience and never judge a book by its cover (no matter how disgusting it looks on the menu).  And don’t worry about my teaching life thus far; I will keep you updated with that soon!

Everyone have a Caesar for me this weekend!

 

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