Snapshots from Taiwan

I have not written a blog post in a while. The reason for this is that I have been rather busy the past two weeks. Like any teacher at the start of school, I have stayed late during the week to plan and finish setting up my classroom. Outside of teaching, I have also been busy spending time getting to know the other teachers at my school. I have lived in Taiwan for two months now and it is clear that there is a difference between visiting a country for a vacation and living there for an extended period of time. While I feel like I should constantly be exploring and taking advantage of my time here, I also have to do mundane day-to-day routines like I would in the states. I still need to take time to work out, pay bills, and wash the dishes. I feel the need to explore, but also the need to make sure I get everything I need to done. I'm still figuring out how to balance both. Here are some snapshots from the past couple of weeks of my time here.

Ghost Month

One day I was modeling how to read to someone and sit EEKK (elbow elbow knee to knee) style. I told my student that was helping me how we were going to sit. 

      "Teacher," he said, "you cannot. It is Ghost Month." 

What he was talking about is that every year around August, it is believed that the gates to the underworld open and lets spirits visit the living for a month. During this time people will set out food for the ghosts and burn yellow paper "money" for the ghosts. There are many practices and rules during this month. Some of these rules include: 

1. Don't turn around if someone taps you on the shoulder. (What the student thought I was going to do)
2. Don't hang your clothes out at night. 
3. Don't go swimming, especially in the ocean. 
4. Don't whistle, especially at night. 

I am sure I broke several taboos during ghost month, including swimming. I ain't afraid of no ghosts. However, one day when I was swimming laps at the pool in my apartment, something a little creepy happened. There was a dad and several small children swimming in the pool at my apartment at the same time as me. Everyone got out of the pool, except for this one boy. I was kicking and keeping an eye on him. Where were his grownups? He was walking around the pool and looking at the bottom like he had dropped something and couldn't find it. He would dive down to the bottom and then come back up. He did this several times. I looked away for a second and he was gone. Worried that he was drowning, I went over to where he had been, but there was no trace of him. I told the story to my students, which led to a divided discussion of whether or not he was a ghost. They still ask me if I have seen him while swimming. 

Food and Friends

This is from a couple of weeks ago when I went out to dinner at a traditional Taiwanese restaurant with some of the other teachers at our school (Marcie, Josilin, and Jill). Afterwards we had ice cream. 

When I went to college on the West Coast, I loved getting bubble tea. I had no idea that it was invented in Taiwan. Here is bubble tea from the original bubble tea house. 

Exploring Taichung

Admittedly, I have not even made a dent in exploring Taichung. My roommate is a great tour guide and is willing to take me to all the sights. The picture above is from Rainbow Village. The story behind Rainbow Village is that a neighborhood was going to be torn down and redeveloped. Rainbow Grandpa, as he is now called, painted all of the buildings to try to prevent it from being redeveloped. It is still standing and attracts many visitors. 

This is one of the many markets in Taichung. This one specializes in selling jade, but also sells other goods. While at this market we visited a tea seller, who took the time to brew tea for us. 

Puli

Embarrassingly enough, I had  yet to venture outside of Taichung. So this weekend when my friend Tyler invited me to go on a day trip to a farm, I jumped at the chance. Originally we were going to take a car and then the morning of it was decided that we were going to scoot. Tyler doubled me with our friend Michael leading the way. Michael said that he knew a longer, but more scenic route. The more scenic route led us through the mountains. Tyler's scooter does not have great brakes, so every time we went downhill it was a little scary. When we stopped at an overlook Michael asked if we had enjoyed the view. Tyler and I mentioned that we didn't notice much of the view because we were afraid we were going to drive off the mountain. After three hours of scooting, we arrived at the city of Puli and convinced Michael to stop and spend the day there. We went to the local information center and got recommendations for what to see. The first stop was a paper making plant. We went on a tour (in Chinese) and then printed on our own paper. It was interested to see the process of how it was done from pulp to paper. The above picture is two of the workers at the plant turning the paper we made into a fan. 

We also went to a chocolate shop, a brewery, and a park. In Taiwan, I have found that things are often not what you would expect them to be (see my last post). They had recommended that we go to King Garden at the information center. In my mind I picture a garden with flowers, plants, and as a place to enjoy nature. Silly me! The "garden" was actually a castle with shops inside, a giant chessboard, and cardboard cutouts of world leaders as characters in movies. The cutouts included Hitler as Kill Bill and Hillary and Bill Clinton as Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I mentioned to Tyler, Michael, and Jacob that it wasn't what I expected from a garden. They told me that this is Taiwan and I better get used to it. :)