Day #19

I have been here for 2 1/2 weeks already! I can't believe it. It seems like I have been here for so long, but that I still have so much time to go.

Wednesday for out culture class we did some hands on cultural cooking! We made a dessert called a moon cake that is made in the harvest time to celebrate the moon festival. They are made of red beans that are covered in a sweet dough. They are kind of sweet and very good! We also made meatballs that were covered in rice and then steamed. I of course could not eat this since I am a vegetarian, so they made me and Shauna (our graduate student/TA who is also a vegetarian) ones that were made from tofu and vegetables. It was very nice of them! I had my first test of the term on Thursday, we do not have grades back yet, but I am pretty sure that I did well. On Thursday I also did something very exciting, I joined a club on campus! I bet you can all guess what kind of club... dance! It was so much fun. It was more of an aerobics class, but I still enjoyed it. I am not sure if I have ever sweat so much in my life though, it was 90 degrees in the room to start with, then 100 people started dancing around in it! But it was such a great time. It was weird walking into the group and sitting down because everyone looked at me (more like stared) and smiled. They were all so excited that I was part of the group. Another thing that is interesting, is that when I see people here working out, they are wearing their regular clothes. I am pretty sure that I am the only person aside of the instructors that was dressed down for the dance class. I can't imagine doing anything like that in everyday clothes! I don't get to perform with them because they do not do that until December when I am gone, but it will still be great to hang out!
Friday night was so much fun! I finally got to eat sushi! I have been waiting to eat sushi ever since I have arrived here. The place that some of the Taiwanese students took us was great! There was a little conveyor belt that went all around past the tables and you just picked what you wanted off of it. It is so inexpensive compared to at home. I paid a little less than half for just as much sushi as I would get at home! I am going to go there, (or another place some of the girls found that is close by) at least once a week! After dinner we went to see the movie "Burn After Reading." I was not exactly what I thought it was going to be.... but the movie theatres are so much different here! They are about 1/10 of the size! There is so much less seating and the screens are so much smaller. The street that had the movie theatre that we went to was called "Movie Street" by the students here. It had many different movie theaters that each played 2 or 3 movies. It was so different.

Some of the girls and I were going to head out to Maokong on Saturday. There is a zoo, hiking trails, gondola ride, and beautiful tea houses on the side of a hill. But because of the stinkin typhoon we are stuck inside again. It is more serious this time, it is equal in strength to a category 5 hurricane. There are parts of Taipei that are flooded, but we are safe here. Just lots of wind and rain, like last time. But I don't mind that class is cancelled tomorrow, I just don't want to have to sit inside again all day long. I am getting hay fever!

My NEW address

So the first address that I was given was incomplete, and I have the new one for anyone who needs to send me anything! If you have already sent me something, it should still get here fine, it just might take an extra day.

Kayla Whittington
Fu Jen Catholic University
Department of Child and Family Studies
510 Chung Cheng Road
Hsinchuang, Taipei County 24205
Taiwan, ROC

Kind frustrating that the first time I got it it was not right. :(

But it is ok! Today has been a good Tuesday! I am ahead in my school work now so it feels less stressful!

Another typhoon is supposed to be coming in, but we have not seen many signs of it yet, just a little wind. But this one should not be bad at all.

Getting Busy

This week things really started to pick up. It feels like I have been here much longer than I really have. We do so much that each day feels like 3 days!

Wednesday night I went to my very first club in downtown Taipei! It was such a long journey to get there! First we went to a hair salon where they washed out hair and styled it! It was so much fun! We then went to a 4 story McDonalds to change into our dresses and then had a little photo shoot there. It was a lot of fun. We then walked all of the way to the club, where we got to sit in a VIP booth. It was a lot of fun there. I recognized most every song that they played because they were all mostly the same as in the States. The DJ was great too, and even sang to some of the songs and has perfect English. I only had a couple of drinks, but it seemed that the alcohol was not as strong, I could not taste it at all. We did not get home that night until 4 in the morning! The clubs here don't even close until 5am! So maybe next time we can stay later. I slept the whole taxi ride home because we had class at 9:30 the next day!

Thursday night Nancy, a student here that I met at OSU on her exchange, took us out to the Shilin night market. My Lonely Planet book on Taiwan calls this the "king of all night markets." It was such a cool experience. The street was filled with vendors that sold almost anything that you would want to find. Most of the things there were priced very low. I spent probably about $35 American and got 2 pairs of shoes and 3 shirts! It was a lot of fun and there was so much to see. It was fun because you can barter about the prices as well. It was nice that Nancy was there with us, because even though I know my numbers in Chinese, it is hard to hear and concentrate with all of the noise and people around. We were there for a couple of hours, but would need at least a couple more to look at everything.

Saturday we went to a small town South East of Taipei called Yingge. I call it ceramic city because it is famous for its pottery. It was a fun trip because there was a lot to look at and the town was so cute! The streets were made of stone instead of pavement and the roads were lined with palm trees and little stores. A lot of the stores had the same thing but it was fun. I had a popular dessert there, shaved ice. You can get it with all different sorts of toppings. It was surprisingly good. After we shopped around the cute part of town we walked to the Ceramics Museum in downtown Yingge. It was neat to go there and see all of the art. I was able to paint a ceramic bowl with an artist who had art on exhibit in the museum! I will be able to pick it up in a month after they glaze it and fire it. I tried to make it look good, but it was hard when a real pottery artist was sitting next to me painting his own bowl. We were gone on this trip for a total of 12 hours, but I was still smiling by the end. We had a great time, the way home on the train Carly and I sang Christmas songs, of course I was in a good mood!! Here is a link to my photo album on facebook with the pictures from this trip! http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2147459&l=fc1f5&id=19712929

Today has been a homework day. I have gotten a lot of things done on my to do list today! I feel so accomplished, I think that I might finally be getting into the hang of school here. It is so hard to try to make myself do homework when there is so many other fun things that I can do!

First Day of School!

Today was my first day of class. We were supposed to start yesterday but because of the Typhoon that hit Taiwan this last weekend the majority of our Taiwanese classmates were stranded in Thailand. We began the day with Families and Poverty which is a great class. I find the text and discussion very interesting, but there is going to be sooo much to read. Be the end of our 9 weeks of class I will have read 2 textbooks and 3 books for reports. It will be a lot of work.

We also had out first Chinese language class. I really enjoy learning the language but it is very difficult. I have already been learning a lot and picking up quickly from the students that are here. I have been able to for the most part order my own drinks and some food, ( I can say that I am vegetarian). Because of this I got put into the "fast" group. It is still a beginner class, but we moved through a lot of vocabulary and practiced a lot. I have to listen so hard to the instructor to understand what she is saying, process it, then figure out my reply, and then try to say it with the right tones. But hopefully by the end of November I will be able to get around the city pretty well.

We were finally able to get into our own rooms on Sunday night. We were sharing rooms because a group from Japan had to stay longer in the hostel (in our rooms) because of the Typhoon. It is nice to have my own space, but living with Hayley was fun! It took me a little while to get used to the open shower, but now I think I have got the hang of it!

Going back a little ways when the Typhoon was here.... It was crazy! The wind was blowing so hard and the rain would come down in huge drops. Even in Oregon I have never been out in so much rain! Jean, a student here who is helping us all get the ropes, took us to dinner the other night. By the time that we walked to the restaurant that was only a block away we were all soaked from the waist down. And some of us were even wet above that. It was incredible how full of water the streets and sidewalks were. But, now the Typhoon is gone and the warm weather is returning. Today has been beautiful outside!

The restaurant that we went to the other night was a lot of fun! It was a BBQ Buffet. You were able to choose whatever you wanted from the buffet line and then took it back to your table and cooked it there. Each table had a grill with hot coals under it! It was so much fun! Not to mention all the beer that you can drink for $3 American! :) I also ate octopus! It was very very chewy!

Tonight we have a group dinner and then a meeting. We will be eating somewhere very nice where you get to create your own soup at your table, it is called a hot pot. I am excited to try it out, Sharon (our lead instructor) said that it was a traditional Chinese restaurant so it will be a very fun place to go to!

<3 Love <3

Day Two

Today was another long day. We decided to go to one of the largest temples in Taipei called Lungshan and also to Taipei 101 the tallest building in the world.

Lungshan was absolutely beautiful! It was such a peaceful experience. Outside the entrance I bought a gorgeous little flower arrangement that was made on a plate and is used to honor the ancestors. At the temple many people came to pay their respects to those that had pasted away by bringing food and small gifts. So I wanted to add one in too. When we first walked into the temple gates there was a great waterfall on the right hand side with many gigantic coy swimming in the pond at the bottom of it. The left hand side had another pond with a much smaller waterfall and some pretty fountains as well as more fish. When you walk in further through the next entrance there is a small barrier that is about 3 inches off of the ground and a foot long which you have to step over because it is disrespectful to stop on it. The temple was so ornate and decorated with many beautiful flowers and gold writing and artwork. It was amazing at how quiet it was inside the temple even though it was on a loud busy street.


Taipei 101 was in a different part of town. It is a beautiful part of town! I almost wish that our hostel was in that area instead. It is not so crowded. The streets and sidewalks are more open and have many more trees. The buildings are also newer and the are looks much cleaner. We did not go to the top of Taipei 101 because of the Typhoon that is coming. I am not sure if it is because the wind would be too strong 101 stories up, or if it would not be worth it to pay and go up because we would not get a very good view through all of the wind and rain. We are going to go back soon and then also go to the Grand Hotel. In 101 we walked around the shopping mall (7 stories of it). Carly and I saw so many designer stores, we pretended that we could afford to shop at Dolce and Dior, it was great! We also ate in the basement. Most of the restaurants/eateries here have pictures of all of their food which is very helpful. I have also learned to say that I am vegetarian. It is helpful that Shauna and I can always go together to find food, that way I don't have to search alone, and she knows much more Chinese than I do because her mom is from Taiwan.













Here are some more pictures:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2146037&l=02bf4&id=19712929

There is so much construction going on around the city. It is neat to see the buildings going up around us, especially because they use scaffolding made out of bamboo because it is so sturdy! Around the construction zones there are red flashing lights everywhere, I am assuming so that people are careful.

Another thing that I have realized and found very interesting is that since I have been here and around the city (which is a lot) I have only seen 2 gas stations! It almost doesn't make sense for how many cars and motor scooters are out on the road to not have very many gas stations around. I did see a Shell store, which had containers of gas and oil.

Something that we all noticed while we were out walking around and looking into stores is that Playboy is HUGE here! They carry around luggage that has bunnies on it, and purses, everything. People here love it. I asked Sam, one of the students here, about it. I said that in America it meant sex and asked if it was the same here and he said yep. It is crazy to me that they would want to promote that. It is also interesting that Playboy is very popular and the other popular thing is cartoons. They are everywhere and used for everything. It is weird that two such separate things are the most popular things here!

It is starting to Typhoon outside! We are staying in all day tomorrow because it is not safe to go out! It is too windy, we are only allowed to walk to get food and back. It will be nice to have time to settle ourselves in and maybe practice some more Chinese. I am already learning a lot! :) I am going to try to learn to upload pictures on here soon!

Thanks for reading!!

Love!

Finally Arrived

I can't believe that I am actually here. The journey here was long. I stayed up for 26 hours straight through out all 3 of my plane rides (PDX to San Fran, San Fran to Tokyo, Tokyo to Taipei) and then the bus ride to the campus here. This morning when I woke up I took a shower in my bathroom, which does not have a stall around it. The shower is open to the rest of the bathroom, I was afraid that I was going to get everything wet, but it was not too bad. Then I met some of the other girls and we ventured to the 7-11 for our breakfast. The 7-11s here are different than in America, they have everything. They are more like a rite-aid or Walgreens, people go there for many different things. I was able to have plain yogurt and fruit for breakfast.

After breakfast we went on a tour around campus and then through the city. The city is so big (2 million people I think) that it is divided into districts. We went to the post office and the bank and then out to lunch. I paid less than $2 American for my lunch today. It was great. Shauna (the graduate student who will be teaching us on the trip) and I are the only vegetarians so we had to go to a different restaurant than everyone else because the one we were at had meat in every meal choice. Here the culture is to eat out for every meal, but I bought eggs and bread from the store today so that I can make breakfast for myself in the morning. While I was in the store I dropped my first carton of eggs and one broke and splattered! I was so embarrassed and did not know what to do, but the lady who worked there just gave me a new carton and said it was all right. Oh man!

The weather here is very different. It is very muggy, the air is so thick. It is going to be really hard for me to get used to the air that is down town. My throat hurt when we got back to the Fu Jen campus because of all the exhaust and pollution. There are motor scooters EVERYWHERE! So many people ride them. And the driving here is crazy, literally. I don't think that there are rules. Some intersections don't have a yellow light, it just goes from green to red. But everyone runs red lights anyways. I would never want to drive here, so today we did a lot of walking.

We are no longer going on our weekend trip to Hua-Lien because there is a typhoon that is supposed to be arriving here. We are going to try to reschedule our trip so that we will still be able to go. This weekend will be full of rain. We got a little taste of it today when we were out shopping in the town. It just started coming down, and practically sideways from the wind. Everyone just went about their lives too. The people are neat to watch.

I haven't had any real problem with the time transition, which is nice. Right now it is 9pm here and 6am back home in Oregon. and I am tired and ready for bed. Such a crazy concept, especially when I look at the clock on my computer because it is still on the Pacific time zone. I am ready for a good night of sleep and for more adventure tomorrow.

Here is a link to my online photo album with more pictures!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2146009&l=b2ff6&id=19712929

I miss everyone a lot!