Welcome to Taiwan
Holy smokes! I'm here now-- actually in Taiwan...
Luke and April, two of my colleagues, picked me out at the gate last night before we boarded the plane. It wasn't as easy as you'd expect-- of the 100+ passengers, I'd say 20% were non-Asians. However, I'd tipped them off by describing my olive green converse sneakers and my glasses in a previous email. It was a relief to meet them. Like everyone I've met since, they seem like great people-- sharp, personable, and extremely good-natured. April is from Ohio, and Luke is from Illinois, so we noted our common Midwestern backgrounds. We chatted briefly and then parted to board the plane.
Aside from the food, this was one of the best flights I've ever had. I scored big, sitting in front of the middle exit door, so I was able to stretch out and sleep. And I had the window next to an empty seat. Hooray. There were no crying babies or weather problems or anything. In fact, I'm not all that jet-lagged. We left at 1am, and arrived at 5am, and I probably slept 6 hours, through the night.
Thirteen hours later, we landed at Taipei International. The three of us met up again, claimed our bags and cruised through customs-- a total breeze, and wandered out to the waiting area, where we met two of our Fulbright Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (FSE) friends, holding a sign that said something like "Fulbright ETAs," and grinning far too widely, considering they had to pick us up at 5am. By the way, ETA stands for English Teach Assistant, which is my title now. Other Fulbright ETAs were on incoming flights, so we waited about an hour for them. I'll spend an entry introducing them soon.
I should note here that nearly everyone in Taiwan seems to have an English name. Anita, the self-proclaimed "babysitter" (I'd rather think of her as den mother), herded us into a taxi/bus, and we began the 40 minute drive to Taipei proper. The van was equipped with a microphone, which we passed around to do introductions, and Anita briefed us on what we'd be doing for the next couple of days. First, we made our way to the hotel, which is strange but nice, and we each have our own rooms. In fact, I love my little room, and I have several pics I'll post here.
Buddha welcomes you to the Jade House Hotel!
My cute little room:
The weird shower:
Huh?
The only problem is the hideous wallpaper. We arrived at the hotel at about 7:30 am, and split up to shower and nap. That in itself was a curious affair, as the bathroom is one entirely open floorplan, with a toilet in one corner, a sink in another, and shower in another. There is no tub, and no actual shower mount, just a shower handle on a hose, which connects to the faucet about two feet off the floor. I'm sure the floors slope toward the drains slightly, but it's difficult to not make a mess. Anyway...
At 10 am, another FSE agent, Sam, met us in the lobby for a bit of sight seeing. We walked about five blocks to the impressive Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. If you have Google Earth installed (and you should!) you can take a closer look at it here: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=57357
I've also got plenty of pics:
And what's this? Mr. Hanky's grandfather? The museum was filled with strangely shaped cartoon characters...
By the way, it's hot here. Actually, comparable to the weather in Indiana/Kentucky right now. Fairly clear skies, but still humid.
After walking around the memorial, which is massive, taking up probably six normal city blocks, we took a peek in a museum celebrating, from what I could decipher, the bio-, ethnic, and mineral diversity of the island of Taiwan. It was colorful and busy, and apparently geared toward children, but more importantly, it was air conditioned.
We returned to the hotel lobby at 11 am, where two FSE representatives were waiting to meet us. One is apparently a sort of treasurer, as she distributed envelopes full of cash to each of us. Something like 40,000 NT$, which is New Taiwanese dollars, and is apparently worth about $1500 US. I don't know, 40,000 of anything seems like a lot to me. :-) This was our stipend for the month of August.
We then made our first visit to the FSE building, about four blocks from the hotel. You can see it here, via Google Earth: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=268816
There we had lunch and met a half dozen or so FSE employees, who will be helping us throughout the year. It's now 3:06 pm, and we are meeting for supper with the FSE director at 5:45 pm. So we have some free time, but as we are tired and deterred by the heat, many of us are staying at the FSE building for a little bit to have internet access and relax. Nearby is a history museum and a botanical garden, where the lotuses are currently in bloom, but I'm not sure if I'll make it there tonight. As you may know, Taipei is home to the world's tallest building (soon to be outdone by projects in Dubai, I believe), Taipei 101, but that is at least a mile away and I'm not ready for that adventure yet. I'm beginning to get the impression I'll be back to Taipei fairly regularly. Everyone of the FSE individuals we've met today has smirked and made vague comments like "Ohhh, I-Lan... You'll find out about I-Lan." Which I understand to mean, "I don't envy you a bit for setting up camp in that cultural backwater of a town for a year." And then they say something like, "It's very pretty," or "There's great surfing there." But that's ok-- I think it does sound nice.
A few quick notes on Taipei:
1. Scooters. I mean SCOOTERS! They are everywhere, swarming like insects. (2.) Speaking of insects, supposedly they are everywhere too, namely mosquitoes and roaches, but I haven't seen any yet. But these scooters-- they weave in and out of traffic, on sidewalks, around pedestrians... they make left turns in front of oncoming traffic as soon as their red light turns green... I hear it's less dangerous outside Taipei.
2. Insects.
3. People. People, so far, are very helpful and many speak great English. I thought a crowd of westerners would elicit stares, but I have not experienced this at all.
4. Food. This could be challenging. As a fellow ETA noted at lunch, over a dixie cup full of Sprite, "I guess we're going to have to get used to everything coming in 'mini' sizes. No more super sizes." And it's not just that, of course. I'm going to have a tough time finding food that is anywhere near vegetarian, or at least close enough to work.
Well, I need a quick nap before dinner, so I'm going to head back to the hotel. Enjoy some photos of my first day in Taipei. And by the way, I'll soon return to the topic of SF.
Luke and April, two of my colleagues, picked me out at the gate last night before we boarded the plane. It wasn't as easy as you'd expect-- of the 100+ passengers, I'd say 20% were non-Asians. However, I'd tipped them off by describing my olive green converse sneakers and my glasses in a previous email. It was a relief to meet them. Like everyone I've met since, they seem like great people-- sharp, personable, and extremely good-natured. April is from Ohio, and Luke is from Illinois, so we noted our common Midwestern backgrounds. We chatted briefly and then parted to board the plane.
Aside from the food, this was one of the best flights I've ever had. I scored big, sitting in front of the middle exit door, so I was able to stretch out and sleep. And I had the window next to an empty seat. Hooray. There were no crying babies or weather problems or anything. In fact, I'm not all that jet-lagged. We left at 1am, and arrived at 5am, and I probably slept 6 hours, through the night.
Thirteen hours later, we landed at Taipei International. The three of us met up again, claimed our bags and cruised through customs-- a total breeze, and wandered out to the waiting area, where we met two of our Fulbright Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (FSE) friends, holding a sign that said something like "Fulbright ETAs," and grinning far too widely, considering they had to pick us up at 5am. By the way, ETA stands for English Teach Assistant, which is my title now. Other Fulbright ETAs were on incoming flights, so we waited about an hour for them. I'll spend an entry introducing them soon.
I should note here that nearly everyone in Taiwan seems to have an English name. Anita, the self-proclaimed "babysitter" (I'd rather think of her as den mother), herded us into a taxi/bus, and we began the 40 minute drive to Taipei proper. The van was equipped with a microphone, which we passed around to do introductions, and Anita briefed us on what we'd be doing for the next couple of days. First, we made our way to the hotel, which is strange but nice, and we each have our own rooms. In fact, I love my little room, and I have several pics I'll post here.
Buddha welcomes you to the Jade House Hotel!
My cute little room:
The weird shower:
Huh?
The only problem is the hideous wallpaper. We arrived at the hotel at about 7:30 am, and split up to shower and nap. That in itself was a curious affair, as the bathroom is one entirely open floorplan, with a toilet in one corner, a sink in another, and shower in another. There is no tub, and no actual shower mount, just a shower handle on a hose, which connects to the faucet about two feet off the floor. I'm sure the floors slope toward the drains slightly, but it's difficult to not make a mess. Anyway...
At 10 am, another FSE agent, Sam, met us in the lobby for a bit of sight seeing. We walked about five blocks to the impressive Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. If you have Google Earth installed (and you should!) you can take a closer look at it here: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=57357
I've also got plenty of pics:
And what's this? Mr. Hanky's grandfather? The museum was filled with strangely shaped cartoon characters...
By the way, it's hot here. Actually, comparable to the weather in Indiana/Kentucky right now. Fairly clear skies, but still humid.
After walking around the memorial, which is massive, taking up probably six normal city blocks, we took a peek in a museum celebrating, from what I could decipher, the bio-, ethnic, and mineral diversity of the island of Taiwan. It was colorful and busy, and apparently geared toward children, but more importantly, it was air conditioned.
We returned to the hotel lobby at 11 am, where two FSE representatives were waiting to meet us. One is apparently a sort of treasurer, as she distributed envelopes full of cash to each of us. Something like 40,000 NT$, which is New Taiwanese dollars, and is apparently worth about $1500 US. I don't know, 40,000 of anything seems like a lot to me. :-) This was our stipend for the month of August.
We then made our first visit to the FSE building, about four blocks from the hotel. You can see it here, via Google Earth: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=268816
There we had lunch and met a half dozen or so FSE employees, who will be helping us throughout the year. It's now 3:06 pm, and we are meeting for supper with the FSE director at 5:45 pm. So we have some free time, but as we are tired and deterred by the heat, many of us are staying at the FSE building for a little bit to have internet access and relax. Nearby is a history museum and a botanical garden, where the lotuses are currently in bloom, but I'm not sure if I'll make it there tonight. As you may know, Taipei is home to the world's tallest building (soon to be outdone by projects in Dubai, I believe), Taipei 101, but that is at least a mile away and I'm not ready for that adventure yet. I'm beginning to get the impression I'll be back to Taipei fairly regularly. Everyone of the FSE individuals we've met today has smirked and made vague comments like "Ohhh, I-Lan... You'll find out about I-Lan." Which I understand to mean, "I don't envy you a bit for setting up camp in that cultural backwater of a town for a year." And then they say something like, "It's very pretty," or "There's great surfing there." But that's ok-- I think it does sound nice.
A few quick notes on Taipei:
1. Scooters. I mean SCOOTERS! They are everywhere, swarming like insects. (2.) Speaking of insects, supposedly they are everywhere too, namely mosquitoes and roaches, but I haven't seen any yet. But these scooters-- they weave in and out of traffic, on sidewalks, around pedestrians... they make left turns in front of oncoming traffic as soon as their red light turns green... I hear it's less dangerous outside Taipei.
2. Insects.
3. People. People, so far, are very helpful and many speak great English. I thought a crowd of westerners would elicit stares, but I have not experienced this at all.
4. Food. This could be challenging. As a fellow ETA noted at lunch, over a dixie cup full of Sprite, "I guess we're going to have to get used to everything coming in 'mini' sizes. No more super sizes." And it's not just that, of course. I'm going to have a tough time finding food that is anywhere near vegetarian, or at least close enough to work.
Well, I need a quick nap before dinner, so I'm going to head back to the hotel. Enjoy some photos of my first day in Taipei. And by the way, I'll soon return to the topic of SF.
posted by leviaking at 11:26 PM
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