When I was younger I remember flying to Denmark with my family and when we landed everyone clapped. I asked my mom and she told me that because the flight was so long, everyone was excited to be on land again so they all clapped when they landed on dry ground, safe and sound. When we landed in Tokyo no one clapped. I'm not sure if thats culture or if they just do not clap on planes anymore. So in Tokyo I went through another security point, and found my gate. Once I walked all the way there- about three football fields and some escalators away- they changed the gate to the one next to the one I landed at. So I trekked back. My gate said Taipei, Taiwan. The gate next to mine said San Francisco. At this point I was so exhausted I wanted to hop back home. This was fueled by the toilette I had to pee in at the airport.
All the toilets here are squaty pottys. So after two times I haven't peed on my pants yet! Trying to hold yourself up is hard though. I still have to touch the wall to keep steady.
I slept the entire flight to Taipei, except when i woke up to eat. I met up with Eric and Rochelle (the two other new teachers at my school) at the airport and then we all rode in a van to our apartment. The apartment was..interesting. Because of the nature of the country and the humidity, there are bugs and roaches in the apartment. We have to be careful about how we throw away our food. It is definitely different here. Luckily my apartment has regular toilets :)
So my first day, Friday we observed at the school and got familiar with it. That night we took the Super Students out to dinner at McDonalds. On Saturday we had a formal introduction to the school and prep time. Then for dinner we went to Shabu Shabu, a hot pot place where they place a pot of boiling water in front of you and you cook your own food. It was pretty good and all you can eat so that was fun.
Sunday we went to church. To get to the English branch here you have to ride a bike to the train station, take a train to another town. Take a bus a few blocks down and then walk a couple blocks. The branch is very small but it seems like it will be nice to be in.
"Food Street"
Monday was our first "fun" day in Chunghua. We explored around our neighborhood. The old teachers showed us all the best places to eat (it is very cheap to eat out here). Food Street is a street lined with places to eat. We then rode our bikes to the mountain in the middle of the city. There is a bomb shelter built into it from 1895 when Japan invaded Taiwan. On top of the mountain there is a big Buddha statue and a Confucian Temple. It was decked out for New Years and it was awesome. This Buddha statue is the largest in Taiwan.
You can see on this Buddha where there is no dust. That is because everyone rubs the Buddha belly for good luck.
A Chinese Yoyo.
Inside the Buddha was different shrines and also inside the Confucian temple. Also inside the Buddha I had my first experience with a local "asking" me to be in a picture with him. (They like white people here). The asking included him pointing to his phone, at me and then at himself, and back to the phone. I felt like a celeb. Then his friend grabbed my upper arm and called me fat. That was fun. I expected that though so I wasnt too surprised. The people here are tiny. In the plaza a group from Thailand tried to talk to us. They cheered when they heard we were from America and said Happy New Year. Asians love Americans. It is so different than being in Europe. We ate dinner at Mos burger. But even the "American" food here tastes asian. the sauce or something on it is just so Asian, its hard to explain. After that we went home and watched movies until ten minutes before midnight. We then got the security guard to take us to the roof of our building. We counted down the seconds to midnight and screamed Happy New Year. Literally all around us in all directions were fireworks. It was crazy. I have never seen so many fireworks at once in all directions. From all the cities around us. It was amazing. And then from the mountain next to us were huge ones. It was a fun make shift new years. The real one will come at Chinese New year in February. :) SO now im rocking in the new year watching Captain America and being amazed at the fact that I am currently in a different YEAR than my friends and family. It is so weird. Well love you all! And hopefully much more to come!
