First Post

Hey everyone!

I had promised quite a few a people that I would keep a blog so that those who want to follow my happenings and share in the inevitable social and cultural faux pas I commit this next year in Taipei can do so. Those who know me well know that I have a tendency to be quite longwinded and detail-oriented when I tell a story, so I might have a book, rather than a blog, by the end of this year.

As I write this it is Wednesday morning at 10am here in Taipei, meaning it is 10pm on Tuesday night in Philly and Montreal. I arrived here yesterday around 8am after having a 19 1/2 hour plane ride of which I slept maybe 4 hours?! I flew out of Newark, NJ on EVA airlines and was impressed with the airline despite the length of the flight. The flight attendants were amazing-- all were these gorgeous Taiwanese and Chinese women who were dressed really sharp, were so efficient and poised and could switch between Mandarin and English in a second. There I was looking like a sloppy Westerner (1 of 4 on a plane of 300+) wearing comfy clothes and a hat to hide the fact that I had been crying so hard when I said bye to Mom and Dad. People must have thought I was going off to war and never returning! BTW Thanks to everyone who gave me a little something to open or read on the plane-- it made the 19 hours seem more like... 18?? Another highlight of the flight was the food. There was this seafood soup (everyone knows how much I like fish?? ) that I was given chop sticks to eat. I tried staring at people out of the corner of my eye to get an idea how I was supposed to shovel it in. I ended up giving up after 2 bites! I made friends with the older man sitting beside me, who obviously saw my awkward ways and looked at me with pity, and learned quickly that the Taiwanese are truly as friendly as I had heard. We made one stop in Seattle to refuel and got to get off the plane to stretch. I bought Nyquil and tried to drug myself for the second flight since it was pretty torturous watching everyone around you sleep and not being able to! In Seattle other people found more holistic ways of relaxing and organized themselves by the windows doing breathing and stretching exercises that I assumed were some sort of Tai Chi.

In Taipei I had a driver meet me at the airport who spoke no English whatsoever and who I nearly missed after not being able to recongize my name as
KNL BTCJ
EHN LOER
on his sign card. I did a couple laps around the pickup area before deciding to take my chances and try to gesture " I think that's me??"
The ride back to the dorm was my first look at the city. Unfortunately a typhoon was supposed to be coming that night so the sky was already pretty grey and all I could see of the mountains that are surrounding the city were hazy shadows. The roads were extremely crowded as it was rush hour and as soon as we pulled off the highway we were surrounded by thousands of people of scooters. Everyone from men in suits to women dressed in skirts were riding on them. I even saw a small girl reading a book on the back of a scooter going at least 50 miles per hour. How she managed to not fall off I couldn't figure.

After I arrived at the dorm, and carried 3 suuuper heavy suitcases up 3 flights of stairs I met my new roommates. I'm living in a apartment with 3 other girls at the moment all of which will work with me at the private school I'll be teaching at in the city. There's another Kathleen, who's from Toronto and who has lived in Taipei and taught here for the past year and half. Then there is Julia who is from southern Maryland. I had never met anymore from Maryland with a strong southern accent, which she has and she also calls everything about Maryland "down home." It makes me think of how we all say "down the shore" and how weird it must sound to people outside of Jersey and Philly. She's been here for month or two working the summer English camps that I'm hoping to start before the school year in September. Lastly, there is Louise, who just moved into the dorm the day before me and is from Sydney, Australia. She is incredibly upbeat and energetic.. perfect for working with all the little kids in 100 degree weather hah. All three of them seem really nice and really different from one another. Hopefully my good luck with roommates in the past will continue here!

Last night all 4 of us ventured out to find something to eat before Kathleen went to the big Black Eyed Peas concert, the biggest one in Taipei for the summer. It was my first time out on the streets of my neighborhood and I quickly realized I'm living in a pretty affluent neightborhood. The stores around here are all Gucci, Prada etc and a lot of the restaurants seem to be Western. After a walk around we ended up at TGIFridays! Somewhere I could have found just in Warrington PA. I think the menu was even exactly the same minus maybe different beers on the drink list. We all had a few beers and chatted before walking home through some underground mall and avoiding the rain. I don't think the typhoon ever did hit last night, although it does look like it rained quite a bit this morning.

I passed out by 8pm and slept all the way until 7:30 this morning. Hopefully it won't take long for my body to get used to this schedule, since it had so much practice with all-nighters and late night partying in Montreal! Which speaking of..I'm missing the old roommates in Montreal big time!

I'm hoping to venture out today a bit, even though it's still raining slightly, and maybe take some pictures I can post on here. I'll most likely get my medical examination at the hospital for my working permit today and maybe meet some people from the company that placed me with the school I'll be teaching at. In any case I'll keep everyone posted with what I find myself doing these first days here. Hopefully my next posts won't be so lengthy or boring but I can't make any promises! Hope everything is going well wherever the rest of you are. Please keep me updated on what all of you are up to and feel free to comment!

Love you and miss you guys!!