The Good with the Bad

Lots of stuff to update on along with some final thoughts on best/worst things about Taiwan so far...

School Placements

As possibly the most significant event to occur since arriving in Taiwan, last week we visited/toured the schools that each of us would be teaching at this school year. On the tours we all agreed that there was not a single "bad" school in the bunch.  Each had something different to offer. What was really bizarre to me was that everyone really did seem to have a slightly different opinion on each school.  I mean, I know "we are all different," but you would think with a group that gets along as well as ours does that there would be more overlaps in opinions (although we do have quite a wide variety of interests in our group).  Granted, some people had similar #1 choices, but I was often surprised after coming out of a school thinking "meh" that another ETA was talking about how amazing it was. Or even the one I fell in love with, someone else wasn't as impressed with it as I was (that was ok because it meant less competition).  Each school really pulled out the stops for us. Most had a snack available for us (examples: fruit and cookies, sweet bean ice drink thing - this was actually really good, iced lattes, pudding and fruit, more lattes). And one had its faculty applaud as we walked up the front steps... yah, we were quite confused by this since we hadn't done anything yet.... other than walk up the front steps looking fabulous... so maybe that was it :D.

From there we were able to fill out a form listing our favorite schools, and then Monday we were given our school assignments. There were some surprises, but everyone was overall pleased with their placement.

Receiving my assignment with a representative from my school

Ladies and gentleman... I will be an English Teaching Assistant at 吉峰國小 (JiFeng Elementary School) for this coming school year.  Once the school year gets started, I'll be sure to talk a lot about more about it, but for now, check out a picture taken by another ETA here in Taichung.

Fun facts on Taiwan schools: The "relatively not well-off" elementary schools in Taiwan (that was where the Fulbright program requests that the Taichung government sends us) are almost as nice as the college I went to in the States.  In terms of technology and campus, many were unbelievable.  Not one was under 2 stories.  Each had an elaborate gate or entry way of some sort.  Essentially, all these public schools looked like older private schools in the States.  I'm not sure what this says about Taiwan vs American education systems, but I thought it was interesting. Also, many of these kids don't just go home or go to sports/dance practice after school.  They go to cram school.  If you've never heard of them, they are essentially an extra class.  Cram schools are generally their own agencies that parents pay extra to send their kids to to learn/study more in a specific subject.  Pros: kids learn a lot more about a specific subject and begin to excel in that subject.... Cons: kids tend to get ahead of the other "normal kids" in their cram school subject (especially in English) leading to a wide variety of levels in the classroom, kids don't get out of cram school until almost 8-9pm.

Buddhist Temple Visit

Head nun/monk

Very nice nun who spoke great English and has been to USA before

Main worship era

On Saturday our coordinator invited us to visit her temple as she is Buddhist.  Although I'm Christian (and a couple other people in the group are), I wanted to go for the cultural experience.  Her mother arranged for us to all go with some other people on a bus as it was up in the mountains.  Most of us had the image of a temple in the forest with monks wandering about, some in prayer, some conversing, etc.  The only thing this temple had in common with that was it was in the mountains surrounded by trees and there were monks.  This was actually a temple with only female monks, and I was shocked at first to see a more modern looking building as our destination. And lots of carnival colors. We were all a little taken aback at first, because these pavilion tents were nothing like we were expecting.  As it turned out, they were celebrating the birthday of the specific Buddha that this temple worships.  Thus, they had many extra shrines and stations set up for the occasion.... and it was looking like rain... hence the tents.  Not gonna lie, at first I was very uncomfortable because this was not a "just stand back and observe" type of set up.  Although the monks (or nuns if you would rather call them that... but they were nothing like any nuns I've ever seen) were very nice, they seemed a little over eager at first to get us involved in what everyone else was doing for my taste (not in a "I'm gonna convert you!" type of way, just wanting us to be able to participate).  Once I communicated that I did not want to do certain things and figured out how to continually maneuver myself to the back of the group (something that I don't typically do haha), I managed to have a nice time and just observe. The trip was actually a great spiritual adventure for me too.  Never having been so thoroughly exposed to another religion before, it gave me the chance to reflect on my own faith and  remember some of the teachings I often forget about. Overall, I came away much more solid in my faith.

Nuns make great zhong-zi (rice made with stuff wrapped in bamboo)

Symbolic bread made to look like a peach (peach=longevity)

Typhoons

"How sad. Taiwan is a tropical island, so unfortunately, there are no snow days so school/work can be canceled."
"That's ok! We have typhoons instead."

Complete lack of care that a typhoon is supposed to be coming soon by natives ^^

Today (this was originally written on Wednesday) actually is my first experience with typhoons.  Our ETA training was canceled last night, but when I woke up this morning I wasn't sure why.  Sure the ground was wet, but it was barely raining and there were plenty of cars and mopeds on the streets.  The sun even peaked out for a while. So far today has been a steady alteration between sprinkling and, in the best way to describe it, "fat rain." And maybe there was some wind thrown in.  My roomies and I went to the convenience store, went to a tea shop, and even went out for hot pot (although since the hot pot place is right next door, I'm not sure if that counts as an accomplishment).  Heck, the waffle lady's stand was open too (she's under an overhang, but it's not in a solid building). Taichung's geographical position on the island is such that it's known for its nice weather, and we were even told that it's often sheltered from typhoons.  But that didn't stop us from going out last night to get a couple packs of ramen, snacks, and water just in case.  Now, I think we might have over reacted slightly.  But overall I'm not complaining because today has been a nice, relaxing day filled with The Avengers, getting caught up on some cleaning, and delicious snack food.
*Side note* Thursday, the day after typhoon day, we almost weather almost as bad as (if not worse) than the actual typhoon day.

It's now time for.... the Best/"Worst" of Taiwan so far....

"Worst" (which is not actually that bad in the first place)
1. Sugar in Drinks

Posters from a gym here... I feel like these statements contradict.

Taiwan has a sweet tooth when it comes to their drinks that gives America a run for it's money.  Personally, I prefer lighter sweet tastes in general, but even some of the ETAs who have never really developed that preference (and are totally for sugar) are complaining that the sweet here is too sweet.  ESPECIALLY in the drinks.  At all the drink stands here you can completely customize your drink. You can adjust the sugar and ice levels to your satisfaction. The "full" sugar level is pretty much undrinkable. I usually go with the lowest sugar level of "無糖／no sugar" or "微糖／tiny (or 1/3) sugar"... and actually some stores' "tiny sugar" is too much.  Now the real fun comes when you buy bottled drinks (mainly juices and teas) because you can't customize the sugar levels (and it does not seem to be a requirement to put sugar quantities on the nutrition label... hmmm I wonder why... *sarcasm*). So it's kinda a game to try a new drink from the convenient store.... "how sweet is it gonna be? Drinkable not drinkable?" *person takes a sip* *insert face appropriate to either "way too sweet and is disgusting" or "not too sweet... will be buying this brand more often"*
2. Checking out at a store
The actually checking out process is fine.  But sometimes I'm a little slow at putting my change away, putting my receipt away, picking up my stuff, and heading out the door. However, if there's someone waiting behind me, as soon as the cashier is done handing me my my receipt and change, it is time to ring the next person up no matter how crowded the counter gets with 3 people and merchandise. 
3. No 3G
Sure I could turn on my 3G, but it would be so expensive (since I have a prepaid card and can't get a plan - 2 year minimum) that it's not worth it. However, one ETA switched the company he has his sim card with because apparently this other company has a deal to buy 1 GB of data for X amount (and X is cheap).  So depending on how I hold up in the next couple weeks, I may switch too.
4. Can't drink the tap water
But there are water dispensers with filtered water everywhere, so it's not a big issue.
5. Lack of public trash cans.
Needs no explanation.
6. A night market is right next to our hostel
The night market is filled with delicious, cheap snack foods (noodles, fruit, fried things) and desserts (such as waffles - ya waffles are desserts here) that are too easily accessible from my hostel (literally a 2 min walk). And when you're tired at the end of the day and don't wanna travel too far to go eat dinner, guess what is the default dinner place? And this is clearly not a healthy, slimming habit to get into.

Extra-delicious pizza... brick-oven cooked too

Pizza... delicious pizza

Best
1. A night market is right next to our hostel
All these delicious foods are close by. So when you want something fun and/or sweet to eat it couldn't be easier to get it :) Especially waffles at 10pm.

Soy tofu with ice covered in honey and sesame seeds...cheap and kinda healthy?

2. The tea shops
Sure I'm not a fan of the super sugar tea drinks, but Taiwan makes it really fun and easy to stay hydrated.  They have so many types of tea available.  There are fruit options, add milk for typical "bubble milk tea," add the tapioca pearls that make it "bubble," hot or cold, etc etc. I've never had such a variety of iced tea available in my life. There is at least one of these stores on every block and each one seems to be doing healthy business.  And the lids! That's just it, there are no lids. It's a plastic seal that they put over the top which is quite clever actually. Because it's sealed, if the cup tips while you're transporting it to where you want to drink it, it won't spill.  And to drink it, you just just puncture the seal with your pointed end straw.
3. You don't need a car to get everywhere
It's easy to access everything you need without a car.  Everything you could want in terms of food, shopping, entertainment, etc is easily accessible by walking or taking the bus (and the first 8km is free on the bus).  It's a lot like New York City in that respect I guess.  But coming from the suburbs where you have to drive everywhere, it's a much preferred change. And anything you could desperately need can be easily bought at your local 7-11.
4. 7-11/ Taiwan convenience stores
In Taiwan, 7-11 and other convenience stores are not the sketchy places of the underworld that we know them to be.  Here they are your local family spot for just about anything you need. Tons of drinks, tons of food, even clothes! Wanna buy the latest video game? Need to pay your bills? Does your bus card need more money? Wanna buy a train ticket? Go to 7-11. Seriously, you can have breakfast, lunch, and dinner there, and have no problems eating a variety of foods. You can buy vitamins too.  Pretty much, when in doubt of where to do something, just go to 7-11.

Food buffet with manga/dvds/video game rack behind it

So much delicious food, umbrellas, and my roommates.

5. Prices (especially for food)
Seriously, we can have a great quality meal, that's quite healthy too, for under $6 (yes, American dollars).

Only $3.33 people... only $3.33...

5. The people
The Taiwanese have been some of the nicest people I have ever met. Truly.  I have never met people more willing to go out of their way for strangers to help them or build relationships.  But most importantly, this ETA group along with our coordinator is amazing.  Everyone is really cool, nice, wanting to go on adventures, and willing to help everyone out. Seriously, when we go places as a group, people don't pair off into regular groups.  It's a constant shift of who you are talking to and spending time with.  Yet we are all different.  So I'm very excited to learn a ton from these amazing people and hopefully have 11 close, lifelong friends by the end of this year-long adventure.

Local boy who started hanging out with us. Speaks great English. And he did a fantastic job on my nails \^-^/

We Are Family

*Warning* This post might get slightly sentimental.

Coordinator and practice scooter

Before coming to Taiwan, I heard the whispers of how awesome the country is... the food, the drinks, the night markets, the food, the dessert, and did I mention the food? However the whisper I have found to be the most true is how generous and friendly the people are here.  They make Southern hospitality look like that neighbor you've lived next to for years, but have never actually met.  To list some examples... I have yet to see anyone, both behind the counter and in line behind us, get impatient as we try to decipher the menus ordering our daily tea drink.  If anything, they use what English they speak to help us or patiently listen to our attempts at ordering in Chinese all while smiling encouragingly (before they confirm what they thought they heard with the token Chinese-speaking person with us). Bus drivers have let us off at non-designated stops because we missed the one we were actually supposed to get off at.  Our coordinator has let us all practice driving mopeds on her own scooter (I don't know about you, but I wouldn't let anyone- people I've known less than 2 weeks keep in mind- just take my car around for to practice driving it before the test... especially coming from a country where they don't typically drive cars).  Our coordinator has also taken some of her off-work time to show us around on evenings and weekends to make sure we know how to navigate everything and where all our essential stores are.  One of our presenters for our orientation (who was a previous Fulbright ETA the year before and is doing a second-year... so he's American) even brought us muffins all the way from Taibei. 

Jurassic Park scenery: Bamboo forest

 However, this weekend took things to a whole new level.  One of the ETA's here is Taiwanese-American, and she has family in the city we are in.  Her family invited us to go with them to Xitou, a local nature area heading towards the mountains (it was kind of like a national park although more paved trails and drink/food stands... and no camping... but lots of nature and nature inspired places).  It was really refreshing to get out of the city, and all of us were so surprised at how good it felt. And how easy it was to breathe. Maybe we've been getting more pollution than we realized O.O . And it was at least 10 degrees cooler up there which was awesome.  Seriously though, we all felt we were in Princess Mononoke or that a raptor was gonna come crashing through the woods at any moment because the place felt like Jurassic Park.  The foliage was so thick on the ground, and the paved paths were the only parts of the forest that were touched.  And so much walking... so much walking... and what's insane is there were Taiwanese girls doing it all in super cute outfits with platform shoes. Platform shoes! Going up hills! Unfortunately I didn't know enough Chinese to go up and inquire as to their logic behind their get-up.  It's now on the to-do list.

Handmade taffy: flaky, not chewy

It all started with the coffee.  Her uncle asked if anyone wanted some coffee from the 7-11 before we set out and one girl in our group said yes.  But before she could pay for her coffee, Uncle bought it for her.  Before going into the park, the ETAs from Harvard, Standford, Johns Hopkins, USC, etc all gathered around excitedly to... play with bubbles and watch taffy being made ^-^.  And the best part was, we were far from the only adults doing so.  Some things you just never grow out of, no matter what country you're from.  After the taffy show, we wanted to buy some to try it, but Uncle beat us to it and bought us a bag to share.  So generous :)

Princess Mononoke scenery

Suddenly we were gestured to hold out our arms, and we were all stamped to get into the park. But wait, didn't we have to pay? We asked Uncle how much it was so we could pay him back... after all, we have money, and the admittance fee couldn't have been cheap.  He said it cost NT$0 -_- "Thank you so much" was all we could do although we were starting to realize that we had to be on top of buying him a treat to return the favor (side note: we had already brought some bakery gifts as a thank you for inviting us and driving us- in typical Taiwanese fashion... when in Rome after all).  Half-way through the hike to the "Big Tree," we stopped for a break and out of Uncle's backpack came guava slices, cherries, and pineapple cake that Auntie prepared for us.  The generosity was overwhelming and it just kept coming! When we stopped to get snacks for our lunch, we decided to try some sausages one stand was roasting, and I literally had to snatch the bill out of the cashier's hand that Uncle had handed him to give him my own so I could buy him, Auntie, and myself a sausage.  But I guess he thought I was playing the piggie American and eat my 3 sausages because he then proceeded to buy 3 more -_- So people who didn't even originally order one got to try one. "Are you guys still hungry? This is lunch after all." "No we're ok, thank you." "Ok, let me go buy some roasted corn for you. And here, try some rice made in bamboo." (ya not kidding, they shove the rice into the bamboo and cook it. Then you break open the bamboo to eat the rice. it was SUPER cool and SUPER delicious). "wow, thank you so much, but we can buy it." "Oh you guys really like the rice, let me get you more."   

Bunny Tree... found only in Taiwan

By this point, we realized three things 1- we were gonna have to tackle him if we wanted to pay for anything ourselves, 2- never say/gesture/make eye signals that you want to buy something in his proximity, and 3- we were little kids.  Auntie and Uncle were mom and dad making sure we weren't hungry, were eating, had napkins... they were taking our trash and doing head counts every 15 min or so.

Eventually we went to a Japanese inspired village there and I was able to buy Uncle and Auntie ice cream to repay their kindness, if only in part.  But this peace was not meant to last.  As we were all chillin listening to a live band play songs (many in English just for us ^_^ -> Taiwan welcoming/generous spirit once again), Uncle brought us Peach Shaved Ice.  We had been searching for it earlier, but had contented ourselves with ice cream and had hit the full mark.  But oh no... Uncle had seen it, remembered we wanted it, and by-golly we were gonna have it.

I never thought I would ever feel overwhelmed by generosity, but I was. Don't get me wrong though, we were all incredibly grateful and thankful for their kindness and thanked them profusely.  On the drive home, I wondered... how sad is that that the Americans feel "not happy" to have someone be overly generous with their money and time? In America, it seems we treat each other occasionally, but there's a strong sense of paying separately, or treating each other equally (ex: you buy a $20 dinner? I buy a $20 set of movie tickets).  In Taiwan, it seems there's that sense of treating each other, but you don't keep a mental tab on who owes who how much in terms of treating friends.  There's no score. Everyone helps each other out, everyone sticks together. (Keep in mind, this is all just my opinion and observation based on my experiences.)  A few of us speculated on this, and we've come to determine that probably a big reason for this is how expensive everything in America is.  I can literally eat an entire filling meal here for under $2 (about NT$100= $3.33). When you eat that cheap, it's no problem to spend an extra $2 for a friend who's wallet is at the bottom of their bag or came through for you earlier.  Even their medical system is a reflection of this. I can't remember exactly, but one trip to the doctor costs you $15 (not sure if that's NT or American dollars). No matter what's wrong. They have arguable one of the best health care systems in the world.  Everyone can be taken care of, and no one is afraid of going to the doctor.  Although I haven't experienced this yet, as soon as you either sneeze, cough, or sniffle people will start urging you to go to the doctor. It's convenient and doesn't hurt the bank.  Because everyone takes care of each other.

Bamboo bridge

In the States, being an only child, I grew up with the sense that "this is mine and this is yours. I'll share mine, but you have to ask first" and a strong urge to pay my half. Luckily though, it seems the Taiwanese way of thinking is rubbing off on me.  I don't thoroughly catalog what people owe me anymore, all the food I buy (and all the food everyone buys for that matter) usually gets passed around for everyone to try (hopefully none of us have/will have mono), and especially when it comes to our coordinators/babysitters, if I'm going to the OK-Mart or local tea shop to get something to drink, I ask if they want something, "my treat."  Just because they are working so hard, and it's no trouble at all.  I guess the real question of how much Taiwan has changed me will come when it is extra trouble... will I still be just as generous?

Happy

To pick up where I last left off.... it is humid. Oh so humid. And today was the first day it broke 90 degrees Fahrenheit.  To give you an idea, it has been SO humid that he air surrounding us made my feet so hot (and this was back when it was 85) that my been-dry-for-one-week nail polish got smudged on my toes after wearing close-toed shoes.

Back to happier things... literally. Today was the first day I can say I was genuinely happy to be in Taiwan. Before I wasn't necessarily unhappy, but I didn't have the sun in my heart, love in my step, etc, etc, insert line from an old Hollywood film here.  However that changed on my first day of orientation. And honestly that's probably what changed it. Now I have something to do with my life.  Sure it was nice to have the first few days to relax.  But I think it was mentally hard to settle in because I wasn't/couldn't be in a tourist mind set, yet I didn't have much of a purpose of for my life other than wandering aimlessly about the streets of Taichung wondering what the heck I'm reading (I know I've studied Chinese for 3 years, but switching to traditional characters in a bunch of crazy fonts is, to put it bluntly, hard).

Freshly made udon noddles at udon noodle restaurant!

Entrance to a night market in Taichung

"Ladies and gentleman, it's now time for a segment of.... Thoughts on Taiwan"

1. Scooters.... so many scooters.  So many.  I promised many people I wouldn't ride them, but they do seem to be both the fashionable and most convenient way to get around.  Guess I'm stuck with my inconsistent yet air conditioned buses.  It actually does take some skill and a license to drive a scooter as we found out today during orientation, so I have gained a new found respect for the people who drive them.  And they are Taichung's (maybe all of Taiwan's?) minivan. Got a family of 4 that needs to go shopping? Throw everyone on the family moped, no problem.  I'm not kidding. The dad drove, mom rode behind him holding a baby in a harness around her, and the eldest kid (maybe 3-4?) stood in between the dads legs on the foot part of the moped looking up over the gauges.  I should have taken a picture, but I was honestly so shocked I forgot.  If I see it again,  it will go on record on my camera. 

Scooter scooters everywhere...

2. Dogs.... Taiwan people are the world's superior dog owners.  I've seen tons of adorable dogs and only 2 have been on leashes with no issues. Granted, about 50% have been carried, but it's still enough to be impressive. The most impressive sight was a woman who walked into the bank (where we were opening accounts) in an old-lady-I'm-awesome kind of way followed by her little Corgi trailing behind/beside her, no leash, and gazing up at her with excitement the whole time.  Another good one... my friend and I are waiting for a bus and along comes this woman with a collie close by her.  Suddenly the dog gets a little bit ahead and turns into a store and starts sniffing around. The lady keeps on going, doesn't bat an eye. My friend and I are like "Oh, must not be her dog."  Well after a few seconds, dog looks up and starts running around the sidewalk area back the way it had originally come from and back to the store, until finally it saw and ran after the woman. Woman didn't even flinch, and I have never seen a dog work so hard to find its owner.  Blows my mind.  In relation to scooters, the dogs ride on the mopeds all the time too.  Owners put them between their legs on the floor board toward the front. And when the scooter stops, the dogs stay right on. None of this dog jumping off and running in circles or whining not wanting to be on the scooter shenanigans.  I'm not endorsing this in anyway, I'm just emphasizing the solid behavior of these dogs... they were trained/told to stay on the moped, and they stayed.  Once again, I was honestly so shocked I forgot to take a picture.

3.  I think Taiwan could rival the US in fried foods.  Seriously, a lot of the food available here, especially in the form of street food, comes fried.  And street food is the majority of the type of food that you can find.  Sure they have restaurants, but they can be kinda expensive and not close to where I live.  So I've been working hard to get some vegetables and taking advantage of the tons of fresh fruit, but I'll definitely be excited to have more control over my diet once I get an apartment (aka a kitchen).

4.  I've cut back on my bubble tea consumption because common sense just tells you that sugar milk tea with glutenous starch balls every day just probably isn't good for you.  But it's so hard because almost every 3rd or 4th store is a bubble tea/fruit juice type place.  Many times there are 3 in a row.  Although my new obsession that I think would be great to see more of in the US is (I'm not really sure what the official English name is) fruit shaved ice.  The Korean name for it is Patbingsu and the Chinese call it "insert fruit/topping name-冰" It's just shaved ice mounds (think like ice cream, but just shaved ice) and covered with fresh cut fruit or red bean and condensed milk (a light amount). It's much lighter and fresher than ice cream, probably 1/2 the calories and sugar, and a very refreshing dessert.  And it's kinda healthy since you're majorly just eating ice and fruit.  So needless to say, my guilt does not go very high upon eating this.

Mango Shaved Ice- 芒果冰 \^-^/ Be jealous

Hopefully I won't end up gaining weight coming to Taiwan after leaving America :)

Are we there yet?

I'm officially in Taichung City, Taiwan, it is almost 5am and I am wide awake. Although it may sound unideal, my "room mates" (more on that later) and I are taking full advantage of our early wake-up inner clocks to go run on the track across the street from where we are staying.  Gotta get started on the right note :)

The flights over consisted of a mixture of boredom, stress, sleep deprivation, hard-core sleep mode, and movie disappointments (mainly endings where I go "you mean I sat here for 2 hours for this???").  I've always flown overseas on US Airways, but this time I was on China Airlines. Ironically enough, it was on China Airlines that I got a full-size Almond Joy candy bar with dinner... not fun-size... full-size.  I can't even remember the last time I even saw a full-size Almond Joy. In other good news, I have discovered the secret to comfortably flying those long, long flights.... pick a window seat and somehow get an empty middle seat. Now whether that's buying out the middle seat or somehow stealthily disposing of the person assigned there (just kidding!), it will make the plane ride SO much more comfortable (the person who was originally sitting next to me disappeared about 3 hours into the flight and didn't come back until 2 hours before we landed-- seriously, I was asleep, and when I woke up, she was gone).  When sleeping you can turn, lay your head against the wall and stretch your legs into the foot space no longer occupied by the middle seat person. When watching the plethora of free movies, you can movie your carry on items from their squashed, carefully-stored spot in front of you to the seat next to you.  It's a solid set up, and I highly recommend it.

But Taichung.... it was a 2 hour bus ride from the airport after doing the traditional group photos.  This feeling of middle school field trips continued throughout the day as our coordinator and another person from the head Fulbright Taiwan office babysat us. As whiny as that sounds, I was more than grateful to be going around as a group with them.  Although it did feel like we should all be holding hands and moving in a single file line each time we left the safety of our charter bus to go into various stores :) Side note: there are a lot of Mercedes-Benz dealerships here.  I think I saw more here in one day than I have my entire life in the States.

So on day 1, we filled out paperwork to get our Alien Residency Certificates, got sim cards for our phones (I officially have a Taiwanese phone number), and went shopping for household supplies for.... our "apartments."  Since we don't know where we will be teaching yet, they have placed us in temporary housing for the month of August. One group is staying in an apartment, another group is staying in an apartment like thing (I'm still not really clear on where they are staying), and I and my 2 "room mates" are staying in a hostel. We each get our own hotel room essentially. Bed, desk, wardrobe, tv, refrigerator, and full bathroom (well... the shower head/hose is mounted on the wall by the sink and is open to the rest of the bathroom... but it's still there so I guess it counts as full) . No kitchen, but I'm not planning on cooking anytime soon. Too many street foods to try ^_^.

Building I live in! Bottom floor=shops, top floors=hostel

My room! Needs decorations :/

Shower hose coming out of sink, fastened by the mirror.

At first when I heard I was in a hostel, I thought I got the short end of the stick. But since yesterday, we actually have it pretty awesome. It's all really clean, each bed comes with its own comforter and pillow (but I still have my own), the beds have comfy mattresses (the group in the apartment have hard beds and had to get mattress foams), there's solid internet, and there's a water dispenser right down the hallway (you can't drink the tap water here, have to boil it.... but not me! water dispenser and I will be getting well acquainted over the next few weeks.  And so far I have not seen any cockroaches **knock on every piece of wood you can find**, although my room mate has had some in her room. 

Last night my room mates and I went exploring the side streets and we happened upon a long street full of tiny side places to eat (not really sure how much you could call them restaurants).  So it's official, I'm not gonna starve.  And then... we turned a corner... and there it was.... World Gym Fitness (I think that's its name :/ ). I had researched this gym before I came to Taiwan because it's the only gym that carries the Les Mills group fitness classes that I love in Taichung. And it was just around the corner from the hostel! It started to rain, so I didn't have time to cross the couple blocks to get to it, but now I know where it is.  Very soon I will be "up in the gym, just working on my fitness!"  And of course, along these streets, we got bubble tea ^_^... for dinner... yes, I am getting off to a healthy start (side note: one girl in the group said she read that Taichung was the place where bubble tea originated... now that's what I would call ironic or a crazy-random-happenstance). 

First meal in Taiwan = Hotpot!

To finish up, I haven't had an serious meals and can't comment on how amazing the food is yet (although our hotpot lunch was very satisfactory). And I wouldn't say I'm "having so much fun" yet either.  I'm slowly on my way to making my hostel room feel like home (at least for the month of August), the jet lag has allowed me to still have plenty of time overlaps with USA so I've been able to text/call people from home to ease the transition, and our wonderful coordinators have been working very hard to assist us in learning how to live in Taiwan.  So in the spirit of the title of this post, are we there yet refers not only to my thoughts pretty much 50% of the plane ride, but also to making Taiwan feel like home.

And it is very very humid here.