Aug II, Weeks 3 & 4: Here We Go Again (Oh, Oh)

These past two weeks have been spent settling in, moving, going on trips, panicking, and settling in some more. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster with the way the year's starting, but hopefully, it's a fun one.

During the first week, we had one day of group training, school reveal day, then the ETAs went off to their first Fulbright conference! On Monday, a bunch of ETAs came over to our townhouse and we folded lucky stars while doing online training. The rest of the day was spent doing scooter practice nearby, eating Korean fried chicken for dinner, and hanging out as a group. I liked hanging out and having a chill day with everyone, especially since it felt like the calm before the storm (school placement day).

Tuesday morning was nerve-wracking. I didn't sleep well, but I was on time. After giving intro presentations to the school representatives, we were given envelopes with our names and puzzle pieces that would help us find our school(s). Holding the sealed envelopes while everyone else received theirs was so, so anxiety-inducing, but I was happy once I found my schools! This year, I'll be teaching at Budai Junior High (布袋國中) and Guogou Junior High (過溝國中).

At first, I was a little daunted by the thoughts of teaching middle schoolers and living all the way out in the countryside, but after having lunch and planning with my co-teachers, I felt a little better about everything. My LETs seem very friendly and welcoming!

The rest of the day was spent at scooter practice, then cooling off at a café and heading to dinner with the cohort. It sounded like a number of people were also happy with their placements. Hopefully, teaching goes well for everyone!

Since the next several days of training were online, a bunch of ETFs (myself included) headed down to Taitung for the balloon festival. We woke up early, I ate a cup of red dragonfruit, and three of us ETFs took the HSR to Kaohsiung, then the TRA from Kaohsiung to Taitung. Then, we rented scooters and got lunch.

The part of the day I was most looking forward to was seeing old cohortmates from last grant period. Later in the afternoon, we went to meet our old friends at their hostel, and it was amazing. Between the seven of us, all of us had either been Kinmen or Yilan ETAs last year, so it felt like a little reunion for our cohorts. I missed seeing them so much!

We spent the evening catching up over dinner, then over drinks, then at a beach (where we stumbled upon a night fisherman and more driftwood than anyone would ever want or need). Even though we didn't have anything in particular in mind while we walked around, I just liked being with everyone again.

Photo credits (BeReal) to Mastura Ibnat, 2023.

Thursday was spent doing more online training, then having brunch at a little café with a dog named Angel. After wandering around and running into two Taipei ETFs, our group decided to scoot up to the Luye highlands for the balloon festival. In spite of the rain, the views were beautiful. So many mountains! We stopped at the Luye Shinto shrine that my partner and I had visited in April, then went up to the highlands themselves.

We only spent a couple of hours up there, but I liked it. The seven of us sat on some blankets, ate snacks, played games, and watched the hot air balloons get ready. We sat right in front of the Hello Kitty balloon, but there was also a balloon of the PX Mart mascot and some sort of two-faced bear balloon nearby.

Once it started raining again, we headed back down to the city, then we ended up having dinner and playing card games at the other ETFs' hostel. Although it might not've been the trip to Taitung I pictured, I liked seeing old friends again, and I was excited to see them at the ETF conference the following week.

On Friday, we had more online trainings, then breakfast. Before we left the city, the other two Chiayi ETFs I was with and I did a "scenic scoot" around Taitung City to see some of the more famous parts of the city. Then, we spent the rest of the day heading back to Chiayi and resting.

The weekend wasn't particularly interesting. I just spent the whole time going from Point A to Point B to run different errands. I did laundry, went to appointments, and did work in cafés. I'm not sure how much I've spent on little drinks or other treats at cafés these past couple of days, but I'm sure it's not an insignificant amount.

On Sunday, at the very least, I did some more interesting stuff. After chatting with my temporary roomies, I had turkey rice for lunch and checked out a bimonthly pop-up market in Chiayi City. It was terribly hot out, but the market was cute, and the turkey rice wasn't bad. I also got to have dinner and dessert with some other ETFs and an ETA.

The next day was our cohort cultural trip to Alishan. We had to wake up pretty early, but it could've been worse. Fortunately, being asleep on the bus prevented some of us from getting too motion sick on the way up. The path up to Alishan is much twistier than I'd expected, but it was beautiful and clear, at least. Alishan National Scenic Area itself was much colder and mistier. Apparently, the part of the park we visited was over 2000 meters, or 6500 feet, above sea level.

Once we had a group lunch, the cohort took a bus to the part of the park that housed Shouzhen Temple, the Giant Tree Cluster Trail, and the Shenyi Waterfall. There was a lot of on-and-off rain, but besides that (and having miserably damp shoes), I thought seeing the park was nice. The trees were huge! I've never been to a national park in the Pacific Northwest, but I imagine it'd be somewhat similar to visiting Alishan.

After we'd completed our loop, our cohort took the famed Alishan Forest Railway from Shenmu Station to Alishan Station. It was a brief ride, but I liked peering out the train window to watch the scenery pass by. Once we'd gotten off, the cohort took the bus back down, then we split into smaller groups for dinner.

The next day was moving day. It was as sweaty, inelegant, and exhausting as you'd expect moving everything you've packed for a year might be. At the very least, everything made it into the house unbroken, and my new permanent housing isn't far from my temporary housing. The rest of the day was pretty lowkey. I drove into the city to have dinner with an ETA, then drove back to my new apartment. Unfortunately, my apartment is in Puzi, which is forty minutes from the city. Forty minutes in a car? Easy. Forty minutes on a scooter? Maybe not as easy. I'm also realizing my scooter's a little too tall for me to ride comfortably.

Wednesday was much better. It was our first day of the combined ETF and EMI ETF (ETFs teaching in universities) conference, and it was nice to have some familiarity for once. I boarded the HSR with the other ETFs, which was certainly a departure (no pun intended) from the usual Kinmen-Songshan flight, but I liked the view as we passed through the rest of the west coast. In Taipei Main, we met up with everyone, then took buses to the hotel.

I recognized a good number of faces from last year, but it was surprising how many new or unfamiliar ones there were too. I suppose only seeing everyone twice and in groups of over a hundred people might have that effect. The first day was nice and relaxed; there were the usual welcome speeches, tasty desserts, and ice-cold (but wonderfully air-conditioned) conference rooms waiting for us.

The rest of the evening was nice. I sat and chatted with another ETF as we enjoyed the double rainbow outside, then I had dinner at a Punjabi restaurant with a bunch of friends I missed. Good times.

The next day was the dreaded long haul of a full conference day. It wasn't bad—breakfast was lovely and the company was great—just a bit long and restless. Besides going to workshops and listening to guest speakers, we spent the day eating tasty little desserts and mingling with the other ETFs. We also got to learn about tea history from one particular guest speaker who handed us all tiny ceramic cups to drink from (that we could also keep).

Dinner was great, and I got to talk to some Kaohsiung ETFs as well as the other Chiayi ETFs a bit. We also had performances from other Fulbrighters, including a Kinmen ETA-turned-EMI ETF. Afterwards, the remaining former Kinmen ETAs and one of our coordinators from last year assembled to take group pictures and catch up with each other. I missed everyone so, so dearly! Two-ish months isn't that long ago, but right now, it feels like years.

Friday was our last day of conference, so we woke up, had breakfast and workshops, then headed out. I spent the weekend in Taipei with some other ETFs, so the rest of the day was spent hanging out (after an afternoon of napping and planning a birthday surprise for one ETF). The birthday surprise went off without a hitch! We had birthday glasses, party blowers, balloons, and a delicious cake all prepared, then we headed to a club. It was a fun night.

The next day was recovery day. We stayed up far too late the night before, so I just sat around, read, took naps, etc. For dinner, two other former Kinmen ETAs and I had dinner at Gongguan Night Market, then walked around a park and chatted. We also met up with another former Kinmen ETA and a Chiayi ETF and just hung out. It felt good to talk about last year and this year and just reminisce about everything and everyone we miss. I think the transition to ETF's been harder than I expected because I'd forgotten how jarring starting over can be.

On Sunday, some of us ETFs had lunch together. We tried some sparkling oolong tea, saw lightning strike maybe several hundred meters from us, then spent the day at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. The lightning was terrifying but also stunning, as one would expect from being that close to lightning for the first time in their life.

The museum was nice. I thought the exhibits were interesting, and I liked the Taiwanese filmmaker exhibit. Then, we had tacos for dinner, then headed home. It was a long weekend, but a good one.

I'm not sure if it's because I've been bouncing around from place to place so often, but I've been having a hard time settling in this year. Although last year was tough, I think having time throughout quarantine to process and traveling in huge groups helped a lot. This year, everything feels much faster and much more disjointed. I also feel like I'm spending way more money and doing way more even though the school year hasn't even started.

It feels like the end of last year's still hanging over me. Towards the end, everything blurred together in one heat-hazy smear, and I feel like my entire summer's been the same way. Even now, starting the school year soon, it feels the same.

I also feel like I can't stop comparing parts of this year to last year: the county, the schools, the cohort, the apartment, etc. I know everything'll be a different this year, but it feels like an awful lot of change in an awfully short time period.

Honestly, I think that all of the recent changes might be part of why I liked conference so much this year. Sure, some of the faces and events were new, but it was soothing to be in an environment where not as much changed as I'd thought. It was nice.

Despite my general difficulties settling in, I'm looking forward to trying new things this year. I think the cohort's going to attend weekly dance classes together (not 民族舞蹈, unfortunately), and I'd like to write poetry and practice Mandarin more. Maybe I'll even learn a little Taiwanese.

My biggest fear is just living so far out from the city, where half of the cohort is, since the scoot is forty minutes one way. Although the distance doesn't sound like much, the physical task of scooting that far, particularly in potential rain or cold, doesn't sound like it'll be particularly fun. I also worry about gas prices. We'll see how it all goes, I suppose.

Writer's Note: This blog post was originally written on Monday, August 28th, 2023.