Sept II, Weeks 7, 8, & 9: A Little More Longing

Quick Writer's Note: Given the way that the weeks line up with the months this year, some posts, like this one, may include three weeks instead of two.

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Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, and Happy Teachers' Day! These past three weeks, we had our first full week of school (plus the only make-up work day of the academic year). I'm glad I've finally been able to start seeing both of my schools regularly, but I'm still having a hard time settling in.

On September 11th, which would've been our first Monday of the school year, there was no school thanks to the weather damage from the night before. Instead, my roommate and I went to Yunlin for the first time to go to Carrefour. It was a pretty ride, and we ended up getting some mugs and pillows.

For dinner, some of the cohort came out to the county for hotpot, then we hung out at the Taibao apartment afterwards for what I've affectionately dubbed "chaos night". It was beautiful. Dancing, playing Set and Codenames, and playing guitar, keyboard, and recorder all at the same time—what more could a cohort want?

The next day was far less chaotic. It was my second day ever at Budai, and I had three classes (of my expected four). The kids were a little shy, but their English levels are higher than I expected. Everyone seems quite nice though, and my classes went relatively smoothly! Also, one of my LETs gave me a pineapple cake and a stamp with my name and a picture of ice cream on it, which was sweet of her.

Wednesday was the first of my three days back at Guogou. I taught one of my eighth grade classes in the morning, then did some reading before heading into Chiayi City for the first Fulbright workshop of the year. Along the way, I also picked up a 百香雙Q (passionfruit bubble tea) from MACU, as last year's tradition dictated.

After workshop ended and I bid my LETs (one from each school) farewell, some of the cohort and I went helmet shopping. We also had SSR (super silent reading time, as one would do in third grade) at a 7-Eleven while reading children's books in Chinese. And I printed out some Kinmen postcards I made.

We had a cohort dinner at a xiaolongbao place with a good chunk of the cohort and another ETF's LET, then some of us got shaved ice together. Overall, it was a fun day, and I liked being able to hang out with people in the city.

On Thursday, I taught at Guogou, then had shaved ice after school with my roommate. I went to the Caihong Night Market, which is a small night market in Taibao that happens every Tuesday and Thursday, for dinner, and I met up with one of this year's ETAs and one of last year's ETAs. Also, the visiting former ETA was at Guogou last year! I loved being able to talk to him about the school and learn more about his experience there.

I also loved being able to see another returner from last year, even if it was only for a little bit. It felt emotionally satisfying in a way I haven't often felt since last grant period, and I think it helped ease the transition a bit more. In a way, it feels like last year and my ETA experience are being pushed out to sea. With each passing day, I settle into the school year a little bit more, but I get a little bit further away from last year. I suppose that's how it goes, though.

Friday was my last day at Guogou. Throughout the week, I taught the second part of a summer vacation lesson, and it went well—they loved the word search! Some of the ninth graders even stayed in their seats after the bell rang to finish their word search.

I scooted home with my roommate's scooter (we switched scooters for the day since my scooter's still too big), and I got to try a red bean egg yolk pastry she made in cooking class. 10/10, very yummy. Later that evening, the two of us went to the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum, which I'd never been to before, for a fountain and light show.

The show was absolutely stunning. The only other fountain/light shows I'd seen before were the ones at my local botanical garden, which're beautiful, but totally not the same. I had a great time watching the fountains dance and change color while the lights strobed in the background (except for when the lights blinded us), and I liked seeing some of the Taibao cohort people and vibing.

I didn't do much on Saturday. I relaxed all day, then went to a small market called New Born Market with some other cohort members. We watched some community member performances and bought some pound cake and a fruit tart, then went to dinner with someone's LET. We had six dishes: beef fried rice, stir fried water lily stems (水蓮菜), miso soup with salmon, fried tofu, pork neck and veggies, and fried intestine. Everything was delicious, including the fried intestine (which I wasn't sure if I'd like). Afterwards, my roommate and I went to a bar to meet up with some other members of the cohort I don't see as often, then went home. We did crosswords and played Spot It! among other things, which are definitely common bar activities.

On Sunday, I called a friend from home in the morning, then went to a vegetarian café in Puzi with my roommate and a Taibao ETA. The veggie burgers were surprisingly good, and they also had milk tea and kombucha. I went into the city with the Taibao ETA afterwards, where we went to a separate café to do some work before going to a cohort hotpot dinner. We also had grass jelly and douhua for dessert. Unfortunately, there were fewer participants than expected, but we still had a good time.

I miss having group events and knowing I'll see everyone. I think both the cohort and the site in Kinmen last year were particularly conducive to frequent group hangouts (even if the size of the group wasn't). Hopefully, the Chiayi cohort finds our groove as we get more comfortable.

Monday, September 18th, was the first Monday of the year! Also the first day of a six day work week (which is fortunately the only six day work week of the year). I spent the day at Budai trying to remember students' names and tell them apart. Unfortunately, I have two sets of identical twins in my 801 and 802 classes, which I also teach back to back. Two of the twins also sit in the exact same spot and have similar personalities. Oh dear.

Despite being a little shy, the kids seemed interested in my lesson and curious about myself as a 外師 (foreign teacher). This year is only the third year they've had Fulbrighters in Chiayi County, and so far, it seems like there aren't many FETs or other foreign teachers either. Understandably, the kids are eager to know things like if I can swim or drive a scooter (I can do both, fortunately).

For dinner after school, my roommate and I walked around Puzi a bit and went to a teppanyaki place. Very tasty, would recommend. We also watched two more episodes of the show we're watching together, then headed to bed. I was initially much more anxious about living in Puzi, but it's starting to grow on me. I also love my roommate, and I like being able to explore the rest of the county (or the western bit) more easily!

Tuesday was my second day of the week at Budai, and I taught my lesson on Food in America (which included vocab words like "sushi", "tacos", "pizza", "hotpot", etc.). It went pretty well. I also received a box of mung bean mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival and got to participate (not teach) in 701's performing arts class. The kids looked a bit confused but happy to see me.

At home, my roommate and I cooked together for the first time! We made 番茄炒雞蛋 (stir fried tomato and egg), rice, and silken tofu. It felt good to cook again, and I liked playing music and vibing in the kitchen with my roommate. We also found some adorable green fish plates in the kitchen we could use.

We ate dinner while watching the last episode of our show together, then I decorated part of the front windows with tissue paper in an attempt to make a sort of "stained glass" panel. It looks... very handmade. But it brings me joy, and I've found out that it looks lovely when the light hits it just right.

Wednesday was my first day of the week at Guogou. I taught eighth grade, lesson planned, and vibed in the morning. Then, I went to pottery class in the afternoon. I've decided for my clay project that I'd like to make a whimsically-colored myna bird that borrows traits from both the Crested Myna, which I saw on my morning commute in Kinmen, with the Jungle Myna, which I see on my morning commute here in Chiayi.

I spent all of Wednesday's class making a log for the bird to perch on (the teacher advised me to make a sturdy base for it), but I didn't mind. I also got to spend time with some of my students, including one ninth grader who was intrigued by my myna. Then, I was handed some longans by one of my LETs before I headed home.

I ran errands with my roommate afterwards, then went to a Korean place in Taibao for a semi-cohort dinner. My table got bibimbap, soup, and tteokbokki, and the other got a bunch of meat, soup, seafood pancakes, etc. A couple of us went back to the Taibao apartment afterwards and hung out.

We didn't do much, but I liked seeing people that I don't always get to see. We did impressions of each other, chatted, and tried to guess what song an ETF was playing on his recorder. It wasn't always super clear what song it was, but we tried our best. Or he did, anyway.

Thursday classes went well enough. I headed into the city after school and hung out with some cohort members near Wufeng, and three of us got fried chicken and fries for dinner. We then went to a cute café for dessert and creative writing. It's been about a year or more since I've written anything. I don't think I wrote anything great, but it felt good to sit down and write with people. I also liked sipping hot cocoa and eating some flan while I wrote. Very important to the creative writing process.

The next day was a Friday, and it was also the day I could finally see my partner! I hadn't seen him in a while, and I was excited to be with him again. School went well enough, then I finally hung up a tapestry I ordered online, which made me feel more at home.

I also felt more at home once my partner arrived! It was like he had always been here. We had dinner with my roommate, then got shaved ice together before hanging out at the apartment. The group vibes were immaculate, and I liked feeling like the house was a little fuller. I miss having a third roommate.

Saturday, September 23rd, was our one and only make up day of the year. It still wasn't fun, but my school let me bring my partner to school at least. He just sat at my desk, mostly, but he also chatted with some of the students. My coworkers were very sweet about it! One of my LETs gave us some vegetable buns for breakfast, and she also recommended a seafood restaurant to us for lunch.

The cohort had a group dinner at a sushi restaurant in the city that evening, and it was nice. I chatted with some people I don't see much, then afterwards, my partner, my roommate, and I went to Chiayi City's own Carrefour Night Market. Was it the most interesting night market? Not really. But walking around together was nice.

I didn't do much the next day. My roommate, partner, and I had lunch at the vegetarian café we went to the week before, and it was a good time. We also got popsicles from a nearby vendor, then I dropped my partner off at the HSR Station. I'm glad I could see him for a bit, even if the weekend did fly by too quickly.

The rest of the day was chill. Later that evening, my roommate and I walked around Puzi. Both of us checked out Peitian Temple, which is a famous temple dedicated to Mazu, then went home and tried to do a DIY candy kit. It didn't turn out well (it had a bit of a Playdoh texture, sadly), but at least it was fun to make.

Monday (September 25th) was the first of my days at Budai. Classes were a little tough, but I did ok. Didn't do much, but I did call a friend from home. The next day was also uneventful, but I got to explore Budai afterwards. I finally saw the High-Heeled Church, which is a famous Taiwanese tourist attraction and wedding venue, and it was definitely larger and bluer than I thought it'd be.

On Wednesday, I went back to teaching at Guogou. After teaching my morning classes, I went to a local fishing farm for a field trip. At the farm, I met up with some of the cohort and some other Chiayi County 外師s, and I also got to befriend the local cat. We did a sort of "dragon boat race", then collected clams and went fishing. My favorite part was clam collecting, which reminded me of last year's oyster harvesting! I'm starting to think that my true calling in life is harvesting mollusks in murky water.

After the clam collection and some brief, unsuccessful fishing, we grilled tons of seafood. We had three whole grilled tilapia, plates on plates on plates of oysters, and some shrimp and octopus. And lots of pomelos. We were also all given a box of mooncakes and a pomelo each for this weekend's festivities. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Thursday was our last day of school of the week. I also didn't do much. I lesson planned at school, then ran some errands. Then, I vibed at home with my roommate. Happy Teachers' Day, I suppose.

The next day was Mid-Autumn Festival, and in keeping with the concept of "mid-" anything, I woke up midday. Yay, sleep. My roommate and I cooked lunch together, then watched a bunch more TV before doing some Poor Man's Just Dance (YouTube Just Dance) and going for a walk. I eventually picked up my partner from the HSR Station, then we vibed at the apartment with my roommate. We had dinner together, then ate some of the many, many baked goods (mooncakes included) given to us by our schools and other community members.

Saturday was chill. My roommate, partner, and I walked to a local Vietnamese place for lunch, and we saw a temple procession along the way. After having some delicious fried spring rolls (which reminded me of the ones in Kinmen), the three of us went to Seimokuya, which is a local Japanese café housed in a former clinic. We spent several hours there doing work and vibing. Then, we ran some errands and went to a cohort-ish dinner at a yakiniku restaurant.

Even if we were missing some of the cohort, I liked seeing people. Besides some other ETFs and city ETAs, one of the Kinmen ETAs-turned-ETFs (our EMI ETF from Taipei) came, too, and we spent two hours hanging out at our tables. Honestly, grilling things is pretty fun. My table ordered tons of beef cubes, Korean pork belly, and oyster mushrooms (among other things), and we even roasted marshmallows afterwards.

Photo credits for top middle photo to Andy Luo, 2023.

The next day, my roommate, my partner, and I went to the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum. We had lunch close to the apartment, then went to the museum and met the EMI ETF there. I liked the exhibits they had, which included textiles and cloisonné. My roommate, partner, and I also wandered some of the museum's gardens afterwards, and I saw black swans for the first time! Then, we had ramen with another ETF. Back at the apartment, we also had a Japanese cake roll that my partner brought me from Taipei and did sheet masks together. All in all, it was a nice day.

These past several weeks, I thought I was settling in better, but it seems like there're still a lot of ups and downs going on. We still haven't had a single normal week of school yet, and figuring out routines is tough. I don't think I regularly see the rest of the cohort, and somehow, I'm busy every weekend despite feeling like I'm not doing much.

More recently, I think I've been going through it. My mental health isn't doing great, I feel incredibly unsupported, and I'm having a hard time feeling a sense of community anywhere. It's hard being so far away from the rest of the cohort, and it's also hard having only one roommate instead of (basically) five. Last grant period is both too close and too far away, and I'm missing people and places I can't go back to.

Part of me can't wait to get to the point of the year where I'm more comfortable with the cohort and the site, but I also know I shouldn't wish my time in Taiwan away. I have a lot of things I still want to do, places I want to go, and people I want to see. I think I just want to feel a little less lost.

I remember that last year, it almost took until November for me to feel more comfortable with the cohort, so I'm hoping I settle into things eventually. Fingers crossed the next couple of weeks goes better!