Week 12: Freedom and Flexibility

Guess who finally got her scooter license?!?! I'll write about it more a little later into the blog post, but I must say, having a scooter is everything I've dreamed of and more.

Anyway, happy Halloween! This week, we had a Halloween assembly on Monday, then the kids had midterms on Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday was also the first day that us Little K ETAs could take the bridge to school, which was exciting.

The Halloween assembly itself went pretty well. We taught the kids some Halloween-themed vocab, then each class had two minutes to wrap one of their classmates in toilet paper. It was a little windy for the activity, but I think the kids did a pretty good job. The kids also had some great costumes, including one costume as a positive COVID test.

At the end of the assembly, one of my coworkers announced that throughout the day, myself, my LETs, and the principal would hand out candy to students who told us, "trick or treat". Fortunately, I was provided with candy to give to the kids, but it certainly wasn't enough. Students would visit our office in droves, then flock after me in the halls—it was cute, but definitely a little overwhelming. My lifeline was the phrase "排隊" (pái duì) (v.): to line up. At one point, I was handing out candy and one of the kids yelled, "Teacher Lauren 在這裡 (Teacher Lauren's over here!)!"

Besides handing out candy, I also received some snacks from my coworkers and little gifts from the kids! The second grade class gave me a light up skull ring, which was sick, and the first graders gave me a jelly stick and one of their little ghost crafts. One of them even drew a little heart on my arm.

During our Monday lunchtime adventure, myself and the other Little K ETAs went to get ice cream. Two of us got taro flavor, and one of us got Kaoliang flavor (which was much tastier than actual Kaoliang itself, which tastes approximately like rubbing alcohol). We also ran into some of the other teachers from the Foreign English Teacher (FET) program. The rest of the day was pretty chill. I went to Chinese class, then one of the other Little K ETAs and I took a walk.

Tuesday was midterm review day for the kids. Depending on grade level, students had midterms in Chinese, English, math, science, and social studies, so I mostly just taught review classes throughout the day. The day's school vibe was definitely a 180° from Monday's; the kids were much less spirited, and they definitely dragged their feet during class.

After school, I had dinner at the local scallion pancake place with two of the other Mr. Hong House ETAs, called my sister, and hung out upstairs in the third floor apartment (3F). Ever since the Halloween party, the vibes in 3F have been even more excellent than usual. They have a couple LED light strips and lots of string lights set up, plus a huge (comfy) air mattress and a bean bag in the middle of the living room.

Wednesday and Thursday were midterm days for Jhou Huan. On Wednesday, I got breakfast bao with one of the other Little K ETAs, then spent the day either teaching review classes or proctoring exams. After going to EV, I practiced on another ETA's scooter at the Jinhu DMV, then spent the evening chatting with various other ETAs.

Thursday morning started pretty rainy. One of my coworkers noticed that my jeans were soaked when I rolled up to work, so she generously gave me an extra pair of anti-rain pants that the school had given her. They're size XL, so they're definitely a bit poofy, but I love them dearly.

During lunch, my partner and I drove around Little K a bit and stumbled upon a honey store/café. It was a very sweet place (no pun intended); it had a wonderfully calming ambience, honey displays, and even a little cat. After talking to the store owner, both my partner and I got some honeycomb. I'd never had honeycomb before, but besides the chewiness of the comb itself, it was pretty good.

Then in the afternoon, I had my self-scheduled piano and dance hour in the music room. I did some work once I got home, then later in the evening, my partner and I had our first official date! We couldn't find the restaurant at first, but once we did, we loved it. It had the most amazing mala (麻辣) noodles, plus a great cold cucumber dish. Afterwards, we got dessert at 85° Café, which was also excellent.

I took my scooter exam for the third time on Friday, and this time I finally passed!!!! It was a weird morning, but somehow I made it through the course. The rest of the day was just spent vibing at EV and getting my scooter. Allegedly, the scooter I received is only about a week old, and she's beautiful.

After work, I had dinner with two of my LETs at Sushi Express. I'd never had conveyor belt sushi before, but it was certainly an interesting experience trying to frantically grab the right plate before it took another lap around the restaurant. Then I ran some errands before meeting up with everyone at a local music festival.

It's been two-ish months and some weeks, but I'm finally free!!! As thankful as I am for being able to hitch a ride with other ETAs, I haven't really had any independence ever since arriving. Every time I've wanted to run an errand or do something, I've needed to ask other people for a ride, which in turn has affected my schedule (or theirs). I also haven't been able to hang out with non-Mr. Hong House people when I want to.

In conjunction with the bridge being newly constructed, I feel like having a scooter has given me some freedom and flexibility I haven't had since being in the US. I think I've mentioned it before, but I haven't felt like a real adult since being in Taiwan, which is largely due to the language barrier and the lack of transportation. And now, I can finally scoot anywhere I want any time I want! Besides the bridge when it's closed due to high wind speeds, anyway.

Since I finally had a scooter, I took a nice afternoon drive on Saturday with my boyfriend to get brunch with some other ETAs. It was a bit of a drive since it was literally all the way at the other end of the island, but the weather was lovely, and I liked being able to enjoy the scenery while I scooted. My favorite part of the drive was when we drove through a long grove of white trees stripped of their bark. It honestly felt like a poem with the way the light came in through the grove, the endless line of white trees, and the sensation of the wind whistling past as my partner and I drove down the road one after another.

The place we got brunch was called Good Day Coffee, which was in Xibian. The food was pretty good, but my favorite part of the restaurant (besides the little dog that was hanging out) was the view. We sat in the corner right by these big windows which overlooked the sea to the east. After chatting for hours, four of us went down to check out the sea, which was stunning in the afternoon light. There were also a bunch of rocky outcroppings and some little tide pools caught in some of the rocks.

Back at home, I ran some errands, then some of us ETAs went back to the music festival to get dinner before going to a Riverdale watch party with Kaoliang, as organized by one of our fellow cohort members. I've never seen Riverdale before, as many of the other cohort members haven't either, but it was... an experience. Definitely unhinged but also wonderfully entertaining.

On Sunday, I enjoyed my newfound freedom as I scooted myself to dance class. As always, it went well and I had a good time! I was also invited to come see the dance performance put on by the other dance class (which had a Tibetan style dance) in Juguang Park later in the afternoon.

After lunch and working on some trivia questions for an upcoming cohort-wide event, I rolled up to the dance performance only to be handed a costume to change into, which was quite unexpected. I didn't perform with the others, of course, but I did take photos and end up in some photos for the event. It was apparently Immigrants' Day, which was pretty cool. There were lots of stands with food, clothing, and games representing the cultures of various immigrants, particularly Viet and Indonesian culture.

At home, I did some work on the roof and just hung out with some other Mr. Hong House folks, then we all headed back to the music festival for food. All the food trucks at the festival were from Taipei, so they had a variety of foods we hadn't been able to get in Kinmen, including burritos, hamburgers, and Cuban sandwiches. However, the real star of the food trucks was the smoked BBQ truck, which served pulled pork and pastrami sandwiches. I think that collectively, our cohort probably got pastrami sandwiches at least ten times (if not more) over the course of the weekend.

It was a bit cold, but Sunday night was a lovely night to just sit and vibe with all the other Kinmen ETAs. Some of our LETs came too, and we all sat on blankets while listening to the live music. Overall, I think it was a chill end to an eventful week.

Writer's Note: This post was originally written on Wednesday, November 9th, 2022.