Week 2: A Whirlwind Week(ish) in Taipei

The second week (once I had gotten out of quarantine and into Kinmen) was a blur of nonstop hanging out. For the first three days, we stayed in Kinmen, but for the next five, we partied in Taipei. On Sunday, I got some pastries with a roommate, then went to a housewarming party held by some other members of the cohort. We had some snacks, chatted, and played a trivia game, then went out for dinner. The group I went with got food from a Korean place, where we collectively stumbled our way through placing a takeout order in Mandarin. Although we had to trek probably twenty minutes through the humid night with our order, I think the food was worth the wait.

Monday was the first day of in-person training for me, so in the morning, everyone rode the bus to Jinhu Elementary to learn about lesson planning. We also checked out some of the classrooms we'd be teaching in at the school's English Village, which is a weekly program in which fifth graders from different schools across Kinmen learn extra English vocabulary. This semester's theme is vacation, so each of our different classroom groups is preparing activities and vocabulary related to things like taking a plane or checking into a hotel.

Monday was also the first day of scooter practice! Here in Kinmen, the most efficient way to travel is by scooter (the island is supposedly 15-20 min across by scooter), so the entire cohort is practicing for the scooter test. Unfortunately, I'm not particularly great at it, but I've heard it's a steep learning curve, so there's some hope for me yet. Although I could balance enough to ride a scooter, I couldn't quite get the hang of making tight turns. One of our new cohort members arrived today, so he and I got to commiserate a little about missing some of the scooter training.

After coming home from training, my roommates, our fellow ETA roommates upstairs, and I went out to get hotpot for dinner. Fortunately, the hotpot place is very close (and cheap) as well as delicious, so it'll be easy to get Sichuan style hotpot frequently. A little after hotpot, one of my roommates and I had an impromptu call with some other ETAs from other sites, which was nice. We got caught up with everyone about their sites or grad programs, and we got to share a little about how Kinmen's been.

The next day was a little tough for me. Our cohort collectively trekked out to a clinic only to find that there wasn't enough space for us to wait inside for our health exams. Fortunately, there was a nearby mall called Everrich we could wait in which was filled with gacha machines, luxury brands, and a crowd of schoolchildren eager to practice some English with us. Back at the clinic, I also got to practice some Spanish with another member of the cohort, which helped me regain some confidence in my ability to speak any language other than English (interacting with cashiers, servers, etc., so far had been tricky at best).

We had lunch and boba once we'd finished our health exams, then spent some time watching a scooter safety presentation. Surprisingly, the hardest part of the day came after watching an hour and a half of scooter accident videos, during actual scooter practice itself (no one got hurt!). It was only my second time scootering ever, but I started getting frustrated with the process, especially since everyone else was doing much better. Combined with the midday sun and lack of sleep (and maybe some hunger), my mood nosedived, and I couldn't focus on anything. I think I almost hit a barrier.

Admittedly, I've had a harder time adjusting than expected. I think a lot of it comes from a combination of the humid heat, the sleep deprivation, and also just not making a lot of time to relax and settle in for myself. Although I'd already spent some time easing into life in Taiwan in quarantine, I felt like I hadn't been myself since I left at 4:30am that Thursday morning two weeks ago.

At least I felt a little better after forcing myself to sit in my room for a while in the AC. Luckily, I also found my house key (which I had somehow misplaced exactly where I thought I'd put it) and did some productive things, including laundry I'd been putting off and packing for the Taipei conference the next day.

The Taipei orientation conference for the entire Taiwan ETA cohort only lasted three-ish days, but the (increased) sleep deprivation lasted for five. Around 7:30-ish am, our Kinmen cohort (plus one of our coordinators) trudged over to the airport for an early flight, which was an excellent opportunity for an hour-long nap. After landing in Taipei, we took a bus to the fancy hotel in the Tamsui District in New Taipei City where the conference was being held. We had some welcome events, presentations, etc., before a having a quick tea and snack break.

Despite lingering mental fog from catching a 7am bus to the airport, I loved being able to chat with the other ETAs from other sites. Although many of us met online as early as April, we hadn't been able to all meet in person yet since lots of us had different quarantine windows. I think most of us made up for it though by hanging out whenever we could.

Most of the conference was spent attending presentations, being spoiled with good food, and hanging out with ETAs from other sites. I indulged in the latter by exploring New Taipei with some other ETAs in the evening. We had some excellent soup, bubble tea, and shaved ice while we were out. Although we didn't come back to the hotel until about 10:30pm, I somehow mustered the energy to hang out with more ETAs until a little after midnight.

The second day of the conference was pretty long, probably due partly to the fact that so many of us had slept so little. We had frequent breaks, but none of them were long enough to take any naps, unfortunately. I think the best part of the day was probably the feast in one of the ballrooms, which served at least eight different courses, including a steamed whole fish, Chinese sausage with glutinous rice, coconut milk with sago pearls, and little cartons of mango ice cream.

We were also spoiled for lunch on the third day of the conference, when we ate at the American Club after visiting Fort San Domingo, which was a fort built by the Spanish but taken later by the Dutch. As the name would suggest, all the food served at the club was "American" (or considered more Western at least). I think the French rolls were one of my favorite parts of the meal.

Even though the conference technically ended after lunch, most of the ETAs had booked hotels, hostels, or Airbnbs for the weekend in Taipei. For the Kinmen cohort, most of us decided to stay at the same hostel, so we all checked in together before splitting into smaller groups. I spent the couple of hours I had wandering the streets of Taipei looking for Taiwan-appropriate clothing, which meant lots of long, light, breathable clothes. It was mostly in vain, but I enjoyed checking out different alleyways and seeing people carry their little dogs around.

Later in the evening, I explored more of Taipei when some of the other Kinmen ETAs and I went to the Ningxia Night Market. I'd never been to a night market before (besides the one we have in Philly Chinatown once a year), but it was amazing. I tried fresh watermelon juice, stinky tofu, and some pork skewers. Honestly, stinky tofu wasn't as stinky as I'd expected.

Somehow, three of us rallied enough strength to enjoy some of Taipei's night life and meet up with other cohorts. We walked in the wrong direction for twenty minutes and had to sprint onto the metro, but we finally made it to a bar next to Taipei 101. The entire night was fun but definitely overwhelming, especially after we ended up at a club that was all nonstop loud music, blinding lights, and cigarette smoke.

Throughout the Taipei trip, I felt like I had pushed myself too hard too fast. I had only been out of quarantine for under a week, but I still insisted on hanging out with others 24/7, exploring Taipei, and walking for miles everyday. Unfortunately, everything culminated in me getting an intense headache and nausea after spending an hour in the club. At the very least, I was able to leave early with some other ETAs and get to sleep by 3am or so.

Saturday was a bit of a recovery day for me. I slept in until 11am, got breakfast, then I went with another Kinmen ETA to the National Palace Museum. Despite the glaring Taipei sun, we made it up the many, many steps of the museum and into air-conditioned safety. I really appreciated the opportunity to unwind and walk around the exhibits, especially after having had such an intense night the day before.

Two more Kinmen ETAs joined us while we browsed the museum, which had lots of jadeite and nephrite pieces. The pièce de résistance, however, was the Jadeite Cabbage. Described by one of the other ETAs as "the Mona Lisa of Taiwan", the work was a small piece of jadeite carved into a cabbage with a locust and a grasshopper on it. We were excited to see it in person and also had hoped to see Taiwan's other great treasure, the Meat-Shaped Stone, but the stone was unfortunately being kept in Kaohsiung instead.

For dinner, we decided to go to another night market, so we checked out the Shilin Night Market. I think we accidentally ended up in the tourist-y part for a bit, but we found the more lively streets further into the market later. I got to try tanghulu (糖葫蘆), or rock sugar-coated fruit on a stick, for the first time! The hawthorn was a bit more tart than I expected, but it was a nice treat, and the tartness of the fruit grew on me as I ate it.

Our little group met up with the other Kinmen ETAs, who decided to rally (our favorite word of the week) and hit up another club later. I decided to turn in for the night, so another ETA and I headed back instead. I think catching up on sleep was a good idea, because even though I fell asleep earlier than I had for most of the week, I still woke up today around 10:30am. Oops.

After buying a lightweight UV protection jacket from Uniqlo (which I've fallen more in love with during my time in Taiwan), I went with the rest of the Kinmen cohort to get food from Din Tai Fung, which I'd never been to before. The xiaolongbao (小籠包) were amazing, as were some of the side dishes. The least amazing part of the meal was probably when a house centipede fell from the ceiling onto the table and onto the floor. Everyone at our table leapt a foot into the air, and a hostess came running to check on us. We were fine, but were still offered free chocolate steamed buns as compensation for our incident.

Once we'd finished the steamed buns, I went to check out a nearby bookstore, then find some lightweight clothes for teaching/living in Taiwan without succumbing to heat stroke. I finally found some mango shaved ice along the way! I didn't have much time to savor it since our flights were around 6:30pm, but the shop owners were very kind as I muddled my way through in Mandarin.

From the flight back onward, I think most of us have been pretty drained. While running around another day in Taipei, I don't think we fully processed school starting in a couple of days. Monday morning, which is under twenty-four hours from when we woke up, was our school planning day. And Tuesday's the first day of classes!

Part of me wishes I came back to Kinmen a day or two earlier to settle in more, but I definitely enjoyed exploring Taipei and hanging out with other ETAs too (even at the expense of sleep). Although I think it's been a bit tough to feel ready with how little time I've had between getting out of quarantine and settling in, I'm looking forward to assistant teaching and meeting all my LETs (local English teachers) this year!

Writer's Note: This post was originally written on Sunday, August 28th, 2022.