Week 29: Frogs, Fog, & Food

This week, we only had three school days! After seeing Sun Moon Lake, our cohort spent another day in Puli and Taichung, then headed back to Kinmen to teach. We also celebrated another cohort birthday

On Monday, I got breakfast with some other ETAs, then we all scooted to the Paper Dome. The Paper Dome was a small, boxlike structure housed within a larger park, and it was very cute. Its back wall was made of colorful strips of paper, and several different Year of the Rabbit artworks were displayed along the wall. There was also a "tree" with bubbles of light in the center of the structure.

The rest of the Paper Dome park had a variety of ponds and artpieces to explore. We saw lots of egrets, but despite the advertising, there were no frogs to be found (presumably because it was winter). Once we bought some postcards and ice cream, we ended up heading to a nearby waterfall. However, the entire endeavor was fruitless, and we only found rusted, padlocked gates and paths littered with debris and ominous vibes.

After lunch, the cohort headed back to Taichung. Personally, I think the scoot back was easier than the scoot out largely because we took a route that didn't require going over a mountain. It took an hour and a half, but it was still beautiful to see the mountains and the trees as we passed by.

My partner and I got some douhua after we headed back, then eventually went to the Feng Chia Night Market with everyone else. We got some strawberries with condensed milk, mango pancakes, and rou jia mo (肉夾饃). The latter is a gua bao-like sandwich from Beijing, and although it wasn't particularly to my taste, it wasn't bad.

We fought through the crowd to get some fried quail eggs, then ate in a nearby park. Eventually, the cohort decided to migrate to a nearby bar, and we spent the rest of the evening chatting. It was definitely a long day, but it was fun.

On Tuesday, everyone flew back to Kinmen. Since I caught an early-ish flight, I got home early enough to eat lunch with other ETAs, then run errands. I ended up taking a nap in 3F, so another Hong House ETA serenaded me with her kalimba. The rest of the afternoon was spent vibing, then we had our weekly hotpot.

Luckily, Wednesday was a half day, so teaching wasn't too daunting. We had a Fulbright workshop in Jinhu, then a bunch of us played badminton at the Jinhu gym. Admittedly, I'm far, far out of shape, but I had a good time playing badminton with everyone! While we played, a thick, grainy fog rolled in suddenly, then disappeared just as suddenly. Kinmen's known for its foggy season, but I wasn't ready for how sudden or thick the fog would be, nor for how early the fog would show up.

Since I only taught two classes, Thursday was a class-light day. During lunch, I went exploring on Little K, and I saw my first hoopoe! My partner almost ran over it while scooting. Hoopoes (/ˈhupuz/) are orange-ish brown birds with striking head crests and black and white striped bodies native to Taiwan, and this semester, one of the lessons in EV focuses on teaching about them, blue-tailed bee-eaters, and otters, among other things.

Later, I checked out a new Italian place for dinner; it was pretty good. I had a Spanish sausage pasta, my partner got a Spanish pizza, and we got a free apple soda (which kinda tasted like sparkling cider).

On Friday, we had our first day of EV of the semester. The lesson my co-teacher, myself, and some of the other ETAs had designed for our classroom was Kinmen food-themed, so we taught the kids vocab like scallion pancake, peanut candy (tribute candy), and, of course, Kaoliang. It went pretty well apart from a few snags.

After school, I explored near Lake Tai, and I checked out the island temple again. I went to a cute little cafe in Jinhu afterwards, then went to the Indonesian restaurant in Jinsha with some other ETAs for dinner. Later, we went to Live House, our favorite Jinhu bar, and spent the evening vibing. Although it was tiring to spend the whole day in Jinhu, I liked exploring that side of the island a little more.

I didn't do much on Saturday. I took a nap, had mi gao (米糕) for lunch, then took another nap. Peak existence. Since it was one of my roommates' birthdays, I later went to the Jinning apartment and helped bake a blondie cookie cake for her. We had a birthday dinner with her at Kim's Noodles, then did KTV.

We hadn't gone to KTV in forever, but it was nice to hear the hits again, which included "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus, "Break Your Heart" by Taio Cruz, and "Last Christmas" by Wham!. One of the more interesting parts of the night was when the cops peered into our room, exlaimed, "哦很多外國人," ("Oh, lots of foreigners."), and left.

The next day, a bunch of us ETAs headed to Jinsha for a collab between two beloved Jincheng restaurants/bars. We spent at least three hours eating and exploring the surrounding Yangzhai Old Street. One of my personal favorite parts of the day, besides just checking things out with everyone, was seeing a frog! I've missed frogs.

In addition to checking out postcards and getting Kaoliang lattes, we also paid another visit to the Indonesian restaurant nearby. I think she liked seeing us again! We also ran into a local friend and one of his friends, who makes YouTube videos about Kinmen. It turns out she's a Temple alum too, so that's pretty neat.

It's been a good week! I've had a lovely time exploring different places and hanging out with my other cohort members. Something we all keep thinking about is how soon the grant period ends—although we technically have three-ish months left, we only have those three months left! It feels like it should still be October. Maybe November.

I'm a little terrified about the grant period ending, and it seems like the rest of the cohort is too. I'm remarkably grateful to have had such an amazing cohort, and I'll miss everyone dearly once the school year's over. Hopefully, we'll be able to have some reunions in the states! I'm looking forward to checking out Louisiana, Washington state, etc. and seeing everyone again.

Until next week!