What a week!

Life as a teacher in Taiwan is not much different than life as a teacher anywhere. We have lots of students to worry about, plan for, differentiate for and engage. We have curriculum to learn, lessons to plan, materials to buy and set up, experiments to design, parents to contact, emails to write, homework websites to update...and the list goes on. This week has been one of those weeks where there has been way too much to do and not enough time to do it in. I AM FRIED! I'm so glad it FRIDAY!

Although the week was crazy busy, I did get to squeeze some fun in (of course). On Tuesday, Pearl took me, Wendy and Lee to her optometrist so I could get a new prescription for my glasses. I just can't read that small print anymore. Damned aging eyes! Thank goodness Pearl took us because there are just so many things I couldn't describe without her there to translate. She is a great friend!

After the appointment, she took us to her favorite dim sum restaurant in Kaohsiung called Flavors. Flavors is a Cantonese Dim Sum TeaHouse. Flavors Dim Sum Pearl wins again and is batting 1000 with restaurants.

 We had different types of dumplings, shrimp wrapped in crispy taro flour, chinese vegetables, smoked pork and amazing Taiwanese teas.

Above is a traditional steamed bun filled with pork.

 The servers come around with their little cards filled with yumminess and they heat items right there with their little steamer baskets. Brilliant!

I love the food in the country!

On Thursday, my friend Flora took me to this little hole in the wall place near where she lives in Zuoying District. I would have never gone to this place because you have to speak and read Chinese to even order. We had dumplings, a type of porridge (bland and made of corn), green beans and other goodies. The whole meal for 2 people cost $300 NTD which is about $10 US. 

Tonight I am heading out with a group from the school to celebrate a colleague's birthday. Tomorrow I head to a new art museum that just opened in Tainan, then I'm taking the train up to Taipei to meet a college friend's wife. I'm taking the high speed train there and I'm spending the night there. I know I will have lots to share from both adventures.

Happy Friday everyone and I'll update you on Sunday!

Afternoon tea at the British Consulate

This afternoon was perfect! A small group of 6 teachers took the train down to the British Consulate so that we could have high tea at the restaurant there. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious and the company was even better. What an amazing group of women I get to work with!

This is Laurie and Wendy. We got to sit outside on the patio overlooking Kaohsiung Harbor as we enjoyed our yummy tea and tower of food.

 The weather couldn't be more perfect. It was in the mid 70's, sunny, clear skies (which isn't that common here in the winter because of the smog) and great breeze. We got to sit outside in the sun in our shirt sleeves. How lucky are we?

 We could see the lighthouse on Cijin Island clearly today.

 We were each served our own pot of tea in traditional English china.

 And then we were served THIS! A tower of savory on the bottom building to the sweets on top. Nomnom. Three of us shared this spectacle.

 You can see the temple in the background so there was the scent of burning ghost money in the air.

 Everything was perfectly presented and decorated. That is definitely one area where the Taiwanese excel.

 We sat outside and enjoyed the food and conversation for almost 2 hours and the light just kept getting better and better.

 That's the city in the distance.

On our way to the path that takes us back to the train, this was the wall along a road down to the harbor.  I think we should have living art everywhere!

It was such a nice way to spend the afternoon. Now time to think about what our next adventure will be....

Figuring things out in Kaohsiung

It's amazing how quickly we can adapt. Today I ordered tickets online for the high speed train to Taipei. A couple of friends and I are going up there for Chinese New Year in February. I then had to go to a 7-11 to pay for and pick up those tickets. In Taiwan, 7-11 is the center of everything - snacks, ATMs, paying bills and now picking up train tickets.

When I got there I soon realized that I had to use a kiosk to print a receipt that I then had to take to the cashier. I knew none of this, of course, because the kiosk directions were completely in Chinese. I went to the cashier to ask for help and she couldn't understand what I was asking. Luckily I had my Chinese class notebook with me and I had learned how to ask for help in class this week - Keyi bāng wo mai ma? - can help me buy? It worked! She helped me and then I was able to say the numbers I needed to say in Chinese. Very small steps but, damn, I am proud of myself.

Learning Chinese in Taiwan

Why do I need to learn how to speak Chinese in Taiwan when I teach in English at an American School? Well, if you've read any of my posts, you know that a small percentage of people speak English in Kaohsiung and you need to know some Chinese in order to navigate your life here. Funny thing is that many of the people who teach here and have lived here a while don't speak much Chinese and they live here very comfortably and get along quite well without learning but, man, I want to make my life just a little less complicated. Also, how cool would that be if I could speak a bit of Chinese by the time I left Taiwan.

Sounds easy right? Chinese is a crazy hard language to learn. I had my first Chinese class on Monday and we covered SO much in that 90 minutes....and I've forgotten pretty much all of it. There are 4 different tones in Mandarin - flat and high pitched, rising (which sounds like how we end a question in English), dropping then rising tone (scoop down then up) and finally the dropping tone. Using a different tone is what lends meaning to the word. For example, mā means mother but mà means scold. Crazy right?

The first class was looking at the pinyin sounds of Chinese. Pinyin is how you write Chinese phonetically so you can learn it. You write the tone marks on the vowels to help learn the correct tone.

I learned how to say "Hello, my name is Nancy and you?"  Nǐhǎo, wǒ jiào Nancy, nǐ ne?

Kěyǐ hē jiǔ ma? - That's - can I have a beer? (Very important phrase don't you think?)

And...

Wǒ hē cha, bù hē kāfēi. - I drink tea, don't drink coffee.

I have so much to learn and I truly need to practice each and every day for it to stick. Wish me luck!

The British Consulate of Takow

Well, it's been quite a while since my last blog posting. I went to visit my family and friends in the states for the holidays (which was so good for me) and last week was a whirlwind of getting back to the swing of things and settling back in.

The weather has been amazing here, in the high 60's to high 70's, and I'm enjoying every moment of it. I am not missing the subzero temperatures that the states are experiencing right now. Not even a little bit!

Yesterday was a great day. My friend Wendy and I went to the British Consulate, which is located in the southern part of Kaohsiung. Wendy has been there before but I haven't and I'm glad I had her as a tour guide. I biked to her place on Nanping, which is near the MRT subway station. I haven't taken the MRT very often here because I live pretty far from it so it's easier to bike everywhere. We had to switch trains at Formosa and we went upstairs so I could take some shots of the glass ceiling. Impressive isn't it!

We took the train to the last station and walked toward the path leading to the Consulate. As with every walk I've taken in this city, there is some form of artwork that impresses me. This mural is a mosaic. Mosaics always impress me because I know I would never have the patience to make something like this. No way!

Amazing!

This is a mosaic of foliage! It was incredibly beautiful to see in person!

In the midst of modern structures, temples and every form of building you can imagine, you often find a building like this. Pink is very much appreciated in this country!

We walked along a canal that leads to the ocean. The ferry to Cijin Island leaves from here and you can see one of the ferries below.

The bridges that span the canals and Love River are so beautifully designed. We walked toward the entrance to the path.

The brick wall lining the path has chunks of coral built into it.

You see a variety of homes along the path and pretty much every one of them has a multitude of potted plants or a garden.

How smart is this?! A separate path for your bike so you can take it up to the top.

You know how much I love these banyan trees! Glorious!

As you come around the corner from the path, you see this vista...the Taiwan Strait with the cargo container ships in the distance.

All of these wooden "cards" were hanging along this area overlooking the water. I need to find out what they represent.

That's the university built on the hillside in the background in the photo below.

It was a gorgeous, breezy day in the low 70's. Perfect!

That is the lighthouse at the end of Cijin Island in the distance. This is the entrance to Kaohsiung Harbor.

In the late 1800's, Formosa (Taiwan) was forced to open up trading ports and one of the ports was in Takow (the old name for Kaohsiung). The Consulate was built in 1879 to expand British interests in Taiwan. There is a residence down the hill from this building. Under Japanese rule in 1895, this building became a weather station and then was deserted after it was damaged by a typhoon. In 1986 it was restored and became a museum, gift shop and restaurant that serves English high tea and dinner. We are planning on going to one of those teas soon.

There is the heart of Kaohsiung in the distance. As you can see, there is smog that perpetually hovers over the city in the winter. 

We walked down a winding path that took us to the boardwalk along the ocean. You can see the consulate high up on the hill in the photo below.

The former British Consular Residence has wax figures (maybe not wax since it's hot here) that depict the life of the first British Consul General in the late 1800's.

This is his wife going on an outing. I can't imagine it was comfortable being carried around in that little box. Yikes! How could you fit a bustle and all of the crap women wore during that time!?

These are outside the residence.  Hmmm....wonder what they were used for.

High Five!

We made our way back toward the MRT and lunch and passed this along the way. It reminded me of the sign in Maine with the distances to famous cities.

And finally my walk back from the MRT (seen below). What a beautiful day and what an amazing city!