Scooters - Taking my life in my hands

Scooters

Driving a scooter in Taiwanis quite risky. Every time I get on my scooter, I feel like I am possibly about to die. In the country where I live, it isn’t so bad, but in the city it is terrifying. First of all, you need to know that there are traffic laws, but no one really obeys them. Everyone does whatever they want. There are generally eight lanes of traffic with four going each way: two lanes for the cars and two for the scooters. This makes turning left quite difficult as one must cut in front of 2 lanes of cars to turn. If you are at a stoplight, it’s easier. But did I mention the lights change and there are no green arrows. You just have to go and dodge the oncoming cars and scooters. So I make a lot of right hand turns and U-turns. Scooters generally just weave in and out of traffic and around cars. Not only, do they not obey traffic rules, they all pack onto one scooter. It is not unusual to see a family of three or four (including the children, babies and all) on one scooter. Sometimes they bring the dog along.

I also experienced my first time driving in rain on Sunday. People don full length raindresses because the rain is blowing at you. Also… it hurts. When you are going any speed faster than walking the rain stings. One more thing, you don’t want to be anywhere around a car when it hits a puddle. I was definitely right next to a car when it hit a huge puddle and it definitely went all over me like a wave of dirty water. Taiwanis very dirty place and very dusty, so when it rains, the water on the street is VERY dirty.

Typhoons, Travels and Prayer

Tuesday was an amazing day. I went and did the whole school thing for the morning. It is kinda weird, because I am the new person at the school and most of the people there don’t speak my native language fluently. Not to mention the fact that most of the teachers are still on vacation. 

But here’s the fun part. After lunch, I went into the city on my scooter to find the church I want to visit. After about an hour of searching up and down the wrong street, I found it! I spoke with a very nice woman named Susan who told me all about how God is moving in their church and all throughout Taiwan! This church is so in tune with what I was looking for! They are all about spreading the Gospel and discipleship!  

Susan took me and introduced me to young woman, Evangelina, whose parents run a mission training center out of the church. It is so incredible how God answers the prayers of his children! While talking to Susan, I was so happy that I almost cried several times. I had prayed for a church and for godly women to keep me accountable and to be able to fellowship, but I never expected to meet so many and to find them so quickly! There is an English Bible Study on Thursday nights, an English service on Saturday night and English translation on Sunday. So I am very very excited!  

I was supposed to go to Kenting Beach on Thursday with a bunch of the teachers, but Wednesday I wasn’t feeling great. I was feeling kind of nauseous and had an awful headache. Plus I really wanted to go to this Bible study so I decided not to go to the beach on Thursday. Plus, so far very few of the teachers have talked to me and being with a bunch of people who don’t speak to you is very tiring.  

So Thursday I got up and took myself sightseeing! I went and walked on the beach for a while. It was pretty fun! I went to the historical district of Anping. One of the tourist spots is Anping Fort. It was pretty cool. I took lots of pictures. I also went to the Anping Tree House, which is basically a house that has been taken over by trees… roots, branches, everything… It was cool.  

Thursday night I went to Bible Study! It was so much fun and so encouraging! There were only 4 of us there, Kevin, the leader, Lydia, Jerry and I. We studied the Great Commission, really focusing on discipleship and what it means. It was so amazing to get to discuss the Lord with fellow believers, especially such an intense group. 

Friday was the first time all of the teachers were on campus. I had come up with a introduction video in the morning. At 11, we had a group faculty meeting. It was long… and entirely in Chinese. At the end, they had some kind of health presentation where they talked about health issues. Of course I had no idea what they were saying, but the pictures were disgusting. I spent some time after the meeting with one of my co-teachers, Amanda. I still don’t have a schedule because they still haven’t hired some of the teachers for the 7^th grade.

I am very frustrated and anxious about school. Not knowing who I’m going to be with or what I’ll be doing. I have the first week down, but after that I have no clue. It scares me. I had a mini breakdown after I got home from school. That night I went to a prayer service at Living Water. Susan prayed with me and it was so powerful. God totally revealed to her how I was feeling: my fears and frustrations. She prayed for things I hadn’t even said out loud to people yet. One of the things that is getting to me is just being completely alone and not having a physical person here that I can depend on for help.

Saturday I got up and took the High Speed Rail to Taichung to see some of the other teachers that I met at Orientation. It was fun. We walked around the city, ate at a burger joint that James found, and went to the mall. I rode the slow train back to the city which was different. It definitely took longer than the High Speed Rail.

Sunday I got up and it was raining (yay). I drove myself to church in the rain, which was interesting (see end of e-mail). Church was great! They take prayer and worship seriously! I can honestly say I have never been a part of a church that worships this hard, but I love it! And guess what! There's a guy at one of the universities in Tainan that is from near Dothan. And he's a Bama fan... I go across the world and still can't get away from the rivalry! After church, a bunch of us ate at the church sponsored coffee shop, Bus 7.  

I took myself to Carrefour (version of Walmart) and prepared for the typhoon. Got bread, water, fruit and all that jazz… I’m ready

No school on Monday because of the typhoon… and yet… the worst has only been some rain. No wind, nothing. I have spent today working on my video and chilling. Ironing, cleaning, all of that. I would have rather gone to school today because I still don’t have a schedule and I still haven’t met all my co-teachers. SO please please pray for tomorrow. I’m scared to death. It is one thing to go into a new classroom in America. It’s an entirely different game to go into a classroom when no one speaks your language fluently…

It was such a Monday...

Monday

Back to speaking primarily… nothing… I am amazed some days at how little I say. I do talk to myself occasionally. I need a fish or something so I’m not talking just to myself.

I went to work today and there was literally NO ONE there. Not sure why or if there was a meeting I was supposed to be at and wasn’t told about, but I spent the morning working on a PowerPoint and watching/listening to The Glee Project YouTube videos (Go ahead. Hate on me. I don’t care).

I went to my favorite little restaurant for lunch and then to the grocery store. I am beginning to feel very comfortable in my part of the city. I know where to buy things and how to get around. So after a little resting and cleaning, I looked some stuff up on Google Maps, stuffed my larger map in my purse and took off! I was determined to find this church I want to attend on Sunday. Unfortunately, it is in the heart of Tainan City. But I made it! Of course I got turned around a few times, but I never got lost. However, I did receive help from a fellow foreigner who decided that any blonde headed, blue eyed person sitting on the side of the road looking at a map must be list. I repeat, I WAS NOT LOST! I was just trying to decide if I needed to turn right or left. I was 90% sure that I needed to turn left when he pulled up and asked if I needed help. He confirmed that I did indeed need to turn left and then we parted ways. He is the first non Asian I have seen since I have been in Tainan. So I found the road I was looking for, but not the building. I stopped about 2 blocks too early. Maybe I’ll go back one day this week and find the right church. The point was that I made it there and back without getting lost or dying!  Yay!! I am determined to go one or two new places a week. I am finally getting the hang of maps (it’s about time, right?). Yay!!!!

Terrific Time in Taipei!

Friday

Today I got up early, packed my bags, hopped on my scooter and headed to the HSR to go to Taipei!! Melon and I met Phoebe at her house and her sister drove us to the Train Station. We then took a train to the High Speed Rail (HSR) station. It is unbelievable to me that we can get from Tainan to Taipei (about a 4-5 hour drive) in 90 minutes on the HSR! When we got there, I made my way to where I was to meet Alicia and want to talk about a big hug!!! It was so great to see her!

We got me a MRT( kinda like the Subway) card and headed to her house. We ate a quick lunch and then headed to meet Caty Joyce, one of Alicia’s friends. After meeting her, we headed to Carrefore (Wal-Mart on Steroids) to get ingredients to bake cookies for an event that Alicia’s church was having the next day. After buying tons of flour and sugar…etc, we took a taxi back to the church. (We had to! No way were we carrying all that flour and sugar back to the church walking.) We then commenced to baking 400+ cookies. 3 hours later and 410 cookies (give or take a few), we were done! Alicia and I went to this little Indian restaurant and she introduced me to Pakistani food. We had some great conversation and finally took ourselves home! But then!! We went to my very first Taiwanese night market! It was so much fun! We took pictures and got cookies! I bought a headband! It was way too much fun! Very overwhelming though! So many people and so much noise. After a while, we took ourselves home and went to sleep!

Saturday was also a good day! We got up and went SHOPPING! I found a few cute tops which were so cheap by American standards! I love it! We ate Subway for lunch and then went to the Alpha event. Alpha is a 10(?) week program that teaches unbelievers about the Lord. They meet once a week and have dinner and a study (I think). Anyway the event was to raise money for Alpha and to have more people sign up to be in Alpha groups. There was a band (Transitions – attached is a link to their most famous song), games (let by the lovely Alicia), a bake sale and other various things for sale. It was fun!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XTBwvi0h2E

After the event, we went to this restaurant called Bongos to celebrate Kelly’s (one of the missionaries) graduation from Chinese school! Bongos is a cute restaurant that has Western food! I had chicken fingers and fries!!!! So yummy! It was such a fun gathering. There was so much diversity at one table. We had two of the band member’s wives who were from the UK (so awesome British accents), and people from Ohio, Brooklyn, Texas, Taiwan and of course lil ‘ol me from Bama. Despite all this diversity, we one thing in common: Jesus Christ and our desire to see him glorified! Which meant we got along GREAT! Except for when they spoke Chinese and I didn’t understand what was going on!

Sunday was an incredible day! We went to Alicia’s church. It was so good to be with the body, even if I couldn’t communicate with most of them. There were little earpiece things that you put in your ear and the sermon was translated into English! It was awesome, except I got a headache because of the two different voices in my head. After the sermon, we went to a kind of small group prayer service. It was so powerful praying with all these believers, especially hearing them pray in Chinese. It just shows me more and more that Christ is everywhere; he speaks every language and he cares about every person!

After church, Alicia, Caty and I went to MaryJanes and had… PIZZA! It was amazing. In America, we take things like Pizza for granted. I hope I never do again. After inhaling some amazing Pepperoni pizza, Alicia and I went to Starbucks and then to a bookstore and bought me a Chinese/English Bible. After that, I got on the MRT all by myself and went to the HSR station. I had some time to kill before I met Phoebe and Melon, so I sat and people watched and counted foreigners. There weren’t very many (lol).

We rode the HSR and the train home and then I rode my scooter home and collapsed! I was soooooooo tired.

Thursday

Thursday was a kind of blah day. I hit the wall that probably everyone hits. It is the wall of “I’ve had fun being in a different place, but now I just kinda want to go home and take a long bubble bath, eat a hamburger, sleep and then teleport myself back to the country I live in.” At least that is the wall I hit. So far the most difficult thing for me is just the difficulty communicating. I really enjoy being in Tainan, but NO ONE speaks English like a native speaker. Even the English teachers don’t always understand me. I have to speak slowly and use small words, which anyone who knows me would know is hard for me! I love using big words!

So I go to work every morning, but there is really nothing for me to do because I have very little information about who and what I will be teaching. I am working on a slideshow about myself and where I come from to show on the first day, but after that, I am not sure what is gonna go on. When I asked my director about it, he basically told me not to worry, that what I was doing would be easy that I didn’t need to stress about it. I said, “Ok.”, but that is hard for me to do. So anyways, around 5ish Melon, came and helped me buy my ticket for the High Speed Rail so that I can go see Alicia! She also took me and showed me around town a little! It was fun and good to be with someone instead of alone! Soon she is going to take me swimming and to the Garden Night Market which is really famous!

The past few days!

Ok So a new update. I will probably only do this once a week, except so much has gone on, if I don’t write one now, it will be way too long! 

So Saturday I got up and walked to school to get the bicycle that I would be riding until I learned how to ride the scooter. It is a looong walk. However, when I got there the guard was different from the day before and he wouldn’t let me take the bike. We played a long game of charades, and I lost. So I walked back home. I also walked down the road to this little “general store” to get a few things. At 12:30, Phoebe (an English teacher) came and got me to take me to lunch. She also brought a friend of hers, Malon. They took me to this cute little restaurant and taught me how to order. The best part is that they have SWEET TEA!!! It is a black tea with sugar in it, but it is so close to the tea at home!  Then they took me to the grocery store! It was fun! I got some fruit and breakfast stuff! They have AMAZING fruit here. After that, they took me to the school and explained to the gate keeper who I was and that I could take the bike. He was so funny! He thought I was a reporter cause I was taking pictures with my big camera.  

Sunday morning, I got up and got ready to Skype with Judson’s girlfriends family who was at my parent’s house. It was cool to get to meet them even if it was over Skype. After that, I made another walking trip to the school to get the bicycle. I took my Bible and IPod and was going to have my own church service at one of the stone tables outside, but the mosquitoes had apparently not been fed recently and accosted me. So I came back home and finished listening to John Piper! After I came back, I walked down to see if I could find my way to the restaurant that Phoebe took me to. I did! I didn’t get lost or anything! Unfortunately it was closed. As I walked I noticed that there were many tables set out with food in front of almost every business and home. When I got home, I Skyped Alicia and she explained it to me. This is her explanation: 

It is a Chinese tradition at this time of the year to pray to the ghosts, give them food to eat, and ask that they not come to your home or cause any harm. It is believed that if you can get on their good side, they will leave you and your family alone. 

It broke my heart to see how the Taiwanese people trust in gods of stone and wood. They pray to so many different gods because each one has a specific “specialty”.  

Monday I rode the bike to school! It was so much faster, but still hot! I met the director and he showed me my office and desk. In Taiwan the teachers don’t all have classrooms. The classes stay in one room with a homeroom teacher and the different teachers come to them! It’s pretty cool! I also met with the principal and signed my contract. And my luggage came!!! So the director took me home so I could unpack!! Yayayayay!!!!! It was so nice to have all of my things. I made yet another trip to the general store, to get some things especially storage containers. I also got an iron, but they only had a tiny ironing board. So I “talked” to the owner. Through charades, he told me to come back tomorrow that he would get me a bigger one! It is nice to make friends with store owners, although I am pretty sure I am keeping his business afloat as many times as I have been in there!  

When I got back,  I also started a load of clothes. Washing clothes isn’t difficult, but when I put them in the teeny tiny dryer, the thing sounded like it was tearing the whole building down… So I get to hang them out to dry. It’s not that bad except it takes forever and your clothes are very… crisp.

 Tuesday was an awesome day! I spent most of the morning at my desk doing all kinds of official duties (Facebook, journaling, Skype). Great fun! I met a few teachers as they came in. Also the student affairs office brought me a box of fruit as a welcome present! At 11, the director came and took me to this photo place to get some photos made for my Visa paperwork and ARC paperwork. Now this was very strange… they made me tuck my hair behind my ears, remove my earrings and wouldn’t let me smile. It took them forever to get the “right” shot. For some reason, they needed to be able to see my ears. When we got back, I tried out the scooter! It was so easy and so much fun! So I rode it home! Later that night I took it for a longer ride to practice. It is so much fun!

Wednesday(Today). 

Today the director and I went to Kaoshiuang… I think that is how it is spelled anyways. We went to get my Visa changed to Resident’s visa and to apply for my ARC (Alien Resident’s card). However, once we got there, they told us that we couldn’t do it there, that we had to do it in Tainan City. So we basically made the hour trip for no reason… The director’s daughter was with us, so where did we go for lunch…. The one place I could never eat at again and be happy… McDonalds. It was an interesting experience though. The food was slightly different mainly the fries weren’t as good and they had these seafood balls. They were kind of like corn nuggets only with shrimp inside… not bad though! Then we came back. Around 5 today, I decided to go on an adventure. First, I filled up the scooter with gas… and hello! They do it for you. You don’t have to lift a finger! It is AWESOME!! Then I took off for the beach!! And guess what! I found it!! I had looked at maps and figured out how to get there. It was so much fun! The beach itself is not that pretty, the sand is brown and dirt like, but the water and the sunset was GORGEOUS!!  I felt so accomplished that I got there with no major scrapes. I will definitely have to go back soon!!

Friday - Last day of Orientation and first day in Tainan

Friday

This morning, we got up and had breakfast and finished packing. I had to take my suitcases to the leisure room by 8:30 because we had to ship them to my school since I am taking the train. At 9:00 a.m. we had the Closing Ceremony. We met the people from our schools who came to get us. We discussed the contracts and signed them.

After that, we ate lunch together for the last time. It was so sad. In the four days we were together, we became like a little family. We had the parental figures, the kids, the weird members... Being in a foreign county is like being in a pressure cooker. Away from everything familiar, our real selves come out. There is no being fake, or lying. You are who you are. 

We got on the shuttle bus to take us to the airport or train station. I didn’t expect it to be so hard to leave them or that I would miss them so much. Anyway, Wai Hao and Phoebe and I got off first because we took the High Speed Rail (train) to Tainan. It was super cool!! We got tickets and got on the train. You have assigned seats and they are really nice. It took us 90 minutes to go what would have taken us 4 hours to drive. After we got to Tainan, we went to HOLA and bought me a mattress, sheet, pillow and blanket. The got me a telephone number and dinner and showed me the school.

The school is beautiful. I am really excited and nervous. I am going to have 7^th, 8^th, 10^th and 11^th grades! I am going to have my own office because the teachers go to where the students are instead of the students coming to the teacher. I kind of like it because I don’t have to be responsible for a room! After that, they dropped me off at my new dorm.

My room is teeny tiny, but functional. I have a desk, bed, closet, bathroom, TV and small refrigerator. It is definitely a change from having a house or apartment. Because I don’t have all my luggage, I don’t have many things in my room yet so it doesn’t feel very homey yet. After I unpacked and had a small panic attack, I walked down to the 7-11 and a small store and bought some food stuff (peanut butter, jelly, bread, OREOS) and some house stuff (trash cans, fork, spoon). I came back and organized and tried to make it all feel more like it was my space. I then skyped with several people! It was so good to talk to Mallory, Alicia and Debb! I felt so encouraged and refreshed when I finished! They all ministered to me in different ways! Then I went to bed in my very own living space!!

Possibly my favorite day of Orientation

Thursday 

We had Chinese lessons again today. I still feel so befuddled. I did do my homework and practiced introducing myself, telling my nationality, birthday and who is in my family. We were also given fake money and had to go around and shop! At one “shop” Allen bought three rings and gave to me, Joy and Jessica! After Chinese lessons, we had several Foreign English teachers come and share their experiences! It was really good and informative! It gave me a better idea of what to expect.  

After lunch, we had more presenters including my favorite! Debb Draught presented about her experience teaching in Taiwan! She was so incredible! She has a huge personality and loves life! I want to be just like her when I get older! After her presentation, we had a classroom management seminar which made me feel  like I was back in America. We then went to the Farewell Party!! 

Just like the Welcome party, the Farewell party was awesome! We had tons of Taiwanese snacks and drinks! My favorite is Milk tea with pudding!! We learned how to swing dance with Crystal and then we taught the Taiwanese people the YMCA and electric slide. They were hilarious!! Some of them never got the motions to YMCA! Crystal and I sang some Karaoke together “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.  

Then Crystal and Ben sang “Endless Love” together. Lina(one of the Taiwanese teaching assistants) made them hold hands and sing to each other. It was so funny. After that, Lina came up to our table and said, “Hannah and Allen you need to sing a song together. You can make-out. The Banana thing” She meant, “You can make up about the banana thing, but she said make-out!! It was hilarious. I laughed so hard!  

After the party, Joy, Jessica, Allen and I went out in the city on our own. We went to this random store. It was huge. It was kinda like a smaller version of Wal Mart. It had three floors of stuff. I got a few little things. After we walked back, we packed and went to bed.

First days in Taiwan - Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday  
I woke up super early because in Taiwan the mattresses are HARD!! Like sleeping on a sleeping bag! We went to breakfast which was pretty much egg sandwiches, but with other ingredients. I didn’t care though cause I was starving. We didn’t have dinner the night before.

We began orientation by meeting everyone and by having a formal welcoming ceremony with officials from the Minister of Education and the American Institute. We then had some training on ESL teaching in Taiwan. After lunch, we went to the “Old Street” and learned about Indigo dyeing. Basically indigo dyeing is tie-dyeing with indigo ( a dark blue) dye! It was so much fun though!! I love my bandana/cloth/ hankerchief! After that, we walked around Old Street.

When we got back, we changed and went to the welcome party. They had Taiwanese snacks for us and COKE!!! I was just a little excited! We learned how to do a traditional Aboriginal dance. Taiwan has several Aborigian tribes. Then we played People Bingo where you had to complete a Bingo card by finding the person who matched the random fact on your card. It was fun and I won the second round!!

Then…. we sang KARAOKE!!! Karaoke is HUGE in Taiwan. It was funny though because most of the songs were super old and I didn’t know most of them! After the party, Joy, Allen and I went to Joy’s room and talked and listened to music. Then I went to bed and slept a glorious 7 hours!

Wednesday

This morning, we had our very first Chinese lesson! I learned very quickly that my southern drawl and Chinese do not go well together. However, the native Chinese speakers said it was “cute” how I sounded. All I know is that I have such a hard time making the words come out the right way. It is so hard!!

After the Chinese lesson, Wallace (The Aboriginal who taught us the dance) gave us a presentation about Taiwan: places we should go, the festivals… etc. It was such an awesome presentation! I want to go so many places. 

We then went to lunch, which by the way is AWESOME!! I am enjoying the food. I don’t know what I am eating half the time, but I just don’t ask. Also the only utensils we have are chopsticks. I got good at them really quickly!  

After lunch, we had a looong session with a professor who taught us about making activities and lesson plans for teaching! She was so good!!! We played all kinds of games. One of her motivating tools was if we got an answer correct, we got a “banana” drawn on the board! You would never know that a bunch of adults could be so competitive about a drawing on the board! At one point, I got the opportunity to erase 3 bananas from a group. Allen made a comment about how I cheated, so I erased 3 bananas from his group! Later he got to erase 5 bananas from a group so of course he chose mine. However, he asked me what group I was and I told him 4, even though I was group 6. Then someone said, “No! Hannah is group 5!” Finally he figured out which group I was in and erased my bananas. The teacher looked at me and said, “This means he really likes you.” It was so funny!!

After dinner, James, Joy and I had to create a lesson plan about Christmas. We worked hard. But of course when you work hard, you have to play hard! After we finished, Andrew, Allen, Calvin, Yetta, Joy, Ben, Jessica and I went out to walk around the city. Jessica and I finally got to get some money from the ATM. But in the process, we got separated from the rest of the group. Luckily, we had Andrew with us and we got back just fine!

When we got back we gathered in the Leisure room and a bunch of us watched Taken (great movie to watch when you are overseas). Ben and his group came back with Pizza!! Of course we all had to have a slice!

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

So... I have been in Taiwan for almost a week now and I am just now blogging. So I am about to post several blogs about my first few days.

Okay then… Where to start. I guess I will start with the flight. Sunday morning, we got up and hit the road by 4 a.m. Yes very very early. Mallory met us at the airport and I had just a few minutes with her and my family before it was time to board the airplane. It was a few hours from Birmingham to Dallas. I then had about 4-5 hours to kill at the Dallas Airport. After wandering around the entire airport twice, I went and ate at TGI Fridays. I had steak, mashed potatos and broccoli since it is likely I won’t have it again anytime soon. After that, I went to a chapel service at the airport. The chaplain spoke about Joseph and how God orders our steps/ Very very cool!

Then came the 13 hour flight from Dallas to Tokyo. Luckily the flight was not very crowded and I had a whole row to myself! I slept several hours, read some, and slept some more. There weren’t very many movies that I was interested in watching and I was sooooo tired.  

When I got to Tokyo, I found the gate and met Joy and Maria, two other teachers from the TEA program!!! It was so good. It really made me feel more comfortable. Joy’s parents are from Taiwan and she speaks Chinese. In fact, her dad is a Taiwanese missionary! Cool, huh? Maria is from El Paso, Texas and she has taught and been a principal for 30 years!! We also met Allen and Jessica as we were boarding the plane. 

After the two hour layover in Tokyo, we boarded the plane and again did not have anyone in the seat by me! Yes!!!! I watched the Adjustment Bureau because I knew that I didn’t need to sleep so I could sleep when I got to Taiwan! 

When we got to Taiwan, everything went very smoothly. We all got through customs with no problem and ALL of our luggage made it! Some people picked us up at the airport and we rode to the National Educational Agency where our Orientation was being held. Some American and Taiwanese educational assistants met us and showed us our rooms. And we collapsed into bed.