Taichung Continued and JhuShan town

So after scouring JhuShan with my little eeepc to find an internet connection I discovered that my big laptop could jump onto someone's wifi from the comfort of my own apartment (with a little tweaking) yay. So I type this for the first time in my apartment. So much nicer.

So anyway I have a heap of stuff I wrote during the last few days. Warning: it is long, read at your own peril! There are also a bunch more photos here.

Monday: So I met with Bryan (who is younger than I thought and a hell of a lot cuter than I expected) and we headed to Taichung Hospital where I was poked and prodded and x-rayed. It was all very painless and easy though he then dropped me back at the bus stop I would need to go to in order to get back to JhuShan. After getting my bus ticket (with some help from the Visitor centre and my phrase book) I boarded the bus back to JhuShan and sat happily eating my puffies (dunno if that is what they are called here but I know stores in Australia use that name) and being snap happy with the scenery. Before boarding the bus I took a careful gander at people's tickets to see where they were going thinking I would be smart and just find someone with the same destination as me and then get off when they get off.....works in theory. In practice I got confused as to who I was meant to follow and followed the wrong people...fortunately we weren't too far from my destination so with some common sense and a lot of blind luck I made it into familiar territory without too much hassle. The down side is I still don't know where I'm actually meant to catch the bus to Taichung from in JhuShan.

Monday night I took a walk around the shops in JhuShan just to see what was around. I found another English school a couple of blocks away and I was tempted to go talk to their foreign teacher but decided that being from a rival school that may be frowned upon. The central area itself is quite busy and a lot bigger than my initial impression. I found lots of great little food stores dotted around some time. Then on my way home I went into the supermarket and saw they had fans on sale so I lugged one of them home with my daily groceries and assembled it first thing. I have a spare part and the switch to make the fan stationary doesn't seem to work but aside from that it is perfect. With both that and my air con going I no longer wake up dying in the heat at night.


Some interesting differences:

- the Taiwanese just don't seem to walk everything is scooter, bike, bus or car....a 10 minute walk is considered a long way away.

- I kept hearing this cool music reminiscent of a Chinese version of Mr. whippy and at first I thought it was like something festive it was only today that I realised the music is played by garbage trucks as a way to signal people they are in the area so everyone can run down and throw out their garbage.

- Red lights seem to mean stop if you feel like it.

- No one locks up their bike.


Wednesday: It occurred to me the other day that there could possibly be a great view of the countryside at the back of my apartment block (it is only apparent during the day for obvious reasons) so I wandered down and low and behold I have a great view of the countryside just outside my door.


I was watching tv the other night and stumbled across a music program which was showcasing well known Taiwanese musicians. Of course I hate music and turned it straight off…..actually I was riveted, I brought out my trusty camera and took photos of the artists I liked the sound of. Now being somewhat of an expert at navigating JhuShan the next day I wandered into a music store and started doing my little mime routine only to discover the owner spoke English. I was actually a bit disappointed because music is one of the only words I know in Mandarin and I didn’t get a chance to use it. I did however have a nice conversation with the owner who grew up in JhuShan and knows the area well (unlike most of the people I’ve met so far) and he told me I could come ask him about anything if I was unsure which I thought was well nice of him. He was astonished that I would want to 1 listen to music in a language I still don’t know and 2 would actually buy the music. In fact he suggested I just download it as it was cheaper….how he makes a living I have NO idea. I told him I was still in the process of getting the internet and I like to support artists. So in the end I walked away with 2 cds and a dvd from a Taiwanese singer called Elva. I listened to it last night and decided that I like it but I think it is more because I have no idea what is being said. She reminds me of a Taiwanese version of J Lo.


Tuesday I only taught 2 classes as we are in the transition between summer school and regular school (the new term starts Sep 1). Today I have 5 classes however most of these classes write themselves which isn’t too bad. I should probably prepare more but to be honest I just don’t feel like it.

I found a wifi hotspot Tuesday however before I could do much I lost the signal. Actually there are a lot of unlocked signals floating around but most of them won’t let me connect.


I’m developing quite a nice routine now.

8.30am wake up

9 go for a wander

11 go back to apartment and make lunch

12.45 wander off to work

9.30 get home from work, watch tv, look over next day’s lessons

12.30 go to bed


Making lunch is not an easy task if I want it hot. It takes over an hour to boil water in my little oven. Hot lunch made by me consists of noodles and a curry from a packet. I also eat a lot of fruit, bread and jam. I love the soy milk here. Occasionally I pick up something hot at the supermarket to munch on at night but most of the time I’m just not that hungry. My Mandarin still isn’t good enough to go around ordering food from the many cafes and stalls around town.


I now know my address and will post it here soon.


Quite often I seem to get mixed messages from my boss at school, maybe it’s a translation thing but it can sometimes make things really frustrating. Here’s an example

My first day of teaching I rocked up in shorts and a top and my boss made a passing remark that made me think that maybe I wasn’t dressed appropriately so I brought this up with her and she said that formal is definitely better ie pants over shorts and shirts over tshirts. Fine. So then I started wearing pants and a shirt each day. Almost all my formal wear is black (because it is easier to wash). I then got told in a round about fashion that I was wearing too much black…..I’m now compromising and wearing tshirts and pants. No one has said anything about this yet.


Wednesday 27th August 2008

I taught 5 lessons today each at 1 hour a pop. I’ve never taught 5 hours in one day. Fortunately the classes kinda wrote themselves and I was given a basic lesson outline by the other native teacher for each class so lesson planning wasn’t too bad. My voice however was another story. I tend to shout a lot in class not as in get angry just shout to be heard. So by the start of lesson 5 my voice was faltering, but the middle I was spluttering out words and by the end my throat was raw. I also discovered today that Amy and her family have actually gone to Taipei….this was never mentioned to me, not that it matters much but it is nice to know.

So far I have one class tomorrow. Whether I will get more later I dunno, I can totally live with 1 class.


Next entry will be shorter.