Today is Sunday and after having nearly 2 weeks off for summer vacation I will return to work tomorrow. What a crazy time I have had the last couple of weeks, they went something like this...
Monday (2 weeks ago) was my last day of summer English camp. I was supposed to have nearly 17 girls every day for 2 hours. I ended up having at most 10 but usually 4 -6 girls in class where we would listen to American pop music and watch movies in English. My room was so hot that they had little energy (me included) to do much else.
I came home from work pondering what I should do for the next 2 weeks. Most of my other ESL teacher friends had gone off on exotic vacations and I didn't want to just sit around. Tuesday morning I had decided that I would go to Taiwan. Within 24 hours I had booked a ticket and hotel to a country I hadn't ever been to and hadn't really thought of going to before.
Weds am, I set off for the airport (about 2 hours away via car), I had planned on taking the buses as I felt fairly confident that I knew which to take... WRONG! Just when I think I have the public transport system down, the language barrier goes and messes that all up. So, after 2 taxi rides and 1 bus ride I arrived at the airport where I would wait for nearly 4 hours. I had taken into account that the bus would take longer but ended up taking a taxi. While in the airport I got to have one of my first non Korean meals... fajitas! YUM! I also happen to meet another ESL teacher from the States who was headed to Taipei too. Yay! A new friend and someone to hang out with on my spontaneous adventure.
Amanda and I shared a taxi from the airport to our respective hotels. I could not have gotten a nicer hotel. It had a/c, tv, HUGE bathroom and most of all a HUGE comfy bed! I was in heaven!
The trip was full of wonderful food... I got to have an awesome cheese tray with brie, cheddar, Gouda, fruits.... it was divine! By day Amanda would do her thing, seeing as she had been planning this trip for quite some time, while I would lounge around just enjoying being somewhere new. The people in Taiwan are WONDERFUL! Very helpful and genuinely happy to help a stranger.
We went on a pretty cool night tour of Taipei which included: a Mongolian BBQ dinner, going to a Buddhist Temple, 2 night markets, and Taipei 101 (the 2nd tallest building in the world, the first being in Dubai.). The night markets in Taiwan are AMAZING! So many people, food, clothing, and oddities... reptiles, fruits that I had never heard of nor seen. I am glad I got to experience them one time because that is about all that I could handle.
One of my favorite places was the jade market. I am not a huge fan of wearing a lot of jewelery however I did indulge on some pretty cool pieces. The market is huge and vendors have everything from inexpensive simple rings to pendants, earrings, stamps and custom made pieces. Another cool place, Modern Toilet.... you have to see it to believe it. A restaurant where you sit on toilets, and are served out of smaller toilet bowls. We didn't' eat here because we had just eaten at TGI Friday's and didn't realize that it was nearly next door. I did get a couple of pics and souvenirs.
A few things of note: There are scooters everywhere! Also it is a fine not to wear a helmet so everyone has them. China still rules Taiwan so it isn't its own country. There are over 7400 7-11s which means Taiwan has the most per capita in the world. I also had my first movie theater experience since leaving Oregon. Here in SK and Taiwan they give you assigned seating at the movies. Almost all of the dogs that I saw out for walks had been shaved and their owners left shapes on their sides like hearts or smiley faces. SO FUNNY and of course I didnt' get a pic!
For not having planned this trip it turned out to be quite a good time. Making new friends, exploring a new country, and having wonderful food and drinks. I highly recommend that if given an opportunity one should def make the trip to Taiwan.
One of the stranger things, at least for me, is that I didn't bother to take my good camera and only packed my backpack for the 5 days I spent there. Anyone who knows me, knows that packing for 5 days usually requires at least 2 suitcases and several shoes! haha :) And as my mother can attest to, I tend to take HUNDREDS of photos, so not taking my camera was a BIG DEAL but I still managed to get some pics on my fabulous phone. :)
Here is a link to the pics that I took.
Taiwan Pics
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