Author's note: I have had a WONDERFUL time in Taiwan; please check out my companion list to this one for proof of that. But I thought it fitting, since I'm leaving, to remind myself of why it's not all bad to be going home--so this was my way of doing that.
10. Having to check all movies etc to make sure they are in English
OK, so this was only actually an issue once, last week when Tiffiany, Rachel and I went to see Brave and left two Chinese-dubbed lines in. But it will be very nice when I won't have to scrutinize every film title and description to be sure it's in English. In general, having English-language media readily available again will be a wonderful thing.
9. Having to watch my vocabulary and speed when talking
I don't particularly mind doing this, and I've gotten quite used to adjusting my speech to the English level of those around me--my students, for instance--but it will be much easier when I can turn that part of my brain off and just talk.
8. Being dirty all the time
In the same category: having my clothes get dirty all the time; having my shoes get dirty all the time; having my apartment be dirty all the time. No amount of caution or cleaning can help you when it's in the air.
7. Cockroaches
*Shudder* 'Nuff said.
6. Scootering in the rain
I love scootering--when it's nice out. When it's not, well...just see the last post I wrote on the subject. Being the constant subject of showers of street water is not exactly my idea of a good time.
5. Not being able to find potatoes on any menu, ever
I love potatoes. When asked my favorite food, that is usually my answer. So, when the only variety you can ever find them in is french fried, and that rarely, I get a little sad. And then a lot sad. Really, Taiwan, you're missing out on an amazing food here!
4. Being surrounded by bad drivers on poorly designed streets
I've written before my conclusions of why scootering in Taiwan is so difficult. Several times, actually. What it boils down to is this: badly designed roads and people who don't pay attention to things like right-of-way or the traffic laws. I won't miss that. (And yes, I realize that in conjunction with what I said yesterday, this makes me a massive hypocrite. I don't care.)
3. Having bones and skin and fat make up the majority of every "meat" dish on any menu
In America, we like our meat as meat only: no skin (too much fat!), no bones (too much work!), no fat (see "no skin"). In Taiwan, they're much better about not wasting things (and/or have less of a market for our other uses for these materials, like hot dogs, perhaps?), and so a slab of "meat" is never a slab: it's a little crosscut of a bone, whichever bone they had handy; your job is to get the bits off it that you like and leave the rest. I will like having "meat" mean just "meat" again.
2. Being drenched in sweat within 5 minutes of walking outside
I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I don't particularly like sweating, and less still do I like having heat dictate how I dress and how I look--that is, never well. I get quite excited in Taiwan when I'm being picked up (in a car!!) to go somewhere inside (air-conditioning!!), and so can do things like put on makeup and do my hair without the knowledge that it will all be for naught the instant I put on my scooter helmet or walk the few blocks to wherever I'm going.
1. Not being able to communicate above a very basic level
I've written about this more times than I can count, and certainly more times than I'd like to cross-reference for you now: it is so terribly hard sometimes not to be able to talk to most of the people you come across.Your world becomes very small, excepting the Internet, consisting of the few friends you have that speak English and the few places where you know you can communicate in Chinese--some well-trusted restaurants, for instance, and a single bank. Going anywhere else or doing anything else requires a massive effort, and even when you make that effort, is often incredibly frustrating and may or may not end in success. One very small example is in the realm of small talk, which I wrote about before--I feel so rude not making small talk with people I come across! And yet, the terrible truth is that, at least at the moment, I have no choice in Taiwan. And I won't miss that.
Showing posts with label heat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heat. Show all posts
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Sweat, etc.
It's back, and in full force. Today, the high was 30C (~87*F), plus a balmy 80% humidity and sunlight the brightness of which could definitely burn through any sunblock you dared to set up against it. The heat. It's here.
And it's not come alone: it's brought its faithful companion, sweat. What joy is ours.
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. We don't get a lot of days above the 80s (F) there, and no one really talks about humidity because there's never enough of it to matter. As a result, sweat was a pretty foreign concept to me before I came here. Sure, people sweat, but usually just a little, and usually just when they've been working out or something.
Not so here. It took less than a month here for me to buy a little washrag to take with me everywhere; a little more than a month to realize wearing makeup was a futile waste of money. Then the heat waned; Kaohsiung's pleasant Fall and Winter approached, and I even had to don a coat a few times. But no more. Now the heat's returned, and, with it, the sweat.
Why am I writing about sweat? It's simple, really: it's the closest thing I have to a uniting force of my day today. It was certainly ever-present, anyway.
This morning, I arrived at school with my hair in low pigtails--a response to its newly cropped length which doesn't allow for any other sort of hairstyle that would simultaneously fit under my helmet and keep my hair off my neck. I didn't want to sweat. But what had I unfortunately forgotten as I styled my hair? Oh yeah: the interview.
Today, my LETs applied for the Fulbright program for next year. Seeing as how the interview fell in the middle of a school day, and involved all of the people that I usually share classes with, Hanmin asked if I would accompany them to the interview. Which I did--IN PIGTAILS. So much for professionalism.
The interview went fine--I mostly just sat there as moral support, though I did manage to throw in a quick plug for my schools right before we left--and then we went out to lunch at a local duck noodle shop. There, I had a bit of a problem with my chopsticks--they were slipping out of my fingers. No, not because I don't know how to use chopsticks--believe me, it's second nature at this point--it was because of sweat. And that's when I realized: it's back!
Thankfully, my heat annoyance was soon relieved by a SCRUMPTIOUS visit to a shave ice place with Hanmin's principal, academic director, and Maggie (a visit which meant we were 20 minutes late to our next class, but hey! We had the principal's and the academic director's explicit permission!)
The heat continued to plague my day in various forms which, thankfully, had less to do with sweat. My shoes began to fall apart and blister my feet, which sucked, and I got really thirsty, which also sucked.
It also impacted my favorite moment of the day: the moment a gaggle of 6th grade girls stretched my birthday into a second week, crowding my desk and handing me notes written on paper shaped like Facebook "like"s, a box of cute chocolate (like what Analicia got me!), some almond cookies, and a big ol' chocolate bar. It was so nice of them, and they were so wonderful, yet what was I worried about? The heat. And the chocolate.
All I can say is "Thank goodness for refrigerators!"...And AC. It's the one surefire way to get out of the heat, and so to avoid melting--whether chocolate or self.
And it's not come alone: it's brought its faithful companion, sweat. What joy is ours.
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. We don't get a lot of days above the 80s (F) there, and no one really talks about humidity because there's never enough of it to matter. As a result, sweat was a pretty foreign concept to me before I came here. Sure, people sweat, but usually just a little, and usually just when they've been working out or something.
Not so here. It took less than a month here for me to buy a little washrag to take with me everywhere; a little more than a month to realize wearing makeup was a futile waste of money. Then the heat waned; Kaohsiung's pleasant Fall and Winter approached, and I even had to don a coat a few times. But no more. Now the heat's returned, and, with it, the sweat.
Why am I writing about sweat? It's simple, really: it's the closest thing I have to a uniting force of my day today. It was certainly ever-present, anyway.
This morning, I arrived at school with my hair in low pigtails--a response to its newly cropped length which doesn't allow for any other sort of hairstyle that would simultaneously fit under my helmet and keep my hair off my neck. I didn't want to sweat. But what had I unfortunately forgotten as I styled my hair? Oh yeah: the interview.
Today, my LETs applied for the Fulbright program for next year. Seeing as how the interview fell in the middle of a school day, and involved all of the people that I usually share classes with, Hanmin asked if I would accompany them to the interview. Which I did--IN PIGTAILS. So much for professionalism.
The interview went fine--I mostly just sat there as moral support, though I did manage to throw in a quick plug for my schools right before we left--and then we went out to lunch at a local duck noodle shop. There, I had a bit of a problem with my chopsticks--they were slipping out of my fingers. No, not because I don't know how to use chopsticks--believe me, it's second nature at this point--it was because of sweat. And that's when I realized: it's back!
Thankfully, my heat annoyance was soon relieved by a SCRUMPTIOUS visit to a shave ice place with Hanmin's principal, academic director, and Maggie (a visit which meant we were 20 minutes late to our next class, but hey! We had the principal's and the academic director's explicit permission!)
The heat continued to plague my day in various forms which, thankfully, had less to do with sweat. My shoes began to fall apart and blister my feet, which sucked, and I got really thirsty, which also sucked.
It also impacted my favorite moment of the day: the moment a gaggle of 6th grade girls stretched my birthday into a second week, crowding my desk and handing me notes written on paper shaped like Facebook "like"s, a box of cute chocolate (like what Analicia got me!), some almond cookies, and a big ol' chocolate bar. It was so nice of them, and they were so wonderful, yet what was I worried about? The heat. And the chocolate.
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| Thanks for the likes, Mandy, Anna, Lillian, Natasha, and Cindy! |
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| Favorite parts: "Fo" Bekah Teacher and the squares bottom left--each with a different design and different type of chocolate inside! |
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Ice Cream
Wow, four out of my last five posts concern food. Annnnd who can guess what Bekah's missing about America?
Today, though, I feel that I'm justified. For class today, Alison and I taught the 6th graders the past tense, along with a handful of new location words: museum, post office, train station, restaurant--and ice cream shop. For our game, I wrote a bunch of little paragraph-long stories about people, detailing where they go during the day, and then asking "Where was _(person)__ _(time)__?" The first kid to raise their hand and get it right won a point for their team, which was, in this case, illustrated by earning the picture of the people they answered right about.
Here's an example about "Joe":
Today is Monday. In the morning, Joe eats breakfast at home. After breakfast, Joe goes to school. After school, Joe goes to the ice cream shop with his dad. Then, they go home and eat dinner. Where was Joe Monday after school?
The answer, of course, is "Joe was at the ice cream shop."
And Joe wasn't alone in going to the ice cream shop. He was joined, in these stories, by Isaac, Luke, Isabel, and Chloe. Add to this the fact that "ice cream shop" is part of the new vocabulary we're learning (read: endless repetition), and that, to keep kids' interest, each class today included asking the kids their favorite ice cream flavors. Add to that the fact that today was in the 90s F, but "felt like" 102F, thanks to the oh-so-lovely humidity.
Then maybe it'll make sense as to why I'm writing about ice cream today.
After dinner, I decided I just had to have some. I tried to fight it, tried to remind myself that it's bad for me and expensive here, but it was no use. I did at least talk myself down from my original plan (Coldstone Creamery not far from here!) and decided to "just go and see" what they had at the local grocery store.
And the local grocery store, wow! It's been closed all month for renovations, and man did they renovate! It's like a whole new store, and it definitely feels more Western--larger isles, a greater variety, wider open spaces; though I know it's impossible, it actually feels bigger, too. And they had ice cream. Strawberry ice cream. In a carton. It's not the same, of course (made me suspect this is actually what they used for my shake the other day), but it was cold and it was creamy and it was DELICIOUS on a hot evening.
I can never seem to help myself from getting brainwashed by my own lessons, particularly when they urge me towards what I want anyway. But, really, is that so bad when it means cold ice cream on a 100+ degree day? I think not.
Today, though, I feel that I'm justified. For class today, Alison and I taught the 6th graders the past tense, along with a handful of new location words: museum, post office, train station, restaurant--and ice cream shop. For our game, I wrote a bunch of little paragraph-long stories about people, detailing where they go during the day, and then asking "Where was _(person)__ _(time)__?" The first kid to raise their hand and get it right won a point for their team, which was, in this case, illustrated by earning the picture of the people they answered right about.
Here's an example about "Joe":
Today is Monday. In the morning, Joe eats breakfast at home. After breakfast, Joe goes to school. After school, Joe goes to the ice cream shop with his dad. Then, they go home and eat dinner. Where was Joe Monday after school?
The answer, of course, is "Joe was at the ice cream shop."
And Joe wasn't alone in going to the ice cream shop. He was joined, in these stories, by Isaac, Luke, Isabel, and Chloe. Add to this the fact that "ice cream shop" is part of the new vocabulary we're learning (read: endless repetition), and that, to keep kids' interest, each class today included asking the kids their favorite ice cream flavors. Add to that the fact that today was in the 90s F, but "felt like" 102F, thanks to the oh-so-lovely humidity.
Then maybe it'll make sense as to why I'm writing about ice cream today.
After dinner, I decided I just had to have some. I tried to fight it, tried to remind myself that it's bad for me and expensive here, but it was no use. I did at least talk myself down from my original plan (Coldstone Creamery not far from here!) and decided to "just go and see" what they had at the local grocery store.
And the local grocery store, wow! It's been closed all month for renovations, and man did they renovate! It's like a whole new store, and it definitely feels more Western--larger isles, a greater variety, wider open spaces; though I know it's impossible, it actually feels bigger, too. And they had ice cream. Strawberry ice cream. In a carton. It's not the same, of course (made me suspect this is actually what they used for my shake the other day), but it was cold and it was creamy and it was DELICIOUS on a hot evening.
I can never seem to help myself from getting brainwashed by my own lessons, particularly when they urge me towards what I want anyway. But, really, is that so bad when it means cold ice cream on a 100+ degree day? I think not.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Climate Change
I haven't dedicated a whole lot of time recently to talking about the climate here (with the notable exception of Kenting). There are several meanings for this. First, it's been pretty uniformly hot and humid. Second, I've more or less acclimated to that.
But now that October's hit, I've noticed some wonderful changes around here that are absolutely worth taking note of.
1.) It gets cooler at night now. This is actually a really, really big deal. When I first got here, it was absolutely bizarre to me that stepping outside at 10pm was no different, temperature-wise, than stepping outside at 1pm. The only thing that that happened at night was that it got dark.
After a while I got used to this, just as I've gotten used to most things here: I just took it as a given that you never ever needed even a sweater, even if you were running out for a late dinner at 9pm. Still, my Northwest-bred self didn't fully like the monotony of perma-heat.
Which is why I got so excited when I realized yesterday that this was no longer the case! Driving back from Chinese class, I realized that the temperature had dropped a good 10 degrees (F) or so. I also remembered that, that morning, I'd felt nice and cool on my drive to school, and connected the dots. Fall is coming at last! Of course, by "Fall" I mean "still feels like a Northwest summer," but anything a little cooler is okay with me. Maybe if we give it a few months I might even need a jacket while scootering--and then my life here will be complete. :)
2.) With the cool has come a new cleanliness in the air. Now I'll be honest, I don't know if that's completely coincidental or if there's a real connection, but in the past few cooler days, the air has been infinitely more clear than it has been up until now. I gauge the air quality on my ride back from my schools by looking at the city skyline--at the 85 Sky Tower, to be more specific. On bad days (of which there have been quite a few in the past month), I can't see higher than about the 12th floor. On most days, I can see to the top, but the top ten or twenty floors are hazy at best.
Here's what it looked like today:
If this is a side-effect of the slightly cooler weather, I'm all for it!
So, to sum up: Fall here apparently means Oregon summer temperatures and Seattle February clear skies. And I'm loving it.
But now that October's hit, I've noticed some wonderful changes around here that are absolutely worth taking note of.
1.) It gets cooler at night now. This is actually a really, really big deal. When I first got here, it was absolutely bizarre to me that stepping outside at 10pm was no different, temperature-wise, than stepping outside at 1pm. The only thing that that happened at night was that it got dark.
After a while I got used to this, just as I've gotten used to most things here: I just took it as a given that you never ever needed even a sweater, even if you were running out for a late dinner at 9pm. Still, my Northwest-bred self didn't fully like the monotony of perma-heat.
Which is why I got so excited when I realized yesterday that this was no longer the case! Driving back from Chinese class, I realized that the temperature had dropped a good 10 degrees (F) or so. I also remembered that, that morning, I'd felt nice and cool on my drive to school, and connected the dots. Fall is coming at last! Of course, by "Fall" I mean "still feels like a Northwest summer," but anything a little cooler is okay with me. Maybe if we give it a few months I might even need a jacket while scootering--and then my life here will be complete. :)
2.) With the cool has come a new cleanliness in the air. Now I'll be honest, I don't know if that's completely coincidental or if there's a real connection, but in the past few cooler days, the air has been infinitely more clear than it has been up until now. I gauge the air quality on my ride back from my schools by looking at the city skyline--at the 85 Sky Tower, to be more specific. On bad days (of which there have been quite a few in the past month), I can't see higher than about the 12th floor. On most days, I can see to the top, but the top ten or twenty floors are hazy at best.
Here's what it looked like today:
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| It was so gorgeous I had to pull over and take a picture |
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| And closer up, at a stop light. |
If this is a side-effect of the slightly cooler weather, I'm all for it!
So, to sum up: Fall here apparently means Oregon summer temperatures and Seattle February clear skies. And I'm loving it.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Marathon day
I'll be honest, this is mostly a post just so I can continue to say I blog everyday. I'm exhausted. Today consisted of a long string of workshops on teaching theories and practical games and tips which, combined with the fact that I stayed up late last night reading and kept waking up this morning out of fear that my alarm wouldn't go off, means that I am now melted onto my couch. And, incidentally, stuck to it, courtesy of the constant heat-and-humidity combination here that turns my skin into glue. :)
This morning, I accidentally exacerbated that effect because, as I discovered, drinking hot coffee and drying your hair in a rush before going out to walk to the MRT is not the best way to lower your body temperature. It was fun, though, to know that we can now get ourselves to Sanmin unaided--nice little walk to and from the closest MRT stations, but definitely doable. Feels like I live here now!
We passed the morning with the wonderful Professor Spring, who taught us various teaching theories, with help from Tiffiany on a few. One odd effect of our prolonged 3-hour session indoors was that we actually got cold! By lunchtime, we were all clamoring for the heat and humidity, just to get away from the air conditioning.
And we did! After we ate, Karina, Samia, Lydia and I went out in search of fruit juice; after a long search down several streets, we finally found a little fruit stand that also had a blender, but no watermelon. So today, for the first time ever, I tried papaya! I really can't believe I hadn't tried it before--PAPAYA IS SO GOOD! The papaya milk (木瓜 I had at the stand was beyond delicious, and I got to listen as Samia read the peach labels to the owners, explaining which fruit was from the US and which wasn't, and explaining the "-ty" and "-teen" number endings in English. I love that I can pick up some words I hear in conversation now!
Next up was a long afternoon session on games, taught by a previous ETA and by two LETs, Sunny and Winnie. They were all GREAT, and I'm super excited about all the simple but wonderful games they taught us, but by the late afternoon my lack of sleep last night was not helping me to pay attention.
After we finished, we started scooter practice! I was really excited, and was one of the first people on one, but I discovered it's not quite as easy as it looks. In fact, my first time on the scooter, I never made it further than a couple feet before stopping again.
Of course, it made it all the more difficult that, not five minutes after we went out there, the playing field in which we were practicing was invaded by school kids, cutting our viable space in half and making us all terrified that we would run into one of them. New drivers + kids used to playing around experienced drivers = BAD idea!
In any case, I blame my initial attempt partially on that; in addition, I tried starting with a turn, which didn't work well, and I tried to balance before the scooter was actually moving--bad idea. It never tipped, but it wasn't great. Fortunately, the second time around, when the kids left and Andrew showed me all the finer points of balance and getting started, it wasn't too hard. Of course, it remains to be seen if I'll ever be comfortable driving it in Taiwanese traffic!
Anyway, I'm tired and I've already written much more than I'd planned tonight. More later.
This morning, I accidentally exacerbated that effect because, as I discovered, drinking hot coffee and drying your hair in a rush before going out to walk to the MRT is not the best way to lower your body temperature. It was fun, though, to know that we can now get ourselves to Sanmin unaided--nice little walk to and from the closest MRT stations, but definitely doable. Feels like I live here now!
We passed the morning with the wonderful Professor Spring, who taught us various teaching theories, with help from Tiffiany on a few. One odd effect of our prolonged 3-hour session indoors was that we actually got cold! By lunchtime, we were all clamoring for the heat and humidity, just to get away from the air conditioning.
And we did! After we ate, Karina, Samia, Lydia and I went out in search of fruit juice; after a long search down several streets, we finally found a little fruit stand that also had a blender, but no watermelon. So today, for the first time ever, I tried papaya! I really can't believe I hadn't tried it before--PAPAYA IS SO GOOD! The papaya milk (木瓜 I had at the stand was beyond delicious, and I got to listen as Samia read the peach labels to the owners, explaining which fruit was from the US and which wasn't, and explaining the "-ty" and "-teen" number endings in English. I love that I can pick up some words I hear in conversation now!
Next up was a long afternoon session on games, taught by a previous ETA and by two LETs, Sunny and Winnie. They were all GREAT, and I'm super excited about all the simple but wonderful games they taught us, but by the late afternoon my lack of sleep last night was not helping me to pay attention.
After we finished, we started scooter practice! I was really excited, and was one of the first people on one, but I discovered it's not quite as easy as it looks. In fact, my first time on the scooter, I never made it further than a couple feet before stopping again.
Of course, it made it all the more difficult that, not five minutes after we went out there, the playing field in which we were practicing was invaded by school kids, cutting our viable space in half and making us all terrified that we would run into one of them. New drivers + kids used to playing around experienced drivers = BAD idea!
In any case, I blame my initial attempt partially on that; in addition, I tried starting with a turn, which didn't work well, and I tried to balance before the scooter was actually moving--bad idea. It never tipped, but it wasn't great. Fortunately, the second time around, when the kids left and Andrew showed me all the finer points of balance and getting started, it wasn't too hard. Of course, it remains to be seen if I'll ever be comfortable driving it in Taiwanese traffic!
Anyway, I'm tired and I've already written much more than I'd planned tonight. More later.
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