Continuing Education – Taiwan Style

I am all about continuing education.  I like the fact that a person such as myself can take classes at a local college or read books to learn new and exciting things I am interested in.

Living abroad is sort of like informal continuing education, except for the simple fact that you don’t get to choose your classes; you just walk out your door in the morning and your courses just seem to magically get selected for you.

I have learned oh so many things in the past 10 months that it all seems a blur.

For example:

·      Working in 95* heat each day is do-able, however uncomfortable it may be

·      Even though they are ergonomic, squat toilets are just something I may probably never grow to love

·      Hanging out to dry six loads of laundry a week is not as bad as it seems (once you get everyone in the family to hang up their own, that is)

·      7-11 is a godsend

·      When it comes to food… never say never!

·      Even though people from different cultures have wacky ways of doing things, all people are essentially the same

I have recently acquired a few more lessons to add to my list and they revolve around the ever-beloved automobile.

Up until about a month ago, we have been limited to bicycle and public transportation here in Taiwan.  We would bike about 5 miles one-way to the supermarket each week and attempt to get enough food for four people into two bike baskets.  The entire affair would take roughly 5 hours of our weekend time (including of course stop overs at cafes, Thai food restaurants, etc…) The bottom line was that although it was great exercise and family bonding time galore, it was becoming drudgery and an entire day of precious free time was shot. 

So… we bought a really cheap 20-year-old Honda Civic and we are now ‘with car.’   For some odd reason, I thought that having a car would make me like shopping more, but alas, I still really loathe it. 

What IS nice however, is that it now takes me only 30 minutes to go grocery shopping and I can buy laundry detergent, paper towels, and toilet paper all in one trip. 

(Please insert mental image of strapping those items onto a bike with bungee cords.)  

We can eat at our favorite Thai restaurant whenever we want now, and running to the market for a missing item is a breeze. 

Of course, there IS a downside to all of this… driving.

I love my bike for so many reasons, like…

·     My super cool, fancy pants handlebars that make me feel like I am flying an airplane

·     I can weave in and out of traffic

·     I never worry about parking

·     Great exercise

·     Freedom

·     The list could go on forever….

What I am getting at is this:  There appear to be very few enforced traffic laws here in Taiwan and driving here is sort of like Vegas… you may get lucky or you may lose it all. 

There are all of these weird traffic rules that no one seems to obey like:

·     Stop if the light is red

·      Don’t turn right on red it there is a cop (which there NEVER is… seriously, I have seen roughly three in ten months.)

·     Don’t turn left on green, unless there is an arrow allowing you to do so

·     Even though there are literally millions of scooters, just ignore them and they will go around you

·      When in doubt ALWAYS make a U-turn ANYWHERE you want, especially in the middle of oncoming traffic

·     And the mother of them all is…. PARK WHEREVER YOU WANT!!!!!!!!

As a side note, when it comes to driving, I have yet to see road rage, the flipping of 'the bird', or honking and yelling in anger.  Everyone simply drives and amidst the chaos it all seems to go rather smoothly.

Last night after going to our favorite Thai restaurant and parking wherever we could jump a curb and squeeze in, we headed to a stationary store in the middle of Shan Hua.  We parked in an actual parking space next to the store parallel to the main road (you know the kind you have to turn into) and proceeded to go inside the store for about 10 minutes.  When we emerged, we found that a car had actually parked horizontally right behind us and completely blocked us in.  There was a rather large hedge in front of us, so going forward was not an option.  A tad miffed, we decided to stand by the car thinking that for sure the driver would come out any second and move the car.  FIFTY minutes later, a middle-aged couple slowly sauntered across the street after eating at a roadside restaurant and made a measly “Oh, did I block you in?  Sorry.” wave in our general direction.  By this time it was 10:00 at night, the girls were asleep in the backseat, and I was so beside myself I was speechless. 

Before I moved to Taiwan, I had read several books on culture that spoke of ‘Saving Face’, or rather that in Taiwanese culture it is important to not embarrass someone or in turn be embarrassed.  How I see this played out on a daily basis is that if there is a problem, you don’t talk about it directly with the person in question because you might embarrass them or yourself.  Say, for example, you are late to work everyday.  Instead of your boss talking with you directly about it, you might just receive an email or at the next staff meeting your boss might make an announcement that some unknown people are late to work and he is aware of it.  You are not told to your face that you are late, because that might embarrass you.  

I might be going out on a limb here, but last night after having almost an hour to contemplate why in the world someone would knowingly block us in and then act like it never happened, I began to think that maybe you can get away with a lot here because no one is going to say anything to you for fear you, or even worse, they might lose face.  

Oddly enough, I am not saying this is bad or good; it is just oh so very different from how we handle things in the U.S.

 I mean think about it, in the U.S. you can say or do anything you want, no matter how incredibly rude or disrespectful you come off, and go about your merry way with zero regard for others.  I honestly don’t know which is better.  Of course I know which one is more in my comfort zone, but I am not so bold as to think the Western way is the best way. 

Again, this is just another course I did not sign up for in my ever-growing transcript of continuing education. 

Am I learning, growing, blossoming, and all that jazz?  You bet! 

Is it painful, uncomfortable, and downright unpleasant at times?  No doubt!

I do have frequent moments of clarity when I truly appreciate all that I learn and experience in the simple course of a day. And I do realize how incredibly lucky I am to be on this adventure with my quirky little family.

 As I continue on my quest to be ‘The Cup Mostly Half Full Poster Girl’, I await the next course with bated breath… sort of.

Alone At Last!!!!!

Sitting alone at the high-speed rail terminal, the caffeine zips through my veins and I slowly come to the realization that I am alone… at last!  Holy cow!! Has it really been eleven months since I spent any time by myself?  Yes, yes it has.  Don’t get me wrong, I completely adore my family, but ever since we landed in Taiwan we have sort of become like the Waltons, complete with the ritualized long slew of goodnights.  We go to school together, spend free time together, and because of the heat and one air conditioner, we sleep in the same room together.  Just the other night, we were all four in one giant bed playing guitars and ukuleles, singing and strumming to Oh Susana.  If that is not terribly great and SCARY, I don’t know what is!  There is so much family bonding occurring in my life that I am a bit MORE off my rocker than I normally am.  Of course, Mr. Martini escapes on a daily basis and has had the luxury of traveling to the BigGER city under the guise of soccer tournaments, but me, well…duty calls. 

So, when the time came to head to Taipei to get our visas for our trip to India I decided to leave the family behind and make the trek alone.  And oh my goodness, I have only been gone two hours and I am starting to feel human again.  As a Mother’s Day gift to myself, I booked a somewhat fancy pants hotel in downtown Taipei and I am going to spend two glorious days messing around and enjoying the aircon and cable in my hotel room.  Of course, I am REALLY going to get our visas, but I am assuming a bit of alone time will benefit all involved.

Summer is here and apparently we are in the beginning stages of the rainy season.  It has been raining on and off quite a bit lately and it wouldn’t be so bad if the temperature didn’t shoot up to 98* right after a deluge.  I thought I knew what humidity was growing up on the Texas coast, but there I had the refuge of air-conditioned homes and schools.  I really cannot describe the mental toll teaching all day in 98* heat has on a person, not to mention the kids.  It is so challenging that last week my whole class ordered 7-11 Slurpees to make it through the afternoon (7-11 delivers!).  We USED to have cold-water dispensers that made it somewhat bearable, but in order to save energy the school took that away and now the water is a constant 90-100 degrees.  Personally, I think the school is trying to kill us OR it is a masterfully planned scheme to make the kids go down to the Canteen and buy cold drinks.  I have no idea how much money goes through that little school store on a daily basis, but I would venture a guess that it would be enough for early retirement.   Hey, I know!  How about you take all of that money you are making off of suffering children and teachers and turn the damn cold water back on!!!!

Oh sorry, can you tell that the heat is starting to affect me… and it is only May!!!  Good thing we are going to China, India, and Texas in a few months… I hear it is a lot cooler in those places!  J 

Marty and I have decided that the next place we hang our hat will have to be far, far away from the equator.  Mongolia perhaps????  I see a Yurt in my future!

The only real exciting news of late is the fact that Marty and I are getting old and the ol’ body is starting to have a little fun.  I have back issues and he has a bum knee.  The entertaining part of all of this is that since everyone seems to love Party Marty, many people are trying to help him with advice and personal family remedies.  The funniest one by far came from our Kung Fu Master.  He whipped up some sort of Chinese Kung Fu salve for Marty and via broken English and sign language tried to explain how it was to be used.  Last week, Marty decided to try it out.  He came home from school, slapped on the black tar looking substance, wrapped it in gauze and proceeded to take a nap. Master Wen instructed him to leave it on for an entire week (or at least that is what we think he meant), but Marty’s plan was to wake up, wipe it off, and then go to physical therapy for a bit of electro shock therapy. When he awoke and unwrapped his knee, he discovered a tangled mess of hair and salve and was utterly unable to remove even the tiniest bit.  I heard groans coming from the living room and upon further inspection found him on the couch hopelessly picking minute balls of black stuff out of his very hairy legs.  I felt sort of sorry for him, but it was so darn funny that I am sure it appeared as if I was less than sincere.  I returned to the icy cave in the back of the apartment and left him to it.  Needless to say, he didn’t go to therapy that night and about an hour later he appeared with a clean but somewhat less hairy knee.  Apparently one episode of Myth Busters came in handy… it would seem that cooking oil really can take off anything!

The next day he relayed his comical experience to a few of our Taiwanese friends and all of them said the same thing… “OHHHH… but you have hair!!!!”  You see, as much of a generalization as this seems, Taiwanese men don't seem terribly hairy, unless of course you count that one long hair that often grows out of a mole… and that one hair is left to grow as long as it can.  I guess when you don’t grow much facial hair, you leave that ONE strand that does grow alone. 

I just love the high-speed rail.  It is a magnetic levitation train, so it just glides along at amazing speeds.  Tainan to Taipei is roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes. 

Approaching my stop, I am still hopped up on coffee and I can’t wait to sit in my hotel room ALONE and miss my little family… or at least that is my story and I’m sticking to it!!! 

Wish me luck!

Nationalized Healthcare: An Expat’s Personal Perspective

As I rapidly approach the big 41, I find that my body is trying to tell me something.  Either I need to stop multi-tasking as I walk down the breezeways at work so I don’t fly off of the sidewalk and plummet into the bushes below, or maybe I just need to be more like Ferdinand the Bull and sit and smell the flowers more often.  Whichever the case may be, I have found myself going to the doctor on more than one occasion within the past two weeks.

When we were being recruited to come and work in Taiwan, one of their selling points was the nationalized healthcare.  Being a United Station, (a professor once told me this is the new buzz word for a U.S. citizen) I had of course heard snippets of the pros and cons.  Being that person who is not completely out of the loop, but one who chooses to remain just enough outside of it so as to maintain a somewhat cup half-full disposition, I don’t pretend to know all of the sordid details.  What I do go off of, however, is personal experience.  So, putting all politics and preconceived notions aside, here goes….

I do not like going to the doctor.  I never have and up until recently, I never thought I would. In my experience, I always had to wait for an amazingly long, undetermined amount of time, and even with the least expensive insurance, I was paying $400 US a month just to cover myself and my children, forget about my husband, insurance for him was financially out of the question.  Don’t get me wrong; I understand that insurance is just that… there in case of something catastrophic.  I admit there is a certain peace of mind that comes with that, assuming of course that when something catastrophic does occur, your insurance company decides to pay. 

Oh yes, I forgot, I was not going to get political here.  I shall move on…

When we arrived in Taiwan, we sent off a form and a passport sized photo and within a week received our health insurance I.D. cards.  Roughly $60 USD a month comes out of our paychecks for our insurance and this covers us as well as our children.  Up until last week, I had yet to need to go to the doctor.  Marty had gone for a knee injury last month and came home raving, and one of my daughter’s teachers took her for a skin issue, but as for me, well, like I said, I don’t like going. 

It took shooting back pain to make me cave.  Last week our teacher liaison Eva and I hopped on her scooter and headed to a clinic here in the science park.  Since I was not quite sure if it was a pinched nerve or something more mysterious, she took me to the general clinic where they would give me a diagnosis and depending on what it was, send me to the correct doctor for my particular ailment.  We walked in and filled out a form with literally 3 lines: name, address, and phone number.  I gave the receptionist my insurance ID and Alien Resident Card and within 3 minutes, I was sitting in front of the doctor.  Keep in mind that I had no appointment... I was a walk in.  He spoke English, and after asking me a few questions and examining me, he decided I had a pinched nerve and sent me on my way.  I was out of there in less than 10 minutes and because he did not give me meds, the receptionist waved us goodbye and said there was no charge.  Wow!  I told Eva that was perhaps the most pleasant doctor’s visit I had ever had.

A week later when the pain was not going away, I decided that I wanted to see a chiropractor.  Again, Eva asked me questions so as to choose the correct doctor and then took me to see a bone doctor.  It appears that here, each doctor has a specialty, and you go to the one that fits your needs.  Much like in the US, I guess, but here you don’t have to be referred first...unless you want to be.  It turned out that the skin doctor and the bone doctor shared a building, so when we pulled up my daughter said, “Hey, I’ve been here before!” Again, we filled out the form with the three lines and gave them the cards. (Again, no appointment)  Marty decided since he still had 5 knee treatments left from his last visit he wanted to come too.  So, we made it a family outing.  Within 5 minutes I was in the doctor’s office.  He spoke to me in Chinese, so I assumed he didn’t speak English.  Luckily Eva was there to translate.  It turns out, however, he spoke fluent English, he was just peeved that I had come all the way to live in Taiwan and didn’t bother to learn Chinese first.  I told him I was trying, but that the Chinese language was a bit on the complicated side.  I busted out my few phrases of Mandarin to redeem myself, but it was a pitiful attempt.  He confirmed the pinched nerve and sent me upstairs for treatment.

After much contemplation under electric shock therapy, I conceded that I could understand where he was coming from.  He had obviously at some point studied in an English speaking country and when he got there he probably did not have a translator to help him.  Moreover, he could not speak Chinese and expect others to understand him.  I know I am guilty of relying on the fact that most people here speak a little English and after a while you just take that for granted.  In the U.S., I would venture to say that if you choose to live there most people expect you to try to communicate in English.  Being a bilingual teacher for 15 years, I know that is not always the case, but I can understand his mentality. Crap… I need to study more!  Marty had a good point, however.  He said that here, all students begin to learn English in elementary school and are expected to reach a certain level of proficiency by the time they graduate.  If this doctor went abroad, he probably already had a decent English language foundation. 

So many languages to learn, so little time.

Having had some experience with electrotherapy for back pain, I was a bit shocked (no pun intended) when I went upstairs and saw rows of traction machines with archaic looking leather straps and a person sitting in a device with her head and chin strapped with a leather harness obviously being “stretched.”   I sat down in a plastic chair and was asked where it hurt.  They then pulled out these suction cups with yellow sponges inside and proceeded to hook me up to an electrotherapy machine.  Without trying to be dramatic (too late, I know) it was just like the movie ‘The Princess Bride’ when Wesley gets hooked up to the machine that sucks his life away (minus the Albino, assistant torturer to Count Rugen, of course).

The next 15 minutes was filled with machine induced muscle spasms and the pain slowly started to go away.  Sure the machines were not the most state of the art, but they worked and got the job done.

Next, I hopped onto a table and saw a physical therapist.  His English was impeccable and he was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.  He caused me some serious pain with a bizarre jackhammer like massage machine and back work, but when he was done I felt as good as new.  All the while, Marty was sitting there with his iPad sketching away. 

We went downstairs to check out, and I received vouchers for 5 more therapy treatment sessions, a few painkillers, and anti-inflammatory pills.

…And all for the low- low price of $5 US dollars. 

(The subsequent treatments will cost me $1. 50 each.) 

This has been my experience with Taiwan’s nationalized healthcare system.  No, I cannot speak to catastrophic events or more serious life-threatening care, but from the Taiwanese locals I have spoken to, those things are handled in much the same way.  It seems efficient, affordable, and more importantly, open to all.  What this appears to equate to is that the Taiwanese go to the doctor relatively often.  I would not say on a hypochondria level, but if they feel that something is awry, they go get it checked out rather than wait until it gets worse. As I mentioned before, prevention appears to be a big part of it.  In the schools, there are regular mandatory check ups and immunizations so that if a child has any health issues, it gets detected early.  While it does not appear that sports are huge here, or that many people are exercise freaks, most people do seem to lead rather active lives in simply the fact that they get out and walk or bike on a regular basis.

And that is all she wrote.  

Let’s see, as for exciting news in the Gao family...

• We are in the process of buying a used car and will hopefully have it Monday.  We do not plan to abandon the bikes by any means, this will simply enable us to get groceries more easily and allow us to get out more on the weekends and see this beautiful island.

• C finally finished the entire Harry Potter series, so hopefully we can talk about something other than Hogwarts for a while.

Book # 7... check.  Then, of course, we had to have the movie marathon.
Get out of the forest already!

• I am going to buy myself some in-line skates today and hopefully fulfill my dream of starting an all-girls roller derby team...here in the Science Park!

 (Don’t laugh… I already have three other women tentatively on board!)

And as if this blog entry were not long enough, I want to leave you with a photo of Tuesday’s lunch… just in case all you parents and teacher friends out there feel like complaining about school lunches… think again!  Bon Appetite!

Rice, cabbage, whole fried fish, and tofu wrapped mystery meat chunks.
Apparently, there are scrambled eggs stuffed inside the fish.
You are supposed to eat them whole... bones and all.
I just eat white rice and bananas.
If we get this car, I see sack lunches in my future!

Just in case you needed a close up.

Kenting

The girls turned 8 this week and in keeping with our family tradition of camping for their birthday, we decided to head south to Kenting.  I will admit that Marty and I needed a break from the city as much as the girls needed to celebrate the big 8, so we put outdoor roughing it on the back burner and opted for the fancy pants beach resort.  Call us crazy!

We took a half-day off on Friday and borrowed a co-workers car that was nice enough to lend it to us for the weekend.  Marty was a bit nervous, for he thought that he might have forgotten how to drive in the past 9 months, but apparently it is one of those things you don’t forget how to do.  We meandered down the coast and ended up in Kenting a mere 2 hours later.  The drive was a breeze and the scenery spectacular… once you made it past the cities, that is. 

Road trip Chess, sans AC

Kenting is the mecca beach resort in Taiwan with crystal clear water and beautiful sandy beaches.  It is definitely geared towards tourists and in the evenings the main street through town converts itself into one long bustling night market. Since the train does not come down this far, visitors must take the train to Kaoshiung and then hop on a luxury bus for the remainder of the trip.   This is significant because huge busses line the streets everywhere you look. 

Being the one in the family that likes seclusion, I have come to understand how to avoid the masses.  As a general rule, it would seem that most Taiwanese stay up quite late and therefore like to sleep in on the weekends.  So, Friday night we hit the hotel pool just as everyone was heading to dinner.  We had the water massage spa to ourselves and the girls ran amok remembering how to swim in the multiple hotel pools.  Then we attempted to have dinner in the hotel restaurant, but after we leaned that the buffet was $35 a head, we ordered room service and watched DODGEBALL on cable.  ("If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.") After a relaxing night in actual beds (because you know at home we sleep on foam) we were at the beach by 10 am Saturday morning and had it entirely to ourselves until 2 pm when hoards of people began to appear.  We rented an umbrella at the beach and set up camp for a few hours of swimming, snorkeling, and sand architecture. We had a super time and it was nice to relax at the beach and watch Marty get giddy over his snorkeling encounters with a rather large fish. 

The view from our balcony

The beach

"Should we go in???"

Mr. Gao tries his hand at snorkeling.
He came back with a really big fish story! 

Saying goodbye to her new favorite hotel

I didn’t want to mess with the anti-crowd juju I had going on, we hit Smokey Joe’s Tex Mex restaurant at 5 pm and again were one of three tables in the entire restaurant.

Holy cow!  As I write this, I am suddenly keenly aware that I sound very much like my happily retired parents.  J  I got my Mexican food fix with a large plate of nachos, just the right choice to send me into a post sun drenched beach coma.

Tex-Mex!!!

Hanging out in the lobby of the Fullon Resort Hotel

After the customary afternoon hotel nap, Marty and the girls hit the game room and bowling alley while I enjoyed the peace and serenity of the hotel room.  On Sunday morning we crawled to the breakfast buffet at 9 am and were checked out by 10:30.  After stopping off at a cemetery, because you know that’s how we roll, we hopped on the highway and were home by 1pm.  All in all, we had a spectacular time and it was great to breath fresh air and get some much needed vitamin D. 

Cemetary

Having a car in Taiwan certainly makes getting around easier and we are now contemplating buying our friend’s car so that we can see more of Taiwan at our leisure. 

So…. If any of you loved ones out there want to come visit, we have just the sun-filled beautiful beach spot for you!  We will be here 14 more months, so get a move on!

I made these in my toaster oven.
Just kidding!
The big 8...My how time flies!

Snackicide

I have concluded that one of the most underrated creature comfort needs people develop over the years are for snacks... or junk food rather.   We take them for granted because they are never far away or difficult to acquire.  We curse their name because they make us fat and unhealthy.  Grocery and convenience stores accommodate us by always having a plethora in stock in a variety of super sizes eyeing us in the face as we check out.  Above all, however, we crave them in times of need because they taste so very delicious, and somehow for a brief moment they make all seem right with the world.   

When I was a child, my favorite aunt renamed me ‘Chocolate Lady’, for obvious reasons I am sure.  Unfortunately, I have yet to grow out of the name because I still really adore chocolate, and my own children love to catch me in the act of sneaking a morsel or two and then shouting, “Chocolate Lady!!!” 

And then of course, there are chips.  I have an incredibly horrible memory due in part to unsavory choices made in my youth, but it would seem that most of the events from my past that I do remember somehow involve chips.

Fritos and bean dip at the beach with friends, trying not to wake my parents up at 2 a.m. while eating tortilla chips and salsa, and sour cream and onion Lays potato chips with white Wonder bread sandwiches and Miracle Whip.  Now that I think about it, no wonder I was chubby as a kid… I ate a lot of crap!

You may be asking yourself why I am writing about snacks.  Well, for one I am hungry, and the other reason has to do with my friend Shellie.

The other day while emailing each other, I asked what would cure jetlag.

Her reply was “Fritos and Bean Dip.”  

(We grew up together so this was a no-brainer.) 

When I scoffed at her for saying such a thing 

(because of course that made me want some), 

she said,” Just go to 7-11!” 

Au contraire mon frere!

There are a multitude of advantages to living abroad: New food, new friends, and a new way of life.  One of the major disappointments, however, would be in the chip department.  I think it would be safe to say that many Americans take their chips very seriously, and when you move to a new country you are not always lucky enough to have them at your fingertips, or at least not in the way you are accustomed to.

For example, yesterday my friend Ruey and I went downtown to seek out a Chai Tea Latte.  She said she had finally discovered a coffee shop in a fancy mall downtown that served them, and I for one have been craving one for roughly 9 months now.  As we were standing in line waiting to order, I spied a basket of tortilla chips in the pastry window.  Brimming with excitement, I had to chuckle when I looked at the name tag below the chips and it read, “Corn Flakes.”  Well, I suppose that is relatively accurate. 

We did not order the cornflakes and sat down to our Chai tea…, that really just turned out to be coffee with spices.  A few moments later the waiter came out with a complimentary plate of chips and what looked like queso, or cheese dip.  Upon further inspection I asked, “Does that look like cheese to you?”  You can imagine our surprise when it turned out to be honey mustard dressing.  Oh well, at least they tried.

Corn flakes and Honey Mustard Dressing.
Looks deceiving, doesn't it?

Moving right along…

Sure, Taiwan has chips.  As a matter of fact, I would venture to say that they actually have more snack variety than the U.S. does.  It is just that they are different… very different.  First of all, I have yet to find Fritos and bean dip, and plain tortilla chips can be found only at Costco.  The Cheetos and Doritos that they do sell taste weird and come in completely different flavors… sort of like the already fake cheese flavor is even ‘more fake’, if that is possible.  I have run across the occasional bag of Ruffles, but that always involves a trek to a fancy pants gourmet grocery store in the basement of a far away mall, and even though they might be delicious, paying $10 U.S. dollars for a bag half filled with air is difficult to do.  I do have chip morals, you know.

What is quite popular here is seaweed flavor.  I suppose living on an island, many things involve fish, but I have yet to grow accustomed to seaweed wrapped rice and meat burritos, seaweed flavored potato chips, seafood oatmeal, and my all-time favorite -essence of clam candy.  There are even bags of salted cashews mixed with tiny fish (whole fish, mind you, heads, tails, and all.)  My students tell me they are delicious, but I have yet to work up an appetite for them. 

Don’t get me wrong, to be honest, there are a few snack items that I might not be able to live without when we return home, namely spring onion pancakes, mochi, and taro root doughnut balls… those things are utterly delicious!  

It is just that in times of need, like when I am stressed or about to take a road trip, 

I always crave Fritos, bean dip, and adult beverages that rhyme with cheer. 

Next week we are off to the beautiful white sand beaches of Southern Taiwan for a little R & R.  Perhaps I will find a suitable chip substitute for our road trip. 

If not, I suppose seaweed will do.

This week in pictures:

Celebrating Tomb Sweeping Day
Making Taiwanese Spring Rolls with Eva

Family bike ride on Tomb Sweeping Day
A bit of acting as we stop off at a temple to do a little Bai Bai and take a rest.

In the middle of a bike path we found rock massage therapy.
I believe it is for your feet, but P tries it out on her back.

C half commits to her massage.

Happy Easter!

Toilets and Tipping

A few things have been on my mind lately, namely toilets and tipping.

1.  Bathrooms. 

It is not that I have an unspoken obsession with bathrooms, but it seems that they have become a pivotal part of my existence.  I wrote of the elusive squat toilet on a blog entry about eight months back, and thus far that one short story has gotten more than 183 hits on my blog.  So, apparently, I am not the only one slightly obsessed with toilets here. 

On a positive note, bathrooms can be places to have private thoughts, read great literature, and contemplate the mysteries of life, but they also have an intense dark side that can lead to dread, procrastination, and bladder failure. 

My thoughts on toilets in Taiwan began to flourish last week when an American co-worker of mine and I met up in the breezeway at school for a passing chat.  Somehow, the conversation turned to bathrooms… she was coming and I was going.  As it turns out, we both dread going to the bathroom at our school, and as a result, we will do almost anything we can to prolong the visit, or avoid it all together.  Yes, I know it is unhealthy, and as I age I might want buy stock in the company that makes Depends Undergarments, but perhaps if you knew how unpleasant it was, you would understand, and I dare say sympathize….

The bathrooms at my school are what you might call ‘open-air’ bathrooms.  This means that there are no entry doors and instead of closable windows, there are simply decorative holes in the walls. In our department, there is one bathroom on each floor with one western toilet (that is generally out of order) and six squat toilets.  One of the more interesting things about men’s restrooms in Taiwan is that the urinals are often right by the door where there is virtually no way you can NOT see men standing at the urinals as you walk by.  When we first moved here, Marty thought it was so odd that everyone could see you standing there peeing.  However, he has now informed me that he thinks it is genius because while there may little privacy, it makes the bathrooms safer.  I guess that means there is no place to hide from watchful eyes.

Our school bathrooms have no toilet paper, no paper towels, and no soap.  As in most places that are not the U.S., you are not supposed to flush your toilet paper, so trashcans are provided.  Yes, this sounds all fine and dandy, but the problem arises when people continually miss their urinal target and the trash bins eventually overflow.  Remember that we do not have janitors at our school and so high school students do the cleaning.  Call me crazy, but I don’t blame the kids for doing a half-assed job.  If I recall, cleaning was not one of my strengths as a teenager. 

What this all equates to in the end is urine and feces on the floor (that undoubtedly ends up on your shoes), an overflow of used feminine products, and finally wet hands that are not necessarily clean.  Since there is no toilet paper, the kids are supposed to bring their own, but I rarely see anyone actually going in there with it.  I diligently wash my hands with water, but then I am left with dripping hands and residual germs. On more than several occasions, I sneak into the office to steal paper out of the recycle bin and dry my hands on discarded copies just so I don’t have to drip down the hall back to my classroom.  The other day a child asked me for help tying their shoes and I cringed, because all I could envision was them standing in a pool of pee.  Now I know why people take off their shoes before entering the house… you just never know what you have stepped in that day.

As if this weren’t quirky enough, due to our daily school restroom experiences, the girls and I have developed a few odd habits.  We have taken to staking out pleasant bathrooms within a 15-mile radius of where we live.   Generally, malls and other more upscale establishments have a western toilet or two and provide toilet paper and soap.  It is highly comical when the girls and I get excited over free toilet paper, or when we walk three blocks or more out of our way just to use a specific restroom.  I have even taken to pocketing Starbucks napkins and storing them in my backpack for emergency backup, or perhaps I am simply trying to justify my Frappuchino habit.  

I have long wanted to write a book of short stories about memorable experiences in bathrooms abroad. 

I fear I may now have enough research for a novel.

Exhibit A: A typical train station stall
(that was renovated last month... it is soooo much better than it was.)

Exhibit B: Typical missage... and not too bad, mind you.

Exhibit C:  A book store bathroom with a toilet paper dispenser.
(We were excited until we realized it was empty.)

Exhibit D:  Coffee shop bathroom
(Painting adds ambiance.)

2. Tipping

Lets talk about tipping in Taiwan, or rather the lack there of.  One of the many things that I will miss about Taiwan when we go home is the fact that there is no obligatory tipping.  In restaurants, a gratuity is apparently included in the price of the food, so what you see on the menu is what you pay.  When we first moved here, I tried to leave tips, I really did.  But they were continually returned to me and I always felt like I had made the person I tried to tip feel badly.  On more than one occasion, I have actually had waiters chase me down the street just to give me a small amount of change back that I had secretly left on the bill tray.  Taxi drivers won’t accept my tips, and hairdressers look at me like I am crazy.  A friend of mine asked the security guards of her building to help her move all of her furniture and a refrigerator from one dorm to another.  She knew better than to tip them, so she tried to be sneaky and left 7-11 gift vouchers on their desk without them noticing.  The next day, however, the manager came to her apartment and returned them to her with a firm “NO!”  Another teacher had his security guards feed his cat for two weeks while he was traveling in China, but they refused gratuity also.  The only place I have seen a tip jar thus far is in Starbucks, and that only appeared last week. Leave it to Starbucks to mess up a good thing!  Maybe it has something to do with work ethic, or perhaps it is tied to unspoken rules about accepting gifts.  I really don’t know.  All I am sure of is that when we come home this summer I might find it difficult to leave a tip if the service happens to be poor.

I admit it:  Taiwan is spoiling me.

(In the tipping department, that is).

Happy Aprils a Fool Day!

The family on our quarterly trip to TGI Fridays.
Sometimes you just NEED a hamburger.

C receives the' Model Student of the Year Award' for Grade 2

Can you find her?

Bright Sun and Pretty Flowers

Harry Potter # 6 and Percy Jackson # 3.
They are getting so big.
Sigh.

I always wonder how many sleeping people on the train miss their stop.
They always seem to magically wake up at the correct one.
Hmmm...

Did Someone Say Spring Break?

You know you are in way over your head when at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon you get a text from your 5:30 tutoring appointment, the 8^th for the week, and when she tells you that she has to cancel class today, tears of joy begin to roll down your face.  You would think that at the ripe old age of 40 and three quarters, I would know by now how to maintain sanity.  But alas, that dreaded hole I cannot seem to walk around still haunts me.  Sure, the fact that a coffee Frappuccino from Starbucks brings me immeasurable joy should be a red flag that something is awry, or perhaps the fact that I have not had an adult beverage in five months, but I dream about it all the time, could be another dead giveaway.  Why not head to 7-11 for a tall boy?  Well, with all of the Frapuccinos, I figure I use up all of my fat points for the week.  Terribly logical, I know.  The fact of the matter is, I am figuratively treading water here and I joke about it in print to make myself feel better.

Let me simply preface the following rant with the disclaimer that we do not have a spring break vacation at my school... and I need one.

Can I just say that while I think Taiwan is a wonderful and amazing place, there are a few cultural differences that are very different?

(And as always, these may be over-generalizations, but they are my personal observations.)

1.  Physical contact

One cultural difference I see here is in PDA (or public displays of affection).  I am not talking sex in the media or anything; I am talking about innocent hugging between friends or children.  A perfect example of this came about the other day in my first grade language arts class.  We were reading a story about a boy who visits his grandparents and after tucking him in bed, they kissed him goodnight.  The kids all did a choral “EEEWWWWWW!!!!”  I was a tad perplexed.  I asked them what exactly they found so gross, and they answered, “They kissed him!”  I said, “Well, doesn’t your grandmother or grandfather ever kiss you?”  Again, another “Ewww!”    Apparently, they found this very odd and all stated that they did not get kissed by or kiss their grandparents.  Perhaps this is an isolated commonality among this group of children.  Weird, but good to know. 

Then, a parent approached me because another parent was concerned that her son was hugging his fellow classmates.  (Please keep in mind that they are six years old.) I told her that I thought it was quite innocent, but she seemed mortified that he would be doing such a thing.  Then, I began thinking that a few of the kids in this same class have been running after me in the halls trying to give me hugs and now I wonder if this is normal.  I assume that perhaps these kids see me hugging my own personal children on occasion, and they just want my attention, but it does make me think.

2. Child rearing

It seems quite common that grandparents have a huge role in raising their grandchildren.  More and more Taiwanese women are working, and because they often must work far from the home, children will live with their grandparents during the week and only see their parents on the weekends.  I guess on an island so small, you are never terribly far away from family.  A friend at work lived an hour and a half away from her husband and baby for two years because her job was in another city.  The baby and the husband lived with her in-laws and the mother-in-law took care of the baby essentially 24 hours a day.  Recently, her husband was able to find a job closer to her so they moved in together.  As for the 2 year old baby?  She said, “Well, I will just let my mother-in-law take care of the baby until she gets sick of it.”  They see their daughter on the weekends.  I guess being with the mother-in-law is better than being at daycare, but I don’t think I could see my small children only two days a week.  Regardless, I do see a lot of happy looking grandparents around, obviously pleased to be spending quality time with their small grandchildren.

3.  The school system

Lastly, I have recently come across a few very interesting differences in the Taiwanese school system.  First of all, from what I have been told, there is no ‘free’ public education in Taiwan.  At our school, students must pay for tuition and textbooks (roughly $2000 USD per year).  I just assumed that this was an isolated instance for our school, but I have learned that paying some tuition is standard for all Taiwan public schools.  At some schools the tuition is less and from what I understand most impoverished children whose parents cannot afford the tuition and books often have theirs paid by a charitable organization or a donation.  Also, the Ministry of Education (i.e. the government) still fits most of the bill, via taxes I guess.  In the U.S we pay via taxes too, but we do not also pay a tuition fee out of pocket directly to the school our children attend.  It is funny, because while I was a tad surprised, my Taiwanese friend who was telling me this was shocked that children in the public schools in the U.S. do not pay for tuition or books, and many receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch.  She found that unbelievable. I wonder if parents in the U.S. did have to pay a bit of money out of pocket, would that make them want to be more involved?

Secondly, in the U.S., public schools have a principal who went to school for that purpose and are hired to do a specific job.  Here, or at least at my school, there is one principal who oversees four campuses and then the individual campus administrators, or directors, are part time teachers and are also made to serve as administrators on a two year rotating basis.  This means, all teachers will be an administrator at one time or another.  This can be seen as positive because at least they will all know how difficult it is to run a school.  On the other hand, it creates a very odd dynamic when you know that the teachers that you oversee will be your bosses in the future.  What this equates to is:  Oh, I had better not reprimand so and so for not doing their job because in a couple of years they will be my boss and let me have it.  It creates a very bizarre system of not being able to accomplish much for fear you might offend someone.  Or, say you want to improve a school.  You work hard to create a well-oiled machine, but in two years, a completely new set of administrators will come in and start all over from scratch as they see fit.

Soooooo… for all of my former administrators out there, this is for you.  You are appreciated more than you know!!!! J 

Can you tell that I have missed my Spring Break vacation? 
Again, my teacher clock tells me it is time for a glorious week off, but alas… no breaks (other than one random Wednesday) until June 30^th. 
So many spoiled western teachers, so little time!