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!