Hi friends,
While my family has been awaiting the arrival of my cousin Jessica's
baby boy, Trenton Allen Anderson born 06/26, I have been exploring my new surroundings here in Kaohsiung. My trip from England was a
difficult one to make. It was not the flying (which was extremely simple thanks to Roberta) or hefting my life around on my back through the airports (who mercifully allowed me to traipse through with about 10 extra pounds of weight between my two bags); no, it was saying goodbye to Britain and the people there I care about and worrying about my kitty far, far away in a distant land called Canada (where she is kindly being cared for by my friend, Lisa). This is the end of a three-year era and endings are never easy to face, but I believe I'm where I need to be right now and I look forward to the great things in store for this chapter of my life.
The beginning of this era started very well. David Ullstrom and his
daughter, Sarah, have been living in Kaohsiung working through OMF
(Overseas Mission Fellowship) for 23 and 17 years (respectively) and
they generously picked me up from the airport and whisked me off to
Ansy's house located in an alleyway within an alley next to a slightly
larger alley, which is where I currently reside. Ansy's an energetic,
amusing Welsh-born Cantonese girl who has made me feel quite welcome in her simple, but clean and well-organised, flat. I had about forty minutes to rinse the humidity off me and change out of my air plane clothes (having been awake for 20 hours straight and counting by that point) before we raced off to lunch where I met the whole
English-teaching team associated with David and a local bi-lingual
church. There were two Coloradans in the bunch from Arvada. Ansy and I bonded over noodles and X-men, then called it a night. I've been
dragged to all of the meetings, they're a very welcoming, inclusive
group. I met yet another Coloradan from Dove Creek (wherever that is)
at a game night (I was the killer in Mafia all on my own twice,
managed to win once so I was quite chuffed). I'm so happy to have
people with whom I can play games and eat meals! (Yeah, I went for the 'with whom' structure, it felt right at the time but looks a little
presumptuous now that it's in front of me. Oh well, it is what it is.)
Have you ever had a surreal moment where you feel that you're outside
of your body looking down at your life and thinking, 'how on Earth did
I get here?' The second evening here I had such an experience. We
went to an English practise session at the church and Ansy kindly gave
me a lift on her little 50cc moped scooter. She handed me a helmet and
a medical face-mask and I clambered on the back. On a motorcycle,
you're able to hold onto the person in front of you for stability, not
so on a tiny scooter; instead, there's a metal bar over the back wheel
which you have to hold onto by twisting your arms and locking your
elbows, challenging when also holding a bag.
As we whizzed through the evening air (which almost, almost felt cool with the wind whipping at our hair) we zigged and zagged through alleys and onto the big grid roads full of huge banners and billboards with flashing yellow Chinese characters and joined the packs of scooters crammed into the bike lane. Palm trees dot the medians, smells of food I've never heard of waft along from the night market stalls, but I didn't have time to take much in while we wove around the dizzying number of stalls and neon signs. For a moment I thought I was blending in nicely with my mask, sunglasses, and helmet obscuring my waiguoren features, but I continued to get stares from other scooters. It wasn't until I got off that I realised some of my hair had fallen out from under the helmet, so my 'disguise' was somewhat less than perfect. I feel a bit like Marcus Brodey from Indian Jones, 'Uhm, excuse me, does anyone here speak English or Ancient Greek...?'
Stationary almost has a cult following here. When we went to get a simple three-ringed binder for my class work, I found myself with Ansy in a five-storey stationary store full of every kind of cartoon-animal based paper you can imagine.
I settled for a binder whose brand is called 'Cat Baggage' which has a little British telephone box on the cover for no reason as well as some dividers with Japanese cats on them, just to complete the theme.
The other item bought and sold religiously here is tea. You may be thinking, 'that seems reasonable' and it is, except for the insane number of choices involved in purchasing a tea from one of dozens of shops on each block. Bubble tea (flavored tea with tapioca balls at the base which you suck up through a big straw), milk tea, every kind of tropical fruit smoothie you can think of (and some you can't because we don't have those fruits like lichi or dragon fruit), and zillions more I have yet to experience await you if you know how to ask for them (or how to read the menu, which is my current downfall).
Since we're on the topic of religion, one thing which differs greatly
from my experiences of Chinese cities (aside from the noticeable
absence in Taiwan of swarms of bicyclists and crowds) is the vast
number of temples.
There's one down the street in central Kaohsiung which sends up firecrackers every few days in varying amounts
depending on how important whichever god they're celebrating is. The
temples are huge and ornate in gold, red, and yellow, even in the smaller villages there are shrines and the graveyards are circular monuments with religious relics scattered around them (for those that can afford it that is). As we rode around on the scooter, I've noticed several people with red buckets outside their houses burning paper money and offering food to their ancestors.
Another difference is the language; Taiwan has three semi-official
languages: Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Hakka. When I'm wandering around in the streets I can't always understand what they're saying because they're usually speaking in Taiwanese, which was a bit daunting at first when I figured my Mandarin was just really really rusty, I was relieved to figure out that it wasn't me, it was them! I'm currently listening to the garbage truck go by; at first I thought they were ice cream trucks with their pleasant tunes whistling out three times a night until Ansy explained that if people leave their garbage on the street to be collected it attracts rats, so instead you bring it out to the corner when you hear the music. It's a good service, and free, so no
complaints here.
I still have much to tell you, I think I should have written last week
because it's already turning into quite an epic email, so I will leave
you with these preliminary thoughts on Taiwan and I will tell you
about my trip to the mango mountains, my university, and a small
village where I stayed the last few days with David and Sarah, for
some other time. Sort of a 'next time on: Amanda's Life' cliff-hanger,
just to keep you interested.
While my family has been awaiting the arrival of my cousin Jessica's
baby boy, Trenton Allen Anderson born 06/26, I have been exploring my new surroundings here in Kaohsiung. My trip from England was a
difficult one to make. It was not the flying (which was extremely simple thanks to Roberta) or hefting my life around on my back through the airports (who mercifully allowed me to traipse through with about 10 extra pounds of weight between my two bags); no, it was saying goodbye to Britain and the people there I care about and worrying about my kitty far, far away in a distant land called Canada (where she is kindly being cared for by my friend, Lisa). This is the end of a three-year era and endings are never easy to face, but I believe I'm where I need to be right now and I look forward to the great things in store for this chapter of my life.
The beginning of this era started very well. David Ullstrom and his
daughter, Sarah, have been living in Kaohsiung working through OMF
(Overseas Mission Fellowship) for 23 and 17 years (respectively) and
they generously picked me up from the airport and whisked me off to
Ansy's house located in an alleyway within an alley next to a slightly
larger alley, which is where I currently reside. Ansy's an energetic,
amusing Welsh-born Cantonese girl who has made me feel quite welcome in her simple, but clean and well-organised, flat. I had about forty minutes to rinse the humidity off me and change out of my air plane clothes (having been awake for 20 hours straight and counting by that point) before we raced off to lunch where I met the whole
English-teaching team associated with David and a local bi-lingual
church. There were two Coloradans in the bunch from Arvada. Ansy and I bonded over noodles and X-men, then called it a night. I've been
dragged to all of the meetings, they're a very welcoming, inclusive
group. I met yet another Coloradan from Dove Creek (wherever that is)
at a game night (I was the killer in Mafia all on my own twice,
managed to win once so I was quite chuffed). I'm so happy to have
people with whom I can play games and eat meals! (Yeah, I went for the 'with whom' structure, it felt right at the time but looks a little
presumptuous now that it's in front of me. Oh well, it is what it is.)
Have you ever had a surreal moment where you feel that you're outside
of your body looking down at your life and thinking, 'how on Earth did
I get here?' The second evening here I had such an experience. We
went to an English practise session at the church and Ansy kindly gave
me a lift on her little 50cc moped scooter. She handed me a helmet and
a medical face-mask and I clambered on the back. On a motorcycle,
you're able to hold onto the person in front of you for stability, not
so on a tiny scooter; instead, there's a metal bar over the back wheel
which you have to hold onto by twisting your arms and locking your
elbows, challenging when also holding a bag.
 |
| My Scooter Mask with Sun Protection |
 |
| Cat Baggage: Take you to a trip around the world! |
Stationary almost has a cult following here. When we went to get a simple three-ringed binder for my class work, I found myself with Ansy in a five-storey stationary store full of every kind of cartoon-animal based paper you can imagine.
 |
| Speaking of the travel bag, goout and see your life. |
 |
| "Disdaining to do the mouse works" |
I settled for a binder whose brand is called 'Cat Baggage' which has a little British telephone box on the cover for no reason as well as some dividers with Japanese cats on them, just to complete the theme.
 |
| Hakka Noodles and Fancy Tea |
Since we're on the topic of religion, one thing which differs greatly
from my experiences of Chinese cities (aside from the noticeable
absence in Taiwan of swarms of bicyclists and crowds) is the vast
number of temples.
 |
| Temple in Small Village of Dashe |
depending on how important whichever god they're celebrating is. The
temples are huge and ornate in gold, red, and yellow, even in the smaller villages there are shrines and the graveyards are circular monuments with religious relics scattered around them (for those that can afford it that is). As we rode around on the scooter, I've noticed several people with red buckets outside their houses burning paper money and offering food to their ancestors.
Another difference is the language; Taiwan has three semi-official
languages: Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Hakka. When I'm wandering around in the streets I can't always understand what they're saying because they're usually speaking in Taiwanese, which was a bit daunting at first when I figured my Mandarin was just really really rusty, I was relieved to figure out that it wasn't me, it was them! I'm currently listening to the garbage truck go by; at first I thought they were ice cream trucks with their pleasant tunes whistling out three times a night until Ansy explained that if people leave their garbage on the street to be collected it attracts rats, so instead you bring it out to the corner when you hear the music. It's a good service, and free, so no
complaints here.
I still have much to tell you, I think I should have written last week
because it's already turning into quite an epic email, so I will leave
you with these preliminary thoughts on Taiwan and I will tell you
about my trip to the mango mountains, my university, and a small
village where I stayed the last few days with David and Sarah, for
some other time. Sort of a 'next time on: Amanda's Life' cliff-hanger,
just to keep you interested.
With love,
Amanda
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