Nihao!

Alright Folks,


Here I am. I've decided to start a blog because, well, I've wanted to for a while, but wasn't sure what to write about.  Now that I've moved to another country and am embarking on a new life journey, it's finally time to start.  It's been just over a month since I moved to Taiwan, and I have been teaching for 3 full weeks! Although my teaching schedule is pretty hectic and demanding at the moment, I have still found a bit of time to wander around my new surroundings.

And this is what I found outside my apartment.


"The word you're looking for is, 'anyways'...."








My first observations have been centered around things the Taiwanese seem to be OBSESSED with.
   
       Numba 1: Jelly, jelly, jelly! There is a wide assortment of jellies in all types of tea drinks, some good, some that taste otherwise. You've got your typical tapioca jelly bubbles, as well as some long clear jellies that taste like an I.V tube. It's always a mystery as to what I'm going to receive in my drinks, though I'm assuming if I could speak Chinese and exclaim my dislike for odd jellies I'd be able to dictate the level of which I enjoy my drinks. There's also jellied coffee which comes in plastic cups from the 7-11 or Starbucks. Jiggly jellied desserts line the shelves of every store, and honestly frighten me. AHHH It's Alive!

 

    

      

       Number 2:  Corn. It's odd that they are so crazy for corn here, considering it grows outside my high school's windows and we pump it into our cars back home.  Pizza here is covered in it, perhaps partly due to the extreme lack of cheese (don't even get my started on that, yet), but I think they just love it.  I'm not saying it's necessarily a terrible thing, I do like corn, just a bit strange. Tuna comes with corn mixed in, corn soup is always just around the corner, and corn itself is just a strong staple in all meals. Don't forget the packets of corn syrup they hand you to dump in your coffee, at least they give you the choice.

            

  



      

        Number 3:  Linkin Park. It blasts in stores, restaurants, and from the streets.  Is this music where they get their stereotypes of Americans from?  Sure, there's also Colbie Caillat and obviously you couldn't escape Lady Gaga if you moved to a desolate village, but Linkin Park's full Cd's will play through while I sit in a restaurant for 45 minutes eating a meal.  If I venture out for a few hours of shopping, I'm able to learn and memorize at least five of their songs.

                   Here I am, rocking out to some Linkin Park myself.  

                                                                        Awesome? meh



      

       

       Number 4:  This should be pretty obvious, the peace sign. What is it about that sign that Asian people love so much?  I find it quite funny, and try to throw it up in pictures as often as I can remember.  Of course, when taking a picture with any locals it's not difficult as they whip it out the instant a camera is in view.

Here I am with 2 of my co-workers at an open house for work. Notice our lovely paper hats? Yea, more about this later.

     Aaaand Number 5:  Soup!  Why does everything I order come out as soup?!  It's so lovely that many food shops here offer us inconvenient foreigners a nice picture menu from which to place our orders. However, said picture menus are often extremely misleading. Countless times now, I've pointed to a picture that looks fabulous, and then, after some awkward questions that I haven't a clue as to how to answer, I receive my food.  Only when it comes out, it's my bowl of food, covered in liquid now soup-i-fied! EERRGGG. Why?! Now that I've written this, I realize... hey, it's because they try to ask me questions and I just stare at them. Why not just give me exactly what the picture looks like? They really must just see me and think, 'oh she's white, she must want soup.' No More Soup!! Eating soup with chopsticks... not so easy. I always end up slopping it all over myself, which isn't so much fun when I'm on my way to work. I just want some noodles, enough with the noodle soup people!