Despite celebrating Thanksgiving the weekend before by hosting a Friendsgiving, I also wanted to spend the actual holiday not at school and preferably with Sean. I know I can’t take Christmas off and have plans for New Year’s Eve so I thought it was only fair to use one of my given Personal days for the occasion. I was lucky to have brought my bag to school with me because I don’t always get the announcement for upcoming events. Surprisingly my school was hosting a dancing performance for the afternoon instead of having classes. My coworkers always find it funny when there is an event that we have in the states that I haven’t done till I’ve come to Taiwan. This event was one of those times. I have always loved watching videos and movies involving dancing and pointe, but have never seen it in real life until now. There were dancers in what I would assume is their 20s and 30s on pointe and showing different styles of dance. The students got to feel real pointe shoes and learn the positions as well. Some of the teachers asked me if I’ve ever danced before and I said ‘yes, as a kid.’ I think they thought I meant for years in school because now it’s assumed I can actually dance which couldn’t be farther from the truth. I tried to explain that most girls are put in dance at a young age as we try to find our passion and skills, but they were already zeroed in on the fact I took ballet class before.
Thanks to Sean being super understanding and considerate, there was a pizza waiting for me when I got into Taipei. It definitely beats the 7/11 dinner I would have otherwise because I never want to miss my train and there aren’t many food options around the train station in Taitung. Unlike my long weekend (I got Friday and Monday off for the Special Olympics in Taitung and took a personal day off for Thursday), Sean actually had to study for tests equivalent to final exams. I helped cut notecards and brought back breakfast so that I wouldn’t impede his studying. After studying we embarked on a new activity, apartment hunting.
I thought apartment hunting would be fun. Seeing different apartments in different styles, located in different areas of Taipei. That’s why I volunteered to help Sean look into moving to another place. A second opinion always helps especially with big decisions (I wish I had one when buying my second hand scooter because I kept thinking about the decision myself with no one to offer their opinion who had seen it as well and then regretting my decision to not barter). Even with two people apartment shopping in Taipei proved to be difficult as first timers. I think over time you develop a better persona for acting hard and not letting on to how much you like a place or dislike things. I accompanied Sean to three apartment options last weekend all in a very large area of Taipei. My presence helped some as I asked some questions relevant to utility payments, garbage disposal, and how fast a typical response from the landlord for problems is. However, I have no experience understanding what a place should cost or knowing when I am getting taken advantage of. I think the people showing us the apartments took one look at a foreign couple and assumed we had money and overcharged us on the potential price. For one apartment, an apartment that literally had a hole in the ceiling from the past tenant they weren’t going to fix or hadn’t gotten around to it yet, they were asking for 28,000$ NTD (approximately 900$ a month). A week after we viewed the apartment, however, the price dropped to 16,000$. Quite the drop if you ask me. I have already begun a list of potential questions and future things I need to practice before I attempt to even try apartment shopping in LA if I can make that jump when I return.
Apartment hunting did help get us out of our regular areas of Taipei. We walked the long way through Da’an Park and heard a street musician playing classical violin. Found some cafes I already look forward to visiting and we walked to a western restaurant to celebrate Thanksgiving. The Red Point is a restaurant a friend of Sean’s loves, but I hadn’t been before. It boasts of very american food: hamburgers, mac n’ cheese, and nachos to name a few. The best part was the drink Sean got that I wish I had. He ordered an Apple Pie Cider. It even spelled like an apple pie with the cinnamon. I on the other hand got sour fruit cider. They weren’t lying when they said it was sour. Just like regular Thanksgiving, we over ordered and over-ate. We got both nachos and fried buffalo chicken cauliflower for an appetizer and that could’ve been the end of my dinner. Once the rest of our food came I was already close to being full. I was given an american sized serving of mac n’ cheese. I’m not saying I don’t like the helping sizes in the US, but I’ve gotten used to the food servings in Taiwan that are smaller in nature. I barely finished a fourth on my main course. It’s times like these that I wish Taiwan had doggie bags so I could’ve taken my leftovers.
Being in Taipei Sean has been trying to find a time that I could meet his Archery teacher. The Archery teacher literally came in to the workshop just for us. His wife was there too and insisted he feed us lunch despite us not being hungry. We had ramen noodles, peanuts, and fish. In Taitung when someone gives you food, you need to eat the entire meal. Every grain of rice needs to be gone. I only learned from Sean after that that is not the case in Taipei. It is deemed rude or that the family hasn't given you enough food if you have finished your plate. The Archery teacher just kept giving me more food and I was having trouble finishing. Sean was nice enough to tell me only after we left that I shouldn't have kept eating. Would've been nice to know before. On the bright side, I did get to fire a bow and see what Sean's bow will look like when it is completed next month. I really enjoyed going with Sean to Archery, but I did feel like I didn't belong as much there with my limited experience actually using a bow and arrows.
All hand-made arrows and bows
Sadly my website builder won't let me change the view
I had some time left over the next day and finally took the chance to get my first ever haircut in Taiwan ever. I asked Sean’s teacher for recommendations. She was really helpful. I walked into her office with Sean and surprised her enough that she jumped when I followed Sean into the room. He had knocked and poked his head in and asked if he could ask a question first so we knew she had time, but he didn’t address that I was there too until he motioned for me to enter the office as well. I introduced myself, albeit a little nervous and embarrassed of my Chinese. She asked Sean what we had been up to and he told her we just came from lunch and she asked what he got me. Sean told her we had curry and I actually paid and she balked. She told Sean he should be buying my steak every day. I have decided she is my favorite of his teachers. She also gave me two different hair salons to go to that covered a range of price which was helpful to make an appointment.
When I got to the hair salon, I had a picture of what I wanted. I had tried to prepare by attempting to find different Chinese terms that might come up in my appointment like layers and bangs, but had such a hard time. For one, the word for layers I found was the term used when describing layers of paper or cardboard. I had no idea if that was the same word used in describing hair layers. I attempted to keep up with the three hair stylists, but I did say yes to a lot of things without really knowing fully what they were asking me. That’s how I ended up having my hair tested for the amount of oil and dandruff to get what is determined the best treatment when they wash my hair. It was very scientific and exact. I also have no idea how much extra that cost to have done. Getting my hair washed was good though because I was only expected to sit there as Henry washed my fair. That conversation I could follow more easily as we discussed what I liked about Taiwan and what Taitung was like. He was aghast that I hadn’t been to the art museum in Taichung, but he hadn’t even visited in Taitung and he grew up in Taiwan. My hair came out a little shorter than I would’ve wanted, but I felt better not having such long hair anymore. I loved putting it up in a bun or braiding it, but it was beginning to just get in the way.
Mistakes were made
Come Friday night, I was back on a train heading to Taitung again. I had a long weekend, but a volunteer event had been rescheduled and left me with a 2 hour commitment Saturday morning I couldn’t get out of. I was volunteering to assist AIT, the equivalent to an American Embassy, in their new endeavor. It’s a joint project with the Kid’s bookstore which provides events for at-risk children in Zhiben. The children typically have parents who either work too much or are absent in their lives. To combat any issues that might arise from an unstable homelife, we were teaching an English class to offer companionship to the students, even if it was just for a couple hours. I had been complaining about it. Originally, I was supposed to volunteer with another ETA, but she had mixed up her schedule and bought concert tickets on the other side of the island leaving only me to attend the event. I probably could’ve also requested to miss the event, but how can you say no to helping someone in need. Although the event resulted in me taking 16 hours worth of trains over the long weekend, the event was worth it.
I worked alongside Bubba, a member of Fulbright who works with AIT as an English Teaching Fellow. We had a blast singing songs with the students. I also made really good friends with the senior high schoolers that attended our second class. We got along so well that I am considering coming back to the next session in mid December.
Had a small photoshoot with the senior high girls at the end of the class.
Following the event I was back on a train to Taipei. You are probably wondering why did I have such a draw to go back to Taipei when I was just there. Why not just stay in Taitung and relax. That was the original plan to relax and go to cafes to work on editing and last minute lesson plans. However, I reached out to a friend of a friend who happens to be a producer and she was available and interested in meeting me for coffee to discuss my aspirations and the possibility of working together in the future. I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. I met her at what is supposed to be the best coffeehouse in Asia. It has an actual award to prove it. I was getting serious Elf movie vibes from the posting of its awards next to the door. If it wasn’t for the line down the street just wanting take out coffee, I wouldn’t have believed it was that good. The wait for a table was too long to even consider attempting to get a table inside as planned. Instead, the pair of us found a coffee place in the area to walk to instead. The new place only had coffee. There’s a first time for everything. Emma, the producer, and I talked about everything from where I was living and my experience learning aboriginal culture to both of our experiences in production. I haven’t been able to talk so open about things pertaining to film such as sexism in the workplace and the limited opportunities there are unless you know someone. It was refreshing to talk in depth about different directors and offer each other new films to check out. Time flew by. We talked for a little more than 2 and a half hours before we thought we should probably get home. I was grinning ear to ear when I got back to Sean’s. It’s small things like that which remind me why I am trying to get into the industry. It was definitely worth taking another trip to Taipei to meet Emma. I see us meeting up again in the future.
The start of a friendship I hope!
This lego person has no reason being so accurate
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