Nanmadol

Currently there is a Typhoon moving it's way across Taiwan. Actually, I believe it has just been downgraded to a Tropical Storm. I got a text this morning from my boss to say we have no classes today. In some Counties the government has called for schools to be closed for today. I can't find any such thing for Taichung (the city I live in on the West Coast) online. The storm should reach this part of the Island later in the evening. It's nearly 13:30 here and it is only a little windy. I did a bit of food shopping this morning to make sure I had supplies in.

Here are a few pictures of the storm so far.

Nanmadol is the storm on the left. On the right is Talas, a large Tropical Storm bound for Japan (exptected to make landfall on Friday) that is predicted to be upgraded to Typhoon status.


I live in an area where it is white here, as we haven't had any rain thusfar.

New Pad

Well...I am in my new place. I have not yet moved all my things from my old apartment, I shall be on the case of that today! I have one class that finished at 4pm, then the rest of the day shall be spent moving stuff, mostly by scooter. I don't want to ask anyone to help, as the only time people have is the weekend. I certainly don't want to eat into my friends leisure time.
Having said that, my awesome friend Andrew (whom I also work with) helped me pack last Sunday. He was amazing...packing worthy of Mum. Haha! We had all my stuff packed (from two rooms, as one was a studio of sorts) and the rooms cleaned in no time at all!

Today an engineer came by and hooked up my wireless. Wireless! YAY! So, now I have the internet. I have a connection I can access anytime. I plan on backdating some blog entries, because I have some awesome pictures and stories to share. However, I have to get ready for work right now.

Love to all
xxx

Hot Hot Hot!

This is the weather report I looked up online today. It is so hot here today! The past few days I have felt like I am melting. Oh my! My bedroom doesn't have air conditioning, so sleeping is becoming a bit of a problem. I'll either have to get a.c put in or move.

Taichung Metropolitan Park

Happy Dragon Boat Festival. That was the reason we just had a three day weekend (at least for those lucky enough to not be teaching on the Saturday). I was one of those lucky ones. Yay! On Saturday morning (9am) I met Renee and Geoff on Taichung Port Road and we headed straight up that main road until we got to Metro park.

You take Taichung Port Road (away from the train station), it does a funky turn when the road rises up onto a bridge. Here you follow the road to the right and make sure you take the left. Follow that road and it will bring you back into the flow of traffic that went up over the raised road.
Then go straight until you see a sign for Metro Park (that will take you right). You can't get lost from there.

As soon as we drove into the area a man shouted at us if we wanted to park and get a bicycle. We said yes and he showed us where to go.

We parked next to the bicycles and rented one each. It will cost you NT$100 (£2) for the day for one person. They will give you a little receipt that you will need to show them when you return the bicycle, so don't lose it! They had noted down our scooter registration numbers, so if you just dump the bicycles and not return them properly to the person, i'm sure they will contact the police.

If you don't opt for renting a bicycle, you have to pay to park your car or scooter. But it isn't much.

The park isn't as big as I thought it would be, but it was certainly worth getting the bicycles. It was a really hot morning, so cycling gave a bit of a breather from the heat. There were areas that you can't take the bike into, for example, the ecological pond area, but such places are clearly marked.

It was beautiful there. Watch out for snakes and other less worrisome creepy crawlies. I was very close to a large snake when riding. EEK.

It was wonderful not hearing traffic. We saw lots of turtles, lizards and had an apple slushy in the restaurant. You can easily spend a good few hours there enjoying the peace and beauty.

What a great start to the weekend!

A Glorious Sunday

I went back to the temple with Zach this time. We got there about 4pm and we found nuns chanting. It was amazing. I sat there and listened for nearly an hour. Wow.

Sunday relaxation at Toubienkeng (頭汴坑蝙蝠洞)

It has been all work, work, work at the moment. So today I took some time for myself and went for a little drive. There is a temple that I love out near the bat caves on the other side of Taiping. You will see why I love it from the few pics in this post. I have posted about it before, so no need to go into specifics.
I decided a trip there to relax would be the best treat for me on a Sunday. After that I met up with Renee and Geoff and ended up spending a lot of money on books. But I bought a guidebook for Cambodia (I really want to try and get on vacation there this year) and a book entitled 'Godless Morality'. I'll let you know how that one goes.
We walked around Yizhong night market for a while. I bought jasmine tea there, I should not have kept drinking it when I got home...I'm wide awake. That'll teach me to drink tea late at night.

New Life and movie watching

As soon as I stepped off the airplane in Heathrow I was happy. I felt at ease and cold. haha.

Even though London was really busy it felt great to be there. I had a wonderfully busy day. I was quite happy navigating by myself...that is never really a problem for me, but it was all the more easy by everything being in English. And if I ever get lost I can always ask someone for directions. I was confused as to where I was when I was on a train to Manchester, all I had to do was ask a lady, who was really helpful.

When I was in Liverpool I watched 'Eat, Pray, Love' with my friend Kirsty. It was a good movie, a chick flic but good nonetheless. It made me think of what I want from life.

For various reasons I don't want to be in Taichung, I want to meet new people. It's not that I don't like my current friends, but with a couple of people I would much rather not see them. But having many mutual friends makes it difficult. I have confused feelings about them.

If I moved away then I wouldn't have to deal with that. I know it could well be running away, but I don't think it is. This time last year that's exactly what it would have been. I am honest with myself about how I feel and who it's for, and I can admit when I have no idea what I feel for someone.

I want an adventure. I don't want to settle into life in Taiwan and get stuck there because it's the 'easy' thing to do. I don't want to make excuses for not moving on to somewhere else.

So, I have been looking at job listings. There are so many places in the world that I can go to. I am feeling excited again. But I am also feeling that I need to give Taichung a chance, I have to go back after my vacation and embrace everything I have there, not just work all the time. When I moved to Taichung I was given a kindy job and I still work in the evening. I don't think people are fully aware of how much work that entails. But i'm definitely going to take more time for me.

If I don't manage to do that I won't be happy. I will try and make a life for myself there but if I can't then i'm going to move on to somewhere else.

It makes me happy that I have made that decision. I did tell my work that I would be staying for a third year. That may not be the case, but i'm sure they will understand that not everyone wants to stay somewhere so far away from home for so long.

It is taking all my self control to not hop on an airplane to Spain or Italy right now to find a job there. To be honest, the only thing that is stopping me is that I have all my belongings in Taiwan. I wouldn't want to leave Dave (my flatmate) the job of throwing all my stuff out. That and I left my various pieces of technology there. I did that on purpose because I knew the temptation to not go back would be quite overwhelming.

The Journey of DOOM!

Well, as I write this I am in Scotland. It is mighty cold here! I will do various posts as to the details of my journey, as I have pics and details that are best shared for the foreigners who happen to stumble across this humble blog.

I arrived in the UK last Thursday, thinking it was Wednesday. I got here at 5am and kept myself busy for the day hanging out with my good friend Jonny (and host for the evening) and my mate Steve.

On the Friday I ventured up to Liverpool to visit my friends Kirsty and Geoff (and their little one Travis).

Now, i'm relaxing/sorting through old belongings/and trying to make myself useful.

Love to all

*mwah*

The Tale of the Keys

In an attempt to not lose my apartment keys- I often leave my scooter keys in my scooter and go off somewhere (not on purpose, me being forgetful)- I separated my scooter keys from my apartment keys.

This evening I got home from work, and find I didn't take my apartment keys with me. I called Dave, who was in Fongyuan, a 40 minute drive away. Guess who had to drive to the Fong to borrow his keys? Yup.

But the silver lining, I had a scooter with which to drive there. I do have quite a few moments of really not enjoying being in Taiwan, mainly because of communication difficulties and working too much, but there are other moments when I love being here. I am lucky to have a scooter to drive about on.

Spirited Away

Renee and Geoff introduced me to Spirited Away, it's a Japanese animated movie...so it was weird but I loved it. I love Japanese movies.

In the middle of her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters; where humans are changed into animals; and a bathhouse for these creatures (copied from IMDB).

Taichung Park

Today was a beautiful day! I met Renee and Geoff for brunch then we headed to Taichung park to hang out in the sun. It was great, I read in the sun while Renee and Geoff rented a boat to row on the mini lake. I had an observer, a man sat down a few feet from me and stared at me while I was reading. Then when Geoff and Renee joined me we were then of interest to a betel nut chewing local who tried to talk to us. He brushed grass off my back...that was the point where we thought it would be best to leave.

I don't mind talking to locals, and trying to is always interesting, but when they get creepy and touch you...I leave. But it didn't spoil my afternoon, just another experience in Taiwan.

Pictures from the park:

Job's Tears

Dave and I did a huge shop of doom to replenish our empty cupboards, when looking at beans and grains I found this: It made me giggle...such things always make me think of the Bible. It is my go-to reference.

Taipei City Hall MRT/Bus Station

In the basement of the Taipei City Hall MRT station is a Bus station. It was great to find it. It isn't big but it is nice and quiet. Even though we were in Taipei on a busy day over Chinese New Year there was hardly anyone there. It cost me NT$260 for a ticket to Taichung train station. It was NT$100 cheaper than my train ticket to Taipei in the morning.

There are a few bus companies that use it. I used All-bus. Check out the pictures to see what services are available to where. The people at the desk were helpful, I used the little Chinese I know to ask for tickets. They were really nice.

Taipei 101 mall

After being at the zoo we went to Taipei 101 to check out a bookstore called 'Page one', I bought a couple of Superman comics :D Geeky I know but they bring me joy. So, for those who like to read comics and various graphic novels go to Page one in Taipei 101 mall. It's on the 4th floor.

Directions to Taipei 101:
Take the blue line MRT (Nangang direction) to Taipei City Hall. You can get on from the main station.
Walk outside Taipei City Hall MRT station (number 2 exit) and walk around the corner to the left, you can see it from there. Then it is a short stroll to the 101 building.

Alternatively get off at the stop before 'Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall' and enjoy that before heading over to 101. I did that last time I went to 101. I spent a long time walking around the gardens and I managed to be there for the changing of the guards. It was great to see that!

Signs galore

Here are a few signs from around the zoo :D

Taipei Zoo

I went to Taipei Zoo today :D It was brilliant!! All the info and pictures to follow.