Taipei

My first impressions of Taipei perhaps weren’t the most positive. I remember a constant headache and grey skies every day. It was probably even more shocking coming from the lovely fall of rural southeastern B.C. But now that I’ve been here for a few weeks (this month has been the longest time I’ve spent in Taipei actually), I’ve been surprised by the blue skies I’ve seen almost every day! Tonight as I was walking home the sky was almost cloudless with a lovely sunset coloring the horizon, and a view of the Grand Hotel in the background starting to light up.

So, I’m changing my initial opinion of Taipei, though I do miss Eastern Taiwan, Yilan and Yuli! It’s nice to just hop on my bike when I want to go somewhere instead of the combination of buses, taxis and transferring to the MRT that have been part of my life lately. Our second week of camp has been less busy for me so far, though we have a bit of a commute to get there. It’s a kids’ camp, and I’ve found lately that teaching children is more challenging for me than teaching high school. Maybe I’m getting old…

Anyways, I’ve been able to leave the camp after lunch each day giving me lots of prep time in the afternoons which is really nice. I even made it to physio once this week. Next week we’re teaching in a place that’s quite a ways out of the city, so we’ve decided to stay there during the camp. It will be nice to not have to get up so early and travel so far every day, but will be a little tiring. I’ve got to say though, the team I’ve been working with from the church here is absolutely WONDERFUL! I’ve really enjoyed getting to know these new friends. I’ll post pictures if I can ever get some!!

Last Taipei observation, is that there’s always something interesting going on here. Last Sunday, I was waiting outside an MRT station to meet some of my students from last year who are now in University here. While I was sitting on a bench a man walked up with about 10 golden retrievers following him. They did a few tricks and posed for cameras, which there were a lot of. It quickly drew a crowd and people were whipping out their cell phones and digital cameras like crazy, taking pictures and calling friends to come check out the spectacle. On command the dogs would go down the stairs and walk through the crowd. It was so random. It didn’t seem like the man was selling anything, he didn’t have flyers or a sales pitch or anything, so I have no idea. After about a half an hour the dogs followed him down the street, perhaps to the next station. At times like this, I can only say “Oh, Taiwan!”