Merry Christmas

I love my family! This is our skype call on Christmas day.

On Christmas Eve I went to church and had a lovely time with carols and candles.

Taipei 101

This morning was off to a very nice start when a parcel arrived from Australia, filled with some exciting Christmassy items, yay!

After class, my friend Rachel and I were planning on going to the Museum of Contemporary Art, but it was closed (but we didn't really mind since the exhibit at the moment was something strange about rocks... hmm). So we walked to Ximending, passing some kind of traditional temple on the way...

We stopped at the 'Red House' which is one of Taipei's oldest buildings (built in 1908). At night time it is apparently very lively with some outdoor markets and live music inside, but during the day it was quite peaceful.

I'm not sure what this creature is. The sign below it had some interesting Chinglish which did not do very much to clarify the confusion...

We went to some department stores to have a look around for a little while, and then when it got dark we made our way over to Taipei 101 (the second(?) tallest building in the world)! Rather than paying the extortionate price to go up to the observation deck, we just asked for a pass to visit Starbucks on the 35th floor, which was high enough to get an impressive view of Taipei.

We feasted on an interesting meal (pig's ears, mushrooms, intestines, pig's blood mixed with rice, noodles, vegetables, and soy bean kind of things) which was surprisingly very delicious!

What a lovely day :)

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

I've had a very Christmassy weekend! On Friday evening the MTC put on a Christmas event of some kind with a talent show and some free food. I didn't really stick around for very long because it was cold and there were limited seating options.

On Saturday night I went carolling! We went to the markets and sang out some nice tunes while handing out candy canes.

Everyone's singing and I'm just grinning into people's eye balls...

I spent tonight with my cousins, chilling and watching a movie.

All in all, twas quite a relaxing and enjoyable weekend!

Confrontation

It's the early morning, and I've just taken a shower. I'm wearing my towel turban on my head (see image below). I open the bathroom door and step out into the hallway. Casually glancing down the hallway, I notice that one of the doors is slowly starting to open. A man steps out. He turns to look down the hallway and he spots me. He looks surprised.

'Hallo,' he says awkwardly.

'Hi,' I say.

He returns to his room. We meet at last, German roommate.

The time I allowed Asians to experiment on my brain

Recently when I was at the university I spotted an advertisement asking for native English speaking volunteers to take part in some kind of brain research. I didn't really look into the details, but instead signed up immediately. As a result, I spent approximately 2 hours today wearing an obscure cap over my head, with lots of wires attached and some kind of gel substance in my hair (which was horrendous to wash out...)

I had to sit at a computer and rearrange words to make sentences so that they could monitor what part of my brain was being used. They also asked me lots of questions about me being right handed, and whether I had any left handed family members? I'm still really hazy on the details, and it is possible that they actually extracted my brain during the process - but at the end they gave me NT$200 (like $5 - but enough to purchase a whole day's worth of food!) so I was pretty happy.

What an attractive image ^

After that exciting experience, I met up with a new friend Rachel! She is Taiwanese but speaks wonderful English and has also just started learning French. I think that's pretty impressive. We went to a lovely cafe and had some 巧克力起司 (Chocolate Cheese) cake and I also had some Chai tea. I'm not sure if this is the intensely Chai deprived part of my soul talking - but it was quite nice tea!

The Dry Season in Taiwan

Ode to Bubble Tea

One of the only things I knew about Taiwan before I arrived is that Bubble Tea was invented here. If you don't know what Bubble Tea is then you've clearly never left your home - it is everywhere and it is amazing. There's two different kinds, milk teas and fruit teas, and under each of these categories there are about a million different variations. Commonly, people add these little things called 'Pearls' which are actually balls of tapioca. They taste like nothing but are incredibly fun.

Trying Bubble Tea in Taiwan has been one of the highlights of my experience so far. It just tastes so much better when it is the real deal! Because of my limited skills at reading Chinese menus, I've so far only managed to order 珍珠奶茶 (Zhen zhu nai cha) which is Pearl Milk Tea. You're then given the choice of how much ice and sugar you want in the drink, to which I always answer 少冰，正常糖 (Shao bing, zheng chang tang) - Less ice, normal sugar. Yum.

According to wiki: "Concerns have arisen regarding harmful chemicals that may be used to make popular bubble tea drinks. Boba pearls, milk powder, and juice syrups may contain banned chemical additives in order to reduce costs. In May of 2011, a food scandalbroke out in Taiwan where DEHP(a chemical plasticizer and potential carcinogen used to make plastic) was found as a stabilizer in drinks and juice syrups."


To be honest, I'm okay with this. If I'm going to ingest plastic, it may as well be when I'm consuming this glorious beverage - which only costs about $1!

Taiwanese Subway

I'm a sandwich artist by trade, so when in a foreign country one of the first things I set out to do is sample some Subway and compare it with the Australian version. It is worth noting that Subway recognises Taiwan as independent of China, so you know, Subway is ahead of the UN. As I approached the restaurant, there was a sign on the door which prohibited cameras. I feel this is highly suspicious. (This is why the images are a little blurry and sneaky looking.)


The Bread
There were five options for breads: Honey Oat and Wheat (the same as in Australia), Parmesan Oregano (which we used to have), and two very strange options: Italian (actually white bread), and Hearty Wheat (I've got no idea).

The Meats
Options which are the same in Australia included: Tuna, Ham, Melt, BMT, Turkey, Roast Chicken and Chicken Teriyaki. They also had something called German Sausage (it looked a little risky). Their Steak and Cheese was completely different looking, kind of like the old shaved steak. Also, their meatballs are called 'Chicken Meatballs' which I'm not entirely sure I believe.

Cheese -  there is only one kind of cheese and it is called 'American Cheese'

They toast all hot subs, and don't really offer toasting for cold subs.

Salads 
The salads were basically the same as the Australian ones, but instead of salad onion they had normal raw brown onion which looked a bit gross really.

Sauces 
I tried the Southwest Sauce and it was actually really different to the Australian version, and I think it was so much nicer!!!

Cookies
Options include: Choc Chip, M&M, White Choc Mac, Oatmeal and Sugar.

Dear Roommate,

We haven’t met yet, which you might consider strange since we’ve been living in the same house for a week now. However, the truth is, I’ve been avoiding you. I’m sorry, but it just seems awkward to cross paths with you now. How can I make friendly introductions when you’ve secretly been ruining my life?

I don’t mean to cast the blame prematurely here, but I have reason to believe that the sink full of black whisker hairs is your doing. I put forward this accusation not only because I know you are German, and probably very hairy (at least that’s how I picture you), but also because the other person who uses our bathroom is female, and call me an optimist but I’d like to believe that she hasn’t been secretly shaving off a large beard.

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but it is horrifically gross that you don’t rinse the sink out afterwards. In the future, please consider my sensibilities as you sculpt your facial hair.

Sincerely,
Olivia

PS. Loving the German music, keep it pumping.

Class time!

When I first got my class schedule yesterday, I was slightly distressed because I thought I'd been put into the beginner's class. This (combined with the release of horrendous law results for last semester) triggered a large amount of irrational feelings towards UQ's failure to educate me. However, it turns out I'm not actually in the beginner's class, so it is okay. We are just doing the last few lessons in the beginner's book before moving onto to bigger things. 

It was really pleasant to be in a Chinese class where the teacher uses Chinese to talk to you rather than English (okay, still a little angry at UQ). My class also only has 7 people, which is nice because I had a chance to practise speaking! Lovely. I have a small mountain-load of homework developing already.

Here's some pictures of my neighbourhood...

The text on the road says something about pedestrians. I can only assume it says "If people walk on this path, please run them over with your scooter bike!" because that's what I've been experiencing.

Note the arrows on the road, perhaps meant to indicate the direction of travel (rarely followed...)

It's no UQ, but...

In comparison to the other buildings here, NTNU is quite lovely.

洗衣机

This morning I decided that it was about time I did a load of washing. At first I was slightly nervous because my washing machine skills aren't so confident, and then I discovered that the machine was in Chinese and that nearly led to a full blown mental breakdown. I figured it out eventually (at least I think I did, my clothes are in there and it is making some aggressive noises).

Also, here's an image of the building opposite mine. It's a pretty good example of what all the apartments here look like.

Once my washing is done, I'm thinking about walking down to the markets to pick up some breakfast and then I'll probably head over to the university and check out the library, gym and pool. Orientation day is tomorrow, so today is my last day for casual exploring.

My Residence

Why hello there, fancy seeing you here. You're lucky that you survived the climb all the way to the 5th floor. Sorry about the lack of elevator. Anyway, welcome to my humble abode for the next three months. Come in, come in. Please, make yourself at home - have a seat. Oh, that's right there are no chairs. Well, have a look around...

I'd offer you something to eat or drink, but there isn't anything. Sorry, I purchased an apartment without a kitchen! Oops. Don't worry though, there's a bathroom, I just have to share it with the other two people living on my level.

I just moved in officially today. I'm really going to miss staying with my cousins, because they were really nice and their home was amazingly comfortable, but I'm pretty excited to see how I survive when I'm living by myself.

I went on a trip to IKEA today to purchase some furnishings. Altogether I spent less than $100 and got all my bedding, some storage containers, and a lovely scented candle (to hopefully dim the strange smell left by the last tenant). I had to catch the train there, so I could only take home what I could carry, which is not a lot. So tomorrow I plan on going back and purchasing many, many more items to bring joy into this place!

Signed a lease today.

I'll put up some pictures of my new home soon :)

Culture Shock?

I'm not feeling particularly culture shocked right now (this is potentially because I'm already more Asian than I am Western?) but there is one thing that keeps tripping me out unbelievably.

You know that awkward moment when you're walking on a narrow footpath and you try to get past another person, and you both go left, then right, then left again. Then you laugh, both go left again and pause before one person finally has the nerve to shove past the other? Well that keeps happening. About 20 times a day.

In Taiwan people drive on the right hand side of the road, so they always go right. But my Australian brain keeps telling me to go left, it's mental.

Dou Jiang and You Tiao

Breakfast today!

Dou Jiang is the Chinese word for a kind of soy milk drink which can be made either hot or cold, salty or sweet (I went for cold and sweet). You Tiao is kind of like fried bread which is served with some sauces. It cost about $3 from a little hole in the wall place which I passed on my way to the MRT station today. A fantastic start to the day.

Registration

Today I woke up and decided to attempt to navigate my way downtown to the university to register for my classes. I thought this was going to be an intensely complicated process, so I organised some maps, looked online for info and wrote out the Chinese characters a couple of times in case I got lost and had to use a taxi.

However, it was super easy. The MRT system is amazing and I got there in no time at all. After I registered at NTNU, I had a bunch of stuff to sort out for my scholarship (like setting up a Taiwanese bank account). I caught the MRT to the Immigration Dept. and back to the uni, then to the bank and back to uni once again. After I'd sorted all that out, I met some fellow Aussies while riding an elevator and we purchased some dumplings, and then I caught the MRT home. I can't even believe how easy it was to get around the city using the metro, and all of that only cost me about $2 (plus another $1 for the dumplings). Brisbane needs to get it's act together and just kill off all the people involved in Translink!

Here's a picture of the beautiful system. I'd have taken a photo of myself having the time of my life on there today, but unfortunately I left half of my camera charger at home. It might be a while before I can add some photos :(

The dog's name is Zack, and we are actually friends now. He's a poodle, so my allergies are okay with that, even though he keeps attempting to lick me and that is kind of gross.

Taipei really is lovely. We drove up a mountain today to get a view of the whole city, and it was quite amazing because the sky was so clear. Then we had dumplings for lunch and Mexican for dinner. Tomorrow I'm going to wander the streets until I find a metro station and then try and get myself to the university to register for my classes.

Hi from Taipei :)

So the Hussey family went to the Brisbane airport last night at about 8:30pm. We realised after a while that I hadn't organised any travel insurance, and had a very hectic hour or so of frantically trying to apply for it using mum and dad's 'smart phones'. I know recognise that there might be some kind of use for these phones, because I'm pretty sure my phone couldn't do that.

I got on the flight and sat next to a young man who called himself 'Elvis' and we soon became best friends. He is returning to Taiwan for the first time in 5 years to see his grandmother because she is very sick and might pass away soon. We finally arrived in Taipei, shared an awkward goodbye (how do you say goodbye to someone that you will never see again when you've just been sitting with them for ten hours???) and then I set off to find the 'company driver' who was going to be picking me up.

If you've ever seen the How I Met Your Mother episode where we find out about Marshall and Lily's cute tradition of picking each other up from the airport with a little name card, then you know exactly what I was expecting. I was sadly disappointed. The driver did have a little card, and he was very nice and took my bag outside, but then he said, 'Wait... wait...' and then put my bag down and ran across 6 lanes of traffic, leaving me standing outside the airport. I watched as he jumped through a flower garden and climbed over a 4ft concrete divider. Slightly confused, I sat down on my suitcase and began to wonder what on earth was going on. I was really sleep deprived, so it didn't really worry me too much. He came back about 15mins later and all was well, but I didn't ask him where he went.

We drove through Taipei just as the sun was coming up, and I was frantically trying to catch a glimpse of what the city looks like. So far my impression is that it is somewhere between Singapore and Guangzhou. It's definitely nothing like Shanghai or Beijing from what I've seen yet. I'm pretty keen to go exploring.

Now I've arrived at my dad's cousin Peter's house, and it's currently 7:30am. Their house is lovely, but there is a fluffy dog like creature that keeps appearing and licking me which is making me slightly nervous.

Goodbyes

I've apparently ruined Christmas for my entire extended family by going away over the holidays, so this afternoon we are having a goodbye meal and exchanging gifts etc before I depart.


I'm leaving Brisbane today at 10:45pm. I decided to only get about 5 hours sleep last night in the hope that I might actually sleep on the plane - but I'm not too optimistic about that actually happening. I'll arrive in Taipei (intensely sleep deprived) at 5:25am local time tomorrow, which is 7:25am in Brisbane.

Three Months in Taiwan

Hello all,

On the 19th of November, I will be leaving Brisbane to study in Taiwan for three months. In case you are lacking in geographical knowledge, I will inform you that Taiwan is a smallish island located off the south-eastern coast of China.

I'm going to Taiwan basically because I won a scholarship to study over there, and I can't think of anything better to do over my Christmas holidays. I will be studying Mandarin Chinese at the 'National Taiwan Normal University' located in Taipei city. I'm not exactly sure why the word 'Normal' is part of the title, but Kevin Rudd studied Chinese at NTNU as well, so I'm trusting his judgement.

I leave Brisbane in exactly one month and five days. Between now and then, I have quite an intense amount of law to study, and quite a bit of money to save - but my flights are booked and my visa sorted, so everything is basically ready to go.

Olivia