Merry week-of-Christmas!!!
I thought it would be easiest to post all my info here than emailing to everyone : )
My cell:
(country code 886) 0989613007
(for time conversion count back 11 hours from Eastern time and 10 hours from central... and remember I'm a day ahead!)
My skype name: bethany_yonker
My address for shipping:
Bethany Yonker
Hess Young Scholar's English School
1F, No. 218, Feng Jia Road
Tai Chung City, Taiwan, 407
Fax: (04) 2452-2256 (You may need to enter the country code of 886)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Putting on the Ritz
Any fears of Taichung we put to rest within a minute of driving through the city. Although Taichung is still a big city, it boasts cleaner air, better weather, and a more manageable amount of side allies and hidden mom and pop shops. Stepping off the bus felt like stepping into a beach side city. It was Thanksgiving morning, and I was hot enough to slip into a dress and head out to lunch with our branch followed by the eagerly anticipated apartment shopping.
Susanne, Shyra and I all squealed at the sight of our hotel room, and soon we were whisked off to a lunch with our branch managers and essentially our bosses. Lunch was held at a local spot that can only be described as Asian chic awesomeness. The walls were full of neon art, the ceiling full of vines and bird cages, and then the floor…. The floor had a series of coy ponds that connected various parts of the restaurants. I enjoyed a steamed fish lunch and mango tea that couldn’t have tasted any better. The conversation was primarily about our living arrangements and the layout of the city. Now I have met some nice people in my life, some incredibly giving and selfless people that still blow my mind when I talk to them, but the Taiwanese people that I have encountered so far in my short time have given a new impression on how you should treat others. Without them I would be cold and lonely in a ditch. They helped along every step of our journey (and still translate our bills and notices). On this day they asked us questions and did their best to find an apartment in a very big city that would suit out wants and needs.
Shyra and I had agreed to live with each other during the orientation, and we fell in love with the first apartment the group saw. There is the feeling of “I kind of like it” and “I could live here” and then there is the “I can’t imagine my life without this place.” The courtyard is a full of the classic Japanese architecture, coy ponds, and a pool that will be my second home during the summer months. The rest of the Taichung 10 slowly fell in love with their apartments, and by evening Shyra and I ran the apartment by the boys and then closed the deal. That night we all sat down for a dinner at Cream, a local place that uses enough cheese to be sponsored by Kraft. As we all shared what we were thankful for I realized that I was in Asia, completely at home with the people I sitting next to, and I was entirely happy. Any doubts on my decision to move over here were gone. We were all on our way to a year in Taichung Taiwan, and we were all ready in our own ways. Each person that is here is uniquely different. But, we do have some common threads- we packed up life and committed to a year teaching children. I always was super thankful for all the support from back home and the memories that I was blessed enough to have in my life throughout the last year. This was a big one- graduation, moving home from NZ, the internship of my dreams, living with Ashley, and letting go of my student lifestyle. So many people have allowed me into their lives and then invested in me… only working towards my best interest. I’m sure every person reading this fits into the above category. So thank you : )
So now on to move it. Just because this apartment fit into the “gotta have it” category, it wasn’t as clean as my rosy image in my head. Shyra and I were on the same page- clean this bad boy so we can decorate and make it our own. 10 hours later I found us navigating the streets of Taichung looking for a B & Q and Hola- 2 stores that offered hopes of decorating more than the Carrefour and connivance store down the road. Our adventures at Carrefour were nothing short of the feeling of groundhog day. The same three songs were played at deafening levels while I got lost down the same row time after time… after time. This adventure did help us pull together the finishing touched with wall art and a pair of sheets.
My bedroom is done in brown and orange and has ginkgo leaves on the wall. I did manage to put a series of book shelves together, but the true centerpiece of my room is the window overlooking the city. We are on floor 14 and aren’t surrounded by a series of other tall buildings. The ceilings are lower- about 6’5” and I do sleep on a hard Asian mattress that lays on the ground. We do have three bedrooms, and a kitchen with 2 burners, but no oven. I love waking up and walking out on our balcony to look over at the sharp outline of the Asian miles a few miles away.
Susanne, Shyra and I all squealed at the sight of our hotel room, and soon we were whisked off to a lunch with our branch managers and essentially our bosses. Lunch was held at a local spot that can only be described as Asian chic awesomeness. The walls were full of neon art, the ceiling full of vines and bird cages, and then the floor…. The floor had a series of coy ponds that connected various parts of the restaurants. I enjoyed a steamed fish lunch and mango tea that couldn’t have tasted any better. The conversation was primarily about our living arrangements and the layout of the city. Now I have met some nice people in my life, some incredibly giving and selfless people that still blow my mind when I talk to them, but the Taiwanese people that I have encountered so far in my short time have given a new impression on how you should treat others. Without them I would be cold and lonely in a ditch. They helped along every step of our journey (and still translate our bills and notices). On this day they asked us questions and did their best to find an apartment in a very big city that would suit out wants and needs.
Shyra and I had agreed to live with each other during the orientation, and we fell in love with the first apartment the group saw. There is the feeling of “I kind of like it” and “I could live here” and then there is the “I can’t imagine my life without this place.” The courtyard is a full of the classic Japanese architecture, coy ponds, and a pool that will be my second home during the summer months. The rest of the Taichung 10 slowly fell in love with their apartments, and by evening Shyra and I ran the apartment by the boys and then closed the deal. That night we all sat down for a dinner at Cream, a local place that uses enough cheese to be sponsored by Kraft. As we all shared what we were thankful for I realized that I was in Asia, completely at home with the people I sitting next to, and I was entirely happy. Any doubts on my decision to move over here were gone. We were all on our way to a year in Taichung Taiwan, and we were all ready in our own ways. Each person that is here is uniquely different. But, we do have some common threads- we packed up life and committed to a year teaching children. I always was super thankful for all the support from back home and the memories that I was blessed enough to have in my life throughout the last year. This was a big one- graduation, moving home from NZ, the internship of my dreams, living with Ashley, and letting go of my student lifestyle. So many people have allowed me into their lives and then invested in me… only working towards my best interest. I’m sure every person reading this fits into the above category. So thank you : )
So now on to move it. Just because this apartment fit into the “gotta have it” category, it wasn’t as clean as my rosy image in my head. Shyra and I were on the same page- clean this bad boy so we can decorate and make it our own. 10 hours later I found us navigating the streets of Taichung looking for a B & Q and Hola- 2 stores that offered hopes of decorating more than the Carrefour and connivance store down the road. Our adventures at Carrefour were nothing short of the feeling of groundhog day. The same three songs were played at deafening levels while I got lost down the same row time after time… after time. This adventure did help us pull together the finishing touched with wall art and a pair of sheets.
My bedroom is done in brown and orange and has ginkgo leaves on the wall. I did manage to put a series of book shelves together, but the true centerpiece of my room is the window overlooking the city. We are on floor 14 and aren’t surrounded by a series of other tall buildings. The ceilings are lower- about 6’5” and I do sleep on a hard Asian mattress that lays on the ground. We do have three bedrooms, and a kitchen with 2 burners, but no oven. I love waking up and walking out on our balcony to look over at the sharp outline of the Asian miles a few miles away.
I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends
So, where do I even begin to start my descriptions of Taiwan? Do I start with the food? The day by day teaching stories? Or even the amazing people that I’ve met and become my second family in just three short weeks?
Hmm, I’m going to go with the flight over. It was nothing short of classy, complete with an over-weight-baggage charge that could have been a full semester at Butler University. My facial expression was pretty much fixed on the “holy crap” face because, well- I was on a 14 hour flight to Japan. Japan!?! Yes- Japan. The flight to Japan may have caused me to take out a student loan, but it threw in a bonus of a complimentary airline attendant friend. I guess the friendship blossomed when I asked for the vegetarian option even though I didn’t call ahead to reserve it (my bad). He ended up stealing food from first class, and then paired it with the standard coach meal (no meat, of course). The remainder of the flight was filled with surprise plate of crackers and cheeses every time I opened my eyes. One of my deepest darkest fears was a year without cheese, but the plethora of cheddar and mozzarella was starting to ease my worries. I was also able to watch Up, which made me burst out with laughter more than one time while people were sleeping. Later they decided to pay me back the favor by talking right next to my seat- for hours- and hours. But, I landed safely in Japan and got a couple gold stars by helping a short Italian woman make her way through security and off to her gate. “Hun, do you speak English?” I thought I looked like I spoke Chinese, but hey- you just can’t fool some people. Before I knew it, I had landed in Taipei. They did test us for fevers, and luckily passed the body heat screening despite the fact that I was sweating- a lot. I sweated getting off the plane, going through customs, getting my luggage, and while meeting my driver. Hey, I was even sweating for the entire week after that. The humidity was something that made my hair live up to its nickname, Mufasa, and me have to drink enough water to dry up the hoover dam. In the taxi ride it actually hit me- I’m in Taipei. Really. This is happening. The lovely Martina from Canada arrived at the same time, so we both shared a cab ride to our hotel. From that moment on, my life was surprisingly filled with English. The group was a big mix of all shapes and sizes from all around the world, all eager to learn about each other. My roommate was Helen from Virginia. AND there were two people here from Ohio! Small world : ) We all had introductory conversations about our past jobs and where we’ve traveled to, and why we decided to jump on a plane and teach in Taiwan.
Luckily, jet lag decided not to entirely kick my booty, but for the first day I felt like Eore… everything I said was sort of monotone. We had health checks and an amazing lunch before heading to headquarters and our training room. I really had no idea how much time I would spend in that training room. Every day for the next nine days (except Saturday) our group learned, observed, practiced, and most of all- had a great time. We got to act like little kids most of the time, which is something that I think we all missed. Remember story time? What about a little friendly competition over who can scream the loudest? And the crowd favorite- the throwing the sticky ball? There is something truly blissful about letting go of “social norms” and letting the inner kid inside you out. I felt like I was on a really long trip to Six Flags. There were some times that I laughed so hard I cried, and others where my stomach just dropped. It was a lot harder than I imagined, but by the end of the week we all found ourselves in the President’s penthouse for graduation.
Throughout the week the group definitely took advantage of the evenings. We had a series of birthdays, cell phone hunts, and massages. For Diana’s birthday we enjoyed some pizza and beer. Oliver’s was complete with a bakery run, trek through a 10 floor technology plaza thingy (where I got the best pink phone complete with rabbit characters and a Louis Vitton back), a 7-11 run, and hanging out in a local park. Shrya, Susanne, and I all thought starting out with a neck massage one evening was the first step in enjoying this eastern medicine everyone raves about. And it was- it came with a lavender foot bath, tea, and some intense head/neck action. The next step was the full body massage. So why not? I don’t think we could have prepared ourselves for the whole schabang. I had a little too much focus on the posterior, Shyra had some deep- tissue action, and Susanne- well Susanne got thrown around and cracked in ways that I can’t even describe. I walked away feeling a little violated, but we still met up with everyone at the Taiwan Beer Bar to celebrate our final demos being completed. Each night was pretty similar to summer camp; hanging out in each others’ room, taking morning walks and laughing about the night before over breakfast. Every morning I had to remind myself- you are in Taipei- this is happening, because it did really feel like a dream. As for the weekend, we ended up going to a club in the bottom of Taipei 101. It was more than an awesome surprise to find the LOVE statue by Mr. Robert Indiana outside. Yes- this is the same man that I have “been in touch with” for the design district over the last three months. Last I heard Robert was enjoying his 89th birthday by spending some time in a Caribbean Island. We took a picture and I had a little laugh to myself before we headed inside. And it kept getting better- inside was a light up dance floor, which has to be in my top 25 of my favorite things. What is more awesome dancing on lights? Yep- nothing. I’m pretty sure I was the only natural blonde in the club, but that didn’t stop my dancing. And oh goodness, when Lady Gaga came on there was a whole new kind of Beyonkse on the dance floor : ) It was one crazy awesome night. Saturday was crazy awesome as well, only in a relaxing sort of way. Shyra, Diana, and I found a NY Bagels place that had the kind of food that makes any day a great day. After walking around the boutiques we headed to the hotel and then…. Wait for it…. The hot springs. I have been waiting to go to the hot springs for around a year (when I left NZ). They too are in my top 25 favorite things. There is really no way to describe how they make you feel. Its absolutely 100% amazing. We went through a series of hot pools, and by the end I was a red faced, giggling, hot mess. McDonald’s ice cream could not have been more perfect for this moment, so a group of us enjoyed some fried goodness with a side of ice cream.
Now back to graduation. We had all received our placements earlier in the week, but on this date we each met our individual boss and signed the contract. All the NSTs (Native speaking teachers) were dressed in their “smarts”, as the South Africans would put it, and we each committed to at least a year. Many of you know that I am not a huge fan of commitment, but I can say that I was more than happy to sign the dotted line. A big surprise came when we all sat down to find out the wining team of training. There were a few other awards including Sharp as a Knife, Attached at the Hip, Demo Dominator, Happy Hippo and Happy Hippette. I was ecstatic to be awarded with the Happy Hippette Award, due to my positive attitude and ability to make others smile. My roommate took away the Demo Dominator Award, so they are proudly displayed in our very posh apartment (details to come). The nine days of training seemed to fly by, but take so long at the same time. I felt like I knew everyone so well, and I was sad to leave many people to move to Taichung.
Hmm, I’m going to go with the flight over. It was nothing short of classy, complete with an over-weight-baggage charge that could have been a full semester at Butler University. My facial expression was pretty much fixed on the “holy crap” face because, well- I was on a 14 hour flight to Japan. Japan!?! Yes- Japan. The flight to Japan may have caused me to take out a student loan, but it threw in a bonus of a complimentary airline attendant friend. I guess the friendship blossomed when I asked for the vegetarian option even though I didn’t call ahead to reserve it (my bad). He ended up stealing food from first class, and then paired it with the standard coach meal (no meat, of course). The remainder of the flight was filled with surprise plate of crackers and cheeses every time I opened my eyes. One of my deepest darkest fears was a year without cheese, but the plethora of cheddar and mozzarella was starting to ease my worries. I was also able to watch Up, which made me burst out with laughter more than one time while people were sleeping. Later they decided to pay me back the favor by talking right next to my seat- for hours- and hours. But, I landed safely in Japan and got a couple gold stars by helping a short Italian woman make her way through security and off to her gate. “Hun, do you speak English?” I thought I looked like I spoke Chinese, but hey- you just can’t fool some people. Before I knew it, I had landed in Taipei. They did test us for fevers, and luckily passed the body heat screening despite the fact that I was sweating- a lot. I sweated getting off the plane, going through customs, getting my luggage, and while meeting my driver. Hey, I was even sweating for the entire week after that. The humidity was something that made my hair live up to its nickname, Mufasa, and me have to drink enough water to dry up the hoover dam. In the taxi ride it actually hit me- I’m in Taipei. Really. This is happening. The lovely Martina from Canada arrived at the same time, so we both shared a cab ride to our hotel. From that moment on, my life was surprisingly filled with English. The group was a big mix of all shapes and sizes from all around the world, all eager to learn about each other. My roommate was Helen from Virginia. AND there were two people here from Ohio! Small world : ) We all had introductory conversations about our past jobs and where we’ve traveled to, and why we decided to jump on a plane and teach in Taiwan.
Luckily, jet lag decided not to entirely kick my booty, but for the first day I felt like Eore… everything I said was sort of monotone. We had health checks and an amazing lunch before heading to headquarters and our training room. I really had no idea how much time I would spend in that training room. Every day for the next nine days (except Saturday) our group learned, observed, practiced, and most of all- had a great time. We got to act like little kids most of the time, which is something that I think we all missed. Remember story time? What about a little friendly competition over who can scream the loudest? And the crowd favorite- the throwing the sticky ball? There is something truly blissful about letting go of “social norms” and letting the inner kid inside you out. I felt like I was on a really long trip to Six Flags. There were some times that I laughed so hard I cried, and others where my stomach just dropped. It was a lot harder than I imagined, but by the end of the week we all found ourselves in the President’s penthouse for graduation.
Throughout the week the group definitely took advantage of the evenings. We had a series of birthdays, cell phone hunts, and massages. For Diana’s birthday we enjoyed some pizza and beer. Oliver’s was complete with a bakery run, trek through a 10 floor technology plaza thingy (where I got the best pink phone complete with rabbit characters and a Louis Vitton back), a 7-11 run, and hanging out in a local park. Shrya, Susanne, and I all thought starting out with a neck massage one evening was the first step in enjoying this eastern medicine everyone raves about. And it was- it came with a lavender foot bath, tea, and some intense head/neck action. The next step was the full body massage. So why not? I don’t think we could have prepared ourselves for the whole schabang. I had a little too much focus on the posterior, Shyra had some deep- tissue action, and Susanne- well Susanne got thrown around and cracked in ways that I can’t even describe. I walked away feeling a little violated, but we still met up with everyone at the Taiwan Beer Bar to celebrate our final demos being completed. Each night was pretty similar to summer camp; hanging out in each others’ room, taking morning walks and laughing about the night before over breakfast. Every morning I had to remind myself- you are in Taipei- this is happening, because it did really feel like a dream. As for the weekend, we ended up going to a club in the bottom of Taipei 101. It was more than an awesome surprise to find the LOVE statue by Mr. Robert Indiana outside. Yes- this is the same man that I have “been in touch with” for the design district over the last three months. Last I heard Robert was enjoying his 89th birthday by spending some time in a Caribbean Island. We took a picture and I had a little laugh to myself before we headed inside. And it kept getting better- inside was a light up dance floor, which has to be in my top 25 of my favorite things. What is more awesome dancing on lights? Yep- nothing. I’m pretty sure I was the only natural blonde in the club, but that didn’t stop my dancing. And oh goodness, when Lady Gaga came on there was a whole new kind of Beyonkse on the dance floor : ) It was one crazy awesome night. Saturday was crazy awesome as well, only in a relaxing sort of way. Shyra, Diana, and I found a NY Bagels place that had the kind of food that makes any day a great day. After walking around the boutiques we headed to the hotel and then…. Wait for it…. The hot springs. I have been waiting to go to the hot springs for around a year (when I left NZ). They too are in my top 25 favorite things. There is really no way to describe how they make you feel. Its absolutely 100% amazing. We went through a series of hot pools, and by the end I was a red faced, giggling, hot mess. McDonald’s ice cream could not have been more perfect for this moment, so a group of us enjoyed some fried goodness with a side of ice cream.
Now back to graduation. We had all received our placements earlier in the week, but on this date we each met our individual boss and signed the contract. All the NSTs (Native speaking teachers) were dressed in their “smarts”, as the South Africans would put it, and we each committed to at least a year. Many of you know that I am not a huge fan of commitment, but I can say that I was more than happy to sign the dotted line. A big surprise came when we all sat down to find out the wining team of training. There were a few other awards including Sharp as a Knife, Attached at the Hip, Demo Dominator, Happy Hippo and Happy Hippette. I was ecstatic to be awarded with the Happy Hippette Award, due to my positive attitude and ability to make others smile. My roommate took away the Demo Dominator Award, so they are proudly displayed in our very posh apartment (details to come). The nine days of training seemed to fly by, but take so long at the same time. I felt like I knew everyone so well, and I was sad to leave many people to move to Taichung.
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