'Tis the Season... oh bah humbug...

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the cram school in Taiwan. The TAs have worked very hard hand making paper decorations and cutting out tiny white letters for a poem claiming that a snowman is the best boyfriend ever. Red and green cellophane cover the windows, a cardboard tree is being used as a Christmas vocabulary advent calendar (get all twenty-five right and you can get a pencil and eraser!), giant nutcrackers and mini Santas line the desk behind the receptionist. On top of that the school had a great idea to have to students make snowmen for a contest. I thought we were going to die in an avalanche of snowmen! The students had a blast making them, though some may be suffering from PTSD after watching me accidently decapitate some of the less stable snowmen. It is payback for having to listen to “Ten Little Snowmen,” “Where is Santa?” and “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” over and over again.

Around Hemei, many of the shops have mini Christmas trees decorated for the holiday. Terrible Christmas music (surprisingly very religious songs) loop over and over again in every store. It seems like they sort of get into the Holiday spirit around here. However, it still doesn’t feel like Christmas is six days away...especially when I have to work on Christmas.  I have managed to get some of the Christmas cards out, but the only Christmas shopping I have done is to my secret Santa at work. There are so many rules, it is difficult to buy or sneak the damn present anywhere. Matt has benefited greatly by getting little treats I had intended for my person, but the boss caught me and lectured about how I need to be sneakier and blah blah blah...it is very hard to be sneaky when everybody watches your every move...

In other news, weekends have been incredibly busy. Last weekend we graded papers and treated ourselves to delicious Egyptian food. That was possibly the most expensive meal we have had in Taiwan yet, but so worth every penny! I suggested that I wanted to go there for my birthday celebration this weekend, but my co-worker claimed that she didn’t like Egyptian food, and then proceeded to ask what Egyptian food tasted like. She didn’t believe me when I told her it tasted like heaven!

One weekend we made it to Tainan, the old capitol of Taiwan. It was colonized by the Dutch in the 1600s, but the Taiwanese didn’t have much patience for the Dutch laws of replacing wood shacks with less-combustible brick huts, putting the pigs at the back of the house instead of in the front or letting them run wild in the street, and having a designated garbage dumps (and compost piles). The Chinese came in and set the Dutch sailing.

Another weekend we made it to the new Hunger Games movie... getting front row seats so that everyone could make a fool of themselves getting up every fifteen minutes to go the bathrooms, which were located on the right side of the video screen...Other weekends we’ve made treks to Taichung for Huge Burgers, Indian food, and hummus... all heaven for the eyes and taste buds... I don’t know why in Homei they cannot make the food look or taste appetizing.

I have definitely hit that six month senioritis mark. Everything is getting to me... the food, the miscommunication, the dirt, the mold, the lack of sunshine, lack of roof gutters and street gutters... it is only lightened by the free coffees that we get sometimes or the incredibly cheap clothing and shoes I can get. The boss has realized that I am “upset” about things at work... we had a special one hour meeting about the things that were bothering me in which the only thing resolved was that because I am a woman, I have to work extra hard to accept change, because women cannot adapt to change very well...oh boy.

Here is to making it to Christmas and then surviving the holidays! Happy holidays to all!

The Lost Art of Letter-writing

As Yuletide approaches, we are told by the boss to ignore any other holidays and focus on Christmas. First order of business: to teach the students how to write a letter to Santa. We had two lessons to do this, but we were supposed to only take ten minutes per lesson. Sure.  Most of my students are under the age of ten and have never heard the English name for Santa. In fact, many of my students had no idea who Santa is. So, the first lesson was spent showing them Christmas. The only convenient book was a pop-up book and I don’t care how old you are, you are always more fascinated by what pops up than whatever else is going on.

In the next lesson, a sample letter was written out for them that already said “Dear Santa, My name is____________.” This was the first snag…

The trouble with Asian English education is that the students memorize language for a certain situation, but they never learn that sometimes the language can be used in another situation. For example, if I am in class and I ask a student “What is your name?” The student will reply in a robotic voice, “My name is [Peers].” But if you ask outside of school, on a test paper, or on a letter to Santa, it might as well be Cantonese.

Confused student impression.

Therefore I got a bunch of “Teacher, what!?!” I said, “Write your name.” And they do their best pug impression and go “HUH?” I go write my name on board. And they go “Ohhh!” Eight out of ten students will write their name, but the other two will write my name. Ok. That is finished and fixed.

Now onto line two: “I have been really good this year.” Oh jeeze, now we have “I’ve ben rely gob tis yen” Ok so fix that as many students are saying “Teacher! Teacher! Finished.” And I am saying “No! Check it!” And of course they don’t. Now, the class is over time and hasn’t finished the last lines of the letter.

Next lesson: for the more advanced students they wrote “May I get some toys?” The little kids just finish off with a “Merry Christmas!” (mainly because I cannot be bothered to go any further). Amazingly enough, this has also gone over time. The addition of a school-wide Christmas bingo game in which my first semester English kids are expected to read and say “decorations,” “ornaments,” and “gingerbread,” when they cannot even tell the difference between the words “orange” and “red” adds more confusion.

Their homework was to write the letter into a nice card for Santa and to have their parents go onto Google maps to find their mailing address. Oh the age of electronics where nothing is ever snail mailed anymore! Now the students have their card (which they’ve somehow managed to mess up by attempting to copy incorrectly, but Santa is forgiving), and their addresses. The TA teaches them how to address the envelope. She writes her name to show that the students need to put their names on the return address. Of course, several students write the TA’s name instead of theirs. Then they start writing the return address at the bottom of the envelope, at the stamp side, or wrapped around the entire envelope. Ok, so they cannot judge distance yet with their writing.

Next we glue Santa’s address to the envelope. The TA freaks out because many people haven’t written “To: Santa” even though the printed address is addressed to Santa Claus already. Time to put on the postage! It usually costs about $13 to $18 NTD to mail a card to the US and the UK. But these kids had one $1 stamp or six $5 stamps. All the stamps are the lick kind, but the kids are fighting over glue sticks to glue the stamps on ALL OVER the envelopes. I show them that all they have to do is lick the stamps, but that concept seems foreign and disturbing to them.

A student started handing out stickers for the other kids. All the children grabbed the stickers and sealed up their envelopes with the cards still lying on the desk. I can’t wait to teach them Christmas carols.

Huge Burgers and Super Girl Babies

Glass temple outside  Lukang.

Spent two weekends in a row in Changhua walking around various districts. Matt found a shopping street that is about three city blocks long. Every stall has the same cheaply-made shoes, purses, and shirts. I cannot make myself pay for that kind of thing.

One Saturday, already tired from walking down the clothing market, Matt and I walked across Changhua to Carrefour, a large supermarket that carries almost everything.  We had a few major things on the list: ground coffee, a bathmat, contact lens solution, and hair wax. They didn’t have any hair wax and the contact solution was pretty expensive. But we did find coffee and a bathmat on offer, as well as chocolate chip cookies. It was a successful day, until we went to the checkout. Apparently, the specials were for members only, putting the original price of our chosen items to nearly forty USD (the coffee alone was nearly $20). I did the most logical thing any sane person would have done-- I took the cookies and left the rest behind. At least we weren’t burdened by heavy purchases as we hiked to the bus stop, paused to look at a gun store, and then waited for the bus for fifteen minutes.

The next morning, motivated by lack of coffee, we hiked across Hemei to a grocery store I keep forgetting exists. And wouldn’t you know, not only did we find a bag of coffee and a bathmat, but apple cider vinegar for my hair too. Spurred by our success we treated ourselves to McDonalds.  But, since McDonalds is nearly two miles away from the apartment, and we were carrying groceries, most of the calories and guilt-induced sickness had passed.

Monday through Wednesday I did my whole teaching thing. Nothing too major to report, other than I am getting tired of teaching five to nine year olds for five hours a day. Luckily, when it reaches the point where I think I am going to lose it and throw my teaching materials up in the air and stomp out, a student does something ridiculously funny.  Such as little Angus insisting that he no longer be named “Angus,” but “Super Girl Baby.” Or how the students, when learning short “a” phonics and the word “dam” have already figured out the right inflection and then you have a sea of innocent faces saying “DAMN.”

Thursday was a national holiday, so no work! We had planned on going to some festival, but slept in. By the time we made it to Changhua, we realized we’d miss the last bus back to Changhua from our destination because of travel time. We hopped on the train and headed to Taichung, discovering new and exciting parts of the city.

We found ourselves standing in front of “Huge Burger,” we were lured in by the cardboard cutouts of the Obamas as well as the Americana lining the outer wall. We ordered a peanut butter beef burger to split. It would have fed four of us! I was dubious about the peanut butter, but it worked and tasted a lot better than that processed cheese you normally get on burgers.

We literally waddled out of the restaurant, feeling quite like the Walrus, until we were distracted by more shiny and exciting objects.  We had an hour to wait for the train home, so we grabbed a beer and sat in this ridiculously large cafeteria at the top of 7 Eleven.

Saturday we met up with Jenny and her cousin, who took us to Lukang to see the glass temple and glass museum. In reality, both are just showcasing the work of a neighboring glass factory. It was good to see, but not all the hype that everything led me to believe.  Sunday, I met up with Jenny again to celebrate her birthday. 

September

Lukang

The entire month in one post, deep breath:

 I was sick for nearly two weeks. I went the doctor and was prescribed a ton of pills that made me feel better. Amazing how that works!  I started to feel human around the time Matt was scheduled to arrive in Taiwan. As his luck would have it, he got stranded in Bangkok for three days because of stupid airline policies with Hong Kong Airlines. Finally, they allowed him to come on to Taiwan, but not before making him buy a ticket back to London in November. Ug. London vacation, perhaps?

Poor Matt was very jetlagged and drained from the stress of the past few days, but we still managed to get enough energy to go to Taichung on Sunday. We wandered around various malls and found a random park, apparently built by the Japanese during the colonial period. Its main features are a pond, a giant goat sculpture, and black squirrels.

Matt spent Monday through Wednesday preparing and wandering the streets of Hemei and Changhua looking for English schools. He got some pretty good job offers when he was needed to cover for a day at my school. He is now employed at my school, but we rarely see each other at work because of, well, work.

One weekend we took a break from it all and headed to Changhua to check out the giant Buddha. It was an easy climb through a jungle park to find the massive Buddha and good views of Changhua. We danced merrily as “Under the Sea” and “Mickey Mouse” played over loud speakers… very odd for a temple setting, I must say! 

Moon Festival was on Thursday. We had a long three day work week before having a short four-day weekend. Because a typhoon of dramatic proportions was coming, we didn’t make any plans to go anywhere and our hiking trip to Ali Mountain was canceled, forever.

Thursday we had beautiful weather and a BBQ at my co-teacher’s house along with two of my students (ages six and nine), they both screamed and ran away at the sight of me. But later warmed up to Matt and me and we were all playing “Ghost” and other running games until Matt and I thought we’d die—I’ll blame the mountains of food we consumed. We had a feast of beef, pork, fish, mushrooms, onions, and other nameless vegetables, sweet potatoes, and toast.  Matt, of course, tried the chicken, oysters, clams, and shrimp that were also available. It felt like the first real meal I have had since the hot pot they had cooked for me!

We got up early on Friday to meet with our co-workers for drinks, to find out that they had canceled on us! Since we were already heading towards Changhua, we went further to Taichung and had another shopping trip. We rushed home to meet with my neighbor, only to have him cancel on us too. Saturday we were warned of the huge typhoon, but the weather was so wonderful, we headed to Lukang anyway and enjoyed an amazing day with little rain. Apparently the typhoon skipped Changhua County.

By Sunday we were zombies, Monday was just painful, Tuesday long, and Wednesday the students were driving me crazy. Thank goodness for easy Thursdays with my nice classes! Friday was actually pleasant; most Fridays are very stressful with five hours teaching children between the ages of five and eight.

In random news: won the Taiwan receipt lottery. I won a whole 200 NTD (that is almost 7 USD).  This lottery was set up in order to keep stores from not reporting their total sales. Naturally, the only places I receive receipts are the big chain stores, all the local stores have a cash-only, no receipt policy.

Tis the Season for Typhoons

Two typhoons in two weeks. The wind is at a minimum, just enough to wreak havoc on the already abused umbrella.  I found myself thinking like Forrest Gump, “We been through every kind of rain there is: little bitty stingin' rain and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways and sometimes, rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night...” Luckily, it hasn’t rained straight for four months…yet. But three days last weekend and four days this week is enough for me!  Was supposed to go on a hiking trip to Alishan, but the park has been closed due to landslides.


Nothing is drying out with all this moisture. I have already had to toss one pair of shoes because the mold set in right away. The windows have a nice sheen of mist on the inside. The clothes and paper have a distinct damp feel. Despite the colder temperatures (26 degrees C/ 78 degrees F), I’ve put on the dehumidifier on the air conditioner, but it hasn’t seemed to help.


On top of all that, I’m battling strep throat. I finally figured out what it was on Wednesday and demanded that I be taken to a doctor. But because my boss didn’t apply for the Alien Registration Card fast enough, I had no national ID and of course, no insurance. He thought it would cost too much to take me to the doctor. We fought and fought and fought until I stormed out to ask a TA to take me. But because the boss said no, she wouldn’t do it, but she took me to the pharmacy and demanded they give me penicillin. However, I’m still not functioning and it hasn’t occurred to me to ask a TA where the doctor is so I can go on my own.


After all that fussing and crabbing at my boss on Wednesday, I taught a two hour-long class. After which, I was too exhausted to carry on, my boss “graciously” sent me home after prodding from the TAs and co-workers. I stumbled home and attempted to sleep. Mostly I remember bits and pieces of “The Nanny Diaries” on TV and the “Jacuzzi” of the front of the tea box. I eventually got so hungry that I ventured outside. Somehow I made it to the store and back, despite the sea of nausea, neon lights, cockroaches, and smiling neighbors.


Sometime in the wee hours of morning I finally fell into a restful sleep, only to be woken at seven when the landlord decided to come and do some very loud handiwork. I gave up and went to work in the afternoon. 

Observation Week

The week after Sanyi brought Cheech the Cockroach into my apartment. I was having a lovely, relaxing morning before work when I felt an icky tickle and I looked down at my feet to see a cockroach running away. Naturally, I yelped and jumped out of bed. By the time I reached for a shoe, the cockroach had gone between the bed and the wall, and since the landlord is a thinking landlord, he bolted the bed to the wall. I stayed sentinel by the bed with my shoe, calling the cockroach all kinds of names, but he chose not to come out.

I slept terribly for the next few nights, waiting for the cockroach, but I never saw him. On Saturday I had a girl day at my apartment, another manicure! Then Sunday, as I prepared to go to Taichung with the girls, the cockroach jumped at me after I had gotten out of the shower. By the time I had dropped my towel and found the fly swatter, it had gone behind the wardrobe.

The next Saturday, still no cockroach. We had a birthday party for one of the TAs at my apartment. We had Pizza Hut and dark chocolate brownie… yum! I spent Sunday relaxing and preparing for Observation Week at work.

Observation Week is a special kind of hell. Basically the boss observes one class per day, sometimes two. But you have to arrive early to work (unpaid) and give him your lesson plan. Then you have a special meeting about your lesson plan that cuts into your lesson planning for other classes, so you fall behind. Then you teach your classes with the boss either staring at you from the back row or through a one-way window they have in the classroom. Then you have another meeting afterwards. So that was my week. On top of that, I had a final to prepare for and a Parent’s Day to prepare for. Also we had to take a trip to Yuanlin, Changhua County seat, to apply for our ARC. Needless to say, I was a stressed out wreck.

Wednesday I was in the middle of downward dog split when I saw the cockroach on the wall. I dropped and rolled and sprayed the wall with poison—missed him. I went back to yoga and saw him run across my bed (seriously?) and sprayed my bed with poison (yes I washed the bedding), missed again. He emerged under my desk, apparently the effects of the poison had taken their toll and he was wiggling in pain. I smacked him and put him out of his misery. I then relieved some stress by doing a victory dance. And like all wars, you have to take a photo of your kill.

I was a drooling bag of bones by Saturday. Monday was a bit more cheerful as payday rolled around, but it was a sad pay day because of all the “loans” I had “taken” out from my boss—basically, the landlord collects his rent a day early and comes before I ever get to work, so the boss pays him the rent and takes it out of my paycheck. Also the ARC fees were three times higher than quoted. Something I learned in Korea, never trust any quotes, even if they are supposed to be an authority on it.

The joy I felt at not having a particular class anymore was struck dead when I found out that I teach them in their new class. They are cute, sometimes. With only four girls—three of them pretty clueless most of the time—and twelve boys, it makes for a pretty active class. For the first time in teaching history at Inter, I had my hair down. One boy, I call him The Screamer, started screeching and pointing, “Teacher! Teacher! Teacher! Hair! Hair! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOTIIIIIFUL!” I think he has a thing for long, strawberry hair.  However, the cuteness soon dissipated. I have one kid who no matter what I do, is always in La La Land. So when I call on him to participate in a game, he is always late at reacting, and the other team scores, and then he cries. But he has never learned that he has to pay attention. As my TA says, “This class is, ummm, special.” In their defense, they have had at least three teachers in the last five months, so that is a lot to get used to when you are seven years old.

A Day out with the Boss

In front of the Sanyi Sculpture Museum

The week after the typhoon I went to one of the TA’s house for hot pot. A few of us girls gathered at the house and we scootered around town trying to find all the ingredients. I then sat back and watched the girls prepare the hot pot, since I am the foreigner who doesn’t know anything about hot pots! Instead I got to know the niece. We played grocery store for nearly an hour. I was incredibly grateful for the dinner call because there are only so many times you can buy the same four items!

After stuffing ourselves on two flavors of hot pot, we headed upstairs and had our nails done. The host TA had studied nail art so we got a free manicure. Then we took the customary half hour photo shoot before heading home. It is very hard to get four women, a little girl, and a little dog into the range of a Galaxy phone camera!

The next morning I had to get up bright at early for a Taiwan culture day out with the boss. My co-worker bowed out and so it was just the New TA and me with the boss. The boss wanted to show me how to take the bus and train. So we took the bus instead of his car. He remembered as we got on the bus that I had spent my first week in Taiwan riding the bus back and forth between villages. But this was the first time to ride the bus all the way to Changhua. Then my boss showed me how to take the train by walking to the train station (conveniently located behind the bus station-how amazing is that!), making me wait in the middle of the train station while he purchased the tickets and then leading me to the platform and not telling me how to tell which platform was which.

The train ride was over an hour long and on an older Korean underground train—so seating was limited and we had to stand. Half way through the train ride, my boss got the horrible realization that we were on the wrong train. So we got off at the next stop and talked to the conductor to find out that no, we were on the correct train, so we got back on.

When we reached Sanyi, a town famous for sculptures and furniture made from cedar and camphor wood, it was still early in the morning. It was already hot, and I really had to go to the bathroom. Nothing was open yet as it wasn’t the major tourist season for the town. No shuttle bus and the regular bus came once every hour, and we had just missed it. The wood museum is two kilometers from the train station. My boss decided to walk. It was a miserable five blocks until I found the forestry building, which was thankfully open on a Sunday!

After visiting and confirming the direction of the museum and shops, we headed out with renewed energy. I unfortunately brought only a small bottle of water with me, which was soon gone, especially at the terribly slow pace of my co-workers. Eventually we made it to the street with all the wood shops.  Quite beautiful stuff, but nothing any average person has room or money for. Each shop smelled of cedar and camphor—to the point of being nauseating. My boss drug us into each shop and the TA and I walked around stiff as boards afraid we’d knock some ivory or jade figurine off a shelf or accidently knock a flower off a wooden sculpture.  It was quite stressful! The highlight was when the TA and I snuck away for five minutes and enjoyed a large Buddha overlooking a car park with the mountains behind him. MOUNTAINS!

Then we got smoothies to cool us down. My boss and the ticket booth ignored the “NO DRINKS” sign, and we went into the art museum, had our tickets taken, and then told to wait in the lobby until we finished our drinks. The boss was the first to finish, so the TA and I had a massive brain freeze for the first floor of the museum.

I am not a fan of art museums and this was an art museum. It was neat to see the more traditional art with wood cut as thin as paper. I liked the art from the native Taiwanese tribes. There were blasts from the past with Andong masks. This museum is obsessed with Japanese art, and I find Japanese art to be just weird—it is dominated with misplaced, abnormally large breasts and giant penises, oh and also terrifying looking, sexually charged children.

By the time we got out of the museum the tour buses arrived at all the restaurants. So we had to hike one kilometer back towards new town to find a noodle place, which was so full we had to sit in the back without a fan. We then hiked the rest of the way back to the train station, where we actually got to sit the entire way to Changhua! When I arrived back home I realized I was dehydrated and sick, so I spent the night trying to drink electrolytes and eat watermelon and bananas.

It's All About Hemei!

Daodong Academy in Hemei

The last two weekends I have spent in Hemei. The weekend of the sixth, attempts to visit the sea fell through. Instead, I graded mid-term exams while the next door neighbor practiced Fur Elise and the wedding march over and over and over again on the piano during a thunderstorm. On Sunday, I headed out in search of a stationary store to buy birthday cards. I went to the catch-all general dry-goods store—I think it’s called 101. This store carries just about anything.

I spend almost an hour each trip to 101 just trying to find what I need. I found the cartoon- themed cotton swaps on isle 14, but when I got to isle 5, there were the regular, cheaper ones in with the nail polish, and then some surgical ones in the first aide items on isle 3. Feminine pads everywhere around the store—like a mad game of hide the maxis (seriously, why have tampons not caught on here!?!).  Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity, I made it up to the counter with my 4 items that came to six USD. I left the store and turned right instead of the customary left.

I walked a bit down the road to an unassuming open gate. I peeked in to find a beautiful Chinese-style house. I cautiously stepped into the gate, not really sure if it was a public or private place. No one shooed me away, so I causally walked around the yard. My attempts at taking pictures were thwarted by two cute kids coming over to say hello and introduce me to their parents and the owner of the teashop next door who asked to please, please come by and have tea with him.

I eventually found the stationary store and managed to kill forty-five minutes buying cards. I went back to the academy on Monday to write the cards, enjoying the cool winds that were bringing a typhoon. The week went on without too much happening. The typhoon started on Friday night, but I went to the language exchange anyway. We played games and ate tons of junk food to send off the native teacher I am replacing.  We called it a night at 11, and I got a very windy ride back to my apartment.

By the time I woke up on Saturday morning, the typhoon was in full force. Heavy rains and heavy winds prevented everyone from leaving their houses. I sat twiddling my thumbs for most of the day. I did attempt to open the window at one point, only to get a face full of water, cartoon style. Some parts of Hemei flooded, not too badly, but enough to cause some issues. It lasted all day, but by nine PM, I was able to wander out and get food. On Sunday, I met up with the teacher who is leaving to eat hot pot with the TAs and collect some things for my apartment.

Lukang

In my attempts to befriend the neighborhood cat and the geckos, I seem to have attracted the attention of some overly friendly, creepy neighbors. How I came to be so lucky when it comes to being irresistible to blood suckers, creepers, and gravity, I’ll never know. And after all that, I still haven’t won over the four-legged creatures. I have however befriended the ladies at the sandwich shop across the street from the temple. We had a lovely conversation the other morning. They were very curious if I am married to the other teacher, and if I have kids. Then they seemed to suggest that I was a mother to seven children, but I am guessing it was their way of asking if I was a teacher. But it is hard to tell exactly what was being said, with my Chinese being so great and all.

I am learning Chinese slowly. I have learned the symbols for rice, noodles, beef, pork, chicken, and small. Please don’t ask me to pronounce them though. I have also learned how to say “delicious,” “thank you,” and “hello.” Also thankfully, “bye-bye” works pretty well here. I have joined a language exchange group and was gifted a set of flashcards, so I should be well on my way to learning Chinese. I’ve also learned my first word in Taiwanese. Apparently “decide,” is almost the exact pronunciation for the Taiwanese word for pig poop. Of course that would be the first word I’d learn. Have to love nine year olds.

Teaching is going well so far. The nine year olds find me satisfactory and are warming up to me quickly. I’m already adored by the six year olds and I adore them, especially when they get upset when I make them take a potty break after 40 minutes of class. The jury is still out with the high school students. There is quite a Mean Girls scenario going on in that class. So let’s hope I can get through to them. I have met one private student so far, and we are so much alike—down to the love of writing essays. And, a fact that all of us foreign teachers are in awe of, her sister has blue eyes.

I am also getting to know my co-workers fairly well. On Saturday, one of my co-workers took me to her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother lives out in the country in a little park called “Baggie Park.” The house the grandmother grew up in occupies the park, but is now just a squat crumbling, red-brick shack used for storage. The grandmother and some of her children live in a three story “modern” house, with an identical house next door for the grandfather’s family. Several aunts and uncles live in neighboring houses too. So, naturally, I met many of the aunts and uncles, cousins, and nieces. Surprisingly, quite a few of them speak a bit of English.

After ensuring I was stuffed with a traditional meal of fish, tofu, rice, eggplant, lotus, and other veggies, four of us girls piled in one car, and two boys and the six-year old niece got into another. We drove to the neighboring town of Lukang—one of the oldest towns in Taiwan. It used to be a center for Dutch trading. Much of the architecture has a European feel to it, while still being distinctly South-East Asian.

Matzu

Once in Lukang, we abandoned the car and headed to the most famous temple in Lukang—Matzu (of course worshiping the God, Matzu). We accompanied one of the girls around the temple as she burned incense (yumm incense) and money (don’t worry, it isn’t real) and prayed for a safe trip to America, as well as good grades in her intensive English course. It was great to have my co-worker as a tour guide to explain the various gods and rooms of the temples.

Hanging out at the mouth of "Touch Breast Lane"

After the temple, we wandered around the old city market area, eating some local ice cream, then to the more modern market to eat pineapple and grass jelly shaved ices. I drank my first bubble tea too. And then we headed to another temple and then to Lukang’s narrowest street (no longer used except by tourists), “Touch-Breast Lane.” It’s pretty dang narrow. Could have made for some pretty interesting photo ops, but sadly, it just didn’t happen. Then we crammed back into the cars, headed back to the grandmother’s house and had mango shaved ice. Exhausted and burned from the heat of the day, I headed home and relaxed.

This week could be deemed as the Koreans call “nothing special.” I have spent a lot of time remembering too late that I need to purchase some sort of slipper for the apartment. I am getting really tired of practicing my figure skating and gymnastics whenever I step out of the bathroom with wet feet.

  

Otherwise, I’ve had a few adventures in communication both here and at home. Also, as I mentioned above, I have joined a language exchange group—basically a very small group from the local church who want to learn English and in exchange teach the English teachers Chinese. I’ve decided to continue the tradition, even if I don’t learn any Chinese, they are a great group of people. For example, my ride home warned me that she was a “crazy driver” and that if I fell off the back of the scooter, not to worry because she’d come back and get me.

The Taiwan Apartment

View from my window during the rain.

We (the other new teacher and I) arrived at the new apartment building to discover that it still wasn’t finished. But we moved in any way, as our apartments were mostly finished. As I unpacked, they came and installed the TV, refrigerator, and washing machine. The banister still needs to be put in on the main stairs and floor needs to be laid in the building’s entry. We were promised internet and cable TV, but the cable wasn’t working and the internet goes off the cable. The landlord painted scooter parking places on the ground floor in the “lobby.” But we still don’t have mail boxes.

After getting a few things settled in the apartment, I met the TAs from my school. We drove the forty minutes to the third largest city in Taiwan, Taichung. There we hit beloved Daiso, Asia’s equivalent to a dollar five store. I stocked up on things for my apartment. We then ate some fried pork cutlet, very similar to Korean style, but instead of served with gravy, it was served with egg and caramelized onions with broth and rice.  Quite good!

The girls then took me to a store to help me purchase the essential female products and we drooled over shoes, purses, dresses, etc. When we left the mall at 6:30, it was already dark and the neon lights were dancing down the streets. It made me miss living in a city. I was sad to leave it and come back to quiet Hemei.

Luckily, the girls wanted to see my apartment and walked me to my building. The brilliant designer added a deadbolt to the building’s entrance, but it can only be unlocked from the inside. So we were locked out of the apartment for twenty minutes until we could finally get enough pebbles against the upstairs window to get someone’s attention. The landlord could not seem to fathom why the deadbolt couldn’t be unlocked from outside and why someone would bother locking the deadbolt.

Sunday was spent scrubbing the apartment. Apparently, it is very difficult to clean up after yourself in building projects. They didn’t really clean the access grout; in fact, there are grout hand prints on the walls. There was still glue and grout on the facets. I still have to wash the walls in the main part of the apartment, but at least the bathroom is clean.

My apartment is on the third floor and I chose the biggest apartment for a whole ten dollars more a month than the smaller one. It is very, very, very basic with white walls, white tile floors, a hard Taiwanese bed, air conditioner, a desk attached to the wall, a built in wardrobe, mini fridge, washer, sink and shower head. There is no hob, and I miss it already. But it has some nice features too, like the fact it came with curtains, an electric kettle, garbage cans, and a light switch above the bed, so I don’t have to get up to turn off the light if I am reading. Also the washer has a built in lint trap—how cool is that!?! Another perk is that it is right behind a temple and a grocery store. I’m a ten minute walk to a bank, twelve minutes from 7- Eleven, and fifteen minutes from work.

I unfortunately look right into my neighbors, but at least I cannot reach into their window, so that is at least a high point. I actually have screens on the windows too, that slide out of the way so I can hang my laundry out on the clothes line. The only issue is to grab the clothes before the rain starts, not after, and to shake and pat down for any cockroaches or locust. But you must be careful not to kill a gecko that may have climbed in your clothes to explore.  

I’m in seventh heaven trying to win over the neighborhood cat who likes to sleep on scooters and the baby geckos that climb around the walls outside of my window. I think the other new teacher thinks I’m a bit “special” as they say in Asia.   

More photos to come soon!

Taiwan, Week One

My trip started well. The sky was clear and Portland was having good weather, so I got a beautiful view of Mount Hood. Portland was shining beautifully as we landed, making me wish I was staying in Portland instead of heading to Taiwan.  I killed my four hour layover in Portland by being that girl with the giant backpack who parks herself in the middle of the bookstore and reads. It was Powell’s Books, can you blame me?

The rest of the journey was uneventful, thank goodness. I arrived in Taipei a little late. I stood in line at immigration for over an hour (the one time no one wants to make friends), and then, successfully found my bags. I wheeled them out and looked for my driver. I found my name, but no driver, after a few initial mishaps I found the correct driver. By this time it was nearly midnight and I was exhausted from lack of sleep. I opened the car door to be greeted by a giant cockroach on my seat. Instead of screaming or jumping like I normally do when confronted by a giant bug, I merely brushed him off the seat and climbed in the car—a sure sign I was going to pass out soon.

Nor did I seem to panic when the driver just kept driving and driving and nearly two hours later, showed up in this little village. I got out of the car and stood in the middle of this village trying to blink away sleep. Luckily my boss came and introduced himself; otherwise, I may have spent the night on a scooter. I had made it to his parents’ house finally!

My boss and his wife left me after a few minutes of explaining phone numbers and schedules. I nodded dumbly and after the door closed I collapsed onto the bed—sitting up instantly, cradling my arm and ribs. I had been wishing for a hard, firm bed, well I got one! I’ve discovered that beds in this country are extra- firm box springs with a bamboo mat/board on top (you are apparently supposed to sleep on the board without any sort of covering). I scanned the room until I found a duvet, which I folded as much as I dared to give me some sort of cushion. I laid down much more gently after that.

My back and ribs woke me seven in the morning. I had to lie in bed until I could actually feel my limbs, as my fingers and toes randomly go to sleep when I am on these beds. Then the morning ritual of stretching out the stiff muscles began (so no worries about not doing yoga). After getting dressed, I went downstairs where I met my boss’s parents and half of the village. One woman knew “beautiful.” Even so, they made it quite plain that I was supposed to eat pears and drink the tea and we all shared a few uncomfortable laughs.

I explored the small village (name unknown), but it is ten minutes from my town of Hemei. Mama Giant (as we call the boss’s mother) insisted that I carry an umbrella to protect my skin from the sun. I felt like Mary Poppins visits Asia as I wandered around the village a bit. I was greeted by many curious people, but who were all friendly and didn’t once point and gawk like I had three heads.

So far Taiwan reminds me of a very muggy and hot Vietnam/Korea mix. There are a lot of neon lights. Korean culture is very popular here so young men and women are dressed in South Korean fashion. There are 7-Elevens and Family Marts everywhere. But the buildings are the tall concrete colonial style.  Also street food is king, cheap and mostly delicious. However, it isn’t recommended for the squeamish, as internal organs are part of a complete breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Changua County is a mixture of agriculture and industry. A few years ago everyone worked either growing rice or making all those clothes we pay so dearly for. Now that China has moved the clothing industry to China, sewing machines are rusting in the corners of everyone’s home and factories sit rotting next to rice patties. However, there is still a working Velcro factory and a factory that dyes the fabric used to make Nike shoes.

Orientation started on Wednesday. Orientation consisted of class observation, going over learning materials and syllabi, and trial lessons. The school is three stories, with six classrooms. We have a central teachers’ room that six TAs, the principal, and four full time Native English teachers, and one part- time English teacher share. The kids are completely, normal kids, bouncing in and out of the teacher’s room joking with the teachers and TAs. The school is conveniently situated between two vegetarian food stalls, a coffee cart, a street baker, a bank, and 7 Eleven.

Saturday was moving day. I got up early and packed my things, walked around the village one last time, and then said goodbye to the boss’s parents, who fed me again. They are the typical parents, making sure their children are never hungry! They sent us off loaded with mangos, water, coffee packets, hangers, and even a pair of trousers for me. 

Quick Trip Home

I managed to keep the fact that I was coming home a secret until the day before I was to arrive home. It was great to surprise everyone.  However, jet lag really wiped me out this time. I was just about recovering when Mom got pneumonia and was out for over a week. My first couple of weeks home were spent sleeping, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, taking care of animals, and taking care of Mom.

After Mom had recovered, I headed up to Lewiston to visit Katy and Oliver and meet their new baby. It was fun spending the entire afternoon with them. It was especially entertaining playing hide and seek with their two year old son who is still learning not to shout, “Carmen, I’m hiding in the closet!”

After visiting them, I headed up to Moscow. It was a fairly calm week in Moscow. Everyone was very busy packing and working, so we were all too lazy to party and hang out at the bars. But this gave me time to do some shopping and get paperwork done.

I did a lot of driving around, testing out my new Nikon CoolPix P310 (a reward for surviving Russian winter). I took many of the back roads around Moscow and Pullman and realized, not for the first time, that the Palouse is my favorite place to be during the late spring and into summer. The sky is so blue in the morning with giant fluffy white clouds that cast shadows on the rolling hills covered in green knee-high wheat and alfalfa fields. In May, the green is usually broken by yellow canola fields. In late summer, the wheat and alfalfa turns a golden brown, and the winter wheat has grown into a green sea. There is always a wind blowing on the Palouse which makes waves in the fields. With the many rolling hills, the Palouse looks like an ocean on land. Of course, even the Nikon can only capture half of the Palouse’s beauty.

I took a trip to the University of Idaho Arboretum, sadly a little late in the season, but the trees were still beautiful. Also, unfortunately, I discovered that the battery indicator on my camera is a bit sneaky and doesn’t give enough warning that the battery is going. Luckily a friend had a back-up SLR to finish off the photo shoot.

One evening I headed on what would have been quite a romantic evening, if it had been on a date. A friend and I drove to Paradise Valley to the reservoir to watch the sunset. It is quite beautiful there this time of year, before the pond plants and scum overtake the place. The older goslings love to frequent the docks. No matter how cute they are, it is best to keep away from them, their mothers are still a bit protective and cranky. Just sit down at the end of one of the docks and enjoy the sun set over the mountain, but don’t go directly after the sunset, because you may find two bald eagles out to catch their dinner.

I came back from Moscow to find our old dog, Ebby, very sick. The poor Rotty mix was 15 years old, really old for a Rotty. Unfortunately, we had to put her down. She is missed.

Friday the household got up bright and early for a drive up to Joseph Plains. You access Joseph Plains by going down the Salmon River and drive up the side of the mountain. The switchbacks all the way to the top where the mountain flattens out and you are greeted with lush prairie. Most of it has been protected from agriculture because of the harsh winter, so it is one of the few places on the Camas Prairie where camas still grows. If you aren’t amazed by the prairie and grand vacation homes, perhaps you will be awed with the view across the Salmon River to the Seven Devils, or the view across Idaho to Eagle Cap Mountain in Oregon. 

 

Saturday morning, I got up early one more time to go to Missoula, Montana with Jess. The drive down the Clearwater River to the Lochsa River was quiet and peaceful dotted with several deer. The rivers were still quite high, turning the waters muddy instead of their usual clearness.  We avoided the music festival that crowded Lolo Hot Springs and headed straight to the mall in Missoula.

The mall was pretty much a major bust. Missoula was pretty much a bust. But Jess and I got our much needed girl time and a nice night swim in the hotel pool. On Sunday we gave up shopping early in the afternoon and headed back to Grangeville. Surprisingly, we saw a black bear right alongside of the road and even a coyote up on the prairie. Strange to see them in the heat of the day. What also might be deemed strange to some is the gathering of Mennonites we passed in Kamiah. Mennonites are a religious group who separate themselves, women dress in long dresses (much like pioneer dresses), and cover their heads—one might picture them as relaxed, modernized, Amish.

The last week passed quickly, with Mom hemming clothes for my trip and me hurriedly packing. We finished up my shopping in Boise, and I got on the plane to start my year-long journey through Taiwan.

The Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee

Monday we were up and out of the door for a bus to the Lower Sea of Galilee. We decided last minute to go to Tiberias, the guidebook said it was the ultimate tacky experience and included two abandoned mosques. Plus there were beaches. So, we decided to buck the whole religious aspect and go tourist trap.

We enjoyed the view of the city as we wound down the mountain to the lake. We happily got off the bus and found the best falafel in town just across the bus station (it was delicious), and then we wandered into the main part of town. There were a few people on the main street, eating lunch at the shops, but there wasn’t anyone on the promenade. Not a soul. Shops were closed, except for a few restaurants and a bored looking ice cream seller.  

We stopped and saw the Crusader’s Catholic Church with its Polish monument. It was quite a pretty little spot nestled between modern buildings. But it had not livened up at all during our time in the church—the promenade was still dead. It was very dirty too. Garbage and disheveled buildings lined the promenade and please, do not look into the water.

We saw a couple swimming around one of the old fortress walls, so we headed back into town to try to find how they got into the water. We found one pay beach, but no one was guarding the beach, so we went down. Peacocks wandered the yard, and a few tourists were there, out of the water. There was no beach, just a ledge to jump in. It didn't match the pictures and was very, very odd. We left and tried to find another way into the water. We passed the burned out hotel clinging to the hill, past the Scottish Church, and around the corner by a dumpster we found the free beach or rather, garbage dump. It had started raining, so we sadly wound our way back to the main part of town for a beer to drown our sorrows.

Cool architecture in Tiberias

We were quite disappointed, but then again, no trip to Israel would be complete without a trip to the Sea of Galilee. I recommend though, that people go to the north sea instead of the lower. Despite our disappointment, we managed to kill several hours there and still made it home rather late that night.

Tuesday was a beach day, we spent all day in the huge, amazing waves. By the time we got back to the house and showered, everything was closed because of the holiday. So we went to the Russian market and purchased some dinner staples and made dinner. By the time we had finished dinner the taxi Inbal had ordered was there and we had to go to the airport.

Unfortunately, security in Israel takes FOREVER. I actually managed to go through the bag scan quickly, but had to wait forever to get my bags rummaged through, and some of my souvenirs shipped because they were deemed “unsafe.” By the time this was finished, I could only quickly say goodbye to Matt. I wisely jumped into the security line early, it took two hours to get through the security.  I reached my gate just shortly before boarding to find out that the weight was weird on the plane so many stand-by passengers would have to sit in coach. Thankfully, I was THE last priority to get business class. THANK YOU!

The rest of the trip was uneventful. I made it to Boise earlier than scheduled and met my parents. Unfortunately, Mom got pneumonia the next day, so her birthday was not as great as we all had hoped. She is now feeling better, thankfully. 

Alive at the Dead Sea

We woke up bright and early Thursday morning to catch the Egged Bus to the Dead Sea. It was quite a long bus ride. First the bus went to Jerusalem and then followed the West Bank down to the sea. The sea has receded into two different seas now (the sea recedes about 50 meters per year). The upper sea is mainly military land, desert, and a few resorts. The guidebook recommended heading to the free beach, Ein Bokek, on the smaller sea.

Ein Bokek was a great free beach, better than I expected. There were open showers, some changing rooms, a pay bathroom, and a restaurant. You could also rent chairs and umbrellas if you so wish, but we have no problem laying down a rug and staying in the sun. However, I was beginning to wish for an umbrella when temperatures topped 44⁰C (111⁰ F). Instead we grabbed a beer at the restaurant in front of the ice fans to cool off and escaped the steady line of children running from the sea screaming in agony because they tried to put their face underwater. I don’t recommend bringing children to the Dead Sea.

We somehow managed to not get salt in our eyes or mouths, though the salt irritated a two day old shaving burn. It also healed up the scratch I received from a stray cat. The Dead Sea, once thought to be the Devil’s land, is quite healing. You will be petting your skin for days after visiting the sea.

Friday was a lazy day. We did not even leave the apartment until close to four. This time Inbal was able to come with us to the beach. We had a lovely hour in the sun and high waves before we had to pack it in because the cold evening breeze started. I was ready to pack it in, because the Mediterranean decided to make up for the lack of salt I received internally at the Dead Sea.

Inbal went to work and Matt and I walked along the promenade to Jaffa. Jaffa, just a few miles down the coast from Tel Aviv, is the supposed setting of Andromeda. It later became a major port for the Crusaders (Tel Aviv wasn’t settled yet), and Napoleon was there too.

We spent a long while taking night shots of Tel Aviv and Jaffa, enjoying the colonial architecture (including an old jail that is now home to thousands of bats), the maze of house walls, and Andromeda’s rock. We stopped and ate bagel sandwiches from the best baker in Israel, taking the bagels to go and ate them overlooking the sea and Tel Aviv. After eating, we found a bar and had Goldstar beer at a tiny table.

Jaffa

Saturday was spent at Inbal’s parents for Shabbat dinner. I learned how to play Sheshbesh and beat Matt at one game. After sundown, we hit a bar down the street from Matt’s for happy hour. Sunday we went back to Carmel Market for more souvenirs.

Hercules and the Templars

Monday was another “relaxing” day in Tel Aviv. We wandered back to Rabin Square and grabbed four flavors of falafel before heading to the Bauhaus and Carmel Market area to find a place to exchange Rubles. We then sifted through very cheaply-made and tacky souvenirs, before I finally found something worth purchasing. We closed the day eating peanut butter flavored crisps and watching the sun go down over the marina.

Tuesday we took the train north to Haifa. The main sites to see in Haifa are the German Colony and the Baha’i Gardens. If you are an ancient history buff, you may have heard of Haifa during Hellenistic times as a trade city and a dye-making city. Also, for you Bible buffs, this is the home to Mount Carmel and the Cave of Elijah. The Crusaders were here, as were the Ottomans, of course. Napoleon conquered it and even Egyptians had occupation of it for a while. Then the German Templars arrived in the 19^th Century and the Brits arrived again in the 20^th Century.

We started our tour of Haifa at the top of the mountain and the top of the Baha’I Gardens. We arrived half an hour before the free tour started, thinking we’d have plenty of time to poke around and take photos before the tour began. Wrong, we held our place in line for the half hour, glaring down line jumpers as only 50 tourists per day are allowed in the gardens.

Our tour guide was quick to be rid of us. She gave us a very brief history of the gardens and Baha’I faith. The rest of the speech was to get all her charges onto the main steps. Though, we all ignored her and wandered a little from the steps. I would have liked to see more than just the main steps of the gardens, but they were still quite beautiful with fountains, perfect palms, red flowers, and happy lizards darting to and fro.

After the garden, we dragged our hungry and thirsty bodies (I recommend taking water to the gardens), to the German Colony below the Baha’I Gardens. We found a cheap, nice sandwich shop run by a charming Arab man. I ordered a duck sandwich and Matt had a schnitzel sandwich and visited with the man. After eating, we poked around downtown a bit more before heading back to the train station.

At the train station we avoided the taxi drivers and hopped onto a train to Akko (or Acre as it is called in English—why???). According to legend, this is where Hercules came to heal his wounds. This was a major ancient port city that soon surpassed its neighbor, Haifa. It especially became important during the Crusades where Crusaders massacred any non-Christian residents.  During the British occupation in the 20^th Century, Akko’s prison housed many of the Jewish freedom leaders.

We first wandered the newer part of Akko to the waterfront. From the water front we checked out the large tidal pools where we found a dead sea turtle (the first sea turtle we have seen in the wild). After I got to see a tiny black crab scuttle across the rocks, I allowed us to go check out the walls of the prison.

From the prison we wandered into the old city of Akko—think of Jerusalem on a slightly smaller scale, though it is just as much as a labyrinth. We spent several hours looking around ancient buildings, scoping out more bazaars, and watching wedding photo shoots at the prison and the harbor. After we became too exhausted to stand, we sat on a bench and watched a ferry boat full of Arab school girls and their chaperones run around and dance.

We arrived back in Tel Aviv at the Azrieli very late at night. We stopped and took some night shots and visited with one of Matt’s old co-workers who was enjoying a night out. We then returned to the apartment to enjoy a beer and relax our tired feet.

We finally allowed ourselves a beach day on Tuesday. We got a bit confused on our way to the beach (Tel Aviv streets are so confusing!), but we made it to the sea eventually. We spent several hours body surfing and laying in the sun. It was a wonderful day—and I managed not to get too sunburned! We only left the beach because we were starving. We ate some vegetarian schnitzel at the house and when Inbal arrived home, we headed out for a sauce-less cheese pizza. 

Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

Security was so easy to get through at the Moscow airport. I had plenty of time to sit back and have some breakfast and leisurely walk onto the plane when it was boarding time. I got right behind first class, so I had plenty of leg room. I got to sit and watch as the Russians tried to decipher the English alphabet to find their seats. After the seating was sorted out, we were all given menus in English and Turkish. I was sitting next to two elderly Russian ladies. I did my best to translate the menu into Russian and then ordered the meals for the ladies. A few minutes later, the flight attendant asked me to help translate the menu for a few other people. Apparently, the English-speaking Russians wanted to avoid helping others.

Relations between Turkey and Israel are normally pretty rocky. As soon as I got off the plane I had to go through special passport control and questioning to be able to proceed onto security. Then tight security before being spit back out to the international terminal. I had four hours, which I spent between the many duty free shops. After I got tired of wandering back and forth between the shops and debating if I should shell out $15 for a small coffee (I didn’t), I was ping-ponged back and forth between gates. I would have been irritated if I didn’t have to watch the poor security guys set up, take down, move gates, set up, and take down over and over again. Yes, you guessed it, I had to go through one more passport control before boarding the plane.

I arrived in Tel Aviv shortly after midnight. Passport control took five seconds, bags unloaded quickly, and customs waved me through. Matt was waiting for me with a sign written in Hebrew. We stood outside talking for quite a bit before we realized that we should really get a cab into Tel Aviv. Matt impressed me with his newly acquired Hebrew skills as we rode to the apartment.

We all woke at a decent time considering our late night. Matt’s girlfriend, Inbal, went to her grandparents’ for Shabbat dinner. Matt made some of his amazing coffee and we headed out for a six-hour walking tour of beautiful Tel Aviv.  The tour included Rothschild Boulevard, Dizengoff Fountain, Rabin Square, the promenade, the early settlement area, an amazing lunch of pita, hummus, and olives, and meeting the infamous neighborhood shop keeper.

The next day we managed to get up fairly early in order to catch the bus to Jerusalem. Since I hate sitting on a bus in traffic, we walked to the Central Bus Station. It is in the “bad” part of town, which actually is kind of scary after dark. This end of town shelters the thousands of homeless and jobless African refugees. So, it looks rougher than it really is, but no one wants to test that theory.

Matt managed to stay awake on this bus trip and pointed out various landmarks along the way through the olive groves, vineyards, desert, and mountains. Honestly, Israel reminds me of Modesto to Sacramento in dry season.  Once in Jerusalem we stopped by Obama Shawarma and had a hearty meal before catching the bus to the old city.

Jerusalem is an arms race of Muslim and Orthodox Jews trying to have as many babies as possible. So, everywhere you look are double prams pushed by pregnant women with more children trailing after them. I got a quick lesson in the different sects of Judaism as we sat stuck in traffic.

Finally we arrived at the old city, quite a distance away from where we were supposed to meet the tour. We decided to rush our way to Jaffa Gate to meet the group, but we got lost in the winding maze that is Old City and arrived a few minutes after the tour had left (it is quite possible it was also canceled), so Matt became my tour guide. Of course we both forgot my fear of heights as we purchased the tickets to the ramparts and walked the entire wall. It wasn’t so bad, but it wasn’t so good up there in the heat of the day. I recommend doing it though!

A common street in Jerusalem.

We left the ramparts between Lion’s Gate and Damascus Gate (I became really friendly with Damascus Gate). We then jumped into the labyrinth that is the Old City. We visited the birthplace of the Virgin Mary, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jesus’s tomb), the Via Dolorosa (the path that Jesus walked with the cross), and the Western Wall, (the Dome of the Rock was closed). We wandered through bazaars nestled in the narrow streets. Some areas are not recommended if you are claustrophobic or easily sickened by animal legs and heads. But at least try basbousa from a shop in the Muslim quarter.

After we figured we had enough of the Old City (though, I think you could live there for years and not discover everything in its dark crevices), we visited Virgin Mary’s tomb just as it was closing. And unfortunately, the World and Russian churches on the Mount of Olives were closed by the time we reached them. So we turned to the left and took some stairs leading directly to the top of the Mount of Olives. As we first started to climb the steps, olive groves and forgotten fields were to our left, while garden walls were to our right. Just when I thought I couldn’t go any further, we came across a small mosque with a white goat happily munching on the weeds. I turned my head from the mosque to a village built upon the steps—white apartments hung to the steps with rugs, laundry, and flowers hanging over the balcony rails. Women in hijab poked their head over the rails to call to their children playing ball or rollerblading on the steps.

We emerged from the village to be greeted with extremely modern apartments and a camel relaxing at a roundabout near another mosque. We walked along the modern buildings to the Jewish cemetery to get the perfect view to the Old City as the sun went down. As it was completely dark by the time we had finished taking photos, we took a short cut between garden walls and the cemetery that wound its way in front of the Russian Monastery—we were expecting to see biblical-era grave robbers at any moment. But we didn’t, unless a giant centipede qualifies.

Damascus Gate

We popped back into the old city to wander to Damascus Gate where we ate cold falafel and took the metrolink back to the bus station, which is a lot faster than the bus! We then took the bus back to Tel Aviv where we crashed in exhaustion. 

Finishing Off April

Again, a month has passed without an update. This time, a lot has happened in a month! So I will post a series of blogs to catch you up on what’s been going on.  Here it begins with the last month of April:

My roommate accepted his dream job as an animator/entertainer in Cyprus, so he had to leave Moscow on the 27^th. We spent the last weekend wandering around the forest near our apartment. The forest was quite enjoyable as spring was starting to show, but many of the paths were still blocked by large piles of snow or sticky, sinky mud.

The week after my roommate left was quite relaxing. I didn’t have any lessons, so I met up with my adult student for lunch and to say goodbye(she was going to her summer home). The rest of the week I sat around doing nothing, not even packing.

May First was a holiday in Russia, celebrating Communism. Everything was shut down, so Kieran, Katy, and I wandered around a bit of Moscow. We enjoyed the sun and the heat as we walked past 18^th century to20th century architectures nestled together in various states of upkeep. After stopping and enjoying a beer at a Kozel brewery, we took the train a couple of hours north to a town called Sergiev Posad. It is a town built around a monastery. Unfortunately, half the monastery was under construction, but it was still a beautiful place to visit.

The day was so sunny and beautiful I didn’t spend much time wandering around the dark caverns of the churches. In fact, shortly after we reached the Lavre, all the masses started. The chants and bells rang through the entire monastery, so I sat on a bench in the sun next to newly bloomed snowdrops and enjoyed spring to the fullest.

On the way back from Sergiev Posad, I enjoyed watching birch forests fly past and quaint little towns with quaint little names like “43 Kilometer” (which is 43 kilometers from Moscow).  All of the towns were burning their garbage, giving a ghostly mist to the towns glowing in the twilight.

Katy, Kieran, and Jack gave me a great send off the night before I left for Israel. At first it had me questioning why I was leaving Moscow so soon but by the end of the night when the drama escalated, I remembered why I was so anxious to leave. There were no regrets when I boarded the plane, except maybe, being able to see the birch forests with leaves.  

Spring is here!

Now to recall all that has happened since April 7^th… umm… I managed to slide down an entire flight of marble stairs. My bottom is still bruised… probably drinking entirely too much lately… I’ve lost so much weight, my clothes no longer fit (yey!)… if I keep drinking, I’ll gain it back…had the first taste of peanut butter since leaving America, it was a strange experience. I had forgotten how to eat it…umm… I know!

Last weekend was the first really nice weekend we’ve had. Most of the snow seemed to melt overnight. Oliver and I headed to a park near Kievskaya and sat on a bench in the sun. We stayed all day, people watching and petting dogs.

The next day I literally rolled out of bed and half crawled, half stumbled to Metro Ploshchad Revolyusii and met my co-worker, Sasha. We both looked a state as we croaked and tried to stay steady as the escalator slowly crawled to the surface. We stopped to take pictures in front of the bright pink church and stumbled towards a noodle bar for a hangover cure. Unfortunately, it was closed. So we went down the street to Subway and ordered breakfast sandwiches and the hair of the dog. Then we shuffled to the dining room filled with people who looked worse than we did. At least Sasha and I had managed to shower and put on fresh clothes, these people were still in their tattered clubbing clothes.

Not too bad for such a hangover!

Sandwiches are not my hangover food, so Sasha ate my food while I nursed the beer. We then stumbled out of the shop and started towards Red Square, but we were too busy dwelling on our upset tummies and aching heads and took a wrong turn (in fact, we shouldn't have taken a turn at all). So we arrived at the Kremlin a bit later than expected.

By that time we were feeling a bit more human and Sasha managed to get our tickets for 80% off. Thank goodness for sneaky Russian speakers. However, he failed a bit when the ticket man asked where our child was and he said “oh he’s with grandma, you know how ten year olds throw temper tantrums.” But he let us pass any way.  I spent the walk up to the Kremlin musing how old I must look and what a spoiled child I have.

We hopped around taking pictures of all the cannons and got shooed away by some nice men with guns. For some reason we weren't allowed to see everything the map told us we could see and we were restricted to the churches only. Thank goodness we didn't pay the $25 to get in, it was defiantly only worth the $5 we spent.

My favorite church inside the Kremlin (and the first one we went into)

The churches were very nice, very beautiful, but you lose your excitement after the fourth church. They are all Byzantine style, with beautiful murals everywhere. Most of the churches were built in the 14^th and 15^th centuries and many of the paintings and relics from Ivan the Terrible had survived.

Finally our stomachs roused us to find food and we attempted the noodle place again. It was open! It is a little dive literally situated on a staircase. You order your food at the bottom of the stairs and walk up to find a table on one of the landings or a beanbag chair on a stair. We had the place to ourselves to enjoy our delicious soba noodles and more beer (the first one didn’t really cure us well). Unfortunately, soba isn’t my hangover food either. So, we rushed out into the “fresh” air and walked around the center.

We spotted the Soviet Diner, and I was quite curious what a Soviet diner looked like, so we popped in. It is remarkably like an American diner; only the long tables that filled the place only had one chair each.  It wasn’t Soviet sparseness, but the fact that they had just opened and hadn’t received all of the chairs yet.  Classic Russian movie stars and newspapers lined the walls. The menu was entirely Russian, with some burger options. I ordered an apple pie and a cream soda. The pie was really a strange pastry that reminded me of sweet pizza dough, filled with a couple of apple chunks.  Sasha ordered Navy Macaroni (think goulash with spaghetti noodles). It was ok. Russian food really has no flavor.

After the diner, I finally felt normal. So we walked along the Moskva River. About an hour after eating at the Soviet Diner, we stopped for food again, this time ordering some sushi. It was the best sushi I’ve had in Moscow. Thank goodness it was, because when the bill came, we nearly had a heart attack. Those helpful waiters decided to double our order since we were sharing (I was thinking it looked big), so we didn’t save any money by sharing food. Never trust a place in Moscow with an English menu!

We wallowed in our loss of money and finished our journey at Gorkey Park. It looks much better when it isn’t flooding, and I hear it looks even more beautiful when the grass actually grows out of the mud.

The week went by with nothing too exciting happening. The normal crap. Friday finally rolled around and we were meant to have a going away party for Sasha. However, his cousin rolled into town and started him on a traditional Russian binge and Sasha couldn’t even say his own name, let alone make it to Mintino for the party. Everyone managed to get over their hangovers enough to meet at Kolomenskoye Park on Saturday. We sat next to the river until food roused us (seems like food is the only thing that gets us moving on sunny days). Then we found a shashlik place and devoured quite a bit of meat and beer. I think Sasha had a great send-off (he probably didn’t think so on the way to the airport this morning).

 

Church at Kolmenskoye Park