More on Taiwan

As I'm about to embark on my next adventure in a new land, here are some closing quickies from my year in Taiwan. There is no rhyme or reason to these points, just random leftover observations, links and memories...

- The students I taught in the language school, get to you. There's just no getting around it. You can't help but be affected by them with a smile or their mischievousness. They are cute, hilarious, a pain and lovable all at the same time. They were the highlight of the entire year - day in, day out.
- The smog in Taipei is pretty bad especially in the hot and sweltering temperatures of the summer months. Like many other aspects of living abroad, one does get strangely accustomed to it.
- My new favourite name for Taipei is Scooterville. They are everywhere and like cockroaches, go everywhere. They are both a nuisance and a truly unique and fascinating aspect of this amazing city. See link
http://www.skeller.ch/albums/Taiwan/traffic_taipei04.sized.jpg. The sight of a family of five on one scooter traversing through Taipei traffic is a sight to behold.
- About a quarter of the scooter drivers and pedestrians wear masks (like surgical masks). At first, I thought this was a practice held over form the SARS crisis. But I later realized, for the scooter drivers, is that they have no windshield so these masks come in handy as they drive through the grit, bugs and smog of the city. Now, why do pedestrians wear them - I have no clue.
- The only other city where I saw as many taxis as Taipei, is in New York City. It seems like every third car is a cab. For a non-scooter owner, it was great - especially 2 in the morning trying to get back to my apartment from the pub.
- Speaking of pubs, the best of the bunch is the Tavern. It is located near Taipei101. When you go there, look for a gentleman who is yelling at the TV set during F1 races and British football games. That would be Michel, who is the owner and is one of the truly nicest people around. Tell him Martin from Canada sent you. The buffet is great!! Link: http://www.tavern.com.tw/
- The hotel slippers in Taiwan fit only half my foot. As a male, I am quite proud of this and am telling everyone.
- On of my first days in Taipei, I got lost. A Taiwanese man who spoke English took the trouble to walk me to the MRT and even gave me his business card (which is common practice in Taiwan). He went out of his way to make sure I got back to the subway. I was quite struck by this act of kindness and experienced much the same throughout the year by many Taiwanese. I found that most of the people were truly kind, honest and helpful. I was quite touched by the genuine spirit of the city.
- The alleyways were a constant source of interest to me. Here in Canada, the alleys is a place where you find a few cars, garbage and boxes. In Taiwan - there's a whole world living inbetween the buildings. What is amazing is what they do with space in those alleys. See link http://www.dennisflood.com/photos
/gallery/jiufen/large/jiufen_16830020.jpg
- One very annoying habit of the Taiwanese drivers' are the spitting of this red Betel Nut. It's like chewing tobacco. The city's sidewalks are full of these red stains. Yuk. A couple of times, while on a bus, you will see the driver stop at a red light (yes, they occasionally do stop for them) and lean out of his window and hork a big Betel Nut spit, then take another mouthful for the next red light. I found this very funny.
- The stray dogs are the truly homeless in Taiwan. There are so many of them!! About a quarter of them have bad limps from getting run over from the unyielding traffic. Strangely, I did not see many cats.
- The Taiwanese have a very nice tradition of burning 'ghost money'. Ghost money is money made of yellow tissue paper, that is burned to send it to one's ancestors to spend in the afterlife. They are usually burned in special metal bins by the side of the street or in these beautiful chimneys. There's a picture of one here:
http://www.seadolby.com/otherstuff
/photographs/Taiwan/Taiwan_life.html
- cockroaches - Easily the worst part of the year in Taiwan for me. Every month there would be another huge one in the bathroom. I dreaded coming back to my apartment at night after class and switching on the lights. 'nuf said.
- Garbage trucks. So how do the Taiwanese pick up their garbage you might ask? Well, I'll tell you. You're in your highrise apartment and you start to hear the faint sound of an ice cream truck. Is it time for ice cream?? Well, it's ALWAYS time for ice cream but on this particular moment, no. It's time to get your garbage bags and hustle downstairs to greet the garbage truck. If you're too slow, you are chasing the truck for a few blocks while everyone is laughing at the funny foreigner.. Yep - done that many, many times and provided hours of sheer entertainment to many of my neighbors.
- ICRT radio is the only English radio station on the Island. They advertise themselves as the expat station but you soon realize that it's not for expats at all. It's for the teenagers and twenty-something who want to be hip and learn English. They speak English v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. If you want to listen - see link and go to the listen live section : http://www.icrt.com.tw/
- Relationship with China. I think most know about the ever present tension between China and Taiwan. Taiwan is moving slowly towards independence and China has a One China policy. They have threatened to attack Taiwan the moment after they declare independence. It's funny, you would think that there would be so much tension on the streets of Taipei but for the life of me - I sensed very little. The Taiwanese are certainly aware of the situation but the attitude among the people who I spoke to, is that they can't do much about the situation and what will come - will come. The only unusual thing I experienced all year was a city wide air raid drill with the WWII like air raid siren going off. I realized it was a drill because there were police already stationed at all the intersections. No one was allowed to move for 45 minutes and then every resumed as if nothing happened. Here's a link that sums up the situation between China and Taiwan:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/china/china-taiwan.html
- Earthquakes and Typhoons. I felt 2 earthquakes and lived through 5 typhoons of varying degrees of danger. One in particular was scary and lasted about 36 hours. I thought my apartment windows were going to crash in at any second with the unbelievably strong winds. The next day - there was flooding everywhere. Once the waters receded, the neighbourhoods looked like war zones. What impressed me emensely was the Taiwanese rolling up their sleeves and began clean up, helping each other night and day. They're truly resillient group of people. Link of an example of the flooding:
http://www.planetark.com/envpics/sfloodtaiwmons.jpg.
Also here's a great weather map of Taiwan especially when a typhoon is heading their way
http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V4e/index.htm (click on 'Satellite')
- Stares. Got stared at alot. On buses, streets, cyber cafes, restaurants - name the place and I got stared at. You go through a stage where it really bothers you and then you do get used to it. In the last couple of months, I never even noticed it any longer. Actually, it was funny when I arrived in Vancouver, on my way back home to Toronto, and I found myself bothered when I DIDN'T get stared at. Funny how one adapts when away for a year.
- One of the nice scenes that I saw was the friendliness of the people on the street. I've seen pictures of New York City in the 20s and 30s, before TV, people would spend their summer evenings outside on the steps and sidewalks just talking to neighbours and passersby. Life was outside on the street and very social with everyone smiling. Well - in Taipei, it is like this every night. From the friendly night markets to the store front businesses to just sitting outside and yapping - it is a beautiful scene played over and over again as I made my way through the nieghbourhoods by foot and bus. In comparison in North Amercan today, with TV, internet, and air conditioning etc.. life is inside and isolated. I would send an email to Germany but never talk to my next door neighbour. Very sad.

I truly enjoyed my year in Taiwan and feel like I'm a better person for it. It wasn't perfect nor was it supposed to be, but that's ok - neither am I.

As I close off this part of my life, there are several things I will miss in Taiwan.

I think I will miss the students first and foremost. The little buggers get to you - right square in the heart. Their sense of humour, wonderment and willingness to trust me, was a gift that I will carry with me for all my life. What struck me the most, was their acceptance of me as a teacher and trusting figure. This was a great validation for me which I don't think I've ever experienced at that level before in my life. I worry about them though, and their futures in light of the tensions with China but I suppose things will play out as they are meant to. Always have, always will.

The second group I will miss are the co-teachers and staff at my school. Little did they know how scared I was, having NEVER done anything even remotely close to this before. Truth be known, I am really a scared little child trapped in a large, beer-swelling body. The teachers treated me with kindness and respect and made my stay so much easier in hindsight. I only hope I was able to return the respect and kindness to them, too.

Finally, the spirit and resiliance of the Taiwanese people, and the mesmorizing energy of Taipei will never be forgotten by me. I saw more smiles in 2004 than in any other year living in Canada!! And this is with the earthquakes, typhoons and China!! I guess the best way to describe Formusians ('formusa' is another name given to Taiwan, it means beautiful island) as easygoing, warm and innocent. I'll remember Taipei as a mysterious city with a charm and character that affected me in ways I couldn't comprehend simply because there is no other city that I could related it to. There are just so many contrasts to threw me off - of darkness and colours; helpful people yet uncomfortable stares; proud old traditions yet new innovative technologies; friendly neighbours and homeless dogs; tension with China and yet easy-going street scenes. It is a busy and 'serious' city to be sure and yet look closer at the folks sitting outside in the evening just chatting at their own pleasent pace and speed - like they're in the country.

What is the future of Taiwan? I have no idea. But I do know that the island did provide me with a truly unique experience in which I am grateful for... And I think the spirit of Taiwan will stay with me for years to come...
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Useful links:

China Post (Taiwan newspaper): http://www.chinapost.com.tw/
Central News Agency: http://www.cna.com.tw/eng/

Great Expat BBS: http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/index.php