OUR FIRST WEEK IN YUNLIN COUNTY

We were picked up at our hotel in Taipei on Monday morning (August 10th) by the Academic Affairs Director (kind of like the assistant principal) of my (Annalicia's) school, her two daughers and two teachers from Phil's school. The daughters came along because they know English. Everyone was so welcoming, generous and kind. When we got to Douliu City (where we're living and where my school's located) we got to meet both of our principals. Both of them speak limited English, but we were able to have a nice conversation with them over Chinese tea. They both seem great!


From the minute we arrived in Douliu until this evening, our schedule has been very busy. We've spent a lot of our time at school. We've also spent a ton of time figuring out our life here...getting our apartment setup, getting cell phones, filling out important government paperwork, etc... My director's daughters (who speak English) were with us all week helping us with all of this. Throughout the week, we've noticed how truly thoughtful and helpful the Taiwanese people are. They are always one step ahead of us...offering us gifts, their umbrellas when it's raining, food, drinks, bags, transportation, and the list goes on and on! For example, on Tuesday night my director and her daughter were over at our apartment trying to help us setup our internet. Initially it wasn't working. So, we tried to express to them that it wasn't a big deal, but they wouldn't leave until it was fixed. Without us knowing, they called others to come over and help. At one point we had EIGHT other people in our apartment trying to get our internet working at 11:00 o'clock at night!

The Taiwanese people also like to make sure their guests are fed well and feel welcomed. Right away on Monday night we were taken out for dinner. We thought we were going with a small group, but there ended up being 20+ people there. Tuesday night my principal took us out and again a large number of people joined us. One quick note: Anyone who knows Phil's eating habits would have been extremely proud of him during this dinner with my principal. We went to a very nice Japanese restaurant and got served nine courses of things like raw fish, sushi, whole cooked fish (brains and eyeball included), etc... It was struggle even for me to get it all down...Phil tried everything and forced himself to eat quite a bit of it all! Of course we both binged on M&Ms and Coke when we got back to our apartment! :)

Coming from Taipei, being in Douliu has been a bit of a shock for us. The city is not small...its population is around 100,000 and it's the capital of Yunlin County, but it's definitely different from Taipei. One challenging aspect of the move has been the fact that compared to Taipei, not very many people speak English. We are definitely more motivated to learn Chinese now, though. Another big difference is that there are hardly any other "foreigners" here. In fact, after being here for a week, we haven't seen one!

It's an unfamiliar experience for us to be part of a minority group. With that said, though, we're definitly not experiencing the same things minority groups in the States experience. In fact, it's pretty much the opposite...being an American in Douliu generally means you are noticed and you are treated very well. At times this is really flattering and at times it's down right awkward. For example, we were at a bike shop the other day and suddenly the owner of the second hand bookstore next door got out his huge camera and started snapping one photo after another of us...we didn't quite know how to respond. :) We've also had some of the people at school tell us things like, "My daughter hasn't met you, but she thinks she saw you at the post office yesterday." Or, "My husband thinks he saw you biking last night." Again, we don't quite know how to respond, so it usually sounds something like this: "Oh...cool." :) We had another interesting thing happen to us...a young boy saw us sitting in the office at school and he stopped, put his head on his hands in the window and stared at us for literally five minutes! We tried to talk to him, but he justed stared! :)

Although the awkard moments frequently occur, there are definitely benefits to being two of the very few Americans living here. A good example would be what happened to us last night...we tried to go to a cafe on our own for supper, but got there and found out their menu was all in Chinese. (Almost all resturants in Taipei offered menus in both Chinese and English, so this is another thing we're trying to adjust to here in Douliu. We wrote out a cheat sheet today, though, of the Chinese characters for some main foods so at least we have an idea of what we're ordering in the future.) Instead of being upset with us for not knowing their language, they offered us free desserts! It was a very humbling experience. The best part of being an English speaking foreigner here, though, is the way kids react to seeing us. They smile, stare, wave, want to take pictures with us, want our autographs and try to show off their English speaking abilities. It's really sweet! :)

This week has been filled with countless new experiences! And, although everything that's going on isn't always 100% clear to us because of the language barrier and cultural differences, we're really excited about what's in store for us this year living in Yunlin County! We haven't gotten a chance to take any pictures of our schools or our apartment yet, but we'll leave you with a few other pictures from the week. We hope all is well back in the States! :)




(We thought we were going to be getting a scooter (we don't think we will be anymore)...so, one of my director's daughters, Rita (that's her English name), was helping us learn how to us them.)



(I had a little bit of trouble at first...that's why she's running after me! :) )

(There was a English drama camp at my school this week.
This is a picture of a few of the performers!)

(Most stores here are more than one level. So, this is a picture of Phil riding up a ramp to get to the next floor of a store we were at. The interesting part about these ramps is the cart wheels lock in. We felt kind of like we were on display while riding these...we had two adults waving at us through a window as we moved along. :) )