Life Starts Now...: First Day in Taiwan!

Phew! What a long, yet fun and eventful day it has been for my very first day here in Taiwan!

My flight didn't arrive in Taipei until late last night, given a 2-hour delay. Thankfully, everything went smoothly with little trouble. I was picked up by a school representative holding a sign with my name on it. He was a most helpful man who drove me back to the NAER (National Academy for Educational Research) in New Taipei City, where I was greeted by more school representatives and my counselor. They took me to my dorm room, which is actually very nice and has all the accommodations I could have asked for (hot water shower, air conditioning, TV, hair dryer, internet, towel, and all kinds of toiletries). By the time I got settled in, it was past midnight, which left little time for anything else other than call home, shower and head to bed to get ready for the eventful day ahead.

Our first day of orientation kicked off with breakfast at 7:20am, where I got to meet all the other FET's (Foreign English Teachers) in the program; there are 19 of us in all in the program, from various states in the U.S. Each of us is designated to a different school in different counties in Taiwan. It was very nice meeting everyone and finding out their different backgrounds. Breakfast was nice, buffet-style with toasts, buns, eggs, ham, vegetables, soup, almond tea, and soy bean milk.

Since I came in late the night before, there wasn't much I could see around the town and campus, but as I stepped out of the room this morning, the sight almost took my breath away. The campus was on a beautiful ground, with a great architectural style, surrounded by quiet courtyards, lush green grass and vegetation, and lined with green mountains in the background. Coming from Houston where the land is completely flat, I just couldn't take my eyes off the mountains. Everything is so serene and beautiful here!

We had the morning off since the Opening Ceremony for Orientation didn't start until after lunch, at 1:40pm, so I after breakfast, I decided to grab my camera and treat myself to a mini photo-shoot around campus. We met up as a group with our counselors a bit later and hit the streets to go to the bank to exchange currency, as well as visited the local Watson's store (mini-Walmart) to buy whatever we needed. The streets here are bustling with store fronts, people, cars, and scooters. It really hit me then that I am actually here in Taiwan, in a completely different land. Though this is a foreign place for me, yet in a way, it holds so much familiarity since the bustling sight, the noise, the smell, the air, all reminded me so much of Vietnam, where I was born (except Vietnam has much more traffic). So I guess I will feel pretty much at home soon enough.

After lunch, which was served family-styled with 6 dishes and soup, we all gathered in a large classroom for our introduction to the orientation, opening ceremony, group pictures, followed by lessons on what to expect during our stay here in Taiwan, as well as a brief class on survival Chinese. Dinner tonight was hosted in the form of a Welcoming Party. We were graciously provided with pizzas, fried chicken, fries, chips, and fresh fruits. The official "party" started after dinner, where we played a series of icebreakers, learned to sing and dance clumsily to a popular Taiwanese song, and at last, the karaoke machine was pulled out and we spent the next few hours karaoke-ing.

I am really enjoying it here so far. The program seems very nicely organized, and the counselors are enthusiastic and helpful. I'm starting to feel much more at ease with how everything will work out.

Through my stay so far, I have picked up on several fascinating observations about Taiwan:
1. Taiwanese are obsessed with karaoke. We even have our own karaoke room on the 5th floor of our dorm!
2. Taiwanese are extremely environmental-friendly. We all have our little mugs to carry with us to all our meals so that we can reuse them instead of wasting paper cups. We also have to sort out all our trash into paper and plastic to recycle. Talk about building good habits!
3. The little truck coming through with music blaring does not sell ice cream, but is actually a garbage truck. Everyone has to take out their own trash here to throw in the truck as it comes by with the music.
4. Hello Kitty is EVERYWHERE! The country is pretty much infested with adorably cute cartoon characters.

It's getting late, and I really should head to bed for the even longer day tomorrow. Our orientation here lasts until this Friday, August 17th, from 7:20am-4:30pm each day. On the schedule tomorrow is lessons on English Language Teaching in Taiwan, more survival Chinese, Culture Shock, and Indigo Dyeing. That should be interesting...

Here are some photos from today: