Meet Our Pets! Dukie & Black Dog

We picked up some wheels. Some older wheels, but they roll none the less. For Jacqui’s 15 minute drive across town a 19?? SYM Duke 125cc. Creatively named “Dukie” by the rider herself, this monster is held together by duct tape. We purchased the scooter from a foreign teacher who was leaving Taiwan in a hurry. We met him at a local department store to check out his sweet ride. A failed attempt at using the kick stand, left the seller in a real pickle as his scooter crashed to its side in the middle of a busy street….. “So, do you want it?” he said…, as the scooter lay dead on the road. He wanted 2000NT dollars… we gave him 1000 and we went on our merry way. For 30 bucks Canadian, we walked away with a scooter that rolled…. but real loud (no muffler). Since then we have put on a new muffler for another 30 bucks Canadian and she has run great for over 2 months.

Next on the list of purchases: a cruiser. We had always planned on driving around the island on motorcycle adventures, and so we headed out to find something that would work for us.

A couple weeks looking in the English teacher ads, and we found a nice cruiser that hadn’t been run in over a year. In Taiwan, repairs are dirt cheap, so we were looking for something that had some serious flaws…. We took a gamble on this bike… we’ll let you know how it turns out in the long run.

The bike’s owner had moved to Hong Kong, so it was his friend who was selling the bike. The bike was in terrible shape. It obviously needed an oil change, some basic fixes... and god knows what else. We talked him down to about 200 bucks Canadian and took the gamble.

Next, we found a great local guy who fixes up bikes and speaks enough English to communicate. He completely overhauled the bike (shocks, fuel line, chain, engine treatment etc…). Eric did a really great job on the bike and she has run great for well over a month. We hope to get a year or two out of the old girl. Oh ya, she’s old alright…. 1993 125cc SYM Husky “The English Teacher Special”. It only has a 125cc engine, which is very small compared to a north American bike….. trust me though…. with the traffic here, you don’t want to be going any faster than 70. She cruises very gently at about 65 on open roads. We’ll see what happens.

Taichung City :: XPAT oasis

We packed up our gear in Hualien.... two huge black suitcases, two huge double backpacks and a 12 string guitar. We were loaded down pretty heavy to say the least. I suppose if you consider the fact that we were moving... not just travelling.... the load was pretty light. Have you ever seen an Asian train in a movie? you know... packed to the brim with lads and lasses... well its true, there are lots of people here. Getting those bags on, and off the train, was definitely an experience we won't soon forget.

We ended up crashing in a Lonely Planet recommended hotel which featured a great view of the train station. Little did we know, we would end up living in the Fu Chun hotel for a month or more... on and off. (let me explain the on and off bit)

The School was called Little United Nations Academy. We found the job ad on the very popular tealit.com (teaching english and living in taiwan). The positions seemed great. They were looking for two teachers, the pay was very high, no experience needed and was located just outside the city centre, where rent would be much cheaper. Perfect! we got a call back within a couple days and went in for an interview. The school was gorgeous, the students were fantastic (we had learned a few things about demo lessons at this point... the dos and don'ts) and we got the jobs! We were quickly moved out of Fu Chun and into a practically rent free apartment near the school. We were so happy that we went out and bought some pillows and a duvet for our bed. Semi-settled at last!

Looking back on it... we realize now that there were lots of signs that things we're just not right with the school. The staff being obviously unhappy was one sign... but there was many... we don't really want to go into too many details.... it was ugly. real ugly. we got fired after one day and had to move our increasing mound of crap back to Fu Chun hotel.
(The main reason that we got fired, if you must know, was that we were making a big stink about the contract they wanted us to sign. The contract allowed them to have complete control over our stay in Taiwan and afforded potential teachers zero rights in the event of a dispute. There are lots of contracts like this in Taiwan... sign them at your own risk. Technically though we didn't get fired as we never got around to signing a contract.)

This was the lowest we had been in a long time. Taiwan was kicking the crap out our spirits. We took a day to clear our heads.

We were left with no choice, we worked together, got super serious, and were dedicated to getting the best of this Taiwan we thought we were so prepared for. Out of nowhere, a Joy English School contacted us for interviews. We went in there with our best suits on, and wowed them. They were only looking to fill one position, although they wanted to hire both of us. We had realized by that point that finding a job for a boy in Taichung city would be much more difficult... so Jacqui allowed her much less desirable male friend to sign the contract and begin work the next week.

There are two types of schools in Taiwan. Buxibans or cram schools, which operate after regular school hours... 3:00pm - 9:00pm, and privately run elite English kindergartens... 9:00am - 5:30 pm. Joy is a Buxiban. Jacqui on the other hand started a small bidding war for her teaching services, between several competing private kindergartens. Because we had come to Taiwan without any contracts or paperwork, we were essentially free agents in what seemed like a dead market.... but things were really starting to pick up. Jacqui had a whole series of interviews and demos... schools we're telling her to call them back before she signed with a different school. Finally, we had the upper hand. Jacqui ended up signing a great contract with one of the most elite kindergartens in town. Season Arts offers very competitive pay and a top notch facility. The private kindergartens also allows teachers to participate in (paid) field trips, activities, cooking lessons, songs and dances.... they are real schools. The Buxibans on the other hand have a very strict curriculum with a lot less room for creating relationships with students.... but you get to work at night for only 6 hours..... which would you pick?

Moral of the story = we both found jobs in Taichung city (where the action is) not in some little tiny village in the middle of nowhere. The only thing left to do was the mound of paperwork. We won't go into details but.... it's quite a bit of hassle. Jacqui ended up getting her Resident Visa/A.R.C ( like a social insurance number) one day before she would have to fly to Hong Kong. phewwww! EAT OUR SHORTS TAIWAN! WE GOTCHA!

Holy Haven! Has Heaven Heard of Hualien!

ok. here's the thing. east coast of Taiwan = beautiful ocean, small towns, no jobs. The no jobs thing became apparent only after some time. In the meanwhile however, we rented a scooter and zapped all over the place. "Hey Brad and Jacqui! is it legal to rent a 125cc scooter?" hahaha "there are no rules here" we reply. In Hualien there is a really great little hostel owned by a Taiwanese world traveler named Ya Chen. We stayed with her in her absolutely gorgeous hostel for almost three weeks.

Taroko gorge is one of the most beautiful spots in all of Taiwan and is located just north of Hualien city. Coincidence time! family member in town! My (Brad) uncle Charles just happened to be hanging out in Taroko with a bunch of his university hommies. So we zapped through that gorge like there was no tomorrow... ziggin... zaggin... 100 foot drops.... sharing single lanes with buses through underground tunnels. Oh ya. Taroko is a blast. Seriously though, Taroko gorge is one of the most beautiful areas you will ever see in the entire world.

Oh Ya! we also had to get a health check done in Taiwan for our potential jobs. So we went to a wicked, amazing, friendly Buddhist hospital. No one could speak English except... little girls! They translated a little note we wrote and we showed that note to the doctors. Success!

We met up with Charles and had some free lunch. You see, him and his pals we're being shown around by the Taiwan government... it was great. Then we flashed back down to Hualien to meet up with Charles and his band of merry men/women. We had a great tour of a wonderful Buddhist temple, where we had a first hand view of the Buddhist operation in Taiwan. Charles then had to quickly leave to catch a flight back home. It was great for both of us to have some help from family. We hope to visit Charles in China later this year. Back to the story!

Holy smokes!!! we only have a 60 day visitor visa... no jobs... no prospects.... everyone is telling us we are under qualified... "do you even know how to teach Taiwan children?" they said. "No" we replied, "the internet said we didn't need experience!!!" panic attack!

We went back to the hostel to regroup... well after a couple days of catching rock shows, flying up and down the coast to surfing beaches, and blasting through the beautiful mountains....

ok ok. but then we asked another teacher vacationing in our hostel where he was working. He told us that Taichung city was really great. He also gave us a couple more useful tips. So... with one opinion from a complete stranger and having heard of Taichung (the third largest city in Taiwan... much cleaner than Taipei), off we went. Taichung bound. last straw or we would have to leave Taiwan and re-enter..... $$$$$$ PANIC! ps. see ya soon Charles (high five!)

First Impressions of Taiwan

After our brief stint in Tokyo it was time to set up a "real" life in Taipei. We stayed at a youth hostel called Taipei Hostel, a little bit of a contrast from the wonderful Kimi Ryoken. Flying from Tokyo to Taipei could be compared to flying from Toronto to Mexico City. We stepped off the plane and everything was tropical and dirty. In Tokyo you'd have to be a real idiot to have a hard time finding your way from the airport to the city, in Taipei we wandered around forever just trying to find the buses. Driving attitudes here are a little different; no rules, no fault, just get out of the way. Made for an interesting voyage to the hostel, dragging all our earthly possessions. At the hostel, we were greeted by the desk staff and a couple cockroaches. Spirits weren't the highest that night, we decided bed would be the best idea and went to sleep, only to discover that there are at least as many mosquitos in Taipei as there are mosquitos *&%&(

Things felt a lot better in the morning. Nothing exciting to report from the stay in Taipei, just devoted some time to getting ourselves on our feet. Highlights included the best bowl of noodles ever from another fancy veggie restaurant and chillin with the people at the hostel. Although the hostel filled us with dread on that first night, it ended up being a great time. The people there really made it, it was our first intro to the expat english teacher scene here, basically just a bunch of laid back people who didn't like the "real" world. The hostel had a roof top garden so nights were spent talking, drinking some beer and playing/appreciating guitar. A guy at the hostel told us about a great hostel in Hualien, on the east coast, run by a really cool girl who would help organize surf trips and stuff. Although we had planned to head to Tainan to look for work we decided to check it out first and off we went.

Tokyo: where everyone is a super fashion icon

When we booked our flight to Taiwan, the travel agent suggested a layover in Tokyo which would last as long as we wanted, in return we only had to pay an airport tax. Obviously we took it, and booked ourselves 4 days in Tokyo.

We stayed at the Kimi Ryoken, famous as the best budget hotel in Tokyo. The room worked out to a little over $60 a night for two people, of course budget is relative. The hotel was fantastically Zen. Instrumental Japanese music was piped out on every floor. The room was absolutely Japanese; bamboo screen, mats on the floor for sleeping. A machine in the lounge dispensed green tea 24/7 another one was equipped with every product ever made by Sapporo.

In Canada I loved nothing more than going out for Japanese food, miso soup, veggie sushi, noodles, salad, so I absolutely couldn’t wait to get to Japan and eat until I burst. Apparently vegetarian Japanese is a North American creation. We told the hotel clerk that we’re vegetarian and her words were “Oh, I’m sorry!”. They don’t even have a word for vegetarian in the Japanese language. Our first night there we couldn’t even be bothered to go find food so by 6:00 am we were just starved. We headed out in search for some breakfast, breakfast in Asia is remarkably similar to lunch and dinner. After wandering around for a while, we finally found a noodle shack that served noodles in miso broth, no pork or fish. Immensely proud of ourselves we handed the vendor a wad of cash. Sighing at the ignorance of tourists he walked over to the entrance put the money in a machine which printed food tickets for us, he handed us the tickets to us, we gave them back to him and then he made our noodles. Noodle shops in Japan are deafening, as slurping is the way of complimenting the chef. (Brad complemented those chefs to near death)

The majority of our time in Tokyo was spent figuring out where we were going to eat next. What can I say, we like food. We did find one really great veg place, a Nuevo Japanese concept restaurant. I can’t remember what we ate but I do remember it being very tasty. I also remember that the restaurant seemed to be in the theme of a midget treefort.... but we love treeforts!! We also made it to a Buddhist temple in a park, featuring a gigantic ginseng tree, a temple, another alter with an ornamental path to get to it, and a statue of a dog which was in a cage, I guess in case it came to life and escaped? At the temple there was a big gong which people would ring after tossing a couple coins towards it. We found another, more deserted temple just across the street with a bigger bell and thought we’d give it a ring ourselves. GONG!!! we we're so pleased with ourselves as that bell rang loudly through a nearby cemetary!!.... then a Buddhist monk came out of the temple to tell us to stop, probably broke a vow of silence or something to do it. Oops.
Sometimes we are just an awful sore thumb.

Japanese kids are about the coolest cats we’ve ever seen, cooler than any European or North American, they all look like rock stars. We thought we’d see how these hipsters partied, but jet lag hit hard, Japan is 13 hours ahead of Ontario. Ever seen Lost in Translation? Our time in Tokyo was just a tiny taste, 3 days is hardly enough time to explore a city. I can’t think of an easier way to ease ourselves into Asian life though, Tokyo, although I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily westernized, is very metropolitan and sane; easy to navigate, nice metro, etc. Taiwan on the other hand is a madhouse.