Taiwan One Month

i've actually been sick for the majority of the time that i've been here, but that hasnt kept me from going out at all..which in hindsight, is what i guess is keeping me sick.

things that happened this month:
1. saw a taiwanese doctor! he sat me down in a chair..kinda like a dentist's chair, and looked down my throat (normal) and up my nose (wasn't expecting that). then, he takes one of those long q-tips, a cotton swab on a wooden skewer, and tells me that he's going to put medicine on the infected areas.
...
he sticks the qtip UP my nose.
there's this pretty dirty pick up line i recently heard: i wanna feel your bellybutton..from the inside.
well, this doctor felt my face...from the inside...and it definitely is an experience i never want to have again.

2. rode the taiwanese metro! it's cleaner than japan's..if you can believe that. there are also less routes, so riding it is a lot simpler than riding the japanese system.

3. i miss the diversity that we have at home. there are asian faces here, and occasionally white faces, but that's it. i don't like that my english school asks specifically for a north american accent, yet, as far as i know, hasn't hired any other non-white applicants. according to the man who interviewed me, they're extremely careful about hiring ABC's as well. ABC is almost a dirty word here, actually. the interviewer claimed that he was proud that the company hires people from new zealand, south africa, australia, UK, Canada, etc...because those places arent typically thought of as english speaking nations...definitely not as american-accent nations...but he claimed that that was diversity..that the company was changing how taiwanese people saw the world. now that's great...but i think hiring some black people or latin american people or indian people or other asians from those areas would "teach" the taiwanese people even more.

4. cooked my first real meal today! a fit end to my first month here.

5. went to my branch and started teaching english! well, that's just my job description..i'm not sure how much the kids actually learn. they're little english reading robots. the people at my branch are really nice. i'm the only female NST (native speaking teacher) at my branch. the other four NST's are boys. the girl boy NST ratio here is about 1:5...or 1:4 i would say. my roommate says that makes us hot commodities.

6. spent my first chinese new year in Asia! EVERYTHING closes down - food stands, restaurants, stores, banks, doctors etc. people go back to their 地元 and spend time with their families. it's like an eating marathon. then, for the whole week that chinese new year goes on, all of the prices are higher. the cabbies automatically add 85NT to each fare, haircuts cost more, etc. since most stores are closed, people scramble to scenic areas to catch a glimpse of nature. there isnt much green here at all..it makes me miss home, and 都留。

7. the zoo in taipei got pandas! people spend four hours in line to see the pandas for five minutes.

8. watched a lot of the L word. never seen so many boobs in my life.