Job a’hoi and Kenting or Bust

Upon entering my fourth week here I was getting a bit frustrated. Of the 10+ places I had handed out my resume to and of the 10+ jobs I had applied to online the only prospect was a school far away in Kaohsiung stating that it would not pay me my training until the end of my contract. Thus, I was frustrated, homesick, and tired. It was hard enough to order some vegetables without squid in them due to the language barrier let alone find a job. While trying my best not to give up I biked to a printing place to get more resumes printed out to hand out to potential schools. Across the street from the printing place was a school so I thought I would stop in the next day when I looked presentable and hand out my resume. The next day I did just that despite my unmotivated attitude. The man that was sitting in the school happened to be a nice Canadian from Saskatchewan who had been living right here in Pingtung for over 11 years. He seemed very excited about the prospect of having me work for the company but said I needed to come back when the owners were around. He also called some of his friends in Pingtung that owned private schools to try and get me some work. After feeling a bit more upbeat after talking with him I had John bring me back around 5 p.m. to talk to the owners. They were a really nice couple from Toronto. The wife was Taiwanese but had lived in Canada for eight years. They said they were interested in hiring me but they did not have the classes at the moment to give me any hours. I said that was fine but asked if they would be willing to sponsor my work visa since I needed that to stay in the county. They said they would so I was even more interested. The following day I came back for the meeting and they told me all about the school, how I wouldn’t have any work hours upfront but they would sponsor my work visa. After some thought and helpful advice from my mom, stating that every time she has taken a position which says there will not be that many hours she has always ended up with more than she wanted, I decided to accept the position. Of course, this was over many discussions, frustrations, reading contracts, seeking advice from others, and sleeping on it. To this point I am still very happy about my decision as everyone at the school is nice, the curriculum seems pretty easy, and the pay is good. I will be teaching children and if all goes well adults. Annie, my boss, wants to open a class for university students to learn conversational English. So right now there are not students for that class but she hopes in a month there will be. Also, they will be opening another class after the Chinese new year in Feb. that will be all younger children. After a minor celebration at a Western style restaurant, the only restaurant we can find in Pingtung with real cheese and an English menu, John and I planned our big adventure to Kenting National Park.

Kenting, aside from Hawaii, is the most beautiful place I have been to in my entire life. Upon waking up on Friday I was so excited to leave that I packed everything for myself and John, as well as laid out an outfit for him to change into when he got home because I didn’t want to waste one precious minute of our time. Of course, this did speed up the process and shortly after 5 we were on our way to Kaohsiung to catch a bus to Hengchun, the town our friends live in that is close to Kenting. At first it was hard to find the bus as there were four different bus stations in the same area all going to different places. Finally, we found a bus and hopped on. We were incredibly nervous we would miss our stop so the entire two hour ride was spent looking out the window trying to figure out where we were. It was fine though as there were many signs in English once we arrived in Hengchun announcing where we were. Upon leaving the bus it was raining, and our friends Peter and Andy shuffled us into a pizza place because we said we were starving and wanted to get our of the rain. The menu was in English and had delicious pizza. As with many establishments in Taiwan there was a pet dog wandering around. Peter and Andy knew this dog quite well so he was laying on the bench with them. Peter got his face a little too close to the dog and bam! The dog bit him in the face, drawing blood. Peter was fine and said he had invaded the dog’s space too much. The server brought him some cleaner and band aids to clean up the cut as well as a free beer. After the dog fiasco we headed back to their 3 bedroom house, which by the way is huge! to go to sleep in order to wake up early to enjoy all the sunshine possible. It was going to be a glorious Saturday.

Saturday morning we woke up at 9:30 sharp and went out for some breakfast. It is nice to know you can get a delicious, filling breakfast as well as an iced latte for around $3 here. We then did the little song and dance that comes with any transaction between two people who do not speak the same language in order to rent a scooter from a local shop. After the scooter was ready to go we headed on a beautiful mountainous drive across the peninsula of the Island towards the east coast. It was a clear sunny day so we got a great look at the breathtaking mountains. Another part I love about Taiwan is that when there is nature and mountains there are always palm trees everywhere. Thus, it was no surprise to see lots of palm trees intertwined in the mountains. First we stopped at Jialeshui beach, a popular place for surfing to see the big waves, which were pretty calm that day. We then stopped at a few overlooking spots to get some Kodak moments of the sandy white beach with crystal blue water and the mountain backdrop. After the a couple Kodak moments we stopped at Sail Rock, a popular place for snorkeling and then headed towards a dive shop to get some snorkel gear and then to Houbihu for some snorkeling. I discovered that I was more traumatized from my assault by the ocean while snorkeling in Hawaii and it was too hard for me to snorkel without reliving that event. I did get to see some cool fish before returning to shore, which was nice. Then after everyone returned to shore Peter showed us this little enclosed inlet which was so pristine and private. It was shallow and blocked by the ocean by these two big rocks and on the beach it was enclosed by a rocky hill. It was so beautiful in there as the water was crystal blue. Next time we go there I will be spending my time in that beautiful secluded area while John snorkels. We then headed to Baisha (Chinese for white sand) beach for some sun and swimming. The water was perfect and the beach was just as the name described. We stayed there until the sunset and then headed back to Hengchun to shower before dinner.

At night we went to the town of Kenting for some delicious Thai food and to explore the night market. The night market was a dream come true. First, when it comes to shopping in Kaohsiung all the clothes are sweaters and jeans, none of which I would like to ever wear when it is 90 + degrees outside. In Kenting, however, I discovered where all the wonderful sun dresses were. I purchased two for $7. Second, many of the stands had either Thai food, or touristy food like giant shrimp. In Pingtung all you see are squid, fish blood rice, greasy pork and chicken, and the occasional cooked vegetable. It is rare to see a Thai grilling place, let alone shrimp! Alas I was in shopping and food heaven. If only I hadn’t stuffed myself silly at the Thai place but there is always next time. After dinner and shopping we headed to the bar for a few cocktails. While I was drinking my “Blue Kenting” (oh how clique?) drink two drunk Germans came up to us and in a thick German accent informed us that they worked for the Taiwan High Speed Rail and had not had a weekend off in a year. So they were here to PARTY! They told us there was a show downstairs where the audience would be embarrassed. After that we kept seeing them go downstairs and return with women and possibly men, we couldn’t decide, wearing practically nothing and then they would go downstairs again. When the next show started we decided to go down and see what all the fuss was about. It turns out there were women and men pulling audience members from the crowd and doing embarrassing things. I will spare you the nitty gritty details but lets just say the man instantly spotted me, one of the only female foreigners downstairs and brought me on stage. All he really ended up doing was tickling my feet and arm pits, which I guess to the Taiwanese is embarrassing. After the drinks were finished it was time to leave the crazy Germans behind.

The next day we headed to Nanwan beach, the most popular beach in Kenting for a relaxing Sunday at the beach. We wanted to rent jet skis but had too hard of a time communicating that we didn’t want to be towed behind in a tube but wanted to drive them ourselves. So we decided just to swim and snorkel a bit. While the beach was not as sandy the water was bluer than Baisha beach and the mountain backdrop was even prettier. Yes, just your typical November Sunday laying in crystal blue water looking at the mountains. Could life get any better? I think not. As all weekends go by too quickly, one in beach heaven is not exempt from time and we had to head back to Pingtung for another week of work. We were able to grab some shrimp fried rice and catch a taxi for the same price as the bus back, so the trip back could not have been any less painful. Oh well, it was nice to know that this heaven was only a 2 hour, $9 trip away. We will definitely be heading back there as soon as our tans start to fade which will probably be in a couple of weeks.

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