My First Day of Chinese Class!

I thought I’d write a quick note to let everyone know that I started Chinese classes today. In typical Taiwanese fashion, I was notified last Thursday that the school decided to open the morning class I needed. I was then instructed to come to the school that afternoon to pay the tuition. Thankfully, I had called earlier in the week and had been expecting this to happen, hence I had planned that time! Once there, I was then asked to come to the student orientation which was scheduled for the following day at 2pm….naturally. Of COURSE I had nothing else on my calendar!!! Obviously, I did not make it. I was told that I wouldn't need the book for 2 weeks, so I put off buying it. I was also able to find my classroom # and the time of the class from the website so at least I knew where to go and when.

This morning, I left with more than enough time to get to school, as I did not want to stress out about arriving on time on my first day. I found that I had enough time to walk from the MRT station to the school, which is about a 20+ minute walk. Given that we had celebrated Thanksgiving with friends the previous day, I could use the extra walk (I’ll blog about that later this week)!!

My class has about 8 students; 3 from Vietnam, 2 from Japan, 2 from Thailand, and me. Prior to today, I had been very proud of all the Mandarin I had acquired and had expected to breeze through the first week or two, until the class exhausted the few catch phrases I’ve picked up. Much to my surprise, the teacher asked (it’s all in Mandarin of course…no English spoken!!!!) everyone to come up and introduce themselves. She then asked a few questions of everyone. I was very humbled when every person there introduced themselves in Mandarin, said what nationality they were, how long they had been in Taiwan (most have been in Taiwan less than one week!!!!) and what their age is (except me…is this age discrimination??!!!). Needless to say, I KNOW I’m going to have a LOT of work ahead of me given where the starting point is!

I found out that I DID indeed need the book today, and yes, apparently, I was the only one who didn't know this, so I quickly ran up the 4 flights of stairs to grab one (like I said...gotta work off that dinner from yesterday!) Today we learned the basic Mandarin sounds…the ‘buh puh muh fuh’. Any Mandarin speaker can tell you the sounds used when first learning Chinese/Mandarin and identify the characters that are associated. This is how Mandarin speakers learn to pronunciate new characters. It’s the equivalent of phonics in English. I’ve often wondered how a Mandarin speaker knows how to pronounce a character when there is no alphabet. Now I know…they use the ‘buh puh muh fuh’ characters.

When I accompanied Brianna to Chinese school in California, I was introduced to what I thought was the 'buh puh muh fuh'; however, I soon learned that the school in California taught ‘pin yin’, which uses the English alphabet to pronounce the Chinese sounds. So, while I'm pretty good at the pin ying, one can imagine now how difficult it is for me to try and memorize the sounds using the Chinese characters! You can see my attempts at ‘drill and kill’ (sorry for the sideways picture)…I figure if I write the characters enough, perhaps some of them will be committed to memory? Personally, I’m praying that the teacher takes pity and lets us use the pin ying. If I have to use the traditional Chinese characters to pronounce and spell words, it will take me three times as long!!!

After the first hour of just practicing our new sounds, my jaw felt like I had been grinding my teeth all night long. I think I was so focused on getting a good accent that I held my jaw clamped tight nfor about 2 hours straight. As I'm writing this, I'm still sore!

The three hour class went by surprisingly quickly and before I could get a full-on headache from all the new characters, I was released from class. Knowing that I had my second job to go to (picking up the kids), I decided to relax and read a brainless novel on the way to the girls’ school…it was just what I needed. I found that I was mentally exhausted from the class. I did find the energy to do my homework tonight however, which was just practicing the characters, memorizing them, and looking at some of the words we’ll be learning tomorrow.

I must admit that I’m a bit more cautious about the level of difficulty I will face these next 11 weeks; however, I am excited and relieved that classes have finally begun. We’re already speaking more Mandarin at home and Terry is VERY encouraging. He has been helping out by asking more and more questions in Mandarin first and letting us squirm around to figure out how to respond. Brianna is the best at trying Mandarin. She has no fear and is quick to pick things up. Elaine tries her best, but doesn't quite seem to have the fearless attitude Brianna has. I personally think that Brianna and I may be neck-in-neck, and I expect to surpass her quickly, much to her disappointment :). I'm personally hoping that once we increase the amount of Mandarin spoken at home, things will begin to flow more naturally and this language won't be such a huge obstacle to conquer!

Who knows…when I come home this summer, perhaps I’ll be able to hold an entire conversation with the in-laws (when Terry, his brother, and his mom get together, it’s primarily in Mandarin)!!

Banking Frustrations

I must confess to those of you who read this that I absolutely THRIVE on the positive feedback I’ve received. However, that being said, I find that I am almost afraid to blog as I feel I have nothing witty to say, or I’m quite scared that this won’t live up to your expectations…the pressure is building!!! I will keep on writing; however, I have absolutely NO idea if my insight on Taipei living will continue to be appealing, particularly as we continue to settle in. I do promise that I will make a strong attempt at sharing with you the many odd things about Taipei living that take adjusting…they’re not good nor bad…just different. This concept can be quite a difficult one for most to grasp; however, I assure you that for the most part it is just that…different.


As of late, what’s captured my attention, (or more fittingly, my frustration) is the banking here in Taiwan. Last week our realtor was generous enough to take me to my bank to help me transact an electronic transfer of funds to our landlord (in hopes of submitting it for automatic withdrawal). I had also expected to wire some funds to an account we still hold in CA. Having had much experience in transacting international wires, I knew the requisite information and was excited to complete yet another task on my ever-growing to-do list.


We went into the branch and began filling out the paperwork. All was going smoothly until…..she asked for my ID. When I provided my Taiwan ID and she compared it to my ATM, she said that I would be unable to do any banking that day. Upon seeing my frustration, my realtor translated for me that because the account was in Terry’s name, I would be unable to access any of the funds. To add more to the frustration, it turns out that there is no such thing as a joint account in Taiwan. If I want to access any money in Taiwan, I have to either (1) rely on Terry to give me cash; or (2) I have to open my own, separate bank account.


Say WHAT??!!! Are you serious? In discussing this with the realtor, apparently the laws in Taiwan are quite different. Not only is there no such thing as a joint account, the laws of community property are quite different as well. A local married couple has joint responsibility for all of their debt (even that acquired prior to marriage), but no joint privileges regarding their assets. So, if Terry were to skip town on me (and we were Taiwanese citizens), I would have to pay all of our debt and yet not be able to use any of his bank accounts, cash, retirement, etc. to pay for it! How do you like that?!!!


Needless to say that this banking system is quite inconvenient for me given that I typically handle our daily financial needs. I have now had to rely on Terry more than I had planned, much to both of our annoyances!


I am uncertain as to why there is no such thing as a joint account, or even a concept like ‘community property’, which would be very helpful, particularly for couples where one works and the other does not. However, this is just not the case here. While I wanted to blame the system on being too patriarchal, Terry kindly pointed out that if our roles were reversed, he would experience the same frustration that I had.


This is definitely a case of not good…not bad….just different. Like much of our new life in Taipei, this was just another idiosyncrasy which will require a new mental attitude. Just add it to the list!

7-11 More Than a Convenience Store

I remember when we vacationed in Taipei 4 years ago that 7-11 was Brianna’s FAVORITE store in Taipei. Everyone (including us) thought it was so funny that 7-11 could have had that big an impression on Brianna. However, I must tell all of my CA friends that truly, 7-11 is a one-stop shop. Honestly…you won’t believe the things that most people do at the average 7-11.

For one, Taiwan is primarily a cash-driven society. There is very little in Taiwan that you can do with a credit card. That being said, 99% of all 7-11’s have ATM machines, where most people get their cash. Oh, but wait there’s more! These are no ordinary ATM machines…these are ATM machines on steroids! These ATM machines can handle transferring funds from one’s bank account to another. Again, in a cash-driven society, rents, deposits for vacations/travel agents, etc. are handled through the 7-11 ATM machine. I must simply type in the Bank Code (much like the routing #) and the recipient’s account number, and away we go!

7-11 is also quite convenient when you’re hungry. Yes yes, they have the usual slurpee (yes they have those in Taipei), chips, candy, etc. But, 7-11’s here don’t have just hot-dogs. They also have tea eggs (hard-boiled eggs soaked in black tea and soy sauce…quite tasty), cappuccinos, lattes (they make a MEAN latte!), soups, and other small, hot snacks. One of the most unusual, which is apparently unique to Taiwan, is Ti-hoeh-koe, or pig's blood…which sounds positively gross, but after keeping an open mind, I’ve tried it and I must admit that it's not half bad. For those of you who are curious, check it out at http://www.echinacities.com/InPictures/?F=381&P=1) (Cyndi, this is ONE of the foods that I will ensure that you try when you visit!!!!). There are also small bento boxes which are like mini-lunches. They even have a microwave where they’ll warm up your lunch for you!

Most Taiwanese don’t consume beverages during their meals. Most Taiwanese consume their beverages (including alcohol) after the meal. We found it quite an adjustment to go to a local restaurant and not have ice water available…even upon request! So, it is now a given that we stop at 7-11 before going out to dinner. The girls now love this as they get to choose their own drink, and there are sooooo many new choices than in CA! The beverage selection is quite large. There are any number of different yogurt drinks, TONS of teas (plain tea, tea with milk, tea with milk & sugar, etc), lots of cold coffee (in cups or cans), lots of bottled water, soda, etc. As this is a major metropolitan area, the local Safeway is not just around the corner. Going to the grocery store takes careful planning and possibly multiple trips (depending on if you have a car or not!). So, the local 7-11 often fills in the gaps. Did I mention they make a decent latte?

In Taipei, rather than paying for your garbage on a monthly bill, in order for one to dispose of household trash, one must use an official garbage bag…purchased at 7-11. The bags come in 5 liter or 14 liter sizes and are blue. Remind me to blog another day about Taiwan’s amazing waste disposal system (which I LOVE, by the way!).

The thing I find the most surprising about 7-11 is that I can pay just about all of my Taiwan bills at the 7-11. Yes, that’s right…I don’t have to mail out a check payment, I don’t have automatic withdrawal (remember it’s a cash-driven society). I just take my invoices (which can all be scanned at 7-11) and the appropriate cash (heaven forbid anyone try to use a credit card) to the cashier. The cashier then scans the bar code at the bottom of my invoices, takes my cash, and gives me a receipt. That’s it…my electricity, gas, internet, phone, water….you name it! I believe I can even pay for a Taiwanese credit card (but that’s at the ATM machine), but that would mean that I’d have to have a Taiwanese credit card an outlet in which to use it!

So there you have it…7-11. Who knew it was such the wonder store? Oh yes, and did I mention how abundant they are here in Taipei? We live about ½ a mile away from the MRT station (Taipei’s subway) and there are literally FOUR 7-11 stores before we get to the MRT station. There’s also a Family Mart, which is like a 7-11. I have NO idea how these stores keep from cannibalizing one another, yet it seems to work.

Now that we are living in Taipei, I think I concur with Brianna’s initial assessment…7-11 is ONE of my favorite stores in Taipei.

7 Things I Hate About Taipei

I’m sure that many people are asking…come ON…it’s not ALL lollipops and roses? You mean that it’s that EASY to move to the other side of the globe to a country where you can’t speak the language?? You’re right. There are good days and bad. I feel very fortunate that the good days definitely outweigh the bad; however, there are a few annoying things about Taipei that can definitely drive me crazy. I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite pet peeves about Taipei from the most benign to the #1 which drives me absolutely bonkers.

#7 - Carrying Everything

I do find it a big adjustment that I cannot simply purchase what I need at the grocery store, hardware store, Ikea, etc. While there are ample taxis available, it’s not as easy to simply park and make multiple trips from the car inside the house. I find that I have to carefully plan my day and ensure that I don’t wait too long to go to the grocery store. I also keep forgetting to bring my bags with me and wind up having to purchase more bags, which just adds to the collection which is already too big!

#6 – Laundry

I’ve accepted the fact that Taiwanese people mostly don’t use the dryer. I’m fine with that. I HAVE used our washer/dryer combo on occasion; however, in the process I’ve melted one of Elaine’s nightgowns. So, I reserve it only for towels! The problem I have is that while my laundry smells clean, it certainly doesn’t LOOK clean. No matter how hard I scrub, it seems that I just can’t get stains out! At first I thought it was the washing machine. However, a friend of mine has a new theory which I’m anxious to try out (to help keep me from replacing MORE socks!). She found that the Taiwanese detergents were simply not strong. She gets her detergent from Costco…the American kind…the good stuff, she says…TIDE. I’ll try it out. I realize I’ll pay an arm and a leg for it; however, I figure it’s cheaper than replacing the girls’ socks each week!

#5 – Sidewalks

The building in Taipei is quite haphazard. I don’t anticipate that the City Planning Commission is very particular or picky. It seems that when someone wanted to remodel or build, they simply build over what was there previously. If the elevations are slightly different, then a step is built. Sometimes the steps are marked with a yellow strip to differentiate the elevations, but not always. It’s not uncommon to have a 3-ft gap in one sidewalk and then have the same gap with 2 steps to help ease one down to the street. All I can say is that it would absolutely BITE to be crippled or handicapped in Taipei. If you visit, better get in shape first…especially one’s knees!

#4 - LONG Street Lights

Everyone walks in Taipei. It is a densely populated region where use of public transportation is quite the norm. It also has a lot of people on scooters and buses. To help ease the traffic, the lights are typically about 2 minutes each. What that means is that when the girls and I cross the street TWICE to get to school, if we don’t time it JUST right, it could take us 4 minutes to cross the street; 2 minutes to cross from East to West, and then an add’l 2 minutes to cross from South to North. While we live less than one mile from school, it takes us about 25 minutes using public transportation and about 10 minutes using taxis, mostly due to the long lights.

#3 – Cooking

Taiwan kitchens are ridiculously small. They’re more like galley kitchens. There are no dishwashers and the stoves are typically 2 gas burners. They are typically away from the action, and off to the side of the apartment…out of sight, out of mind. The feminist in me sees this as the patriarchal society’s way of ensuring that women stay out of sight, out of mind; however, perhaps I’m skewed? The absolute most WORST part of cooking in Taipei is that THERE ARE NO OVENS IN TAIWAN KITCHENS. I have found that many of the expats living in Tienmu have more ‘Western’ style kitchens and have ovens. We’re deliberately stayed away from the expat area of Tienmu to get more of a local flavor (and that public transportation is not as readily available in that neighborhood, as beautiful as it is!), so that’s what we must live with. I do have a microwave oven which has a convection oven feature. I have yet to try it out, and the oven itself is very small; however, I figure I’ll try out some cookies first. Worst case, we’ll just eat the dough! So, cooking is just not fun. I’ll keep you posted as I have hope that perhaps I’ll just become the queen of sauté!

#2 – Weather

I understand now more than ever why people pay exorbitant amounts of money to live in CA. The weather in Taipei is just plain icky. It’s very wet and sticky most of the time. It’s now November and it can be as chilly as 65 degrees one way, with winds that are simply biting as the weather is still damp, and then 82 degrees the next. My clothes are never quite dry even after 48 hours, and I’m never sure whether to leave the house with the umbrella or not. I put on makeup as it makes me feel pretty, but it simply melts away within the first few hours, leaving me feeling sticky and icky. I find myself showering twice a day and finding that I cannot get too close to the girls as I always find them sticky. This is definitely not something I am adjusting to….I’m simply accepting.

#1 - Slow Walkers

Yes. That’s it. My NUMBER ONE pet peeve is SLOW WALKERS. I HATE THEM!!!!!! I tell you, when I am on the streets, I typically have a purpose. I must get from one place to the next. The walkways in Taipei are fairly narrow, and there are a lot of people walking around. The frustrating thing is that many of them are completely oblivious to those around them. These slow walkers will meander across from side-to-side of the walkway as if they had all the time in the world. I feel like screaming at them ‘GET OUT OF MY WAY…DON’T YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY PLACE TO BE??!!!’ It’s crowded enough around Taipei. I’m not certain why people don’t simply step to one side if they must stop to pick their nose or look up at the moon. I get the fact that there are a lot of people here…I just don’t like that people seem to congregate right in front of me while I’m trying to get from one place to the next.

So there you have it. That’s the 7 Things I Hate About Taipei. If you catch me on a particularly hot day where I haven’t had much sleep, have had to wait in one too many stop lights with very heavy grocery bags, have missed the bus because I was late wearing wet clothes and have been slowed down by one too many slow walkers…yeah, I’ll tell you that Taipei sucks! Well, it sucks on that day, anyway. Thankfully, I haven’t had a day like that yet :).

Half Term Holiday Day 6 - Halloween

In case you’re wondering what happened to Day 5, I didn’t forget about it. We had planned to go to the Fine Arts Museum, as I’d referenced earlier. The kids and I lounged around in the morning and left around 11am. We arrived at 11:30 to see a line which wound its way around the museum into the parking lot. After giving it 30 minutes in wait time, I began to see that the line wound its way up the stairs, and then wound around three times before one could see the sign which said ‘Buy Tickets’. I realized that all of the people in line were going to try to see the same exhibit we were…I have NO idea how they pack THAT many people in the museum. We decided to pitch the idea and we spent the day eating a nice lunch and lounging around…nothing exciting.

Saturday was Halloween in Taipei. While it is true that Halloween is not a Taiwanese holiday, there are many stores with decorations and a few places which were offering trick-or-treating. What I found are that all of the pre-schools and kindergardens celebrate the holiday; however, the older kids are mostly left on their own to find an American community in which they can trick-or-treat. Brianna had managed to spot a sign advertising a haunted house and celebration in Tienmu square, which is up the street from our apartment. Knowing that a lot of expats live in Tienmu, we figured this would be as good as it gets and decided to check it out late that afternoon.

Before we went to the Halloween festivities, we began the day with some new friends, the Hodowanys, at an American brunch (THANKS again Judy and John for a GREAT treat!). We then split up a bit to do some shopping and errands. Terry, the kids, and I stopped by an arcade where Terry and I tested our strength. Oh yeah...I beat him that first round 12-11; however, he beat me the next 11-12...so I suppose we're equally as strong (thankfully my man is comfortable enough with his masculinity that this didn't seem to bother him :)!!). Our family then went to the Taipei Coffee Festival, as Terry and I are STILL on a search for a good cup 'a joe here. What we're finding is that there are some decent places out there, but the beans are quite expensive. While Taipei does grow and roast its own beans, it is a small market and therefore highly priced. Sigh. For now, we'll stick to asking Terry's co-workers to bring our favorite coffee beans from CA when they come to Taipei (THANK YOU McCarthy!!)

Later that afternoon, we met up with the Hodowanys at Tienmu Square for the Halloween festivities. When we arrived, it was PACKED…and HOT HOT HOT. At 4:30pm, it must have been about 80-85 degrees. This Halloween was definitely the warmest I could remember! At first, it simply appeared to be a bunch of booths with people selling crafts, food and stuff. However, we saw a sign for a haunted house, and decided to give it a go. I have to say…the Taiwanese did a pretty good job. While this haunted house was not quite as elaborate as those we see in CA, it had plenty of good stuff. There were some simple wood coffin-outlines, a few grave sites, and lots of black cloth draped here and there, creating a labyrinth-effect. The creepiest thing which really scared the kids were the various teenagers dressed in ghoulish make-up, who jumped out at every corner. THAT was pretty creepy…even I jumped when someone grabbed my ankles!

After the haunted house, we saw that a few girls playing MC were going to start some kind of show. While we couldn’t really understand much of what they were saying, Judy, her children, and mine decided to sit and watch while the dads talked shop. Within a few minutes, the MC’s were asking for volunteers to come up on the stage to participate in a game. Judy’s daughter, Audrey, was one of the first to volunteer. Not to be outdone, Elaine raised her hand and was soon whisked away up onto the stage. Mind you…the whole thing is in Mandarin!! While Elaine stood there looking as cute as can be, the next thing she knew, a microphone was shoved in her face and people were screaming at her to shout something out…I think she managed to shout ‘Tienmu’. Next to her, Audrey, who can understand both English and Mandarin, took up the slack and shouted ‘Tienmu gou sen me gui’ (Tienmu…what’s happening!). The surprising thing in all of this was the smile which appeared on both Elaine and Audrey’s face and participating. I was so proud of Elaine for not being shy and walking right up there…even though she had NO clue what was going on!

After the kids took their turn screaming (I think there was a prize for being the loudest), we were treated to a dance troup (dancing to Boom Boom Pow, which, along with ‘Poker Face’ is ALL we hear around here!!) and fire-throwers. While the dance troup was fun for the kids (VERY amateur, but hey, one couldn’t beat the price!), the fire throwers were really fun to watch. All of the acts were amateurs who were volunteering their time to perform, but still very fun to watch. We managed to keep everyone sitting and watching for about 1.25 hours!

After the show, we all hopped in a few cabs and had the best pizza we’ve had since arriving in Taipei…Alleycats thin crust. Yummy (Thanks John for introducing this to us!)!!

To ensure that the girls didn’t miss out completely on Halloween, we stopped by 7-11 on the way home and bought a bunch of candy. Terry and I then took turns hiding in the bedrooms while the girls, dressed in costume, knocked on our doors and said ‘trick-or-treat’. While it wasn’t the same, we tried to stay as true to tradition as we could. Certainly we ALL miss the pumpkin-carving, the baking, the smell of a warm fire and cookies baking. We miss riding our bikes through Golden Gate Park admiring the changing of the leaves. We miss our friends and the Halloween parade and the AWESOME haunted house on Shearwater Court. While the holiday of Halloween found us all a bit homesick, I’m thankful that it wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting. We found that the company of new friends helped to lessen the homesickness and helped us to create new memories which I know we’ll cherish for a lifetime.