Moving In

Hi all! I finally have a chance to catch up on the past few days, because even though we've had quite a bit of downtime, I've either been exhausted and ready to just fall asleep or exploring with the other Fulbright kids.

I put up a brief post the other day just to share that we'd made it safely, but for a few more specifics, the flight over was actually pretty easy. I flew a tiny (delayed) Continental plane to Newark, where I connected to EVA Air and met up with other Fulbright ETAs also heading to Taiwan. Virginia, Nell, Alana and I are all part of the Yilan group in northern Taiwan, while the other three girls are in the Kaohsiung group in southern Taiwan. The flights were uneventful other than an hour stop in Anchorage where they ushered us off the plane at 3 a.m. into a waiting room, folded our blankets, changed flight crews and brought us back on the plane. I think they probably gassed up the plane while we were waiting, but to come back and find my blanket folded seemed like a wasted effort since I just climbed back under it anyhow.

We arrived unscathed, though, in Taipei rather early in the morning. Sadly we had to part ways before customs, as the Kaohsiung girls had a connecting flight and we had to meet the rest of our group. The lines weren't too long and as we were waiting more ETAs arrived (it is really easy to pick us out as we are the white college-age kids babbling in English in small groups). So after collecting luggage a large group of us exited en masse to find our hosts and the bus. I, of course, missed the large sign that said "FULBRIGHT" and stood there dumbly looking around until one of the other ETAs pointed it out. Yikes! Anyhow, we had to wait for a few other flights to arrive and were able to use the airport wireless network to check email and post "we're here safely" messages on our blogs (see last entry).

A little bit later we were on a bus headed into Taipei to our hotel. With a few free hours to spare, we showered and then headed out to explore and get a sense of Asia. A number of people had studied in China and were excited to be back in the same realm. I just walked around feeling this incredible lack of awe and wonder, mostly, I think, because this whole experience seems so unreal. I can't believe we're here for the next year!

We met for lunch at the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange, our Taipei headquarters, and then filled out a lot of paper work before heading for Taipei Storyland, a living history-type museum styled on 1950s Taiwan, and dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant. We had so much food to try it was overwhelming. Then back to the hotel for a night of rest on a hard, asian mattress before leaving for Yilan in the morning.

Yilan is the county in which our group is based; I am living in Yilan City at least through the month of August, and there is another group of seven ETAs based in the other main city, Luodong. We set off by bus for our respective apartments -- Yilan is just an hour by bus from Taipei when you travel through the newly constructed tunnels that cut under the dividing mountain range. After what seemed like just a little while of driving, I was surprised to have Kelly, our fearless leader, announce that we were just a few minutes from Yilan City and our apartments.

My apartment, Yilan A, turned out to be the best stocked of all the Fulbright apartments. We arrived to find a whole bunch of stuff that had been left by previous ETAs, from holiday decorations to a Nerf football, to sheets and pots and pans to vodka. My room isn't huge, but it has a bed, wardrobe, desk, chair, bookshelf and, most importantly, air-conditioning. It is so hot and humid that it is incredible to have a cool sanctuary to return to. I also have incredible roommates to begin this experience with (Beth, Ann and Evie).

After some move in time, we met the bus to go shopping at one of the local superstores for any necessities we might be missing (fortunately, not many). The only things we really had to get were some emergency supplies for typhoon days -- food and water in case we're stuck in the apartment for a long time.

We went back to Yilan and Luodong for dinner, according to our apartment assignments, and each group had pizza which was a nice change of pace. Kelly didn't know the word for pepperoni, but just kept calling it American pizza. About half of our group is keeping vegetarian for one reason or another (religion, taste, health), though, so the veggie pizza was the biggest hit!

The Luodong group had originally planned on coming to hang out for the night, but never ended up showing up. Instead, as we walked outside to go visit Yilan J, the other apartment of girls, we discovered a music recital taking place right outside of my building. In Chinglish and gestures we were invited over to join the audience, given water and fruit, and treated to the sounds of traditional Chinese instruments like the erhu (a two-stringed Chinese instrument) and pipa (looks like a mandolin, but played upright). At one point the owner of the music school beckoned for us to perform as well and, as he wouldn't be dissuaded, we serenaded the audience with a very poor rendition of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. We're almost like mock celebrities here, being called upon to approve music selections (anything foreign), and having our pictures taken as we sit in the audience. I think we enjoyed the concert as much as they enjoyed having us at the concert.

That's all for now. Tomorrow is a free day, so hopefully great adventures await!
Peace,
Jill