Four and a half months in Taiwan/ two weeks in Dongshih

Images of my "rural" town. Taiwanese and Canadians have a very different idea of space.

Dongshih is located in the central east part of the map above.

Four and a half months in Taiwan/ two weeks in Dongshih

I'm back in Taiwan after my adventure in Bangkok. Leaving that crazy capital city and coming back is a relief! If you read my last blog you will note how my feelings have changed. I laughed when a reread it. Without going into detail I will say my experience with the hotel staff left me angry and frustrated . These days though, I am not focusing on that bad, just working on making the good things better. I left my crap job for a great one. My new apartment has hardwood floors and a disco ball (ha!). The fruit and veggies are truly amazing in this area, which is an interesting mix of mountains and the tropics. I live in a little mountain town equal to the size of Perth, Ontario. There is not a lot going on here so exercise teaching English and studying Chinese are how I spend most of my days.

There aren't many foreigners here. I get a lot of looks walking around. Some people's jaws drop when they see me, or, their eyes bug out a little. I thinks its humorous that I could be the first foreigner that a child has seen. I have heard other people left here (black and white skin colour) because they didn't like the feeling of too many eyes pressed against the fish bowl. So far the only thing that kind of irritates me is the incessant stream of hellos I get. I know its weird to be annoyed by people that are being polite but just imagine some days every 50 meters a jaw drops or someone shouts, "Hello!". I do like when a get a fading drive by hello from a student on a scooter, " Heelllloooo teeeacher........" All in all I have made a great decision to come here. My life has a good balance now.