First Explorations | 探索

August 30, 2022

This week, I was on the move. I had a lot of opportunities to get out and explore the area near my quarantine hotel. I’ve been eating lots of tasty food, drinking a lot of bubble tea, and trying to soak up a lot of Chinese while I’m at it. Reading the signs here is hard…traditional characters present lots of challenges, but I'm very slowly getting more accustomed to them. I’ve also adjusted to the time zone; it took about 4 days, but I’m finally sleeping all the way through the night and able to wake up at a reasonable hour.

Self-health management | 自主健康管理

During the self-health management period, I was able to go outside and do a lot of different things. Wendy (a family friend connection from Hannah) took the two of us to find lunch on our first day out which was lovely. In the evening, Hannah and I met up with Pippi, a friend from St. Olaf, to get food and boba before she heads back to the states for the semester. On a different day, Wendy introduced Hannah and I to her niece Erin (who will be a freshman at NTNU, a school nearby), and together we explored the Dihua historical street and enjoyed lunch together. This street is near the river, and was initially home to rice mills and imported goods. More recently, all but one of the rice mills has closed, but there are still lots of spices, Chinese medicines, and bulk goods available. The younger generations have established a lot of cute boutiques and shops as well. Hannah and I spent an afternoon munching on noodles, egg tarts, and boba. We also spotted some Taiwanese blue magpies (as identified by resident ornithologist Sean Lyon) while enjoying our treats.

On a different day, we got luroufan (滷肉飯 pronounced “loo row fahn”) otherwise known as braised pork over rice. It’s a common Taiwanese dish that I’ve learned to cook at home, so it was exciting to try it here for the first time. Later, we explored the Taipei Confucius Temple, and the Taipei Baoan Temple, both of which were beautiful with intricate carvings, paintings, and sculpture.

My first time outside!

Hannah, Pippi, and I on our way to explore Yansan night market

Lunch with Wendy and Erin

Dihua old street

Hannah and I at the Taipei Confucius Temple

A typical traffic scene in Taipei.

Moving to the dorm | 搬到宿舍

I finished my quarantine and self-health management on Sunday morning (8/28). Wendy and Erin picked Hannah and me up, and we drove to the dorm. After a few small hiccups in the check-in process (aided by Wendy and Erin’s translating help), we got checked into the dorm, and started unpacking in our respective rooms. My roommate is named Sushanthi, and she is an international PhD student from India who’s lived in Taiwan for over four years. She has already been so kind and welcoming by offering some recommendations on where to buy things for my dorm, and joining me for a few meals.

After some unpacking, Wendy and Erin took us to Sheng li, a store that has everything you could possibly need for a dorm or apartment. The closest U.S. equivalent I can think of is Target, but everything is compressed into a small space. At Sheng li I bought a mattress (dorms don’t come with mattresses here, it’s a bug liability), sheets, pillow, a small cutting board, bowl, knife, wifi router, hamper, and some hangers for my clothes. It’s nice to have the dorm basics figured out—I finally have a space that I can make feel a little bit like a home. I brought a few things with me to make it feel more home-ey including pictures of friends, the cross that’s been in my room for years, my alarm clock, two little dishes I have on my dresser to hold earrings, hair clips etc., and of course, a couple bars of Tony’s chocolate.

Taiwan is HOT! Thankfully, my room has air conditioning (the hallways and bathroom don’t). One day when we were out walking around, it was 40 degrees celsius which is 104 F. It definitely felt hotter because of the humidity. Literally, you step outside and are drenched in sweat. The weather should cool down a little bit in about a month and a half or so. In the winter, it can get down to 40 F, and with the humidity, it can actually feel pretty cold. I’ll see how my midwestern self can handle it…I’ve heard stories of Canadians wearing heavy coats in the weather, but also midwesterners walking around in T-shirts. I packed a lot of layers, so hopefully I’m prepared.

Hannah, Sushanthi, and I at an Arabian restaurant for lunch

Beautiful light

View from Hannah's room

View from my room

My desk area

Our full room. I'm on the left side.

Family dinner | 家宴飯

After we brought everything back and settled in, Hannah and I met Erin, and the three of us took the MRT (Taiwan’s subway system) to Wendy’s apartment in downtown Taipei. From there, we walked to a restaurant to meet some of Wendy’s extended family for a seafood reunion/sendoff dinner for a relative leaving to study in the Netherlands. The meal was a classic Chinese-style family dinner with 12 courses/dishes served on a giant lazy Susan in the center of a massive round table. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and friendly, and the food was absolutely incredible. I pushed myself to try a lot of new seafood that I’d never had before, and it was a really fun experience. I tried sashimi, mini-squid, oyster, and abalone. Each dish was unique and thoughtfully/beautifully presented. I also tried Taiwanese beer which was really interesting. It initially is fizzy and tastes like nothing, but then has this unique sweet after taste that kicks in about two seconds after you take a sip and swallow. As someone who doesn’t like beer, it was by far the most positive beer experience I’ve had in life so far.

Wendy has been such a welcoming presence here in Taiwan. While I could have done so many things on my own, her help has made difficult things go much smoother. She’s given Hannah and I so many tips and recommendations which have been incredibly helpful. One of my hopes/prayers for my time in Taiwan has been to find community and connect with a family while I’m here. Wendy and Erin (and their extended family) have already (and will continue to be) a familial presence during my time here. I could go on for hours about how meaningful her kindness and generosity have been to me.

Some of Wendy's extended family

Taiwanese beer

Sashimi

Abalone and clams

Abalone up close

Seafood soup--the broth was incredible

Dessert-watermelon, shaved ice, and sweet soup

Classes and Campus | 課和校園

I’ve finally confirmed my classes, and thankfully I got what I need! I’ll be taking the entomology class, a seminar on Asian democratization, an economics class on causal inference and predictive modeling, and my general Chinese courses. I’m really excited for all of these classes, and as an added bonus, they fulfill multiple credit requirements at St. Olaf.

NTU has about 30,000 students, so the campus is massive. I live on the northeast side of campus in a graduate/international student dorm. The dorm is far from the main area of campus, but thankfully the college of social sciences is across the street, so most of my classes are really nearby. There’s a few that’ll be a 15-20 minute walk, but I’ll be able to cut that down to a 10 minute bike ride if necessary.

Classes start on September 5th, so in the meantime, I’m busy familiarizing myself with the area and doing orientation/registration activities. Once classes start, I’m hoping to join a club or two and get into rhythms of playing music and exercising.

Since I’m all settled, I have an address now! If you’d like to send me snail mail, email me and I’ll send my physical address. To send a letter to Taiwan, you just have to pick up an international stamp at any post office and pop the letter (properly addressed) in the mail. I would love to hear from you!

I've also decided to start two new pages, one for food photos, and one for boba. Feel free to check them out!