Taipei, I'm Here to Stay

Annie and I discovered Taipei last February equipped only with reservations at a hostel, a pocket dictionary, and a prayer. We had the weekend of our lives complete with Japanese roommates, a glimpse of the best of Chinese art at the National Palace Museum, a suffocating stroll through the Shilin Night Market, some quick stops at the 228 Memorial Park, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Plaza and the Flora Expo, and a trip to the mountains to see the MaoKong tea village. With our Asian pallet fully satisfied, Annie and I took a short jaunt on the MRT and walked into a Western paradise. We topped the top of Taipei 101, indulged at Cold Stone, and I literally cried when our waiter/waitress (we still aren’t sure) at Chili’s brought out our Quesadilla Explosion Salad. This tantalizing mix of both the foreign and the familiar made me want to shout in the street, “Taipei, I’m here to stay!”

Since then, Annie and I have made friends with a wonderful family. Through a series of non-coincidences, Wu Mama and her son Guan Chen stepped into our lives as our Asian angels. Guan Chen got to know the church a year ago and quietly decided to get baptized. When his mother found out, she was so angry that she tore apart his Book of Mormon. She began to notice the changes happening in her son and decided to look more into what he had discovered. Within several months, Wu Mama entered the waters of baptism as the newest member of the Church. According to Guan Chen, this woman has completely changed into a smiling service bug searching for any opportunity to give. Annie and I have been lucky enough to be swept up in her generosity. After several months of feeling far from home, we found our Asian equivalent in her humble apartment. The first time we visited, Wu Mama took us on a tour of a neighborhood called Danshui complete with a ferry ride along the bay and manicures at the local night market. We rode the train home laden with boxes of fried rice and fruit along with a renewed determination to give to others as much as Wu Mama had given to us. We stayed with them again a couple of weeks ago and brought along our dear friend Whitney Sheahan who is also teaching English in Hualien. Once again, we were treated like royalty and feel like we have family in Taipei.

Learning to Teach

When I decided to move to Asia, I worried about things like the language, the food, moving from family, and getting used to a foreign county. Teaching preschoolers? Mah! Piece of cake! Piece of crumb cake! These are toddlers for crying out loud…how hard could that be?! I think I hear the faint but distinct chuckle of all you mothers, fathers, and nursery teachers half a world away…you know. Let’s see how my first week went. Day 1: Teacher Amy comes to class with the expectation of doing animal yoga with the preschool kids for forty-minutes. Wow, that was an adventure. Day 2: Teacher Amy guides the class in making journals. Uh huh. Day 3: Teacher Amy plans to organize forty toddlers in a make-believe grocery store, complete with homemade paper money, plastic fruit, and grocery lists. You get the picture. Needless to say, Teacher Amy has been humbled.

I teach four hours a day and create roughly forty lesson plans a week. Considering the fact that I have no experience in preschool teaching, this was quite the challenge at first. It still feels like I am constantly planning, but I have developed a basic routine which helps lessen the load.

Despite the stresses of the creating curriculum and working with other teachers, the affection of forty beautiful Asian children has been enough to make my heart melt. I am growing deeply in love with these little friends. It is deeply satisfying to see them learn. I am discovering the world again through their innocent eyes.

Teaching began to click when I started focusing on loving my students instead of having effective lesson plans. It has taken awhile, but I think finally, Teacher Amy is learning how to teach.

Steamy Buns and Freezing Buns

This post will highlight two of the less than desirables of my experience thus far in Taiwan. The first is found in a little gathering of street vendors about a mile away called the night market. Although it is pretty easy to find with some simple instructions, a more dependable way to get there is to follow the scent of what Annie and I endearingly call (please pardon the language) “bum-cheek tofu”. The locals call it stinky tofu because it smells like rotting meat mixed with manure. It’s a fermented tofu that fills the air, cuts through your lungs, and destroys any thought you ever had of eating. (New diet idea: stinky tofu air fresheners?) I think I’ve developed an aversion to the smell because if I ever get a whiff, my stomach starts to turn. Add to the smell this lovely array of every part of the animal you never wanted to eat, and you got yourself a meal!

Luckily, despite the delicacies that I have yet to develop a taste for, there really are quite a few delicious dishes here in Taiwan. My favorite by far comes from a little street vendor in downtown Hualien. Our boss Yuling took us there on our first Saturday and we not only gobbled these up but have craved them every day since. I’ve had steamed dumplings before but this was my first time eating a Taiwanese steamed bun. This sticky Wonder Bread ball is full of meat or vegetables and somehow melts in your mouth. Pauline, we are saving one for you.

Scouts might relate a little better to the second less desirable than other people. Imagine a winter campout in a tin barn with 70% humidity and only a space heater the size of a postage stamp. That would pretty much sum up my sleeping situation here. Annie and I have been basically freezing since we’ve come. It’s that humid cold you always hear about, the type that literally cuts you to the bone. Warm herbal teas, seven layers of jackets, two pairs of socks, multiple pajama pants, and ski hats have really come in handy over these last few weeks. Needless to say, we are excited for the sun to come out (and yes, I do give you permission to send this post back to me when I am complaining about the sweltering heat in a couple of months).

Touching Down in Taiwan

Welcome to Taiwan!






Annie and I took off from Salt Lake City last Monday night at about 9:30pm. 27 hours, 9,755 miles, and 350 lbs of luggage later, we arrived at the front steps of our new home...not without our fair share of adventures on the way.



16 hours of flying was a completely new experience for me. It was claustrophobic and we were in darkness the entire time because we preceded the sun. Our 2 AM meal included raw tuna, every announcement was made in Chinese and broken English, and my Vietnamese neighbor told me about visiting her Hmong friends in Minnesota. The flight helped me sympathize a little more with the Jaredites and I had to restrain myself from the kissing the ground after landing.

Annie and I made an important realization too late as we eyed our 4 roller suitcases, 2 backpacks, 2 coats, and laptop case: we packed too much. We somehow made it through the airport to the Express Bus station. Despite the language barrier, we thought we bought a bus ticket to the Taipei Main Train Station. We were on cue to board when an angel dressed like a Taiwanese airport employee appeared, told us that it was the wrong bus, helped us get the right ticket, and then disappeared. I didn't even get a change to bray, "Shay Shay!" before he left.




Our faces were plastered to the side of the bus as we made our way through Taipei. We felt smack dab in the middle of an Asian movie and we loved it. At the Taipei train station, we met up with Yuling's friend Dennis who had the duty of getting us on the train to Hualien. He bought us tickets for the 10:00am train at less than a minute to 10:00am, so with panic in his voice, he ordered us to follow and took off down the station. We probably could've done that just fine if our jet-lagged, 5'4" legs weren't burdened down by 350 lbs of luggage. We chugged behind with sweat beads forming on our foreheads. I felt grateful that I didn't know any Chinese swearwords.



Annie and I miraculously made it on the train. Our relief was short-lived as we looked at the pile of luggage squished in the doorway of the moving train. We had no idea how we were going to move it down two cars to our assigned seats. I decided to buck up and go for it. Every Taiwanese eye was glued to the frizzy haired, grumbling American girl as she banged suitcase and backpack down the completely too narrow aisle. We gave up and decided to bag the whole 'sit in your assigned seat' thing. The nearest row suddenly became ours and we took up two extra seats with our luggage. The next two hours were a mix again of our plastered faces against the window, drowsing out with fatigue, going for a round of M&M's as a pick-me up and then starting the process again. We met several more angels on this leg that helped us know when we arrived.

Movie Clip: Train to Hualien

The train doors open, our luggage exploded onto the landed, and I'm sure I heard the faint sound of cheering Taiwanese as the train left us in the dust. I paused to take in my first impressions of this new place. The air smelled cool, moist, and clean. There was a heavy tranquility that floated in the breeze. A small Asian woman with a bun on the top of her head stood beside the train chanting a strange high pitched advertisement for her newspaper stand. A little red sign across the tracks read, "Welcome to Hualien" in English and Chinese.


Although we felt momentary relief at "finally arriving", the relief quickly vanished as we realized that we could not celebrate anything until our 4 roller suitcases, 2 backpacks, 2 coats, and laptop case were securely stowed away inside our apartment. On our way to the front of the station to meet our ride, we discovered that the escalator to the 30 step staircase in our way was broken...of course. Once again we volunteered to perform comic relief for Taiwanese spectators as we dragged our suitcases up each step and down the block.

We sat on a step in front of the train station as we waited for our ride. After a bit, a little white car pulled up and a short Taiwanese woman popped out announcing herself as our new boss Yuling. Her energy was evident as she stuffed me, Annie, and our luggage into her car and took off for the Owl Preschool. After two more very steep staircases and a ledge, Annie and I finally wheeled our suitcases into our new bedrooms, vowing in blood to NEVER again take more than a toothbrush and clean underwear on any future voyage.

Amy in Asia

Last fall I started having cravings to visit Asia. They were generally subtle yet pungent enough that I started asking my Asiaphile friends about possibilities. One high school buddy did some checking and let me know that he'd found me an opportunity to teach English at the same preschool where he'd worked a few years before. Everything fell miraculously into place and before I knew it, I'd quit my internship in Salt Lake, put a plane ticket on my Visa bill, and climbed on a plane bound for Taipei. Even though my Mandarin vocabulary begins and ends with the anything you'll find on a Chinese restaurant menu, this jump into adventure feels so right. My cousin Annelise decided to jump in with me and we've already made enough memories to last a life time.