Stepping forward, although you have confidence.
Busy last week or so. Here’s a quick overview of what’s been going on in BEAutiful (seriously need to see some nature soon) Chungli.
Squid on a stick - Night Market - too chewy for me...
The quest has begun to find good roads in the area. I began cycling this week to both school in the mornings and the various locations for work in the evenings. I have come to the conclusion that even though I can actually get around the city faster than people on scooters, I am going to slow down and take my time.
People do not expect for a bicycle to be moving with any sort of speed, and after a handful of extremely close calls, I’ve decided it wasn’t worth it and I am going to just ride slow in the city. Plus, if I keep having to perform the huffy skid stop, I will be burning through tires and brakes every couple of days.
Last Saturday I was randomly observed at work. Definitely nervous; it didn’t help that I thought the guy observing me was a student late for class… oops. Anyways, both classes went well and I seem to be doing everything right.
After class, I stopped around the corner at a little mexican cart (it’s still not ideal, but as close as you can get to the real stuff in Taiwan) and had some quesadillas before randomly starting a conversation with the owner of the tea shop directly behind the mexican stand.
Turns our he lived all over the US and has some great stories; also cycled around Taiwan and told me some good routes to take, along with some possible free places to stay with family and friends of his on the path.
After chatting with him for a while, I went to the bike shop down the road and ordered my clip-less pedals and shoes. While there, they gave me a pamphlet telling the exact route a lot of people take around the island. Exactly what I’ve been looking for, only it’s in chinese. Oh well, it might be helpful in at least gauging the distances for each day.
When I left the shop, I started to cycle home. I immediately had a man drafting (riding close behind to save energy) off me. He passed me on the downhill (of course) but something wasn’t right. His feet weren’t on the pedals, just hanging off to the side. He was riding a fixed gear going about 40kmph, haha (wish I had a video – funny to watch). Absolutely insane. At the bottom of the hill, as I watched him rub his feet on the wheels to slow down, I caught up with him and began an awesome conversation.
Really cool guy, our English-Chinese fusion provided some comical conversation, and in the end we decided to go for a ride next week. Still hoping to learn some more places to ride, but should be interesting, since neither of us really know how to speak each other’s respective language.
In other news, I finally got my ARC this week! Officially done with all of the paperwork, and now I can legally be in Taiwan for at least a year. Sweet!
Sunday a group of us went to Leofoo Village just outside Longtan. Think Six Flags, but the roller coaster aren’t nearly as big. It was a fun day filled with lots of free falls, spins and hilarious signs translated into English in the bathrooms (see title). Below are some photos of the day at the park and other random shots.
We rode this ride at least 6 times; just a free fall, but best ride in the park
1/2 group shot during lunch
This week marks the beginning of summer camps. I only have one right now, which is fine by me. Crazy busy. Each camp is 3 hours long without a co-teacher. So there I am with 8 elementary school age kids teaching them how to play board games. Seems to be going well, although some games are way too difficult. Seriously Scrabble is difficult for adults fluent in English, let alone kids who know one 5-letter word. Never stood a chance. Either way, it’s been a fun interesting week, but I’m ready for it to be over soon.
Also met a guy name Oler who works at Puxin, one of the schools I work at. He has also cycled around the island. He gave me some great maps yesterday, and I’ve begun to piece together the route, little by little.