I Love This City

I know it's been a while since I last wrote. But I have been so busy exploring all the sights and flavours that Kaohsiung has to offer. I can't believe it's almost been a month since we arrived in this beautiful country. I never expected to be doing so much and loving every minute of it! 

Enjoying the water :)

Since classes haven't quite started yet, I have been spending a lot of time at the beach. The weather has been around 26-28 degrees daily, so I have been soaking up the sun at the campus beach (don't worry mom, I have been wearing sunscreen). There are 2 beaches on campus, one large public beach, and a smaller "secret beach". We have been spending most of our time on the secluded secret beach. The water is a little chilly but, I have still gone swimming a few times. Locals look at us like we are crazy laying on the sand in bikinis because to them this is cold weather. This is their winter. Something interesting about this location is the abundance of people getting wedding photos taken. Virtually at any given moment there is at least one couple getting pictures taken at this gorgeous spot.

Chinese dessert - tofu & fruit

It has been great getting to know all the exchange students. There are people from all over the world, but the majority are from Europe, particularly France. It is especially helpful that some of the students here have been here already for one semester, or who are returning the for the second time. They have been really helpful at showing us some great places to eat. Everywhere you look there are people selling food. The main problem is most menus are in Chinese or else their translation isn't always accurate. For example, Arthur and I ordered fruit smoothies, and what we got was shaved ice with ice cream and fruit. Delicious, but not quite what I was expecting. One of my favourite things here are the fresh fruit drinks. There are numerous places that you can get fresh fruit blended with ice and sometimes milk and these refreshing drinks are so incredibly tasty and cost only 1 or 2 Canadian dollars. Another thing I have really been enjoying are the desserts. 

With the luxury of scooters and experienced tour guides, we have been able to find some hidden gems. Some of them serving local food, others serving delicious western food. Who knew one of the BEST burgers I would ever eat would be in Taiwan!? Our German friend Richard showed us this cute little diner named Howdys that had the tastiest burgers, fries, and milkshakes. After driving 25 minutes by scooter to this diner, we happened to be right by Lotus Pond. Since this was at night we weren't able to see the true beauty of the pond and its spectacular temples surrounding the pond, but we were able to see the two towers (Dragon and Tiger) all lit up. We will definitely check out Lotus Pond during the day sometime. You can walk around the lake (around 2 hours) and visits dozens of temples. 

Lotus Pond

Saturday Februrary 26th, the ISA took us on a fantastic field trip. We took the MRT to the outskirts of the city for some BBQs and activities. First we took a traditional Chinese train which was very a very slow open train mainly made out of bamboo. Next we played a game of paintball. I have never done this before, and I was pretty scared. Throughout the orientation, there were numerous horror stories (rare, but real) of people getting seriously hurt, and even one death. Based on this, I became terrified. I was not very good at this game. Probably because I took cover and fired off my gun like crazy until I ran out of paintballs. Probably not the best winning tactic. 


Next we went to a traditional Taiwanese BBQ. With hundreds of people, each table is given a box with supplies and food. Each table has a pit with coals and a grill to cook the food. We ate sausages, chicken, pork, green peppers, fish, cabbage, and bread. This was a very cool experience and it was a lot of fun. After we ate we did some Go-Kart racing. I had done this before so it was not new to me, but still a lot of fun. The cars went pretty fast, so some people were flying by me. Since there was such a large group, this took a couple hours. 

Beggar Chicken

After this, we made our way to BBQ #2. This one was a little different. It is called Beggar Chicken. This BBQ is done by cooking food under ground. It is a very old way of cooking food. The name comes from the tale of an old beggar who did not have any food, went searching in the jungle for something to eat. He found a bird and decided to cook it. He did not know how to do so, so he made a fire underground and put the bird in it and covered the hole with rocks and dirt so nobody else would steal his food. After a few hours, he returned to a delicious dinner. We cooked corn, sweet potato and eggs in newspaper, and the chicken and ribs in tin a tin foil container. The entire day was a great bonding experience for all the international students. Arthur even made a new friend. A lady had a bird just sitting on her shoulder, and the bird took quite a liking to him. Maybe I have some competition ;)

The following week was the beginning of our classes. So far, they are going pretty well. The professors and very bright despite the language barrier. I have started Chinese class - it is 3 times a week for 2 hours each class. It's been very hard but already I know how to say Hello, my name is Chantal. What is your name? I come from Canada. Where do you come from? And, it's nice to meet you. The language is very complex, and it's been very challenging. I am looking forward to being able to communicate a little better. Even though Taiwanese people are very eager to help even if they cannot speak the same language as us. If you think Canadians have a reputation of being nice, then come to Taiwan. They are the nicest people I have ever met.  

I miss you all very much, and I will be sure to write more often. 


Chantal
xo