Virtual Experience
Eat & Exercise
The night market my friends and I visited offered culinary delights for the average person to the brave at heart. In my group of friends, there was a taker for stinky tofu, I mean you only live once right? Well this once in a lifetime experience had my friend tasting a delicacy made popular by Wang Zhihe, who when failed the imperial exam turned to selling tofu for a living. Early on in his business, he had an excess of product that had turned green and smelly. One would think that would automatically mean you discard the product, but not Wang Zhihe. His bravery of tasting it turned what most would consider gross, into what was later coined “imperial green cubes.” Today you are able to get this unique culinary delight deep fried, spicy, soft, or barbecued. Stinky tofu is so potent it has been banned in seven countries and when asked what would you rather have stinky tofu or durian, durian one!
The “riskiest” food tried by yours truly on this weekend adventure were candied cherry tomatoes with a slice of plum. It was an interesting mix of textures and flavors and in reflection, besides alligator sausage is probably only the other interesting thing that I have ever tried. The “main event” if you will in Taiwan is tea. Who knew tea making had so many steps?! Frolleagues (friends + colleagues) of ours recommended a place in the mountains that was accessed by taking a 2.7-mile ride on a gondola. The Yao Yeu Teahouse was a quant 24-hour establishment tucked in the side of the mountain. And yes you read correctly, it is a 24-hour establishment. What was even more shocking was the fact that you were charged a cover charge to make your own tea!
Truly the only exercised experienced on this trip was walking around the city and laughter – laughter works the core though right?
Pray
According to a census conducted over a decade ago in Taiwan, Christianity only accounts for 3.9% of the population with Buddhism and Taoism in the top two. There were many moments in this quick weekend trip where we felt the calmness of the city and the kindness of the people. Strangers would come up to us on the street to check to see if we needed assistance in finding a destination. On another occasion, a waitress chased us down to give us the change we had left for a tip. In reflecting on the experience in Taiwan, the words penned in Proverbs 3:3 (TLB) came to mind, “Never tire of loyalty and kindness. Hold these virtues tightly. Write them deep within your heart.”
Over my years of travel, I have had pleasant interactions overall but this is the first time I can actually say that everyone was genuinely kind. In researching more about Taiwan for this post, I did read that important in the Taiwanese culture are politeness, honor, and respect (especially for elders) and that they are happy to see guests. It is without a doubt that I witnessed and experienced both in my short stay.
Love
I love the fact that being primarily stationed in Asia allows for quick and frugal getaways. It was mind-blowing to finish a day at work to only be walking around the night market in another country six hours later. Even more mind-blowing was the fact that the “Golden Girls” aka Ladies of Stanley were still awake! We are often wiped out by Friday evenings, happily in bed by an hour to embarrassing to type, and have even given ourselves “Golden Girl-like” names. There is a Daphne, Dorothy, Blanche and Beatrice in our Ladies of Stanley group and this trip served two purposes. One, to celebrate “Daphne’s” birthday and two, to make another memory since come August 2018 “Dorothy” and “Blanche” are headed off to Ethiopia and Vietnam.
As we are now just finishing our Shakespeare unit of study on Romeo and Juliet, the phrase, “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” comes to mind when I think of the life of international educators. My world continues to grow yet get smaller at the same time and I now have two more places to visit should time and funding allow. 🙂
Teach
Taiwan neighbors Japan, the People’s Republic of China, and the Phillippines. Although they operate as an independent country, have a substantial economy and a population of 23.55 million, they are not part of the United Nations and are officially the Republic of China (ROC). You may have noticed that during national sporting events the Taiwan flag is replaced by the Taipei flag as China does not recognize Taiwan as being independent and if the choice has to be made between Taiwan and China, China wins.
Taiwanese can be characterized, in addition to what has been mentioned above as being extremely hard working. A 70 hour work week is considered normal as well as students attending school an average of 9 hours a day. Something else I found interesting is that students do not switch classes, teachers do. Reason being, it is more efficient and less disruptive. A worldwide exam administered in 2015 revealed that Taiwanese students are in the top four of the highest math scores trailing two points behind Macao, six points behind Hong Kong, and twenty-two points behind Singapore. Although I appreciate their kindness, working 70 hours a week is not for me!
Every block in the surrounding area we stayed in were adorned with 7-11s which has me thinking I need to change some of my investment strategies. And the 7-11s in Asia often go beyond getting your Slurpee or coffee fix. The 7-11s in Taiwan even surpassed the ones in Hong Kong in that you can not only pay your bills in the store, but you can also print a document, call a taxi, send a parcel while getting snacks.
A highlight of this trip was visiting Taipei 101 which is named for its 101 above-ground floors. The building’s height is 1,667 feet and appears to look like a mix between a stalk of bamboo and a pagoda. Construction took six years to complete and cost a whopping 1.8 billion dollars. Up until 2015, it had the world’s fastest elevators which ascended passengers at speed of 16.83 meters per second. The tower is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes as it holds a tuned mass damper aka wind damper that is 5.5 meters in diameter and weighs 660 tons. The steel plates used to construct the damper total 41 and are 12.5 cm thick. It is suspended from the 87th to the 92nd floor by 8 steel cables and when tested reduced the sway of the building by up to 40%.
The trip to Taipei 101 marks my second visit to one of the world’s top ten tallest buildings with the Burj Khalifa being the other. I have also been able to take pictures of two more on the list Shanghai Tower (Shanghai) and Lotte World Tower (Seoul). Left to go, should I be in the area visiting: Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower (Mecca), Ping An Finance Centre (Shenzhen), One World Trade Center (NYC), Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre (Guangzhou), Tianjin CTF Finance Centre (Tianjin) and China Zun (Beijing).