Week four is done & dusted. I didn’t leave Yilan County this week, but I had a fantastic time exploring Yilan County's countryside. Alas, I am still at the mercy of the local train system, but those days are numbered.
On Friday morning, our crew of four met up with surf coach Alex at Wai’ao Beach, about a 25-minute train ride north of Yilan City. Alex (originally from northern France) had come to Taiwan 13 years ago on vacation and ended up staying. Per Alex, the swells on this particular day were better than they had been in a while, a welcome change from the glass-still water we encountered on our last trip to Wai’ao. Nobody in our group had ever surfed before, but by the end of the two-hour stint, we had all successfully caught a few waves into shore and could practice independently. On larger waves, I found it difficult to pop up quickly while maintaining my balance. Waiting until I felt stable would cause me to nosedive before I could stand, and standing before I felt stable made me wipe out 90% of the time. The whole experience made my lack of rip-sticking/skateboarding/snowboarding experience very obvious. Board rentals are cheap (lessons are not), so I think I’ll rent a board and put some work in next time I have a day off. If anyone has any surfing tips, I’m all ears.
Surfing took it out of me, so I went straight to a noodle place and ordered the spiciest dish on the menu. With so much spicy food everywhere around me, I’ve decided I need to train myself to be invincible by ordering spicy stuff whenever I can. This soup contained congealed duck blood (the purplish stuff on the bottom left of the bowl), a common soup ingredient and night market snack. Not my favorite, but it’s super nutritious, so I try to eat it whenever it appears (often as a surprise) in something I order.
After a laid-back afternoon, we hosted a mahjong night at my apartment. Mahjong vaguely reminds me of gin rummy, except with much more going on. Two members of my cohort with relatives from different regions of China figured out that the versions they grew up playing weren’t the same, so after some brief confusion, we settled on the (much simpler) Hong Kong version. It goes something like this…Drawing from rows of tiles in the center, players try to make sets of 3 of a kind or runs of 3 consecutive tiles in the same suit. If any player discards a tile that would give you a complete set, you say “peng,” and take the tile to complete your set, no matter whose turn it was. If you want to complete a run of tiles, you can only take a discarded tile from the player who goes before you, and you say “chi.” I have yet to win a hand, but it’s basically all luck, anyway. I’m sure that’s what they all say, though.
On Saturday, I went for a long walk around downtown Yilan City. There is a road that forms a circle around the city center, so I grabbed a green tea and tried to walk slower than usual. I’ve enjoyed spending weekends and evenings with my cohort, and the memories I’ve made with them have made this first month extremely fulfilling. I haven’t prioritized finding pockets of time to spend alone outside my bedroom, so it felt nice to zone out, wander around, and recharge my social battery.
On Saturday night came salt-rimmed margaritas (Kirkland Signature) and a grand return to Blues & Jazz Bar. Key takeaway: maybe we should try some new places. Sunday was a highlight of the weekend— about a 30-minute train ride south of Yilan City is Su’ao, a small but important naval and fishing town. Su’ao is famous for its cold springs (one of only two of its sort; the other is in Italy), and for its seafood, so naturally, we had to check out both. The cold springs contain high levels of carbonate, sodium, and calcium ions, giving the water a taste reminiscent of pennies. The springs were pretty cold, but we unfortunately picked a rare overcast & cool day to visit. On a standard Yilan summer day (95 and humid), this place would feel amazing. Our crew left the cold springs and headed to Nanfang’ao, a large isthmus and fishing hub, searching for seafood. Needless to say, the search was successful.
On Monday, I did a co-teaching activity with the two LETs (local English teachers) I’ll work with for the next 10 months. We wrote an EFL (English as a foreign language) lesson plan together and taught it to other members of my cohort & their LETs as practice. This took me out of my comfort zone, but I enjoyed getting to know my LETs better and challenging myself to keep the class engaged. Our lesson focused on discussing the weather, and we tried incorporating some team competition activities into our teaching. Overall, it went well and made me excited to start helping in the classroom.
Since Monday was our last day of onboarding, Tuesday was a celebration. We got up early and headed to Sanxing, an inland region of Yilan County known for its green onions. We arrived at a small farm and learned how to make scallion pancakes. These are massively popular in this part of Taiwan as a breakfast food or snack, and the ones we made were the best I’ve ever had. They were crispy, full of fresh scallions, and doused in chili oil, the perfect start to my day. We grabbed lunch and stopped by a local scallion museum before heading to a capybara farm. The capybaras were cute and seemed pretty happy, but the other animals there (kangaroos, deer, parrots, turtles, alpacas) looked pretty decrepit, a reminder of why I don’t love petting zoos/zoos in general.
Wednesday was (finally) moving day, so at 10 am, four faculty members brought two cars to help me move. One car and one person would have been more than enough to transport my three suitcases and a backpack. Apparently, their last ETA had a serious penchant for shopping, and the moving process took two trips with two cars, so they were pleasantly surprised by my light load. I dropped my stuff at my new apartment and we went to tour schools. I enjoyed getting to know some faculty members aside from my LETs, and it was a welcome challenge to use my Chinese all afternoon. Until Wednesday, I hadn’t found a good opportunity to practice much speaking. Brief conversations with store clerks and my LETs let me practice a little bit, but all of my orientation material was in English, and I’ve found that many people will respond to me in English even when I try to use my Chinese. Next week, I’ll start my fall semester of Chinese classes and also meet my host family— two big opportunities for me to push my speaking/listening skills.
After fully unpacking, some friends and I went to a sushi place for dinner. There are three equally delicious-looking sushi places within a three-minute walk of my new place, so I foresee much more sushi in my future. The scallop sashimi was blissful, and the tuna sashimi oyakodon was unlike anything I have had before. The green fish roe (top right of the tuna dish below) caught me off-guard and appeared weirdly artificial, but it is made by simply marinating fish roe in a wasabi mix. The more you know. Speaking of wasabi, the fresh-ground wasabi rocked my socks. The tiniest smear on a scallop/tuna slice overpowered the bite and made my eyes water. I am not sure why they gave me so much.
At 7:20 am tomorrow (Friday) morning, I will embark on my first 20-minute bike to school. I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m anxious to finally start doing what I came here to do. I suspect my schedule will get busier, but I should have some good stories from school and will continue to jam-pack my weekends. A few buddies and I are working on getting our open-water diver certifications, which should open some doors for fun trips moving forward.
Soundtracks to my week have included…
Eternally Even - Jim James (whole album)
Cold on the Shoulder - Tony Rice (whole album)
Thanks for reading. As I mentioned, if you have any advice for a beginner surfer, let me know. Reach out any time to bwcopel@gmail.com.
A couple of thoughts…maybe a good multivitamin instead of duck blood? And be careful feeding the chupacabras. Food continues to look incredible. Send recipes.
So many chuckles in this post. Loved talking to you this morning.