SesameStreetSchool

 The apartment is comfortable,, there is plenty of food nearby and we're excited to begin our next phase. Larry came by in a car and took us to meet Nancy at the school.  It is quite a distance from Tainan so it doesn't appear we will be living in the apartment. It's in a suburb called Hunei-definately a smaller town than Tainan. More like a village, a farming village where the main business is fish farming.  

When we arrived, Nancy informed Barbara that she must give a demonstration lesson.  This seems to be the norm.  It is also the norm to not tell you ahead of time.  Arin was also invited to demo and decided to do it.  The demos were an hour long. I think this is rude and abusive. The schools are basically getting free teaching.  After the demos, we were fed, then reminded about the group dinner tomorrow night.  There was no feedback on the lesson and are we hired or not?????. So here we are left in the dark.  The Asian cultures seem to have no urgency.  Since we aren't paying rent, we are just going with the flow.  I mean, we are staying at Nancy's house so eventually she needs to make a move.  There appear to be no other Westerners working at the school and maybe not even in the town of Hunei,  The Taiwanese staff are very nice, unlike the former Vietnamese staff at ILA, and I think they get fed dinner every night.  Lots of schools do that.  After our demo, Nany fed us lunch. You will never guess what it was. Here is a hint. What is the most iconic Western restaurant? Did you guess it? Fast food! And not just any fast food, McDonalds fast food. You should have seen the school staff. They were so proud to be able to give American food to Americans. They were beaming. It reminded me of the times in Bien Hoa when a local person would score a Budwiser beer and offer it to us as American delicacy. So here we are, finally in the midst of Taiwanese culture looking forward to real Chinese food only to discover that McDonalds is on the menu!  Not only that, but Arin is a vegetarian. Later, Nancy asked what we wanted for dinner. Our request was fried rice for dinner. They couldn't believe it.  

The school is 20 minutes to the beach by motorbike.  We do not really want to live in this town, but it is probably the best bet for Arin to get a job without a diploma, and it pays $65,000 TD per month which is $2000 USD.  Arin could go to college on that amount.  Also, we feel obligated now.

A house in Tainan

As promised, out BnB friends helped us find a job.  The AirBnb has new people booked for tonight se we need to get a job and relocate to a new place. Yesterday our hosts introduced us to a guy from Colombian named Sabastian.  He has been in Taiwan for 6 years and is quite the entrepreneur.  Among his many endeavors, today he is wearing the hat of English teacher recruiter.  He is trying to fix us up with a job at The Sesame Street School located in a nearby village. Today he arrived on his motorbike and informs us that even before meeting with our prospective employers, an employer sponsored group dinner is scheduled for next Saturday.  So what does that mean?  Is Barbara hired before even meeting the employer???  As usual, cultural differences abound. 

Sebastian carried us on his motorbike to a restaurant where we met Larry whose family owns The Sesame Street School. Nothing was finalized at the meeting, except that when Larry informed his mother, Nancy, that we had no place to stay, Nancy offered us her apartment in Tainan.  So now we have a woman whom we have never met, inviting us to live in her home, on the recommendation of Sebastian whom we just met, who vetted us on the word of our Airbnb hosts who have known us for 3 days. Larry gave us a  key and we now have the house all to ourselves. Neither Nancy nor her son are even staying here with us. There is cash everywhere, what looks like important papers, and all sorts of personal belongings lying about. I guess living on an island provides its own security  They figure we can not get off the island undetected so what is our potential harm?  Anyway, the 5th floor apartment with no elevator is ok and we are able to pirate off a neighbor's internet.  As usual, Barbara and Arin have only one key between them so are virtually attached at the hip.

Larry came by tonight and took us to the school where Arin and Barbara both gave a demonstration lesson.  We have no idea if Nancy liked our lesson as there was no feedeback.  There appear to be no other Westerners working at the school and maybe not even in the town, which is off the beaten path.  The staff are very nice and I think we get dinner every night.  Today they offered McDonalds and fried rice.  The school is actually in a town called Hunei.  It is 20 minutes to the beach.  That is the important part..

Tainan, Taiwan

We visited many schools and no one was hiring.  We visited the beach in Tainan and it was not impressive. The motorbikes are out of control. We are probably not going to move to Tainan.

Last night in Taipei

We spent our last night in a new BnB.  This one better reflects the city-clean, spacious, airy.  The last one was a bit musty and dark which was a good transition from Vietnam.  We went to our first night market, the Raohe, which is literally right around the corner.  Tomorrow we go to the railroad which is literally right across the street. We depart to Tainan, a smaller city where Barbara hopes to find a job.  We will stay in a BnB run by a couple of teachers who promise to help Barbara find a job.

AirBnB

Our first AirBnB placement is in the SongShan district.  Even though it is in the center of town, it is incredibly quiet.  Our host, Yogee is as helpful as can be, even letting us arrive early.  He rents out two rooms and our first roommate was a Korean man in the next room.. After that, a German fellow joined our household.  It is so comfortable that we feel part of the family.  Barbara has been all over town looking for jobs.  Even though there is an excellent underground train, she still spends about 2 hours trying to locate the schools.  She had two interviews.  One of them seems very casual, but the other is just the opposite and she is not interested.  Apparently she had a bad experience with some school in Vietnam to which I heard her referring as she walked down the street after non casual school interview.

Taipei, Taiwan

Culture shock!!!!  I was made in Vietnam so I am in shock to see that other places in the world are so clean! I had no idea!  Taipei is modern, clean, and best of all, pedestrians have the right of way. Wow,  I am speechless.  Give me a couple of days before I can  post again.

Note from Barbara:  If you remember from the first post, The Water Bottle Chronicles was founded on the premise that I had not personally purchased a water bottle since Nov 2015.  Now, due to airline regulations, I was forced to leave my last water bottle behind in Khoa's car.  Since coming to Taiwan I have not had the same luck, therefore, I am calling an end to The Water Bottle Chronicles.  If you wish to continue following my adventures, you may tune in to my next blog.

Red Eye to Taiwan

Hello, Barbara bought me on the plane.  My name is LaVie.  I heard through the LaVie grapevine that I am the first water bottle that Barbara has had to purchase since leaving Sacramento in November 2015.  Not only that, but she had to pay another $1 sky tax which is something the airline added to the normal fee.  I am probably the most expensive water bottle that will ever be purchased in Asia.  Anyway, as you know, Barbara came from Vietnam and is taking the red eye on VietJet.  She used her usual trick as the last person entering the plane so she could see which aisles were empty and get a whole row to herself.  It was a nice flight that left Ho Chi Minh City at 1:30 am arrived in Taiwan at 5:55am.  The only glitch was having to purchase a return ticket in order to get the USA free 90 day visitor Visa.  Taiwan, like many other countries, will not let you enter the country if you do not have an exit ticket.  Thankfully, a nice lady at the ticket counter let us use her computer to purchase a ticket with a 24 hour free cancellation.  She say she has helped many people this way.  I wonder if she can fathom the depths of her good deed. This simple act by a person working at a obscure job in an obscure airport in the middle of Southeast Asia has probably saved people thousands of dollars, not to mention, mountains of stress and everything that goes along with that.

Barbara: Alright, it's been a lot of fun writing in the third person, but since the budget airline didn't give me a free water bottle,
I'm in a new, less attractive phase now, the phase where every trip to the airport is filled with trepidation. The phase where something goes wrong every time.....

Good bye Vietnam 13, 15 die

Arin and Barbara carried their luggage to the pool area which is the shortest path to where our ride was waiting.  Luckily, Hasnoor and Josh were in the Sky Cafe and escorted us to the car, helping with the luggage.  Our friend Khoa was waiting with his car as he had volunteered to drive us to the airport, and his daughter Payton came along.  I am glad they were our drivers, because, due to airline restrictions, Barbara had to leave me in Khoa's car when he dropped her off at the airport, and it is a very nice SUV.  40,000 new cars are imported into Vietnam every month and Barbara is very curious as to what the streets will look like in 2 years.  Who knows where I will be then? Tam Biet Barbara.  Hen gap li!

Street side seafood until midnight 13 alive arin uses

A group of Barbara's coworkers gathered for a seafood feast at the place where I go with Arin to buy vegetables.  When purchasing vegetables, we had seen muscles, clams and what not displayed. Seafood sitting in the hot sun all day did not look safe, so up until now, I'd not had the chance to accompany a meal. But when we ordered our food tonight, it was still alive.  This is how it is kept safe.  The street side eateries are filled with child size wooden chairs or plastic step stools as seats.  The plastic or wooden tables are also child sized.  Under the table is just dirt, and the motorbikes are about 5 feet away.  In other words, it is not clean, but if you want to be in Vietnam you just have to embrace it.  We had to wait until everyone got off work, so we went to eat at 9:15 pm.  At one point, Barbara noticed that the traffic had stopped.  We did not finish until well after midnight. What a great final memory of Vietnam.

Going away party hosted by the family

Dung invited everyone for a going away party.  We had delicious eggrolls and Bi Bui gave Barbara a little wooden elephant for which she seared high and low at the college  night market.  Everybody was there-Bi Bui's family, Dung's family, Thang Sue and Mr Thien.  A nice time was had by all and for the first time in history, the gathering only lasted 3 hours and did  not involve outside trips, because Arin and Barbara both had to work tonight.  So we went to AMA for the last time.  Mary, the director, kept squeezing Barbara's hand and saying how much she would miss her.

A typical date with Dung's family.

Barbara likes to hang around with this local family headed by a Vietnamese woman named, Dung, pronounced Yum, as in Yuma, Arizona.  Every date with Dung turns into an all day event (see Vung Tau Beach post).  Today, Barbara requested assistance with a haircut for her and Arin, so at 10:30 am, Dung and family pick up Barbara and Arin in their van.  The first thing Dung asks Barbara is "Are you hungry?" Barbara was determined not to make this another marathon day so answered no.  Dung and gang head to the hairdresser where we spent an hour because Barbara agreed to a 30 minute shampoo???  The haircut was great and we were on track for a short day until the hairdresser decided she could not cut Arin's hair short enough and decided he must go to a barber.  Dung has one near her house so we pick up food on the way.  As soon as we arrive, Dung invites Nhu and her mother (who had just left our house an hour earlier) to the big event that "Barbara and Arin are here."   Arin finally gets a haircut at 3pm when the shops reopen and we await our friends' arrival.  Dung keeps telling us 5 minutes, but it is actually another hour until our friends arrive.  Once Nhu arrives, things take a turn for the better because she can translate  Usually we do not know what is going on so Barbara finds herself waiting and waiting for who knows what, then gets driven who knows where. Nhu's mom invites everyone to coffee but Dung says it is too hot so we literally sit in a circle on the floor for an hour jabbering in the heat of the house.  At 6 o'clock, Nhu informs me the decision has been made to go to coffee near her college, but we must wait for the Buddhist ladies.  Two ladies arrive an hour later so Barbara hops up but finds to her dismay that we are waiting for yet another lady.  Barbara approaches Nhu about skipping coffee hour, but Nhu really wants her to see the college campus.  Finally the last lady arrives and we go to a cute little college area where Barbara has a raspberry smoothie.  All is well, all is well, the smoothie was delicious, the college village worth seeing, but can we go home how?  No, Nhu tells Barbara as we drop Nhu off at her dorm, the ladies must visit the Big C supermarket.   So we visit the market.  Barbara was tired, but Arin said it was like being a movie watching these three ladies who were the oldest and roundest in the store.  The day ended with the 7 of us trouncing through the parking lot at 7:30 pm sharing a baquette.  Hallejuh, we are home at 8 pm!  Oh yes, I forget to tell you, in the middle this marathon, everyone insisted that Arin's shirt is too hairy so he must take a shower and borrow one of Mr. Thang's shirts.  Arin opts to go and change at home, and being a good sport, he returns to the party.  You know, we really did not have anything else to do today, so why not....

15 dies, 16,14 remain

Water Bottles #16 and 14 reporting.  Red alert, red alert. water bottle #15 is missing and no one, not even Barbara, knows what happened.  As far as we can figure he was left at school, and this would not be the first time!  He was left there last week.  The reason we know this is because Barbara brought us to school when she could not find him, and lo and behold, when we entered the classroom, there he was, waiting for us.  Oh, you should have seen that day.  It was the first day of rain in 5 months and hereby commenced the official start of rainy season.  You see, Vietnam has 2 seasons: December through April is hot.  May through November is hot and rainy.  The Vietnamese describe the two seasons as hot, and hotter.  In California, where Barbara is from, it rains on and off throughout the year, but here in Vietnam there are two distinct seasons and is does not rain when it is not the rainy season.  She was surprised when the whole class stopped to stare outside at the falling rain.  When she asked the students what the big deal was, all they said was, "Cool weather coming."

Water bottle #12 meets its demise.

Dang it all. Barbara threw me away when Arin was not looking.  Down the garbage chute I went along with a coconut that Barbara had finished drinking. I am a little bit angry at the coconut, because Barbara likes to buy these on the street, stick a straw in them and drink the juice instead of drinking me, but all was forgiven after we were sent down the garbage chute together.  He let me ride on his back and I had the ride of a lifetime. I don't know if you have ever heard a coconut bouncing off the walls of a metal garbage chute for 16 stories, but what a racket we made!

Plans to move to Taiwan

I just saw my life pass before my eyes.  Barbara's lease and visa are expiring so she has decided to move on to Taiwan.  This is bad news for all of us because, as you know, we will not be allowed on the airplane.