Tainan is a beautiful city with architecture hailing from multiple different periods. However, it has forced me to recognise and think about another aspect of civic beauty we often neglect – our footpaths. Despite the time we spend admiring the skylines above us, we take very little time to look down at our feet. Tainan’s…Continue Reading Mind the gap
Part Three: The Purpose Being a language exchange, we of course have Chinese language classes at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Chinese Language Center (成功大學華語中心). I was originally placed in H class based on a test done prior when I was still in NZ, but after discussing with the teacher, I decided to move down…Continue Reading Chapter One: 8,765 km (continued)
The cans of coffee from 7/11 taste like sugared water, but I’m still buying them. There’s just something about opening the fridge door and that sweet feeling of selecting something out of ten different options, of carrying a coffee in your hand when you walk to class. It makes the class feel less class-y and…Continue Reading Tianxia in Tainan: Lessons in Learning, and Other Adventures
Recently, I’ve found myself comparing Tainan to my hometown, Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland. It’s no question that Tainan is different from Tamaki Makaurau, with its boisterous traffic like a chaotic but orderly anthill, its buildings crouched over the footpath and its alleyways quiet, culturally rich enclaves. …Continue Reading Unalikes and Likes
It’s official: fifteen of us have landed in Taiwan and settled in the beautiful city of Tainan! It has been a week since we landed, and my mind has finally touched ground to realise that the Sky Tower is 8,773 km away (according to Google). It took me a while to use my sight to…Continue Reading A new beginning.
It is 11 pm, and I am sitting in a cafe in my neighbourhood in Seoul, writing this blog. Yes, you read that right – cafes here are open till 11 pm (some 24 hours). This is one of many moments I have had to pinch myself to ensure I am not dreaming. I am…Continue Reading I Am Here
My first week in Tainan. Taiwan has been an eye-opening experience, to say the least! Every day I discover more differences between the way of life here and ours back in New Zealand, which I did not expect before coming and makes my experience here even better. A critical piece of information: a pedestrian crossing…Continue Reading First impressions of Tainan!
I took on the advice we received at the Prime Minister’s Scholars orientation day and journaled almost every single day since we arrived, so here is a little wrap-up of the first week in Seoul, presented through excerpts from my journal: Tuesday 6 December It’s 10:56 pm here at Frontier House on the Korea University…Continue Reading First week in Seoul
The roads of Tainan technically don’t have pathways. What there is of the space between the storefronts and road is owned privately so that the path’s tiles frequently change as one section of a building ends and another begins. This means that one pedestrian’s pathway is a million different people’s workspace, restaurant floor, storage space…Continue Reading Tianxia in Tainan: ✨a blog✨
Tuesday 11 December First day of classes today. I didn’t get enough sleep, but I woke up surprisingly easily. Felt like I was five years old again, walking off by myself to my classroom. When I walked in, it was dead silent, and people were on their phones, faces down. Our homeroom teacher is super…Continue Reading First day of classes