My Graced Journey: December 2004

Friday, 31 December 2004

Teaching and living in Luodong

English Teacher in Taiwan

Luodong 2003-2004

In June of 2003, I accepted my first ever TEFL teaching job in Taipei, Taiwan with Jump Start English. They picked me up at the airport in a black 500 class Mercedes and took me to a hotel, where I slept most of the day due to jet lag. It was summer in Taiwan, meaning hot, humid and sticky. I started my TEFL career by doing a summer camp in Taipei. When I started a month later with regular classes, the school wanted us to teach diphthongs and inflected endings, complicated Grammar concepts, to 3 and 4-year-olds. Needless to say, it did not go so well and I decided to move on to another school. I found a language center, called Koala Educational Institute, in Luodong, a couple of hours away by train on the East coast of Taiwan.

I relocated to Luodong in October of 2003 and taught ESL to Primary school children and Kindergarten kids early mornings and evenings. During the day, I either took my scooter, or my bicycle, and explored Luodong. I had a 50 cc Honda scooter, with which I travelled anywhere, even Ilan mountains and to Taipei, taking pics along the coastal drive. I made good friends with Chris from New Zealand, Elma from South Africa and Sandy from Romania, and we travelled all across the East Coast on our times off, sometimes by train, other times with our scooters.

Rural scenery - Luodong

On the Taiwan cycling tour - July 2004

In July of 2004, I was one of 5 expat cyclists from 5 different nationalities to cycle approximately 1000 km around the coast of Taiwan, in a circular route from Taipei back to Taipei. We raised funds for the Red Heart Foundation of Taiwan. The tour took about 11 days across the industrial coastal Western plane of Taiwan and back to Taipei across mountain ranges of eastern Taiwan. I had Bronchitis for most of the tour, but managed to complete the long ride. I changed teaching jobs at the end of the tour and worked for Cathy’s American school as an ESL teacher for High school kids, where I stayed until December of 2004, before I accepted a TEFL position in Zhongshan on the Chinese mainland.

Taiwan is indeed one of the highlights of my TEFL career across many countries. It is ‘little America’ on a tropical island, with all the modern amenities, yet with a natural beauty that was ripe for exploration. I particularly enjoyed my scooter rides and all my visits to natural hot springs.

East Coast scenery - Taiwan

About Taiwan

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia. Its neighbours include China (officially the People's Republic of China, PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and also possesses the largest economy of any state outside of the UN.

Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, healthcare, public education, economic freedom, and human development. The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree (Wikipedia).

History

The island of Taiwan, former officially known as Formosa, was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century, when Dutch and Spanish colonies opened the island to Han Chinese immigration. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the last dynasty of China. The Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China (ROC) was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty (Wikipedia).

Modern History

Following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROC's loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC continued to claim to be the legitimate government of China, its effective jurisdiction since 1949 has been limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands, with the main island making up 99% of its de facto territory.

As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, when the PRC assumed China's seat, causing the ROC to lose its UN membership. In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with a semi-presidential system (Wikipedia).

Current Status

The PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan. It asserts that the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy, the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC. Today only a few smaller nations recognize the ROC as the sole legal representative of China, but many other states maintain unofficial ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates.

Although Taiwan is fully self-governing, most international organizations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate only as a non-state actor. Internally, the major division in politics is between the aspirations of eventual Chinese unification or Taiwanese independence. The PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible (Wikipedia).

Rural estates - Luodong

About Luodong

Luodong Township is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan and is located on Lanyang Plain. It is the smallest township in the county. Its name derives from the Kavalan word rutung, meaning "monkey", referring to a large population of monkeys there half a century ago. It covers an area of 11.34 square kilometres and as of 2014, it had a population of about 72,000 people. It has a large, landscaped sports park and a large night market - Luodong Night Market - containing many varieties of local food, such as scallion pancakes. Luodong has an excellent natural environment, and is close to both urban Yilan and Su'ao Township, popular for its cold and hot springs (Wikipedia).

Living in Luodong

My home

View of Luodong from my apartment

Apartment interior

Chris and Elma visiting me in my second apartment

Tuzi, my pet rabbit looking for a snack

Downtown Luodong

Luodong street

Night market street - Luodong

Main street - Luodong

Luodong train station

Bicycle shop- Luodong

Scenery near my apartment - Luodong

Elma at a restaurant in Luodong

Luodong street scenery

At an Italian restaurant - Luodong

Luodong street near Sports park

Tony's shwarma shop in Luodong where I regularly bought Lebanese shwarma's

With Tony and Chris

Luodong Sports Park

Luodong Sports Park is a large park in Luodong, Yilan County, Taiwan. The park covers 47 hectares of land and it includes a range of facilities for sport including basketball and a swimming pool. The park is divided into four sections that include; forest area, sport area, waterscapes, and other landscapes (Wikipedia).

View of the Sports park with Luodong in the background

Don and Daniel, friends of mine from the Taipei church at the restaurant section of the park

View of the park lake with fish

View of park

View of the park's lake

View of park's lake with an apartment complex in the background

Lake jetty walkway - with my bike

Ducks on the lake with fish in the lake that people fed with bread crumbs

Coffee shop/restaurant - Luodong Sports park

At Luodong Sports Park

Chris at Luodong Sports Park

People feeding the birds and fish - Luodong Sports Park

People feeding the birds and fish -
Luodong Sports Park

Luodong countryside

Every spare moment I had, I spent either cycling or taking my scooter out to explore the area.

With my little Honda scooter taking a break alongside the road

River - rural Luodong

Rice paddies - rural Luodong

Rural farmhouse

Hill farmlands

Farmhouse - near Luodong

Rural Luodong

Farmlands - rural Luodong

Nature scenery - I-lan county

Lake scenery - Rural Luodong

'fishing restaurant' - Rural Luodong
Catch your own fish to barbecue

Rural farm transport

Cabin in the woods - Rural Luodong

Rural Luodong

river crossing - near Luodong

Mountain scenery - Ilan county

Winding road in the woods - near Luodong

Traditional Taiwanese pancake with ice cream and fresh coriander

Valley scenery - Mountain in Ilan county

Winding road in the woods - near Luodong

farm dam - rural Luodong

water flowers - Luodong

Teaching in Luodong

My first ESL job in Taipei

One of my kindergarten classes - Luodong

Playing games with my kids at Koala Educational Institute in Luodong

During a lesson

One of my kindergarten classes - Luodong

Taiwan travels

Coastal rides & Taipei

Exploring the beachside corniche with my scooter - Ilan

At a parking area of a beach - Ilan

I-lan beach

Pit stop - East coast road to Taipei

View of Turtle island from a beach near Luodong

Pointing to Turtle island from beach near Luodong

Pit stop - East coast road to Taipei

Taipei street scenery

I-lan Mountain

Elma & Chris en route to Ilan mountains

Dry river bed - en route to I-lan mountains

With my scooter - Ascending I-lan mountain

Ascending I-lan mountain - View of natural hot spring in the valley below

Ascending I-lan mountain - Giant old tree

Chris & Sandy on Ilan mountain

I-lan mountain park

Elma - misty view of the valley from I-lan mountain

Enjoying I-lan mountain park with Chris, Sandy, and Elma

Exploring the woods - I-lan mountain park

At tourist section of I-lan mountain park

I-lan beach outing

With Sandy

Sandy & Elma - I-lan beach

I-lan Harbour scenery

Elma & sandy near I-lan beach

Tarako Gorge

Taroko National Park is one of the nine national parks in Taiwan and was named after the Taroko Gorge, the landmark gorge of the park carved by the Liwu River (Wikipedia).

Clear cool water - Tarako Gorge

Under the red bridge - Tarako Gorge

Old bridge- Tarako Gorge

Jiufen

Jiufen, literally: "nine portions", is a mountain area in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. During the first years of the Qing Dynasty, the isolated village housed nine families, thus the village would request "nine portions" every time shipments arrived from town. Despite the earliest reference to the production of gold in the island dating to 1430, and multiple rediscoveries by early inhabitants, visiting Japanese, Dutch occupiers, and Koxinga's retainers, awareness of the wealth of Taiwan's gold districts did not develop until the late Qing era. In 1890, workmen discovered flakes of gold while constructing the new Taipeh-Kelung railway and in 1893 a rich placer district was discovered in the hills of Kau-hun that produced several kilograms[a] of gold a day (Wikipedia).

Chris on the train to Jiufen

Road passing the entrance to Jiufen

Steps leading up to Jiufen

Jiufen stairs

Jiufen - filming location

Enjoying snacks - Jiufen

Henry and Henry the cat - Jiufen

Jiufen house

Jiufen buildings

View of the valley below - Jiufen

View of the valley below and East-Coast of Taiwan - Jiufen

View of the valley below - Jiufen restaurant view

Evening drinks - At a Jiufen restaurant with Sandy

Night time street scenery - Jiufen

View of the valley below and East-Coast of Taiwan - Jiufen

Su-Ao

Su'ao Township, located in southern Yilan County, Taiwan, is an urban township that is famous for its seafood restaurants and cold springs. It has two large harbors: Su'ao Port, a multi-function seaport that also houses a naval base; and Nanfang-ao Port, a major fishing port of Taiwan (Wikipedia).