Word by Word if not Side by Side

I used a random number generator and an old copy of the Word by Word picture dictionary.  If you're doing free writing in your English class, Word by Word can be a good way of generating more interesting responses.

June 12

1. Can you act?

Nowadays?  I have no idea.  I studied acting in college, and I was seriously considering becoming an actor in my early 20s.  People told me I was good at it, but then again when you're doing that kind of thing and you're desperately looking for approval friends tend to provide it.

Anyone who knows me now is going to have an incredibly difficult time imagining this, but the height of my acting career was playing a gay man dying of AIDS in a play I can't even remember the name of.  This event would have occurred in the early 90s, a year or so after I graduated high school.

I was hanging out with a lot of actors at the time, and I suppose that led me to the idea that maybe, just maybe I could act for a living.  Then, after a few months passed, I realized I was developing a penchant for exhibitionism, and it seemed to me that putting myself up on stage wasn't exactly nourishing the healthiest parts of my character.  Besides, I had other things I wanted to do, and other ways in which I wanted to develop (or be developed) as a person.  For this reason acting, and dreams of acting, quickly fell by the wayside.

Do I regret not pursuing acting as a career?  Not at all.  I'm thankful to my drama classes for helping me overcome my shyness, but being the center of attention in that way seemed to feed something less wholesome in myself, and at the time I had a very strong feeling that acting was not a good thing for me to do.

2. What's your occupation?

I teach English at a public elementary school in Taitung, Taiwan.  I have been so employed for two decades, though I've switched schools, regions and even countries several times.  I've taught at two elementary schools and one junior high in Taitung, three elementary schools and one junior high in Pingtung, and several elementary schools in the Seattle area, though teaching positions I held in Seattle were a lot more marginal.

3. Where's the clock? (and) Where's the dictionary?

The only clock in this room is in the supply closet behind the classroom.  I put it there on purpose.  There may be teachers who can use a clock effectively, but I've never found that a clock displayed in any classroom is a good thing.  The Windows clock that students can see on the smart TV is bad enough.

The Word by Word picture dictionaries, which I took all of the questions in this entry from, are on two sets of shelves along the wall to my immediate left.  There are over twenty copies of this book here.  There used to be a set of Chinese-English dictionaries in this room as well, but I banished those to the school library last semester.  I regard those things as just about useless in 2026.

4. May I take your order? (and) And what kind of salad would you like? (and) And for the main course? (and) What side dish would you like with that? (and) Would you like some dessert?

Yes, you may.  I'd like blue cheese dressing, and if you don't have that some kind of vinaigrette.  For the main course I'll have the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with the jalapeno bacon, or the hickory smoked bacon if you don't have jalapeno.  Dill rye bread.  For the side I think I'll go with the French fries.  I won't be needing desert.

5. Where are you going? (and) How do you want to send it? (and) Do you want me to mail this letter?

At the moment I'm going nowhere, and no, that's not a philosophical statement.  I have class in five minutes so I'm unable to leave.

I want you to send it to Port Angeles, Washington.  I'll be joining it there shortly.  The letter?  No, I shan't be mailing that today.

6. Oh, no!  I think I lost my ring! (and) Oh, no!  I think I lost my earrings!

I lost my wedding ring in the ocean once.  The salt water made it too slippery.  The thing just slid right off and disappeared.  Up in Dulan, I think.  Or maybe Nanwan.  It was a while ago.

My older daughter loves earrings.  Anytime we're in a new, touristy place earrings are the first thing she looks for.

7. Please seat the customers. (and) Would you like a booth? (and) Do you have any job openings? (and) This restaurant has a wonderful salad bar.

Why am I seating the customers?  I don't even work here!

I would generally prefer a booth.  Booths are nice.

I don't employ anyone at present.  My cats, however, are in the market for a box cleaner and general feeder.  If you have experience cleaning cat boxes and feeding cats you are welcome to apply.  The pay is a pat on the back every few hours... if I remember to pat you on the back.  I probably won't.

I haven't been to a salad bar in ages.  The last salad bar I can remember visiting was in the Noble Family Steak House located in Sanxia, New Taipei City, during one of the excruciating multi-day seminars we used to have up there.  I remember being very disappointed with the food.

8. What did you do yesterday morning/afternoon/evening? (and) What did you do last night? (and) What are you going to do tomorrow morning/afternoon/evening/night? (and) What did you do last week? (and) What are your plans for next week? (and) How many times a week do you have English class/go to the supermarket/exercise? (and) What's your favorite season?  Why?

Yesterday morning I woke up, turned off my alarm, fed the cats, cleaned the cat box, poured myself a glass of water, used the bathroom, read part of a novel, drove my car to work and then (probably) logged into this website.

Yesterday afternoon I was very bored.  I only had one class, and little to do besides that.  I remember watching YouTube videos for a while: Rick Beato's interview with Anika Nilles, Rush's new drummer, and other classic rock-type stuff.

Yesterday evening we went to Qilipo 七里坡 because I wanted fried chicken, but the server there was rude to my wife and we ended up walking out.  We had beef noodles at Chen Family 陳家 Beef Noodles instead.

Last night I watched The Forty Year Old Virgin for the thousandth time because I had a headache and I didn't want to think about anything.  That movie has held up pretty well, though I think in 2026 it works better as a drama than as an outright comedy.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to go swimming in the Flowing Lake if it's not pouring down rain.  After that I'll buy a latte at 7-11 and breakfast somewhere else.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll likely be watching Disclosure Day at the local theater.  I also saw Backrooms recently and I feel the need to say that Backrooms is awesome - best movie I've seen in a long time.  I doubt I'll like Disclosure Day as much as Backrooms, but I feel confident that it will also be good.  Spielberg has an excellent track record when it comes to science fiction.

Tomorrow evening I'll be either drinking beers with friends or sitting in my living room, watching movies and drinking beers with my wife.  It depends on whether I go out tonight or not.

Tomorrow night I'll be in bed, sleeping.  Don't call or text after 10 pm, because I usually forget to set my phone to airplane mode before bed.

Last week I did the same things I did this week, the only difference being that my younger daughter came to visit.  We spent Sunday driving up the East Rift Valley, mostly because it had been a while since she'd visited that part of Taitung.  On the way to Chrshang we stopped at Luye, where my wife and daughter bought too many crackers, and at Guanshan, where we discovered that the stinky tofu place was closed that day.  The lunch we had in Chrshang was not good.

Next week is the Dragon Boat Festival weekend.  On Friday we'll drive our cats over to Kaohsiung, where our daughters will watch them until the end of August.  My only plan for that weekend is visiting Shanhua in Tainan.  I want to take pictures of that area.

Technically speaking I have 20 English classes a week, though I'm not responsible for (directly) teaching all of those classes.  For a few of those classes I'm the backup guy, and I'm fine with that.

I go to (Big) PX Mart or Carrefour once or twice a week.  If it's twice a week it's because my wife and I decided to have sushi at the (Big) PX Mart after work.  That branch of Zhongxian is the most convenient place to eat near her school, and this option becomes even more attractive during the hotter parts of the year.

I try to exercise four times a week, but sometimes things come up and I miss a day.  Yesterday, for example, I planned to go running but later began to feel a little sick and decided to stay home.  (I'm fine now, by the way.)  All things being equal, I go running on Tuesday and Thursday, and swimming on Saturday and Sunday.  For a while I was trying to bicycle back and forth to work on Thursdays as well, but the recent weather has made this activity less feasible.

My favorite season in Taitung is definitely spring, more specifically the weeks between the end of March and the beginning of April.  It's not cold then, but also not as hot as it is later in the year.  It's a good time for getting out of doors.

9. Are you planning to travel soon? (and) How did you arrange your trip?

Yes, I'll be going to the States from July 13 to August 9.  I'll be spending the majority of that time in Port Angeles, Washington, where my parents live.  I might also venture down to Las Vegas, where my sister's family lives.

I find that a lot of those travel websites don't work well now.  I bought my tickets directly from the EVA website, and I bought bus tickets from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Port Angeles directly from the Greyhound website.

I don't want to plan a trip to Vegas now because I want to see how energetic I feel in Port Angeles first.  If my wife and I feel up to it I'll probably buy tickets for Vegas on the Alaska Airlines site.

10. I'd like a ______, please.

We'd all like a ______ now and then, but be advised that a _____ is illegal in some countries.  Please _____ responsibly.

June 14

11. I'd like a ______, please.

Well that's very naughty.  Where would you like it?

12. I think we need a new refrigerator.

As it happens I do actually need a new refrigerator.  Our old one still works but it's starting to make odd, unrefrigeratorlike noises.  We've been to Carrefour, (Big) PX Mart and 全國電子 (does that place even have an English name?) to look at new ones, but we can't make up our minds.  For that matter we also need a new washing machine.  Our old washing machine is making even odder noises than the refrigerator.

13. Where are you? (and) What are you doing?

At the moment I'm in my apartment typing this.  To my left is a set of sliding glass doors, and beyond these sliding glass doors I can see the western half of Taitung City stretching east to meet Liyu Mountain, which is just visible behind the hotel that sits on Ss Wei Road.  It's not yet hot and the sky is full of clouds.

June 15

14. What's the weather like today?

It's rainy and very, very moist.  I swear, when the typhoons start coming through here (whenever that is), it's going to be BAD.  Like, disaster level bad.

Yesterday was a little better.  The weather was hot and windy, which is my least favorite kind of weather, but at least I was able to get outside for a bit.  I went swimming in the morning, had lunch at a coffee shop, and I met a friend at Burger King for dinner.

15. Excuse me, I'm a new employee.  Where's/Where are the _____? (and) Where's Tony?

Are you S****?  I heard you (finally) got hired for that English school bus thing.  You seem a little confused about the difference between that program (in which you work for the County Government) and my program (in which I work, however distantly, for the Ministry of Education), but I think the differences will become obvious in time.

The weird thing is that your former coworker, the friend I met at Burger King, was talking about you yesterday and then, almost immediately after that conversation, I ran into the guy you're replacing at the Carrefour.

I don't know that much about the English school bus, but it seems like it could be a good gig.  I've known the guy you work with, A*****, for years, and he seems like a reliable person.  The office hours at Tunghai Junior High School are probably going to suck, so hopefully there will be less of them as time goes on.

I don't know where the _____ is.  Perhaps you left it in the _____.

Tony?  I don't know anyone named Tony.  I knew an Anthony back in the day, but I think he went back to South Africa.

16. May I help you? (and) How do you like this _____ tie/shirt/skirt? (and) What size are you looking for?

Yes, you may help me.  I should probably fill out/file U.S. tax returns soon, but I'm lazy to do it.

I like those ties, shirts and skirts just fine.  But why are you dressed as a schoolgirl?  I've never had that fantasy, and your being dressed in that manner while I sit in a public elementary school is very alarming.

I usually wear size XL T-shirts.  I've never worn a skirt, but my waist is a 32 or 33 so maybe that helps.

17. Could you get me that/those ______? (and) Watch out for that _____. (and) Do we have enough _____?

No, I couldn't.  I have to go find some fifth graders soon.  They need to finish their workbooks.

I will definitely watch out for the _____.  Someone should call animal control.

Do we ever have enough?  Maybe enough for now, but in the long term?  Most of us are so driven by our perceived needs, which are usually only wants anyway.  Does happiness lie in fulfilling a need or want, or in reducing and/or overcoming those same needs and wants?

June 16

18. I'm going to the supermarket to get some milk.  Do we need anything else?

What kind of beer do they have?  I'm a little tired of Taiwan beer, the cheaper American brands and the usual Japanese labels.  If they have anything more exotic I'd like a few.

Oh, and Absolut vodka if they have it.  The Kahlua I bought doesn't mix well with the Polish vodka I bought in Hengchun.  I need something more neutral.

19. What's your favorite color?

Most of the time it's green, but if I'm buying a vehicle I always choose red.  I still think about getting a red and black road bike sometimes.  My Cannondale has served me well, but I'm not a big fan of its color.

20. Can I help you?

Naw, I'm good.  I have an easy schedule today, and the only difficult part of my day is not drinking coffee.  I'm trying to cut down on my caffeine intake, and Tuesdays and Thursdays are slightly more difficult to get through for this reason.

Related Entries:

So Far, So Good... So What?

Pros and Cons: The Taitung County Government

What Name Which Someone Finds

Winter Plans

So Far, So Good... So What?

1. Prehistory: Seattle Up to 1999

I graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in International Studies in The Year of Our Lord 1999.  Aside from my B.A. I had an extremely questionable TEFL certificate from a sketchy "institution" in Montreal, Canada.  A few weeks after acquiring both my B.A. and my TEFL certificate I was on a plane to Taiwan, a country I had never visited before.

Why Taiwan?  To be honest, it's hard to remember.  At the time I'd been accepted into the JET Program, but my Japanese girlfriend broke up with me shortly thereafter, and as a result I changed my mind about going to Japan.  Besides the JET Program I'd also been accepted into the Peace Corps, but teaching in Turkmenistan didn't appeal to me at all.  Back then China and South Korea were also big markets for those who wanted to teach English overseas and make money, but neither of those countries did much for me.  China looked crowded, and South Korea's weather was too much like Seattle's.

I can remember coming across a Taiwan tourism video put out by the Ministry of Tourism in my university's library.  After watching it I thought, "Yeah, I could live there," and the rest is history.

2. Taichung 1: 1999 - 2002

My first job in Taiwan was at a private kindergarten on Anhe Road, south of Tunghai University.  For whatever reason the words "tunghai" (東海) have figured into my life several times.

My first day at work, embarked upon with ZERO teaching experience, was an unmitigated disaster.  Oh, the crying - it still haunts me in my dreams.  My second week was a little better, and my second month was better still.  It took me a while to get the hang of teaching kids, but then again I was pretty much thrown into the deep end of the teaching profession, with almost no preparation beforehand.  It was sink or swim from the very beginning.

Taichung at the time was very different from what it is now.  For one thing Taiwan Boulevard was known as Taichunggang (台中港) Road, and for another thing many of the areas I knew as "rural" are now buried under newer residential areas, shopping arcades, parks, factories and even an airport.  Most of the restaurants and bars I used to frequent are now long extinct, and if given a weekend in Taichung I'd probably have a hard time figuring out what to do there.  I still have a couple friends in that city, but I haven't seen these friends in a long time.

For me, as with many other foreign guys living in a big Taiwanese city, it was the usual round of dating followed by marriage and a kid soon after.  I was both married and a father in less than a year after my arrival.

A decade later I'd meet another expat living in Taitung who moved to Taichung around the same time I did.  From his perspective Taichung was a real shithole, enmired in a foreign social scene which resembled nothing more than a retarded version of high school.  I can't say that I got the same impression from my time in Taichung, but individual experiences will vary.

To be fair, I've met more "artistic" expats in Taichung than anywhere else.  I'm talking about the kind of people who style themselves actors, poets, musicians or all three.  Taichung seems better able to sustain those types of people.  Why this is I cannot say.

3. A Year in Hsinchu: 2004 - 2005

I moved to Hsinchu after completing a Masters in Teaching degree and receiving a Washington State teaching certificate at Seattle University.  I spent my time in graduate school certain that I would return to Taiwan, and I can remember thinking that I should find a more "impressive" job upon my return.

After a cursory job search I wound up at Canadian-American English School, a rather shifty institution run by two hardcore alcoholics who eventually tried to cheat me out of my pay.  It was a weird chapter in my life.

At that time we lived behind the Hsinchu Train Station.  A lot of that year is a blur to me now, but I remember riding the bus or train on visits to strange mountain towns between Hsinchu and Taoyuan, going to a night market underneath an overpass, and several pub crawls with a friend who I later learned was doing heroin.  I was teaching a class of five small children who got sick often, I was probably drinking too much after work, and I was secretly unhappy about turning 30 whilst doing a job that seemed to have no future.

Wind City 風城 Department Store.  I saw Sin City there.  It was also a place I passed through during one of my more drunken episodes, a day in which I drank an entire bottle of Absolut Vodka and blacked out in a KTV.  I was truly out of control that day, and even now I can't fully explain why.

4. Taichung 2: 2005 - 2006

Hsinchu having proven itself a debacle, we moved back to Taichung, where I worked at the same private kindergarten on Anhe Road.  Have you ever returned to your parents' home after a long absence, put on some of the clothes you left there years before, and wondered at the person you used to be, the person who wore those outfits?  That's exactly what going back to work at that kindergarten felt like.  There wasn't anything wrong with it exactly - it wasn't any worse or any better - but I was different, and thus less satisfied with the job.

My second daughter was born during that fourth of four years in Taichung.  We knew she was coming toward the end of our stint in Hsinchu, but thankfully she waited until I was settled into a new/old job in Taichung to arrive.

I remember almost nothing from that year except a strange British-German coworker who had an affinity for the Nazis.  He had plans to move to Germany after his year was up, and he may be educating Germans on the tenets of national socialism even now.  My wife wound up being his co-teacher, and it was a real nightmare.

5. Taitung 1: 2006 - 2008

After searching for a while I came across a public school job posting in far off Taitung.  Keep in mind that in 2006 the internet wasn't what it is now, the then-FET Program was still in its infancy, and getting any information about any job was a lot more work.  Nowadays one can apply on their website, but in 2006 it was a lot more difficult.

My job interview at Tunghai Junior High (there's that "tunghai" again) was one of the most stressful job interviews I've ever taken part in.  It wasn't that there was a lot of competition for jobs in Taitung in 2006, it was just that the hiring process was a lot less streamlined than it is now.

I flew to Taitung City from Taichung.  Afterward I was taken to the school, where I faced an interview with all of the school's administrators and English teachers.  It was a BIG room.  Almost none of this interview was conducted in English, and it went on for almost an hour.  After this interview I was led to a class of eighth graders which I was then told to teach - for a full 50 minutes - without any warning or prep time beforehand.  Seriously.  I'd just gotten off the plane and that was what they asked me to do.  

In a way it was good, however.  If I'd known too much beforehand I probably would have overthought the whole thing.  As it was I  had no choice but to answer questions honestly and lean upon my teaching experience.  It went well, and I was offered a job on the same day.

And that was 20 years ago now.  Time flies, doesn't it?

My two years at Tunghai JHS were... OK.  I'd give myself and the school passing grades.  Teaching junior high was an adjustment for sure, but during most days it wasn't all that different from teaching elementary classes.  More rudeness, more attitude, more angst, but overall not that different.

Trouble was that I started to have another kind of problem toward the end of my second year in Taitung: I started to hate Taiwan.  Call it "Grass is Greener Syndrome" if you will, but it got to a point where I was extremely dissatisfied with my life here.  Maybe it was the trash I saw on the roads, or maybe it was the way certain people looked at me.  Maybe it was the tone of voice someone used, or the way they negotiated traffic.  Whatever the reasons, I grew desperately unhappy during my last semester at Tunghai JHS, and that unhappiness led me back to Seattle.

6. Taitung 2: 2009 - 2020

2009 is the year I started writing this blog.  Visit the Blog Archive 1 for details.

After a disillusioning year in the States we moved back to Taitung City, where I got a job at Tunghai (!) Elementary School.  I didn't know that I'd be spending the next 11 years of my life at Tunghai ES, but all lights were green and I felt very good about the new placement.

I look on the previous year in America (2007-2008) as something I just had to get out of my system.  I got an actual job as an actual teacher (not student teaching), my wife went back to the hotel work she'd done when I was in graduate school, and we put our older daughter into daycare thinking that we were in America long term.  As it turned out, however, my heart wasn't in it, but it took a year in the States for me to realize that.

My work at Tunghai Elementary turned out to be a lot more pleasant than what I'd endured at Tunghai Junior High.  It also put me in an advantageous position in that I was sitting next to the coordinator of the local FET program in one of the city's largest schools.  I can remember encountering obstacles in my first few years there; I can even remember thinking about quitting, but after year three or so I was very comfortable at work and very much in my element.

By 2009 my older daughter was nine years old and my younger daughter was four.  Their ages at the time made us more concerned about the stability of our lifestyle, and moving to other areas became less desirable.  We didn't want to move them around so much when they were little, and this contributed to my staying at that school so long.

I've had many good times in my life and I'm thankful for all of them.  I'm thankful for the friends I've had, the people I've loved and the people who've loved me.  No matter how shitty a job, living situation or place of residence was, I can always remember good times in the midst of whatever issues I was having.  This said, my late 30s and early 40s were spent in Taitung, and many of those years seem to have a particular glow about them.  Maybe it was my attitude toward things back then, or maybe it's just nostalgia, but whatever the reason those years are foundational for me, in that they've contributed a lot toward making me the person I am today.

...and in terms of work I genuinely miss what the foreign teachers of Taitung County had back then.  It was a good run, even if it wasn't meant to last forever.

7. Pingtung: Fangliao: 2020 - 2022

During my last year at Tunghai Elementary I began to seriously consider leaving Taitung County.  I wanted to see if what I did at Tunghai Elementary would work somewhere else, and I was a little burned out on some of the personal relationships I had going on at the time.  It was also the perfect time to make such a move, given that both of my daughters were moving over to Kaohsiung to study.

I entertained the idea of transferring to Hualien for a while, but they wanted me in Hualien City and I've never really liked that area - too rainy.  I knew a person who knew a person in Pingtung, so I opted for that instead.  This person placed me in Fangliao Township, about halfway between Pingtung City and Kenting.

My wife and I weren't that enthused about Fangliao at first.  I can remember the two of us driving there from Taitung and thinking: "What?  This is it?," but after meeting the two principals of the schools where I'd be working I felt a lot better about the place, and we began looking for houses in and around Central Fangliao.

As it turned out renting a house (and we insisted it be a house) in the vicinity of Fangliao was a real pain.  We looked at rentals between Jiadong Township and Central Fangshan, and every place we saw was not awesome.  A real estate agent in Fangliao also tried to scam us on a house, but (thankfully) gave herself away before we signed any papers or gave her any money.

Eventually we went to one of the villages this realtor had shown us, sat down at the local store, and bought a couple drinks.  After I'd had a couple beers one of the locals walked up and asked us what we were doing there.  One thing led to another, and after indicating which house we thought was the nicest this person got in touch with its owner.  This owner was glad to rent us the house, a three-story structure with a yard and a parking space located near the halfway point between the schools where I'd be working.

My first year at Fangliao Elementary School was my best year in the FET Program, a program renamed the TFETP Program that year.  I had my principals' support, I got along well with the Local English Teacher, and the students at both schools were easy to teach.  

I also felt validated.  I'd proven myself in another county, I was getting a much better sense of South Taiwan as separate from East Taiwan, and I knew that after 40 you can start over.  True, many aspects of my life in Taiwan remained the same, but I felt that I'd changed my way of living enough to say that yes, I could make it anywhere in Taiwan if I wanted to.

All of the above said, life in a place like Fangliao can be lonely.  I appreciated that interactions with locals were less burdened by impressions carried over from previous exchanges with other foreigners, but the number of expat friends actively in my life dwindled, and daily life, for the most part, shrunk to the size of whatever my wife and I wanted to do that weekend.  We drove to nearby Chaozhou, Pingtung City and Kaohsiung often, and when we weren't doing that we rode our scooter aimlessly between Donggang, Linbian, Chaozhou and Fangshan to the south.

When we got REALLY bored, and if the sun had gone down, we'd walk, bike or drive over to a pineapple field overlooking the Pingnan Industrial Area.  We'd bring chairs and drinks, and sit there gazing at the lights from the top of the hill.

As good as that first year in Fangliao was, all good things come to an end, and toward the end of my first year in Fangliao COVID happened.  Classes went online, people got paranoid, and the world shut down intermittently for an extended period of time.  

I have a funny memory of my wife, my daughters and myself eating Pizza Hut pizza inside our car, on a secondary road in Chaozhou, in the midst of COVID.  We were scared people would see us eating in the car, so we pulled up all the sun visors and tried to remain inconspicuous while we shoved oily pizza into our mouths.  

In the wake of COVID my Fangliao "dream team" fell apart at the end of that first year.  This kind of thing often happens in rural schools.  My principal was reassigned, the English teacher wasn't rehired for my second year, and the two schools where I worked became estranged for various reasons that had nothing to do with me.  By the end of my second year Fangliao had partnered up with Pingtung's Tunghai Elementary School (yep, there's "tunghai" again), and my school was asking me if I'd stay on and work at Tunghai Elementary instead of Yuguang, where I'd been teaching up to that point.

The Pingtung version of Tunghai Elementary was, to put it less than kindly, rather infamous at that time.  I decided to pass on their offer, and instead requested a transfer south to Hengchun, where I knew another FET who was leaving her position at both Hengchun Junior High and Hengchun Elementary.

8. Pingtung: Hengchun: 2022 - 2024

Hengchun Junior High was the worst job I've ever had in the (T)FET(P) Program.  It was stressful, it was a less than friendly place to work in, and I hated my job for most of the time I was there.  The school seemed to like me well enough, but the sense of ambivalence pervading that place was a palpable thing.

Hengchun Elementary, on the other hand, was a good gig.  Hengchun Elementary was a lot more like Tunghai Elementary in Taitung City, and I felt very comfortable there.  The trouble was that I only had six classes a week in that school, and the remainder of my 19-class schedule was spent at the junior high.

During that year I thought about quitting many, many times.  The only thing that kept me going was the thought that if I quit it was the same as admitting defeat, and that if I could just hold on for a year I'd be leaving on my own terms, not theirs.  Throughout my second year I also thought about quitting from time to time, but my wife wanted to go back to Taitung, and quitting before my contract was up would have made a transfer back to Taitung more difficult.

When I wasn't at work, however, Hengchun was a good place to live.  The house we rented was garbage, but the location was convenient and getting away on the weekends was easy - traffic was always going in the opposite direction.  I miss having places like Nanwan and Baisha minutes away from home.  I miss The Button Factory and Houbihu.  I'll be going back to Hengchun for the first time in almost two years at the end of this week, and I'm looking forward to the trip.

9. Taitung 3: 2024 - present

In the beginning coming back to Taitung seemed both too easy and too good to be true.  Within days of applying for a transfer I was informed that I was being assigned to Hot Spring Elementary School, in the Zhiben Hot Spring Area.

The first thing my wife and I did was drive up to Zhiben from Hengchun, where we learned that the principal of Hot Spring was a guy I'd already worked with for a couple years at Tunghai Elementary in Taitung City.  Taitung is small in its way, and things like that happen.

It was very weird how the whole thing fell together.  I'd originally assumed that the TFETP would offer me a tiny school in a less convenient location.  Instead I got a school 25 minutes from my apartment, with a student population already eager to learn English.  Hot Spring, it should be said, was once the location of the Taitung County English Teaching Resource Center, so the students in my new school already had a history of participation in county English programs and competitions.

I'm 3/4 of the way through my second year at Hot Spring, aside from a few ups and downs it's been a surprisingly easy transition.  I get along well with all of my coworkers, and I've never found the job particularly stressful.  I hate our county FET meetings, but that's my only big objection to working in Taitung so far.

Being in Taitung again?  I don't have much to complain about.  We still own an apartment near Baosang Elementary School, so we didn't need to scramble for housing.  My best friends in Taitung are for the most part still around, though a few did move away during my stint in Pingtung.  I still like living here, and my day-to-day life is relatively unchanged.

For the time being I've decided to stay on for a third year at Hot Spring.  After that third year who knows?  For my wife and I Kaohsiung is always on the table, but I doubt we'll be moving there anytime soon.  We own another apartment in Kaohsiung, and I'm to be found there for most of every winter and summer vacation, but an actual move to that city seems somewhat unnecessary.

10. Parting Thoughts

I've written about all of the events described above in this blog before, but sometimes it's good to stop and take stock of things.  It helps me make personal decisions.  It also makes me a happier, calmer person, and serves to adjust my attitude where and when such adjustment is necessary.

I don't know how many printed pages this blog entry would equal, but I'm guessing it would be a lot.  While writing and editing this massive (bloated?) thing, I couldn't help but think about all the years that have gone by, and all the changes I've seen on this island since 1999.  When I first got here Lee Tung-hui was President, and since that time I've seen the KMT diminish in stature while the administrations of Chen Shui-bian, Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ying-wen have come and gone.  I'm now on Lai Ching-te, my fifth Taiwanese President, and who knows what the rollercoaster that is Taiwanese politics holds for us in the future.

Aside from Presidents there are other changes to consider.  When I first got here people didn't think about TSMC half as much, even though that company's fortunes have been steadily rising for decades.  When I first got here there was only one freeway down the west coast, no high speed rail, and Taitung, where I now live, was less a tourist spot than a backwater few thought about visiting.  I can remember when the Taipei 101 first opened, I can remember when the Kaohsiung MRT first began operation, and I can remember when toll booths disappeared from the freeway.  Anyone else remember how hard it used to be to get to Kenting?  Or how remote some parts of New Taipei City (i.e. "Taipei County") were in the early 2000s?  Or even life before Taiwan had Family Marts, 7-11s and Starbucks everywhere?

Reading back over this entry, I can also see patterns in my life and how I've lived it.  There's definitely an ebb and flow at work in my attitude toward various jobs, and points of frustration and/or boredom between working in one place or another.  I can see a desire to be "useful" or "effective" in much of what I did before, and also worries over money, worries over my age, and worries over my family.  In much of the above I can also feel my wife's influence on me, her presence calming me down when I might have otherwise lost my temper or resorted to something drastic.  A lot of what is recorded above is her story as well, though of course she's in possession of extra chapters involving matters which it's no business of mine to discuss here.

One aspect of my life that's become clearer to me is how often I've tried to find some kind of nemesis in my life, someone who I thought - rightly or wrongly - was working against me.  I can remember several such scenarios in the context of almost all of the jobs discussed above, and I think this is an aspect of my own psychology that I really ought to look at.  Needing to measure yourself against someone else, or needing to exceed them in some way, seems like a very obvious flaw in my character, and something I need to reflect on more in the future.  This, and many of the "adversaries" I've imagined having often prove themselves straw men, whose interests actually aligned with my own.

I'm also thinking, having considered all of the above, how I might live my life better in the future, how I might be a better person, and how I might help others to do the same.  It's not the type of self-analysis that bears easy fruit, but I do think I'm on the way to some deeper knowledge of myself, perhaps the kind of realizations that lead to real, measurable change.

I'll let you know if I reach any moments of enlightenment in the near future.  If no words of wisdom are forthcoming, just know that I'm doing OK and I'm always trying to do better.

Related Entries:

Pros and Cons: The Taitung County Government

What Name Which Someone Finds

Winter Plans

Neighbors, Some Neighborly and Others Otherwise

Pros and Cons: The Taitung County Government

The Taitung County Government has its share of reviews on Google Maps.  Below are 5 good and 5 bad reviews I found there.  The 5-star reviews tend to be tourists passing through the county, while the 1-star reviews tend to be either locals or people disappointed with their visit.  Below each review I humbly offer "My Two Cents."

1. (five stars)

"Good government in the East"

My Two Cents: IS it a "good government in the East" though?  It's certainly more keen on development than the Hualien County Government, but all of this development comes at a cost.  The Taitung County Government, for example, doesn't seem especially concerned about protecting the local environment.  

Some of the recent infrastructure projects are, I freely admit, things that local people want and moreover things that local people voted for, but one gets the feeling that wealth speaks volumes in this town, and if someone has the magistrate's ear and money to invest odds are that whatever project they have in mind will get pushed through regardless.  Witness, for example, the "Beautiful Bay Resort" and its continued existence.

2. (one star)

"Garbage trucks are allowed to park outside the school for several days every year, then come back and scold people who dump trash, refusing to collect it because there's too much trash. Are we paying them to go on a safari with our tax dollars? Are they just like elementary school students who want to park outside the school? What is the county government doing? Garbage trucks bully the people of Taitung, and the government just sits back and does nothing? Especially recycling trucks who curse people who dump trash everywhere! It's okay if they don't collect the cardboard boxes; we can sell them and keep the money. We give you the boxes, but the money goes into your pockets, but is it really giving back to society?" 垃圾車每年都可以校外觀摩好幾天，回來就罵倒垃圾民眾，垃圾多就不收，我們納稅錢是給他們出去玩的嗎？他們像小學生一樣要校外觀摩是嗎？縣政府在幹什么？垃圾車欺負臺東百姓，政府坐視不管嗎？尤其是資源回收車隨地罵倒垃圾的民眾！不收紙箱沒關係，我們也可以拿去賣，得到錢算是我們的，我們紙箱給你們，結果換來的錢進你們口袋有回饋社會嗎？

My Two Cents: This guy's a major league complainer. His Google reviews read like a list of ways in which various service workers have let him down. The staff at one restaurant were rude to his mother, the workers at a 7-11 neither greeted him nor said "Thank you" after his purchase, the garbage man dared to ask him why he had so much trash to dispose of.

I can't say that I've ever felt bullied by the sanitation workers of Taitung City, and I dumped A LOT of trash in those trucks just before Chinese New Year.

3. (five stars)

"Thank you to the county government team and all the staff at the New Year's Eve event for your hard work! ❤ Thank you to the county magistrate for his gracious demeanor and for not putting on a show; that's a big plus! 👍 Giving the stage to the performers 😊 This kind of county magistrate is admirable. He even praised tourists from other counties for their good taste; it's the best way to promote tourism." 謝謝縣府團隊，跨年現場工作人員都辛苦了❤謝謝風度滿滿的縣長不刻意作秀，很棒加分👍把舞台讓給藝人😊這種縣長很讚，還誇外縣市遊客好眼光，最好的觀光傳播

My Two Cents: The "he" in the English translation was inserted there by Google. The current County Magistrate is a woman, Rao Ching-ling by name. If I ever meet her I really want to ask her about the restrictions she helped lift on the development of mountain areas.

4. (one star)

"We made a special trip from Taichung to take our kids to see Doraemon's hot air balloon. The kids were so excited to see the hot air balloon point collecting game that they spent half a day scanning QR codes at various locations. Finally, we arrived at Luye Highland to see the hot air balloon. We thought we'd be able to complete the activity smoothly, but the staff said that the exhibition hall was closed due to the typhoon and we couldn't enter to scan the QR codes. They did say that the souvenir exhibition hall was open as usual. These little things were not worth much, but we felt like we were being fooled. The kids were also very disappointed. The giveaways were closed, but the vendors continued to operate regardless of the weather. How short of money is the Taitung County Government?" 為了帶小朋友看多拉A夢的熱氣球，特別從臺中跑來旅遊，小朋友看到了熱器球集點遊戲非常開心，也特别花了半天的時間去各個地點掃QR扣，最後到鹿野高臺看熱器球，本以為就可以順利的完成活動，但工作人員說因為颱風展場封閉，無法進入掃QR扣，但有說賣紀念品的展場正常開放，一點點小東西值不了兩個錢，但感覺就是被耍，小朋友也很失望，送贈品的封鎖，販物的不畏風雨持續營業，到底臺東縣政府是有多缺錢啊！

My Two Cents: This one sounds more like sour grapes. Taichung is on the other side of the island, and they should have done their research ahead of time. Expecting to go from Taichung, to downtown Taitung City, to Luye smoothly is expecting a bit too much. By their own admission a typhoon was either on the way out or had just left the area, and you can't assume a lot in that situation.

5. (five stars)

"Some of the decorations and equipment are very new. It is not far from the airport and next to Tiehua Village." 有些裝潢設備很新，離機場不遠，在鐵花村旁邊

My Two Cents: Actually the Taitung County Government IS far from the airport. It's on the other side of the city from it. It's also NOT next to Tiehua Village, which is several streets away.

6. (two stars)

"Green Island is a very relaxing and leisurely place, but there are more and more guesthouses, and the harbor is getting uglier and uglier. Besides, what era are we living in? The maximum speed limit on the two main provincial highways, Provincial Highway 9 and Provincial Highway 11, is still stuck at 60 km/h. No wonder it takes so long to drive to Taitung; people are too tired to even go… The most bizarre thing is that the newly planned Mahengheng Avenue has a slower lane that's larger than the faster lane! What's with that?! Is the slower lane for tanks?!" 綠島是一個很休閒、很放鬆的地方，但民宿愈來愈多，而且港口愈來愈醜；而且，都什麼年代了，二個最主要的省道台九線、台11線最高速限還停在60km，難怪到台東要開那麼久，嫌累的都不想去了…

最詭異的是，新規劃出來的馬亨亨大道，慢車道比快車道還大是什麼東西呀！？慢車道是給戰車開的嗎？！

My Two Cents: They seem to have conflated Green Island and the rest of Taitung County. I haven't been to Green Island in a while, but 60 km/hr. around Green Island sounds more than reasonable to me.

As for the rest of the county, yeah, speed limits and traffic stops are a problem. I'm all for safer roads, but the drive south from Taitung City to Daren is like a bad joke. The county depends on tourism, the Bureau of Transportation spends a lot of money to improve roads in the county, and once "improvements" are finished they impose the same old speed limits and install still more traffic lights and speed cameras on the newly renovated roads. It makes no sense.

I agree on Mahengheng Boulevard. I haven't seen any tanks on it, but it's a strangely designed road for sure.

7. (four stars)

"There is no Education Department, Culture Department, or Social Affairs Department in the government. Please don't make a wasted trip." 府內一級單位並無教育處、文化處、社會處喔，請洽公民眾別再白跑一趟囉

My Two Cents: I don't know why this person felt the need to tell us that the Education Bureau and other parts of the local government are elsewhere. A search on Google Maps would make that immediately obvious. Are people randomly setting of in search of government offices that aren't at this location? I kind of doubt it.

8. (one star)

"There are countless speed cameras throughout the county, and you'll be charged extra for a domestic trip to Taitung! Speeding tickets are issued on rural roads! Locals in the city park get away with illegal parking! Guanshan Water Park hasn't been developed or maintained in 3 or 4 years; it's a complete mess! And countless other places are still unmanaged! Is soaking in hot springs like soaking in tap water? No wonder the indigenous people all go to the US to play professional baseball! My advice to everyone is to never spend money in Taitung! Only help the indigenous people reclaim their original homeland! Taitung is despicable because you can't see the sunset! Only the sunset is infinitely beautiful! Being an official is even better!" 縣內多到數不盡的測速照相，去台東幫助你國旅要被臨時加價！要鄉間小路要罰超速！市區當地人違停不抓！關山親水公園3，4年都沒整理發展，亂七八糟！還有不剩其數的地方都沒整頓！泡湯是泡自來水嗎？難怪原住民都去美國打職棒！此生建議大家絕不進台東消費！只幫原住民討回原住地！看不到夕陽西下的太麻里隔鄙！只有夕 陽無限 好！當官更好！

My Two Cents: Speed cameras aside, there's a lot to unpack here.

1) The Guanshan Water Park is definitely undermanaged. I don't know if its present state is more the fault of the County Government or the Guanshan Municipality Office, but a lot more could be done with that particular tourist site. It's like they can't decide whether it's a regular tourist site or some kind of ecologically protected area. I don't know what the answer is, but that park has only deteriorated in the years I've lived here.

2) "Is soaking in hot springs like soaking in tap water?" I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. Maybe the hot spring they visited wasn't hot enough? If so they should have named the place. They might be talking about the Journey to the East Hot Spring Resort in Zhiben, which I've heard is actually run on tap water, but without further information it's impossible to know. I'd like to emphasize the fact that I only heard Journey to the East is run on tap water, this may not be the case.

3) "No wonder the indigenous people all go to the US to play baseball!" This borderline racial/racist comment is nonsense. There simply aren't that many indigenous Taiwanese baseball players in the States.

4) "Despicable Taitung" made me chuckle. Not entirely sure what their issues with non-indigenous people in Taitung are, (maybe they don't really know, either), but they definitely had a less than enjoyable visit.

9. (five stars)

"It coincides with the 2025 Hot Air Balloon Carnival, and this time it is co-branded with Doraemon, so I came to check out the location to take photos with Doraemon, and also wish the event a smooth and successful success☺️☺️" 適逢2025熱氣球嘉年華，這次與小叮噹聯名，所以來踩點找小叮噹拍照，也祝福活動順利圓滿☺️☺️

My Two Cents: Yes, Doraemon was a big thing. I missed a lot of that because I was in Kaohsiung at the time.

10. (one star)

"I parked in the county government parking lot while attending a class. I didn't hear the staff ask about it. When they did, they immediately responded with the reason for parking. His tone was quite rude, indicating that he hadn't asked and kept skipping. Thank you so much." 來縣府上課停縣府停車場

只是沒聽到有管理人員詢問 聽到後馬上回覆停車原因 …

My Two Cents: There's a lot of parking-related rage to be found in the County Government's reviews. I can remember a time when you could find a parking spot anywhere, but those days are, sadly, long gone.

I strenuously avoid driving north up the coast during big holiday weekends. I'm also very careful about when I drive back to Taitung from Kaohsiung or other parts of the west coast. The tourist traffic is definitely predictable, but even so it can be a problem when you just have to get somewhere and it seems that half of Taiwan is driving the same way.

As you might imagine, the supply of parking spots downtown has diminished with the increase in traffic over the years. As a result there can be road rage, often directed at whatever power or powers seem to be responsible for the dearth of parking spots.

11. (three stars)

The Taitung County Government does what it can, when it can, for whom it can. Or it doesn't. Whether it does or it doesn't is for the residents of Taitung County to decide. Hopefully these residents vote accordingly and without fear of coercion.

My Two Cents: The above comment is extremely profound, and reflects both a deeper understanding of the Taitung County Government and its constituents. The author of the above comment should definitely write a blog about Taitung, perhaps including information on neighboring counties and cities into the bargain.

Oh wait, he already does! Here's the link:

https://acidolphilus.blogspot.com/

Have a great day?

Related Entries:

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Luye Terrace (Gaotai) 鹿野高台 (Taitung 台東)

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What Name Which Someone Finds

NOTE: If there's Chinese below the original comment that's because it was the language in which the comment was posted in.  The English translations of Chinese language comments were cut/pasted from Google.