All posts filed under: Blog

You can speak Chinese?

Published by nnedi

If you already don’t know by now, I have learned Chinese back when I studied in China. But let’s get real here; At that time, my main goal wasn’t really to learn Chinese. I went there to get an experience and that’s exactly what I got. Yeah of course “I learned Chinese”, but it wasn’t till I got to Taiwan where I would say my Chinese has massively improved. I can speak sentences fluidly without stopping, give directions-ish, have conversations (to some extent), order food, open a bank account, communicate to delivery guys on the phone (while my mind goes blank), listen to stories-ish, all in Chinese. But how? From Roommates to Close Friends The first apartment I lived in was a sharehouse, with a mix of both foreigners and Taiwanese people. But let me just say, most of the people that lived there were weird and unsocial, which made no sense or purpose of living in a shared house but… There were these two people I befriended that helped me improve and learn many everyday words and …

And then there was computer gaming

Published by nnedi

Last year, I shared how my teens were filled with online 3D multiplayer chatting games, but I have to share how that phase died and slowly converted to computer gaming. We’re talking about actual “I went to the store and bought some games to play on my shitty Windows XP” and “I used my first-ever debit card to order GTA as a 14-year-old on Amazon.” type of games.  If you haven’t read the first part yet, I recommend you go back and check it out. AS you may or may not know already, my parents hated the concept of video games. They felt like it was a waste of a child’s time and unproductive time not well spent. But my 12-year-old self didn’t care too much of their feelings. If I was going to game, I was gonna do it. When I was younger, it was all about the consoles. During my upbringing, we saw how Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft blessed us with these new gaming consoles that changed the way we consumed video games from the …

Dragon Boat with a hint of Corona

Published by nnedi

This is my second year participating in the Dragon Boat Competition in Taiwan with NTNU’s Mandarin Training Center team. Unlike last year, this year, we had a run-in with Corona so everything was left uncertain. The school didn’t even want to have the team at first this year, but our captains pushed it to make it happen. And…thanks to Taiwan’s Success in stabilizing Coronavirus, we got through this season untouched. Because of the pandemic, it was our first year our team (from what I have heard) to compete in a different competition. Normally, we would compete in Taipei City’s Dragon Boat Competition, but this time around, we missed the registration and snagged a spot in the New Taipei one instead. With this one, we rowed in the international dragon boats (also known as the IDBF 1222). They are 12m long boats, holds 22 people (20 people to row, one in the front to drum and one in the back to steer). These boats are also lighter than the traditional ones, can move faster with very …

What are you doing exactly?: Teaching Edition

Published by nnedi

I am going in 8 months strong in teaching English and believe it or not, this is my first full-time long term job ever.  Teaching is not my background, but if you don’t know.. English teaching is the most common job to have in non-English speaking countries due to the appeal and access to all types of resources if one was to master the English language. Also, it is an easy gateway for foreigners to move countries and experience something different. And with that, Taiwan has a lot of options, if you’re looking. Now with my job, I shared here of the process I went through in getting it.  But when I first started, it felt very foreign; almost out of my element. Let’s be real here: I am not crazy about the job itself. BUT It pays the bills, helps me get by, and I get to live in Taipei carefree-ish, but it is not something I plan to do or look to doing long term, but its good for the time being. I teach kindergarten …

7-11s in Taiwan are the best

Published by nnedi

If you don’t know, Taiwan has 4 main convenience store chains: Ok-Mart, and Hi-Life Family Mart, and 7-11. They all tend to serve the same type of things and the price is almost always the same, but let’s be honest here. 7-11 easily takes the crown. 7-11 (in my opinion) has a better selection in almost everything they sell, aesthetically looks and feels nicer, their food tastes better, and you can find a nice collection of EasyCards if you fancy for one.  First of all, these stores are legit everywhere. You can go down just about any block in Taipei and see a convenience store nearby. Sometimes they are so close, you wonder why that would be the case? Taipei alone has over 10,000+ convenience stores and Taipei itself is only 271.8 km² large. Do you really need that many convenient stores? You can find them: On the corner Right below an apartment building In the cut (of a super narrow alley) Right beside a pharmacy (where queues will always block your entry) Under an office building …

YouBike 2.0 is here!

Published by nnedi

From January 15th, YouBike has introduced a new model of bikes, which have proven to be a massive upgrade from the original. They are running through a 3 month trial period as of right now and can only be found in the National Taiwan University area in Taipei. During the trial period, (from now till April 15), a discount of $2 NT is being deducted for the first 30 minutes, afterward, its $10 NT for every 30 minutes. There are 500 bikes placed amongst 102 stations from the Technology Building to Gongguan MRT stations. Let’s get into the new look! They kept with the same design but changed it up with the color of the frame. A nice shiny white. It really does stand out as you notice people riding it among the streets.  And now with 2.0, the screen is now on the bike. You can use an Easycard or QR code to scan to use the bike. A cute sound plays when the bike unlocks. The bike seat is even easier to adjust …

So, when are you coming home?

Published by nnedi

I get this question a lot.  Do I tell people how I truly feel? Should I spill the real tea?  When I came to Taiwan, after graduating, I planned to come to Taipei, study 9 months of Chinese and then “maybe” go home and start working. But really, in my head, I was already thinking “Stay another year, get your mess together, do something else and continue learning Chinese” was lowkey already my plan. April came by this year, and everything was going so well. By then, I have fully assimilated into Taiwan, my Chinese learning was going well, I was a part of so many activities, and going home just seemed like an afterthought. It was in fact, the very last option. Even when things went to shit in the summer, going home just was not a thing. When I first came back from living in China for a year, I was experiencing a major reverse culture shock. Even though I have mixed feelings about China itself, I, in fact, was very pleased with my time living …

Throwback to Online Web Multiplayer Games

Published by nnedi

As early back as elementary school, my father got me hooked onto using computers. He spent a lot of time building his desktop computers so I would accompany him to the big computer shows out in MD and VA where he would go buy his spare parts. Sitting at home, I would just watch him put the computer together in fascination. A lot of the vendors would even sell those educational games and he would get those for me as well. But as I got older my interests expanded to other things.  Now when he set up a computer just for my sisters and me, everything changed. I started going ham and doing whatever I could on the internet. Using Google Search and Ask Jeeves, listening to music and watching music videos on Yahoo, I mean I was doing everything I possibly could. For at this time, the internet was still fresh, relatively new and playing games online was a huge thing. I started playing the single-player games on websites like Arcadepod, Y8, Miniclip, Freeonlinegames, …

Finding an English Teaching Job in Taiwan is easy “they say” w/ GIFS

Published by nnedi

Who? What? When? Where?  Why? and  How? I am pretty convinced that the universe was out to get me. My luck in job hunting for English Teaching particularly in Taipei has been close to impossible to find. And it doesn’t help that I am also picky, but it is for a good god damn reason.  I have already lived in Taipei for more than one year now with some English Teaching Experience under my belt, so I have an idea and know what kind of work I want to do. And from talking to many people who have or are teaching in Taipei, I have gained a lot of insight on what I can do and things I can avoid. So finding this work is easy right? Yes, but just because it is easy to find and secure, doesn’t mean it necessarily a “good” place to work.  For starters, I want to find work to do in the afternoon, for I plan to continue studying Chinese later this year. Secondly, I want to also find a school …

HOSTEL LIVING YOU SAY?

Published by nnedi

After my Chinese studies ended, I decided that I was going to stay in Taipei, but living in my apartment wasn’t doing it for me (that damn landlord). And at that moment, I felt that it was time to change my environment. The semester was ending, Dragon Boat Season was coming to a close, and moving just felt right at the time. It was also a very quick and last-minute decision. Just like that, I moved out of my apartment and into a hostel, doing yet my 3rd work exchange. I talked about my first ever work exchange experience here, the second one isn’t worth mentioning, and now my third and yet another special one at Meander Taipei Hostel. Meander is located in Ximending, which is a very convenient location to live for there are a variety of places to go eat and shop at. It is also located both on the Green and Blue MRT lines and super close to Taipei Main Station. But I will have to say, its one of the places I …

9 Months Of Studying Chinese in Review

Published by nnedi

Studying at one of the most prestigious universities in Taiwan, NTNU aka National Taiwan Normal University helped me level my Chinese up to a higher degree. I had the opportunity to learn Chinese from well-taught and talented Chinese teachers from September 2018 till May 2019 and in turn, truly improved and understood the true meaning of struggle as an adult living abroad in a foreign country where English isn’t commonly spoken. I have shared my first impressions of the school itself here, but now that I have fully finished and exhausted what the program has to offer, I share with you today more details. Let’s just get right into it.  First Semester This semester was a great starting point in getting back into learning Chinese. Because I have studied it before, getting back into it was a bit of a hurdle. For one, I have never learned traditional characters, so I had to pretty much retrain my brain to read and WRITE (omg WRITE) traditional characters. Compared to simplified characters, traditional characters have many more strokes. …

Dragon Boat Training

Published by nnedi

Every year on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar, countries from all over the world celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. This holiday commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan. He dedicated his whole life to assisting the king to build the State of Chu stronger. When he died, locals rowed out on a river to search for his body but were unable to locate him. Gradually, rowing boats developed into dragon boat racing. I chose to join my school’s Dragon Boat team to change up what I was normally doing. I have already been living in Taiwan for some time and was getting so bored with my everyday routine. School, Hang Out, Tutor, Bike, Sleep…I mean that just got so repetitive and dull. When I studied in Shanghai, my school also had a Dragon Boat team in which many of my friends participated in. But unfortunately, I left my program early and was unable to take part, but when I came to Taiwan and heard …

2019 Dragon Boat Competition

Published by nnedi

3 months of non-stop training, this three day weekend consisted of endless laughter, rolling in 34 degrees with 80%+ humid weather, endless chanting, and a lot of dancing. The energy, the love, the support, and the vibes felt almost surreal. Taiwan has Dragon Boat competitions going on all over the country. Even for Taipei alone, they have 2 different, one in Taipei and in New Taipei City. Our team competed in Taipei for 3 days long consisting of different categories of teams racing in the competition including men, women, mix teams, high school, small boats, and even senior citizens category. Our team had two teams, one for men and one for women. The men team competed against 45 other teams while women on only had a competition of just 10 teams. In order to get the full, yet complete experience of the Dragon Boat competition, we were required to attend and stay for the entire day each day of the festival even if we didn’t have a race till the end of the day. The …

My Favorite Taiwanese Food

Published by nnedi

Eating locally in Taiwan has proven to be super cheap to eat out in Taiwan so I tend to take advantage of going around and trying new things constantly. The main thing while I am looking for when eating out is good, somewhat healthy, fulfilling and most importantly, cheap food. Braised Pork with Rice This is the OG, the staple, the must-try dish if you ever visit Taiwan. I personally don’t care to eat pork so much, but when I do, this is always my go-to. This pork is cooked under low heat for hours and some unknown Taiwanese sauces are placed into the mixture to create this bad boy. It has a savory yet sweet taste to it and normally cut into very small tiny pieces. A lot of shops have this staple dish, but I recommend everyone to try it at this restaurant. To spice it up, add a Tea Egg for an additional 10 NT for love. Chicken with Rice As simple and plain it may look, this is yet another staple …

Teaching English Online 101

Published by nnedi

Teaching online is becoming the next big alternative to moving abroad to teach in a classroom for a few reasons: Hours (can) be flexible You can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop The work is relatively easy and does not require a lot of prep work Can be fun for those who enjoy teaching English to kids/adults Thanks to my travels meeting people, I found that money can be made “easily” (as they say) through teaching English online. Many countries around the world are actively pushing for people to learn English at a higher rate causing for more people to move abroad and teach English, but now you can also do it in the comfort of your own home. Moving to a new country, having to leave your family along with the place you always have known as home, and adjusting to a new environment while teaching English is of the past! If you have No English/Teaching degree? No Teaching Certification? No Experience? No problem! What these companies …

Biking in Taipei

Published by nnedi

Riding a bike in Taipei is one of the most convenient but also can be the most nerve-wracking things to do. A lot of people ride in the city to get to places much quicker when the MRT (subway)/ bus cannot necessarily take them there. A lot of people also ride as a form of exercise. Taipei has a ton of bike trails that span across the city and lots of people take advantage of riding them whenever the weather is super nice. If you’re just visiting Taipei for a short period of time or just want to ride to get to one place to another, I highly recommended taking advantage of Taiwan’s Youbike bike sharing program. Youbikes are the lovely orange bikes which people can easily rent wherever and whenever. There are stations placed all over Taiwan, but the majority of the stations are in Taipei. You can typically locate a station by an MRT stop or in a very busy central area. They have an app where you can find the closest one …

Language learning takes time

Published by nnedi

When I first started learning in China 3 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. At first, I honestly was against learning a new language, for I just was never good at it. I took Spanish for 3 years in high school and that was a bust. Love the language, hated my teachers. And unfortunately, I didn’t grow up learning my parents’ native tongue, Igbo so the interest to learn any language was never there. While learning Spanish, the process of learning the language was not fun. All of my Spanish teachers were crazy. My first teacher spent more time dancing bachata music with us and flirting with one of my classmates than teaching the language. The second one was a complete psycho. Definitely, if not one of the worst teachers I have ever had in my entire life. Too many days I went home crying. She would say one thing, do another and always found a way to ridicule people in class which I hugely disliked. My last teacher knew …

The strange gets stranger

Published by nnedi

I have had a handful of “interesting” encounters with people in Taiwan. Too many to not just share. When I travel, people are more inclined to stare. But I feel in Taiwan, they love to come up to foreigners and share the craziest lines as a way to practice their English or even see if the person can speak Mandarin. And I know for sure being black, a woman, AND traveling solo in Taiwan, I’ve had one too many funny, weird, creepy, and interesting interactions with locals in this country. Here’s an example of just a few: The funny Selecting Snacks We’re by a food stall in the night market where this lady sells a snack called 年糕 which is a deep-fried rice cake. Anyway, my friend ordered and the lady thought I chose the darkest pieces because my skin is so black. I hollered. The audacity. “WOAHHHHH YOU CAN USE CHOPSTICKSSS???!!!!” So in Hualien, I took my friend to a restaurant near our hostel for he wanted some noodles. Mind you, a lot of …

NEW RIDE, LET’S GET INTO MOTION

Published by nnedi

Why do I love to ride? It’s super convenient and my way of unwinding down. I just love being outside and seeing new places and exploring different parts of where I am without necessarily putting in a lot of effort to walk. With a bike, you can cover more ground moving at a slightly faster rate in a lesser amount of time. On those bad days, If i go out for a ride, those headaches and all of what I was thinking about goes away temporarily. Sometimes, I feel like I am in a movie going through the streets. That strong wind pushing against me maneuvering through the people, the cars, and the pedestrians. But biking is also my main way to commute to places. I know if I am going somewhere relatively close (and close can be different depending on how you may see it). But for example, if the location is close enough, I will walk. If it is kind of close, but not too far, I will definitely ride a bike. If …

Let’s talk about Money

Published by nnedi

So where does it all come from? How were you able to go abroad right after I graduated from college? Is that even possible? Yes, yes it is. As soon as I stepped off that United Airlines flight in Newark from China back in 2016, I knew for sure that I was going back abroad in 2018. But how exactly? It’s the topic that NO ONE likes to discuss. It is as if it’s something secret, something private, something that’s none of your god damn business. I was listening to a podcast on how a lot of people don’t like to talk to each other about how much money they make or spend. But I personally think if we were more transparent in the amount of money we make or even just sharing our personal experiences on our expenses, then a lot of things would be easier to understanding behind the scenes of how others do it. And it will definitely encourage others to follow suit and possibly pursue new ways to be better about …