My Sister's Last Weekend in Taiwan

Saturday (August 29, 2009)

We woke up late last Saturday and just went to visit National Palace Museum. We took our time during the morning so when we reached Shilin station, it was already lunch time. We decided then to eat first at a small pasta place near the station. I just have to say that Taiwan really gives BIG servings! Everything is so filling!

Anyway, the museum is still as gorgeous as I had remembered it (Sorry, the photo below doesn't include the main museum building). I think we must have spent 4 hours just looking at all the exhibit and visiting the nearby park.

A funny blooper that happened was when my sister almost fell onto the lap of a disabled person. The person was on a wheelchair, and my sister wasn't aware that there was someone behind her. When she stepped back a bit to view some museum exhibit, she lost her balance and grabbed hold of me. There was a long (really long) awkward struggle to get her towards me and away from the wheelchair. Hahaha! Good thing the person on the wheelchair was a good sport and just laughed it off. :D

There are two parks inside the museum grounds and we decided to roam around the nearer one. It has a pond with lots of gigantic carps that you can feed with fish food (NT$10 value for a big bag). We even saw two kids who fell into the pond because they were so intent on feeding the fish! Hahaha! (It wasn't so funny at that time, but it is now since I know they are safe. :-D)

After the museum, we went to the "Chinese Movie Culture City" which was apparently a theme park with sets for old movies. Looks like we've been looking through some outdated guides because this one looks like it has been closed for a long time already. >_< Sunday (August 30, 2009)

Jen decided to join us play tourist in Taipei for Sunday. We met at Yuanshan station and ate some spaghetti. Then we went ahead and visited the Confucius Temple and Bao'an Temple which were awesome placed to visit because there were few people there. :-D (Pictures to follow.)

We ran out of things to do so my sister suggested to visit Shin-Kong Mitsukoshi malls. The clothes there were nice and expensive so we just window-shopped a bit. We then discovered a foodcourt on the basement floor where we ate a very hearty early dinner. There was also a small grocery where my sister bought her pasalubongs. :-)

After that, we went back to the station and discovered that an underground (as in under the ground not illegal) bookstore street ran from one station to another. We spent our remaining time there until it was time to go home. :-)

There's no more time last Monday (August 31, 2009) for my sister to tour because her flight back to the Philippines was at 11:00 in the morning. She's now back to the Philippines, and I have moved into my room near Shida. :-)

My Home for the Next Six Months

Yeah, so my phone is crappy. I still have no plans on investing on a good digicam though. :D

I'll be moving in tomorrow because this new one is cheaper than my current accommodations and is also nearer my university (around 10 minute walk).

Here are pictures of my bedroom. The room has two shelves. One is shown in the pictures; the other one is on the right of the door and can handle a lot of hanged clothes.

I haven't done anything to the room yet. I'll probably make it more homey when I move in. ^_^

Here are some pictures of the other common areas. The living room contains a cable TV; I'm still unsure how I will be able to watch TV since the appliance is BEHIND the seats. Hahaha!

The kitchen and washing machine area are connected. I probably won't be using the kitchen except for washing utensils. There's also a fridge so I can store all my take out food there. :D

You don't need to see the bathroom; I'll just leave it to your imagination. I think 5 people are going to share it - which is no biggie for me. :-)

I haven't met my housemates yet. I heard from the landlady that one is Polish - hope they are friendly. :-)

Lazy Thursday and Friday

Lazy Thursday

We visited Longshan Temple yesterday, and I totally enjoyed it yesterday than when I visited last year. Last year (see photo below), the place was jam-packed with people.


This time it was better because of the fewer people. There was also a funny monk who looked like he was meditating at first glance; but then if you look closely, he's actually sleeping. He even dropped the beads that he was holding during his slumber. :-D (I took a photo of him and will probably post it when I get my films processed and scanned.)


After the temple, we went back to the hostel to rest for a bit. There's a common area in the hostel where we can watch TV and surf the net; there's also a bookshelf with a selection of books. My sister showed me this book ("The Gatecrasher" by Madeleine Wickham) from the bookshelf which I found to be a very good light read.


We also got into a conversation with other people in the common room. There's Johnny, the African guy, and another guy from the States (I can't remember his name at the moment). Johnny was asking us if we went to the church a lot - which I was a bit surprised to hear. I didn't realize that Philippines was that much known to be a church-going country. We also got into the whole Obama topic because CNN was on TV (announcing the death of a Kennedy).

For dinner, we went to Jay Chou's Secret-themed restaurant. It's inside the Taipei Medical University Campus, and the place is really nice. (Especially with the piano from the Secret movie!!!)



We ate random specialty pastas from the menu; it was actually the first time for me to eat Italian food in Taiwan. I think Philippines makes better pasta; but that's just me with this one experience. Anyway, the giddiness we felt from being in a Jay Chou restaurant was more than enough to make the trip worth it. :-D



On our way back to the hostel, we passed by a street filled with bookstores. We visited one of the stores and picked up two Chinese books - one has tsu-yin and one is a comic book. I tried reading the comic book, but it has too many unknown Chinese words in it to be funny to me. Maybe I will be able to properly read it within my 6 month stay here. Hahaha!

Lazier Friday

If yesterday was a lazy Thursday, then today is even a lazier day! We woke up at noon and basically just had vegetarian pien tang (bento meal) take-out. We ate lunch with Leslie who even gave us some sweet mung-bean-based Japanese dessert.

After lunch, we got into a conversation with a German guy. (Hi Stephan)! He's in Taipei looking for a place to stay, but our hostel was already full so he was calling up other places to stay in. He told us that we had Quezon City accents when we told him that we live in Metro Manila. He said that Metro Manila accents are different - I didn't even know that! Cool!

We're planning to go back to Xsimending later today so that we can eat at the Modern Toilet restaurant. I promise to put up the pictures as soon as I get the files from my sister. :-)

PS. I know I should probably buy a digital camera and not rely on my mobile phone for impromptu pictures. Sorry for crappy images. :-O

Taiwan Banking

My sister and I decided to take it easy yesterday. Hah! As if that could really happen.

I did my first batch of Taiwan laundry yesterday morning. I'm still at the honeymoon stage, so even doing the laundry is fun. Hahaha!

Come lunch time, we walked around the hostel area and ate beef noodles. It was a bit pricey at $110 but was really really good and filling. Yum!

I then left my sister in the hostel and headed for Shida, where I met up with Jen and her cousin. We had our ying1 chang2 (chinese name stamps) created so that we could open an account in the postal bank for our scholarship. I already have two name stamps at home (Philippines), but I didn't bring them to Taiwan. (Sucks to forget things like that at home. Haha!) We created our bank account on the same day.

Went back to the hostel and fetched my sister for a little site-seeing. We went to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall where my sister, to my irritation, insisted to visit every nook and cranny of the place.



Taipei 101 was near so we decided to go there, too. Once again, I got frustrated because it was already dark we reached the building. Last year, I was able to visit Taipei 101 at night time, so I was hoping to visit this time during day time. Anyhoo, it was still enjoyable except for the cakes that we had at 88th floor which were so-so but very pricey!

After visiting the top of Taipei 101, we went to its mall on the lower floors. We spent a lot of time in the bookstore and I was even able to buy myself a new camera for $1000! It's a newer version of Vivitar UWS (Ultra Wide and Slim) camera which I have been hankering for a long time now.


We were not yet hungry when we headed home, but we decided to eat a late dinner anyway. My sister was craving for rice because we have been eating noodles for the past few days. Since all the nearby eating places were closed, we headed for 7-11 to eat microwaveable rice meals. :D

Today, we're planning to go to Jay Chou's Secret-themed restaurant and to do more site-seeing. I'm so excited to use my new cam. Hahahaha!

PS. I want to put in Chinese Characters already but my laptop OS needs to be updated for Chinese support. Pfft!

The Boy @ Taipei Main Station

You probably saw the previous post where I listed all the things that my sister and I did in our first 3 days in Taiwan. Last night, we decided to "loiter" a bit in Taipei Main Station (MRT) to rest our legs from all the walking done yesterday.

We were seated on a stone bench where a couple of people were also seated. Very noticeable was the impatient-looking boy seated behind us because he's been sitting on the bench for a long time. I'd say he's 6-10 years old. (No, I don't know how to approximate the ages.)

After around 5-10 minutes, he asked to borrow my mobile phone to call someone. I got a bit iffy about the idea. In the Philippines, this doesn't usually happen; and some kid would probably take off with my mobile if I lent my phone to him.



After a long pause, we finally decided to let him use my phone. I taught him the basic mechanics of my English display phone, and then he was off to call 2-3 people from my phone!

I'd normally make side comments to let the kid know how annoyed I was with all the calls he's been making, but I'm in a foreign country and can't really think of many Chinese snide things to say. (Hahaha!) Anyway, he finally returned my phone back to me after making a lot of calls.

After a few minutes, he borrowed my phone again. By then, I was sure that the kid wasn't going to run off with my phone; but he will probably use up all the money I have credited inside it.

He borrowed my phone a few more times until we finally decided to go home. (because it's starting to get a bit late and his borrowing is getting a bit annoying.) I un-eloquently told the kid that we were going home and that he should probably do the same. He gave us a weak smile, and we were off.

A few minutes after we got home, my phone started ringing. The parents of the boy called up and asked to talk to him. I told them that we were already home and that we left the kid on Taipei Main. We then found out that the boy didn't know how to go home! Apparently, he lost his phone; and his parents are trying to find him!

I told them all the details that I can think of. (I'm sure they were more confused than helped by my bad Chinese.) Finally, the mom begged us to help her; my sister and I decided to hurry back to the station where we last saw the kid.

When we got there, the kid wasn't sitting on the bench anymore! I'd say that was 30-45 minutes since we left him to go home. We called up his mom to tell her that we didn't see the boy, and the mom said that she was also headed for Taipei Main.

We ran around the station and even asked a staff on post if he noticed the seated boy earlier - he didn't. We called the mom a few times to check if she had found her kid. After about 30 minutes of looking for the kid, we called again and the kid is now safely with the mom.



Whew! With a big sigh of relief, we headed back home.

There is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is yet. :D

So Far, So Good

Here's a breakdown of the things I have done in my 3 days in Taipei, mainly so I won't forget.



Day 1: Arrival (August 23, 2009)
- checked in Taipei Hostel (met Leslie, the very very hospitable Filipina helper of the hostel owner.)
- ate dinner (yummy noodles!) and snooped a bit in 7-11

Day 2: Getting a feel of things (August 24, 2009)
- brunch at McDonald's
- Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
- checked out MTC@Shida
- called up prospect apartments
- immigration center to apply for Alien ID
- explored a Carrefour and bought laundry supplies
- roast duck and bihon dinner at XsiMenTing
- XsiMenTing shopping happiness (where I got my Taiwan Mobile sim card)

Day 3: Enrollment (August 25, 2009)
- met up landlady and made reservations for more permanent place to stay (walking distance to Shida)
- 7-11 breakfast at a small park near Shida (yummy rice and peanut drink!)
- went to Shida for enrollment
>> met up with Jen Ang (another TECO scholar)
>> met new people (Hi Turner and Alexa from the States!)
>> ate at the dorm canteen and was finally able to drink some free tea! :D
>> placement exam where I got 27/100 on the advance test. (sucky sucky sucky!)
>> got my MTC ID with a built in Easy Card. Cool!
- Shilin Night Market (yummy Kiampong and shark's fin-like soup for dinner!)
- lost kid at Taipei Main Station (which I'm going to go into next time because I'm too lazy to do it now.)

We're planning to take a break tomorrow to rest our aching legs from all the walking that we have been doing. :-)

Waiting for Boarding

Bye, Manila! Hello, Taipei!
And thus, the adventure begins!

How Much Money Can You Bring Out of Philippines?

Currency Export Regulations:

Residents and Non-residents: local currency (Philippine Peso-PHP): up to PHP 10,000.-. Exceeding amounts require authorisation from the Central Bank of the Philippines. foreign currencies : up to USD 10,000.-, or its equivalent. Amounts exceeding USD 10,000.-, or its equivalent must be declared.

Information must be furnished on the source and purpose of the transport of such amount. Violation will be subject to sanctions under Philippine customs law and regulations.

from: http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/PH-Philippines-customs-currency-airport-tax-regulations-details.htm

Panic!

Just a quick post to tell everyone that I'm starting to panic! Hahaha! My flight is this Sunday, and I've started packing some of the stuff that I will be bringing. :-)

I'm told that the weather will range from 30-12 degrees Celsius; so I'm packing for cold weather. :-D Woot!

Visa and Office Despedida

Last Friday (August 14, 2008) was a very eventful time for me. It was officially my last day at work, (Freedom!!) and it was also the day I finally got my 180-day Visa for Taiwan. Yaay! I'll try to take a picture of my passport (soon) to show everyone how happy I am.

So what else happened last Friday? Well, I've been a huge pain in the butt to my officemates because I've been bugging them for more than a year now to do a photo exhibit just for the heck of it. It finally pushed through because of two awesome and very hardworking peeps, Cip and Carol. You really made it happen!!



After the exhibit, my beloved team gave me their going-away presents! :-)

1. This video (Love the song! Thanks Rizza!):


2. This too-funny-not-to-share picture with Jay where I look like a weird giraffe girl:

3. And a hydration belt! (I will definitely be joining a race or two in Taiwan!)


Thanks team! Supplier Portal Team rocks!!! I'm more ready to face my Taiwan adventure because of your blessing! ^__^

Dinner and Newspaper Happiness

Dinner at Mey-Lin's

Last Thursday, (August 6, 2009) the TECO scholars were invited by Director Wei to get together at Mey-Lin's Restaurant in Jupiter Street. We were treated to a yummy Chinese dinner; the patatim was S-U-P-E-R among the other great dishes! Director Wei even ordered bao fan (泡飯) when I told him how much I loved it from when I visited Taipei last year. (Thank you, Director Wei! It was very good!)

Standing from left to right: Diet, Shar, Ms. Happy, JP, Joel.
Seated from left to right: Me, Heidi, Riza, Director Wei, Paolo, Rinka.

The venue was also used to collect the contact information from everyone (Thanks for initiating this, Heidi!) so that we'll be able to keep in touch with each other. We plan to have regular meet-ups with each other so we can get updates on each other's Taiwan lives.

PS. We missed you, Jen!


Newspaper Happiness

While partaking on the delicious dinner, Ms. Happy mentioned that the scholarship awarding was announced in a couple of news publications! So cool, right?

Here's a news-clipping sent to us by Ms. Happy from Malaya on August 7, 2009:


There was another newspaper that featured the awarding prior to Malaya but I can't seem to remember the name of the newspaper. (If anyone knows, please tell me. hehe!)

We also got a space in Manila Bulletin yesterday (August 9, 2009); but I don't have a scan of it yet. I'll update this entry as soon as I can to include the Manila Bulletin clipping. Thanks for sending this to us, Ms. Happy!


13 more days before I leave for my Taiwan adventure. I can feel the panic and the excitement escalating as the day draws nearer and nearer to my departure. Woot!

Visa Application

WARNING: This is a long read. Sorry! :D


I'm now in the process of applying for a Student Visa for Taiwan. Last Friday, after the scholarship awarding ceremony, my visa application was not accepted because I was missing some documents. (The DFA certified ToR and Diploma, to be exact.) I'm sure that a lot of the grantees also had slight problems during their application so here's me trying to help consolidate the requirements (even though I'm still not finished with mine, yet. Hahaha!). :-)


1. Know Your Dates

Make sure you know the enrollment dates for the school you will be attending so that you know when you are needed in Taiwan and what flight schedule you'll need to book. For NTNU, enrollment is scheduled for August 25-27, 2009 (last Tuesday to Thursday of August).

If possible, book you're flights (earlier booking = cheaper rates) and find temporary accommodations to give you ample opportunity to house-hunt when you get to Taiwan. For temporary housing, look for cheap international hostel accommodations like Taipei Hostel Home.

My sister is going with me to Taiwan on my first week there, and we'll be house-hunting together. We'll also do some sight-seeing during free times. I'm booked via Philippine Airlines to fly on August 23 (Sunday), and my sister is scheduled to go back to the Philippines on August 31 (Monday). We've also reserved temporary accommodations in Taipei Hostel.


2. Basic Visa Requirements

Check out the TECO site so you know what documents are needed for Visa Application. Listed below are the visa requirements for studying Mandarin in Taiwan:

1. A duly filled up visa application form and indicating N/A if not applicable (download here)
2. Two (2) 2 X 1.5 head & shoulder photos with white background (taken w/in 3 months)
3. Passport valid for at least six months and old passport showing previous travels
4. Birth Certificate issued by NSO
5. Marriage Contract (if applicable) issued by NSO
6. Admittance letter from any of the accredited school
7. Financial supporting documents of the applicant such as:
   a. ) Income Tax Return
   b. ) Bankbook or Bank Certificate
8. Attendance Record ( we don't need this )
9. Study plan ( we don't need this )
10. Interview ( scheduled at 4pm on the day you file for your visa )
11. All documents submitted to this office should be Original and 1 photocopy

The visa application fee (PhP2,400) is waived for TECO scholars except the Huayu scholars. (Thanks for the correction, Jackie!)

Quick Tips:

• Check out Citizen Service for an easy and convenient way to get your Birth Certificates / Marriage Contracts delivered to you.
  
• Take note that there are different sets of requirements for Visitor Visas and University Student Visas.
• Maximum visa duration is 180 days. Some Huayu scholars (like me!) might need to apply twice during their stay.
  

3. Additional Visa Requirements for Scholars

Aside from the normal requirements listed on section 2, there are additional requirements for the TECO scholars.

1. DFA Certified Transcript of Records and Diploma
2. Photocopy of your Scholarship Award (Ms. Happy provided this to us last July 31.)
   
3. Medical Certificate and MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) Vaccination
   

For the DFA-certified documents, I suggest you call the DFA Office of Consular Affairs first (Phone number: 556-4080). They will be able to tell you how to apply for your DFA certifications.

• For universities under CHED, call up your universities to find out the guidelines for DFA application. I think it's a three-step process: get certified true copies from school, go to CHED for DFA Certification, and go to DFA to claim documents.
  
• For non-CHED universities (like UP), contact your registrar to find out the correct process. It's a two-step for us: get certified true copies and file for certification directly to DFA. (Here's the number to the Transcript of Records Section in UP Diliman Registrar: 981.85.00 local 4561, 4562.)

For Medical Certificates and MMR Vaccination, please proceed to the TECO-accredited medical centers for the necessary procedures. Make sure to call the medical centers first to inquire if MMR vaccination is available; the vaccination might be unavailable when you visit the medical center.

Quick Tips:

• Bring along a stool sample so you won't have to return to the center for stool submission. Yucky tip, I know!
  
• Drink plenty of water prior to your medical examination to ensure you have an easy time producing urine samples. Hahaha!

Timelines
Just a rough summary here on the timelines for some documents:

• NSO Citizen Service: 3-4 days
• DFA Document Certification: 4 working days
  
• Medical Certification and MMR Vaccination: 2-3 days
• TECO Visa: 1-3 days (visa application is done in the morning ONLY; interview is done 4pm on the same day. )
  
• UPD Certified True Copies: 1 day
  

Final Words

I'm listing everything that I know based on my Visa application. If I missed anything or put in some things that are incorrect, please feel free to correct me so I can update this entry for everyone's use.

Lastly, budget your time wisely; and always remember to have fun! We are venturing towards a great and fun adventure, after all. :D

Scholarship Awarding

The scholarship awarding happened two days ago, last Friday July 31, 2009 at TECO; and I finally have a face to go with Ms. Happy's name. I also met fellow scholarship grantees and the scholarship grantees from last year. Food was also over-flowing; where can you go wrong with that, I say? Yum!

Found out that two of the six Huayu Scholarship grantees are taking their Mandarin Education in 師大, as well! That means I'd have some homies to talk to when I feel lost or homesick.

Another awesome thing is that one of last year's grantees also came from 師大 (Hi Trixie!). She was able give some tips on housing, money and, most importantly, food! I feel more prepared now because of her talk.

I don't have any pictures with me on the event because I didn't bring any camera with me. (Blegh! Need to remedy that soon.)

Here's the group picture of all the grantees. Ambassador Lee (in the black suit) and Director Wei (in gray suit) gave awesome speeches that made me more excited with the 6-month trip. I'm the one with the red shirt; and the two girls on my right, Jen and Heidi, are also going to study in 師大. Thanks for sending me the pictures, Ms. Happy!


Here's super happy me receiving the scholarship plaque from Ambassador Lee. :)


Here's a picture of the award I received (complete with the frame)! Yaay! :)


*ZOOM* You see, it says here that I was granted a Huayu Scholarship by Taiwan for September 2009 to February 2010! Hoozah!


You rock, Ms. Happy! Thanks again, TECO!