Turn Up the Radio

This is my 12th week working in Taiwan.  Crazy! Time never ceases to amaze me.  Speaking of time… I saw this “quote” and found it insightful.

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

On The Radio

I got to go to a radio station in Toufen, Miaoli.  RJ and I took the train to Zhunan and there was a black car waiting to take us to the station.  Ten minutes later we arrived at the radio station and we were led to the studio upstairs.  Okay, so it wasn’t a big studio, but it was still cool.  You really couldn’t hear any other sounds in the studio, ideal for recording.  

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You might be wondering, “What were they recording on the radio?”  Well, the Miaoli Foreign English Teachers all wrote short stories.  These short stories were often personal experiences with some kind of moral message at the end.  Difficult words in the stories were picked out and put into additional sentences to help listeners have a better understanding of the word.  RJ and I each walked in with four short stories with their respective sentences to record at the station.  

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From left to right: Mickey, RJ, and I

I think the hardest part of recording those English short stories was speaking slowly.  We kept in mind that our audience was not going to be fluent in English.  Most of the words they might not know, especially if we read at a normal pace.  So we slowed it down, talking as precisely and clearly as we could and hoping that the listeners could benefit from our program.  RJ joked that talking slowly was very similar to talking like a robot.  Nonetheless, we had a blast recording those stories and we truly hope that the Miaoli English Radio will benefit or enrich the listeners in some way.  

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015

High Speed Rail Bathrooms

I’m really excited! So, there’s a high speed rail opening in Miaoli County.  And out of all the places in Miaoli to put the high speed rail, they chose to build it less than a 10 minute walk from my school.  #winning  Traveling on Friday evenings or Monday mornings just got extremely convenient.  I have been walking past the high speed rail for three months now.  Recently, they’ve opened the high speed rail to the public just to walk through and look around.  The first train does not actually stop at the station until December 1, 2015.  

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Anyways, my co-worker, Desiree, asked me if I wanted to explore with her during our lunch break today.  I was like sure, why not? We walked to the high speed rail and had a very pleasant walk/conversation.  The weather was perfect.  

While at the high speed rail, I told Desiree we have to try their bathrooms. It was brand new so all the toilets looked shiny and clean.  I was also excited to see they had toilet seat covers.  I’m a big fan of toilet seat covers.  Anyways, I don’t know why, but I was very curious to see the family stall. It’s like this large handicap stall designed for parents with babies who need a diaper change, or parents with little kids.  What I was surprised to see was that next to the “adult” toilet there was a smaller one next to it, designed specifically for kids.  I thought it was the cutest thing at the moment.  Yes, I just called a toilet, “cute.” 

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Family Bathroom – isn’t it cute that they have a “child” toilet?!