Ben says:
Dear all,
We safely traversed the Pacific Ocean and made an international move from Cedar City, UT, USA to Taipei, Taiwan on the 27th of May, 2005. We're are sorry for the belated nature of this e-mail; moving to a different country and starting from scratch is a lot of work! I was grateful to graduate from Southern Utah University in May with a degree in History and Political Science. Windy and I were blessed with the birth of a baby in February; a girl we have named Elnorra. Currently I am teaching at an English kindergarten in Taipei. The kids are cute and smart and I enjoy my work. An international move is a new thing for both of us and it has had its
moments of humor and alarm. In general it has been wonderful to be in Taiwan. For the most part the food is wonderful. Almost without exception the people are more than welcoming, almost divinely kind and attentive. The city is in most places beautiful and well ordered and the art splendid. I am enjoying my students most of whom are Chinese. I suppose it is worth mentioning that Taiwan is more or less a Chinese country as an island close to mainland China and the residence of China's pre communism government, which fled here during the communist revolution. Mandarin Chinese is the official language. The customs and the vast majority of the population are Chinese and the war that was once fought against the communists is still fought politically about whether Taiwan is indeed part of China or not and if so who should control it; the communists or the democracy. Gratefully the democracy is currently in power.

Life has been fun in Taiwan most things are the same and there is an almost ubiquitous presence of English as well as Chinese here in the city. Taipei is a very international city; on our side of the hall in our apartment we have South Africans, Russians, Taiwanese (indigenous peoples like native Americans would be in the US), Chinese (of course), and us Americans. We are becoming quite comfortable and Windy is enjoying being a stay at home mother immensely. It is a relief for me to be able to support my family now that I have graduated.

Currently we are experiencing a typhoon, and it has been more relaxing than frightening. The government declared that everything should close late Sunday evening (17 July) and that everything stays closed until such time as it is safe to be out of doors. Therefore we have stayed inside all day and finished reading Harry Potter year 6 which was released Saturday. The wind seemed only to reach an average Cedar City type of speed. I assume that for being a level 5 typhoon either it was much worse in other parts of town or it lost its steam before hitting land.

Your Friend, Son, Brother, Acquaintance, perhaps a stranger, but you found our blog!
Benjamin Shaffer

Windy says:
Dear friends and family,

Our Taiwan adventure has been fun and only a bit stressful. It all started about 3 years ago when Ben said he wanted to teach English in a foreign country when he was done with college. I am a stay in one place and put the roots down deep kind of person so I first ignored the idea of leaving the country. As time wore on and Ben did not drop the subject I told him that I would be willing (not excited, but willing) to go. Since Ben's sister-in-law is from Taiwan I thought I would be able to use the language and culture I would learn to understand and communicate with her better. I still would not have chosen this as a path myself but I found as the reality started to come forth and plans were actually being made that I was quite
excited to be going on an international adventure.

We express our deepest gratitude to all our friends and acquaintances that assisted us in any way to leave the USA. It was not a small task to close the business, obtain and fill a storage shed, delegate "vacation homes" for our more valuable or useful possessions and move out of our rental house.

The 2 hours we were in LAX waiting for our airplane made the stress and delayed deadlines of the past 2 months worthwhile. We had arrived at the airport, checked in our baggage (yes, my tuba HAD to come), paid for babe-in-arms ticket but NOT the foreshadowed cost for an extra piece of luggage (hey, we are MOVING here) and the oversized tuba (thank you China Air). We had a nice flight and Elnorra did better than expected on the 13-hour flight and we did not have the other passengers want to throw us out the window (we assume).

Our first experience with food in Taiwan was classic: we went down to the local 7-11 and bought microwavable food. 7-11s are alive and healthy hear and they really are convenience stores, you can use the ATM, make copies, buy trash bags, pay your utility bills, purchase phone cards with good rates, and even buy more pre-paid cell phone minutes and pick up a snack at the same time! We still eat out more often than not because 1, it can be cheap (about $3 USD for dinner for 2) and usually good and 2, the kitchen situation (see below).

Less than a week after arrival we had obtained an apartment. 3 bed 2 bath for $16,000 NT a month (about $520 US). We are told that the price is quite good and the health benefits of living on the 5th floor with no elevator are already showing. The viewing of the apartment was our first real culture shock as you may see in the attached pictures. We had anticipated sleeping on the floor for a month or two until we were a bit more financially stable, the problem is we assumed that there would be a thing called carpet... well we all know where assumptions can lead...to surprise and disappointment. We are grateful for the furnature left behind by the previous tenants, a couch, a mock closet and a desk, and fortunately (so we thought) a bed. We were initially grateful for the bed until the FLEAS attacked! We had our exceptionally nice landlord haul off the flea-ridden beds and odd furnature we did not want (by the way, trash service is paid for by purchasing official garbage bags you buy at the 7-11 and large loads have to be picked up by hiring an official truck.) We are now on a borrowed air mattress until further notice. The kitchen was also a great shock even after we were told to be grateful to have a kitchen at all. A dorm fridge, a 2 burner super power gas range, which has taken almost as many burnt offerings as successful meals. Shelves? Counters? Storage space? Not included. We have 3 bedrooms and 2, count them, 2 bathrooms or should I say shower stalls with toilets and sinks in them, as they are tile top to bottom and have mobile shower heads.

We had a delightful trip to COSTCO where we successfully used our membership card from the states and after panicking at the ATM obtained enough NT (new Taiwanese dollars worth about $0.032 US each) to pay in cash and then our second culture shock came when they said they wanted $3,000 NT to deliver the large items in 2 days. Almost a hundred US dollars to deliver a small clothes dryer (80% humidity on a regular basis and dryers are not standard!)a do-it-yourself wire shelving unit for the kitchen, a reverse osmosis water filter, a tub of laundry soap, a box of A4 (not 8 ½" x 11") paper. What a change not to walk out to our faithful minivan, fold down a seat (only if needed) and just drive home.

Ben discovered rare gem for me when he came across the monthly newsletter for the National Concert Hall and found out about a big tuba concert BEFORE it happened. I was grateful to attend the concert on July 2nd and felt just a tad justified in hauling my tuba all the way over here even though I still have only played a few notes on it.

Now down to the most valuable part: friends! We have been very blessed to find many friends very quickly and have been helped tremendously by many to set up our new home. A co-worked of Ben's, Liz, helped us rent the apartment (she lives on the 2nd floor) and has helped in a bunch of little ways to make our set up much easier and she is quite fun to chat with. A friend from church, Lahapa, who I spent most of my second week with hanging out, starting by her generosity to help us obtain a cell phone so we would have some mode of modern communication and turning into a fast and valued friendship. Another friend from church needed to move into a smaller apartment so we are mutually benefiting by the loan/storage of some of the larger furnature. We now have the use of nice bookshelves with glass doors, a more comfortable couch, and a couple of tables that double for food consumption, junk collecting and eventually scrapbooking.

In my not so spare time I am attempting to make the house a home and maintain a slightly higher standard of cleanliness to satisfy my external appearance of work as a full-time homemaker... but what really happens is that I still don't get to have the house anywhere near spotless, or any of my valued projects (like sending this e-mail within a week of arriving) done in my initial time frame because time with my ever-growing child is more important!

We are all well, happy and enjoying our Taiwanese adventure. We plan on being here for 2 years and have a spare room so if you happen to be in our new neck of the world please let us know, we will even help bring your luggage up all 11 sets of stairs to our 5th floor apartment. :}

We would love to hear about you and your families so please write back when you can.

Love and hugs,
Windy