My roomate is suffering from ‘all friends leaving Taipai in one mass exodus’ syndrome so I thought now would be the perfect time for us learn to do sonething really random that we would never do elsewhere…any ideas? Don’t really fancy a martial art but some kind of dance class would be cool?
Go to Yingge and try out pottery.
The sports’ stadium just north of chungshan mrt station has lots of different things going on, they have some “world dance” classes there. I think it’s at lane 42, chungshan n. rd. section 2. I’ve seen info about that place on forumosa.
There is a Buddhist foundation near Taipei Station that offers vegetarian cooking classes, if you are interested I can dig out the information. I took some vegetarian cooking classes once, they were really fun and we learned how to make things like vegetarian shrimps and soups, most of the lessons were in Taiwanese but I had a great time, even if I couldn’t understand half the instructions. They also have discussions in English about different Buddhist subjects.
How about signing up for a calligraphy class? There are places that teach you even if your Chinese is not great, it’s a nice way to learn about the language and culture. TLI used to offer them, and I saw some advertising for classes at Grandma Nitti’s once.
“shan you” hiking club is also good, you can go hiking all over the place and meet really nice people.
The Taipei camera club will take you out to different areas that you may never think of going by yourself.
A good way to get involved in stuff is to ask your coworkers what they do, and invite yourself along to their activities. You may surprised just who plays classical instruments, teaches traditional dance, knows the ins and outs of TaiChi, or visits orphanges on the weekend!
vegetarian cooking classes? please tell me more! thanks. jsc
The community services center in Tienmu holds lots of different activity classes. You might find something of interest?
Their website is www.community.com.tw
What’s the lowdown on the calligraphy classes? That sounds like it could be a bit of me.
sorry, didn’t post info on classes earlier… that buddhist place is on hangchow road, just south of chungsiao e. road, heading south it’s on the left side of the road (that would be east?), on the 2nd floor, there is a buddhist sign on the building. inside there is a library with cds and books, they have lots of classes, you need to ask at the desk. sorry, no address, can’t find it.
calligraphy… i think you would be best to call tli to see what they offer. the ymca also offer classes, that’s the one on rooselvelt just south of hsinhai, they have lots of different things for people to try, i think lots of “housewives” attend classes during weekdays, if you are free.
actually, i think if you go to your local branch of taipei city library and ask at the foyer, they have lots of info on local activities.
speaking of the library and totally off-topic, did you know that you can get a library card for free, and you can request books online from any branch to be sent, for free, to your local branch for you to pick up? it’s so good, they have heaps of English books, spread out all over the city.
sorry can’t be much more help than that, since getting married and having a child i haven’t done too many of these actitivities, so some of my info is a little outdated. but i can assure you, there are heaps of things to try out there!! enjoy!
If the weather obliges, I might try and get down to the library tomorrow, and I’ll put any details I get from that up here. Thanks for the help.
If you need to get out and find a new activity and make new friends, why not join other volunteers to help make life better for Taiwan’s stray animals? Unlike many hobbies which are practiced at home alone, this is a very social pursuit in which you can make lots of new friends while getting involved in a variety of activities, from helping us bake and sell animal biscuits to raise funds, participating in campouts and other activities, making dog collars with us, on and on… the fun never ends! See for more info:
http://animalstaiwan.org/ website,
http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=33246,
and
http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=32523
for the fun we just had this weekend!
If interested, PM Stray Dog, 914 or me.