Sunday, November 29, 2009

Living in Taiwan

Well i find myself here in taiwan. I have been living here now for almost 3 weeks. I just moved out of the hotel into an apt. I more or less spent the weekend getting used to the new apt. Life is not easy when you dont speak the language, to get around you have to walk and well...your apartment smells bad.

The apt... Dont get me wrong, it is not bad and i am greatful to have a place to stay. It is almost 2000 sq feet....ah... yeah! 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room, and laundry room. Im on the 14th floor and have some great views of the city. But there is minimal furniture in this massive place, so it feels very empty. Im not kidding, a family 5-8 people could live here. oh and for some reason every time i return...it smells funny. it almost is a musty rotten dead animal smell. I dont know what it is but i bought this aromatherapy thing that makes it smell better...i had too, i would gag everytime i walked in the place, let alone try to eat. They bought me new bedding and it is very nice, i am happy with that. the bed is as hard as sleeping on the concrete floor, i think that is just how they sleep out here.

as for food.... i have found some, i made it to costco and bought too much food. but i also have found a few places near by to get food. i am no longer too worried about eating. however for somereason, i am gaining weight. i assumed i would have lost, but i feel like i have gained. food and eating are still an issue, but getting better and are at least semi comfortable now.

travel...well i have a driver to take me to work..but all the rest of the time i either pay for taxi or walk. i walked for 4 hrs on sat...on the map it didnt look quite as far, but it was. i walked about 3 miles to a mall and then walked around the mall for a couple hours. its funny how seeing something familiar makes you feel comfortable...yes seeing mcdonalds or dunkin donuts makes me feel good, good enough that i had 2 donuts on sat. BTW dunkin donuts is huge over here...they love those donuts....actually wouldnt mind another right now...ha!
Again today i walked to the hardware store and got a plug adapter for my computer. it was about a mile away. Loving the Iphone right now. i just turn on the maps application and it locates me and i have saved my apt in it also, so i can always see where i am in reference to my apt and (more importantly) can always see where to go to get back.

The weather has been really great... it is lite outside by 5 am or around then and it gets dark by 5 or 6 pm. I so far have been taking off around lunchtime and going for walks....but what is funny is that in a city of over a million folks, i will be the only person walking down a main street at 2 in the afternoon. Seems crazy to me, but is totally the case. Not to mention maybe 1/3 of all the stres are open. it seems like everything is closed. but as soon as the sun goes down and it gets dark....everyone comes out, the streets are packed there are people and lights everywhere....everything is open, even the little misc. shop with the small hickamagigers and tiny little whatchamacall its... Everything! and they will stay open until the wee hours of that night and so will the people...everyone stays up late and sleeps in in the morning. sunday morning, things didnt even start to wake up until around noon. i am shocked and surprised with this culture.

was without internet, computer this weekend. might as well not had a phone either as now i have a taiwanese and american cell...yes 2 cell phones.. no one knows the taiwanese number so i dont get calls on that one...and the american one doesnt really work.
luckily i found hbo and stars on the cable...sure the commericals are all in chinese but when there is an american movie(which is most all) then it is in english and it has chinese subtitles. so i just leave the tv on the movie channels...its my second time watching 27 dresses in the last 2 days.

as for overall health...i am doing pretty well. i have this annoying headache that comes and goes and the same with a stomach ache. both have been better since i have been making my own food and getting more sleep. i think it will be better in notime.

ok..more soon with pics!
cheers
t