Whaaat's happenin,

So here I am. May I once again apologize for the nerdy blog, but I suppose it is a necessary evil at this point. In case you didn't know, I am now working in Taiwan, teaching english for awhile. I got here about 5 days ago after a really long flight and a connection through Japan. My everlasting memory from Japan will be the automatic soap dispensers in the washrooms. ahhh progress.

So I arrived in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, and Dave picked me up at the airport, where we then proceeded to take the best dressed bus I've ever seen to our apartment. I think the people of Taiwan may be compensating for something, because being bigger than everyone else is of the utmost importance. If it isn't Asia's biggest english bookstore it is the world's largest commercial building or Southeast Asia's biggest temple or the world's most polluted pigeons (maybe i made that one up, but probably not). But, it's a very typical big Asian city: very crowded, filled with bright lights and ridiculously polluted. I like it alot so far though, it is such an interesting culture to immerse yourself in, and the people are for the most part very nice when they aren't making blatantly lude comments in mandarin about me. our apartment is small but pretty nice, and my favourite part is that we can sit on the roof of our building with the taipei skyline on one side and some more poor, residential housing on the other side, great view. i did have a bit of a tough time adjusting to living in this little apartment building though. i accidentally ended up on the wrong floor the other day, and spent several minutes trying to barge in on an old lady's apartment. for some reason i wasnt paying attention tho, and didn't connect the shrill scream i kept hearing to my inability to get into my apartment. i am pretty sure, however, that the police motorcycle that was parked outside the building later on was unrelated.

i do have, as usual, many typical, slightly cynical observations from my time here so far. first of all, everyone cares way too much about their dogs. evidently, the cheap clothing that asia is so well known for extends to canines as well. i swear, some of the wardrobes ive seen are unbelievable. today, i looked beside me as i was crossing the street (which is an adventure in itself, ive almost been hit by about 14 half drunk lunatic cabbies) when i looked over and saw a dog wearing a raincoat that put me to shame. secondly, taiwan really wants you to know how much people want to be here. for example, did you know that the 2009 deaflympics are in taipei? take that vancouver 2010, we dont need you anyways. thirdly, when millions of people share the same four last names, you are gonna get the odd woman with the last name chung who makes the wrong choice for their english first name. good news connie chung, you are well-represented over here.

so i got a job teaching english here for the next little while. i went into my school for the first time yesterday and there certainly are some interesting characters around. the way i see it, there are 2 categories of ppl who do this
job. the majority are lifers: they are balding, probably named
jimbo and spend atleast several years here, if not marry an
poor, unsuspecting taiwanese girl and live here forever. then there are the
monthers. that would be me, dave, and about 4 other people on this island. everyone keeps talking about how i'll get the hang of it "after 6 months or so," to which i always almost laugh in their face. but, there are some really nice people, so this should be a pretty hilarious few months. anyways, talk later muchlovedunc