As most of you know, I am spending another year living in Taiwan. I anticipate that I will write more and more of my blog in Chinese, with English translation, as time goes on. Seeing as I've been in Kaohsiung for only four days now, this post is entirely in English.
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| View from my new 11th floor apartment |
That's not to say I haven't started studying yet. I've spent about three hours each day studying flashcards on my own. I can't seem to sleep past 6 am yet and go to "bed" around 9 pm. I say "bed" because I currently reside on a wooden mat covered with a thin layer of cloth. Mattress shopping is high on my To Do list. Overall, Carol and I are happily adjusting to our new neighborhood in Fongshan City, a suburb of Kaohsiung City. We are a few metro stops from our old neighborhood and current school. We leave our shoes outside the door of our apartment, turn the water on and off during our curtain-less showers, and drinks lots and lots and lots of the tea we both missed terribly this summer.
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| Welcome to our/Firefly's apartment and the TV we're guarding with our lives! |
The neighborhood has everything we could ever need: a 7-11, Good Morning breakfast shop, 24 hour outdoor market/indoor convenient store, a mosque complete with faux Mexican burrito stand, and an MRT within 10 minutes walking distance. There is even a store selling mace, which we each purchased, in the event that the overly-friendly stray dogs and men take their curiosity to the next level.
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| Internet is obviously our first priority, above feng shui (風水) |
We will begin language classes at National Kaohsiung Normal University (高市大) on August 30th. For the first few weeks, beyond studying, I expect to sort out my visa and health insurance, hopefully get a bed and some curtains, and figure out what I'll be eating that won't cause people to comment further than they do on my weight. So check out a few photos of our new spot (above and below). Thanks to Firefly, my former co-teacher, who is now living in Hungary with her husband!
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| No, I don't have a dog, just a weird English t-shirt. |
Life is good, Chinese is fascinating, and Taiwan is beautiful. More photos to come.
