School!

Right now, I am in the International Chinese Language Program's new computer lab at National Taiwan University. Sounds fancy, doesn't it? Or at least exciting. It really is pretty nice, but going to school is pretty much like it has always been. The only real difference is that at this point the workload doesn't seem much different from any of my other semesters, seeing that Swarthmore has made an impossible workload an essential feature of every student's existence.

I don't normally use such an impassioned tone when I am discussing schoolwork, because I try not to be the kind of person who brags about how much work they have, but it's kind of true. I don't mind that there is so much to do; I think it's good to inure yourself against stress. I'm just stating that it seems almost certain that there is no way here, or at Swarthmore, to study everything and not sacrifice both your sleep and your social life. Especially here, considering that I have to commute to work. Which, keep in mind, is a totally foreign concept to a college student who rolls out of bed every day 5 minutes before class starts (I have the time to every building down to the half-minute).

My material is at least fairly interesting. I have one class on Chinese culture, history and economics, one on Chinese radio plays, and one on reading news articles. In addition, I have an individual class which is a supplement to the Chinese culture class, and helps to keep me awake during the mornings, which begin at precisely 8:10 am every day. That's probably at least 2 hours earlier than I could ever naturally wake up, but it encourages me to be more relaxed, so to speak, on weeknights. In that regard, I am glad that I have started school. Two weeks with nothing in particular to wake up for (most real estate agents and apartment showings were in the evenings or on weekends) were taking their toll.

The good news is, I am moving into my new apartment today! It is a small studio, furnished, with a TV and refrigerator and totally new. That's the best part, as nothing has been used, broken or poorly retrofitted to this point. Plus, my landlord seems like a very nice guy. He is a graduate of National Taiwan University, and seems to be a very nice, though also very successful man. He works in the Taiwan Power Company as an environmental engineer but owns more than 20 apartments. Becoming a landlord is probably one of the most beloved second jobs of Taiwanese. Once you're started, it's probably the easiest job ever. All you have to do is just rake in the money! That said, many older people here collect trash for recycling off the street here for money, too, so who knows?

Last night I went to a pizza restaurant named Alleycat's again. It has very good pizza, even by American standards, and it has Hoegaarden on tap (no, I don't know why they chose Hoegaarden. It seems a little unusual, to me). For some reason, though, eating anchovies on pizza here doesn't scare me. I don't think I ever even considered it the United States, but considering the type of things people consume without a second thought, it seemed second nature to chow down on little fishies with my pizza this time.

Speaking of weird foods, one of the best places to see lots of weird food at once is a 'hot pot' or huoguo restaurant. The way it works is sort of like an all you can eat place: in front of your seat there is an electrically heated pot. The waiter fills this with water, and then brings you your choice of thinly sliced meats, typically beef or lamb. To this you add whatever items you find of interest from the buffet. And, wow, are they interesting. There is an enormous variety: one can choose among several kinds of tofu, sea cucumber, seaweed, chopped squid, whole squid, whole octupus, quail eggs, chicken eggs, whole and chopped fishes, lots of weird meatballs of unknown origins and with questionable aromas, lots and lots vegetables (I like those especially), mushrooms and a couple types of noodles. So you grab a plate, fill it up, and then put stuff in the pot as you want to eat it, along with the meat. You have a second, smaller bowl which is unheated and as you remove things from the boiling water you put them in that bowl. Usually you can also add whatever spices you're interested in, though if you get mala huoguo you probably can't really taste them. (If you think I have good spice tolerance here, you have no idea. We in the West aren't even on the same level.) It makes for a good, though tiring meal, especially with friends. But beyond that, it's kind of fun, above and beyond the basic pleasures of eating. I always make it a point to try and eat the strange stuff, though, because it really impresses any Taiwanese I meet. When I say that I can eat, and in fact like stinky tofu and pork blood rice cakes, most people are quite surprised. I'm trying to be the American ambassador, of course, so I talk to everyone and try to be as polite as possible. It seems to be working so far.

In any case, although I'm hungry from writing that paragraph, I have to go study for a while before I can go eat. But I wish each and every one of you a happy Tuesday night (you're probably sleeping right now, though it's 3:02 pm on Wednesday for me) and hope to hear from you soon.

Andrew

A Belated Update

I'm sorry about how long it's taken me to get back to you.

I've been spending a good amount of time getting to know the people in my hostel, though many of them seem to come and go too quickly. In particular, I have one good British friend who is studying here at National Taiwan Normal University, and a friend from Canada named Dave. Ironically, the more citizens of the Commonwealth I meet, the more I realize how much closer the Canadians are to us than we usually assume. It's often quite difficult to make friends with British because I usually simply fail to understand the undertones of their conversation. Even though they speak the same language (more or less), I end up feeling as if they're a part of a clique which, though it seems to be based on the same elements as my American existence, is really quite exclusive. Even Australians and New Zealanders are easier to get along with. That said, I'm finding camaraderie in strange places. My friend Duncan, though, is really quite nice and unassuming. He's really a relaxed, fun guy, with a fair bit of experience in Asia. He just finished a Master's in International Business and Chinese, or something along those lines, and is studying here to perfect his Chinese, which still has many elements from the Mainland in it. To be honest, a lot of the students here in Taipei aren't very good. Maybe I sound just as bad to others, but I have heard some really bad Chinese accents these days.

I am still living in the hostel, and that suits (it had better, since I haven't anywhere else to sleep!) me just fine for now. It's a fun, dorm-like experience, though I'm going to have to go to a tea house or a web cafe to study once classes start. In fact, the hostel is quite near to both of those establishments, and what fine places they are, indeed. The internet cafe is a little less than a dollar an hour, and it has pool tables and all sorts of nice amenities. The tea houses are 24 hours as well, and serve quite good food along with an array of teas which would be speciality in the United States. Here, they are just par for the course. Four or five kinds of green tea, served hot or cold, with or without milk and sugar, plus another selection of oolong and fruit teas. They drink it the way we drink fountain sodas in America. Though, it's often not quite as good for you as you might assume, since people here can make a powerfully sweet iced tea, like something from the Deep South. Worse still, the Taiwanese national favorite, zhen zhu nai cha or pearl milk tea incorporates a huge amount of milk or cream. It tastes good every once in a while, but I guess I prefer the more traditional unsweetened teas. What really gets me, though, is how popular Lipton is here. Just boggles the mind, doesn't it? That in a country where you can buy tea from a particular mountainside among many at every tea shop (they have shops dedicated to selling tea leaves! you can't even drink it there; it's just for purchase) people would still want Lipton.

In any case, I have to go, but I'll try and be more regular with my posts. I hope you enjoyed this, and I really appreciate your comments. Post again!

Zhu

Hao

(Wish you well.)

Arrived!

Hi Everyone,

I am sitting in front of the hostel computer, typing on a computer which somehow has support for even fewer languages than mine at home. It hasn't even quite got English down right, so I'm trying to write this post amid a sea of little squares, and I can't tell what any of the buttons really mean.

BUT, I just slept my first night in the "World Scholar House," Taipei. It's a pretty nice place, though cramped by American standards. When I have a chance, I'll upload some pictures. Right now, I'm staying in a room with 3 other people. One guy works for the British Trade Office, apparently (why is he staying in a hostel?) and the other two are a couple from England or someplace else where they have weird English. In any case they seem pretty nice, though I only really met them at around midnight and they were pretty sleepy. It's about half the size (maybe even only a third) of my dorm room, and it has four bunk beds, a well-functioning air conditioner (a necessity) and a window. The bathroom is Asian-style, sort of. To be more accurate, a poor conversion of Asian-style to Western. One thing that might interest you is that many toilet facilities in Taiwan don't have enough water pressure to handle toilet paper. So, you put it in a trash bin to the side. Lovely! But not as miasmic as you might think. You'd think that this nation's pluviosity (state of rainyness) would make it smelly, but it's not too bad. I learned that word from "Akeelah and the Bee" last night on the plane over. Good movie!

So, I have a plan for today, sort of. I will go eat breakfast immediately after leaving the computer, start calling people who have apartments I want to take a look at, though that raises the question of how I'm going to do that. I can use my phone, but only at $1.99 a minute.

Then I will just walk around all day finding a place to live. Don't get me wrong, the hostel's not bad! It's actually quite nice.

Plus, I met two friends (by necessity) yesterday on the plane - my seatmates. Well, rowmates. To my left was Taiwanese Random Girl from San Francisco, who was really quite open, actually had an opinion about things, and spoke good English. She's of indeterminate age, between 25 and probably some upper number I can't guess at (people don't age here). Friend number 2, though I actually talked to him first, was a Jewish guy who became Mormon and works at an electronics company in Burnsville, MN. He is the liaison between the home office and their factory in China, although he is about to marry a Taiwanese girl. He invited me and RTG to his wedding reception. But he's Mormon, so I'm assuming there won't be any wine at his wedding reception, though I doubt that could stop the Taiwanese family.

That's enough for all of you for today, I hope you're feeling great (I am) and I will return again soon with new tales. This was kind of rushed, and may lack the quality of future posts. For that, I apologize!

Zai jian (see you later),

Andrew

Hello, all.

Welcome to A Push-button Sea.

It's about 24 hours till I take off from Minneapolis, and I'm thinking in two time zones. I have to call a hostel manager to coordinate a reservation 10pm her time, which was eventually described to me as simply "twelve hours from now".

But, everything is packed and except for myself, all the pieces are in place! Tomorrow morning I rise to get some vigorous exercise, eat a bowl of American breakfast cereal, and then I'm off to the Inter-National Airport.

Minneapolis -> Chicago -> San Francisco -> Taipei.

I'll be back soon to post again, and next time with pictures. I have a new camera! Except it's silver, not orange or blue.

Good-bye, and wish me luck!