I stepped out of the airport in Chiayi and the smell of fresh pineapples washed over me as I stood in the warm sunshine! What a change from the slush in Montreal two days ago! It was so nice!
Emily picked me up with Nikki and dropped us off at our apartment. The apartment is unreal! I can't believe how nice it is!
There are two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a dining area, a "guest" room called a tatami room (it looks like a traditional Chinese meditation room, but we will use it for guests), two small balconies, and there are two bathrooms (with showers).
My bedroom has a separate bathroom, and the other bathroom is between the doors to our two bedrooms. The apartment is very spacious and bright during the day: at night however, it suffers from NEON lighting!! EVERYWHERE!!!
I am already desperate for a real lamp (so, apparently, is Nikki!).
The other thing my apartment has is a third roommate: Gaoshung (AKA Baby Gao).
"Gaoshung" is Nikki's little kitten... she is nine weeks old and very, very playful! She is all white except for a black patch over one eye and a black tail.
Nikki found her while she was out shopping with Emily in the city of Kaohsiung (pronounced Gao-Shung)... so she named her after the city! Nikki has taken her to the vet to check her out, and she has washed her and bathed her repeatedly (yes: she was FULL of fleas, apparently). She has been checked for worms etc.. and the vet says she is fine.
Nikki has decided that, once she returns to Canada she will take Gaoshung with her (she has looked into this, and apparently, cats are considered "carry on" luggage... and they don't need to be quarantined upon entering Canada)...
Back to my story... Yesterday, after Emily dropped us off at the apartment, I dropped off my stuff and spent the afternoon touring the city with Nikki (on the back of her moped).
Honestly, you would not believe this place! It is really nifty... but it isn't really all that different from Montreal (except that everyone is Chinese and the stop signs actually say "STOP", LOL!).
You also would not believe the number of mopeds in this city: it is unreal! ..and they drive worse than Montrealers!! So far I have seen it with my own eyes: while driving on the right side of the street is technically the law... it seems to be only a suggestion! Cutting people off is the norm, and so is scooting through the red lights!! it's terrifying, LOL! ... it is crazy, but the school is not far. In fact, our apartment is in what is considered the Westmount of Chiayi.... it is almost the suburbs!
After a bit of driving around, we stopped for a bite to eat.
Pierre, as always, was right about something: chopsticks! Forks and knives are NOT given out anywhere!!! In fact... they don't even have forks and knives to give you if you ask for them (not that you COULD ask for them if you don't speak Chinese)!
I was rather proud of myself, though: I had a huge plate of fried noodles for lunch and I successfully figured out the chopsticks all by myself... Nikki was impressed... I think hunger must be a great motivator, LOL! I think this was really the first time I EVER got the hang of chopsticks!
It was the funniest thing too... you know how malls have food courts with tables in the center and little restaurants all around them? You can choose the meal you want then go sit at the tables provided... ? Well Nikki brought me to a food court for lunch today and the funniest thing was that EVERY SINGLE RESTAURANT was Chinese food, LOL! I swear they were all selling pretty much the same thing: rice or noodles, LOL! It was strange! I suppose back home it's the same with multiple burger places... but this was surreal... I honestly couldn't tell the difference between any of the restaurants!
Later in the afternoon, I got a "papaya milk" with Nikki. It is like a milkshake (they make it with fresh milk). They take a fresh papaya, blend it up, add a little sugar, add milk and crushed ice, then blend it some more... It is really yummy (I was surprised... it wasn't too sweet at all!).
As for jet lag... so far so good! I was fine all day yesterday and only started getting sleepy around 10:00 last night... so I was in bed by 11:00 or so... this morning, however, I woke up around 6:00 am... (that has to stop, LOL!)
I took a shower and played with the cat, made coffee and finished the last of my unpacking.... and Nikki was still asleep! Finally (around 9:30), I got dressed and went for a walk.... I am in an Internet cafe about 3 or 4 blocks from my house... it was very interesting trying to book an hour of Internet in Chinese, let me tell you, LOL!
This cafe is insane... they have about 30 computers, and there is a 9 to 13 year old boy attached to each one! The kids are all playing networked games... they are all playing dungeons and dragons (or something like it) against each other!
It looks like all of them are smoking, and the noise level is barely below "bleeding eardrums"... it's kind of fun, actually (but I now fully understand why Nikki insisted to our boss Emily that we needed an Internet connection at the apartment)! ..even though this place is cheaper than using the Internet at home, it is a little crazy (and it is certainly NOT easy to sit and write an e-mail in here, LOL!)
Here is the last bit of news... I start working tomorrow (Monday) afternoon!
Emily was all set to give me two weeks vacation before I started to work, but then Nancy (Nikki's old room mate) quit on THURSDAY! She kept it a secret from Emily until then! Can you believe it?
Columbia is a very small school (I saw it yesterday: it's really really cute!)... including Nikki and myself, there are only 4 employees.... so I understand why Emily asked me to start right away... there is literally no-one else to take over Nancy's classes! ..oh well, I might as well get the first day of classes over with! LOL!
I still can't believe that I am on the other side of the world! (even if everyone is always saying "NI-HOW" instead of hello! LOL!) ... the weather is awesome and people here are really, really friendly!
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