New apartment for the hairy foreigner

Breaking news - I've got a new apartment, and its awesome.  I moved out of the hostel this morning, much to my relief.  It was getting a bit tiresome having a dozen people around at all times, with too few fans to offset the massive body heat and a landlord unwilling to use the A/C.

I did, however, meet some pretty interesting people.  There was a French couple staying in the hostel that fitted to a T every silly stereotype about the French, ever.  They'd been traveling the world together for about 2 years, having already been to the U.S., the Caribbean, and Taiwan, and on their way to the mainland to work the Beijing Olympics.  After zat, zey do not know.  They both sallied about in varying stages of undress, and the guy seemingly had few compunctions about full nudity.  I made a few restrained guesses about the couple's socio-political views, which were delightfully confirmed during a conversation in which I was told they were traveling to "de-program" themselves of French "social conditioning," and integrate themselves more fully with the broad masses of humanity.  I neglected to asked if, in their regression, they were going to forsake their healthy bank accounts.  Ah, the spoiled children of capitalism

Although the nudo-anarcho-nihilo-vagabonds were my favs, I made a couple friends that I'll probably keep in touch with later on.  There's an Ed from England who's a cool guy, just arrived in Taiwan a month ago from the mainland to improve his Taichi.  Warren (notice that I don't have any last names...) is a Kiwi who's something of a peripatetic, and who now wants to settle down in Taiwan and teach for a little while - and perhaps follow up on a few love leads in Taipei.  There's no one else of real note, although one of my readers has already noted that I've already reached my natural friend quota, and am likely incapable of making any more.  Wiesz, którzy jesteś.

Back on task - my new apartment.  It's a goo bit further south of the hostel, and is right on the Danshui River that bisects Taipei from west to east.  This is great, because there's usually a strong breeze on the river that softens the press of heat and humidity here, and because the view is pretty good.

The Common Room:

My room (during unpacking):

The view, looking south, from west to east:

My room also has A/C, which is absolutely phenomenal.  A fan cools one off a little bit, but it doesn't stop perspiration, and it's no fun waking up in a sweat pool.  Another great thing about this place is that the neighborhood is more authentically Taiwanese - every block has row after row of small shops, there are spiderwebs of lanes and alleys (xiang and nong, respectively, in Chinese) connecting the major roads, and, most importantly, there is next to no English, anywhere.  This a pleasant change, since in the center of Taipei, almost every sign has the English translation beneath it, and a good many of the residents have passable English.  Here, this is not the case.

Readers may by now be wondering about the second half of this entry's title: "I get the new apartment bit, but why is he pointing out that he's hairy?  We already know that."  Well.  I had my first experience two days ago with the famous Chinese fascination with the Western body.

I was in the Taipei MRT Station (the metro), sitting between two elderly men, who, so far as I could tell, didn't know I was there.  We were all comfortable on our three-man bench when a young fourth arrived and sandwiched his way in unceremoniously.  Not restrained by the usual Taiwanese reticence around waiguoren, he immediately launched in a conversation with me, of which I understood little at first.  After a few rounds of "speak more slowly, please" I finally understood the words "shenmao hen duo," or "a lot of body hair." Ohhhhhh.  He was tickled to death that my arms were hairy, and explained (in Chinese, he didn't speak a word of English) to me the all-too-obvious point that Asians are different. Thankfully, the train showed up, and I made a point of walking two or three cars down, so that he got the hint.  Once inside I double over in laughter, and everyone was staring at me.

It's a curious thing, the way the Taiwanese relate to Westerners.  In many cases, they're thoroughly intimidated.  I did my first language exchange this past Monday, and one of my partners had never, ever talked to an American before, and couldn't even finish her sentences.  She was having problem remembering how to write Chinese characters, and kept getting up from the table.  There's a real difference in emotional confidence between the average American and Taiwanese I think.  We're bred to be robust individuals, and they are taught deference and piety, and seem to have a fantastical view of the West, and of the U.S. in particular.  They treat us like VIPs.

* * *

There's more coming later, including photo documentation of the hilariously bad English on signs in Taipei.

When it rains

On a map, Taiwan's latitude is roughly equivalent to place like Pakistan, Iranian Baluchistan, and northern Saudi Arabia.  It slightly closer to the equator than Miami.  On the island, all the vegetation is sub-tropical or tropical - endless palm trees line the road, many of the older buildings have mildewed exteriors, and, outside the city, the ground is covered with underbrush that reaches maybe ten feet off the ground.

Simply put, it's hot, and it's wet.  And I wasn't expecting it to be so.  Or at least not so much. Everyday here has ranged from 88 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit, with what feels certain to be 100% plus humidity.  One simply has to get used to be covered with a glossy sheen of sweat, and plan accordingly.  Among my first purchases here was to buy a travel-sized can of anti-perspirant, because after three hours or so, my morning Gillette would begin to stumble and fail.

What's more, every afternoon brings a thunderstorm, brought on by the condensation at cloud-level of the moisture cooked off the ground during the morning heat.  I was used to this in Mobile, but in Taiwan the showers are a bit more cataclysmic; yesterday, they morphed into an intermittent lightening and rain show that lasted until 11 p.m. and which left me completely drenched, twice.

So, caveat emptor - if any of my loyal readers feels compelled to brave the 20 hours of flight time to come visit their ex-pat buddy - they'd best be prepared to sweat.

What else have I been doing?  Well.  I've a two week interval between registration and the start of classes, so I'm endeavouring to keep myself as busy as possible.  On the business end, I've likely locked up an apartment with two Chinese speakers, one a guy named Eddie from Surabaya, Indonesia, and another from Taiwan whose name I don't yet know (I know, I know).  Here's hoping that works out.  Also, a point of complaint: in Taiwan, it's standard practice to put down two month's rent as a security deposity in addition to the regular first month's rent, which in my case amounts to $27,0000 NT, or New Taiwan Dollars.  It only comes out to about 700 bucks - eat your hearts out, District residents - but still.

I've done my fair share of touring as well.  Among the hot spots I've patronized:

The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.  This massive tribute to authoritarianism was unilaterally renamed the Democracy Memorial by then-president Chen Shui-bian in 2007, and is highly controversial in Taiwan.  So much so, and so complicatedly so, that I can't be bothered to write it out.  However, on my second stroll through the massive plaza on the memorial's west side, I was swarmed by my first group of adulating Taiwanese children (Chinese, maybe?  I couldn't say.). They ran over shouting "hello" and asking for pictures, and one of them almost burst when I responded, haltingly, in Chinese.  Another gave me a bear hug as he walked away.  I felt like a rock star.

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.  He was the founder of the Guomindang, and the first president of the Republic of China after its founding in 1911 (The Taiwanese official calendar is only in year 97, not 2007, which gives you an idea of the man's importance).  I was in and out of here pretty quickly, though, both because of fatigue and because I was slightly unnerved by the 70 foot statue of Dr. Sun with a sign at his feet soliciting the Taiwanese to salute as they pass.  There are security guards to enforce the edict.

Taipei 101.  This thing is huge.  At more than 1600 feet, it's the tallest building in the world, although I'm told there's a structure going up in Dubai that may crack the 2,000 ft. barrier.  Inside the building, there's an express elevator that takes passengers from the 5th to the 89th floor in 37 seconds, and which is also the world's fastest - it has a spoiler in the elevator shaft.  From the observation deck, you can see all of Taipei, although my view was somewhat spoiled by a layer of cloud cover (pollution, cough cough).  Still though, it's very, very cool.

Maokong Gondola.  East of Taipei in the hills above town, there exists Taiwan's most famous tea-growing area, called Maokong ("cat holes").  For tourists, it's best accessible by a 15-minute gondola ride that traverses several hills and ridges on its way up to the top.  The view up and down the valleys is stunning, with small homes and farms built into the sides of the mountains, and narrow roads snaking their way from small village to small village.  The undergrowth,  as mentioned above, seems nearly impenetrable - settling the place must have been a tremendous ordeal.  Maokong proper has dozens of tea houses which serve their wares freshly-steeped, and each has a vista overlooking the suburbs on Taipei's outskirts.  Here's a taste of the view from the gondola, both of the scenery and of the little murmuring Taiwanese baby in our car:

Also, I just went and watched the new Indiana Jones flick, Chinese subtitles included.  If you're into farcical action movies, it's highly recommended.

Until next time...

In Taiwan

Man,  I made it.  I left my hotel in Houston at 4:45 a.m., and got to Taipei 28 solid hours later.  The flight wasn't terrible, although my butt fell asleep twice, and I had to stand for about an hour (out of the thirteen from San Francisco to Taipei).

I took a tour bus into downtown Taipei, which was about a 40 minute ride from the Taoyuan Airport, which is in the next county over.  Everyone getting on the bus did a double-take when they saw the meiguoren (American) in the front seat.

Things got fun, though, when I got got hostel where I'd booked a room for two weeks.  It's in the back of an alley just off the intersection of two fairly big streets in downtown, and there's a McDonald's about two hundred yards from the hostel - classic.  When I got inside (it's on the sixth floor, up a sketchy elevator), the lady at the front desk didn't have record of my reservation, which I made about two months ago.  Hmm.

I chatted with her for a while, and she said she had a slot in one of the single rooms the following night, and that I could stay there for 10 days.  I thought I'd already booked the room, but she wasn't having any of it.  So, I had to go back downstairs and try to find a place to stay for the night.  About a block away, there is a Sheraton Hotel, but when I tried to pay in cash, they told me the room fee was more the $300 for the night, yikes.  I kept going down the street, heading back toward the Taibei Main Train Station where I'd been dropped off.  

I saw a place called the Cosmos Hotel, but it was on the other side of the street, and there was no cross-walk.  While I was waiting for the elevator to go under the street, a Taiwanese woman asked my if I was from the U.S.  When I responded yes in Chinese, she began firing off questions at light speed - it seems to be a common trait here.  Here two daughters were gawking at me probably wondering both at the fact that I can speak Chinese and that I speak it so poorly.  I answered a few questions about where I was from, and slowly sauntered away, b/c I couldn't see any other way to make the break.

Finally, I booked a room for the night at the Cosmos Hotel, showered, and went to sleep.  Right now, I'm back in the Taipei Hostel, about to head out to register for classes.

(By the way, I got in trouble for taking that picture - the security guard visible in the bottom left corner though I was illicitly scoping him out.)