Current music: Island in the Sun by Weezer
So, as previously mentioned, I have been without regular internet access for the past week or so. Which has been quite inconvenient in many ways that are too uninteresting to document. However, it was suggested to me by my dear friend John that I should type up my adventures beforehand and use the miracle of copy and paste using the school computers. Simple. Genius. Johnny, I am in your debt. (By the way Johnny, I know you're reading this and if you were here you would be so very tan. I think you'd like it.)
I get into daily adventures and unfortunately, it is likely that many have left my memory in the past little while. So I'll do my best to cover the big things.
I have an apartment now. It is on the 13th floor of a gigantic building in the Anping district of Tainan. Anping is gorgeous, and is very different from the rest of the city. It's quieter, more scenic, slightly less crazy and most of the foreigners in the city live in the area. I am getting to know my way around the city now, which means I get lost a lot less. I still get lost of course, but less.
There's also a canal that runs down the middle of the city. I go along it every day to school and it reminds me of Ottawa.
Current music: Love You Till The End by The Pogues
I have a bike now. I found it in the back of a new fancy bike shop, and it was the only used one there. I bartered using hand gestures and got the bike, a safety light and a lock for $2500 NTDs. I think in Canadian that's a little less than $100. Not too bad considering the new ones were going for $10 000 on average. It's a hilarious bike that makes strange noises and the brakes sound like someone is slaughtering a seal, but it's my baby and has gotten me to work every day. It's name is (roughly transcribed) "two bow bow" which means 'baby bunny' in Mandarin. For reasons that now escape me, that was one of the first words I learned. Which seems really random, but there you go.
I bike to school every day, and to be honest, it's a miracle that I'm not roadkill. To navigate the roads in Taiwan, on a bike in particular, is to have no fear of death. But I'm not dead yet, and have several people checking up on my biking experience every day. Which I kind of think is annoying and unneccessary, but if they are concerned, they're concerned. I've kind of enjoyed the biking adventure thus far. But I'm tired of being a sweaty person and changing every day at school, so the day I get a scooter, I will be happy indeed. But I can't buy one until I am legally in the country. The same goes for a cellphone. Woe.
Current music: Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying by Belle and Sebastian
I have found that foreigners in a strange country literally have no choice to band together for companionship. It's like making friends by default, which would never happen in Canada. I'm starting to get to know the other teachers at my school and they have all kind of taken me uner their collective wing. Hopey has gotten into the habit of biking home with me to show me new routes and things. He's on a scooter though and has to go slower for me because I am easily distracted on my bike, which I know really pisses him off. Ben has been looking for a way to find me a cellphone, but I have a feeling it's futile, and I can last the next two weeks without one. Thank god for Facebook.
I've also gotten to know the rest of the English teachers at my school. Les is the head teacher for the full English section of my school. He's from California and seems to have been in Taiwan forever, but I have no idea how long he's actually been here. Daniel is Australian and lives down the road from me. He claims he can teach me to surf, and I keep telling him it's going to be embarrassing. I'm still going to try though. it'll be hilarious.
Current music: The Road Goes On by Robert Earl Keen
Elyssa and I went out drinking last Friday with Les and Hopey. Random sidenote: never challenge an Englishman who is twice your size to a drinking contest. It can only end badly...or awesomely, depending on how you look at it. Anyways, two American friends of Hopey showed up and they now are my unofficial group of friends, with Elyssa. Amanda is from North Carolina, has a very strong accent and an unlimited supply of excellent stories. I forget which random state Sonya is from, but she's a sweetheart and took me on my first scooter ride, which convinced me that I needed to get one. She and Amanda took us to a party on Saturday night, which was attended by almost every foreigner in the city.
I love the atmosphere when hanging out with a group of ex-pats, it's like being surrounded by people exactly like me. Which I obviously love. I met my first Canadians at the party, and about a million other people whose names I can't remember. But I have a feeling I'll learn them all rather quickly, as every foreigner is easy to spot out on the streets here. I actually met a girl from Kanata, which was kind of a surprise. There are more Canadians here than I thought. My new best friend Brent is Canadian and had an Autobots T-shirt, and he and I discussed Transformers at length for a long while. His poor wife, being Taiwanese, is unfamiliar with Western 80's cartoons, and couldn't contribute much to the conversation, I felt bad. I also now have about 10 ex-pats who want to show me around places here, so my weekends are busy now. No time to get over jet-lag, it seems. They took us to a club that was very much like Pier 21 in Ottawa. It was weird.
Current music: Children's Work by Dessa
I know there are many more stories, but I'm very tired and need to sleep. I finally got a bed for my apartment about an hour ago. I will describe my place in detail when I feel like it. There is also another random firework display going on right now and I want to go see while it still a novelty. They happen at least five times a night, from random places in the city. Thankfully I can see the whole city from my balcony, so I can see them all.
Thing I miss of the day: Iced Tea. Real Iced Tea, not the American version, which is essentially cold regular tea.
Next time on Jess's blog: the story of how I fled from deportation, the finding of a western bar/pizza place, the hilarious security guard in my building, and the tiny dog dress-up pageant festical I came across last Sunday. And other things.
Fireworks, then sleep. More later, Internet soon probably. Goodnight moon...
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