First School Visit

Hi Everyone,

Sorry that I missed you guys yesterday. I hope none of you got too anxious. I was out just about all day tramping around trying to get things done before school starts and no I have not been procrastinating. Everything is being done in a very timely manner.

I would like to apologize about the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall photos. The camera uses a special only Sony type of usb cord and I have been trying to hunt one down, but to no avail. I finally got some intel about a store that might have one. It is a little ways away, but for the sake of all my readers out there I will march out there to try and get it.

On the other hand I will be uploading a few more photos of places that I have been so far and yes there will be selfies as evidence of my existence. Today I dropped by the school and program office that I will be attending, which is the International Chinese Language Program at the National Taiwan University. (I tried walking to my school today and it took me 40 minutes. I'll take the metro next time.) I would just like to say that the school is really beautiful, but the problem is there are literally trees everywhere. When they say that it is a green campus they mean it literally. Trying to get any type of picture was virtually impossible, but I did take some so don't worry. If you manage to wade through all the greenery you just might be able to see some really nice buildings.

For this program I will be in eight weeks of intensive Chinese language study, for fifteen hours a week of classes. The pace of this class will be very rigorous and I hope that I will be able to keep up. I registered today to take my placement test. According the sign up sheet I am about in the 11th person to sign up, but I don't know how many people there are total in the program nor the levels. On June 11th I will be taking the speaking, reading and writing portion of the placement test, so wish me good luck!

I know that I haven't posted any foods pictures yet, nor have I talked about it. I know don't bash me too hard. I have most certainly struggled with trying the order food here with a very limited vocabulary, but don't worry I have made more friends that I can use in order to try more foods. I have tried some of the local foods such as the zongzi, which are regular dumplings, guotie, which are fried dumplings and a few other things that I can't remember the names of. I have been tirelessly composing a list of all the Chinese food that I can find as well as the pronunciation, but it is very difficult because of my lack of familiarity with traditional characters. And that is why I have enlisted the help of natives and will soon be on my way to trying many new exotic meals.

Breaking News! I almost forgot to tell you this, but when I registered for my program today I received an offer for a week of tours and adventures during the first week of school in the afternoon. The school is hosting it, so I don't have to worry about getting lost! Hooray! The unfortunate downside is that at least fifteen people have to sign up or the excursions are cancelled. It was really cheap though for all of the events which came to a grand total of about $1150. I mean who doesn't have that much money simply lying around. Okay, okay put the eyes back in your head, $1150 New Taiwan Dollars is about $39 US Dollars. This is for an entire week of excursions to very popular places in Taiwan, which I will not reveal to you at the time. I do have another camera that I can hook up to my laptop so don't worry I will definitely have pictures for you.

On another note I rode the metro for the first time today. I know that I mentioned it awhile back, but I realized how unfeasible it was to try to move all of civilization of a crowded metro. Silly me, I should know tricks are for kids. Anyway, after I visited the school today I needed to head to the immigration agency in order get a foreign ID number in order to open a bank account in order to receive a scholarship. I know that was quite a bit. Anyway, I could have walked to the place had I been located at my flat, but for NTU the hike was farther than I wanted to go. (I mean it had taken me 40 minutes to walk to the school,  not taking the most optimal route of course.) So I decided to hop on the metro.

Okay so I just want to put this in perspective. The metro ride cost $20 NTU which is about $.67 USD! Crazy right! I mean you can get meals here as well for like $2.00- $3.00 USD, with good amounts of meat too! Anyway, enough with the outrageous affordability of this place. But I can't help it, I feel so rich! I just want to BUY, BUY, BUY! Wait, sorry getting off again topic again even though those shoes cost what?! I know, I know, but they don't want to hear about that. The metro ride was short and pleasant and it really got me thinking. I have seen a LOT of masked individuals about and I wonder if I should be at all worried. I know that they are wearing those masks for the safety of the egenral populace, but why does it seem like SO many people are wearing them. I mean could that many people be sick or having sick-like symptoms. I don't know for sure, but that's what these handy hand wipes and hand sanitizer are for.

Okay here is a good question. Is it okay to use a compass in the city? I know some of you are probably thinking that I am crazy, but whenever I seem to thinking I am going in one direction it turns out usually the be the wrong one, so lately I have been using a compass in order to find my way around. Archaic, I know, but it works. Well it can't help you if Google gives you the wrong directions or you exit the wrong subway terminal.

As I was marching confidently in the wrong direction I came across the prosecutor's office. I was shocked at what I saw. There is a parking lot next to this building and I just happen to see a car exiting this side lot. I sigh and wait for it to pass when I look more closely. It is a Bentley. I close my eyes and shake my head and sure enough it is definitely a Bentley. I turn and look down the alleyway and I see nothing, but luxury cars. Mercedes, BMW, Audi, etc. I am definitely confused, but it clearly pays well to be a lawyer in this country. (I am not making any veiled attempts to sway individuals that may or may not be reading this blog and that may or may not be in law school.) I am totally selling it. MUHAHAHAHAH! I mean all you have to do is learn a few different laws and some Chinese on the side. It can't be too hard! This however brings me back another point that I mentioned I believe in my first blog about cars in Taipei. Clearly it is go big or go home and what I mean by go home is get a scooter.

Anyway I have blabbed on long enough for this blog. Stay tuned for more from Taipei and a silly lost American! Don't forget to comment and share!

AND WE OUT!