Good Morning Taiwan!

So much has happened in the past 24 hours since we posted.  Yesterday morning we went back to our room and got a little organized, repacking our back-packs for our time here instead of on airplanes, etc.  Then we ventured out to explore the part of Sanxia near our hotel, hoping not to get lost.  Mission accomplished.  We felt SOOO like tourists, looking around everywhere with literally everything being new and foreign to us.  There are a few very American businesses like 7-Eleven and Starbucks, but many of the shops had signs only in Chinese, so we have no idea what they were.  Paul and Alana rode their bicycles to our hotel to meet us for lunch, and they suggested Subway so our stomachs would get adjusted to the food gradually.  After lunch they led us to a Carrefour store (like a Hy-Vee or Meijer's - big grocery/everything else store) so we could look around while they went back to school.  Oh my, the choices!  Again, some very American items but others really different.  It was fun!

Then we decided to try on our own to find a bank to change money, even though Paul and Alana had said it was too far and too complicated on our own.  We saw a Century 21 sign, so we figured there MUST be some English speakers there.  Not so much!!  The many employees all wanted to help us out and welcome us to Taiwan, and eventually one man drove us to a bank!  Wow!  It turns out the bank won't change Traveler's Checques, so he dropped us off at our hotel.  Very sweet of him!!  Our hotel staff likewise tried to help with the money conversion, but they needed to make many phone calls to get it O.K.ed, and eventually did change $200 for us.  Let's just say the whole story was much more detailed!!   :-)  

Later that afternoon, we went went out walking again, this time to the nearby University campus, where there are beautiful grounds with paths throughout.  We saw a lake with amphitheatres around it, bridges over picturesque creeks, and many beautiful flowers and plants.  We continued on to the athletic complex and stadium, then back to our hotel.  I don't think we've mentioned yet how hot it is here.  Very hot!!  Even though it's only 34 degrees, you can do the math for conversion from Celsius!!   Hot AND humid.  Yes, we are used to Iowa humidity, but this reaches a new level of tropical humidity.  So far no rain, though that's normal daily here, and the next 5 days have rain in the forcast - typhoon season here!!

Then we met Paul, Alana, and their teaching colleague Melissa for supper at their favorite dumpling place.  It's kind of like Taiwanese fast-food.  The dumplings are shaped and sized about like your index finger, stuffed with pork and cabbage.  We also had a cucumber salad - with julienne sliced young cukes in a dressing.  There were dipping sauces you could mix up yourself in varying degrees of spiciness, and of course we used chopsticks!!  It was all delicious!!  I think I could eat there every day!!  YUM!!  Paul and Tim went a couple doors down to the 7-Eleven for beverages, since that is the norm here to bring in drinks from elsewhere with your meal.  The owner of the dumpling shop speaks the best English we've heard yet from locals in Sanxia.  The kids say since we are in a suburb, there are few tourists or Americans here, and most people really don't know English well.  But in Taipei City, English skills are much more common. 

It was then time for "Christmas in July" back in our hotel room.  We opened the "Santa Suitcase" and delivered all the items to Paul, Alana and Melissa.  They were very excited to receive the items from the USA!!  We then repacked everything into plastic shopping bags for all 5 of us to carry on the bus to their apartments.  Our hotel is fairly close to their school and apartment, but long enough a bus is nice.  They already purchased our bus passes, so we got a lesson on how to use them and travel by bus.  They are very nice, clean buses which run on a regular schedule.  Very convenient. 

We were very pleased to see how nice P/A's apartment is too!!  It is small, but very pleasant and comfortable, with a balcony view of the mountains and Taipei City in the distance.  There is quite a lot of storage too - very efficient.  The ceiling is very high, so it feels quite spacious.  We spent some time just hanging out while Alana unpacked all the bags, and Paul helped us with updating our i-touch and working with the videos/pics.  From their computer, we should be able to add some of them to the blog soon.   :-)   They walked out to the bus stop, literally right outside their door, and sent us on our way back to our hotel on our own.  No problem!    :-)   Once again, we fell alseep easily and slept well.  No jet lag problems at all, thankfully!! 

This morning at breakfast, I again tried a few new things that seemed to be popular with the Taiwanese guests (many more people today at breakfast) - some fish, kimchee, boiled cabbage, cucumber salad were all delicious, and something I can't identify that wasn't so good.  Tim tried something new also - corn flakes with raisins on top!   LOL!!  After we were eating, the waitresses brought us each a fried egg with a bowl of soy sauce to put on it.  (Not on the buffet.)  They were so cute, really trying to please us with something Americans would like.  They also brought knives, which are not on the buffet line either.  So sweet of them!!  We really get the feeling everywhere that the Taiwanese want to make our visit very positive, and they make the effort to welcome us in all ways possible. 

The other reflection at this point is "scooters" -- they are everywhere!!  Paul is going at lunch time today to purchase their own scooter from a Frenchman who also teaches English in another suburb.  He found it online, on a website kind of like Craigslist for English-speaking foreign teachers here in Taiwan.  We'll have lunch with Alana and go to a bank to change travelers checques, hopefully.  Cash would have been easier, in hindsight!!  Just not as safe. 

Well, that's about it - tonight we'll be headed in to Taipei City for supper.  New adventures!!  We'll learn how to take the bus to the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit = subway lines) into the city, so we'll be able to explore there on our own next week.  Yay!!  Sunday through Tuesday, we'll be taking a train trip to another part of the country with P/A.  More on that later.

I know some of you are really enjoying all this detail, but some probably think this is a little bit of overkill, but you can read or not read whatever you want!!   :-)   We can check email and your blog comments here, so feel free to let us know how you're doing too!! 

Love from the Far East!
-Michelle and Tim-