This is the landscaping outside the exit of the MRT in Panchiao.
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This is the inside of a taxi, which I thought was very nice. We took it from campus to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

This table was designed for little kids, right?
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Brian at the park in front of a little gazebo.
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Brian and I found this little park just off the Shida campus.
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Made it out of Pan Chiao.

Yesterday Mr. Wang gave Brian and I a ride to the American Institute in Taiwan, the United States pseudo-embassy, so I could handle some visa business. It's the closest I've been to downtown Taipei, and I was able to snap this shot of "Taipei 101" from inside the car. Named for it's 101 floors, it's currently the tallest building in the world. I don't know how tall it is, but you can clearly see that by about the 90th floor, it's cleared the top of the lamp post.

After registering my passport at the psuedo-embassy, Mr. Wang drove us to Shida university and dropped us off. A central bank was conveniently located right across the street. Up until yesterday I'd been using ATMs to withdraw cash from my Washington Mutual account. The exchange rate and fee is not the best by that method, so yesterday I finally made it to a central bank and exchanged my travelers checks and US dollars. This also allowed me to pay my tuition and enroll at Shida university a few hours later.
The characters read right to left as, "National Taiwan Teacher's University" which for some reason is officially translated as, "National Taiwan Normal University." However, all the locals know it simply as Shida.


This is the building on campus where the Chinese Culture and Language Center is located. I expect all of my classes will be held here. I did poorly on my placement test during the enrollment process, so I'll probably be starting at a beginning level. I don't mind. It's been almost 6 months since I was enrolled in a Mandarin class at CSLA, so I'm in need of review. It also makes sense to start a new curriculum at the beginning.

This building overlooks the park next to Pet's Park.
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I think window plants go a long way in cheering up the otherwise sad architecture.
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A view of the temple next to Pet's Park.
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Pet's Park is next to another little temple. Those short little railings are to keep the scooters away.
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This pet store is next to the park. At first I thought the park was part of Pet's Park, but now I think Pet's Park is really only the store, not the park. But the park did have pets...
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All of the cats I've seen are rather petite. This one approached me, but didn't come within petting distance.
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A little lane next to a park. I saw a car drive down this too.
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A duck among the ubiquitous scooters.
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A family out for a stroll on Saturday morning.
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This is an english school for kids. I have a job interview here on Tuesday, so I'll be brushing up on my Chipmunk English, I guess. I should do fine as long as I keep in mind their motto: "Active. Confidence. Enjoy."
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A nearby 7eleven, which seem even more plentiful here than in Los Angeles.
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I'm not used to the way scooters zip around pedestrians on the paths.
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We're about halfway through Ghost Month of the lunar calendar, which has festivals on the first, middle, and last days. Many people burn ghost money in front of their homes and shops.
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Zhong Shan Lu. "Center Mountain Road."
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A woman rides down a little lane of shops. The temple posted below is on the right.
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Little temples like this are very common. I saw a woman walking by stop in front of the incense caldron, put her palms together, and make a few bows before going on her way.
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A Safe Arrival

Mr. Wang and his son Brian picked me up from the airport last Tuesday night and drove me to their home 40 minutes away in Banchiao, Taipei. They both speak some English, so we were able to get to know each other during the drive. I was able to use a little Mandarin with them, but mostly we fell back to English. Brian is 20 and in his third year at a university. He has an older brother, a younger brother, and two younger sisters, but only his youngest sister, Cindy, lives with them. Mrs. Wang and Cindy know only a few words of English.

The Wangs live in a 5 story condo, with Mr. Wang's veggie food business on the first floor. The bedrooms are on the second and third floors, a living room on the fourth floor, and an extra room on the fifth. My room is on the third. It's bigger than I was expecting. It has a double twin bed, two desks, a fan, AC, small closet, and a cable internet hookup. After unpacking and settling in, I now feel quite at home here.

Mrs. Wang runs a small cafe just around the corner from their home. But if you're thinking on the scale of the San Fernando Valley, "just around the corner" is an understatement. The cities in Taiwan are densely packed. Houses go up, not out. Nobody has a backyard. So, "just around the corner" is a different expression. It's really close: go down a tiny alley, around the corner, past a tiny coffee shop, and you're there.

The cafe is a hole in the wall with just a couple tables. There is no service counter. Customers step into the kitchen to order and pick up their food, and some eat there at the tables. It's cluttered, but it's all vegetarian, so that makes it clean in my book. They are generously feeding me breakfast, lunch, and dinner here. But don't say that my rent payment is for room and board; that doesn't sound right. We are more familiar than that. We all eat dinner together as a family and sometimes go for walks together in the evening.

So far I haven't done any touring outside the neighborhood. I would almost be bored if I wasn't a third of the way around the world. This is a chance to reflect on myself, to recreate myself in a new environment. I can more readily develop good habits like flossing, exercise, taking my vitamins, achieving inner peace through non-judgment, generosity, humility, and conquering the demons of my inner and outer worlds. So far, I have been taking my vitamins. Going to work on flossing next.

Tomorrow Brian is going to show me how to use the subway. We are going to Shida university, where I will register for Mandarin classes. The quarter begins September 1st, so I still have time to get in some touring.

A neighbor's little rooftop paradise.
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A view from the balcony, facing west.
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A little lane of shops in the neighborhood.
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Looking the other way from the cafe. That character on the road means "slow", but in this context has no meaning whatsoever.
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The value menu. The exchange rate is $1 US to about $32 NT, so you can see you can fill up cheap.
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The little road going by the cafe. It's shared by pedestrians, bicycles, motor scooters, cars, trucks, and dogs.
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Mrs. Wang in front of her cafe.
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The view from the 5th floor balcony. I stiched two photos together for a panorama view, causing slight distortion.
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The view farther down the lane. By the way, a sentence in Mandarin doesn't need a verb.
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If you were to go in the front door, you might see Mr. Wang working in his home office. That's a large freezer behind him. There's also a kitchen out of sight. The stairs lead up to the rest of the residency.
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While taking the previous picture, these two guys rode by on their way to church. They invited me to join them, but I just asked for their picture. One guy's English was really good. The other guy was blind.
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This is the front door to the house where I live.
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