and now i am in taiwan

the flights were long. the first one was 7 hrs, and i was surrounded on 3 sides by 8th graders. oh god it was awful. i shoved tissue in my ears to tune them out. but i was on the aisle, and at least none of them was sitting directly beside me. i had an empty seat to my left-and believe me, that is the way to go. the space was nice, and it was good to have on this flight especially. there is something wrong with people at that age.

then when i got in at tokyo, i had to wander around the tokyo airport for 2 hours because i couldnt figure out where to go. i got to the airport way earlier than my next flight was leaving and the gate assignment wasn't on the monitors yet. so i went to 3 different desks, and no one could figure out what gate to send me to. oh, except one guy, but he thought i also needed to stand at this other desk too for some reason, but then it turns out i didn't need to, and i wasted 40 minutes hanging out in some random line. -well, wasted is probably the wrong word. i had to stand instead of being able to sit for forty minutes. i suppose there was no real way to waste my time at that point, it's not as though i was being prevented from working on some important project. he had an awesome accent though, australian/chinese.

so eventually i got the tokyo flight, and it was definitely with a japanese airline, b/c there was an enormous hello kitty painted on the side of theplane. i thought, wow, that's weird. hello kitty. they must be in some partnership with the airline. huh. then i went inside the airplane. ..

and there was a hello kitty cartoon singing me hello on the monitor on the back on the seat in front of me, hk was on the cloth/paper thing that is on all of the headrests, hk was on the place mats for the food, on the salt and pepper, the toothpick wrapper, and all over the foodpackaging. the stewardesses wore big pink hello kitty aprons when they served the food. the napkins were hk. the bags for dutyfree purchases were hk. in the bathroom the soap, moisturizer, babypower and face wash (itwas nice of them to have all that stuff, it was cool) were all hello kitty. i think there was something else too, but i cant remember now. anyway, i was sort of surprised the captain didnt come out with a big hk suit on. phew. so, yeah, i guess hk is in some sort of partnership with the airline. and dont you forget it

then i got into the tokyo airport, and, having been up for about 24hours, i was fairly incompetent. i stood in line to go out of immigration, but i didnt notice everyone else filling out this impotant form. so i got up and they had to send me back to go fill out the form. then it took me 3 tries to get it right, b/c i was so tired. theni had to provide a taiwan residnece address, but i didnt have the address of the hostel i was staying in, (don't know where it went). very kindly, they just let me go through. i suppose if i am that disorganized, there is no way i am part of any crime scheme. no one would hire me. so because of all this, i was the very, very last person to go get my baggage, and once again, i must not have looked like a threat, b/c the screener guys at the exit didn't even get up as i came by. they were like, anything to declare? i said no, and they said go.

then the princeton review woman was very patiently waiting for me, and she had a hired car waiting to take us into the city. (that was a surprise. the plan was to go in by bus.) i finally got to the hostel at midnight, taiwan time. the hostel guy was up waiting for me, b/c i had emailed a day earlier to say that i wouldn't be in till late and could someone wait up for me to let me in. he was very nice. apparently, though, he needed cash up front for the room, but luckily, once again i didnt look like a flight risk and he decided to let me just give it to him the next day after i had found an atm. the prin rev woman came in and talked to him about it too, so it was fine.

today i woke up really early, (i think b/c it is a new room. i couldn't sleep) and read about taiwan. then i walked around a little, got some cash and bottled water and then ran and hid in my room again for half an hour. when i ventured out again, oddly, the second time i felt much more savvy. i dont know why. (maybe it is like when you go to the beach and you need to ease yourself slowly into cold water or something- didn't want to take it all at once) anyway, when i went to the subway station (the MRT) instead of buying single trip tickets, i bought a frequent travelers card. ("easy card") the cards are neat, you can just stick them into your wallet, and put your wallet up to a sensor as you enter and leave, and it takes off the right amount. so immediately i looked like i knew what i was doing. which i think is funny. -i read about the cards this morning when i couldnt sleep. my taiwan book said to just put it into your wallet and wave the wallet at the sensor, and then that is what i did and i looked so cool.

then i came down to the princeton review office. there was no sign on the street that i could see, but luckily laura, the prin rev woman, gave me her card last night and i was able to figure it out from the address. and luckily i spent half an hour this morning reading about transliteration problems and how there are4 different systems, none applied particularly consistently, and i was able to discern that chung hsiao st was the same as zhong xiao st. phew. and now i am typing on one of their office computers.

i have training all this week, so i might try to hit a museum or something today. and this morning i sat and figured out where a few veggie restaurants are so that i can eat today. also, i found a starbucks. also, there is a lush store right near the office. also, there are a lot of scooters here. like, a lot.

mr. wong is the guy in charge of the hostel. he is very nice. he told me once last night and twice today about how i need to keep my valuables on me at all times. i figured that it wouldn't be a good idea to leave stuff in the hostel- it is safe, but you never know. some people had a passport stolen a week ago- but while they were out and about. but still, if it a hostel it is probably good to keep my stuff on me. it was funny though, how many times he told me. (i must still look a little slow and incompetent.) so all my stuff is in my money belt.

well, i guess that is all for now. i'll try to put something up once a week.