oh my god, hey, that totally worked!

i just got stuck in chinese character mode on the keyboard i am using, so i typed some stuff, and was like, hey, that is all in characters. looks neat, but i have no idea what i have said. maybe something profound, but probably not. for a second i felt like the proverbial monkey, typing for eternity and eventually writing hamlet- just typing away with no idea what i am doing. it felt really weird. i screwed up the characters by trying to do uppercase. it was really unsettling to feel like a monkey.

It rains here a lot. It rains heavily. It comes out of nowhere. Most people carry around an umbrella all the time, then when it rains, they pull it out and open it whenever they are in the open. Many of the sidewalks are half covered by overhangs from the buildings –about 5 feet across. So when it rains, you can walk along the covered part ofthe sidewalks, and then you pull out your umbrella to walk between blocks. It is pretty efficient. I scoffed at the umbrellas initially, because I was all- whatever, I'm from Seattle. I can take a little rain. Pshaw. Typhoon shmyphoon. Then I had to walk home in a real rainstorm, and I was more than happy to stop by 7-11 and get my new umbrella.

Speaking of 7-11, 7-11 is an amazing thing out here. They all have ATMs in them, and all the food you would expect, as well as some youwouldn't. You can make copies at 7-11, fax stuff, print, and paybills. You hand the 7-11 clerk your money and your bill, and they takecare of everything. Your water bill, electricity, etc. You can also get phone cards there. I bet there is more that you can do there that I haven't found out about yet. Also, most of the clerks seem to speak English pretty well. Also, they give you Hello Kitty pins with your purchase. Which I love.

Incidentally, Hello Kitty seems to be schilling for everything out here. Someone needs towrite to Sanrio and tell them about oversaturation　I have seen her selling jewelry, clothes, sunglasses, food, lottery tickets, 7-11, and the Japanese airline that I mentioned before. Even the screen saver on the computer at work is HK. It has reached the level of what you might call a "social issue" I guess. Pundits write articles about how stupid it is for adults to be obsessed with this stupid toy, and how it is contributing to the downfall of society, etc etc. I think Hello Kitty may have sold out.

I drew Angola in the Princeton Review World Cup pool. Will someonetell me if that is good or bad? I think it is ok but nothing great.

The teachers here are a really great group of people. I am a littlesad to be going down to Taichung tomorrow, because I will have onlyone other teacher to hang out with. There seems to be a lot of coolvariety in the group.

There are a lot of Starbucks here. There are more 7-11s, but Starbuck　gives them a run for their money. Anyway, I went to Starbucks thismorning because there is one near the PR office, and I wanted somecoffee. It was a little surreal. First of all, because it was a very,very familiar thing in an unfamiliar environment, and the contrast wasstrange. Also, because it was 9 am, and not super busy, even though itwas in a busy area. 9am, and Starbucks was slow. Weird. I guesspeople's schedules are a little different here

There are many familiar stores here. I had emailed and asked if anyone　in the office wanted anything from the States that they couldn't getover here. Now I know why no one did, you can get anything and more.There is a Lush store and a Body Shop right around the PR office. The　shopping district is huge here.

There seem to be a few basic Taipei experiences. The Night Markets,the National Palace Museum, Buddhist restaurants (for me at least). Ihaven't been to a Night Market yet. I am eager to go, and I'll writeall about it after I have hit my first one. I have only been to oneBuddhist restaurant; it was amazing. The food was fantastic. Theproblem is that the menu is entirely in Chinese. And not in Pinyin,the Romanization of Chinese characters that someone who speaks noChinese can read,(phonetically and without comprehension), sort of.The menu is in actual Chinese characters. So if I go by myself, I willhave to just point to something on the menu and hope for the best. Buthey, that's fine. All part of the experience, I guess.

I found a place to live when I come back to Taipei. Well, I guess aplace to stay sort of found me. One of the other teachers here has anextra room until the end of August, so I will take that in July andAugust. She and the other woman in the apartment are Fullbrightscholars, so I suspect that I have fallen in with people who aresmarter than me, which is always fun.