First night/morning in new apartment!

21 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by twgurl54 in Culture, Taipei, Taiwan Tags:

View from my bedroom window

No internet or cable TV (Chunghwa is scheduled for Thursday morning). I also discovered that several outlets don’t work. No worries, my johnny-on-the-spot landlord arranged for the electrician to come over first thing (which he did).  I made my first breakfast since being in Taiwan (oatmeal, yummy!) and cleaned the place. Ah, that feels good.  Chunghwa arrived as scheduled (this never happens Stateside); I now have both internet and TV. Now I just need to lug the bedding I bought (too small) back to IKEA and exchange it, plus order a desk and chair. I’ll keep adding to the furnishings a little bit at a time…

Last day in the hotel!

19 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by twgurl54 in Taipei, Taiwan, Travel Tags: ,

Just got back from lugging two (more) big suitcases, the world’s largest carry-all, and a loaded laundry basket downstairs into a cab waiting to take me to my new apartment.  The cab driver didn’t speak a word of English and didn’t understand when I told him to turn into the alley leading to the building’s entrance.  More lugging then through three doors and up several flights of stairs. (The broker was coming over so I left the suitcases in the lobby.)  Some friends showed up to help me  unpack. Sam (not his Chinese name), the broker showed up early and started showing me how to use the dish dryer (no clothes dryer in the building but each apartment has a DISH dryer! lol), the central AC (wow!), the bathroom ventilation system (not sure why it’s on a different system than the rest of the place), the TV (after plugging in the DVD player), and the washers (two stories up)! He plugged in the mini-fridge (typical for Taiwan) and leveled it (so it wouldn’t wobble when opened). He plugged in the one burner ceramic stove top, showed me how the stove’s eye guard works (for those days when I simply must fry up something tasty), how to let folks in when they “ring up” (like in NYC!), explained why it smells rather funky under the sinks (something about how the plumbing is new in the building), and finally, where to bring my trash and recycleables every evening (except Wednesday or Sundays) and how to sort everything! Let the cleaning and unpacking commence!

Day 21

13 Jul 2011 1 Comment

by twgurl54 in Taipei, Travel Tags: , ,

I’ve been in-country for three weeks and it should only be another few weeks before I get my ARC (Taiwan version of a green card).  It’s amazing how quickly the government entities here respond! It’s also amazing how I haven’t missed not having a phone (go Skype). lol

At breakfast today I talked with a friendly native who is in Taipei with his wife and daughter on business, looking to buy some property here. I gave him the business card of my real estate broker and raved about my experience at the National Art Museum. Turns out he’s the CEO of a high tech company based in Taichung (the city I visited last weekend).  We discuss art for a while and he invited me to stay with them the next time I’m in Taichung! Nice, huh?

At lunch time today I had my first scheduled Chinese lesson. The  teacher started off with pages xeroxed from a children’s book! Hah! It’s humbling being considered an expert in one language only to be a rank beginner in another – and the one I can’t speak is the one I need most for everyday life! I am starting to put some sounds and words together. I think the spoken language will come long before the written one.

This weekend I’m doing some final comparison shopping (for household items) at Costco (go figure) and on Sunday I’m heading to Yingge (ing-guh) just outside Taipei to see the Ceramics Museum and to find some unique plates. Next week: moving day!

7-11 is my new best friend

10 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by twgurl54 in Taichung, Taipei, Taiwan, Travel Tags: , , , ,

After last week’s furniture price shock, I decided to do some comparison shopping for items I’ll need when I move into my apartment (desk, lamp, nightstand, bedding and towels). Typically I’d just head to the nearest Goodwill. No surprise, there are none here. I took the MRT 2 stations away to Momo (formerly AsiaWorld) to check out Piin (6th floor for furniture. 5th for towels and sheets) and back to the Daan station Sogo Department Store entrance. Piin’s furniture looked a lot like what I’d been shown (at twice the price) on Tong Gua’s furniture row.  How difficult could it be to find a desk that can double as a table? I will still check out IKEA and Costco for my home furnishings!  Sogo has all sorts of well-known brands (Nike, Adidas, Levi’s, Calvin Klein) but unfortunately, no sizes for regular-sized folks (size 8 are the largest in women’s shoes, size 10 the largest in women’s pants!) and very few sales staff that understand/speak English! On the way back , I’d nearly exhausted my EasyCard. I stopped into 7-11 and got it refilled and refueled myself with SoyJoy bars.

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As for me, I will take the road less travelled…