Apple Bottom Jeans

I slept through an earthquake last night. My first one, even after living in California for two years, and I missed it!

My first impression of Taiwan was from the back seat of a taxi to the
tune of "Apple Bottom Jeans." Definitely not what I was expecting to
hear after traveling halfway across the world, but I guess the best
music has no borders (JOKES). What I saw as the radio blared Western
hip hop songs was a huge city, illuminated at night, not very much
different than the one I had left fourteen hours earlier.

But when the cab driver tried to hand back the tip money I had given
him, I knew I wasn't in the U.S. anymore.

My hotel room, as expected, is slightly larger than a shoe box. My
head almost hits the ceiling when I stand in the shower, and my body
is too long to lie in the bath tub. There is no top sheet on my bed,
only a down comforter, and I wake up in the middle of the night
drenching in sweat. But I love it here.

I have been struck with the niceness and genuineness of the Taiwanese
people. They put Southern Hospitality to shame. A group of students from National Taiwanese University volunteered to be our hosts for our stay here, and we have explored the city with them during the last couple days. They are possibly the single nicest group of “young people” I have ever had the pleasure to meet. And they think we’re hilarious, which I think is hilarious. Last night while I was unsuccessfully attempting to eat an oyster pancake at the Shilin Night Market, my chopsticks abilities failed and the pancake fell first onto the table and then out of my mouth. All of the NTU students were hysterically laughing.

Night markets are basically huge food bazaars where gorging is pretty much required. The Shilin Night Market is the largest in the city and features booth after booth of delicious types of Taiwanese food. In the span of about one hour, I had the mentioned oyster pancake, fried squid, stinky tofu (which tastes exactly like it sounds), mango milk tea, a dumpling, and a Taiwanese hot dog, which is a vast improvement over its American counterpart.

Yesterday we also went to the Longshan Temple, a stunning Buddhist place of worship. Our Taiwanese friends explained to us what everything represented, and we had our fortunes read. I’m not going to recant mine here because doing that would take all the mystery away.

Today I started my J-O-B at the World Trade Center. My boss is very nice, as are everyone else in the offices. I’m honestly not stoked to have to work from 9-6 everyday, but I hope I’m able to make some sort of contribution to the State of Washington while I’m here. We’re right next to Taipei 101, which is currently the tallest building in the world.

Random thoughts: I could write an entire blog about all the food I’m going to eat on this trip, working on a computer with a Chinese operating system is mighty difficult, and Taiwanese boys have more sense than American ones – Chris, one of our NTU host students, actually asked for directions when we were lost yesterday!