Welcome to my Taiwan blog!  I have already been in Taiwan for three weeks, and this is my first blog. So, this shows how horrible I am at maintaining one of these things. But hopefully having my own website will motivate me to write.  I'm so glad that there are so many tech savvy people with me - especially glad that one of them is my roommate, Shiela Lee.  She has her own website (www.shielalee.com) and taught me how to create one.  So, I will be “borrowing” some of her pics because she's like the Fulbright photographer and always has her camera with her.  Happy, Shiela?  I gave you credit for your photographs.

But now...Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  What can I say after three weeks of being in this city?  I LOVE IT HERE!!!  And I'm being completely honest.  I mean, the food is amazing.  I'm getting a tummy.  In NYC, I spend money on clothing, but in Taiwan, I am spending money on food, and believe it or not, I've been able to control myself in a clothing store (Isn't that amazing, considering our H&M experience, Julie?).  Also, I'm living in a rather posh neighborhood; right across the street from me is the Kaohsiung Cultural Center, which is the equivalent of NYC's Lincoln Center (I think.  All I know is that cultural performances are held there and the music sometimes disturb me when I'm trying to have a relaxing afternoon.  Or, I might go out onto MY BALCONY and listen to the music.  Did I just write balcony?  YEP!).

I wrote a lot, so please don't feel obligated to read everything.  Below, I documented my traveling experience and my first two days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  

A RATHER EVENTFUL TRAVELING EXPERIENCE

Since this is my first blog, let me start from the beginning and briefly talk about my “pleasant” experience flying with American Airlines (AA).  If you watch the news, you probably know what I'm talking about – the major computer meltdown at JFK on July 30th.  So, I flew out the day that AA's computer system crashed and they had to manually check-in all their passengers' bags.  And when I arrived at JFK, the lines were spiraling out the door, and it was basically a free for all until you got to the part where there were dividers that led you to various check-in counters.  It's times like these that I'm very lucky to have a mother who doesn't know how to line up in a straight line because if it weren't for her, I probably would've been too polite and missed my flight completely.  So, after 3 hours of waiting, I finally checked-in my luggage and was running to customs.  My flight left at 5:30 pm, and I got to the gate at 5:15 pm. 

Then I had a relaxing 6 hour plane ride and sat next to a family that allowed their boy to read Playboy.  The boy looked like he was in his teens, but I don't think that a magazine of this sort is legitimate on-flight literature.  And they were not the least bit shy about where they put it when the son or father was not reading it.  Also, the father was hitting on the flight attendant as well.  I'm still in awe when I think about this family.  A part of me wants to encourage them to watch ABC Family at midnight and watch some religious television.  Hmm...would such sentiment classify me as a conservative? 

But when I arrived in San Francisco, I realized that my luggage was not going to arrive in Kaohsiung when I arrived.  An AA attendant gave me a form, but no one in the entire airport knew what I should do with the form – do I give back to the AA counter? Do I wait until I get to Kaohsiung?  No one had any answers to my questions, and I was walking around for an hour with a mad heavy carry on.  Then I stupidly assumed that there was only one airport in all of California and thought another fellow Fulbrighter, Gered, was in the same airport as I was.  However, after another hour of walking from food court to food court, I discovered that I was in San Francisco, and he was in Los Angeles. 

After four hours in the San Francisco airport, I boarded another flight and arrived in Taipei, Taiwan, where I finally met some Fulbrighters and discovered that I probably should've traveled out of Newark.  After another two hours or so, we boarded our final flight that will take us to Kaohsiung, where we would all be for a year.  As expected, my luggage did not arrive.  But thanks to McFadden, I kept a positive attitude and had a rather pleasant interaction with the lady who helped me file the necessary paperwork to retrieve my bags.  I mean, I figured that there was nothing I could do and that I, at least, caught my flight and was able to meet everyone on time.  And staying positive does pay off.  My luggage arrived the very next day, and boy was I glad to change into some shorts. 

MY FIRST DAY IN KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN

I felt like I arrived in Las Vegas, when we excited the airport.  The sun was burning and the humidity just encloses you in a heat bubble.  The heat is okay, but the humidity is deadly.  We all wanted to rest after leaving the airport, and we thought we were going to the hotel.  But it turns out that were were making a quick stop at the hotel to pick up the four remaining Fulbrighters.  They immediately took us to our office at an elementary school (三民國小).  We thought that the Foundation was putting us to work immediately, but they just wanted us to fill out some paperwork so that we get paid.  Also, we randomly drew numbers to decide which apartment we would be living in.  Fulbright had three apartments picked out, an each apartment had four singles.  The staff from the Foundation – Alex, Amanda, and Chris – told us that these were just temporary arrangements and that we could switch amongst ourselves.  But I don't think we could have done a better job splitting up.  So far, we are all fine with our living arrangements, and no one has requested a need to move. 

Upon leaving our office, we went to check out our apartments because we were going to go shop for it the very next day at Carrefour (家樂福) and IKEA.  After spending a couple of hours in the apartments and with our new roommates, we headed out to dinner and then to Hotel Kingdom for a good shower and good night's rest. 

SHOPPING FOR OUR APARTMENT

After having a four hour breakfast at Hotel Kingdom because I was jet lagged, we went shopping for many household items and furniture.  I wondered why the Foundation rented out a humongous tour bus for just 15 people (Alex, Chris, Amanda, and 12 ETAs (English Teaching Assistants), but after shopping at Carrafour and IKEA, my question was answered. 

I had never purchased that much stuff in my entire life – pillows, towels, mattress sheets, dehumidifier, kitchen utensils, desk, desk chair, desk lamp, hangers, electrical outlets, etc.  Thank god the Foundation gave us a settling in allowance.  After shopping, we had to stack the items on the bus.  Then when we got to our apartments, we had to unload and take them up to our apartments. 
 
We all just stayed in our rooms assembling our newly bought furniture and fixed up our rooms that night.  I love shopping, but even for me, this experience was a little overwhelming.