A few first impressions of Taiwan, and a guest post from Dave!!

Nǐ hǎo!! (nee how) Greetings from Taipei, Taiwan! After two + days of travel, Dave and I have arrived at our hotel. Neither of us slept very well on any of our airplanes, so even after 9 hours of sleep we’re still a little groggy and ready for a nap.

A few first impressions of Taiwan.

Scooters are everywhere, and they really do seem to do whatever they want. I can’t imagine driving in this city. Perhaps one day we’ll each learn to drive a scooter, but for now I think we’ll leave the driving to others.

The weather is not unlike a humid day back home. There’s a dampness that seems to settle into everything. I’m sure we’ll get used to it, but we may need to look into getting a dehumidifier for our apartment.

Cute panda pastries from the bakery.

The water tastes treated. I mean, it is, but you can totally tell. I already miss sweet, clean, Canadian water.

Everything moves at an amazing pace. The little man on the crosswalk sign runs, rather than walks, essentially telling you to hurry your butt up and cross the street. We haven’t explored the down town by foot yet, but I think we’ll probably feel slightly rushed along.

Dave can’t seem to get enough of Chinese television- especially the shopping channel. I’m already annoyed with the fact I don’t understand Chinese (in part because I’m still tired from our travels). I can’t wait to enroll in a Chinese class and have more than a few key phrases in my repertoire!! Learning a few key characters couldn't hurt either!!

For breakfast we had a smorgasbord of food-I’m not yet sure if this is normal, or just because of the hotel we’re staying at, but I could certainly get used to it! There were all sorts of familiar and unusual foods to try. We had onion rings and a watery porridge made of coconut milk and purple rice, a delicious sweet bun that tasted a little like a doughnut, and a variety of stir-fried veg and meat. I have a feeling we might grow tired of the same foods after two weeks, but at least we have something to eat!

On another note, more first impressions after our walk downtown.

Yes, those are tinsel Christmas trees in the book store. In the
back are adorable plushies- cute is definitely, definitely in!

Techno-style Christmas music was playing in the book store- if being surrounded by books (regardless of the fact I couldn’t read any of them!) wasn’t enough, I got to listen to some of my favourite tunes as well!!

One thing that bothers me immensely is not having the correct clothes to wear. As in, I don’t want to go somewhere if I don’t have the proper clothing. Thankfully, after our stroll downtown, I realize the push I had to pack loose, stylish clothing and a couple fun shirts was definitely in the right direction. Like I said before, it’s pretty humid here, so my hair is already having some issues, but at least that winter coat I left at home was unnecessary! A raincoat and umbrella, as I predicted, will have to be shopped for soon, however! But there are all these stalls along the street with cute little umbrellas!!

Food here is often sweet I’ve found so far. Then again, we have been eating lots of pastries, coconut milk and stir-fry!

Pre-training starts the day after tomorrow, with a medical exam and an optional tour. Then we jump into the real stuff!

Taipei city streets.

Dave’s First Thoughts!

We made it! After 36 hrs of flights, time changes and sleep on and off the plane we arrived last night at 11:45 pm, slept for a few hours then had a smorgasbord of food for breakfast around 9:30 am... real stirfry with the most unique flavours and hot red chillis (might I add very "HOT"), steamed buns, coffee was unique and the ham had the texture and look of ham but the taste of a shoe with a hint of corn syrup.

Steph and I slept on and off most of the day today and got up around 5:30 pm which is 5:30 am your time to get something to eat. Showers are interesting! Water gets everywhere no matter what you do to stop it and all the best when trying to keep your boxers dry (Steph’s note: Just stick them in the window… it’s so big I could curl up in it and stay dry!) it won’t happen. We just experienced Taipei streets for the first time... nuts ! insane ! watch your butt cause if the digital crossing sign man is in the running position it means get moving ! Haha it’s been fun so far... Taipai night life is really cool and busy with street vendors popping up on every street corner and food vendors willing to sell you anything for a buck. Walking and crossing the streets was very memorable just like in Guyana and Nicaragua, however Steph has never been there and she says it reminds her of walking through New York. We are having some fresh home-made sweet buns we found at a bake shop and orange juice for supper as we both are not really hungry from all the food we had on the airplane. Currently its 27 degrees here and starting to rain… smells like just a hint of wet dog, but just a little...