It's been quite a ride so far!
When we got here, Ping's dad drove us to our apartment. We've been setting up house ever since! Last night, we got the laundry room done. Now we just have to figure out how to vent the place. It's completely land-locked with no outside access save for the vent from the kitchen. The bathroom fixtures are all in place, but there's no storage anywhere in the house! Unlike the U.S., they don't make closets in Taiwan. You buy them or build them in. Thank goodness for FreeHand 10! Mark measured the house (everything in Taiwan is called a "house," whether it's a condo, apartment, single-family home, whatever) and created a scale drawing of each interior space so we can figure out what will fit and what won't. It's been a real help. We did this when we moved to California, so we knew how well it worked.
Folks have been so helpful! YuChi and Alice (Ping's nephew and his wife) had us over to their house for several days after we did the initial cleaning. They drove us all over creation to look at cabinets, furniture, everything. We're really starting from scratch. We've also noticed how wonderfully helpful the staff has been at each place. We're not going for high-end stuff, but the service has been very good.
Not surprisingly, we keep running into people who eventually mention that they know some relative of Ping's. Her dad and mom were teachers and administrators in the schools, and Ping's dad is the youngest of 12 kids so a LOT of people know her extended family. The lady who runs the flooring shop, Mrs. Wu on the fourth floor of our building, the girl on the scooter passing by, the guy standing next to us waiting for the garbage truck (more about garbage in a later post!)...they all know! We even met a distant cousin in the aisles of B&Q (the local Home Depot, orange decor and all).
Quick note for today: IT'S DOUBLE TEN!! October 10 ("double 10") is the anniversary of the end of the last Chinese Dynasty and the birth of the Republic of China. Today marks 100 years. A few days ago we saw folks lined up for blocks waiting to buy the centennial coins. This morning we were buzzed by the largest mosquitoes ever...! Turned out to be the Taiwanese Air Force: attack helicopters by the dozen, followed by a V formation of C-130 Hercules turboprops, chased by phalanx after phalanx of fighter bombers. Pretty fun! We were right in the flight path, and since we were up on the slope, it was pretty close!
This just in: Large Spider Clears House of Roaches! I guess if we can get these long-legged, non-poisonous arachnids in the house, we'll rid the place of any cockroaches. So is the cure worse than the disease? More later on "Let's Go Take a Look!"
We'll keep you posted.
All the best! --Mark and Ping
Cool! I love reading your vivid descriptions of life there so far.
ReplyDeleteThree notes about the spiders, some of which you may already know:
1. They are the totem/good luck creature for writers.
2. Indoor species are designed to live indoors and will die of starvation if you "let them out." Vice versa for the outdoor species.
3. From my limited experience with cockroaches, those must be some badass spiders! Perhaps escapees from the same Taiwan military that created those big mosquitoes...