We're Here!

After a few hours delay in Michigan and the longest airplane ride of our lives with considerably little nappin, Adam and I were almost just as happy for our stop in Osaka with it's redundant security check as we were to get off of the airplane in Taiwan. After breezing through Immigration our bags were, obviously, the last ones off the belt. While I went to get a cart for the bags, Adam was greeted by a friendly Taiwanese beagle. The dog sniffed the guitar case and the camping backpack and then went crazy for Adam's carry-on. Apparently the beagles are trained to sniff out agricultural items (like parrots) and the dog could smell the apple that had been in Adam's bag the whole trip that had finally been eaten before we landed. Luckily, you can't get put in jail for smelling like an apple so the customs officer let us pet the dog and move on.

Since the airplane landed around 9:30 we finally walked out of the baggage area by 10:15 and were greeted by Teacher Bob and Tony the taxi driver holding up a sign with our names on it. We proceeded to ride the moving walkways of the future (the carts automatically lock while you're on) to the parking garage and stuff more luggage into the taxi than it had ever held before. The drive was under an hour, but filled with revelations, including: if there are bags in the passenger seat then the driver can't see out the window; there aren't any familiar signs except 7-11 because THEY'RE NOT IN ENGLISH; Tony is a skilled betel-nut spitter (i didn't get hit once); stoplights are far less tedious when they count down the amount of time you have to sit at them; not everyone obeys stoplights; 7-11 is to Hsinchu what Dunkin' Donuts is to Boston.

After getting the bags upstairs (thanks Adam!) we explored a bit by walking down to the 7-11 to get some bottled water. I spotted a Starbucks on the way (hooray!) but since it was after midnight we didn't make a stop. Our first instance of using Taiwanese Dollars occurred at the 7-11 where we purchased two 5L bottles of water, two juices presumed to be tropical fruit flavor (luckily we guessed correctly and didn't end up with asparagus juice), and a box of kleenex. We were also aided by the handy screens at the registers so that we could figure out how much to pay. After that it was back home for bedtime.

Our apartment is down an alleyway off of a side-street that is full of all of the wonderful smells an urban environment has to offer in 90+ degree heat. Luckily we're fully equipped with air conditioning that reaches everywhere except the bathroom. The bedrooms are quite nicely sized, and even the bathroom was bigger than I expected. The beds themselves are pretty different from American beds. Ours have wooden frames with headboards, then a modified box-spring with a tatami mat on top. It seemed really hard, but we were both so tired that we easily fell asleep since after the excursion to the store and a test of the self-cleaning bathroom it was after 1pm.

Even more happened today, but it will have to wait for another post!