It's no UQ, but...

In comparison to the other buildings here, NTNU is quite lovely.

洗衣机

This morning I decided that it was about time I did a load of washing. At first I was slightly nervous because my washing machine skills aren't so confident, and then I discovered that the machine was in Chinese and that nearly led to a full blown mental breakdown. I figured it out eventually (at least I think I did, my clothes are in there and it is making some aggressive noises).

Also, here's an image of the building opposite mine. It's a pretty good example of what all the apartments here look like.

Once my washing is done, I'm thinking about walking down to the markets to pick up some breakfast and then I'll probably head over to the university and check out the library, gym and pool. Orientation day is tomorrow, so today is my last day for casual exploring.

My Residence

Why hello there, fancy seeing you here. You're lucky that you survived the climb all the way to the 5th floor. Sorry about the lack of elevator. Anyway, welcome to my humble abode for the next three months. Come in, come in. Please, make yourself at home - have a seat. Oh, that's right there are no chairs. Well, have a look around...

I'd offer you something to eat or drink, but there isn't anything. Sorry, I purchased an apartment without a kitchen! Oops. Don't worry though, there's a bathroom, I just have to share it with the other two people living on my level.

I just moved in officially today. I'm really going to miss staying with my cousins, because they were really nice and their home was amazingly comfortable, but I'm pretty excited to see how I survive when I'm living by myself.

I went on a trip to IKEA today to purchase some furnishings. Altogether I spent less than $100 and got all my bedding, some storage containers, and a lovely scented candle (to hopefully dim the strange smell left by the last tenant). I had to catch the train there, so I could only take home what I could carry, which is not a lot. So tomorrow I plan on going back and purchasing many, many more items to bring joy into this place!

Signed a lease today.

I'll put up some pictures of my new home soon :)

Culture Shock?

I'm not feeling particularly culture shocked right now (this is potentially because I'm already more Asian than I am Western?) but there is one thing that keeps tripping me out unbelievably.

You know that awkward moment when you're walking on a narrow footpath and you try to get past another person, and you both go left, then right, then left again. Then you laugh, both go left again and pause before one person finally has the nerve to shove past the other? Well that keeps happening. About 20 times a day.

In Taiwan people drive on the right hand side of the road, so they always go right. But my Australian brain keeps telling me to go left, it's mental.

Dou Jiang and You Tiao

Breakfast today!

Dou Jiang is the Chinese word for a kind of soy milk drink which can be made either hot or cold, salty or sweet (I went for cold and sweet). You Tiao is kind of like fried bread which is served with some sauces. It cost about $3 from a little hole in the wall place which I passed on my way to the MRT station today. A fantastic start to the day.

Registration

Today I woke up and decided to attempt to navigate my way downtown to the university to register for my classes. I thought this was going to be an intensely complicated process, so I organised some maps, looked online for info and wrote out the Chinese characters a couple of times in case I got lost and had to use a taxi.

However, it was super easy. The MRT system is amazing and I got there in no time at all. After I registered at NTNU, I had a bunch of stuff to sort out for my scholarship (like setting up a Taiwanese bank account). I caught the MRT to the Immigration Dept. and back to the uni, then to the bank and back to uni once again. After I'd sorted all that out, I met some fellow Aussies while riding an elevator and we purchased some dumplings, and then I caught the MRT home. I can't even believe how easy it was to get around the city using the metro, and all of that only cost me about $2 (plus another $1 for the dumplings). Brisbane needs to get it's act together and just kill off all the people involved in Translink!

Here's a picture of the beautiful system. I'd have taken a photo of myself having the time of my life on there today, but unfortunately I left half of my camera charger at home. It might be a while before I can add some photos :(

The dog's name is Zack, and we are actually friends now. He's a poodle, so my allergies are okay with that, even though he keeps attempting to lick me and that is kind of gross.

Taipei really is lovely. We drove up a mountain today to get a view of the whole city, and it was quite amazing because the sky was so clear. Then we had dumplings for lunch and Mexican for dinner. Tomorrow I'm going to wander the streets until I find a metro station and then try and get myself to the university to register for my classes.

Hi from Taipei :)

So the Hussey family went to the Brisbane airport last night at about 8:30pm. We realised after a while that I hadn't organised any travel insurance, and had a very hectic hour or so of frantically trying to apply for it using mum and dad's 'smart phones'. I know recognise that there might be some kind of use for these phones, because I'm pretty sure my phone couldn't do that.

I got on the flight and sat next to a young man who called himself 'Elvis' and we soon became best friends. He is returning to Taiwan for the first time in 5 years to see his grandmother because she is very sick and might pass away soon. We finally arrived in Taipei, shared an awkward goodbye (how do you say goodbye to someone that you will never see again when you've just been sitting with them for ten hours???) and then I set off to find the 'company driver' who was going to be picking me up.

If you've ever seen the How I Met Your Mother episode where we find out about Marshall and Lily's cute tradition of picking each other up from the airport with a little name card, then you know exactly what I was expecting. I was sadly disappointed. The driver did have a little card, and he was very nice and took my bag outside, but then he said, 'Wait... wait...' and then put my bag down and ran across 6 lanes of traffic, leaving me standing outside the airport. I watched as he jumped through a flower garden and climbed over a 4ft concrete divider. Slightly confused, I sat down on my suitcase and began to wonder what on earth was going on. I was really sleep deprived, so it didn't really worry me too much. He came back about 15mins later and all was well, but I didn't ask him where he went.

We drove through Taipei just as the sun was coming up, and I was frantically trying to catch a glimpse of what the city looks like. So far my impression is that it is somewhere between Singapore and Guangzhou. It's definitely nothing like Shanghai or Beijing from what I've seen yet. I'm pretty keen to go exploring.

Now I've arrived at my dad's cousin Peter's house, and it's currently 7:30am. Their house is lovely, but there is a fluffy dog like creature that keeps appearing and licking me which is making me slightly nervous.

Goodbyes

I've apparently ruined Christmas for my entire extended family by going away over the holidays, so this afternoon we are having a goodbye meal and exchanging gifts etc before I depart.


I'm leaving Brisbane today at 10:45pm. I decided to only get about 5 hours sleep last night in the hope that I might actually sleep on the plane - but I'm not too optimistic about that actually happening. I'll arrive in Taipei (intensely sleep deprived) at 5:25am local time tomorrow, which is 7:25am in Brisbane.