Safe and Wet!

Welcome to Taiwan!  Here's a thunderstorm. 

I arrived into Kaohsiung late last night, met up with my boss and made it back to the apartment after a quick stop at the requisite 7/11 for water and supplies (cashews).  Both of my roommates were out with friends and so I didn't meet them until this morning.  

My trip here went really well.  I got upgraded to Business Class on my flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong (yay!!!), had a really easy layover in HKG and my flight from there to Kaohsiung was only about an hour.  My favorite part was landing in KHH (Kaohsiung).  We flew in really low over the harbor and turned at the last minute to land.  You could see all the container ships in the harbor and mountains of containers on land.  It reminded me of being a little kid and playing with lincoln logs.  

The apartment is cozy but decent; we have two covered porches that scream, "Come read a book!" It is HOT.  Not just hot like Wisconsin August Hot, Hot like you take a cold shower and before you can dry off you are sweating already.  I'm sweating in places I didn't think I could sweat.  Thank goodness for air conditioning and cold bottles of water.  I have already given up on decent hair days and wearing any sort of make up is going out the window next.  Unless I want to sport raccoon eyes in class every day there will be no mascara for this girl.  

This morning, my roommates N and S took me out to breakfast.  We had Dahn-Bing.  I have no idea how to spell it in pinyon, but that is what it sounds like.  It cost 40 NT which is about $1.30 and is plenty for breakfast.  (Approximately 30 NT = $1) It is kind of a cross between a crepe and an omelet.  Mine was filled with cheese and bacon (ham really) and it was delicious.  You put Seshwan (again, phonetic spelling there) pepper on top, which is a mixture of salt and pepper and a bunch of other spices.  I could smell some cinnamon and maybe a little cumin.  We also dipped it in soy sauce.  It was delicious, hearty and pretty good for you.  They were really impressed with my chopstick skills and explained a lot of the food culture to me. 

They hung out with me for most of the morning and have been showing me the lay of the land.  There is a pretty cool lake right nearby called Lotus Lake.  I was going to walk over there and explore the dragon and tiger temples on its shores but it is storming like you would not believe.  Instead I am just going to relax, visit the school this afternoon and otherwise just get my bearings.  

So far I am having a blast!  Except for the cockroaches.  I could do without those.  

I found out on arrival that I won't be staying in Kaohsiung long.  Myself, and two other new teachers, will actually be relocating to Taichung at the beginning of June and doing a summer session there.  I have about 10 days here to explore Kaohsiung and I am sure I will be back at some point but then it is off to Taichung.  Hopefully the apartment there won't have the cockroaches.  :)  

Oh, I also learned that Kaohsiung is actually pronounced Gow-shung (kind of).  I guess the K sound and the G sound are pretty interchangeable.  The same goes for zh and jz and p and b.  I guess, also k and j.  For example.  Peking and Beijing are two versions of the same word.  Pe and Be are two ways to pronounce the first part and the j and k to start the second syllable are interchangeable.  I wonder if that means that J and G are the same?  I better not think on that too much.  

S has been here a year and I've been so impressed with his Chinese.  He is able to converse with people really well and he said that he hasn't put too much effort into learning it.  Right now I don't know that I could order much of anything without one of them around to help me.  They did teach me how to order tea with three parts sugar and lots of ice though.  I guess that is a staple.  For right now I am working on Ni Hao (hello) and shishi (thank you).  Also, the name of the intersection we live at in case I ever get lost and need to get home.  Of course, I cannot remember it for the life of me at the moment.  I guess I need practice. 

I have so much more to write about but I am weary of over posting so I will save it for another day.  

Here is today's picture.  This symbol was on a wall near my gate in Hong Kong Airport.  Any idea what it means?
Here is a bonus picture.  This was my "dessert" on the short flight to KHH.  In case you can't read it, these are Seaweed Egg Albumen Cookies.  Yummm...... not.  I gave them a good whiff and wasn't feeling it so I did not partake.  S and N tell me that desserts are one of the Taiwanese shortcomings.  They are often too bread heavy or just not sweet enough.  Looks like I might have to show them a thing or two. 

That is all for now.  I know I'll have more to write tomorrow and it seems like I will have time so you might get daily posts for a while. 

Would you have eaten the Seaweed Egg Albumen Cookies? What do you think the sign means?