It Rained All Day

I didn't mind the rain at all. After breakfast I set out with umbrella in hand. To get to the MRT station, I walk down Fuxing Street, otherwise known as Korea Street. One clothing store after another, with the occasional admixture of a small grocery or a fabric store.

As I was walking down Korea Street yesterday, I saw two interesting things. One was a guy standing on a flimsy ladder doing something to the ceiling of the awning. The funny thing about it was that he had one foot on either side of the ladder. The even funnier thing was that when he wanted to move the ladder he didn't climb down, pick it up, move it and climb back up. He just shifted his weight back and forth so that he walked the flimsy little ladder to the new spot. It was sort of like a combination of ladder and stilts. Mind, it was only a couple feet off the ground. Still, I was impressed and horrified.

The other thing I saw (several times) was some sort of cosmetic service involving a string. The (young female) customer would side on a crate on the sidewalk, and the other woman would use a string to do something to her face. It was very mysterious, and it seemed rude to stop and stare much less photograph the operation. But I am guessing some sort of eye-brow thinning? It was quite disturbing, and I have no idea how it even works.

The MRT turned out to be simple to use. Like the DC subway or the Metra in Chicago, you pay per distance, all done on user-friendly machines. Unlike either of those cities, though, it's really cheap here: 20 NT for the distance I was riding, less than $1, not going to break the bank there.

I emerged on the campus of NTU and wandered down to the main gate. Then walked up the Avenue of Palms toward the library, vaguely following the campus map toward the language learning building.

Avenue of Palms

Sort of ... Blooming?

This yellow stalk, which of course I touched, was kind of waxy and interesting. Actually really reminiscent of ear wax...

Loving Hut

I arrived at the language school just as they were going out for lunch, so I went out for lunch myself.

After some wandering outside the back gate, I ended up at a vegetarian place with a humorous name.

It was kind of aggressively vegetarian. The TV was on playing a program about how being a vegetarian would save the planet, blabbing a mix of ungrounded statistics and earnest emotional appeals. Not my style at all, but I do like good vegetarian food. When I ordered, they warned me it would take 15-20 minutes, but I was not in a hurry. I sat at worked on my manuscript. I am at the revisions stage, and it is coming slowly because of how much I dislike revising. But I am probably more than halfway through this round.

Vegetarian Bibimbap

This was a really luxurious bibimbap, with many kinds of vegetables and mushrooms. The bright purple eggplant was especially delicious. As far as I could tell, it was vegan (no egg), with a fake meat patty in the center. It was really delicious but I ate too much and didn't even end up eating dinner I was so full.

I wandered around the edges of the campus, looking at all the little shops. Then finally I went back to the language school to do the registration. It was all so smooth and simple. I had no trouble understanding what the secretary instructed me to do. The only difficulty was in filling out the form. How many hours per week have I studied Chinese for how many years? I shudder to think. But I haven't studied in the classroom for... who knows, 8 years I guess. Unless you count my language tutor in Beijing. What materials have I used? Again... all the textbooks I have gone through are in the distant distant past. And how many Chinese characters can I write? Gosh, I don't know. Oodles, scads, or ... maybe not very many. I hardly ever write anything by hand these days.

Deep Night Cafe

Anyway, I did the best I could and then set off. I rewarded myself for my diligence by dropping into the campus branch of the Eslite bookstore. I wasn't planning to buy any books--having just got rid of so many!--but there was this one that just really grabbed me. It's called Deep Night Cafe, a graphic novel about a guy who runs an all-night cafe. It was translated from Japanese in Chinese. I have been slowly reading through it, good practice for my modern Chinese skills and a good reading level. Occasionally I have to look things up, but mostly I can follow the story.

I also got hold of a good detailed map.

Finally I headed home. After only a few hours sleep, it's amazing but I managed to stay awake the whole day. I won't say I was terribly productive in the evening though.

Below are some more pictures from my wanderings around the campus. The rain was tapering off, and I discovered a little lake. It reminded me a bit of Unnamed Lake at Beida, though it was much smaller. I think this one is called Drunken Moon Lake.

Philosophical Bird at Drunken Moon Lake

Black Swan

Clearly a Moocher

Amazing Fern + Tree

Closer-up of the Fern

Not much more to tell. I looked at apartment listings and wrote some e-mails. Fairly slim pickings I'm afraid. I went to sleep by around 10 and woke up at 3. That's almost a full night's sleep.

For breakfast I decided to try to place just outside my door. They had a breakfast set of fried turnip cake (luobogao 蘿蔔糕), meat patty, fried egg, and milk tea. One of my friends loves luobogao, and I keep trying it thinking I'm missing something. But I'm still kind of underwhelmed. I did like the hot sauce and the shredded cucumber that came with the breakfast set though. I had some lychees left over, so I ate some of those too.

Now for my goals. I guess I will have some coffee and do an hour of manuscript revising. Then I'll look again at the apartment listings and work up the nerve to call about one that looked interesting but the guy just wanted a phone call (I wish everyone would just do everything by e-mail!!). Finally, I'll see about withdrawing a chunk of cash for security deposit etc. (That's optimism talking.) I know that this is the most stressful part of the whole experience and once I get it settled I'll feel much better. But first, coffee.