It's Official! (Almost!)

The hunt for living space and peace of mind was on--until this morning. Due to one of Rachel's brilliant suggestions we posted on tealit.com, a website for English speakers "trying to make it" in Taiwan. (I urge you to check it out, there are personal ads, it's a stalker's paradise) Unleashing our shining personalities on the ex-pat community, we waited with baited breath, hoping to find the perfect (cheapest) apartment.

After an inappropriate number of responses made my life an unorganized living hell, (you should see my g-mail inbox, disgusting) Rachel and I finally found the Holy Grail of cheap apartments (4000 NTD a month, approximately 120 USD) and what is perhaps the sketchiest apartment EVER. Or maybe the now owner of it is really the sketchy part. I wish I could post the video he sent us in which you can see his reflection in a mirror and discover that he is filming wearing only a small towel around his waist. Happily he does not want to live with us and is moving out, but we are going to have to do some serious bleaching just to be safe.

And here's the confirmation e-mail I received from him this morning. Now there will always be proof in internet form that this apartment is OURS:

"Jess,
just now i take the video of bathroom and full room i attached, please see the same, some of my firends also saw my apartment, i will keep that for you, I m strongly trusting you, i m expect the same from you. Definetly my apartment is best for two ladies, because you can save lots some money in rent, you know better then me. From sepetmeber onwards you can take my apartment,mean while i am seraching very near to national taiwan university,today itself i will start my process.

joe"

A little background...

Okay, very excited about the color scheme going on now, very excited.

I think in order to help out the more casual stalker/person who does not righteously follow the detailed ongoings of my ever so fascinating life I should lay out a little background here.



1) This blog is inspired by Sam Crane and his love of all things Asian and Confucian. I cannot ever hope to speak both Japanese and Chinese as the amazing Professor Crane does, but I do hope to one day surpass his blogging skills on my way to becoming very important. Woot.

2) Taiwan? What?
Obviously, I'm just going to Taiwan because I have a great big Asian fetish, love kendo, (Japanese, not Chinese, I know) hate white people, and think I'm cooler than everyone else. However, I am also getting a little help from the Taiwanese government. (shout out to my boy Sean Chen...ummm...mmmm) TECO (the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Organization) has a number of scholarships they give out to lucky degree seekers every year: The Mandarin Enrichment Scholarships. They fund a year of language school (ICLP, for me) and an undergrad, grad, or doctoral program, or so they say. What they really do is give you 30,000 NTD (exchange rate 33 NTD to 1 US dollar...so about 757 US dollars) a month to do with what you will. So, I can either pay for my education or buy drugs. (oh, decisions, decisions) As I have documented already I am going to the fab
language school ICLP at National Taiwan University for a year and then hopefully getting into a master's degree program
(Social Work or Dance...I'm just not sure) somewhere in the capital (Taipei) where I'll be living.

3) Now for the best part. Yes, the money, the fame, the prestige, that was all nothing compared to this. I will be living with a total hottie in Taiwan. TOTAL HOTTIE. The dashing and epic Ms. Rachel Krause. (See below)



I met Rachel when I was in Beijing junior year at Hamilton's study abroad program, ACC. She dressed up for Halloween as Lara Croft and, let me tell you, mmmmhmmm, she was one mighty fine version of everyone's favorite video game heroine. Now, I don't mean to insinuate that I only appreciate Ms. Krause for her looks, but I do think that it always important to get an apartment with someone exceedingly attractive as you can more easily swindle, cheat, lie, and steal with the aid of someone everyone else can't stop staring at.

Questions, comments, concerns, hit the "coment" button and go where your dreams take you...

I said, TAIWAN.

I'm gonna get y'all started with a passage from a classic text on Taiwanese culture, Lonely Planet: Taiwan:
"Taiwan's reputation for having the best Chinese food in northeast Asia is well deserved. The island offers an enormous array of places to eat--from simple night market food stalls to fancy five-star restaurants--serving up just about every kind of Chinese cuisine available, from local delicacies to dishes from the far-flung corners of mainland China.
There's no question that the Taiwanese love their food. A well-quoted saying is that there's a snack shop every three steps and a restaurant every five. Eating out is a popular activity for Taiwanese of all ages, and in the evenings restaurants are crowded, lively places."

Holla back.