Safe Arrival to Taiwan

Hello, my dear adventurers, I apologize for the late blog. I have been doing a lot since I landed on August 15th in Taipei.

I was glad to be on the long 12-hour flight with Charlie, which made the flight less torturous. We landed at about 6 pm Taiwan time, which is 13 hours ahead of Nebraska!

We spent the first two days getting over jet lag, and we walked 9 miles around the northern area of Taipei. We ate lots of noodles and dumplings it was super delicious. Jet lag kept getting me up at 4-5 am, and there is almost nothing open in the early mornings here. I struggled to find something open at 10 am. I guess Taiwan likes to sleep in a bit.

Charlie started his HESS English Teacher training that Monday, 8-4or 5 each day. That left me with figuring out what to do alone. I did a bit of exploring parks near me and playing Pokémon Go. I also tried new foods, but I kept getting really tired around 1-2 pm, and it was also the hottest part of the day, so I crashed in the hotel until Charlie was back. His training was 9 days long with one single day off, where we decided to go to the National Palace Museum. It was huge and full of artifacts, but wow, you get tired after 3 floors.

That Sunday, a week after arrival, I met up with a friend of a friend, Philly, who went with me, Messay, and Sarah on a girls' Thailand trip together summer of 2024. She is visiting Taiwan for a bit over a week. We did some funny activities. We were in a big public park watching a group of older people do Tai Chi, and one of them asked us if we wanted to join. We agreed and joined this Tai Chi class for 30 minutes. IT was super funny to be so enthusiastic out in this park doing movements in time with the older people listening to music. We politely left after the end of the lesson, but we kept running into fun activities that were not part of the original plan. We also went to the tallest tower in all of Taiwan, Taipei 101. The view was beautiful, and we sent some postcards from the top floor. We had a lot of fun together exploring, and I was happy to have someone to see the sights with.

Now I have moved to Hsinchu, Taiwan, about 1 1-hour drive south of Taipei. This city is where. I will live for the next 2 years. It is known for the TSMC semiconductor factories that power most of the world's electronics. So far, Hsinchu is nice, I enjoy the natural parts, and there are lots of food stalls still. The campus is huge, and living off campus is a blessing and a curse. I don't love how busy the campus is; I can't find a seat in the cafeteria or library sometimes, but I will get used to that. My Program has its own study area, and I have enjoyed being in this little haven that has water, coffee, AC, and quiet.

Charlie and I found an apartment, and it's the dream place. It is about $400 a month plus electricity and water. The place has big windows, a separate bed and living area, and a small kitchen and laundry room. I have tried to make it homey with all my photos from Benin and Korea, and Charlie and I found a poster about whales to hang up. The landlord is a sweet lady who doesn't speak any English but helps us out. We got lucky because all the other 4 places we saw were a bit worn out and/or didn't have washing machines or kitchens, which would make life a bit harder. I love the place and the view from the 10th floor over the city is really nice. Location is pretty okay for me, I can walk 6 minutes to a campus shuttle bus stop, and Charlie has a bus that takes him about 10 minutes from work or a 30-minute walk.

So far, this is my 4th day of classes at National Tsing Hua University, and I will get more on that in my next blog!!