Welcome to My World

My everyday life in Taiwan is in many ways different from the one I lived in Carlisle. But there are some surprising similarities. Life has commonalities everywhere. In this post, I am going to introduce you to where I live and show you some pretty common place things and some very special people that make my life over here just a little bit nicer. The picture to the left shows a group of my friends standing in Ximen just outside of my apartment. We had all just come back from a lovely farewell tea for Rachael and Anthony at a modern teahouse, called, "61 Cups." Later on I will introduce my friends individually, but for right now please take in the wild and crazy environment of lights and stores. Just behind them to the right is the subway station. A far cry from the farm!

Just inside my front door, sits our doorman who, despite my best efforts at communication, tells everyone he cannot understand a word I say! There are many mailboxes. 

But I do not have a key so you can't send me anything. But inside are all of my bills. I can peek in the slot and see them all in there. I am just waiting for the electricity 

and water to be cut off. Then I will be evicted! Who is paying the rent?The picture to the right shows the stairs l

eading to my apartment. There is an elevator too, but I take the stairs as part of my daily fitness regiment. Since it is only 3 floors, it is

 pretty easy to 

accomplish.

Here is my front door. Notice that I have all of the red signs up wishing everyone a Happy New Year and Good Fortune. With these signs, I have protected my home from Nien, the monster!

Check out the unusual key! This is a common kind of a key and must be turned three times once it is inserted in the lock. The lock moves into position part way with each turn. You might also notice my grocery club card hanging on the keychain. Just like home!

T the left, you can see what I see when I walk in 

my front door..a view of my very narrow living space. The T.V. complete with HBO and Cinemax plus two other movie stations is on the left. The couch folds down into a great sleep over bed. Just behind the couch is my little office space where I am sitting right now! It looks out onto 

a very busy street filed with scooters, cars, busses, people, dogs and stores. At night I can hear all of the voices of the hawkers selling their yams and the hawkers selling their yams and special drinks. 

The view of my bedroom is on the left. I have a very large free standing closet in which to store my clothing

. The headboard on the bed opens up as a storage space. You can see some of my recent paintings decorating my bedroom.

The bathroom has a fabulously large shower. Very surprising considering the smallness of the apartment. I can actually store my umbrellas and a stool in there..and yes I have a western style toilet! The washing machine is featured in this image as well as the water heater.

The kitchen has some really unusual features. The stove has one burner. So cooking dinner has become a challenge, but it is doable! Those of you who go camping know just what I am talking about. What is really cool about this stove is that one..it is portable and two: it shuts off the second I turn it off and is not hot on the surface at all! The refrigerator has three parts. The top is a small freezer, the middle is just for things like juices and food, leftovers, etc. The bottom is a special storage area fro veggies and fruit. I open up just the section I need, preserving energy all the time. It is common to have a bag of open coffee granuals in each section to ensure a nice odor.

This has provided you with a  good picture of my apartment, but it would not be complete without SKYPE and the wonderful people I get to see there each and every day. Here are my two favorites!