day 2

wow today was really eventful.  after i got off the internet yesterday i hit the sack...and it was totally 6p.  awesome.  i am having a hard time sleeping on the bed that i am on...so i woke up around 12a and couldn't sleep until 3a...but it was just that dreamy sleep where it doesn't really feel like sleep...so from 5a till 6a i just rested, then 6a i got up.  the reasons for not being able to sleep are 1) due to the sharing of the room with 4 other girls who come in and out and leave lights on,etc.; 2) i like to sleep with more AC on than we keep on so i was really hot; 3) the bed is rock hard.  normally i can fall asleep anywhere...but i guess i just have to get used to these conditions. 

sooo i met up with one of the AIESEC girls b/c she was going to show me how to get to this morning's meeting...so i got to take the subway and that was cool b/c i'd never done that before.  the meeting was actually a boring company-wide meeting where about 800 people from the different branches and divisions came and the company execs talked about finances and quality control and technological stuff that i really didn't understand...esp b/c it was in chinese.  this went on for 4 hours, with a break for some dim sum style food...mmm.  i also met the other 2 interns...and they're really cool.  one's from new zealand and one's from canada but i think both were born in taiwan or something.  i'm the only one who doesn't speak chinese, so i'm left out most of the time...but everyone does speak pretty good english so it's not all that bad since they translate for me and stuff.  but apparently the other interns like to partay and know where to go sooo they'll show me where it's at.  teehee.  wednesday is ladies night so it's free...but other nights it costs like $20-$30 (US dollars!).  that is freaking crazy.  that could buy me dinner every day for a week.  but yay for ladies night...

after the meeting we went to lunch and i had my 1st taiwanese meal...which wasn't all that great...shrimp eggrolls and rice and tofu or something.  i guess i'm just not that big of a fan of shrimp.  then my boss-type person and i went back on the subway and back to the hostel and we decided that i might stay at the hostel the whole time i'm here.  apparently it's really hard to find an apt for only 1.5 months...so yeah.  i don't really mind staying here either...it's a pretty cool place on the 13th floor of a mall-type thing.  mostly they sell technology stuff and random other things, but around it there's a 12-floor department store as well as tons and tons of smaller shops, banks, and restaurants.  i've seen mcd's, burger king, and KFC too.  i'm pretty much in the very center of taipei so that's cool.  and now i have a subway pass so in a matter of minutes i can be in a different section of the city with the pubs and night markets or whatever.  taiwan is really different from america.  everyone is out eating and shopping and whatevering at night...and most people are walking...and there's just soo many people everywhere.  amazing. 

anyway, the hostel where i'm at is pretty nice...it has wireless internet and it's clean and the rooms, despite the damn beds, are pretty nice.  there is the sharing with 4 or 5 people i don't know for the next 2 months...but i think i can handle it.  i haven't really talked to the people i'm living with since i've been sleeping or being out but since i may be there awhile i guess i should.  i dunno how long they will stay there though.  but yeah the living situation isn't too bad.

after i came back i tried to take a nap but that didn't happen so i unpacked all my shit and organized it and that was a good feeling.  then i had dinner with sophie, the AIESECer who's in charge of helping me out and stuff.  we ate at one of the side street vendor thingys...it was good until i looked in my vegetables and saw a FISH HEAD.  OMG.  SO DISGUSTING EW EW EW.  they're supposed to be in there, but i didn't know that until i was halfway through the meal.  i started freaking out and made sophie take them out.  (which was right after i told her how much i liked the food).  haha so she taught me how to say "no fish" and "no spicy" since those are both things i hate.  man oh man that was grossss.  i'm not sure if i actually ate one or not...i really hope not.  anyway i think i'm about 94% over the incident...life goes on. 

another interesting thing is that there is a TYPHOON coming to taiwan.  i think typhoon=hurricane.  apparently it is typhoon season here, and the 1st one is due here tomorrow/monday or so.  everyone is pretty much used to them though since they have about 10 per summer.  but if they have less than 8 typhoons, taiwan won't have enough water.  isn't that interesting?  maybe typhoons aren't as bad as the image i have of hurricanes, but i'm scared!  i hope i don't get blown away.  i just have a measly little $5 umbrella.  i don't think it can stand up to a hurricane.  however, it is kind of exciting b/c storms are kind of exciting...and it was pretty cloudy and windy today after dinner.  also, the part of the city where advantech is is very susceptible to flooding so i might not go to work on monday...although i wouldn't mind going b/c i've got nothing better to do. 

after dinner sophie and i walked around the city and i got a cell...here you buy the phone number and you can just get prepaid minutes...and then i'm borrowing sophie's old cell phone or something.  i have like no money but i really want to shop!  gotta wait for my paycheck and for plane ticket reimbursement and for all my other BS to go through.  blah.  soon enough though.

one last note on this never-ending entry.  so wOw the company where i work is like damn.  they're a really successful, complex company, and everyone there seems to pretty much be asian, male, and super duper smart.  and wearing glasses.  but uh yeah my boss person was telling me how he got his undergrad in EE then was going to get his Ph D. in biomedical engineering but gave that up for his MBA, and after he gets that he might go back to getting his Ph.D.  i feel really inferior to these intellectual asians.  but yeah it should be interesting. 

tomorrow i have no idea what i'm going to do...esp if the typhoon comes.  it is my last free day before i start el jobo.  anyway, yeah i think i'm liking taipei a bit more.  it's different...but it's bustling and interesting.  we shall see what else is to come.