Infrequent Nights

Today was late registration day at school. I arrived at office 612 at about 9:30, and was told as I am a scholarship student I’d have to go to office 607 to fill in some forms. Being the obedient type I scampered off to Miss Cheng’s desk where she informed me of the various things I’d need to do to receive my scholarship, and handed me a stack of forms to fill out. Miss Cheng sent me with some of the forms back to desk 2 at office 612 where I received a few more forms to fill out. After filling out these forms I went to desk 4 in office 612. Here they registered me for classes, and gave me my student ID. I was then directed towards desk 6 where payment of tuition is to be made. I paid in full for my first three months of study, and was then redirected to office 601 to speak with a teacher. After waiting for a few minutes in 601 I spoke briefly with a teacher who redirected me to room 501. Here I was sent to desk 12-C where I sat for a half an hour and wrote a proficiency test. I found the test rather difficult especially as I’ve only studied Simplified Chinese Characters prior to this and Taiwan still uses Traditional Chinese Characters. After finishing up my test I had to head to the Taipei Police Foreign Services office to get my I.D. number and Alien Resident Certificate (ARC). Once there I grabbed my forms, and went to Desk 11. Ms. Wang at desk 11 sent me to desk 2 to see if I indeed needed an ARC. I was informed that I do indeed need an ARC, but will not be able to get one until I get some more forms from my school. Instead I was sent back to desk 11 where I filled out a form to get my ID number. This number will allow me to open a bank account into which my scholarship funds will be deposited monthly. After finishing up at the police station I headed home for some well deserved, air-conditioned rest.

Posted by Ryan at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I arrived late last night. Entering the country was no problem whatsoever. The queue at immigration for foreigners was surprisingly short. I caught a bus from the airport to downtown Taipei where I was met by Murray who runs the Mandarin hostel. He put me in a cab and sent the cabby on his way with directions. The drive was longer than expected. We drove by the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial Hall, and Taipei 101. Upon arrival at the hostel I was shown my room. It is nice enough, if rather warm. I was offered last night’s accommodation for free as the air conditioning will not be installed until this afternoon.

It is about 32 degrees, and very humid here. I just had a bit of a walk around, poking my head into a few shops, and wandering around a marketplace. It all seems rather hectic and rushed. People are weaving around crowded streets on mopeds. Caged chickens are clucking. Various cuts of meat hang at shop stalls. I had trouble identifying anything that was on display at the market apart from the most basic produce such as bananas. Shopping will be an adventure and, I’m assuming, with my particular dietary restrictions (celiac’s gluten free diet) occasionally frustrating.

This afternoon I’ll hop on the MRT and have a bit of a wander around town. I’d like to poke around the city centre, and maybe have a look at the Shi Da campus.

Posted by Ryan at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I left my parents’ home at 5:00 this morning. My flight wasn’t scheduled to depart Toronto until 10:00, but they live two hours from Pearson airport. The threat of thick traffic or car malfunctions compels me to leave very early for international flights. In addition, one has to pre-clear U.S. customs and immigration in Toronto. The U.S. border guards sometimes frown on young males with a road-case full of juggling equipment, so I thought it best to budget for delays.

It is 12:42 Eastern time now. I am sitting in Chicago O’Hare waiting for my connection to Tokyo. I have a 3 hour layover here. Although seeing as CNN just informed me of a typhoon headed directly for Tokyo and scheduled to hit land this evening, I may end up with more waiting than I had anticipated. They are forecasting up to 14 inches of rain. While some of those inches may be Cable News Network fear-mongering, I’m sure even a few inches of rain combined with strong winds could be enough to delay my arrival.

My official itinerary puts me at Chiang Kai Shek airport at 21:00 local time Friday evening. I’ve reserved a room at some sort of transitional accommodation housing for cheap expats. I am to phone them upon arrival. They have promised to escort me to my room where I will hopefully be able to blissfully sleep away the worst of my jetlag.

I will live here for a few weeks while I find a more permanent residence. I am looking for a homestay with a Chinese family as it will help with my language learning. My goal is to eschew the expat community as much as possible. I realize that staying in expat accommodation upon arrival isn’t a good way to realize my goal, but as I said: it is “transitional.”

On Monday I head to NTNU to register for my classes, and pay my tuition. I’ll try to snap a few photos and get them up here.

Posted by Ryan at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm sitting in my apartment in Halifax, ostensibly preparing myself for my trip to Taiwan, but actually watching the Simpsons: 'Comfort TV' as one of my roommates puts it. I have one gig left before I drive to Toronto on Monday to catch my flight on Thursday. I've yet to find a place to live in Taipei. I also have yet to figure out how to say "I need a place to live" in Chinese. Nonetheless I'm sure everything will work out for the best. I've been on a winning streak for a while.

The chance to go and study in Taipei on the government's dime is but one of many strokes of good luck I've been recently blessed with. Interested parties can check out the backstory here: SMU news release. I didn't say ALL of those cheesy quotes. The PR man put some words into my mouth so as to make the story more appealing. I eschew 'juggling' puns, and have no idea what a "fire ring" is...

Posted by Ryan at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)