Mission accomplished: I took the garbage out

In Taiwan, unless you live in a dorm or in a fancy residencial appartment you have to take out your garbage and put it in the garbage truck YOURSELF.
During my first semester of Chinese, I had this lesson about taking out the trash, chasing after the garbage truck and recycling. Back then my teacher asked us when was the time of the garbage collection around our place... I had no idea... I just rely on my Taiwanese flatmate who knows when and where to wait for the truck and would go with him if he needs me to help and I happen to be at home at that time. And I lived like that for 7 months, not knowing how to do.

But came the day when my flatmate had been gone for 6 days already, probably travelling somewhere, and my other flatmate told me he was coming back 3 or 4 days later. Our garbage bin was full, still with the image in mind of the last HUGE cockroach I saw in our kitchen 3 days ago, I decided it was time for me to take the garbage out on my own.
So what did I do? I looked for information in English on my phone. Could only find blog posts of expats writing about their experiences taking out their trash but nothing really concrete for me. So I tried to search for it in Chinese... and I found what I was looking for! On www.dep.gov.taipei knowing my address in Chinese I could find a map with schedules. Apparently there is one truck that stops just in front of my door at 7pm but I never saw it before... never really looked for it. Haha

I was prepared to go 10 minutes earlier and at the moment I came out I heard the truck coming! Yes garbage trucks in Taiwan, like the ice cream truck in the US, play music for people to know they have to quickly come out with their trash if they forgot about the time. The most common theme song is Beethoven's Fur Elise. It was raining, like almost everyday in Taipei, but a lot of people were ready with their umbrella throwing their trash in the trucks. The yellow one is for general trash you have to throw away using special blue bags that can be found in any corner store, and the white truck is collecting recycle items, you can use any bags for those as long as they are clean.

You have to know that there is no trash collection on Wednesday and Sunday, and I think the white truck doesn't come everyday... need to look into it more. haha
Now that I know I can do it I think I will take out the trash more often and don't just wait for my flatmate to do it, he will probably be happier. xD

That's it for today.
Thank you for reading my blog,

Floppy

The last piece of the puzzle

It has been a while since I wrote my last article. I have been thinking for a while now, I keep saying Taiwanese people are nice all the time but beside this trait I don't really have something else to say. When I compare with when I was in South Korea, I feel people are not that nice all the time but I came to know them, understand a bit of their way of living, how to talk to them... But maybe it is because I have only spent 4 months here in Taiwan, I'll keep that in mind and talk about it again in a few months.

organization freak

Okay, this matter I really don't understand.

Bopomofo

I, Floppy, may find interest in different kind of things other people may not understand. I aknowledge that and think it is not a bad thing. And as I can never know what will catch my eyes next I try to stay open minded and willing to try new things.

Opening a bank account

I have been here for almost two weeks now, and I have still a lot of things to do in order to settle down. I don't want to rush and do mistakes so I'm taking my time. This week I decided it was about time to open a local bank account.

When your dreams come true

I didn't mention it before but the first reason why I wanted to learn Chinese was because I am a big fan of asian dramas and my favourite one is taiwanese: 下一站幸福 (Autumn's concerto). But also my favourite singer is Taiwanese too! 羅志祥 or Show Luo is a tv host, a singer and an actor famous around Asia (but not in South Korea you can guess why) I discovered in a taiwanese drama 海派甜心 (Hi my sweetheart) 5 or 6 years ago.

Coming to Taiwan of course I had the not so secret hope to be able to meet my favourite idol... but I couldn't imagine I could do so that fast, not a month after I arrived!

Following Show Luo's SNS my eyes catched a post (all in Chinese of course) with many dates and hours in different places. I asked everyone I could for help in order to understand the content of this post and it came out that Show Luo's new album was out and there was a special event: buy the new album, go to meet Show Luo, get your album signed and get two tickets for his concert in Taichung on the 20th of December. But that was not all, buy 3 albums and you can take a picture with him, buy 5 albums and you can take a picture AND HUG HIM! xD On the date of the fan meeting in Taipei I was to be in South Korea... so I decided to go on an other date in another city: Taichung! So that I would be a little familiar with the transportation to go back on the 20th for the concert. Not so bad idea right?

But now you must wonder how I can buy transportation tickets to Taichung and do all the way to there with my still really poor Chinese. With a little help from the locals (really really really nice people once again^^) and a bit of crazyness everything seems possible here! I mean, 7-11 are so great you can do quite everything in there x) if you are a little bit sensitive about filling your credit card info on the internet there is no problem: you can select the "pay in 7-11" option and you can also select "deliver in 7-11" and select the closest one to your place. That's what I did for the train tickets to Taichung and to buy Show Luo's albums. Soooo convenient right? I just love it~ Just be aware that you may have to pay by cash (that was the case for the CDs).

First days of my new life

During my first week in Taipei, I had a hard time because I was jet lagged and the weather was way too hot and humid for a mid-November (my biggest source of trouble with my hair in particular^^).

I also had only one week to find a place to live. I had searched on the internet when I was in France already to get an idea of the price and what I could find comparing english and chinese websites. Actually that was a bit depressing as I couldn't find any place that I wanted to live in by seeing pictures on the internet. As I may be staying for a while I should find a nice place and not a small closet under the stairs in a house full of foreigners and only one bathroom! x) So I was willing to pay the price for a really nice studio which seemed to be in a high standard building... Guys, do never agree on anything before visiting the place. Trust me, I could barely recognize the studio I saw on the pictures. It was okay to live in for a student I think but way too expensive for what it was in reality. Hopefully the following day I visited that place I found a really nice shared appartment of 3 bedrooms where I could have my own bathroom. Two hours after I visited I already took it, fearing that someone else took it before I set my mind. It was this or the creepy studio ahah!
In final, it took me only 3 days to find a room. But I could only move in at the end of the month so for the remaining days in Taipei before going to South Korea for 10 days I registered to the university... and mostly waited for the time to pass.

I think it was a really good thing for me to spend a few days in Seoul before the winter term began so that I could releive my stress meeting with friends I've been missing A LOT and also make new friends, eat tasty korean food and party (a bit too much I must say =p). But I needed so to be able to now focus into studying again and having the willing to go back to a healthy life ;D

I already had my second day of class today. I'm starting from the level 2 in a class of 7 students all coming from around Asia (half of them South Koreans) except from me ahah!
I don't want to make it sound like a complaint but it is already hard: I feel like there are a lot of stuff I don't understand and I may be the only one... unless my classmates fake very well understanding xD Yesterday after 2 hours of class I spent like twice as much time studying at home! But in fact I find this situation quite challenging and I am doing my best to succeed in the path I chose to follow.

I hope everyone is also doing their best for their dreams to come true. There is no easy way, we just need to decide to work hard until we succeed and to not give up halfway.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Floppy