Prospect Axe!

Good news from Tokyo, I can actually begin the application process for our apartment in the awesome Nishi-Shinjuku apartment complex known as Prospect Axe. We didn't actually find out what it was called until later; we were in fact drawn to the unit because of the location and amenities. I've posted a link for a comparable unit below, so you can check out the cramped space I'll be occupying for the next six months.

http://apartments.gaijinpot.com/rentals/view/15435/1K-Mansion-in-Shinjuku-ku-Tokyo

If everything goes well, we should be able to move into the Prospect Axe when we arrive in Japan on the 7th. V and I are super excited. Typhoon update: it's not just one typhoon. There are actually three in the vicinity. We won't actually be hit by any of them, but it's so ugly outside. Basically it was extremely unpleasant to leave the house let alone the room...so we didn't.

I wanted to practice some kanji for my language exam and found this website:

http://www.realkanji.com/

One of the sources it uses for its kanji is the Genki series by the Japan Times. My Japanese course at Cornell skipped the elementary text and used the intermediate text later, but I needed something to review. This is a very popular textbook, and after skimming it, I would recommend it. I'm not overly ashamed to say that I found the entire text with workbooks and cd's in a torrent. Awesome.

P.S. If anyone ever needs a realtor in Tokyo, I highly recommend Flat-Japan. You know, if you need an apartment in Tokyo, ever.

Flying Solo

Bear witness to what is quite possibly the holy grail of bread. O' Chirle Brown swirly bread, let me count the ways I love thee: 1. Thou art goddamn delicious.

V wasn't feeling too hot today so I went solo. Luckily, there was a typhoon in the vicinity and rain everywhere. The typhoon is on course to miss the island, but that doesn't mean we get to miss all the residual rain. For those who don't know, "typhoon" is just another word for a hurricane. It comes from the chinese word tai fong - 颱風. For some reason it doesn't sound quite as vicious as "hurricane," but they are in fact the same thing.

One thing I didn't know about my flip-flops is that they are super slippy when wet. A good deal of the ground in metro stations and the like are made of tile, and I basically nearly killed myself give or take 17 times. Luckily most of the flooring in the Xinyi - 信義 shopping district was fairly rough.

I managed to trek all the way from the Bellavita department store to the 101 mall with relative ease. Bellavita is this brand new shopping complex decked on in all luxury brands and few actual customers. I hit up the basement for some pretty good coffee and headed out on the elevated walkway through the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi - 新光三越 complex. This area actually comprises of four separate department stores dubiously numbered A4, A8, A9 and A11.

Between Bellavita, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, and 101, there are so many designer stores here that it's a wonder how anything actually stays in business. Luckily there's an elevated pathway that goes all the way between these buildings. Notably, I went into Paul and Joe, as V is having a renewed affair with Paul and Joe Sister, and I felt compelled to go see what all the fuss is about. Everything was so fruity...I swiftly left, never to return. Below is the rainy view of 101 from the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi walkway.

I appropriately jammed to Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History the whole way, and kept on getting looks from people because I was the happy douchebag totally missing all his phone calls. I also made at least a dozen people look in the same direction as me as I stared intently at absolutely nothing. On my way back, I really wanted to take a picture of a man taking a picture of another passed out man but missed the moment.

The one thing I've never mentioned is that it rains a lot here. We actually have had a disproportionate amount of no-rain, but that's about to change. I dunno if I'll actually be dry again before I hit the ground in Japan.

New Glasses

So, today we went to get me some new glasses. I wear contacts all the time nowadays, and I really only wear glasses before I sleep and after I wake up. My current pair of glasses are definitely over ten years old. The last time I got new glasses was before I went to college in 2001. Those glasses actually ended up breaking my freshman year and without a backup pair, I resorted to wearing my semi-permeable contacts full-time and never looked back. Eventually, I picked up my old pair of glasses which date back to high-school and wear them to this day.

It was about time I got a new pair. I figured I would buy glasses here as I imagined they would be less expensive. With my prescription, it usually ends up being the lens that's most expensive. After this eye exam, some numbers were thrown around, but I'm not exactly sure what my prescription was as I generally don't understand what people are saying in this country. 我聽不懂。

I had no idea what I was looking for in a frame as I don't bother to think about how I look in glasses anymore. V kinda wanted me to go for a boxy black frame, even though that makes me look like someone she wants to punch in the face. She made it abundantly clear she wanted to punch my face, and eventually I figured out that she still wanted that look because she thinks I look good with it.

That picture also makes it look like I just don't know how to wear glasses straight... In fact, I'm thoroughly convinced my wife wanted to fist my face solely to straighten my glasses. I ended up with something similar, but not black. I hope they're indestructible. I spent longer than I should have looking for a frame as my selection was fairly limited. With poor eyesight the lens must be more concave; and the larger the lens, the thicker the lens becomes at its edges; and the thicker the lens, the more retarded you look. Long story short (again), I picked frames that cost way too much and the lens ended up costing even more. The moral here is that if your eyes suck, glasses cost a lot of money everywhere.

Afterward, we hit up Nepal Namaste Curry for some Nepalese spices and a happy reunion with extended family. Nothing too crazy to write home about here. V can make curry better at home, and I can still feel my tastebuds, so the spiciness wasn't up to par. V's other soul-mate Irene made the day with a premature impromptu birthday cheesecake for ma wife.


This picture looks way more exciting than it actually was and even includes an unfortunate knee.

Seven days left to figure out how to buy a birthday present here.

Taipei Metro

Didn't actually do that much today. I did hit up the riverside for some ball and took on a six foot high schooler one on one. Eked out the win against a lumbering Ben Kim type, but couldn't quite punish him outside cuz I had no jumper. Basketball takes four times as much effort in this weather. I played for a solid half hour and wanted to die.

We hit up Din Tai Fung - 鼎泰豐 for dinner. This establishment is famous for their juicy pork dumplings or Xiaolongbao - 小籠包. The chain actually has one in California as well I think. All in all, I don't totally love Xiaolongbao like a lot of people do, but I had a pretty awesome time. We had a variety of other dishes too, and V pretty much singlehandedly took down a bowl of hot and sour soup. Mmmm.

Since, I don't have too much to talk about, I thought I'd give you my thoughts on the Taipei Metro. It didn't actually begin operations until 1996, so it by far the newest and nicest subway system I have ever seen. The stations are pretty much impeccable, largely due to an enforced law preventing eating, drinking, and even gum-chewing within a certain distance of the trains.


Trains are super fast and super quiet. I always wondered how it was possible for the trains to be so quiet until I saw this:


The trains run on tires!!! I guess when you don't have to worry about anything freezing ever you can do stuff like this. I am totally uncertain what the exact logistics are, but rubber-to -whatever contact is undoubtedly much quieter than the metal-to-metal contact you get in every other city in the world.

I guess when you can design an entire subway system as late as the 90's you get great tracks, quality trains, and excellent station layouts. There are signs with English everywhere and it's pretty much impossible to get lost. Maps in the stations display the surrounding areas with great detail. All in all, it's just a great system for foreigners to wander about the city. Plus everyone here speaks English anyway, including the high school kid I served on the court.

Ximending - 西門町

So today we ventured into Ximending. V always called it the "young people's area," and we had spent limited time there on previous trips. I'm not sure why because we both had a pretty good time today. Lined with eateries, street food, novelty stores, and whatnot, people have called Ximending "Shinjuku of Taipei," "Shibuya of Taipei," and "Harajuku of Taipei." I'm actually not all the familiar with those areas of Tokyo...yet, but I would say it does feel like a mix of Shinjuku and Shibuya a bit.

We ventured into a number of stores including what V called "the box store." Basically, anyone could become a retailer here by renting out cubbies and selling their wares. It was pretty interesting, but there was a lot of just plain crap too. OK, I won't lie. A couple of things caught my eye, but I didn't actually end up buying anything today.

We walked by a whole bunch of other places and didn't actually go into that many. I was dying for a cup of coffee so we hit up what I'm gonna call 'Cat Cafe.' I actually couldn't read the name and didn't bother to ask. The coffee was subpar and expensive, but V's giant passion fruit green tea was tasty and came in a large beer mug. So we could also actually call the place "Passion Beer Place." The sleeping cat was awesome though, and it reignited my desire for a kitty. Gratuitous animal picture:

I finally found some cool indie designers in an Eslite mall. Was thinking about buying some t-shirts but backed out to think about it a little longer. Apparently, I was super confusing to the sales girl because she would try to talk to me. I completely wouldn't acknowledge anything she said (because I don't understand), then V would talk to her, then she would tell me what was going on, then I would respond to V in Mandarin, and the sales girl would think I know how to speak it and talk to me again. Rinse. Repeat. Sorry girl.

Outside of Eslite, I found another street of indie designers! I accidentally said that I bought these t-shirts for like $10 at Macy's a little too loud (they were buy one get one free at like $90 each). I'm an ass and was having a pretty good day until squish, the unmistakable tactile response of POO.

Back inside the basement of the Eslite building, I washed off what I could. Luckily there was an arcade right there, and a test-run of Bemani's newest invention, Jubeat, helped to wash the stain off my soul.

I worked myself from a tier 2 song to a tier 7 song within the four song gameplay. Those who know will care...I think. Anyway, I might do more of this in Japan. It's super fun.

Thanks to V and yummy crap food and Jubeat and no thanks to POO, I had a pretty good day. See you soon, Ximending.

Flavorfield

Oh Flavorfield how I love thee. From left to right we have Melon Bread, Red Bean Bread with Condensed Milk, Danish Bread, Chocolate Cookie. It is impossible to navigate this city without experiencing the smells of sweet sweet bread. This Japanese company has several locations, and between Flavorfield, Yamazaki, the family favorite Chung Mei Bakery, and the random find Chirle Brown Bakery, I eat about 5000% more carbs here than I do in Chicago.

I was planning on taking a picture of the weird Chirle Brown layered bread, but it didn't survive the trip home. Just another excuse to go out and get some more.

Really Good Seafood - 真的好海鮮

That's the blurred view by which we saw Zhende Hao Haixian for a number of years. It's visible fairly easily from the train, and we pass it pretty much every time we go anywhere. You can't really see it that well, but it clearly says in enticingly bold print, "Really Good Seafood." Everyone who's been just says that it's really good. Can't argue with that.

So finally for Chinese Valentine's Day, we made the reservation and checked it out. All of the options are nine-course set meals ranging from just under $100 to around $200. Considering how much food usually costs in Taipei, this was surprising, but we'd come too far to come back.

Nine courses come and go like a blur, but between the scallops, the lobster, the several preparations of shrimp, shark's fin soup, fruit jelly, and the lamb chop(?), I can definitively tell you that Really Good Seafood is really good. It's a bit of a tourist trap (they put flags on the table based on what country you're from), but I think our experience has inspired even natives like ba and mama to check it out.

Meet Popo

Popo is the resident Chow Chow here. Not only is he like the hairiest breed alive, but he's also the one dog I'm not deathly allergic to. It makes zero sense, but our interactions are infinitely more pleasant because of this. He's enormously spoiled, deviously manipulative, yet absurdly dumb. Yesterday he followed me up three flights of stairs without my knowing; even though he knows he can't get down them. It literally took V and I half an hour to get him back down to the ground floor. He's mean to V because he thinks that she's stealing her parents away from him. He routinely refuses to eat with us around. We often get exiled either upstairs or out of the house due to his antics.

He likes me though because he can essentially steal me away from V in revenge. Also I pet him.

In other news, I held my niece, Anne, for the first time today. She's also spoiled as her father has this policy where basically nobody can touch her. Don't tell him I got to hold her today. The baby will only sleep if someone is holding her and will basically cry otherwise. Call me cynical but I can't wait for her to grow up like a princess. My baby's gonna have a very healthy dose of crying.

95 feels like 110

That was the forecast for today and it happens fairly regularly. I've grown a little accustomed to the heat and try to move slowly in order to prevent myself from breaking into a sweat. People here have this inhuman heat tolerance though. Take this guy for example. I knew I would find someone today wearing a jacket, so I tried to snap this to make my point. Bad picture, but just look at him! It's 110 freaking degrees out and he's wearing a jacket and jeans. People wear three layers in this weather. I saw numerous cardigans.

Taiwanese people are the skinniest people I've ever seen. They don't really eat that little; they don't work out; they just stay relatively fit by staying alive in this weather.

V is a native, but she burns up like crazy. I can't touch her at all while we're outside. We were walking back from the metro station when we passed mama. She later went up to talk to V all worried cuz we used to hold hands all the time. It had to be explained that I can't touch my wife because touching anything in this weather is too gross.

Anyway, we went to visit V's grandmother today. She lives here:

She's the extraordinarily strong matriarch of this family and she incidentally lives in V's old house. Not too much more to say there. We actually got there a bit before 3:00, and then had to leave because she was busy praying. Sooo busy. She was going to pray until after 4:00. That is one admirably serious prayer. We caught up with her later and as usual I sat there while everyone else bantered. V's grandma speaks native Taiwanese and Japanese, from Japanese occupation. I think she's alright with Mandarin, but for the most part I've struggled to communicate with her in Japanese.

Between 3:00 and 4:00 we had gone looking to buy V a leg massager. We both needed some relief from our constant walking and we had seen this thing earlier:

Found it at Franc Franc in Taipei, a Japanese interior design chain, and also found it at Tokyu Hands, an everything superstore in Tokyo. Tokyu Hands has a Taiwanese counterpart called Hands Tailung. Long story short: Franc Franc - no, Hands Tailung - no, City Super - yes.

When the sun starts going down I often go for a run. I usually run the Jingmei River Bike Path close to the house. It's a pretty sweet place to run. Today I bought a basketball and shot around. But I suck so bad.

Deus Ex Machina

So I've been kinda sorta thinking about doing this and really I needed a bit of a forum to vent (hence the title). Imma document my longest consecutive time outside the Unites States and I had my first real moment of culture shock today.

I spent two semesters learning Chinese and two months forgetting most of it. Now I'm here in Taipei with all these obsolete plans to really engage myself in the culture but really I feel super trapped. This happens every time.

Paris was ok, because our time there was short. I knew just enough French to get by and they knew just enough English so I could get most things done. The short stint in Japan was alright too.

I think maybe in the end I'm just a control freak and I am in control of nothing here. My Chinese sucks. It really sucks. I'm not really in a rush to learn it since I consider it a bit of a long-term battle, but if I'm not going to exert myself here then when am I really going to have the chance.

The bigger problem may be living with the in-laws. They are super nice; I'm basically their non-Chinese speaking son. But I live on my toes, I can't really let myself let loose, and I don't feel like I can make my own schedule (even though I probably could).

I don't know how people do it. Asian people move in with their in-laws all the time. Either they're super good at maintaining the front or they're super good at not caring. I suck at both. Yeah, basically I feel like I suck.

And I eat too much. I'm sick of eating. The people who know me know that I just don't eat that much anymore.

Today, V asked me if I wanted to see the new house. I kind of just figured everyone was going so I said, "sure" to be nice. Turns out only me and ba were going. Can't back out now. So we went to do a traditional ceremonial offering. We set the food out onto a designated table and then apparently the food was supposed to be out on that table for an hour or so.

We turned on the TV, he went to take a shower, I disengagedly flipped between two pretty sweet movies, and had a totemo hisashiburi moment with a cup of coffee.

I miss good beer and good coffee; I don't even drink that much beer.

Two hours or so later we went back and I had no idea how any of this had happened.

Well that's enough ranting. I was planning to acquire some therapeutic effect but now I only feel self-loathing.

Ok no more depressive crap. I'm gonna try to take pictures. I think I'll want to remember all this stuff. I'm totally not a picture person, but V is gonna love it if I exert myself in this fashion.

P.S. she's a creme brulee snob and I love that about her. I just wish she would stop listening on other people's conversations and spend two seconds with the one person who has no one else to talk to.

P.P.S what a miserable intro. I'll do better. Promise