Hey Taipei!

Holy shit, i'm in Taipei!! I feel like this plan grew from a passing whim into fullblown, technicolour reality without any serious consideration from me, even though I've actually been working towards it for the last 6 weeks?! Well, I'm definitely here anyway, for better or for worse... hopefully better, obviously!

The journey wasnt so bad, despite an overnight flight on which I failed to get any sleep whatsoever (instead I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - slightly ridiculous but endearing, kinda like a less stylised Wes Anderson film - and then wriggled around in my tiny seat for the remaning 10hrs. Im sure the girl next to me LOVED it), followed by a 'getting to the hotel' fail during my 18 hour layover in Guangzhou. Sleep deprivation, super humid heat and telephone malfunctions make Flick a crazy, sweating mess! Luckily for me, a taxi tout, after trying to con me out of insane amounts of money for 10 mins, actually voluntarily rang my hotel for me on his mobile, got them to send their free shuttle bus, chatted to me while I waited and then made sure it found me. OMG! I still cant quite believe it. What a sweetheart!

Hotel was fine except for a gang of kamakaze mosquitos which dive bombed me all night, biting me all over my face the second I fell asleep, SIGH. I now look like I have the plague but im just pretending it hasn't happened. Interestingly, the receptionist had never heard of Taipei/Taiwan and asked me if my onwards flight was domestic or international. Hmmmm, I went with international! Hopefully she won't report me to the CCP lol.

After much success upon initial arrival in Taipei (Taiwan SIM card, check! Cheap bus into the city, check! MRT to right place, check! Go me), I then had another 'getting to the hostel fail', boooo. To be fair it was down a random alley, the directions they sent me made no sense whatsoever and when I rang them they couldnt speak English (and my phone chinese is even worse than my general Chinese).

So, again, crazy, sweating Flick... and again, kind help from random stranger!  A nice man in the street took pity on me and talked to the hostel on the phone, before taking me there. Derek if you're reading this, thanks again!

I've been pretty lucky, eh?

View from my hostel room - budget but clean!

Even more lucky, I've managed to get a job interview tomorrow, for an English Writer position at a big ESL chain school. It kinda seems too good to be true but I really want it, as it would mean I don't have to face my terror / horror of teaching! Yikes, trying not to think about it too much in case I puke with nerves.

So far my impressions of Taipei are all good but I will save them for another post as I'm getting RSI from typing on a tablet, HOWEVER, there's just time for this week's:

Mandarin update: i've at least tried to talk to everyone i've encountered in chinese, and mostly they seem to understand me, two people have even complimented me on it! I know they're just being polite, but I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself anyway. It's amazing how people's attitude changes when they see that I am attempting to speak Chinese - its definitely appreciated, if received with amusement...