I'm here

***Please Note: The following blather has very little to do with the following photograph. You have been warned***

Chapter 1 - Taipei

So. There I was: In the taxi from the airport and dog tired from the 13 hours plus of flying that I had to do to get here. Still, I couldn't sleep - I was too scared of being sandwiched to death inside of the aforementioned taxi. This taxi (which was actually the size of a Chrysler voyager was fitting through gaps in the traffic which I didn't think I could walk through. Then again, I am slightly overweight, but seriously, this dude was taking chances.

On the way in to Taipei, I kept seeing hotels and then praying that they weren't mine (they all looked a bit dodge really). I arrived at my hotel, had an acute attack of culture shock, wondered what the hell I was actually doing here and what the freak I had been thinking. Then I went to bed.

I woke up and decided to survey my surrounds a bit more. It was cold and rainy (as I am told Taipei usually is) and I was rather hungry. Besides this, I thought I had been deposited in the middle of Point Rd (In Durban - if anyone's interested). So I did the only normal thing I could think of: I went to 7 -11 (They are everywhere here) and bought some 2 minute noodles. It must be said at the outset that this is actually what i lived on for most of the first week (for supper that is). So anyway, I walked around the city and saw more West St./Point Rd. like surrounds and concluded that I must have been downtown or somewhere near it. Actually I wasn't really and everywhere is kind of like that. Apparently, Taipei and most of Taiwan grew very quickly and as a result, you'll find larney buildings right next to the biggest holes. This was quite odd and took a bit of getting used to.

The meals at the hotel (breakfasts actually) were interesting. Slap chips (i.e. french fries) and boiled veggies - the kind you buy at Pick 'n Pay - among other more normal things like eggs were for breakfast. Nice food really, it was just quite wierd having chips for breakfast (unless of course, you have leftover Johnny's but that's besides the point).

Training was a bit of a blur to be honest, but the people were all very cool. Very supportive and great people. Doug, Andrew and Kevin especially were awesome. Training was from 9am - 6pm every day. We did all sorts of stuff - observing classes, lectures, lesson demos (we would plan a lesson and the demonsstrate for the trainers) etc. The demos were obviously damn scary, but they worked out allright.

Our group was also very cool. Only seven of us (we are off - season, so this is not the normal time for an intake). It was a nice size because we all got to know each other fairly well and I made some cool friends. Richard, my roommate at the hotel is a great bloke from England. We got into the habit of going for these epic walks around the area where the hotel was (maybe in a 5 or six block radius) which we did every evening.

I also went for medical tests for my ARC or Alien Resident Certificate, which allows me to live and work here legally. I was impressed with the clenliness of the hospital (It was a big city i.e. government one and it was spotless. As hospitals go, this one seemed great (and boy do i know hospitals!!)

Taipei 101 was another stop - a bit expensive really, but at least I can say I stood on top of the tallest building in the world. It's massive. Words cannot describe how big this thing actually is, so i won't try. Just go. Well worth the money. You can also see how bloody big the city is. It stretches round about as far as you can see, which is saying a lot seeing as though you're so high up.

Ok. I'm off to the mountains now. I'll write Chapt. two later. stay tuned tho. Oh, the photo was of Craig, Roger and I in a rare gangster mood at our company's new year banquet. It was a lot of fun with all sorts of interesting food. I got the "winner's" award that day - my suit pants split due to a combination of a very large stomach and a very rushed repair job (on my gran's part) since I only realised they were broken about 2 minutes before I was due to go (This was in SA). They originally broke due to the size of my gut. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I eventually borrowed a belt from Orville, one of the guys on training that was there since I forgot my belt in SA.

***Chapter 2 to follow***