First Day of School!

Today was my first day of school! Very exciting and fun. i will tell you all about it but first.....pictures of my university, National Taiwan Normal University or 國立台灣師範大學.

View from across the street. 

The front gate. Looks pretty cool!

Also, scattered across the campus are very interesting sculptures. Here are just a few.

A guy doing tai chi. I think they are re-painting it.

I believe that these are two mystical looking lions. 

A bench/sculpture with lots of bottles. Made by an artist who studied abroad at ASU.

A lion playing chess. 

Anyway, it was a very good first day. There are four other people in my class: two guys from Japan, a girl from the Dominican Republic, and a guy from Guatemala. Of course I talked with them in Spanish. They seem really nice. My teacher is also a very nice person. Her name is 范瑞恩 (Fan Rui En).

So, I am in class with them from 10-12. Then there are supplementary classes that we have to attend for 20 hours each month. Tomorrow is sign up for cultural classes as well. I think that I will take calligraphy.

So class was good. Afterwards I need to do some errands in order to receive my scholarship ie. open a bank account in Taiwan.

Subway Adventures

So, today I knew I had errands to run. The day I arrived the scholarships office wanted me to do them all in a few short hours. However, I was able to convince her to let me do them Monday when I was more oriented and had more time. So, first thing this morning I went out to buy breakfast and plan my trip.

For breakfast I went to the bakery, 麵包店, and got two pastries for around $65 NT, $2 USD. I bought them thinking that they were both creme filled. The first one was but the second one had a hot dog in the middle! It was good but I am not even going to try and imagine what it was made out of.

After breakfast, using Google maps I planned out my trip. Iyt was easy and I love street view. I could see where I got off the train and how to get to the building. So it was easy.

Speaking of Easy.......

This is the Easy Card. An RIDF card that you charge with money and then whenever you enter a platform a place it for one second on a scanner. When you exit the terminal you also put it on the scanner. It automatically tracks your trip and deducts the appropriate amount. Pretty cool!

So, I planned my trip during midday so it won't be too busy and overwhelming. You'll notice that it is just like any other subway. However, I have never used a subway system before so for me it was rather exciting. 

The train is really fast! It is also easy to use. They have signs in English/Chinese saying where the next train will be going and when it will arrive. When the train stops they say what station and what other lines the station has. It is very easy to use and well designed. Next time I will take a picture of the inside. The cars are very wide and very clean. I was pleasantly surprised.

Anyhow, I was able to make it to immigration and the post office very easily. The people here are so nice and helpful. A woman from Thailand came and sat next to me while I was waiting just to talk to me in English. She is getting her masters in journalism at one of the other universities. She even invited me to an Taiwanese entrepreneurship group that is held once a month. 

So, now I have my own bank account and will soon get my scholarship money. Yay!

Misc.

One last fun picture. 

This is our neighbors dog. It's funny. When he is not leased he will run about the patio and down the stairs. He is very friendly. However, when he is leased it business time. He barks every time I come up the stairs and will jump at me. I know he is harmless though.