Waitan...or Where in the World is Kristen Weller?: Personal Space

Hey folks--lucky you, double blog day! There wasn't a lot to report on yesterday, but I took a few pictures to keep things interesting.

On Tuesday, Emily and I spent the morning in, but decided to try venturing on our own in the afternoon. We went to the 7-11, Sogo (like a Macy's), and Q-Square, one of the malls in Taipei. I learned that the banks have weird hours here, and while 7-11 will do your laundry, they cannot exchange foreign currency. Sogo, however, will. We left and went to Q-Square, which has a neat set up--each floor has it's own feel (one for boutiques only, one for teen stores, one for larger chain stores, etc). We found a Zara (like New York & Company/H&M hybrid--we have Zara's in the States), and Net (like a Maurices/H&M). I had a lot of luck at Net, and even found one pair of jeans at Zara that fit me (and were too long--who actually wears a 37" inseam in Taiwan?) but they had a huge rip in the thigh, so I didn't get them.

Two things about being out and about in Taiwan:

There is SIGNIFICANTLY less personal space than one receives in the United States (I expected this, but not how much I'd care)
There's NO natural flow of traffic when walking

While they may drive on the right side of the street (like the US), and the ground is often marked with arrows and passing "lanes" while walking, NO ONE obeys them. It's frustrating and difficult to get around in a crowd (or even in an open space with a few other people sometimes) because you just end up bumping into each other all the time. I was standing in a near-empty mall corridor, off to the side and out of the way, and a bunch of people plowed right into me, rather than change their original course by 3 feet. I admit, I miss the American tendency to avoid touching at all costs right now. :/

Also, this is where we live!

Why the lion statue outside our apartment is crushing a skull, I do not know. But it makes me look super awesome, so I've decided to change my name to Ti Kuan Yin, or Iron Goddess of Mercy, which is a kind of tea Emily just bought.

Panoramic view from campus at night

No Entry for robots and their baby robots

This is our adopted dog. There are a lot of large dogs wandering around on campus. They all have collars, and are all friendly, but we never see anyone with them. This one lives right outside our apartment. She sleeps in a pile of leaves under a drainage pipe. Since we've learned that the theatre department dogs' Chinese names mean "Poor" and "Idiot," we've named this one something nicer.

Meet Scruffles.

On Wednesday, our group (minus Jim) met up with Shine, Annie, and Christine Ling and went to Yingge, the old ceramics district. It was a longer train ride, but totally worth it! We had a nice little tea ceremony in an old tea shop, and enjoyed looking at all of the beautiful pottery. We all left with gifts for our loved ones, and plan on returning.

An awesome building in Yingge

Old Ceramics Street

We stopped for a snack (we do that A LOT)

After a thorough shopping experience at Yingge, we went to Sansia ("Three Canyons"), where 1) they've made beautiful indigo shibori yardage for centuries, and 2) there is a centuries-old market created by the East India Trading Company

Grilled squid on a stick--I will try this before I leave!

Sadly, the center was closed, but Jim would be sad if we had gone without him, so it all worked out

There was a surprise parade with three dancing lions--we learned that the Chinese light fireworks in the New Year to scare off the lion--we also almost got crushed by the crowd!