The Taiwan Apartment

View from my window during the rain.

We (the other new teacher and I) arrived at the new apartment building to discover that it still wasn’t finished. But we moved in any way, as our apartments were mostly finished. As I unpacked, they came and installed the TV, refrigerator, and washing machine. The banister still needs to be put in on the main stairs and floor needs to be laid in the building’s entry. We were promised internet and cable TV, but the cable wasn’t working and the internet goes off the cable. The landlord painted scooter parking places on the ground floor in the “lobby.” But we still don’t have mail boxes.

After getting a few things settled in the apartment, I met the TAs from my school. We drove the forty minutes to the third largest city in Taiwan, Taichung. There we hit beloved Daiso, Asia’s equivalent to a dollar five store. I stocked up on things for my apartment. We then ate some fried pork cutlet, very similar to Korean style, but instead of served with gravy, it was served with egg and caramelized onions with broth and rice.  Quite good!

The girls then took me to a store to help me purchase the essential female products and we drooled over shoes, purses, dresses, etc. When we left the mall at 6:30, it was already dark and the neon lights were dancing down the streets. It made me miss living in a city. I was sad to leave it and come back to quiet Hemei.

Luckily, the girls wanted to see my apartment and walked me to my building. The brilliant designer added a deadbolt to the building’s entrance, but it can only be unlocked from the inside. So we were locked out of the apartment for twenty minutes until we could finally get enough pebbles against the upstairs window to get someone’s attention. The landlord could not seem to fathom why the deadbolt couldn’t be unlocked from outside and why someone would bother locking the deadbolt.

Sunday was spent scrubbing the apartment. Apparently, it is very difficult to clean up after yourself in building projects. They didn’t really clean the access grout; in fact, there are grout hand prints on the walls. There was still glue and grout on the facets. I still have to wash the walls in the main part of the apartment, but at least the bathroom is clean.

My apartment is on the third floor and I chose the biggest apartment for a whole ten dollars more a month than the smaller one. It is very, very, very basic with white walls, white tile floors, a hard Taiwanese bed, air conditioner, a desk attached to the wall, a built in wardrobe, mini fridge, washer, sink and shower head. There is no hob, and I miss it already. But it has some nice features too, like the fact it came with curtains, an electric kettle, garbage cans, and a light switch above the bed, so I don’t have to get up to turn off the light if I am reading. Also the washer has a built in lint trap—how cool is that!?! Another perk is that it is right behind a temple and a grocery store. I’m a ten minute walk to a bank, twelve minutes from 7- Eleven, and fifteen minutes from work.

I unfortunately look right into my neighbors, but at least I cannot reach into their window, so that is at least a high point. I actually have screens on the windows too, that slide out of the way so I can hang my laundry out on the clothes line. The only issue is to grab the clothes before the rain starts, not after, and to shake and pat down for any cockroaches or locust. But you must be careful not to kill a gecko that may have climbed in your clothes to explore.  

I’m in seventh heaven trying to win over the neighborhood cat who likes to sleep on scooters and the baby geckos that climb around the walls outside of my window. I think the other new teacher thinks I’m a bit “special” as they say in Asia.   

More photos to come soon!