回來了！

I'm back! Set up in my new apartment, a small one bedroom on the fifth floor and a bit overpriced, but it has a kitchen and is really clean by Taipei standards (i.e. no visible mold colonies or humungo bugs). I also love the location, I'm right next to the MRT (subway) station, several convenience stores, a drugstore, a supermarket, lots of little restaurants. Most importantly, McDonald's and Starbucks right around the corner. Oh, and a ten minute walk to school with at least three bakeries on the way (I've been on the lookout).

My uncle picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at my apartment with a few toiletries to help me get started and remind me that I was in Asia:

Meet my new BEST POPULAR hand towel, my Rouse Me Up bar soap, and my WHITEMEN: Guardian of tooth TOOTHPASTE. The last one I am really having trouble figuring out. "Blackie" toothpaste has always been popular here and one of my favorite examples of Asian racism. Whitemen toothpaste is new to me though, and it happens to be both racist and sexist. Are white men supposed to have good teeth? Mysterious

In any case, I have everything I need to live now, namely a gym membership (still no other girls in the weight room). Also, water. There is a lot of conflicting advice on the internet about how long, exactly, you need to boil water to make it safe to drink. According to the Taiwanese government, 0 seconds is sufficient:

Concerning to drink the unboiled tap water

What is drinking unboiled tap water?

Directly drink the tap water that is processed by the modernized procedure, and is up to the quality criterion of drinking water, and doesn't need filters' processing and boiling. This is the so-called "drinking unboiled tap water."

Oh, so that's is what the so-called drinking unboiled tap water is. So...why should we drink unboiled tap water?

Why do we promote to drink the unboiled tap water?

Drinking unboiled tap water is the benchmark for evaluating the city's success, and is the inevitable mission of the tap water industry, and is a promise to residents. We strive to make customers feel convenient and worriless. This will change the negative impression that the international community has because Taipei residents cannot drink unboiled tap water. And this will make the Taipei metropolis a first-class city in the international community.

Well, anything I can do to raise Taipei's status in the eyes of the international community. Any other reasons?

The advantages for drinking unboiled tap water

...No less important is that drinking unboiled waster is symbolic of progress. If tap water can be drunk without being boiled, this shows that the community is well equipped and properly managed. Therefore, this can increase the extra value of the community and help promote the value of real estates...Moreover, if the public places can provide people with unboiled tap water, the service will make people relaxed, comfortable and worriless.

Well, I'm not quite relaxed, comfortable and worriless about drinking unboiled tap water. You're not going to make me drink it are you? What is this, communist China?

About willingness to drink unboiled tap water

...We definitely respect your willingness and water drinking habits. Hence, we will never force all the households in the same building to drink unboiled tap water.

Thank God for freedom. I'll keep boiling my tap water, thanks, I guess for 1 minute since that's what the U.S. government recommends and government agencies are so trustworthy.

Anyway, I am very proud of my shiny new pot and pitcher for water, and I'm going to start using the kitchen more. Yesterday I made some fish ball soup with some leeks I accidentally bought because I thought they were green onions. Not exactly cooking, but I'm getting there.

More about school, etc. next time, today is moon festival and I'm going to my uncle's to eat! Gotta love any country with a national BBQ day. Happy moon festival!