A Taibei day
Today (or yesterday, as it is 2 am) I checked out two apartments, saw a crazy guy walk in the middle of oncoming traffic, found out I'm developing an ingrown toenail, and didn't get ready for my eviction tomorrow.
Wow. Negotiating in broken Chinese with someone who speaks broken English is an experience. Luckily we were both patient. But I think his English was less broken than my Chinese so I should've replyed in both Chinese and English.
I liked the studio apartment. It had a great 18th floor location near the central subway and train station. It was well-designed and modern, if maybe a little too artsy for my taste. But it only had a water heater for cooking, perfect I suppose for the Ramen noodles I would have to eat to live in it with the deposit they were asking.
Walking back late from taking a look at a shared apartment, I noticed a man in his thirties walking bizzarely while crossing the street. He zigzagged across it towards the center of the intersection and didn't pay attention to the lights or oncoming traffic. After a minute of this,I went into a Family Mart on the corner and tried to explain to the clerk to see if he could call the police, but I was making no sense (the same problem I'd have if I called the police directly). I appeared the crazy guy. I went out the door again to see if he was still walking in traffic, but a group of women had also noticed the guy's weird behavior and I confirmed they were calling the police. Last thing I saw of him he was hugging a lightpole, no police in sight.
The hostel/shared apartment I've been staying at is converting to a regular apartment after tomorrow. So I'm back in a hotel because the hostels here are almost uniformly wretched. The place I've stayed the past three weeks was decent but I'm tired of seeing cockroaches when I awake at 3am. And tell me in some Animal Planet special how there has been a worm ("Wormsworth" is my moniker for herma) that managed to worm its way onto the shower floor on the fourth storey of a building.
Most bathrooms in Taiwan and China don't have baths, just showers. But I'm sure in the hotel I'm staying at there's a bath where I can start soaking my toe in warm water. Yay.
Wow. Negotiating in broken Chinese with someone who speaks broken English is an experience. Luckily we were both patient. But I think his English was less broken than my Chinese so I should've replyed in both Chinese and English.
I liked the studio apartment. It had a great 18th floor location near the central subway and train station. It was well-designed and modern, if maybe a little too artsy for my taste. But it only had a water heater for cooking, perfect I suppose for the Ramen noodles I would have to eat to live in it with the deposit they were asking.
Walking back late from taking a look at a shared apartment, I noticed a man in his thirties walking bizzarely while crossing the street. He zigzagged across it towards the center of the intersection and didn't pay attention to the lights or oncoming traffic. After a minute of this,I went into a Family Mart on the corner and tried to explain to the clerk to see if he could call the police, but I was making no sense (the same problem I'd have if I called the police directly). I appeared the crazy guy. I went out the door again to see if he was still walking in traffic, but a group of women had also noticed the guy's weird behavior and I confirmed they were calling the police. Last thing I saw of him he was hugging a lightpole, no police in sight.
The hostel/shared apartment I've been staying at is converting to a regular apartment after tomorrow. So I'm back in a hotel because the hostels here are almost uniformly wretched. The place I've stayed the past three weeks was decent but I'm tired of seeing cockroaches when I awake at 3am. And tell me in some Animal Planet special how there has been a worm ("Wormsworth" is my moniker for herma) that managed to worm its way onto the shower floor on the fourth storey of a building.
Most bathrooms in Taiwan and China don't have baths, just showers. But I'm sure in the hotel I'm staying at there's a bath where I can start soaking my toe in warm water. Yay.
brainfart by Daniel at
12:15 PM
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