Achromia

I saw an albino person at the airport in Beijing and two days ago another person with albanism walked on the street near the university. This made me interested in the gene mutation. People with albanism have less or no pigment in the skin and this is caused by lack of an enzyme. The disease is inherited from both parents. Albanism does also occur in animals.

Reunion

I met up with my Taiwanese friends this evening that I haven't seen for a year. It was so nice to see them all again! We went to an italian restaurant in Shi Da.

At Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial hall.

Taipei 101. The building is huge and it's quite amazing that it still standing there as typhons are very common in Taipei.

Having dessert (fika!) with Hank and sister. Delicious ice cream shake!

Culture class & Modern Toilets

Several times a week we have culture classes and yesterday I learned some Chinese Yo-Yo and Kung Fu. It was so fun! At first the yo-yo seemed simple but when I hold the sticks myself the spinning thing doesn't act as I wish. We get to learn som tricks and we'll have a test next week. I'm gonna be as good as the teachers's children who were there and performed:

The kungfu class was quite simple and we learned the ten basic steps. It was like the first time that I exercised since I came here as training that I normally enjoy so much is not really the first thing I think of when it's 36 degrees outside. One cannot really take a walk as in Sweden as the air is so full of pollution and it's terrible traffic.

Last night we went to Modern toilet in Shihlin to have dinner. Odd place for sure. The food is served in toilets and the dessert is poo-like chocolate ice cream.

The dessert.

Wall decorations.

There were about 100 different toilet seats.

Have I mentioned that I'll have a dance performance with a group from school for the vice Taiwan president tomorrow? Oh my...

First Lesson

When I woke up this morning they hade put up the list of the classes on the notice bord. I'm in the beginner class (well, of course). So, the first lesson was great as I understood what the teacher said and he was so funny. We got lots of text books and will also perform karaoke and drama together.

Ooops...

Taiwan is different from Sweden in many aspects. One of them is how the toilets work. They informed yesterday that one cannot flush down anything in the toilet. Including the toilet paper. If doing so the paper will get stuck. Thanks for the information. But it came a bit too late as me and my roommates (that are from Austria and Canada) already used the toilet as we normally do. The counselors here weren't that happy when we reported this. Well, you learn something new everyday.

Placement test

Today we have the placement test to see which class we should be in. The test includes listening, reading, writing and oral parts. I could've just skipped this as my answer sheets were practically blank. It was totally awful! But that also reminded me why I'm, to learn Chinese.

I also got good news. We got our bagage today and I've bought a voltage converter so now I may use my computer.

The First Day

Now me and my sister are in Taiwan. Finally! I haven't figured out how to use the internet in the dorms yet so I use the school's computer now. To sum up my experiences till now: it's complicated to not have your luggage, Taiwanese are very nice but not very good at English, and it's SO FREAKING WARM here. The air is humid which makes you completely soaked wet. Kind of wrong order on the pics, but here you go:

Some bakery at the Shi Da night market near the universty.

Sight from the air somewhere between Moscow and Beijing.

Me at Cityterminalen in Stockholm on our way to Arlanda.

The First Day

Now me and my sister are in Taiwan. Finally! I haven't figured out how to use the internet in the dorms yet so I use the school's computer now. To sum up my experiences till now: it's complicated to not have your luggage, Taiwanese are very nice but not very good at English, and it's SO FREAKING WARM here. The air is humid which makes you completely soaked wet. Kind of wrong order on the pics, but here you go:

Some bakery at the Shi Da night market near the universty.

Sight from the air somewhere between Moscow and Beijing.

Me at Cityterminalen in Stockholm on our way to Arlanda.

Taiwan-here we come!

I didn't sleep so well, but what do one expect before such a journey? The first phase was passed without problem- to catch the bus to Stockholm. Me and my sister took a taxi that smelled weird and we calculated the price is ridiculous (especially for a student like me). 32 SEK/min or 1920 SEK/h. Oh dear.

Sangfroid

Yesterday was my last day at work. Time has really passed so fast and I've made my best to use this limited time at home. I've barbequed, played ultimate, read in the hammock, had fika with friends, baked a lot and been with the family.

People have asked me if I'm nervous about going to Taiwan and it's quite strange but I'm not nervous at all. I should be a little frightened (it would be the most normal state I guess). After all, I've never been abroad for such long time period and I don't know the language. It might be that I'm cool with this whole thing because I feel mentally prepared and I have my sister with me.

However, the only mission I had today was to have a kebab pizza. I dare say the best kebab pizza are made in my hometown Jönköping. (I know, this pic is not very impressive).