i'll have the number 2

as i was sitting in the starbucks in the sogo basement food court, it occured to me that i have managed to navigate the mrt, get an id number from the immigration office, open a bank account, and find my hostel, yet the most intimidating thing i'm faced with is ordering food in a restaurant. i spent the weekend with i-shuan who gave me the first grand tour of taipei. this meant that whenever we walked into a place to eat, she handled the ordering. i ate in this same food court when i arrived on friday, but today i wanted to try to find a shop on the street instead.

i got out of the mrt station and started wandering around, first along the main road, and then off into some alleys. i ran into the same doctor i saw on friday. he was out in the alley smoking a cigarette and talking on his cell phone. i waved at him and he waved back with a look on his face as if he never imagined he would see me again. after some walking around, i gave up on the idea of eating in a shop and went to 7-11 instead. they have combo specials on different things in the store. i got a box of soy milk and some rice and seaweed thing for about $1. picking food off the shelf is much easier than off the menu.

after eating my lunch on a bench in the east metro mall, i made my way to taipei 101. on the fourth floor of the taipei 101 mall is a bookstore called page one. the thing to do in taipei seems to be get out at 11, mall rat until after 3, then go out because it's finally cool enough outside. page one is a great place to do that unless you're walking around with a big backpack like i was. it's pretty crowded and it's hard to find a place to sit down with a book if you're carrying a whole bunch of stuff.

i looked at an apartment today near school. it's a room with a bed, a fridge, a tv, and a small bathroom for about $300 including water, cable, and internet. the owner was pretty nice and it's close to school, but kind of a hike from the nearest mrt station. my roommate here just told me he found a place for $125 with two other roommates. hopefully the business of getting setup will be done before school starts. the sooner i can unpack my bags, the sooner i can stop walking around with a heavy bag looking like a tourist.