This last week has been a blur. I’ve been moving and working like crazy getting ready for my next job. Unfortunately, moving left me without an internet connection for a few days. Zhōnghuá telecom (中華電信) just got my phone line installed here at 8:00 this morning, and then I called up Sonet to transfer my DSL service to my new place. They had it done within 20 minutes of my call. I love Sonet!

My new apartment is a bit of a hidden gem. I wouldn’t call it a diamond in the rough, but maybe an amethyst or a lapis lazuli. It costs 14,500 bucks a month, it’s 17 ping, and the location rocks. I live a three minute walk from the Zhōngxiào Dūnhuà MRT. That’s right, it takes me less than three minutes from my door to get to what’s arguably the most up-scale area on the whole island. Most places of this size in this location cost more than double what I’m paying. Notice I said it was gem “in the rough”, though. I didn’t say a gem “polished and gleaming on a pedestal”. Nope.

Here’s the rough part: I live in a 套房 with its own bathroom, but it’s actually just one big bedroom of a gigantic house. My new landlady lives in the gigantic house. And she’d kind of a batty old lady. She’s always watching TV in the living room, which I must pass through every time I enter or leave, and she’s always wearing a nightgown. Upon moving in, she assured me that I’d have “lot’s of freedom”, and that the last foreigner who lived here had a girlfriend, nudge, nudge, but the thing is, she finds an excuse to talk to me pretty much every time I venture out of my room. She’s also asked me not to leave my fan on when I’m gone. That’s kind of a bummer, since I like to use it to dry out the bathroom floor. All in all, my landlady’s a nice, friendly old woman, but I’m have a vague sense of unease at the idea of seeing and talking to her every day. It’s kind of what it would be like if you worked at a big company and had to walk through your boss’s office to get to your desk every day.

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