I made it!

Ni Hao! I made it to Taiwan after a cancelled flight in Newark, and then a 15 hour flight over the north pole. I've never watched so much TV (on the plane) in my life. After the trip, the airport misplaced one suitcase, but got it to me the next day. I will say, Dragon Air is a cool airline. Somehow they managed to serve a whole meal, coffee, tea and water in an hour-and-a-half flight, and did not charge you anything. Continental was quite a pain to work with. I'll leave it at that.

I have eaten more meat in the last 3 days than I have in the last 3 years, and it is tasty I must say. Beef noodles is a favorite. The food at the cafeteria is really good, although I am missing fresh salad. The noodles are so good, and a big plate of food is only about $1.50 Also, the 7-11 has great coffee and other goodies. The packaging in Taiwan is so cute, lots of cartoon animals and kids.

It is definitely humid here, great for those of us with dry skin, and also great for every type of plant on the planet. So many flowers everywhere, and lots of cool creatures.

Check out more pictures on the "Taiwan Pictures" tab.

Preparation for the trip

Memao my lovely cat

In preparing for my trip to Taiwan, I had to get a travel visa from TECO in New York since I will be there longer than 60 days. Their website was pretty helpful, but they ended up calling me to say they raised their fees and I would have to send them more money. Here's what I had to send them:

• Original passport + 1 copy (make sure passport has at least 6 months left on it before expiring)
• 2 photos, 2"x2" w/white background (don't smile too much)
• $140 money order to TECO New York
• Copy of travel itinerary that shows flight info
• Letter of invitation from company or school you will be at
• Current bank statement 
• SASE for return of your visa
• A completed application from their website www.taipei.org

I've discovered a few "apps" for my Ipod that will be super helpful. Since I won't have phone service in Taiwan, I found an App called Pinger "Textfree", and it allows people to text me from their phones to my Ipod, no roaming fees or international fees! I have to have an internet connection to use it.
Second, I found "GlobeConvert" which converts Taiwan dollars to US dollars. GREAT.
Of course Skype is a good one to make free calls from computer to computer.
I also got a free Alarm Clock app, so I won't have to bring an alarm clock.
That's all the geek-stuff for now. 2 1/2 days left to go!

Welcome!

I am excited to work in Taiwan this Fall, where I will be a visiting artist at Tainan National University of the Arts. This blog will be a record of that experience.
Thanks for your interest!