LIFE ON CAMPUS



The Ubiquitous 7-11, The University's Goals, Betty's Hair Appointment and More! 03/04/09

Not much to report new, for Tuesdays and Wednesdays are heavy work days for us. Nevertheless, we have a few photos and comments to share. For one, every town, every village, every city in Taiwan has at least one 7-11 and typically many more than that! It is THE place for a lot of stuff, including international calling cards, renewal of one's SIM cards (for minutes for local cell phone use), passport photo booth, basic food stuff, etc. Ours is at the top of the steps in this photo (but at the bottom of THE STEPS from our villa!), and right next to the Post Office, the dry cleaners, the hair cut shop,the University Bookstore, and a little cafe. Plus, we discovered an elevator there that allows us to bypass three of the four sets of steps!! To make it work for us, in terms of where we live, we take this outside elevator up to the fifth floor, which suddenly finds us in one of the University buildings! Then we go outside, walk across a roof top (!), go into another door, around a corner, outside again to a walkway, and then up one set of steps! We haven't used it often, but discovered it the other day when we were so hot and tired after work!!

When coming out of the office, I noticed this sign, which I think is kind of nice! We also learned from some of Ted's students, all from business schools either from Taiwan or other countries,that it is expected that they will spend a semester abroad. It is impressive that universities recognize, in a global economy, the importance of living in another culture as part of their educational experience.








And yesterday, I got my hair washed and blown dry (I have not yet asked for a cut!) Wow! For a fat $5.00, I got the most incredible hair shampoo ; the gal scrubs your hair basically while giving your head a fabulous massage! Then, she follows it with a real massage of your neck and back!! I couldn't believe it. it was wonderful!! And I think my hair looks nice! I am addicted already and have my next appointment next week!! (again,as with the taxis, there is NO tipping! We love that!)

I close by sharing some pictures of our campus, which really is lovely; there are courtyards and flowers everywhere. Of course, there are monkeys and ants and an occasional cockroach too, but who's counting?




We ended tonight with another super meal in the dormitory cafeteria (most elegant, but hey, who's complaining at these prices!) for $4.33 for the two of us: a rice and lamb dish and one of our now favorites: Shanghai steamed dumplings. These happen to be stuffed with ground pork and are very flavorful. Look at the container to see how they cook them: in a wooden basket with a raised platform inside, the water underneath. And for some reason, the owner or main chef (?) seems to like us, as he has started to bring us something extra with each meal! The other night, he insisted we take another iced tea and tonight, he brought over a delicious omelet and spinach plate. Nice!