Last night I didn't sleep well. I found lots of video on my laptop and included was some TV, Prison break, Heroes and Spartacus. So Eve and I have started rewatching Prison Break from the beginning. I watched the first two series and then some of the third and got bored of it. The first series was awesome though. Anyway I slept around 12.30 but woke up through the night and had to use the bathroom. Then I drifted in and out of sleep, had to get up at 3. So I reckon I had 1 and a half hours of sleep.
Today I basically did the work that Lee Yuan does with him assisting me and showing me the steps. I remember most of it, the only real problem I had was with the dough. It was quite hard to mix it all and I have never done it before, plus we have a language barrier to work around. After mixing then it's all about rolling it out even, covering a quite big work area so they can use it to make some traditional food. Some of the customers who come in to eat say hi to me now.
After work and breakfast I am beat and want to sleep so no running today. We watch another Prison break and then go to sleep. I guess I have been asleep for like an hour when the phone goes. It is the hospital, my Medical examination has been completed and I can go and collect the paperwork for the Alien Registration Card. We decide to set the alarm for 1 and then go get the stuff and apply for the ARC. Again I drift in and out of sleep, I even wake up and tell Eve that I had a dream that my Medical was ready and she tells me it wasn't a dream. I don't sleep well and end up getting up at 12.
We have lunch, and find out we need new registration forms which back home would be a bummer, but here in Taiwan you just go pay a small fee and you get everything you need there and then as it is essentially a case of printing the stuff off etc. 10 dollars per government registration form of which there are three. Now to put that in perspective there are around 50 dollars to each GBP. Compare that to any government form you would need back home and you will see it is well cheaps blood! :)
Eve's Dad gives me 3,200 dollars (£62) for the administration charges for the ARC. We scoot off to the hospital and collect the papers. We open them and on the front of the forms is a stamp and a signature (that means I am medically sound and disease free (ah won't my mum be proud).
Next it is off to the Taiwanese Immigration Department. We fill out a form and then take a ticket (the delhi counter ticket system is in full effect in Taiwan and it works). I go to sit and my number pops up. At counter 3 an official goes through my paper work etc. He tells me that the passport size pictures are too small and we need Taiwanese ID size photos. Luckily, for us there is a photobooth in the store next door. The official says he will check all the paperwork etc so the last thing will just be us gooing to get the photos. A thoroughly nice guy.
At the booth, a guy comes to help, he sets everything up for us and then starts it off. Then he tells us where the pics will come. Once they arrive he takes them and cuts them with a guillotine. He is a nice friendly guy and it saves us having to go back to the registration office or a mall to get pics. The most remarkable thing though is as we say bye I notice he only has one arm. He has great skill for only having one arm as it took until the end for me to notice.
Back to the Immigration, they ask me have I been to taiwan before? No I reply. They tell me that someone will call and make an arrangement to visit where I am staying to make sure I am living there and then they will process the card and I will be in every legal sense an Alien with my own ID card that says so, I can't wait.
After we head back to Tanzi, and go to a store and get this sweet. It is essentially an iced fruit, and you add onto it ingredients like red beans, green beans, carrot etc. Sounds disgusting but it is awesome, really delicious and I can imagine in the height of summer it will be really refreshing. I didn't have my camera but I will go back and have another one and take a pic. It only cost 35 dollars. It is kind of a mixture between a slushpuppie or frozen yoghurt.
Back home and it's back to work. Tonights work is easy not that much to do really apart from set up all the ingredients for tomorrow. Then dinner time which is delicious again, I don't think I have ever ate so healthily, I thought I did back home but that's nothing compared to here. I feel healthy and strong, and getting your five a day here is easy, man you can have 5 a day by breakfast, so in Taiwan it's more like 50 a day. I am setting up the rice for tonights washing and there is more to do tonight as big order from customers, so instead of 3 huge pots there is 5 and two of them are black and white rice mixed instead off one. Tonight is going to be harder and take longer. Eve and I go to the electrical store and buy headphones for my ipod as I seem to have lost my old ones between Edinburgh and Tanzi. I will listen to music while doing the work to pass the time.
Today I basically did the work that Lee Yuan does with him assisting me and showing me the steps. I remember most of it, the only real problem I had was with the dough. It was quite hard to mix it all and I have never done it before, plus we have a language barrier to work around. After mixing then it's all about rolling it out even, covering a quite big work area so they can use it to make some traditional food. Some of the customers who come in to eat say hi to me now.
After work and breakfast I am beat and want to sleep so no running today. We watch another Prison break and then go to sleep. I guess I have been asleep for like an hour when the phone goes. It is the hospital, my Medical examination has been completed and I can go and collect the paperwork for the Alien Registration Card. We decide to set the alarm for 1 and then go get the stuff and apply for the ARC. Again I drift in and out of sleep, I even wake up and tell Eve that I had a dream that my Medical was ready and she tells me it wasn't a dream. I don't sleep well and end up getting up at 12.
We have lunch, and find out we need new registration forms which back home would be a bummer, but here in Taiwan you just go pay a small fee and you get everything you need there and then as it is essentially a case of printing the stuff off etc. 10 dollars per government registration form of which there are three. Now to put that in perspective there are around 50 dollars to each GBP. Compare that to any government form you would need back home and you will see it is well cheaps blood! :)
Eve's Dad gives me 3,200 dollars (£62) for the administration charges for the ARC. We scoot off to the hospital and collect the papers. We open them and on the front of the forms is a stamp and a signature (that means I am medically sound and disease free (ah won't my mum be proud).
Next it is off to the Taiwanese Immigration Department. We fill out a form and then take a ticket (the delhi counter ticket system is in full effect in Taiwan and it works). I go to sit and my number pops up. At counter 3 an official goes through my paper work etc. He tells me that the passport size pictures are too small and we need Taiwanese ID size photos. Luckily, for us there is a photobooth in the store next door. The official says he will check all the paperwork etc so the last thing will just be us gooing to get the photos. A thoroughly nice guy.
At the booth, a guy comes to help, he sets everything up for us and then starts it off. Then he tells us where the pics will come. Once they arrive he takes them and cuts them with a guillotine. He is a nice friendly guy and it saves us having to go back to the registration office or a mall to get pics. The most remarkable thing though is as we say bye I notice he only has one arm. He has great skill for only having one arm as it took until the end for me to notice.
Back to the Immigration, they ask me have I been to taiwan before? No I reply. They tell me that someone will call and make an arrangement to visit where I am staying to make sure I am living there and then they will process the card and I will be in every legal sense an Alien with my own ID card that says so, I can't wait.
After we head back to Tanzi, and go to a store and get this sweet. It is essentially an iced fruit, and you add onto it ingredients like red beans, green beans, carrot etc. Sounds disgusting but it is awesome, really delicious and I can imagine in the height of summer it will be really refreshing. I didn't have my camera but I will go back and have another one and take a pic. It only cost 35 dollars. It is kind of a mixture between a slushpuppie or frozen yoghurt.
Back home and it's back to work. Tonights work is easy not that much to do really apart from set up all the ingredients for tomorrow. Then dinner time which is delicious again, I don't think I have ever ate so healthily, I thought I did back home but that's nothing compared to here. I feel healthy and strong, and getting your five a day here is easy, man you can have 5 a day by breakfast, so in Taiwan it's more like 50 a day. I am setting up the rice for tonights washing and there is more to do tonight as big order from customers, so instead of 3 huge pots there is 5 and two of them are black and white rice mixed instead off one. Tonight is going to be harder and take longer. Eve and I go to the electrical store and buy headphones for my ipod as I seem to have lost my old ones between Edinburgh and Tanzi. I will listen to music while doing the work to pass the time.
I will leave you with the above picture to illustrate the scooter infestation of Taiwan. This is a quiet street near home, so imagine this on every street you can see and also every road. Your ears are never far away from the dolcite whine of a scooter.
Bloody hell! that's a lot of scooters! :P
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