First day of class

I made it through the first day through the first day of class. I had my regular class of 2 hours and then an possible optional class on "Basic Listening and Speaking for 2 hours. In my regular class there are: 3 Americans, 3 from Thailand, 1 from Russia, 1 from Japan and 1 from Indonesian. I maybe the worst student but the teacher is good so it looks like I'll stick it out. For the optional class, I four other possibilities to check out this week before I have to decide which optional class to take. We'll see, I've never listened to 4 hours of Chinese in one day and expected to understand it, my head still hurts.

I am fortunate to live two blocks from the post office. I mailed a post card to my mother and asked her to email me when she receives it, then I'll know how long the post takes.

My address in the US is:

Mike Ess
Apartment D307
308 10th Avenue NE
Bellevue, WA 98004

Within Taiwan it is:

Tainan City
Donghe Road
Number 169
Nando Development No. 2
Room 116
Michael Ess

Usually the address in Taiwan is given on one continuous line but the difference is clear. In the US the address goes from specific to general, while in Taiwan the address goes from general to specific. So if you wanted to send me something by snail mail the address would be:


Tainan City
Number 169 Donghe Road
Nando Development No. 2
Room 116
Michael Ess
Taiwan

With Taiwan at the bottom the US Postal service looks at the bottom and puts it in the overseas category. Then when it gets to Taiwan the Taiwanese Postal service goes from top to bottom. But I think both postal services are able to handle variations. It's important to put AIRMAIL somewhere on the item otherwise I might be gone before it gets here, if it goes by slow boat to Taiwan.

I checked the postal rates in the US and it looks like:

Post card to Taiwan $.98
Small letter to Taiwan 1.18
Large letter to Taiwan 1.24

I sent a post card to my mother some times ago and it took 12NT(or about $.40). So it's cheaper from Taiwan to the US than the US to Taiwan.

Here's the sign outside my Post Office, there were very friendly when I mailed the post card. The Postal Service in Taiwan also serves as a bank with ATM,
check cashing and savings services, besides all the usual Postal Services.













Here is a typical road side in Tainan(it's outside my Post Office). I live on Donghe road which is short enough to have house numbers from 1 to about 200. The Dongsing Rd is a cross street with house numbers 385-399 on the odd side of the North road and 259-371 on odd side of the South road. I can get a little confusing especially because not every residence/business displays there house number just like in the US. Other problem is that if the road is long enough that 500 house numbers will be exceeded then the road is broken up in to "sections", not just North and South.


Here are the mail boxes in Taiwan. Green is for local mail. Red is for overseas or special delivery.











Here's a convenient, popular meal. It's served in a disposable waxed cardboard container. It's called a "bendan". You pick the three sides and the main meat dish goes on the rice. I try to avoid eating such commonplace meals but in the container you can carry it to home or school or eat it in the park, ...





I'm always amazed at how the Blogger reformats my post. It's kind of a surprise every time I see my own post.