Soma and whatnot...

I have had a craving for reading a lot lately. Not sure if it's Taipei or not, but I have been reading anything everywhere. I read the two english papers everyday and then I will read or buy a Nat Geo mag at a local used book store and read it cover to cover. I drink some chilled drink and sit in a cafe and read. It's good. I like my life. Money is still tight, as the startup fees in moving to a foreign country are daunting. Yet the living is easy, cheap, and agreeable. I have an established set of friends that I work with, there all laid back and diverse. School is going reasonably well, lots of time at school, but its not hard. Went to Hong Kong last week. Met up with Matt in Hong Kong, he lives in a nice apartment with a Brit and Canadian. When I got there I had my debit card eaten by an ATM, luckily Matt was able to lend me money. We explored HK, a very hilly island, evcerythign is either straight up or down. Though its also so British, trolleys, driving on the other side of the road, pubs, donner kebabs, even the cabs and language. Much more Western than Taipei, ex-pats are ubiquitious. Not much else to note, a few discouraging thoughts. First, people dont move here, there is no sense of urgency. They wander, dwindle, mosey, lag, and sassha throughout the city. Even on busy streets during the day they walk around slowly with no sense of awareness of other people. If this was a video game and there was a catgegory for crowd awareness these people would rate a 0. Sorry for the obscure, quasi-nerdy reference, but thats how it feels. They just don't understand why a big American is running them over. The banks here are horrible. Apparently they are notorious for their ridiculously wretched banks. They are slow, ineffecient, and too bureaucratic. I have been to banks twice, both times I sat there for over an hour after finishing the paperwork. Those are my gripes, few and relatively minor. The food is good, started tutoring my landlord for about $100 a month, plus meals. People are so subservient and laid back, they go out of their way to try to accomodate you. I wanted to make it know: anyone who has an interest in coming to Asia, is more than welcome to come and stay with me. It's an opportunity to visit Asia on the relatively cheap. Anywho, she she shien