a hospital, fish, & other good things

So... it has been awhile since we've sent out an update, mostly because we haven't had internet until today. Thursday morning we signed a contract with our new landlord (Chris)...(the contract was all in Chinese) and moved in that very afternoon. We moved into a nondescript, one-room flat over a vacant storefront on a typical street, such as the one to the left. We are grateful to be in our own place!

Over the past few days, we have had some great cultural experiences. One such experience was our trip to the hospital. In order for us to be able to work here in Taiwan, we had to have a check-up. Therefore, a number of us foreigners trecked over to the nearby hospital to get that taken care of. They ushered us around to various stations: height and weight, blood, x-ray, eyes, hearing, etc. I do believe that by the time the "eyes & ears nurse" got to me she was frustrated with our lack of Mandarin... she just put her face in her hands and shook her head back and forth. The meaning was clear, "Why do we make these stupid foreigners get health checks?" However, the process went smoothly and we went back a week later to obtain the results. The
health system appears to be more than adequate (there is life after socialized healthcare after all).

Beth and I took a short field trip out of the center of Taipei. Below are some of the sites that we beheld:

Needless to say, on an island, fish are pretty common.

(As are their heads...)

 Frog legs? Then again, I wouldn't bet money on knowing what anything is in

the local markets in this neck of the woods...