We've Arrived!

Well Everyone, Malissa and I have finally found a moment to sit down and get this blog up and running! Here's a brief synopsis of our first 2 weeks in beautiful Taiwan.

We arrived in Kaohsiung after our brief encounters with a nasty Delta counter clerk in SLC and the TSA in LAX. It was a pain getting through since Malissa's ticket said Malissa Levesque yet her passport said Malissa Candland (this was largely in part due to Greg's enthusiasm that Malissa will change her last name). Luckily, China Airlines gave Malissa a fake boarding pass to get around the TSA and then gave her the real one at the gate. Thank you China Airlines! After over 14 hours of flying, we finally arrived at our apartment in Kaohsiung.

After setting our luggage down, we immediately hit the streets. Greg's palate was reunited with a delicious danbing (basically a danbing is a tortilla-like flatbread cooked with an egg and bathed in sweet soy sauce). Great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! We live in a gorgeous apartment on the 14th floor of a brand new apartment complex, with views of the 85-story building (as it is called here) which happens to be the 2nd tallest building in Taiwan and the largest in Kaohsiung. From the west we can also see the ocean and the busy port of Kaohsiung in the distance along with IKEA and Costco. :)

For the first two days we walked around the city and were exhausted by the end of each day. Basically, we fell asleep as soon as we got home, which was around 7:30 and then woke up full of energy at 6 AM the next day! Not really a normal sleeping schedule...especially for Malissa. Then on Sunday we went to Kenting which is the southern tip of Taiwan. After much bargaining we were able to convince a guy to rent us a scooter for $9.50 for 4 hours. It was a treat to ride around and explore the area. More on this trip to come!

May 17th Greg started his internship at AIT Kaohsiung. Since then he has become more and more acquainted with how the Department of Commerce works and some of the many projects that are going on in southern Taiwan. Overall, these past few weeks have been busy, exciting and full of great experiences. Greg can't say enough good things about his branch chief Steve Green, who has been extremely helpful and accommodating.

The Wang and the Jiang family have both come down from Bade to visit Greg and meet Malissa. We had a great time with each of them and travel to Cijin island with the Jiang family for a very Taiwanese seafood lunch. The food was delicious and it was a wonderful experience. It was great to see both of my old friends and Malissa and I plan to travel up to Bade to see them again soon.

We'll be sure to keep you all updated on the latest developments and plan to post some pictures soon too!