What a week!
This week was my birthday and it was a doozie!
I start with last Friday (the 9th).
Fran & I went with Tony to try to get a driving license. Tony is a new M who just arrived with his family in Taipei last January. Tony speaks fluent Chinese. He was able to help Fran and I a lot.
Well, at the testing center we discovered that Fran would not be able to test because she did not bring her ARC (Alien Resident Certificate). So she watched while Tony and I went thru the various steps required to get a drivers license.
Step 1 – fill out the form (all in Chinese) and glue a photo on it.
Step 2 – get height measured and weight taken; test to be sure you aren’t deaf, color blind, or have terrible vision; stand in front of a guy in a white coat (I guess you were supposed to think he was a doctor) and show him you palms, make a fist, wiggle your fingers, squat and stand up. That will be $123 please (NT$)
Step three – more extensive vision test including perifial (sp) vision. That will be $100 please.
Step four – pay $523 to take the written test. I scored 100 J (We were able to practice the test on the internet)
Step five – receive instructions (in chinese) on how to perform the driving test.
Step six – FLUNK the driving test!
The cars they provide for the test were tiny. The lanes on the course were very narrow. The backing in, parallel parking spot was tiny, The S course was narrow and backing up in it was very difficult.
Tony also flunked. Dejected we left, unable to retest for at least a week.
Saturday the 10th
The big day finally arrived – the sofa & chairs were delivered! We shopped for weeks before we found the one we could live with and now we finally had something other than plastic lawn chairs to sit on.
Sunday the 11th
Now that the sofa was in the living room we were able to put the bookcase where they belonged. We spent the day filling them up with books and getting the living room arranged. It is beginning to look like home.
Monday the 12th
I had language study at 7:30am. Regular work day and I did an Intro class at BSF that night.
Tuesday the 13th – the birthday
Regular work day although I did take off a little early. Fran made me a birthday dinner and then spent the rest of the evening preparing a lecture for BSF the following day.
Wednesday the 14th
I had language Study at 7:30 am. Regular work day. We would celebrate tonight. We went to a pizza place we had never been to that I discovered on the internet – Alleycats. The pizza – thin crust cooked in a stone oven – was better than average. The Calzone was average. We think it is worth repeating. After dinner we went to the discount movie house and saw “Out of Time” with Denzel Washington. Can’t recommend it because of explicit scenes. After the movie we went home and had birthday cake – my favorite, chocolate marble with chocolate icing! YUM!!!
Thursday the 15th
Fran had language study at 7:30 am. Regular work day. We went out to eat at Tequila Sunrise. We had some Asian/Mexican food with others from the prayer group. Went to bed early to prepare for a big day on Friday.
Friday the 16th
Both have language study at 7:30 am. Fran and I went (without Tony) to take the driving test. Fran had to do steps 1 through 5 above while I only had to pay $278 to retake the driving portion of the test. Fran only missed one question on the written part and WE BOTH PASSED THE DRIVING PART!!! We are now officially licensed drivers in Taiwan!
Sat the 17th and Sun the 18th
Sat morning at 6:30 am I lead the BSF leaders meeting – Alex was at a meeting at the college) Sunday morning we went to the English worship service. Otherwise we just spent both days hanging pictures, arranging things, getting all the components into the entertainment center, and just generally nesting (as Fran calls it). We really are really close to being fully set up. WOW, it took long enough.
Life here is anything but dull.
Later,
Jackie (& Fran)
