It’s 15:30 and the first of my colleagues has just left work for the day, which reminds me of one more thing I look forward to about moving here: flextime. The Taiwan office doesn’t have any, and I’ve had it in US jobs (either officially or de facto) for so long that being required to stay until a certain time just feels like I’m not being treated as a professional. (It’s particularly annoying when you’ve worked long overtime hours earlier in the week.) The colleague who just left comes in at 6 or 6:30; I’m wondering if I could do a less formal schedule and just come in late (and stay late) on Tuesdays, which are market days in the Centrum. From what I know, that’s the best place to buy fresh meat, fish and produce here. There’s one on Saturdays on the norht side of town, so if I can’t flex that way I’m not totally out of luck, but the Saturday market is farther away and I’m sure it’s more crowded.
I have also been enjoying the cafeteria here (for values of “enjoying” meaning “not actively dissatisfied with” – it is still a company cafeteria, after all). They have cold sandwiches and hot panini-style ones daily (both premade), two hot platters (meat and vegetarian), often something like sausage rolls or krokets, and two kinds of pre-plated salads. There are also several types of bread, cold cuts and cheese, a salad bar that’s fresh if not extensive, and thick and thin soups, so even if nothing looks good I don’t go hungry. In contrast, the Taiwan cafeteria has a choice of two platters, each with an odd (to Western eyes) combination of a couple meats, some vegetables, and rice. For instance, there might be meatballs, a bit of breaded fish with sauce, overcooked cabbage, rice, and bits of seaweed tied in knots (don’t know what those are called). Or spaghetti with meat sauce plus clammy french fries, and similar vegetables. The plates are filled and handed out by cafeteria ladies; it is possible to ask for more of one thing and less of another, but that’s tricky if you don’t speak Chinese – they’re a bit back in the kitchen area. So the caf here is definitely enjoyable, by contrast.
I haven’t been good about working out, but all the walking I do here is appearing to have an effect, or else the trousers I wore yesterday have stretched out. But they’re lined flannel, and even if the flannel stretched, I doubt the lining would.
Also, clean air! I can see through it! And they have heat inside when it’s cold outside. En nederlands is zo veel makkelijker dan Chinees! (Vindication: I ran that last sentence through dictionary.com’s translator, and the only thing they’d phrased differently was that I had “zo veel” as one word.)
On the down side, I think Ted’s first trip here is three weeks after I move 🙁 Might be a little less, if I’m lucky.