pictures up

First off happy belated Fourth of July to everyone. It was tough being here then, knowing all my friends and family were out BBQing and drinking (by far two of my favorite things to do). But it was ok here, went out with some people from the hostel and had a good time. ....

Anyway I moved into my apartment today!! It is by far the nicest/biggest/ coolest place I've lived in. My bedroom is HUGE, has a queen bed, a big cabinet/closet type thing two windows about 12 foot high ceilings and is probably about the size of my whole last apartment. The only downside is that cause two girls lived in the room before me, it is painted purple and has pink curtains haha. I may paint it but I'm going to wait at least a month to see how I like the place. The living room is really big as well and has wood floors, is very clean with a tv, a few tables and a little kitchen table. I met the one roommate today he seems nice, he's a software engineer from Taipei. His English is ok, so we agreed to help each other learn English and Chinese. The other roommate is this 37 New Zealander and apparently is not coming back to the apartment until the end of July. I think I'll be ok here, but it is a little expensive at 300 US dollars a month and until I get more hours at my school, it may be a little tough to afford it. But I'll figure something out....

So I'll post more tomorrow about work ( I start on Monday teaching the kids :-o .... But for now it feels good to have my own place, I did like the hostels but it was getting a bit much...too many people, constantly being woken up, snorers, now I feel like I am actually LIVING in Taiwan and not just traveling through it. It's really exciting but also really nerve-wrecking. Everyday is still a challenge, to different degrees and in several different ways. They may be something small like trying to find a cheap blanket for my bed....or something bigger like trying to plan a lesson plan for a bunch of 8 year olds when I've never taught before. But I came here to take on as many challenges as I could and so I just have to suck it up...this is why I am here after all. I hope I can handle it...

Anyway due to popular demand I posted pictures (about 300 ) of my time here so far...of course they are edited for content...but check them out if you want. I think this link should work, I used snapfish cause it was the easiest to upload, but if you can't see them email me at brian.viani@gmail.com, and I'll invite you to view them.

Enjoy the pictures:
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=54751215256120445/l=405297369/g=136315986/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB