September 12,2006
Today we went shopping for apartments, furniture, and at Costco. We shop at Costco every week in Dallas so it only seems natural to shop there in Taipei. It is a two story building but otherwise, it just seems like a Costco. I found almost all my favorites there but significntly more expensive since the items are imported from the United States. We didn't find ziplock bags or our favorite brand of peanut butter but my favorite brand of sandwich cheese was there...go figure. There were a few things that are definately not in the Plano stores, most notably, black skinned chickens. I don't think that I would spend extra money to buy chickens that were the color of charcoal but obviously, someone would. It probably just tastes like plain old chicken when it is cooked anyway.

I know now that I can never drive in Taipei. There are obviously rules for merging and making turns because no one runs into anyone else. I don't understand them though. I would be a nervous wreck. So far we haven't taken the train or bus yet, riding only in taxis or private cars. That is a luxury that will soon change though.

Tomorrow, I hope that we will be finished enough with trying to find an apartment and appropriate furnishings so we can do some touristy things. I look out the hotel window at the Taipei 101 and have gone past it maybe 20 times. Tomorrow, I'd like to stop and go in.