The hottest winter!

Tip: You can see the names and comments of the photos by viewing them full screen and toggling the "info" button at the top. I try to tell a story with these, although a broken story at best...

Perhaps it's not technically winter yet, but it's hotter here in Kaohsiung in November than Toronto can ever hope to be in the warmest summer. Anyway, I arrived here safely a week ago, and here are some first photos. No photos of my home yet - be patient, but rest assured it's exceeded my expectations so far.

Some first impressions:

• The people are impressively friendly. I attended a birthday party pretty much right off the plane, and there was absolutely no feelings of being a awkward outsider. Also, having a DSLR inspires awe of divine proportions, regardless of whether it's put to good use.
• Personal scooters are everywhere, and the streets are built especially to accommodate them. Personally, I think they form a rather efficient (if not slightly gut-wrenching) way to allow fast transportation to the masses without the mass congestion of ubiquitous car ownership.
• Food is everywhere. I think anyone who knows anything about Taiwan would already know this. You can find snacks on the streets at any hour of the day.
• The local fauna include cockroaches, house geckos, bats, and delightfully playful monkeys in a nearby forested hill on the coast within the city. I have yet to see the monkeys, but I'll definitely make a point to.

Work has also started off quite well. I was apparently "that guy" that everyone's already heard of, and to everyone's surprise and relief, I speak Chinese better than they had believed. I work directly under the Division President, whom I have yet to meet due to a business trip (his, not mine). Apparently he's taken a special interest in ensuring that extra fun projects involving getting to know the whole company would take up at least half my time. The fact that he's an ex-AIESECer explains it.

The company is in many ways similar to Autoliv - it's a big global electronics manufacturer. Those of you who know me well also know how much I hated being a production support engineer at Autoliv. So, perhaps what's most cool about this job is that now I'm working in the headquarters office, directly for the president. I was delightfully introduced to all the company VPs and upper management on the first day. I really think I won't be "just another worker" here.

So things are off to a great start! The only thing I can't stand is this heat.