Taipei, Taiwan: What I expect

So I have landed and here is what I wrote on the Plane on what I expect - 

So often life surprises us and the picture that we paint in our heads is worlds apart from reality.  Just like reading a book and imagining what people look like and how the scenes will play out and then watching the movie, which is a completely different version of what was in your head.  Here is a list of what I think the relationship between myself and Taiwan will be like after talking with people and reading up on it… I plan on revisiting this list in six months or so to see just how wrong or right I am!

1)   Most of the people will speak English, and it won’t be too hard to get around speaking broken Chinese at first.

2)   I am going to be really skinny because the food is healthy.  Unlike when I got fat from drinking copious amounts of Malbec and feasting on steak, bread, and potatoes every night in Argentina. 

3)   There are many beaches in Taiwan, so I will be on a beach almost every weekend.

4)   I will learn to surf and windsurf, and get really good at it, obviously.

5)   The mountains will be beautiful and inspiring, and I will hike them all of the time.

6)   I will spend a lot of time in the ceramics town south of Taipei.  So much time that the people will know me and will love having me in their studio. 

7)   It is going to be HOT during the summer and I will wear lots of linen. 

8)   I will probably like teaching a little bit at first, and will grow to appreciate it and like it in the end.

9)   I probably won’t find a gym to join, so I will try and find an apartment that is close to a park or a running path.

10) There will be a lot of scooters there, and I fully plan on purchasing one and painting it turquoise.

11) There will be a lot of expats there and I will make friends with both expats and locals.

12) There won’t be many bars, but there are a lot of night markets, and I will most likely spend most of my time and money in the city shopping and sightseeing.

13) I expect there to be beautiful world-class art and architecture around me, and plan to study it and be influenced by it.   

14)  I won’t drink the tap water and I will try not to eat anything raw.  If I do, I will be in the hospital with something miserable and will feel like I am going to die. 

15)  I plan to take Tortuga the Turtle with me most places and to let him blog as much as he desires!

So that is pretty much what I am expecting.   I know that I could be 100% wrong about a lot of this stuff, and we shall see!