so, what they say about asian work culture is true.  basically, "work = life" sums it up quite nicely.  between meeting deadlines and site visits to China, finding the time to do the laundry and take out the garbage has been challenging.  now that i'm finally feeling more settled in, i've resolved to get back into blogging.  i'm already losing much of the fresh first impressions of becoming Taiwanese that i most wanted to capture!  so, here is my vow: i will blog at least twice a week, on wednesdays and sundays, because those are the nights without any garbage collection.  (garbage collection...ah, i'll post about that another time.) 

above are some photos from Jiu Fen (九份), where i took my friend Peter on his quick visit to taipei.  (it was a good while ago, as you can tell by the long-sleeves; right now taipei is 36 degrees celcius!)  i really do love it there, even if it is overcrowded with tourists all days of the year.  it used to be a mining town, and all the small alleyways winding up the mountain are so picturesque they make me itch to sketch.  i must make a sketching trip back there by myself before i leave taiwan.