The office is located in the heart of Da’an District 大安區, next to Zhongxiao Fuxing 忠孝復興 station. This is the financial district, the most wealthy district of Taiwan. It’s also one of the busiest districts in the country.
Our next door neighbor’s Bentley is parked out on the driveway every morning. The same street also hosts a Rolls Royce, a Porsche GT2, and a half dozen Mercedes Benz. More luxury cars drive by all the time. This is a big difference compared to what I’ve seen in the rest of Taiwan, which are, well, normal affordable cars.
Our closest intersection houses a SOGO, which is a gigantic department store equivalent to Nordstrom. Next to it is a Rolex store and other name brand stores. Not used to this ever, even after working in San Francisco.
The apartment I’ve leased is the penthouse just two minutes walking distance from all of this. I have a gigantic wide-screen window that absorbs this street view.
It feels really strange, and I’m not accustomed to living this lifestyle. Just one month ago, I was sleeping on a couch in Berkeley. Before then, I shared an apartment in Washington DC with three other people.
This is a big test to my self-control. I’ve already browsed through a hundred stores and have been tempted to purchase things I want, but don’t need. As Mike Troxell says, “Spending habits are to try to spend $0 on BS, but an unlimited amount on travel and great experiences.”
Instead of buying BS, I plan on buying a motorcycle which I could use to tour the country. GoPro style. Having a California driver’s license makes me eligible to receive a Taiwan motorcycle license. I’m also going to give red envelopes 紅包 to my relatives for Chinese New Years, as a small token of appreciation for taking care of me in Taiwan every past visit.
Lastly, I wanted to say something real quick about work. I love the office, and I really like all of my colleagues. It’s great to see everyone in person, as our prior interaction was only conducted online. It’s nice to see an office with ~20 people as opposed to working with 1-3 other people (or none when everyone is traveling) in San Francisco.
I haven’t taken any pictures yet. Guilty of Snapchat instead. I’m trying to minimize the amount of pictures I take as I’m absorbing everything. Pictures can be taken any time as I’ll be here for 2 or 3 years. Google works though (seriously thank you Google Translate).
My apartment is located around the top right corner of this third image.
Andy Cheng 