Other than that, we had relatively little trouble getting our luggage and getting through customs once in Taiwan.  In the Taipei airport we met up with 4 other ETAs, so there were 8 of us arriving together in Kaohsiung.  One thing to note: the Hong Kong gate in the Taipei airport is fullout Hello Kitty land.  Its pretty amazing.  (Video will be posted shortly.)  We were greeted by a few Fulbright reps and taken to a hotel where we picked up the other 4 ETAs who arrived before us.  From there we went to an elementary school where most of our orientation will take place and we filled out a bunch of paperwork and got some basic details.  Then we got order-in sushi lunchbox type things for lunch, which were pretty good. I couldn’t tell you what was in any of it, but it was a welcome replacement to the Chinese airplane food.  Then we were taken to our apartments which we were placed in randomly.  Our apartment looks like a garagesale and a dollar store threw up all over the place.  Things are covered in stickers, Disney decorations, a 2 foot light-up Santa, a fake aquarium (aka. Fish and shells glued on to a mirror)…its pretty much the shit.  I drew the lot for the biggest room which has its own bathroom, so that’s pretty sweet.  And ever room has its own AC, so it makes sleeping bearable.  After that we had dinner which was definitely nothing to write home about, and then back to the hotel for sleep, which was well deserved. 

oh….and side note, the reason my flight to Newark, NJ from Pittsburgh was so deleayed is because the one right before mine (same airline and everything) received a bomb threat.  Sweet. What a send off.