Apartment hunting in Taipei (part 2)

By Friday afternoon I was basically freaking out. I had agreed to meet Ivy, a Taiwanese friend, at 8pm at Dingxi MRT (metro) station and go to a night market with her. I hadn't signed the contract yet, and my plan was to divert Mr. Zhang, my landlord, from signing the contract for two months, or basically until I could be assured that living at someone else's place was not a problem (and that if it was, I could back out).
The room itself was not a problem. Far from it. It had a view of a park (way better than that studio near Shida), a bathroom with a bathtub, a double bed which didn't take up most of the room, and it was near the national library, where I figured I could get some studying done.
The problem was I would have to live with the landlord. I would have to tip-toe if I came home late at night, I would have to clean up after myself in the kitchen, when he wasn't using the kitchen, of course. And how would I get back home at night, with this being so far from all the bars and clubs (it was a residential area)? And, I later found out that I wasn't just living with him, but his son, one year my senior.
I left the apartment at ten to eight, saying "ni hao" to the friendly concierge. I walked past a restaurant which emitted a seriously bad smell, and couldn't believe people were actually eating there. I walked to the super modern metro, er, MRT station and took the train one stop to meet Ivy.
Ivy is a Taiwanese girl who is about my age and works in sales. I had never actually met her before as we had met online, so I waited around the exit, unsure what she would look like in real life. She would undoubtedly recognize me, the tall waiguoren (foreigner) first.
It was Ivy who found me, and all smiles, led me to the local night market, a hodge-podge of sights (think small stalls selling unnameable chicken parts) and sounds (scooters honking to get past the people).
"I used to live near here, so I know this area very well," said Ivy. Wow, I thought. A local. I hit the jackpot. Immediately I wanted to ask her questions.
"So, did you go out a lot when you were living here?" I asked innocently.
"Yeah, I used to go out in Taipei city," she replied.
"How did you get back home after the MRT was closed?"
"Taxi of course. It costs about 200 NT." About the price of a large dinner.
After passing many stalls we turned into a small restaurant on the side of the street, one of those restaurants where you sit on a counter in front of a grill and the chef cooks in front of you.
After ordering some meat and seafood (and a beer for me), Ivy turned to me and asked how my stay in Taiwan was going so far.
"Well, to be honest I'm running into some problems with apartments. I found one but I'm living with the landlord."
"Living with the landlord? Wow. That's even worse than living with your parents!" she said laughing.
My worst fears, confirmed.
"Did you sign the contract yet?"
"No, I'm supposed to do that tonight. That's why I can't stay that late. I'm thinking of asking him if he can put it off for a while, but not sure if I can do that."
"Maybe you need to negotiate with him."
"Yeah, but he's gonna be with his son. It's like, two against one. It's gonna be difficult."
I know I'm a terrible negotiator. Though Mr. Zhang is a nice man, I could imagine him asking me to either sign the contract, or leave the next morning.
I ordered another beer and looked around. Not a single other person in the place was drinking beer. Some were taking small cups of iced tea from a tap, but that was it.
"Do people drink with their meals here?" I asked.
"Not really, unless it's a business dinner or something," Ivy replied. I was starting to realize that, though there are many similarities with Japan, Taiwan is very different in many ways. If this were Japan, practically every adult male would have beer or some other type of alcohol.
After more conversation, a lot of food, and beer, I realized it was time to go. The moment of truth had arrived. Ivy agreed to walk me to the station.
We walked away from the brightly-lit night market to the MRT. I felt some drops of water on my head.
"Is it raining?"
"No!" Ivy said, laughing. "That's just the drops from the air conditioners above!"
Apparently I had a lot to learn about this new country.
When we arrived at the station I prepared to say goodbye.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"
I looked at her and wondered if it was a sincere proposition.
"No, it's OK, his son will be there. We can talk in English."
"Yeah, but it's gonna be difficult. Two against one," she insisted.
"Okay, yeah, maybe your right."

The three of us sat at the kitchen table (in the end, the son didn't show up), the contract in the middle. The woman spoke for a few minutes in soft tones, and the old man nodded in agreement. He looked me in the eye and said something I didn't understand. I turned to Ivy.
"He says that normally he wouldn't do this, but since you are a foreigner and you don't know many people here, he has agreed to let you stay here for two months without a binding agreement," said Ivy.
I sighed in relief. And pulled out the presents I had bought before leaving France, a pair of shot glasses with Parisian scenes.
"I want to give these to you," I said, handing him the presents. In return, Mr. Zhang took out some fresh beers from the fridge and opened them. At least they sometimes drink here.
"Ganbei!" I said.
"Oh! You shouldn't say that, it means you have to drink the whole thing," said Ivy.

As I walked Ivy back to the MRT station, she said "that was easy, it's basically what I do in my job everyday." (Thank goodness for sales people.)
As we passed the stinky restaurant, I mentioned the smell.
"Oh! That's stinky tofu!" she said.
"Huh? You mean they cook it like that on purpose?"
"Yeah! It's a specialty here in Taiwan. You should try it sometime."

As I said, I have a lot to learn while here in Taiwan.

Apartment hunting in Taipei (part 1)

On Thursday, I moved into a room near YongAn Market Station, about three stops from where I will go to school (at Shida, or National Taiwan Normal University).
When I went apartment hunting with Oliver (it's the English name of a friend of a friend) last week, we visited many studios around the university, but to no avail. Since I am on a scholarship, I have a pretty tight budget, so when we looked online, we used the filter functions on the internet site www.591.com.tw.
The funny thing was, what looked great on paper was not exactly up to par when we saw it live (on a side note, I'm happy I didn't try to arrange something before coming to Taiwan).
Oliver, a soft-spoken young man with thick black-rimmed glasses and usually wearing a cap of some sort, would bring me to what seemed to be Taipei's hottest new cafes (with wifi de rigeur) and bring his laptop to do some internet searches.
"This one looks good," he'd say, pointing to the many traditional Chinese characters I was still struggling to learn.
"It has internet connection, cable TV, a laundry machine, a double bed, and gas and water is included," he said.
But upon visiting the room we realized that we ignored the fact that the room was about the size of a walk-in closet. The double bed took up three-quarters of the room, and it was fortunate that the television was flat-screen, because otherwise there would be no space between the bed and the wall. On top of that, the window had an amazing view of...another building at arm's length.
To make a long story short, I ended up taking a room in someone's (we'll call him Mr. Zhang) apartment. I really worried about this after moving in as it's the first time I've lived with someone in over 5 years (if you don't include the time I lived with my mom). I worried about it so much, in fact, that I started doubting my decision. Should I have moved into the tiny apartment, that would have been all to myself? Or should I have tried to find some flat mates?