For Rent

It's cold here in Taipei. Today, even though the sun was out, it was cold. I'm not really prepared for this weather.

My dad rested most of the morning. He decided against taking the Lasix because it makes him nauseous. I told him to try just half a pill, but he didn't want it.

For lunch, we went out to this cafeteria-like restaurant, where you get your own bowls, cups of tea and sauces. The waitresses only take your order and bring you the food. He had beef fried rice with bell peppers and a clear, tofu-vegetable soup. The place wasn't too bad and it was close by.

On the way back, we walked in a residential area near Zhongxiao Fuxing to see if there were any apartments for rent signs. My dad has been asking me the past few days to see if I've found any. Problem is, I can't read Chinese. So it's not like I can look in the classifieds section of a newspaper. I have to go and walk the streets. Even then, sometimes I see it's a "For Rent" sign and it might be for an office space.

We got to this one building, whose other side faces Zhongxiao Road. There's two signs for apartments for rent. My dad calls one number and the guy says he'll be over in 13 minutes. So we wait and talk to the old guy at the front desk for a while. The apartment owner, a Mr. Lin, arrives on a moped.

We go upstairs to the 9th floor. It seems OK, kind of like a typical apartment building so far - shoes in front of the door, some doors are metal gated, etc. He opens up the room and it's a studio apartment. The advertisement said it was 8 ping, which sounded small to me when I first heard it.

The room was square with two vertical cabinets for clothes, a small 15" t.v., a full-size bed, a desk at the head of the bed, and a new air conditioner, which he emphasized over and over. It doesn't sound too bad, but it lacked obvious necessities like ... a kitchen, a real shower (not the ones where you take a shower on the bathroom floor and everything gets wet). He wanted NT$15,000 for this place, per month, with a 2-month deposit.

When we asked about a stove, the guy just diverted the conversation by saying, "You know, I'm going to tell you the truth. This area is really convenient. You just walk out the apartment building and there's everything, all kinds of food - dumplings, bread, anything. Here in Taipei, it's actually more expensive to make your own food. You have to buy it, wash vegetables, cook ... you can just eat out here, which people like to do. And if you want, get a water hot pot and you can heat up some instant noodles when you're hungry."

The whole time he was feeding us this bullshit, he was looking at me, like I was the one going to rent it. In my mind, I thought, "OH, helllll no. I got a 2 bedroom on the Westside with a kitchen, two bathrooms and a balcony."

Me, I could've been in and out of that apartment in less than 5 minutes. But my dad has to spend 10-15 minutes talking to the guy, getting his life story. Apparently this whole building was an office building and he converted the entire 9th floor to studio apartments. We also found out that he was living in Canada about 20 years ago and got deported, has 2 sons, one is pre-med in Australia and the other I don't know, I stopped listening.

So we finally leave and I asked my dad what he thought (because you all know by now what I think of the place). He said he'll talk to mom about it. Before we got to the hotel, I reminded my dad that he's sick and the first concern is getting a place where he's comfortable. This place is suitable for someone who's in college, but not someone who's going through chemotherapy. I added that if he lived there, that would just break my heart.

While he was taking his afternoon nap, I went off to look for some more apartments, this time by the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial.

When I got back, he was tired and had me go pick up dinner. I went to this place that served boiled dumplings. I got us a dozen vegetarian ones and 16 meat ones, plus soup, to go.

Well, we had a little feast. But after having 3 dumplings, my dad said he didn't like them. He said that he could taste the MSG and the oil. Apparently, there was oil added to the boiling water, maybe to add flavor and give the dumplings a little sheen.

So, I had all these dumplings left over. He said he wasn't that hungry, but I cut up an apple for him anyways. I offered to go get him something else, but he said no.

After eating some, he went to bed. I told him that we needed to find an apartment with a kitchen. Otherwise, we have no control over what food he eats. He agreed, saying, "And mom will make stuff that I like."