我家！

This is what our apartment looks like! We got a 16-ping¹ (~569.33 sq ft./52.89 m^2) rooftop number in a gongyu 公寓 (apartment building/block of flats).

<sup>View from the front door

1</sup>_{What's a 'ping'? It's a unit of measure equal to 2 sleeping tatami², or ~35 square feet. Tatami themselves are variable in size, depending on what part of Japan they come from, so I'm not sure how they decided on a set size O.o}
²_{What's a 'tatami'? A big ol' tile of woven straws. They're what cover the floor in the traditional Japanese houses or rooms. You've probably seen 'em in old samurai flicks, or in video games! :D}

Upsides:
1. It's super-close to my work.
2. It's close to an MRT station.
3. It's close to a bunch of mountains with hiking paths.
4. It's within walking distance of Raohe night market.
5. It's super-close to a traditional market (and by super-close, I mean I walk out of our alley and it's right there. RIGHT THERE.)
6. I guess it's super-close to a hospital and a library too.
7. There's a GARDEN!!! WITH GRASS!!! And BONSAI!! *U*

^{The garden; those mysterious containers on the left are giant rain barrels covered in a configuration of climbing plants and suspended containers.}

Downsides:
1. SUPER-janky
2. Japanese-style toilet (this might be an upside for some people; I don't like them.)
3. No kitchen D:


^Bedroom

I love it :3 We pay NT$12,000/mo., which includes water (most places do) and 第四臺 a.k.a. cable, and electricity is NT$2.5 per whatever-the-standard-measure-is. Kilowatt-hour or something.


<sup>The bonsai on the rock fountain.


We have a couple pots of lilies/lotuses (what's the difference?! O.o) I like the purple ones better ;P

These are cool too.

Tiny goldfishes live with the lilies/lotuses to eat up mosquito eggs. It really works!</sup>

So yeah, that's our house :)