New place

So, I've officially been in my new place for almost a week now! Very exciting! I'm living in a sort-of apartment (two rooms and a bathroom) in the house of a friend of a friend. I'm on the 4th floor again, but the fact that I have some furniture and free cable (including the English movie channels) makes up for that. Originally, I was thinking of using this place temporarily, but I may decide to fix it up a little and stay there for the rest of the year. The only real downfall is the lack of a kitchen anywhere in the house.
Cooking is really uncommon in Taiwan, as most people eat out most of the time. A lot of people simply don't have the time to cook because if they own their own business, they are typically at work most of the day and sometimes late into the night (the girl I'm living with owns her own tea bar and works from morning until 11 or 12 at night!). Also, it's significantly cheaper to eat out than to buy groceries here. A typical lunch or dinner might cost me 40 NT ($1.10 US)!!! However, I get sick of eating the same thing over and over, and I do like to eat for the health benefits as well, which spoils the eating out benefits for me.
So, given the fact that I have only a refridgerator, and it's on the 1st floor, I am looking into buying a few things to have my own make-shift kitchen in my apartment. Apparently, I can probably get some portable burners (think camping stove), a small used refridgerator, and maybe a small new microwave for around $100 US. I do have a rice cooker (which will not only cook rice, but steam vegetables, and I'm going to experiment with making pasta) and a toaster oven (which will cook nearly anything that will fit inside of it), so those and a lot of peanut butter and jelly, and things that my mom has sent me - like cereal and granola bars - are holding me over for now. The change in living situation has done wonders for me, as I feel a lot more like myself when I have my freedom to do as I please.
I'm still enjoying my job (I took pictures of some of my students and will post those just as soon as I post all of my other pictures : ) My friend Jennifer (from work) left on Sunday to move back to Canada after 4 years here, and I was sad to see her go. She was a lot of fun and I could never thank her enough for all of the help she gave me in the last month! I only hope that I will be able to help someone else half as much when it's my turn to go home.
For anyone who's wondering : ) Nick is doing well. He is still living under "the rules" of his house and handling them far better than I was able to (but he has his WoW to keep him warm). He works a lot, with a few extra jobs private tutoring students outside school and correcting papers people have written in English. In short, until I get my first full month's pay, he's my sugar daddy! : ) We started taking Chinese class together last week, and that's seriously going to kick both of our butts for the next several months.
Also, I've started the process for grad school application again, although this time armed with a lot more knowledge and one absolutely GREAT connection and letter of recommendation. I'll be applying to Nebraska, the University of Utah, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and probably the University of New Mexico. Wish me luck!
I hope all is well for everyone, and I hope to hear from you all very soon!

Love,

Katie