I guess everyone has heard about the volcano by now. For us it means that we are effectively stuck in Kaohsiung until this blows over. All is not bad news however, after the first feelings of frustration and angst, Taiwan is not at all a bad country to be stuck in. Most people, especially in Kaohsiung, are very friendly and for a Swede it takes some getting used to, random people stopping to say hello in the streets is something I've never seen in Sweden :). It is just about as expensive as Sweden however, even if hotels generally are a bit cheaper. Luckily, we have been invited to spend some time with NCKU in Tainan which is bound to be an interesting meet. Hopefully we can set up a little lab there since most of CeLeKT have work that needs to be addressed soon.
We decided to go out and have a few beers yesterday and ended up at a bar featuring the best cover band I ever seen. For some reason they only played western music so we got to enjoy versions of bands like Queen and Europe. It was quite an experience but also a little weird to have to go to Taiwan to find a decent cover band.
Just wanted to update people and say that I'm fine here and that there is no need to worry. I'll get home when this blows over and until then I'll keep everyone updated here.