Today's pollution level is about as good as it gets. What a joy to look out from my balcony and see the line of mountains that stretches along the center of Taiwan.

We've driven to the edge of the mountains twice as we've gone south, once to the beach in Kenting and once when we hiked the eastern coast in early December. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the mountains, mostly through city traffic.

Today was the first time I really missed having a car. It would be so easy to just drive wherever, whenever we had some free time. I didn't mind not having that freedom when I could ride my bike. At least then we could get out of the apartment and find new places to explore. Now the city seems really big and things like commuting and getting groceries take so much longer.

We only have two months before summer break. We'll just keep going with what we've got for now and re-evaluate come fall.