Mid-Autumn Festival; Cross-straight Relations; Ilan

So I've been pretty busy/lazy this week. Classes resumed on Wednesday after the Mid-Autumn Festival/Moon Festival/Zhong Qiu Jie. Thursday we had our lesson 20 test on drugs and on Friday we had a quiz on lesson 21, which covers relationships (pregnancy, abortion, affairs, prophylatics, etc.).

My legs are so tired bc on Wednesday gymnastics training lasted from 4:30-8:45 PM...I guess it lasts that long everyday but David and I stayed even later this time. I ran into the other gymnastics guys at Shida night market after I took my shower. My neighbor and I were heading over to eat lu wei (you choose the items and they cook it in this broth, chop it up, add sauces, and then bring it over to your table), when we say them-they were going to an Italian pasta restaurant, which my neighbor (Xuan Zhi) says serves bad food and is expensive.

Anyways, I guess I should cover some of what I did over the long weekend...

My uncle drove us through the longest tunnel in Asia (8 miles long) which cuts through a mountain and it's called Xue Shan Shui Dao or (Hsuehshan tunnel). It was just built recently and it allows Taipei folk to go to Ilan (Yi Lan) in an hour and a half (that's not counting traffic, which got pretty horrible due to the long weekend). I found this article by accident, which talks about the tunnel to Ilan: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0720/p04s02-woap.html

In other news, Chen Shui Bian's bid to have Taiwan represented in the UN failed...big surprise there. Last time I checked Taiwan was still called R.O.C. and is only recognized as a state by 11 Latin American and African countries, which Taiwan bribes every year with aid money for the third world. Asus or some other Taiwanese brand recently developed a small laptop costing about $200 intended for use in the third world. Taiwan also has the world's largest charity foundation. Don't get me wrong....I think Taiwan's 23 million people should be represented...but as long as China is in the Security Council I don't see how things are going to change. That's why I'm in favor of Ma Ying Jeou's proposal in pleasing Beijing rather than trying to provoke it. I recently also found out Chen Shui Bian barred the Olympic torch from touching Taiwanese ground.

On a lighter note, here are some photos from Yi Lan (from my cousin's camera).

"cow tongues"-they're actually just crackers-really tasty too.




We went to the world's only (?) cold springs resort--all the others are hot springs (water that is heated due to volcanic activity, which is really popular in East Asia). I also went to a spa resort in Yi Lan (well actually in Su Hao).







Then we drove to Toucheng and Su Hao and some other places on the northeastern coast of Taiwan where we saw lots of surfers and hang gliders and had amazing seafood.



I'm going to post most of the pictures on Picasa bc it takes forever to load photos on to Blogger.




The rest of the photos are up on Picasa.

Nine Percent; Formosa Water Park; Wendel's German Restaurant; BBQ; Cell Phone Bill; Massive Laundry; Yi Lan

One door closes, another door opens.

Pretty trite idiom but my situation this Zhong Qiu Jie reminded me of it. I was pissed when I found out we were no longer going to Peng Hu for the long weekend (we were going to stay at this girl's beachfront house in Peng Hu and go scuba diving and have a blast...but then she had to get called away on work in Shanghai, China...). I was so bothered about not having any plans for the long weekend I had a crummy workout during gymnastics, which is usually so much fun.

I think yesterday made up for it though. Even though I barely got any sleep since I had to be up by 9 AM for the long drive to Danshui, Ba li to be specific.

I slept through most of the ride in the car (my cousin's ex-'Da Bi' or 'Big Nose' drove us). He has a striking resemblance to Wang Leehom. Later, we picked up 'Da Pai' ('Big Dick,' pai is penis in Taiwanese). I don't know any of their real names...only their nicknames.

I slept through most of the ride though, since I was up late the previous night. I went over to Mike's place and then Chris showed up and we drank Whiskey and coke and shot the shit. Then we all went to 9% (a nightclub), which is all you can drink with a 600 or 650 NTD-I don't remember-cover charge. I think it's been way too long since I've drank...since I got really wasted.

Anyways, when we got to the Formosa Water Park or Ba Xian Le Yuan in Ba li, we met up with Da Rei and his girlfriend and Lao Die ("Old Father" bc he's the first out of the group to have married and have kids...his family is in California and he's flying back today). All 4 guys knew each other from college and it's weird bc 3 of them are all the SAME height-my guess is 6 ft 2 and Lao Dei is around my height but much more portly. . Apparently, Lao Dei lost his front tooth bc "Big Penis" guy elbowed him in the fucking face during basketball! He has a fake tooth there now and apparently he's still going to the dentist about it ...and it's been 2 yrs since the incident.

[They seem like a great group of guys. Last night, after dinner they went to some INDOOR place to fish for SHRIMPS...which sounded odd to me. They were going to go around 1 AM and then stay until at least 3 AM. So apparently after you catch the shrimps there's a place to grill them right there so you can catch and eat fresh shrimp--sounds delicious and fun! They said they would take me some time].

I didn't know what to expect from the water park bc I went to one in Hong Kong called Ocean Park and it was lame. This one was SWEEET though! It was worth the hefty 520 NTD student admission ticket. The lunch there was complete SHITE though...and it was 200 NTD too.

Dinner made up for it though. We were going to have a BBQ but since everyone was too tired from playing at the water park (there was barely anybody there-since it was raining a little off and on-so there were NO LINES so we just kept running up 6, 7 flights of stairs to go on the rides we went on each ride at least 5 times and some rides as much as 10 times or more haha quite a workout, but so much fun!

So Da Bi drove us to Tian Mu, an area w/ lots of foreigners in Taipei Shi (Taipei City) and Lao Die knew the chef, Michael Wendel, the place is called Wendel's. It's the first time I've had German food and it was fucking amazing. I ate so much. I didn't take pictures of the food like I did before besides the one signature dish, the "German pork knuckles." It's the German take on zu jiao (Chinese style pigs' feet).

(The photos of Chef Wendel and everyone else, including me, are on my cousin's camera).

German pork knuckles with bread balls and mustard.


ceiling shots...I was bored waiting for my pint of beer & desserts
Lao Die is in the Ecko shirt, Da Rei is in the black Nike shirt...Da Rei shared a story about when he went to Cambodia how some masseuse girl unbuttoned his shirt and then proceeded to reach down his chest and massage his breasts...hahaha. After talking to many locals and tourists, he later found out that that is not the standard procedure for that massage...

He also said they had told him to wear their traditional attire, which consisted of 2 armbands and a belt...He politely declined and kept his boxers on haha!

A shot I took after we finished the main courses....yes we were all ravenous after the water park and we devoured all those dishes in no time at all. We made a mess too.

Chef Wendel also brought out a tray with about 20 different desserts. There was strawberry and creme cake, chocolate and cherry and creme cake, brownies, carrot cake, apple pie, a banana chocolate creme cake (w/ a real banana in the middle!), and more...

Oh and the guys got Warsteiner draft (the Erdinger was more expensive) while the girls got half beer and half Sprite drinks (I tried some of it...and it was disgustingly sweet).

Oh and the bill wasn't nearly as much as I expected...it came out to be 650 NTD per person (since Lao Die knew the chef he gave us a discount plus didn't count the girls' drinks and I don't know if charged for the desserts). I didn't bring enough money so Yun Han's ex covered us both w/ a credit card.
_____________

In other news, my expected monthly cell phone bill was supposed to be around 300 NTD....I got the bill and it's 891 NTD! I don't know what the fuck happened and I can't read the charges...I called my other cousin, Hong Yi and told him I want to change my fucking plan. He said he would change my plan from 300 minutes to 500 minutes...I'm gonna call him later and see if i can get more minutes.

Tonight I think I'm supposed to have BBQ with my cousin's younger sister, Xiao Lu, but she hasn't called me so I'm not sure. (BBQ is one of the customary ways of celebrating Zhong Qiu Jie. The teacher said most Taiwanese, get together to eat mooncakes, wen dan or you zi, and have a BBQ).

I had to do a massive amount of laundry today! It's insane how fast soiled laundry builds up in Taiwan...in ATL I usually do laundry every 2 weeks or so and I'm fine since I can recycle t-shirts and stuff. That's completely out of the question here since I'm always SWEATING. Today, I completely ran out of boxers so I've been free-balling this entire day...well I've been inside most of the day but I did go out to Welcome (Ding Hao) grocery store and had some dumplings at the nearby restaurant. I'm actually out of hangers now....so I'm leaving whites for tomorrow. The problem is it's been raining all day...so my clothes are still damp.

Speaking of tomorrow, I'm going with my other cousin (Yun Han), and other relatives to Yi Lan. We are driving there and going to hot springs and...stuff (I don't know anything about the place but I think I've heard of it before). I'll post when I'm back. Apparently I'll be staying there for a night.

Incubus; TrippinTV; Engrish; Long Weekend

If you let them make you, they'll make you paper-mache .
At a distance your strong until the wind comes, then you crumble and blow away.
If you let them fuck you, there will be no foreplay.
But rest assured they'll screw you complete 'til your ass is blue and grey.

I'm getting back into Incubus. I listened to them in middle school or junior high and then stopped. The above lyrics are from "Make Yourself," I think the second to last line is pretty sick.

So I got an e-mail yesterday, which informed me that my travel blog was featured on TrippinTV (www.trippintv.com, it's still in beta form). That's pretty cool...and embarrassing since my blog is nothing but random tidbits about my life here in Taiwan. Oh and the article is pretty spot on haha...this blog was intended only for close friends but oh well. In fact, it's more of a blog for myself...I'm chronicling what I do in this short year, lest I forget all my great experiences (I'm sort of curious how they found my blog since I barely tell anyone the URL).

So I was talking to a friend (I don't think I'll be naming names anymore) yesterday and he was saying that since he came to Taiwan he hasn't had sex in a month (since his gf is back home). He said that masturbation in Chinese is na shou qiang ('holding a hand gun') or zi wei zi ji HAHA i thought the first slang phrase was hilarious. The second one is pretty funny too but it sounds kind of gross...since wei usually means feeding a baby food...so that phrase translates to 'feeding yourself' uhh well I think in this case it's supposed to mean 'comforting yourself.' It's onani-I think-in Japanese.

Oh yeah and I loved this! It's the 'Engrish of the Week' from Engrish.com.
The sign is from Bangkok, Thailand...oh those Thais...



Oh and if you're bored or procrastinating (I went to that site last night when I was supposed to be studying for my quiz), check out the ADULT section of Engrish.com it's HILARIOUS. For instance, the sign at a buffet that read, "tofu salad and steaming cock."

Okay time to cram some more before today's quiz.

I can't wait for today's class to end because then the long weekend (zhong qiu jie) will start! I'm going with my cousin (Yun Han) and her two friends to Pescadores (Peng Hu) via plane.

Tainted Meat; Pizza/Wings/Tater Tots; Gymnastics & Judo; Shu Qi; Asian Cinema; Lesson 20

I can't sleep so I decided to blog...

So I've been hearing a lot about the tainted meat from America recently...I know that US and Canadian pork is banned in Taiwan but ppl are still saying not to eat the pork bc in restaurants they buy the cheaper pork from the US (bc Taiwanese pork is more expensive and not frozen).

So I decided to do a little research...http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/19/content_6116867.htm

I know the EU has long banned American meat but now even Taiwan and China and other countries are doing so as well...not a good sign.

I started watching "Surf's Up." It seems like an interesting movie.

During the typhoon last night, I watched "The Pursuit of Happyness," typo intended. It's based off the true story of Chris Gardner and it's a really touching story about hard work and perseverance.

So today at gymnastics practice we started back flips! It was really scary. We did flips into this large container area w/ padding everywhere but it was still really scary. We did back flips and front flips--I'm a lot better at front flips bc it's psychologically easier. I can do it now...but I'm jumping too far back they said. I also am pretty proficient at headstand push-ups now. We also did some arm strengthening workouts on the parallel bars which was cool. Today I served as translator since there was a Honduras guy there, David Rosales, who didn't know much Chinese. Apparently, he's a blue belt in Judo--I found out bc I told him I was going to Judo practice tomorrow night.

I was going to eat dinner w/ the gymnastics guys but David wouldn't be available until 9 PM and the other guys had class at night. I went to my aunt's place and her other son (nephew?) was back from China. She had ordered Domino's and it was a really chill and fun night there. Domino's is sooo much better here! We had this pizza with Canadian bacon, pineapple, and shrimp. Then a thin crust Sicilian type pizza with sausage, ham, and bell peppers--soo good. There was also tater tots and two kinds of WINGS! I liked the spicy wings more than than the sweet bbq wings. My aunt made green mung bean soup (lu dou tang) for dessert too. I had that and wen dan, a fruit that looks like grapefruit to me but it's green on the outside and a light green/pink color flesh.

Oh yeah and my aunt's nephew/son(?) is going to set up my Mac so that I can watch Taiwanese cable by attaching some adapter. Last time we went they didn't have TV adapters for Macs but my cousin said she asked her co-worker and she said they had them... I've never heard of them but apparently they are common in Taiwan.

Oh yeah and my uncle is back from Guizhou, China so that means he brought back literally hundreds of cheap DVDs! I watched part of "Snakes on a Plane" before going home to study for my quiz (I've already seen it). I took home around 30 something DVDs too heh.

I'm looking forward to the Chinese/Taiwanese movies I selected: "Ming Ming," "Tian Tang Kou (Blood Brothers)," and "Three Times" (Shu Qi is on the cover of this).


Shu Qi and Chang Chen in the art house flick (wen yi ai qing pian), "Three Times," by acclaimed Taiwanese director, Hou Hsiao Hsien.



Daniel Wu and Zhou Xun star in"Ming Ming."

Zhou Xun in "Ming Ming."


My aunt said "Tian Tang Kou" was a good movie. It's currently playing in theaters in Taiwan, but I have the DVD already haha...got to love Chinese DVDs.


Daniel Wu on the left, Shu Qi in the center--a still shot from "Blood Brothers."

There seems to be a spat of movies set in 30s or 40s era Shanghai....i.e., "Se, Jie (Lust Caution)" and "Tian Tang Kou (Blood Brothers)"



Quiz tomorrow.

The new chapter (lesson 20) is interesting....it's on drugs, condoms, homosexuality, drug overdose, marijuana, amphetamines, etc.

Typhoon; Das Parfum

So due to the typhoon, all classes in Taipei City (Taipei Shi) were cancelled today, which meant I don't have to take my test or turn in my homework until tomorrow!

I slept until 11 AM today and then I watched a DVD, "Das Parfum: Die Geschichte Eines Morders" by German director, Tom Tykwer. It's one of my favorite movies now. Extremely disturbing, but it also has beautiful cinematography, storyline, and score. It's not a slow, "indie" film either...it's quite suspenseful and graphic.

I still need to eat breakfast. I've been in bed all day. Gotta love typhoons on weekdays.

Yonghe-Phoenix Diner; Cafe Bastille at Shida Night Market

Today I went to Yonghe-where my grandma lives-to have brunch but it ended up taking up nearly the entire day. She introduced me to a bunch of her friends who live in Yonghe..and apparently they knew me but I didn't know them. We went to this awesome (albeit expensive) breakfast joint. It was quite classy. It was called Phoenix Diner. I loved the drink--it was this tall carafe of small limes (only found in Taiwan, the tiny kind) and pineapple and apple and coconut--that's all I could figure out from tasting it. We also had millet and cornmeal broth with sugar...and everything else I'm too lazy to explain using English.

I fell asleep after eating so much back at grandma's apartment. Then we went electronic dictionary shopping but it was too expensive. My aunt gave me her's and she is going to buy a new one, but I want one that has ENGLISH and a back-light. They ranged from 1,500 to 10,000 NTD. I wanted one where you could write the character with a stylus and the dictionary would recognize the character. My aunt's electronic dictionary has that function and I use it a lot--it's quite sufficient. (Maru said he would show me where he got his, which is smaller, has English, can write the characters, and has a back-light...but it's 5600).

Simon (from Univ. of San Fran) called but he said he was going to a movie at 9:30 PM, so it would probably be too late when it ended to go out...LAME. Mike didn't call but his Facebook status was "is never drinking again"...LAME. So I called Maru about going to the ranch instead of going to the Maokong (which is too hot to go to now). And he said alright. Masao isn't going bc the commute is too much for him (he lives all the way in Danshui) and we are leaving at 9:30 AM tomorrow since the event starts at 11:30 AM. (Update: Simon later called me at 12:30 AM and said they were going to a club called 399 and asked if i wanted to go...i was in the middle of watching a "Pride & Prejudice" plus I had to wake up early go to the ranch so I said I couldn't bc i had to wake up early tomorrow...).

So I met up w/ Maru and his Taiwanese friend (Johnny) at Shida ye shi and then we walked to the Cafe Bastile to have coffee. They climbed a mountain today and then went to a different hot springs (one that didn't smell of sulphur). Later they toured the red light district...but Maru was disappointed bc there wasn't a lot to see...remember he's from Japan aka Perverse Nation. So at the cafe we talked about things concerning that nature...I won't write about that on this blog, but the ti cai (material) was quite amusing and interesting. We also talked about how Tokyo has the used panties vending machines and "maid cafe," where you can look up girls dresses. Japan...sigh...haha. Taiwan has none of that stuff...Taiwan doesn't even have strip clubs apparently...

Tomorrow I'm going to a Fourways Ranch! I'm excited--it's for the USC alumni event. It's 2 and a half hours away in Miao Li. My cousin, the taxi driver is driving Maru and I there and we are all going to stay there and mingle and eat.

I think tonight's going to be a relaxing night since I have to wake up early tomorrow. So I'm just going to watch some American TV shows online or I might watch a bootleg DVD (brought by my uncle from the Mainland)--I'm considering "Miami Vice," "Pride & Prejudice," "The Pursuit of Happiness," or "Around the World in 80 Days"...I need to go to my aunt's place to stock up on more DVDs.

I really want to watch Se, Jie ("Lust, Caution") and Ashito No Kioku ("Memories of Tomorrow"). They were both discussed in class by my teacher and they sound interesting. They are both yi shu pian (independent/artistic films). The former is a wen yi ai qing pian (artistic love story) and the latter is a she hui xie shi pian (realistic film concerning society's ills/issues)--haha I'm utilizing my lesson 19 vocab! It's very practical vocab.

Thai food at Shi Pai & Shilin Night Market with Jimmy (American), Geoff (Brit), and Alex (Taiwanese); iPod Love; MRT Love

So after class on Friday I found out I have to pay an additional 9,600 NTD of tuition bc I'm in intensive class, while everyone else is taking regular class (3 hrs vs. 2hrs)....blah.

So my classmate Jimmy invited me out to dinner w/ his Taiwanese friend, who he met by contacting an ad posting on the bulletin board asking for language exchange. After 4 minutes of meeting him I asked the others if he was gay and they both said yes haha...he's so flamboyant! Apparently, he had a boyfriend in London but he's never had one in Taiwan....he's fluent in English, Spanish, and Chinese. He is going to work for the EU. Supposedly, most of his friends don't even know he's gay (which I don't believe)--it's kind of a taboo topic in Taiwan.

After dinner we all went all the way to Shi Pai MRT stop and we went to a Thai restaurant (yes....Thai food AGAIN...sigh). Oh well, and then we went to Shilin ye shi again. Both Alex and I got a pair of sunglasses but mine got lost or stolen...

We went to City Jungle and Jungle World (all these arcades) and during the games I would leave my bag around but I didn't notice it was missing until I went on the mechanical bull (PEER PRESSURE). When I got thrown off the bull several times, I was like I'm done w/ this shit! To add to the humiliation my sunglasses were gone...I left my information with the staff but I doubt it will show up. So I was in a horrible mood for awhile...

Oh and the mechanical bull is a LOT harder than it looks...the plastic is really slippery so you slide all around when it jerks around and spins. I would slide off the instant it made a quick turn and it hurt my inner thighs a lot so I would just let go and get thrown off--it wasn't worth the pain.

We spent so many hours at all those arcades (several floors). It was fun at first but then after I lost my sunglasses and I started getting tired..both Geoff and I were ready to take off. All the noise, throngs of people, and flashing lights...it was just chaos. It felt like Tokyo.

Well I thought bumper cars was fun. We played Soul Caliber and some other fighting game called King of Fighters I think. We also competed against each other by shooting basketballs (a machine that moves the hoop around and tracks who is in 1st place) at the arcade and the hockey game (forgot what it's called) and this drum game. We also tried to win prizes by knocking over cans, etc. There was so many people it was chaos. When we were at the arcade, my American friend who I met at the airport, Mike, called and they were going to "Nine Percent Club." He called at 9:30 PM, I said I would call him when I got back to my place, which was 12 AM! So by then I was sweaty, tired, and SORE (from the mechanical bull, the gym, and GYMNASTICS-more about this later). So I called him but he didn't pick up. He later called around 12:30 AM and he was already in a taxi. He said I had too many excuses...I admit he's invited me to go to clubs at least 4 times but in my defense he's in regular classes in the afternoon and I'm in intensive class in the morning on lesson 19 of the 2nd book and he's on like the first book...

Oh yeah and later around 1 AM something I got a drunk call from Mike. He said I was missing a great party and that he didn't know where his shirt was....what a PUNK! I said he left without me but he said he told me on the phone that he would wait for me at shi da...i said i didn't hear that. Oh well. (I actually didn't go to sleep until around 3 am since I was on MSN messenger late last night). He said we are definitely hanging out tomorrow night. Simon (from the USC alumni event) said he would call me tonight to hang out too. Speaking of USC alumni events, on Sunday they are holding a get together at the Fourways Ranch.

I don't know if I will be able to go though since Simon isn't going, so I will have to find another ride (I don't think I can take the MRT all the way to a ranch haha). I was supposed to go to Maokong (cable car ride up the mountain) with my 2 Japanese classmates but I was warned by my neighbor that during the summer the car is like an oven and that if it rains they will shut it down. So Maru said we should go to Xi Men Ting instead.

OK so about gymnastics....I went to the gymnastics meeting before leaving for dinner. I signed up for the club last week and they called me yesterday. It was a lot of fun. We did mat work (front flips) but I kept bending my elbows so I didn't land on my feet after the flip. Then I did some stuff on the parallel bars. Then I played around on the giant trampoline. Then Wei Yuan showed me to do 540 (0r 720?) degree front flips and back flips on the bar, i accomplished the front flip and it made my shorts all rolled up on the bar so i had to untangle that. it HURT too because you roll on your stomach and also because your hip bones rub against the wooden bar. Lastly, I worked on the double rings. I could raise myself on the low one but on the really high one I was too worn out to push myself up on that one. I'm excited about going on Monday...and next Monday I'm NOT going to workout at the gym before haha...I didn't know any better.

I've been listening to my iPod so much on the MRT recently and during the commute to school that my battery runs out every 2 days and sometimes everyday. I listen to it in the morning before class and before bed too. I didn't use it that much until recently.

Speaking of the MRT, you can't eat or drink or chew gum or you could get fined 1500 NTD! They told me yesterday when I was drinking my green bubble tea. They said that's why the MRT is so clean. Geoff said the Underground in London is just atrocious and I got confirmation of that from my Taiwanese neighbor--I never went on the underground, i just rode the buses. I told him the subway in NYC is also filthy and a lot of the stations don't have air conditioning. Paris has no air conditioning at all and smells horrible. So the Taipei MRT is really great. People even get in lines to get on the train! So orderly...they should set that in place in Japan and NYC where ppl just jostle and push. There are also automatics gates at the train entrances/exits that open and close at major stations like Taipei Main Station, where there are lots of people. I was also wary of the buses in Taipei at first bc in China they are HORRIBLE, but here they are spacious and air conditioned so they are quite nice. In China there was no air conditioning and we were packed like sardines! Also, the student MRT card is a really good discount. So basically public trans is great in Taipei.

OK I'm going to Yonghe now to have brunch with my grandma.

*I still can't post photos on Blogger....

Thursday...It's almost the weekend!

So I was in a horrible yesterday as you could probably tell from the previous post...well today is much better (although this morning was pretty bad as well). This morning was bad bc I set my alarm for 8:30 AM to finish my composition but alas I fell asleep...when I awoke it was 9:30 my usual waking time...so I frantically looked up words in my dictionary and used all the required vocab words and then headed off to class in a horrible mood (I was late of course but I didn't care I took my time riding the elevator and striding to class listening to my iPod). When I got to class I saw my test..and on the front page it said -11 for section B bc I completely forgot to do that entire section! (It was the easy pinyin section too!) I got an 85 by the way, later I found out most people got B+'s on this last test so I felt a little better.

Anyways, I'm in a good mood because I saw an ad on the bulletin board selling an electric standing fan for 300 NTD. I'm not sure if that's a good price but I'm just happy I have a fan now! It took forever taking the MRT there since I had to change trains twice and then the Japanese girl, Noriko, didn't bring change...but yeah I have a fan! (I took the bus back home and the ride was horrible).

I'm mostly happy bc we don't have much homework tonight! I already finished the 8 sentences we had to make (one for each grammar pattern) and we have a grammar quiz tomorrow but that's old pat-I'll study for that later. I also had a delicious and CHEAP (90 NTD) dinner at another Korean place. I had beef w/ rice and fried egg and jap chae (glass noodles) and cabbage and stewed tofu; it also came with free all you can eat seaweed soup, rice, and sweet tea.

*Blogger is not letting me upload photos...I don't know why, but the photos are up on Picasa Web!

Yang Ming Shan Photos

Burned Out

Class today was so busy. First hour was devoted to group presentations on the movies. Second hour was devoted to the Lesson 18 Test...afterwards I was completely spent from concentrating so hard, not to mention studying last night until 2:30 AM. Third hour was devoted to going over our homework assignment and Lesson 19...

I thought after the test I could breathe easy, but alas...this teacher is a slave driver. Right after the 5 minute break (post-exam), we started Lesson 19. Good G-d. The first thing she did was hand out homework assignments-writing an essay using assigned lesson 19 vocabulary to describe our experience attending some type of performance. SIGH...

Then after discussing the homework assignment we started going over the vocabulary...we only covered about 5 vocab words..and then class was over but before we could leave she reminded us that we had a QUIZ tomorrow over the 42 new vocab words! It never ends.

Anyways, today the Thai girl decided to eat w/ us and boy did she get on my nerves. She kept arguing with me on nearly every single point. She also kept insisting that nearly every famous person was GAY. She said that Wang Leehom is gay, Takeshi Kaneshiro is gay, some other famous Japanese guy is gay..etc. etc. She also got mad at me when Masao said I liked Jolin. She insists that Jolin is ugly and has tons of plastic surgery etc etc. I said that nearly every famous singer has had some plastic surgery...just look at Korean stars, not to mention American movie stars and pop stars. Anyways, she got mad at me just bc I wouldn't agree that all those ppl were gay. I said that they were just rumors spread by tabloid news and that they could be true but they are more likely to be false. She said some crack pot story about being friends with some famous singer in Taiwan and that this singer friend of her's knows people who are homosexual...yeah sure..and anyways who cares?! So basically she's really annoying.

Another thing...I have a really hard time understanding her..bc of her horrible accent. On top of that she can't speak English either...so there's no common language besides Chinese. The only language that she is good at is Thai. She insists that since I'm from America, I've never had proper Thai food and she said that Taiwan has shitty Thai food... It's generally accepted that Sichuan, followed by Hunan cuisine is the spiciest food in the world but she kept saying that I've never had proper Thai food, so I didn't know that Thai food is the spiciest in the world... Then she gave anecdotal 'evidence' bc some Americans said the food was too spicy in Thailand...(Obviously, she has never had Sichuan, Hunan, or Anhui cuisine). I could have said conversely she has never had proper Sichuan food but I didn't feel like talking to her anymore.

Besides the poor company, lunch was pretty good. We went to an Indian restaurant called Out of India. It was pretty expensive though-I got butter chicken which was 320 NTD and there wasn't enough garlic naan, so I got an extra side of saffron rice for 30 NTD more. (Later I saw they had a lunch special for 100 NTD but nobody knew about it...).

When I was looking at the bulletin board today the French girl came up behind me and we talked about how overwhelming class is. Right when we think we can take a break there's another essay, another assignment, another quiz/test, a new lesson, etc. She said she has been waking up at 6 AM everyday to finish homework or prepare for a quiz/test. I, on the other hand, have been going to bed at 2 or 3 am every night to do the same since I can't wake up in the morning (I tried to wake up at 8:30 AM today to study for the lesson 18 test but I ended up hitting the snooze button until my normal waking time-9:30 AM). I ended up just cramming while other people were giving their presentations.

So I'm not sure if I will be able to go to Wax Club tonight. I feel like just crashing and doing my essay and studying later tonight. I'm so beat. I'm going to take a much deserved nap now.

UPDATE 11 AM

I still haven't started writing my composition, which is due tomorrow...and I'm not done studying for tomorrow's quiz yet either. It's a good thing I didn't go out tonight. Where does the time go? Damn it! I feel like so much time is wasted just walking around in Taipei, especially bc the ppl here walk so FUCKING slow! They need to all move to NYC for a month and learn how to walk! KU SO (shit in Japanese)!

Anyways, time to hit the showers and then I'm going to start my composition. I can't wait for the weekend...and it's only Wednesday...Christ...

Tuesday Class; "Lust, Caution (Se, Jie);" Japanese Chicas vs. Tai Mei; Some Yang Ming Shan Photos

So today we discussed our lesson topic-movies some more. The teacher talked about Taiwanese director, Li An (or as Americans know him as Ang Lee), and had me pronounce his famous movie..."Brokeback Mountain" haha...Masao described to us how watching that movie made him want to hurl...he said he saw it on the plane so the combo of the homoerotic images + the turbulence made him queasy...haha

Anyways, the teacher also talked about Ang Lee's most recent movie, "Lust, Caution" (Se, Jie), which won the best picture award at the Venice Film Awards. She said it starred Wang Li Hong (Wang Lee Hom).

I looked up the English title when I came home and I read that it's given an NC-17 rating in the US and in China 30 minutes have been removed due to the sexually explicit scenes. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/10/content_6700355.htm

Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/lustcaution/trailer/

Well, all this talk about lust and relationships seemed to have carried over into our conversation at lunch (we went to "Jamaican Coffee" and we all got fried chicken w/ a side of fried egg, rice, cabbage, and pao cai; i ended up eating Masao and Maru's leftovers haha). Well, Masao explained how he met his Taiwanese girlfriend (he was friend's w/ her cousin in Brisbane, Australia. She plays the clarinet, etc.

He later warned me that about Taiwanese girls...he said I needed to be "careful" and that Taiwanese girls were "dangerous." At first, I thought he meant that they were after my money or wanted to marry an American...but he said no, that Taiwanese girls are complete opposites to Japanese girls bc Japanese girls are submissive and obedient, but Taiwanese girls will fight and argue with you...he said Taiwanese girls are "strong" (he said he liked 'strong girls' and that when they were fighting he would cuss at her in Japanese so she wouldn't understand haha). At first I wasn't sure what he meant bc he said, "da taiwan nu sheng," or something like that which translates to big Taiwanese women. He meant that they are very independent. The French girl added that she knew of a couple, where the girl was Taiwanese and the guy was from mainland China and she treated him "like a dog." She said that a lot of Taiwanese guys go to Japan to find a nice, submissive girl. She said they say Japanese girls are short, cute, and nice. Interesting...

I also learned Japanese cusswords (and other phrases) during lunch. I learned both the Tokyo dialect and the Osaka dialect...Maru said the Tokyo dialect sounds feminine and gay...while Osaka is cooler and more masculine sounding. He also said that the reason why Japanese ppl have such poor English is bc they have so little to pronounce....unlike in Chinese they don't have an 'r' sound (only 'l'), they don't roll their tongue ('er' sound in Beijing dialect), they don't have the 'sh' or 'zh' sound, etc. That's why it's easier for Chinese ppl to speak English as opposed to Japanese ppl.

Oh and we decided to do our group report on "Titanic" since it would be the easiest to describe in Chinese. We went from "Pirates" to "Spirited Away" to "Titanic"...Masao and I wanted to talk about Spirited Away but the French girl never even heard of Miyazaki...

Lesson 18 Test tomorrow! I saw Nico at the MTC library today and she said that in her new class they are only in lesson 16 and they take 5 days to finish ONE lesson! She said it's much better for her. That does sound a lot easier...oh well I want to be challenged...


So I'm still procrastinating, so I decided to upload a couple photos from Yang Ming Shan.

funny looking straw hut thing behind the restaurant. This whole area reminded me of "Spirited Away." It was really cool.


red temple

Maru and me at the restaurant
At the park near the mid point of the hike up the Mt.


For those interested, I'm going to post the rest on Picasa Web tomorrow...if I find the time.

____________

I'm supposed to be studying right now..but as usual, I'm surfing the net and listening to music/watching music videos.

I think this is a fun song/music video by Bjork.
"Earth Intruders"

Exhausted

This program is so intense...

The teacher thought the class was moving too slowly so she said the lesson test will be on Wednesday instead of Thursday...and there will only be one quiz, which will cover both 41 new vocab words and grammar from lesson 18. Jesus, I thought this class was already moving really fast, I mean 2 days to cover one lesson (I don't think 3 days covering one lesson was too slow...) Everyone thinks so too, I don't know what's the rush. Nico already dropped to a regular class because she thought our intensive class was well..too intense (and she dropped before the teacher increased the pace of the class).

Oh yeah I forgot, we also have a group report on a movie we have to watch together. I was paired with Masao and Li Si (French girl). At first we agreed to meet at my aunt's place and to rent a DVD but then we decided none of us have the time so we are just going to discuss the first "Pirates of the Caribbean;" we are going to decide who says what tomorrow after class.

We also have a ton of homework due tomorrow. We have to create four different stories using different (assigned) vocab for each story. It's going to be another long week...

Luckily, Ho Laoshi's sister called and I told her about my test so once again I have cancelled my tutoring session...I moved it to Friday but she said Sunday would be better...now I remembered I have a USC alumni event on a ranch on Sunday but she said her son would call tonight. I think I'll say Thursday or Friday is better for me.

At this rate, I don't know if I will even be able to start my unpaid internship...I'm so busy everyday and on weekends I have plans. Maru said we are going somewhere else this weekend...I forget/didn't understand where we are going though...

Well in other news, I went to the student club fair today with Maru. It's a good thing Maru was there bc I couldn't read any of the signs...it nearly gave me a headache. There was so many ppl...it was so chaotic. I signed up for all these clubs but I doubt I will have the time nor the interest to join even half of them.

The clubs I really want to look into are Taekwondo, Gymnastics, Wu Shu, Judo and maybe...ceramics, calligraphy, and aikido.

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After dinner I went home and ate a couple passion fruits, an orange, and a kiwi and some green tea while watching MTV True life, specifically a documentary on ppl with differing levels of autism (sever autism, autistic savant, Asperger's, etc.). I think it helped put into perspective my situation right now. There are some ppl who even struggle with basic spoken English (most ppl seem to consider English to be the easiest language-Maru who is Japanese said today during lunch that he thinks English is definitely the easiest language), much less one of the hardest languages in the world-Chinese.

Yang Ming Shan

I just got back from hot pot dinner. I still smell like sulfur from the hot springs (I'm going to go shower soon); the sulfur and other minerals are good for your skin--sulfur has antimicrobial properties. After laying in the tian ran (natural) wen quan (hot springs) my face felt all clean and tight; hard to describe. The water was white and if you looked closely you could see all little white mineral particles and you could definitely smell the sulfur (from the volcanic activity below, which heats the water).

The car ride was really fun weaving around all these tight turns while listening to soothing Okinawan music (Maru couldn't understand it bc Okinawan is a mix of Taiwanese and Japanese). First, we went to this cool restaurant and had amazing food. Some dishes were made with ingredients found on the mountainside like wild veggies and plants that grow on the trees there. It was delicious. We also got some fried di gua (similar to a mix b/n sweet potato and regular potatoes-yellow in color; there was also some that were purple--forgot what those are called) to-go so we could munch on it while hiking the mountain.

The first stop on the hike up Yang Ming Shan was this lake that was protected by the government bc there's a type of plant that exists nowhere else in the world.

Oh yeah I climbed part of the mountain first and it was cool bc all around us was swirling fog which would blanket us and make obscure visibility but then it would suddenly clear...etc., etc. Then we chilled at this park for awhile part way up the park. Then we went to the hot springs. We all decided to go to the individual hot springs. Maru and I checked out the public male one but...uhh too many dongs. Just a bunch of old naked men lying around...Haha Maru nearly walked into the women's one "on accident."

Then in the car we all fell asleep with the calm Okinanwan singer, Xia Chuan Li Mei singing in the background (lying in hot water makes you so sleepy and thirsty!). When I woke up we were back in Taipei. We drove by Maru's aunt's (who is Taiwanese; his mom side is Taiwanese and his dad is Japanese...all i know is that his dad owns a Harley) workplace (Lexus) and then we went to the restaurant bc she was still working. Maru's uncle works for Mercedes and he said he worked on the merger b/n Daimler Benz and Chrysler and went to Detroit too...but now Mercedes no longer owns Chrysler.

We had Beijing style hot pot today--really good. I am so full.

I forgot my camera today but Maru said he would put it on my flash drive...so stayed tuned for photos. I'll probably post them on Picasa Web.

I can't believe it's already Sunday night! The weekend is over already...sad...time is really flying by. I can't believe I've already spent a month here. (felt like a week and a half)..I don't know if I will want to leave when a year rolls by.

________

I always liked this song ("Beautiful Love" by The Afters) ever since I saw an episode of "8th & Ocean."

Anyways, I liked the movie "Romeo & Juliet" too. So here's a good combo:

Outdoor B-ball; Novel Experiences; Wang Leehom Concert; 4th Meal & Movie

I didn't plan on doing anything today besides chillin' cuz I'm pretty tired from a long week. I slept in all day today and then did some laundry and ate lunch at Stone Bowl (Korean); I had the dong fen (vermicelli) seafood soup.

After my post-lunch nap I finally dragged my butt out of bed and left for the gym...but it was closed (I guess it's closed for the entire weekend? B/c I got there around 4 or 5 so that's pretty early to close). So I ended up playing b-ball outside. I played w/ this guy Xiao Ma, who was pretty good. He works in marketing and he's a surfer! I was pretty surprised when I learned about that bc I didn't know there were Taiwanese surfers (I always thought of that as a Californian or Hawaiian phenomenon haha). Anyways, I found out bc I asked what he does on weekends when we were waiting to play the next game. So he said he would call me the next time he drives to the beach on the weekends-I'm not gonna lie I'm really stoked bc I've never been surfing before.

This transitions to my next point, which is that I have had so many firsts since I've come to Taiwan.

1. 1st time learning traditional characters
2. 1st time experiencing an earthquake (and a strong one at that, 6.6 magnitude on the Richter scale!)
3. 1st time eating uterus (not particularly pleasant but still...my tang ge said he would take me to eat snake too!); 1st time eating tie dan
4. 1st time going to a hot spring (i will do this tomorrow, so I'm including it in my list now)
5. 1st time surfing (I will do this in the near future, so...ditto).
6. 1st time going to a ye shi (night market)-pretty fun experience
7. 1st time I've enjoyed modern art (haha OK maybe this shouldn't count but it's true! I enjoyed MOCA and I normally don't like modern art).
.
.
.
Hopefully, this list will get a lot longer as the days go by.

I went to the FREE Wang Leehom (Wang Li Hong) Concert today after dinner at zhong zheng ji nian tang (Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, which is only 2 MRT stops down from the one I'm closest to so it was very convenient). Nico said it would start at 6:30...then when I called her during dinnertime she said 7:30 PM...well I got lazy and didn't go until 9 PM so I just caught the last song, which was "Cockney Girl."

Get ready for some blurry photos...

The zhong zheng ji nian tang (Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall gate).





The white blob in the middle is Leehom flanked by two hot dancing chicas haha. There wasn't nearly as many ppl as I expected...still I wasn't going to wait in line to get an autograph (Nico was there since 2:30 PM and she even stayed afterwards to get his autograph...girls...)

The last song I heard ("Cockney Girl"):



[So, I didn't like this song at first, but now I think it's pretty catchy.
Oh and uh...that girl's "cockney" Chinese is so terrible that I can't figure out what she's saying...if anyone understands please tell me the translation-appreciate it!]

So, normally I come home so full that I can barely breathe...but this entire day I ate by myself so I didn't get forced to eat tons and tons of expensive, huge portions. [Oh yeah for dinner I went to the closest restaurant-the Korean place (a different one than lunch) and got...whatchamacalit the rice dish w/ beef and veggies and sweet & spicy red sauce in a stone bowl so that the rice on the bottom gets burnt a little. YUM.]

Anyways after I got back from Leehom, I went to "Welcome" and got a bunch of food for my 4th meal. I went home and ate New Zealand kiwis, Mandarin orange yogurt, Kaoliang beef jerky (niu rou gan) made from Kinmen yellow cattle (beef that is not tainted by antibiotics and other stuff). I was still hungry so then I ate Ah-Q Ramen...sooooo good.

I think Taiwan products are packaged well...everything always looks so bright and appealing.

New Zealand kiwi (so cheap! only 69 NTD for a box of 7 or so)-it's sweeter and it has yellow flesh instead of green. It also has less hair on the outside and has that extra stump on the end.

I ate my 4th meal while watching "King Arthur," which was better than I expected. It reminded me a lot of "Gladiator" and "Braveheart." There was a lot of cheesy moments though, especially when Clive Owen tried to be dramatic. I thought Keira Knightley played her role as a pagan Saxon pretty well though. She just did her classic brooding, sexy face (the same as in "Pirates") where she tries to look tough but she just comes off as sexy and smoldering. I didn't really buy the scenes where she fights and kills people in battle w/ her small little knife and twig like arms. Even though some parts were really corny I still liked it-pretty entertaining.

Then again I didn't pay a cent...I borrowed the DVD from my uncle, who bought it for barely anything in mainland China (he goes to the mainland for work-chu cai-and he always brings back tons of cheap DVDs-like whole seasons of CSI and LOST, etc.). He's going to Guizhou next week I think...I'm pretty jealous. I heard it's beautiful there. His job is pretty cool...he goes to these places to study the local alcohol (he's an alcohol researcher).

Yun Han said she liked Jude Law and "Closer"...so I thought of the soundtrack (Natalie Portman looks nice as always):



I better go to bed since I'm being picked up by Maru's uncle at 11 AM tomorrow...and then I have to climb a mountain! Then relax in hot springs...should be fun. Kevin Chang said there's lots of buffaloes at Yuan Ming Shan.

End of 1st week of classes; MOCA; Sichuan restaurant; Earthquake aftermath; Cunningham/Bjork MV

I got a 95 on my first test!! I was so happy and relieved to see that since I was seriously debating whether to drop to an easier class. I guess all the studying paid off...plus I'm starting to recognize traditional characters more and more every day.

For lunch I went to the guo tie (pot stickers) place. I had hot and sour soup (suan la tang) and 15 pot stickers. Then I went to MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) with my biao ge and biao jie (cousins).

MOCA was really cool. I even got electrocuted playing Pong!! No joke. I'm too tired to explain now. I also learned about the "Google will eat itself" program. It was pretty interesting. Also, I noticed all the computers were ASUS, which I've never heard of before. Apparently, it's another prominent computer brand in Taiwan. Yun Han said that Acer is more well known outside of Taiwan, but they are both good Taiwanese computer brands. (Now I know of several Taiwanese brands...Acer, Asus, Kolin, Sanyo, Sampo...).


Yun Han in front of MOCA


cousins-Ben Chang (left), Ouyang Yun Han (right)

candid photo of Yun Han drinking mu gua niu nai (papaya w/ milk drink).

I like taking candid photos.



MOCA cafe photos
Entrance ticket.
(I know I'm a dork but I thought it was cool...and I can't sleep...so I'm editing my most recent blog entry).

The family in front of MOCA.

Ben said that Yun Han should take me to the Fine Arts Museum and the National Palace Museum as well. (He's moving to Shanghai on Monday night or Tuesday to work at a French-owned consulting company).

Then I went over to my aunt's place where her son showed me how to use his electronic dictionary which he is lending me for 2 days. I'm thinking of buying one myself.

Then for dinner my shu shu (uncle) drove us all to this famous Sichuan restaurant. I don't really take pictures of food anymore bc it's a little embarrassing but I had to take a picture of this. This dish is not on the menu but he knows the owner really well so he got it for me. It's called la zi feng ji.


And yes it was spicy, but it's Sichuan cuisine so that was expected.

There's whole cloves of garlic in there along w/ spices, red peppers, hua jiao, green onions, and chicken.

I might be going to Yang Ming Shan tomorrow for hot springs....I thought it was too hot to do that but Maru said they go in the summer in Japan as well. Also, we are meeting up w/ Nico at night at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall where there's a free Wang Leehom (Wang Li Hong) concert. She's arriving at 2 PM, even though the concert doesn't start until 6:30 PM! She's a huge fan. (Speaking of Nico...today i mentioned that i wanted to visit Seoul and she said that she doesn't want to visit Korea bc Koreans don't like Japanese ppl...but I said that some Korean ppl don't dislike Japanese ppl...and Maru said so too).

So I asked Yun Han about the earthquake (my aunt called me this morning about it)....and she said it was the 3rd largest earthquake in Taipei's history! It wasn't that bad bc it was far away in northern Taiwan (Hualien). The first tremor was 6.6 while the 2nd one was only 5.7 or something like that.

I saw this video at MOCA. It's by Chris Cunningham and the music is by Bjork.

Earthquake!

Holy shit! I just experienced my first earthquake ever!

It was a really minor one no doubt but still a highly peculiar experience. I heard a loud noise outside and then I felt the entire building (I'm on the 5th floor wobble around and shake). I was lying in bed (it's 2 AM) and I was just lying there still as can be but being jostled around as my bed wobbled around. It was sort of fun but also sort of scary and unnerving. I was afraid the building would collpase or the roof would cave in or if the quake was going to get more severe.

Anyways, I better try and sleep bc the teacher told Yong Am and me specifically to get to class on time tomorrow...

Holy crap I just felt another tremor. This one was about 1/5 the severity of the previous one but I'm in my chair and it just jiggled in place. It's really the strangest feeling. At first I thought some type of construction equipment was actually demolishing or moving this building....then I realized it was a minor earthquake.

It was so small and the fact that I've never experienced one made me start to doubt if it really was an earthquake but I just checked and my first reaction was correct. earthquake

O.K. time to listen to Sigur Ross on my ipod and drift off to sleep.

Flugufrelsarinn

First test

The test wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. I had some difficulty with the essay portion of course bc I couldn't write some words..so I just wrote the simplified version (if i could) or the pinyin for those.

After class I went to sign up for the language exchange partner program (which is required for scholarship students) but they all left for lunch...

So the French girl (she probably has a name but who cares...she sorta gets on my nerves..she's overly sensitive and kind of annoying-i won't get into that now...), Maru, Jimmy, Nico, and I all went to Shida Lu for lunch and I called my neighbor to see if he wanted to grab lunch. So we agreed to meet at the bookstore. Then he took us to this Yunnan (province of China; the japanese students thought it was Vietnamese at first..Yue4 Nan2= Vietnam) restaurant. It was quite good. Several ppl got kung pao (gong bao ji) chicken but I got a yunnan basil beef dish which had cherry tomatoes, and dong gua. It also came with free passion fruit juice or plum juice and a free red bean dessert w/ coconut milk on top. The total was 120 NTD each-pretty cheap and really good. Then outside I got a refreshing large green tea, which was only 15 NTD!

Then I went to the language lab and listened to lesson 18. I'm now going to take a power nap and then go jogging on the treadmill at the gym. I might go check out the kungfu place that Zach Lifton goes to later...but I have to find out the address...I think the price is pretty steep though..300 per session...that's like 10 bucks each time.

I heard Taekwondo is free if you join the club at Shida..so I'll probably just do that instead but I have to find out when and where the club meets.

I need to exchange my clip on fan at the night market bc the tightening bolt isn't working. I also need to buy sandals there cuz whenever it rains I nearly slip bc all the traction has rubbed off (probably from a summer of walking on stone paths in Anhui nong cun; plus i played outdoor bball wearing sandals too).

Ben Chang called me-tomorrow he, yun han (other cousin), and I are going to the Modern Museum of Art. Thank G-d tomorrow is Friday!

I'm getting tired of doing homework and studying until ban ye every night.

UPDATE 8:36 PM.

I got new sandals and they are AWESOME.

The most comfortable sandals I've ever gotten.

They have these raised bumps with great cushion capabilities.


*In other news, I took 2 pictures of my dessert w/ my camera phone, but I don't know how to move it to my computer...the camera came w/ a USB cable too...usually when I plug it in it automatically shows up on my Mac...maybe my Vibo phone is not compatible w/ Macs.

(**My free Vibo phone rocks. I found out by playing w/ it that it can surf the web, record video, play movies (already has 2 Chinese movies on there!), play TV shows, text, has cool wallpaper like ICE (my current one), cool ring tones, currency converter (i use this all the time!), alarm-you can set and save multiple ones-which i do, calendar, calculator, games, timer, calculator, and probably a ton more functions i haven't discovered yet....).

Well the dessert was strawberry ice cream w/ fresh fruit (kiwi, strawberry, banana slices, etc.) and some gelatin at the bottom.

And for dinner I had seafood udon noodle soup.
_____________
I never liked John Legend until I came to Taiwan (John Legend and Jay Z are quite popular in Taiwan).
This song was on their iTunes list when I was at Ying Ge making pottery (speaking of...my ceramics should be ready to be picked up now)...I looked on their computer and then came home and looked up the song on YouTube...i think it's pretty relaxing music. So I've been listening to this song a lot lately:

Intensive Class; Gym

The first week of class is almost over and damn has it been challenging. I think this is the most I've been challenged in such a short amount of time. I'm really glad I chose this program. I nearly dropped to an easier class but now I'm glad I stayed bc the teacher is great and my classmates are chill.

So after class today I finally went to the language lab and I have to say I am so relieved bc the tape says the dialogue and all the practice grammar exercises so that means I can find out the pinyin! (Remember I never learned traditional so it was a huge pain trying to look up radicals to decipher a character and sometimes my dictionary doesn't even have the correct traditional character...also the no. of strokes in my dictionary is according to the simplified NOT traditional...I might invest in one of those electronic dictionaries that all of my Japanese classmates use..Maru says he paid 5600 NTD for one here in Taipei...I thought that was steep but Masao say it's zhide. He uses a big Canon one that has both simplified and traditional characters.

Well after the language lab (yu yan shi yan shi) I went to the gym and damn it was crowded! The gym today was blaring K-pop (I recognized Chae Yeon, Hyori, Se7en...and the rest I don't know..I heard a lot of saranghae's though haha--I have Hyori's "Anyclub" stuck in my head now; i posted the video & Chae Yeon's "two of us" MVs below this paragraph) and then American pop later (i.e., bringing sexy back, Ciara, Fergie, etc.). My classmate, Chung Yong Am, said he came and then left bc it was so fucking crowded (he's coming tomorrow morning. They also added about 10 new machines but removed a bunch of others that I wanted to use...

Going to the gym (ti yu guan) got K-pop stuck in my head...

Hyori



Chae Yeon


Anyways, I don't know how to ask for ppl to spot me so I just used the rack that balances it for you and worked on chest today. I've noticed that most Taiwanese guys lift really light...but they are pretty built and have 6 packs (they kept lifting their shirts and flexing in the mirror...). It's pretty disheartening bc I can lift basically 4 or 5 x what they do but they are more cut. I guess I need to stop pigging out every single meal. Speaking of meals, for lunch we went to this shitty ass place (the first bad place i've been to since I came to Taiwan) on Shida Lu. It was dirt cheap though 65 NTD. The Japanese ppl, Yong Am (Korean), and Jimmy (American) liked it though....Nico said it's probably bc I'm taken to all the best places in Taipei by my relatives while they've been eating random stuff every meal (can't argue with that).

Coming back I got caught in the rain w/o an umbrella and even though I ran back I was completely soaked down to my boxers and socks.

Okay I have a ton of homework to do in my workbook and then I have to study for my first major test tomorrow. It's going to be a long night. I think I'm going to grab a quick dinner at the Korean restaurant right around the corner and then head off to the library if it's still not pouring. Otherwise I'm gonna huddle in my room and try and focus.
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Afterthought: Damn...it's been about a week since I've had a drop of alcohol and I wanted to take advantage of foreigner's night at Wax Club (all you can drink w/ a minimal cover charge)...especially since it's w/in walking distance...but alas I have a test tomorrow!

I thought I was immune to this in Taiwan since...I am basically Taiwanese by ethnicity but once again ppl think I'm Korean here...well it's mostly the Koreans girls that think so. It happened in China and it happened today too. A group of Korean girls (one of them was cute) tried speaking to me in Korean. The first day of class, the Korean guy asked if I was Japanese, but I think that's reasonable since most ppl in the program seem to be Japanese.

Also, unlike in China...being thought of as Korean is a bad thing here. I've talked to two Taiwanese ppl and they both reassurred me that I don't look Korean bc my eyes are not squinty. Apparently Taiwanese ppl think anyone with a single eyelid and small eyes are Korean, but my cousin added that a lot of Koreans now have surgery so it's not as bad anymore...oh well.

New Glasses

Pretty self-explanatory...

Without glasses:

Normal glasses:
New glasses (the kind everyone wears in Taipei):



I don't know...I think they look weird now even though I liked them yesterday...

I guess I'll get used to them...

OK time to shower, hang up my laundry, and then ESTUDIAR!
I have an oral presentation and grammar quiz tomorrow. Oy vay...I mean AIYAH!

First quiz; Famous Artist Yu Peng; First Tutoring Session; Homework Assignment

So I had my first quiz today and I think I did really poor...I got home around 11:30 PM last night and then I took a shower and some laundry and by the time I was settled and ready to study it was past midnight. So I didn't get to bed until nearly 3 AM as I had to finish my homework and study the 40 vocab words. It took forever because I had to keep looking up traditional characters that I couldn't figure out. Well, I wasn't the only one that did poorly on today's quiz..during the break the French girl went up to look at the posted answers to the quiz and she started to cry...no joke. She broke down and sobbed for at least 20 minutes. It was awkward, so I got up and went to the bathroom. When I came back she was still wiping her eyes and her eyes were bloodshot. The teacher told everyone not to worry (dan xin) that it was the first quiz and everyone's still getting accustomed to class and the teacher and etc. She also looked over at me and said that some people have never learned traditional either and that it will take some time to get used to.

After class I went to eat with my classmates, except the guy from Pusan, S. Korea went off with his Korean gf (I think?). And the French girl decided to eat at the cafe in front of the MTC instead of getting a real substantial meal at a restaurant in the night market (her loss).

We went to Stone Bowl, a Korean restaurant, the second time I've been there. They have a 99 yuan lunch special (that's $3), and there's free barley tea and xian cao dessert. I got a ma la huo guo (numb and spicy fire pot) w/ beef and dong fen (vermicelli noodles). It was so spicy it made me cough, even though I requested zhong la.

During lunch, after realizing what was happening I set the ground rules. I established that only one universal language was to be spoken-Mandarin Chinese. Since prior half the table would break out into Japanese and then Jimmy and me would start speaking in English. Oh yeah my class is basically comprised of Japanese students, plus one French girl, one Korean, one Thai girl, and two Americans (Jimmy is from Kansas U.). Maru, Masao, and Nico are Japanese but Maru is half-Taiwanese and he lives with his aunt in Yonghe district.

We agreed to go to Ji ling (??) ye shi (night market) on the weekend and we traded #s and MSN addresses. The Japanese girl lives in Xinhai Lu which is really close to me and Jimmy is the second closest, living by Daan Park.

I told them all about foreigner's night at Wax Club (all you can drink with a 350 NT cover) but they said we have a test on Thursday...I forgot...so now I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll go next week but I want to do well on my first test. I don't want to lose my scholarship (if you get below an 80 average you lose your stipend for that month).

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Oh this should have been posted with my blog on Ho Laoshi's mei mei (Ho Chun Li) but this will do. She works for the National Science Foundation (but the Humanities department) and she is married to a famous Taiwanese artist. NYC's MET is having a contemporary E. Asian art exhibit and his work is shown there. Apparently all of the artists are from mainland China except for him.

I took some photos of the booklet she gave me. These are some I liked:






Yu Peng. (I think these are his...there are two artists featured in this booklet...).

Oh yeah and speaking of her reminds me that I have to meet up with her son tonight to tutor from 7-9 PM...sigh...then I'm going to take the MRT to gu gong stop to pick up my glasses and then photocopy my passport (I have to get it from my aunt) and other materials for the scholarship process.

I also need to e-mail/call her to set the price and the process of payment. I'm told that the normal charge for one-on-one English tutoring is 700-1000 NTD/ hour. I feel awkward calling her and saying that so I'm going to e-mail it first...

My aunt said I have to settle the price and payment process before I teach her son...
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This is completely unrelated to Taiwan or anything but...the beginning of the new Britney Spears song, "gimmie more" cracks me up. Go listen to it. "It's Britney, bitch. I see you....::retarded laughter::"

It's hilarious. (I didn't realize how creepy that really is until Jess pointed it out). I still find it hilarious. I heard another song from her new album I forgot what it was called but I stopped it after 7 seconds because it was horrible.

UPDATE 6:03 PM

I called my 21 yr old student and told him I could only meet for an hour tonight bc I was so busy and he said next Tuesday then. Thank G-d!

That's a load off my chest. Taking the subway over to some random place would have wasted over an hour too. This kid is so lazy...he was sleeping when I called..and he refuses to switch trains so he wants to meet at that far place bc it's closer to him...

Anyways, I have to study grammar patterns for the quiz tomorrow, where I will have to write out sentences w/ traditional characters...YIKES! (I could barely handle writing phrases in traditional...).

We also have an oral report tomorrow on a tv episode we have to watch tonight. She wants us all to buy a newspaper and then choose a show we would like to watch.

I have to say this is the most challenging (tiao3 zhang4-that's a new vocab word from Ch. 17!) Chinese class I have ever taken in my life...and I think it is highly effective. I am learning a lot every single day. I learned a lot of new grammar patterns today and I think I'm getting better at recognizing traditional characters.

The teacher is firm but nice. She helps you a little but she doesn't let you give up...when I couldn't figure out many words in this one sentence I wanted her to just read it for me so I could answer the problem but she would just give me hints and wait for me to figure it out. She really makes you think.