I just finished reviewing over 1,000 photos from the World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan this past weekend. Man I wish I could've been there! It looked very exciting and I saw some familiar faces. German Fernandez, the great white hope, did pretty well by placing 11th. He was hoping for a medal, but then again so is everyone in the race. Everyone at that race is so incredibly fast. One of the Americans who competed in the senior men's race is a 27:40 10k runner and he finished 60th. Really puts things into perspective...wow!
So it's been a very interesting last few days...not sure where to begin. I can start with my blog title. It was my friend Chris' birthday on Friday so all of the foreign teachers and some of the Chinese teachers went out to a Taiwanese market and celebrated. The menu: chicken's feet, chicken rectum (no joke), duck head complete with brain and tongue, duck neck, duck liver, duck blood, and that's about it for the odd items. We also had something that's like Chicken Lo-mein but it also included octopus, squid, and oysters. And of course rice. I did sample the brain, neck, tongue, feet, and rectum. Although they all sound quite gross, they really weren't that bad. They weren't that good either. It was all deep fried and very greasy so all the different parts just tasted like over-cooked, greasy rubber. But it sounds exotic so it's fascinating to talk about :) Then four of us proceeded to play a basketball arcade game together and we almost broke the record that ONE person had done by themself. We were very proud of our accomplishment.
Yesterday, I went on a day-trip to Ilan, on the east side of Taiwan. And what a trip it was! The drive there took about three hours, and on the way we went through one of the longest tunnels in the world. It took at least 5 minutes to drive through it. Needless to say, I was not able to hold my breath through it the whole way. Once we hit the ocean, we went South for at least a half hour, winding along the side of cliffs that plunged straight into the ocean. It was as scenic as Hawaii, so I was as excited as a kid in a candy shop. The run started about halfway up a mountain at a highway pull-off. We ran up a fire road for the first 20 minutes or so of the run. There was a part of it where the course had been marked with an arrow to go straight off of a cliff and I came up to it thinking "no way" but it turned out to be a joke. On these Hash runs I never know what to expect so I sort of thought they'd be crazy enough to do that. Anyway, once we got to the top of the mountain, we started winding through the jungle, rolling up and down many hills with steep staircases. Then began a long descent of what felt like thousands of stairs. It took at least 20 minutes. It got pretty tiring but it was pretty crazy. We reached a flat section in a small town where we wound through farm land, ditches, streams, and landfills. It was at this point in the run that I thought we were almost done. Not quite...
The trail started climbing a mountain once more. I found that my stair-climbing ability had declined greatly after the first mountain. These stairs led through the jungle again, following a very nice, quiet, and peaceful nature trail. The temperature was perfect all day. It was around 65 degrees with a light breeze, perfect for running. This trail seemed to go on forever but the end was worth it. It led to a viewpoint about 300 feet straight above the ocean. In both directions you looked, you could see the island diving into the ocean. Hearing the roar of the waves was the best part. That was the first time I've heard that since I've arrived. The trail then descended a labyrinth of very steep staircases, finally ending at a little fishing harbor in Nan Ao. The Down-Downs took place in this harbor, with all 200 Hashers that participated. It was great! See the pictures for a 1,000 word description of the scene.
The Bash afterwards took place at a temple a few minutes walk from the harbor. They served rice, crab, lobster, pork, tuna sashimi, some other fish, vegetable stew, vegetable tempura, and a dessert that was some sort of fruit soup. The names of the people I can remember at my table were Recycle, Cash, Hamilton, and Math. These are of course not their real names but their Hasher names. After the meal, the other white guy at the run (yes one finally showed up) asked me if I had eaten the fish. I told him I had and he said in the future, never eat the fish at an outdoor restaurant. He said it has parasites that foreigners are not used to and we can get very sick. And of course, I found this out after I'd eaten the fish. Oh well, it's been almost 24 hours since I ate that and I'm feeling fine. We hopped on the bus after the meal, and I slept the whole way back. Another amazing Hash run! They gave me a bandana, watch, and badge too so those are some pretty sweet souvenirs. In all, the run was about 15 kilometers long, but with how much I was bonking the last half hour, it felt like a lot longer than that.
I was supposed to go on a tour today with my doorman Mr. Sen but the weather was not very good today so he bailed. I did have a funny experience this morning trying to figure things out with Mr. Sen. At 9:15 this morning, I got a phone call from Mr. Hur, the doorman on duty. He spoke to me only in Chinese for about one minute, while I just laughed because I had no idea what was going on. He kept repeating the same phrase over and over and I had no idea what he meant. I hung the phone up and got back in bed. He called back about five minutes later, seemingly repeating the same conversation again. I kept on saying "Wo ting bu dong" which means that I don't understand. Frustrated, I hung up the phone again. I figured this was related to Mr. Sen somehow so I called him on my cell phone and he told me was wanted to cancel. A few minutes later, my bird-chirping doorbell rang, and it was Mr. Hur. He motioned for me to follow him while he kept rambling in Chinese. He took me to the doorman stand and picked up the phone and dialed a number. He handed me the phone and it was Mr. Sen. He proceeded to tell me he was cancelling as if we hadn't spoken five minutes prior. Then Mr. Hur rambled some more and kept saying "goodbye, goodbye." What a morning that was! So today was simply a personal day, laying around the apartment and being lazy but getting some much needed rest. I talked to Andrew and we may be going camping next weekend in Fulong so hopefully that will make for a good story or two. Thanks for reading my rambling.
Oh one other thing I just remembered with Mr. Hur. My landlord had told me that you can take your trash out after 5 pm. I took mine out at 5:10 and Mr. Hur came up to me and started yelling at me in Chinese. I kept saying "wu" which means five and he shook his head a lot and kept saying "liu" which means six. I hung my head in shame and carried my trash bags back up to my apartment.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Smoking in Taiwan
As I type this blog, I notice a distinct smell in my room: cigarette smoke...allow me to start from the beginning. After work, I was pretty stressed so what did I do to relax? Shop of course. I was actually extremely proud of myself because I bought a water bottle and found a place to buy running shoes and shorts, so that will definitely come in handy in the coming months. Anyway, I proceeded to Mos Burger where I woofed down three teriyaki chicken burgers, and yes my eyes were bigger than my stomach so now I feel pretty disgusting. I tried doing some schoolwork in the restaurant but my ADD kicked in pretty seriously so I decided I needed to go home.
A new doorman started working at my building a few weeks ago. His name is Mr. Hur, pronounced just like "her." I think he's a little crazy because he always waves at me a lot and starts speaking Chinese to me as if I'm a native of Taiwan. I just smile and keep walking. Anyway, when I got back today, he was wearing one of those hip snowboard-type hats that's like a beanie, but it has a little bill too. His lips were also blood-red, and he had a sick mask down around his neck and chin. His lips were red because he was eating betel nut, which is a very popular thing to eat here. I haven't done it yet but it's supposed to give you a little buzz. It's legal too. They sell it everywhere. The way to find where they sell it is to find a bright, obnoxious blinking red light. They're displayed in front of every betel nut store. So it was pretty comical to just look at Mr. Hur, but then he started rambling in Chinese and English, repeatedly saying "hello" and "thank you." Once I got inside the gate, he stuck his hand out his window with a pack of cigarettes. I motioned with my hand "no thanks" and I could tell he was going to be pretty persistent. I said "no, no thanks" and he took one out of the pack and handed it to me. I was just standing there holding it, laughing. Then he motioned for me to put it in my mouth. I could tell he was not going to give up so I put the cig to my lips, and then he lit it. Then he said "thank you bye bye thank you thank you" and he waved for me to go. I have no idea if I'm supposed to smoke in the building but I had no way of communicating with this crazy man, so I went into my apartment and half-smoked the cigarette in my sunroom. Then I put it out when I started coughing too much.
So there it is...my explanation for the smell in my apartment. I hope you believe me. Ha ha. And my plan is to go down to see this man again in an hour to get the keys for the treadmill. Something else strange may happen again...
A new doorman started working at my building a few weeks ago. His name is Mr. Hur, pronounced just like "her." I think he's a little crazy because he always waves at me a lot and starts speaking Chinese to me as if I'm a native of Taiwan. I just smile and keep walking. Anyway, when I got back today, he was wearing one of those hip snowboard-type hats that's like a beanie, but it has a little bill too. His lips were also blood-red, and he had a sick mask down around his neck and chin. His lips were red because he was eating betel nut, which is a very popular thing to eat here. I haven't done it yet but it's supposed to give you a little buzz. It's legal too. They sell it everywhere. The way to find where they sell it is to find a bright, obnoxious blinking red light. They're displayed in front of every betel nut store. So it was pretty comical to just look at Mr. Hur, but then he started rambling in Chinese and English, repeatedly saying "hello" and "thank you." Once I got inside the gate, he stuck his hand out his window with a pack of cigarettes. I motioned with my hand "no thanks" and I could tell he was going to be pretty persistent. I said "no, no thanks" and he took one out of the pack and handed it to me. I was just standing there holding it, laughing. Then he motioned for me to put it in my mouth. I could tell he was not going to give up so I put the cig to my lips, and then he lit it. Then he said "thank you bye bye thank you thank you" and he waved for me to go. I have no idea if I'm supposed to smoke in the building but I had no way of communicating with this crazy man, so I went into my apartment and half-smoked the cigarette in my sunroom. Then I put it out when I started coughing too much.
So there it is...my explanation for the smell in my apartment. I hope you believe me. Ha ha. And my plan is to go down to see this man again in an hour to get the keys for the treadmill. Something else strange may happen again...
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Sunglasses
Yesterday, I was supposed to discuss "eyes" with my K1B Science class. Because they don't really understand any English, you typically have to make a lot of funny sounds, gestures, or bring in funny toys. I decided to have them all try on a pair of sunglasses, although I did not explain the purpose of sunglasses. I mainly just wanted to take pictures of the cute little kids. I posted them on Flickr so check 'em out. They're adorable!
I also documented some of the mystery foods that are common in Taiwan. Check out those pictures too and you decide for yourself what they are and if you would eat them or not. I personally have not been brave enough to order one of these goods. I have had some pig's blood dishes and that's a big deal for me. It actually did not taste nearly as bad as it sounds like it would.
Last topic for the day...I just tutored a girl for about 3 hours and earned $70. She is interviewing at a university next week and her parents wanted her to talk to a foreigner to practice her English. She wants to major in English literature. The whole thing was fairly awkward because we were sitting at a table in uncomfortable chairs and had to talk for 3 hours straight. I basically had no material to work with so I asked her about hobbies, sports, movies, music, and when that ran out, I looked up online sample interview questions. It was a fairly laborious 3 hour conversation but it's over now and it's another experience I can put under my belt I suppose. One interesting fact I learned during our conversation...there are over 1 billion Chinese speakers in the world and roughly 500 million English speakers. The third largest language in the world is sort of a tie between Hindustani and Spanish. However, the order of these languages changed on every site I looked at but Chinese was always the largest.
Other than that, I'm feeling a bit sick and quite lazy, so no more fascinating news for now. I'm trying desperately to get better so I can keep feeding you guys interesting news.
I also documented some of the mystery foods that are common in Taiwan. Check out those pictures too and you decide for yourself what they are and if you would eat them or not. I personally have not been brave enough to order one of these goods. I have had some pig's blood dishes and that's a big deal for me. It actually did not taste nearly as bad as it sounds like it would.
Last topic for the day...I just tutored a girl for about 3 hours and earned $70. She is interviewing at a university next week and her parents wanted her to talk to a foreigner to practice her English. She wants to major in English literature. The whole thing was fairly awkward because we were sitting at a table in uncomfortable chairs and had to talk for 3 hours straight. I basically had no material to work with so I asked her about hobbies, sports, movies, music, and when that ran out, I looked up online sample interview questions. It was a fairly laborious 3 hour conversation but it's over now and it's another experience I can put under my belt I suppose. One interesting fact I learned during our conversation...there are over 1 billion Chinese speakers in the world and roughly 500 million English speakers. The third largest language in the world is sort of a tie between Hindustani and Spanish. However, the order of these languages changed on every site I looked at but Chinese was always the largest.
Other than that, I'm feeling a bit sick and quite lazy, so no more fascinating news for now. I'm trying desperately to get better so I can keep feeding you guys interesting news.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
"The Hike"
Yesterday, I went on a hike with my doorman, Mr. Pong. Where to begin...well at the beginning I suppose. I met him in front of McDonald's at 6:45, after he got off his graveyard shift at my building. He picked me up in a Nissan SUV, playing music by Dion and the Belmonts. There is a strange fascination here with American music. You can hear it playing pretty much everywhere even though no one knows the words. The best moments are when you're in a store and they're playing rap music with a lot of swear words and there are kids everywhere tapping their toes, completely oblivious to the lyrics. Anyway, Mr. Pong proceeded to drive us to his friend's house...Mr. Wang. Then we drove to the Guanyin Mountain trailhead. Apparently there are like five Guanyin mountains around Taipei, so we went to the one in Linkou I think but I'm not really sure where we were. We walked down a road for about 5 minutes and then the climbing started. I knew it was going to be an interesting hike when about 10 minutes in or so, Mr. Pong told me that his lungs hurt because he smokes too much. I told him that maybe he should stop and he said he wouldn't.
The hiking trails here are generally straight up. There are no such things as switchbacks. It's typically pretty difficult but my company made things a little more leisurely. Throughout the hike, I kept on hearing yelps in the distance. Like every five minutes I'd hear someone make a loud cat call or something. I assumed it was part of some meditation or something but I have no idea. When we got to the top, we could see the ocean! I was so excited because this was my first time to see the ocean since I've arrived, so that was definitely a highlight. At the top, there were probably about 20 people already there at 8 AM, so they must've gotten up very early. There were a bunch of old men in workout pants doing different exercises, like swinging their arms in circles or hitting their backs with their hands. Also, they were swinging their hips around in circles. I didn't read into it too much, it's part of the culture.
On the descent, Mr. Pong kept saying that his arms hurt so he fell farther and farther behind (or is it further? I'm only an English teacher...). On the way back, Mr. Wang really hit his stride. On the way up, he was not doing too well and sweating and breathing a lot, but downhill he was a force. He went way ahead and Mr. Pong's arms hurt so I was stuck in the middle taking pictures. Check Flickr for those!
After the hike, I told Mr. Pong I wanted an authentic Chinese breakfast. I didn't think about that too much when I said it so the first thing we got...noodle soup with mystery meat and a tea egg in it. It was pretty gnarly stuff that I'd had before at school and I didn't like it then. Luckily, it was boiling hot so I ate slowly and somehow Pong and Wang devoured theirs in no time. After picking around the "meat" and egg, I told them I wasn't hungry and I'd take the rest home. Then we went to another restaurant. Suddenly I was hungry again! This time we ate dumplings and drank Chinese milk, which Mr. Pong said is made out of a yellow bean. It didn't quite taste like soymilk but something similar. It was actually pretty good.
Just when I thought the festivities were done, Mr. Pong asked me if I wanted to go to a spa. I was hesitant at first because my first encounter was during a hash run when we ran through a spa full of older, completely naked men. But I thought to myself "I'm here to try new things" so I complied. Lucky for me, it was a co-ed spa so clothing was required. The spa had a large outdoor lap pool, as well as an indoor bath house full of a bunch of different showers and jets and tubs and such. The funniest things they had were the high-powered jets that felt like being sprayed with a fire hose. They were very powerful. They had one version of it that I did not get to try because a lady was hogging it. It had a spigot about two feet wide, just pouring water out. You were supposed to lay underneath the downpour as it pummeled you. I think all of the water was fresh too. I didn't notice any chlorine. The catch with that, which I may be noticing the effects now, is that it was probably infested with bacteria. I started feeling sick yesterday a few hours after the spa and haven't felt right since.
So that pretty much sums everything up. Mr. Pong paid for everything which was very nice of him! I'm sure we'll do something like this again. Hopefully his arms don't hurt as much during round two.
Two quick "fun facts" for you about Taiwan. Number one: there are basically no trash cans on the street anywhere. It is generally a pain in the neck throwing something away. Even at school, there are hardly any trash cans. Number two: I have not seen a speed limit sign on any road anywhere.
The hiking trails here are generally straight up. There are no such things as switchbacks. It's typically pretty difficult but my company made things a little more leisurely. Throughout the hike, I kept on hearing yelps in the distance. Like every five minutes I'd hear someone make a loud cat call or something. I assumed it was part of some meditation or something but I have no idea. When we got to the top, we could see the ocean! I was so excited because this was my first time to see the ocean since I've arrived, so that was definitely a highlight. At the top, there were probably about 20 people already there at 8 AM, so they must've gotten up very early. There were a bunch of old men in workout pants doing different exercises, like swinging their arms in circles or hitting their backs with their hands. Also, they were swinging their hips around in circles. I didn't read into it too much, it's part of the culture.
On the descent, Mr. Pong kept saying that his arms hurt so he fell farther and farther behind (or is it further? I'm only an English teacher...). On the way back, Mr. Wang really hit his stride. On the way up, he was not doing too well and sweating and breathing a lot, but downhill he was a force. He went way ahead and Mr. Pong's arms hurt so I was stuck in the middle taking pictures. Check Flickr for those!
After the hike, I told Mr. Pong I wanted an authentic Chinese breakfast. I didn't think about that too much when I said it so the first thing we got...noodle soup with mystery meat and a tea egg in it. It was pretty gnarly stuff that I'd had before at school and I didn't like it then. Luckily, it was boiling hot so I ate slowly and somehow Pong and Wang devoured theirs in no time. After picking around the "meat" and egg, I told them I wasn't hungry and I'd take the rest home. Then we went to another restaurant. Suddenly I was hungry again! This time we ate dumplings and drank Chinese milk, which Mr. Pong said is made out of a yellow bean. It didn't quite taste like soymilk but something similar. It was actually pretty good.
Just when I thought the festivities were done, Mr. Pong asked me if I wanted to go to a spa. I was hesitant at first because my first encounter was during a hash run when we ran through a spa full of older, completely naked men. But I thought to myself "I'm here to try new things" so I complied. Lucky for me, it was a co-ed spa so clothing was required. The spa had a large outdoor lap pool, as well as an indoor bath house full of a bunch of different showers and jets and tubs and such. The funniest things they had were the high-powered jets that felt like being sprayed with a fire hose. They were very powerful. They had one version of it that I did not get to try because a lady was hogging it. It had a spigot about two feet wide, just pouring water out. You were supposed to lay underneath the downpour as it pummeled you. I think all of the water was fresh too. I didn't notice any chlorine. The catch with that, which I may be noticing the effects now, is that it was probably infested with bacteria. I started feeling sick yesterday a few hours after the spa and haven't felt right since.
So that pretty much sums everything up. Mr. Pong paid for everything which was very nice of him! I'm sure we'll do something like this again. Hopefully his arms don't hurt as much during round two.
Two quick "fun facts" for you about Taiwan. Number one: there are basically no trash cans on the street anywhere. It is generally a pain in the neck throwing something away. Even at school, there are hardly any trash cans. Number two: I have not seen a speed limit sign on any road anywhere.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Mr. Hamburger
I found out today at school that the PE teacher's name is Mr. Hamburger. He wears athletic pants, a sweatband on his head, blows a whistle, and I believe he has a stopwatch as well. He's a pretty intense guy, but that's what you need when you're trying to wrangle up a bunch of four year old kids on the playground. In school we also discussed chicken pox in one of my classes, and my kids kindly pointed out that I had some red spots on my face and asked me if I had chicken pox. It was not my most flattering moment, but it made me realize that I don't think they have chicken pox over here. None of my students knew what I was talking about when I described the chicken pox symptoms. Maybe they get them when they're adults or something...
I am going on a hike tomorrow morning at 6:45 with my doorman and needless to say, I'm quite excited. It will be a very Taiwanese experience. He said it was a half hour hike each way but the word "sixty" could have been lost in translation. Heck, for all I know we could be hiking 60 km tomorrow. I'll be sure to post about that!
It's been getting warmer here, but it's been beautiful. The best is when I get off school at night and there's a light breeze in the air and the temperature is probably around 65 degrees. One other thing...I still have not seen the ocean and I'm only about 4 miles as the crow flies from it. It's a mission of mine to make it there sometime in the next week. I'll be sure to post about that as well. Other than that, no other real exciting news for now. I may be going to Tainan in a week or two so that's a fairly big happening coming up. Zaijian for now!
I am going on a hike tomorrow morning at 6:45 with my doorman and needless to say, I'm quite excited. It will be a very Taiwanese experience. He said it was a half hour hike each way but the word "sixty" could have been lost in translation. Heck, for all I know we could be hiking 60 km tomorrow. I'll be sure to post about that!
It's been getting warmer here, but it's been beautiful. The best is when I get off school at night and there's a light breeze in the air and the temperature is probably around 65 degrees. One other thing...I still have not seen the ocean and I'm only about 4 miles as the crow flies from it. It's a mission of mine to make it there sometime in the next week. I'll be sure to post about that as well. Other than that, no other real exciting news for now. I may be going to Tainan in a week or two so that's a fairly big happening coming up. Zaijian for now!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Lingering in Linkou
So I just got back from roaming the streets of Linkou at 11:30 at night in search of dumplings. I failed. I asked one lady and she shook her head. There weren't many places open so my choices were limited. I headed into one of the night markets that all the locals go to and practically nothing looked appetizing. Hmm...what did I see? Well, um liver, frogs, uncooked goose neck, chicken's feet again, and a bunch of very very odd looking things. I'm going to take a picture of some of these foods sometime in the near future to better explain the "food." On my walk home, I passed a stray dog that I thought was about to start barking at me but instead it started wretching in the street. I went to a bakery too and bought something that I actually liked so I might go there again, especially considering that there's one every block. Lots of the pastries have meat and vegetables in them. I could really just go for an apple pie at this point. Well let's put it this way: when I do get to have an apple pie for real, it'll probably be the best one I've had in my life.
At school today, I had one of my student's come up with a girl. I asked who the girl was and she said "I'm Ruby, Kerry's sister." Then I asked her if she liked her brother Kerry and she said "No, but if I say it he'll hit me." She said this right in front of her brother. Nothing really happened though because I don't think Kerry knew what his sister said. Or they didn't understand what the words meant. Then again, the grasp these 6 year olds have on English is much better than my Chinese. I wasn't even able to eat tonight. I'm boiling water for pasta right now, and I have Prego pasta sauce in the fridge ready to go. I know, very Taiwanese. The other highlight at school was from the test I had to give in two of my classes. There was a question on the test that read "Are you happy/sad today and why?" This struck me as a very odd question. Luckily I got no terrifying answers like "I'm sad because I got attacked by a dog" or something along those lines. One kid said he was sad because he had to go to school. The rest of the kids said they were happy because they were at school and because they had a test. The scoring is pretty funny on the tests too. Because they are kids, you can't give them a bad grade. So if a kid gives a perfect answer he gets a 10 out of 10. If he gives a bad answer or cannot answer the question he gets a 9 out of 10.
Well, that's all the fascinating news I can think of right now. Oh one more thing...the other night I was jogging on the treadmill watching "The Shawshank Redemption" and there's a scene where a guy gets mad while taking a test and he says it may as well have been in Chinese because he got all the answers wrong. I had to laugh as I jogged on a Chinese-brand treadmill in the middle of a Chinese speaking country while watching Chinese TV with Chinese subtitles. Til next time from Taoyuan County...
At school today, I had one of my student's come up with a girl. I asked who the girl was and she said "I'm Ruby, Kerry's sister." Then I asked her if she liked her brother Kerry and she said "No, but if I say it he'll hit me." She said this right in front of her brother. Nothing really happened though because I don't think Kerry knew what his sister said. Or they didn't understand what the words meant. Then again, the grasp these 6 year olds have on English is much better than my Chinese. I wasn't even able to eat tonight. I'm boiling water for pasta right now, and I have Prego pasta sauce in the fridge ready to go. I know, very Taiwanese. The other highlight at school was from the test I had to give in two of my classes. There was a question on the test that read "Are you happy/sad today and why?" This struck me as a very odd question. Luckily I got no terrifying answers like "I'm sad because I got attacked by a dog" or something along those lines. One kid said he was sad because he had to go to school. The rest of the kids said they were happy because they were at school and because they had a test. The scoring is pretty funny on the tests too. Because they are kids, you can't give them a bad grade. So if a kid gives a perfect answer he gets a 10 out of 10. If he gives a bad answer or cannot answer the question he gets a 9 out of 10.
Well, that's all the fascinating news I can think of right now. Oh one more thing...the other night I was jogging on the treadmill watching "The Shawshank Redemption" and there's a scene where a guy gets mad while taking a test and he says it may as well have been in Chinese because he got all the answers wrong. I had to laugh as I jogged on a Chinese-brand treadmill in the middle of a Chinese speaking country while watching Chinese TV with Chinese subtitles. Til next time from Taoyuan County...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
New Pics
As the title suggests, new pictures are up! I added about 30 or so around Linkou and from the Hash runs I've done. As I type right now, it is pouring rain outside. This is my first rain storm of potentially many, many more. Also, my stupid alarm clock went off again. It inexplicably goes off at noon, 1 PM, and 8 PM everyday but I can't operate the clock because it has 4 buttons on the back labeled 1-4, and the instruction manual is Chinese. I should get it translated perhaps. The alarm is kind of humorous though so I don't let it bother me that much.
School is going well. It's been a stressful week but it's almost Friday and I cannot believe another week has already gone by. More hashing this weekend so that will be a lot of fun. Plus I'm going to eat breakfast with my doorman on Sunday so that should be fun, and interesting. I'm going to be going on a hike with my other doorman one of these days. The doormen are really funny and they like practicing their English with me, plus they teach me some Chinese here and there.
Speaking of Chinese, I finished my first week of Chinese classes at the Taipei Language Institute. It's very difficult and all we're working on right now is tones. Then again, Chinese is based on tones so that's definitely important to know. I can't wait to start learning some words and sentence though so I can put them to use on the streets...did I mention it's 99% Chinese here? So any Chinese I learn will come in handy. I'm taking the class with one of my fellow teachers at the school so we commute together. It eats a lot of time up in the day that I'd normally waste in my apartment watching Rambo 4.
One more thing I may be doing in the next week or two...tutoring. One of my co-teachers doesn't want to do it anymore so I might take over the job of tutoring one kid 2 hours a week. More on that later...
School is going well. It's been a stressful week but it's almost Friday and I cannot believe another week has already gone by. More hashing this weekend so that will be a lot of fun. Plus I'm going to eat breakfast with my doorman on Sunday so that should be fun, and interesting. I'm going to be going on a hike with my other doorman one of these days. The doormen are really funny and they like practicing their English with me, plus they teach me some Chinese here and there.
Speaking of Chinese, I finished my first week of Chinese classes at the Taipei Language Institute. It's very difficult and all we're working on right now is tones. Then again, Chinese is based on tones so that's definitely important to know. I can't wait to start learning some words and sentence though so I can put them to use on the streets...did I mention it's 99% Chinese here? So any Chinese I learn will come in handy. I'm taking the class with one of my fellow teachers at the school so we commute together. It eats a lot of time up in the day that I'd normally waste in my apartment watching Rambo 4.
One more thing I may be doing in the next week or two...tutoring. One of my co-teachers doesn't want to do it anymore so I might take over the job of tutoring one kid 2 hours a week. More on that later...
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