So it's come to my attention that I am a horrible blogger. Life hasn't been too crazy in the past few months. I spent my first Christmas away from home on a beach outside of Taipei. It was also my first Christmas without presents (Although, Tessa sent me an awesome Threadless shirt). What's Christmas without presents!? Or a tree!? Well, it was honestly one of the best I've had. That's a lie about the presents. My roommate bought me a USC shirt. Normally I wouldn't wear something like that, but the emblem reads "THE PEOPLE PARFORMANCE EMPTY WAS CARRIEO.THE STAILE THAT NEW MODEL". Clearly the irony was not lost on me. The night was mostly spent drinking, playing Horse Race, and bashing everything aboot Canada and hockey. We found a sweet Mexican restaurant in Danshui that serves Dead Guy Ale.

New Years was even more of an adventure. Since we had to leave immediately after work, some of us suited up before work. Taipei was insane. The MRT reminded me of basically every day in Beijing. We were packed like sardines. We had tickets to a party at the Taipei Country Club, and so that's where we told the cab driver to take us. That was not where the cab drivers took us. Fortunately, we got a great view of the fireworks show. Since my version is horrible quality, I'll give you this one. As you can see, the show didn't go exactly as planned. Rather than looking like a dragon scaling up the building, it looked more like the building was on fire. ROC 100!

After we watched the show, we headed to the party. After taking a wrong turn, we ended up hiking a mountain for an hour and a half. Let me be the first to say: Hiking in dress shoes? Not the most pleasant experience. 2 am was the final arrival date.

January hasn't been too eventful. Between Chinese classes and work, I don't really have a lot of time to myself. So we're basically up to speed.

BUT WAIT!

Let me tell you about today.

I woke up at around 8am, got ready for class, hopped on my scooter and headed to school. I'm minding my own business in the scooter lane. All of the sudden, the guy not 15 feet in front of me takes a sharp right turn. Down I go. After slamming on my brakes on the wet pavement, I slid. I busted up my scooter, took a piece of the cars body off, and dislocated my right big toe. Rather than spending my morning in class, I spent it in the hospital. I ended up with 5 stitches, and a ton of gauze wrap where a band-aid would've sufficed. Seriously, my arms are covered in it. I only got a few scrapes though. Thank you, Taiwan, for your universal health care. I walked out of the hospital with a bunch of painkillers, ointment, 2 x-rays, a relocated toe, an ambulance ride, and crutches for about 25 USD. Simply stunning.

So I'm done with the scooter for awhile, 2 accidents in a month and a half is a death trap as far as I'm concerned. I'll take longer journeys over constant fear any day.

-迪龍 out

Looks like I need to head down south soon

So remember that book Life of Pi? The book that inspired and filled me with the very wanderlust that led me to Taiwan? Well apparently it's being made into a movie. Guess where it's being filmed?

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2010/11/20/2003488923


In other random Taiwan news, DJPaulyD of Jersey Shore fame played a set in Taipei last night. How am I so good at missing sweet shows? First Flo Rida and Rihanna, and now this. NEVER AGAIN!

Sunday Fundays

Sunday is our only day off here at Gloria, so it's important to make the most of our day of rest. More times than not, this means a trip to the capital (Taipei). Last week, I hiked 9-5 peak outside of Taipei with a couple friends. The view wasn't spectacular since it was incredibly foggy, but what a climb! It just got steeper and steeper until finally we needed ropes to climb. Thankfully they're already in place! The mountain was full of temples and little shrines, along with the Chinese character for Buddha (佛) carved into various rocks. Taiwan is full of temples scattered about the cities, a major convenience for those that need to get their pray on. I definitely plan on making it here again, so stand by for a picture with a clear view of Taipei.

Trevor on the ropes

Today we went to Jiufen. It's a bit touristy, but it had a lot of neat little stores to check out. Small alley streets and shops selling Taiwan souvenirs among other things. It was a good chance for everybody to do some Christmas shopping and hang out with a couple folks who are leaving this week. I had my first tea house experience. We got a lesson in how to properly prepare a pot of tea, which for some reason includes pouring water ON the teapot. The building looked like it was out of a different era, almost like being taken back 100 years ago. We drank our tea outside with the lights of the city behind us. When the fog rolled in, it kinda felt like we were on a pirate ship or something. The shopping resumed after we left the tea house. 

Find of the day (aside from my newly acquired ocarina shaped like Taiwan) :

I wanna know the person who thinks this is something they just 'need' in their living room. 

The beautiful view from Jiufen

That's it for now. Who knows what next week has in store.

-迪龍 out

 

Halloween at Gloria

I can't believe I've already been here for 3 months, time is really flying by. We had Halloween parties in our class the week before last. Thursday was my favorite of the party days. These were some of my younger kids. We really didn't do that much teaching, just played games and trick or treated around other classes. The idea was simple, just go into a room, sing, and get candy. I didn't know there were additional lyrics to the trick-or-treat song:

Trick or Treat
Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat
Not too big
Not too small
Just the size of a basketball

My costume was a big hit. "OH! The emperor! The emperor is coming! The emperor is coming!!!!"

I introduced the mummy wrap game in my classes, and most of them loved it. Some of the girls were confused why we were wasting so much toilet paper. The world can take a lesson from Taiwan: Teach conservation EARLY! 

These kids thought the idea was to just throw tp on someone. Still very cute and fun! The best part was picking up the tp. The kids took that as a cue to ambush my co-teacher and me.

My Friday class was great in a different way. They were older and kinda sick of doing the whole Halloween thing. So we played the part of the grumpy neighbor that hated Halloween. Whenever a class came, we just turned the lights out and yelled at them to go away. Obviously they found their way in. Classy I know, but everybody loved it.

Side note: That emperor outfit won me Best Costume!

Ta Ta for now. I got a lunch date with the coolest grandma in Taiwan.

-迪龍 out

Language fail!

I went to get the tires on my scooter replaced today. I dropped it off with the quote of 2400NT. He said he'd call me back in a half hour to say it was ready. He called back, and thinking he said my bike was ready, I said "Ok, ok". What he really said was "I'm replacing the brakes, too". 

There goes an extra 500. That's ASS for ya (the name of my shop)....

(But if something bigger is coming through, you're gonna have to move)

Pop Quiz: What is Fatboy Slim doing in heaven?

I'm too lazy to write an actual update right now, so let me tell you about my past couple weeks via a photo update.....

I purchased a scooter a couple of weeks ago. It's been amazing having the ability to get out of the city when I want to. The day after I got it, I went to the Shihmen Reservoir with a couple co-workers. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was, and I had this overwhelming feeling that I've only scratched the surface on the incredible scenery Taiwan has to offer.

 I saw this on a door of one restaurant at the reservoir. I can't believe it already knows.

Yesterday was Double-Ten Day in Taiwan. For those of you who don't know, this is easily one of Taiwan's most important holidays. 99 years ago, the Wuchang uprising set in motion the inevitable demise of the Qing government, effectively ending thousands of years of Dynastic rule in China. What emerged was the ROC (Republic of China), which has since relocated to Taiwan. I celebrated the day by heading into Taipei. First up on my list of things to see? The Sun Yat-Sen memorial hall. The father of modern China himself. 

My favorite part of this visit was the DJ playing right outside of the hall. There was a huge parade underway, so there was a lot going on. Nobody told him playing Dr. Dre's 'The Chronic' might not be the best choice of tunes. As I'm walking up the stairs, I hear 'smoke weed everyday!'. Thank you, random DJ, for being completely unaware of the lyrical content. 

I walked around Taipei for some time before going to see Fatboy Slim. Coincidence is a funny thing. 'You've Come a Long Way, Baby' is one of the first albums I ever owned. I've been wanting to see Fatboy Slim since I was 13. So go figure he shows up in Taiwan while I'm here. Matt expected Christopher Walken to come flying over the crowd. I think his expectations were a tad to high, but he did show up in plenty of the video..

It was a great show, but I can't say it was worth all the hype/money. Still though, it was a fun way to end my weekend. 

I'll leave you now with some pictures that got me weird looks as I couldn't control my laughter. 

I found this at a Carrefour near my house. As Americans, we take pride in our ability to refrain from gossip. 

One of my favorite things about the English here is that it makes sense, but it's just phrased in an awkward way. Another of my favorites is a billboard with a kid jumping up with a caption below that reads 'I wish to fly'.

A danger I never thought I would face in my lifetime.

You'll be glad to know the Rescue Rangers are alive and well here. Aside from diapers, I see them on scooters everywhere.

So apparently all I need to do to get back to the US is to hop on the MRT.

-迪龍 out