Taiwan Dreamin'

Taiwan Dreamin' - Driving to work

2010-05-21T09:36:00.001-04:00

I made this video today on the way to work, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAIVre3vPLQ

National Palace Museum

2010-05-16T14:09:00.003-04:00

Check out this video from when we went to the National Palace Museum in Taipei!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FsRXUElRTs&playnext_from=TL

Back to Taichung: Part 3

2010-01-20T22:08:00.001-05:00

Frostfox posted up another part of the Taichung video. In this one you can see a small Temple on my street and some cool night time shots as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sLtwBUhbBY

Back to Taichung: Parts 1 & 2

2009-12-20T13:19:00.003-05:00

My buddy FF came back and made some more videos. Here are parts 1 and 2.

More foul language in these two so be warned!

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2CzcVmEGvo

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1sJ48F9270

Scooter Crash!

2009-12-20T13:05:00.003-05:00

Well I was driving to work the other day and ended up crashing my scooter. I was trying to get through an intersection as the light was turning red. One guy was getting a head start on the green light so we were both in the intersection when we shouldn't be. I swerved sharply to avoid hitting him and just wiped out crashing onto the ground. I'm not that clear on what happened but I didn't hit anyone, I landed on my shoulder and ripped a hole in my coat.

My helmet hit the ground but so did the side of my face on my cheek bone and brow. I was bleeding a lot it seemed but overall was okay. I picked up my scooter and kept driving. As I drove my vision started going white until I couldn't see anything. I guess it was the shock and adrenaline. I pulled over and just sat there resting for a while.

I continued to work where my co-worker gave me some first aid and I rested for a while before going home. Here are some photos of my face as its progressed. I'll add some pics of the damage to my scooter later.

Taiwan Dreamin' : Teaching English

2009-12-20T13:02:00.003-05:00

For this one I didn't call it episode 2 and just decided to call it "Teaching English." This whole episode focuses on teaching, what you need to teach legally and all that. I brush over a lot of things quickly so it's not really to be used as a guide but just to give an idea of how it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL9HGc9mJO4

FF in TC part 4.

2009-12-20T12:59:00.002-05:00

Here is part 4 of the video series by Frost Fox Films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbGlSF20gMU

Frostfox to TC part 3!

2009-08-06T01:45:00.000-04:00

Here is part 3 of the trip:

Frost Fox comes to Taichung!

2009-08-01T00:20:00.003-04:00

My friend Frost Fox is posting videos of his trip to visit me a few months ago. It will come out in parts. Here are parts 1 and 2. Hopefully there isn't too much incriminating evidence against me!

Warning: These videos contain casual cursing and guy talk.

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSoeMCNQm-w

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSsYMQatMF8

Vlogs

2009-07-27T10:51:00.002-04:00

I've made two vlogs since I last updated I think:

5 / 22 / 09:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ3PbpaRlJA

6 / 22 / 09:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzlGLYCDWR8

7 / 27 / 09:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h58AQAnEXXE

In addition, I did a video about Taiwanese Drinks, I will embed that one here:

Interactive Story Project

2009-05-16T07:00:00.001-04:00

Check out my new project here:

http://therealalexanderarts.blogspot.com/

I created a separate blog for this one.

-IAN-

Hawaii 51

2009-05-13T22:16:00.003-04:00

Last night I went to eat at a restaurant called Hawaii 51. The food there was really good, tasted a lot like Chilis or Fridays, same kind of selection. When I was ALMOST done with my food I bit into my ceaser chicken wrap and bit down on something hard. It wasn't hard like a bone, I mean it was HARD. I put my fingers in my mouth and pulled out a push pin. Yes, a little yellow push pin that you'd find in a cork board.

Well it didn't stab me or anything so I didn't complain to much. Just showed the waiter. The manager came and said that particular order would be free, although he didn't offer to make Ash's food free as well. Later on he brought us a chocolate cake and ice cream dessert thing.

The problem now is that I really liked the taste of the food there, and the price was a lot lower than the other places. Then again it also had a lot more push pin, haha!

Sometimes I think it's important to look past these things, it was a freak mistake. Probably one of their decorations fell down and the put pin landed in one of the pots. Weird that even the cook didnt notice it while wrapping up the chicken though...

Well maybe I will go there again, maybe not... Leave me a comment, what do you think?

Mad Libs 1 Completed

2009-05-10T06:00:00.001-04:00

Check out my latest project here. I think it turned out pretty well - let me know what you think!

VLOG

2009-04-27T10:56:00.001-04:00

Talking about McDonalds, Taiwanese Money, and my broken video camera.

Let me know if you have any suggestions about fixing or buying a new one.

Madlibs

2009-04-16T23:50:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I made up some mad libs to play with the kids in my school. Doing this can help to make them remember nouns, verbs, and all those other grammar points.

After playing that I got the idea that I could play madlibs over youtube. So first I made a video announcing the project and asking for the words I need. I will then plug the words I get in the video comments into the story.

After I've written the story out I will draw a comic strip style cartoon and read the story out loud. The result should be something like reading rainbow for Madlibs.

Check out the announcement video below. Be sure to leave me some words too!

Here are the words I need:

Animal
Adjective
Non-sense Word
Noun
Plural Noun
Noun
Adjective
Verb
Adjective
Adjective
Verb
Verb
Adjective
Verb
Adjective
Noun
Verb
Verb
Adjective
Adjective
Verb
Noun
Verb
Verb
Number
Bodypart
Verb
Noun
Verb

Random Stuff

2009-04-10T00:13:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to post a couple photos here, check 'em out:

Strange Australian Tree at the Science Museum here in Taichung:

Old man doing a very odd exercise on a small bridge, passers by greet him:

A Transformers Themed Scooter parked on my street:

VLOG #1

2009-04-10T00:10:00.002-04:00

The other day I made a Video Log instead of writing a blog post, you can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wf5rKrL08E

If you haven't seen my Taiwan Dreamin' Ep 1 yet, watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeM_ipFzDU

-IAN-

New ARC

2009-03-02T23:37:00.004-05:00

My contract has been extended so I am staying at my school for another year. I had to go and do some paperwork with taxes, take another health check, and go to immigration for more paperwork. Yesterday I went to pick up the new ARC, looks the same as the old one.

I bought a new game, Killzone 2, it is pretty fun, but the controls are kind of weird, not sure if I will stick with the online multiplayer, but the game is really pretty, great graphics. Resident Evil 5 is coming soon, can't wait for that!

I started editing Taiwan Dreamin Ep 2 before but I haven't worked on it for a long time, I need to do that some more. These past few days I have been sick with a cold or something, think I have a fever too maybe. Well I will go to work today and wednesday is my day off so I can get a lot of sleep then.

Some friends came down from Taipei to stay with me and hang out. We played a lot Street Fighter 4, and we went to a small concert in a bar, was pretty cool. We also went to an arcade and took some video of us playing the games. Another thing we did was a part of a little skit for one of my friend's Youtube channel, we both like to make videos.

Okay - I will try to keep you guys updated and finish my video - bye bye!

Gaming again!

2009-02-16T09:54:00.003-05:00

I just got Street Fighter 4 on the 12th - it's a very fun game and highly anticipated. I decided to make a video review for it since it doesn't come out in the US until the 17th. So far it's been about 24 hours and I have over 2,000 views. To give you a comparison, my Da Keng Monkey video has gotten 62 views in the last 2 weeks. Taiwan Dreamin' episode 1 has 435 views and it's been up for 3 months.

My number of fans or 'subscirbers' has gone up as well. Before I started doing video game related videos I had about 20, now I have 72.

Here are the honors for my SF4 video:

#3 - Most Discussed (Today) - Taiwan

#1 - Most Discussed (Today) - Gaming - Taiwan

#52 - Most Discussed (This Week) - Taiwan

#1 - Most Discussed (This Week) - Gaming - Taiwan

#5 - Most Discussed (This Month) - Gaming - Taiwan

#94 - Most Viewed (Today) - Gaming - Canada

#68 - Most Viewed (Today) - Gaming - United Kingdom

#69 - Most Viewed (Today) - Gaming - New Zealand

#68 - Most Viewed (Today) - Gaming

#41 - Most Viewed (Today) - Gaming - Taiwan

#3 - Top Favorited (Today) - Gaming - Taiwan

#11 - Top Favorited (This Week) - Gaming - Taiwan

#76 - Top Favorited (This Month) - Gaming - Taiwan

#22 - Top Rated (Today) - Taiwan

#85 - Top Rated (Today) - Gaming

#1 - Top Rated (Today) - Gaming - Taiwan

#1 - Top Rated (This Week) - Gaming - Taiwan

#4 - Top Rated (This Month) - Gaming - Taiwan

#44 - Top Rated (All Time) - Gaming - Taiwan

So as you can see I am very excited about this. What this means is that I have more traffic coming through my page and more people will see my videos as a whole. When I publish my next Taiwan related video many people who are not necesarily interested in Taiwan will get notice of it and possibly check it out. Very good news for me, and for my Taiwan Dreamin' project!

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVSCHbPLOI

Also, there was a big gaming convention in Taipei recently, I didn't go but it seems pretty cool. Here's a page with photos from the event, lots of pretty girls there for advertising purposes, haha!

http://www.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=6995

Okay - I am still editing Taiwan Dreamin' ep 2, so I should be finished after not TOO long!

Today I am 25.

2009-02-09T08:50:00.003-05:00

Today is my 25th birthday. Wow... When I came to Taiwan I was 23, then shortly after turned 24. I have been here for slightly over a year.

I decided to stay here a while longer so I had to renew my Resident Visa. To do this I need to have a job, I am staying at Wells English School here in Taichung. Then I had to go to the hospital for my health check. They do x-rays, draw blood, and test your vision. Check your height and weight as well. I was about 77kg and 174.5cm something like that. Surprising, haha!

I feel pretty annoyed with myself that I only have a few Taiwan videos online, but of course I have other things I am doing too. I am editing episode 2 currently but I haven't been able to get past the intro music part yet...

I make a note not to talk about my relationships on here but I will just say I currently have a girlfriend and she has been helping me to learn chinese more than I had been with my friends. My Chinese tutor moved to New York so I don't have an organized class currently.

There are 3 videogames I am looking forward to coming out soon; Street Fighter 4, Killzone 2, and Resident Evil 5. Hope they are all cool. I have played the hell out of Fallout 3 since November. I want to continue to make videos about Taiwan though, I think I will do some more 'close to home' subjects for the episode after this one, that should make getting footage a lot faster!

Well, I am sorry I didn't update this blog more often. Not sure how many people actually even read this but if you do, let me know in the comments.

Monkey!!!

2009-02-01T12:39:00.002-05:00

When my father was here in Taiwan for his visit we went to Da Keng Mountain. There are 4 trails. My ex-coworker Jen told me that trail #4, which is off in a different direction, had monkeys. She had seen one herself.

I took my dad there and we didn't see any, he also went again alone to check it out.

Well the next time I went I took my video camera and actually saw this large male monkey. So here is the video, I just basically put the entire amount of footage I got of the monkey which is about 2 mins. I whistled at the monkey a couple times, seemed he didn't like that too much. At the end you can see he shook the tree which I think is kind of a warning he is getting pissed off or territorial, that's just a guess though, I decided to leave him alone.

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=2rRRLWap2Iw

Richie Post #5:

2009-01-08T11:32:00.002-05:00

We rode Ian's scooter to the main Taichung train station and caught a bus from there, to Kaohsiung, (sounds sort of like Caou-shaung), because it's not easy to get to the high speed train station, which is located in another area west of here. The bus was the nice modern cross-country style, and I watched a Canadian movie subtitled in Chinese on the way to Kaohsiung.

We arrived at a metro station similar to the one in back home in DC, only it's cleaner and more modern. To buy a “ticket” you just touch the icon of the station you want to go to on the map of the system, and the vending machine tells you how much money to put in. You get a blue plastic token like a small poker chip that opens the gate when it’s scanned. The area where you wait for the train is enclosed with sliding glass doors that open after the trains have stopped. It’s much quieter when trains arrive, and once underway the speed and smoothness of the cars is very impressive. A man asked us about the election, and I gave him the thumbs up, which seemed to please him. Our system back home was looking pretty bad as the exit gate opened the machine collected the token to be reprogrammed.

It was late afternoon at Kaohsiung’s central park area when we arrived. The streets are wide and the avenues don’t have the cluttered look of Taichung. It’s a clean beautiful city with even more scooters. We walked through their upscale night market and then went to the park where I drank a big frosty mug of Taiwan Beer while we waited for Ian’s girlfriend and her sister to arrive.

We walked to an interesting Chinese looking Italian restaurant where I enjoyed a yummy curry dinner, and ate with a fork for the first time since arriving here. We shared dishes, and agreed that my curry was best, lucky me.

After dinner we went back through one of the night markets and the girls bought me a very cool red T shirt with a skull on it, as skulls are a very popular motif here, and most of the other selections were amazingly gaudy or adorned with strange slogans written in terrible English. It’s actually a little hard to find large sized clothes, and the selection of anything bigger than Medium is limited. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever felt larger than average.

The girls left us at the station, and Ian and I stopped off at the Love River station, and checked out the beautiful waterfront section of town before catching a bus back to Taichung. I slept on the ride home apparently missing a pretty bad American Kung Fu movie, and we arrived back late last night.

Today I'm going to rent another scooter, and we might ride to the beach.

Richie Post #4: Da Keng Trail 4

2009-01-08T10:52:00.011-05:00

Yesterday we rode our scooters out to the park with the monkeys. It was a pretty ride into the mountains through some winding little roads to a park called Da Keng. We walked trail #4 starting a little before 10:00. The sign at the park entrance says: “Be Careful Monkey”, so we were. At first the trail is one narrow lane of rough patched pavement which continues to meander up on the ridge of a finger.

The forest here is full of 4” diameter bamboo, palms, and a tangle of vegetation that looks like philodendron, and other exotic house plants. At one point there’s a sheer drop to the left into the jungle with a nice view of the valley leading down to the coastal plane. On the right there’s also a steep drop into another valley with a river bed which runs into Taichung. The road leads us down to the right and we notice people coming down the trail from up on the other side of the valley. It looks very high and really steep.

After a while we crossed the mostly dry bed on a big suspension footbridge. On the bridge I got the sensation of being on a gigantic model diorama. The rocks in the riverbed are out of scale so we were getting what looked like a mouse’s eye view of a creek. On the other side the trail starts off with cement steps, and then turns up and onto a heavy narrow wooden walkway. Its made out of 4 to 5 inch diameter logs with railings that have been lag bolted together and worn smooth by traffic. The crossbeam spacing is somewhat irregular and too open to walk on without careful placement of your feet, too close for a proper stride, yet a little too far apart to be comfortable taking two at a time.

It’s very steep, and pretty soon the walkway becomes a ladder for a while, and again from time to time on up the mountainside. Right away we started to realize what a mistake it was to attempt this “trail” without carrying water. The view was great but you needed to stop to look around because of the treacherous footing, and also to take a moment to catch our breath. There were an impressive number of older Taiwanese hikers coming down from the other direction. We were all sweaty and smiling, exchanging the Chinese greeting, “Ni Hao” as we squeezed pass. About half way up we were suffering from thirst, and took a little rest.

Ian wasn’t feeling all that great so I went on ahead thinking it would be another 15 minuets to the top. (Ian note: I think I really needed some water, and my converse sneakers have about as much foot support as a pair of flip flops, so that didn't help. Of course I am also out of shape...) It was getting comical as each time I’d reach the next high area it would reveal the next leg of the climb to be much longer than it looked from below.

Finally I reached the upper ridge, and saw I’d have to go down some before reaching the last climb. I can hear people ahead and see a small covered pavilion perched on the top of the mountain.

The party of locals having tea saw right away that I was in need of a drink, which I gratefully accepted. As I recovered we sat there having a wonderful exchange with my few words of Chinese and their few words of English. I was able to tell them I had to go back, and they gave me some water to take to Ian. Just as I started to leave he arrived, and we sat back down while he had a drink, and talked to them about his time in Taichung. It wasn’t too much easier getting down, and our feet were not happy with the pounding. We never did see any monkeys, but thoroughly enjoyed the hike.

Richie Post #3: Scooter Rental

2009-01-07T16:10:00.002-05:00

We’ve been walking quite a bit actually, just not downtown on the bigger streets. The smaller streets aren’t bad, though you do need to keep an eye out.

Ian and I rode down to the area of the bus station and I was able to rent a nice silver 125cc scooter for $20 a day. All the people I've met here have been very welcoming, and the scooter rental lady was friendly and funny. It turned out my getting an international license was a good idea, and Ian’s Chinese was good enough for there to be no problem. We rode a windy little road into the foothills to the east outside this city.

It's very strange to see bamboo and palm trees growing in a jungle on the mountains. It was also interesting to see how quickly the landscape transformed form city to wilderness with hardly any sprawl or urban transition. The battery in my camera ran down so I didn't get any pictures today. Tomorrow I'm hoping to check out a park a little to the north of where we went yesterday. Ian says there are wild monkeys living there like squirrels, and I’ve got my camera all charged up.

Eating here is cheep and delicious. We picked up some large steamed dumplings, like the puffy white ones we used to get at the Nanking, from a big farmer's market on the way home. They have four different fillings and sell by the dozen for $3.00. They use motorized gizmos like slow moving horizontal fans with tassels over the fish and prepared food to keep the flies off. It works well, and a whole table with fresh fish had none of the little critters buzzing around.

I bought a six-pack of Kirin beer labeled, “Bar Beer”. I think its draft beer, light but good, and also inexpensive.

The picture is of what they call the 'night market', really just a big strange smelling flea market.

It's still hot and a little muggy during the day, but it cools down at night.

Richie Post #2: Eating in Taiwan

2009-01-07T16:06:00.002-05:00

I met some really nice friends of Ian’s for dinner at an interesting restaurant the other night.

There’s a big pool about four feet deep in the center of one section stocked with shrimp. You rent poles, drink beer, and catch dinner. We caught a dozen huge shrimp which we grilled and ate with our Taiwanese seafood soup. Yum!

It’s been raining for the past couple of days and the forecast is for a couple more. Since we don’t have a car it’s put a damper on our traveling, though we have been out riding. I walked several miles yesterday and took some pictures.

Last night we went to a sushi bar for dinner. It’s a very Japanese place with a conveyor belt that runs through with an assortment of plates with various exotic selections. Lots of squid, octopus, and cuddle fish along with the normal looking rolls. The plates are color coded for the price of each dish, and if you want to order something special there’s a touch screen menu at the table. Those orders arrive by an electric high speed train that runs on a track above the conveyor. It was great, and really expensive for Taiwan. The two of us stuffed, with soup and three beers was $15.00.

Not much going on today, probably another long walk in the rain.

Richie Post #1: Driving in Taiwan

2009-01-07T15:50:00.005-05:00

This is a post written by my father while he was still in Taiwan in November. It was his first time in Taiwan, these were his impressions:

We went to a Taiwanese restaurant here in Taichung for dinner last night. Ian and I followed his girlfriend and her cousin on their scooter through town in some truly amazing traffic.

Ian drove with me on the back. Disney, or Six Flags should consider such a ride, as it was more thrilling than any roller-coaster ever built.

Scooters are the dominant vehicle here, and Saturday night there are thirty or forty waiting at every light. Since scooters are not "allowed", ha ha, to make left turns, if a rider wants to go left, they make a partial right turn, then a quick left at the front of the intersection and stop to wait for the light. Cars are supposed to wait further back, which they do most of the time.

What actually happens when a light turns green is, (after a brief period where the people; running the light, making left turns across two lanes of traffic, and those who have started the race early, sort out their differences), something like the start of a motorcycle race. A slow motion race, but a definite race none the less. In lieu of high speed the Taiwanese add obstructions to the "official" half lane to the right of the two normal lanes used by vehicle traffic. Bicycles, scooters pulling over-sized trailers, scooters driven slowly by old ladies with both legs hanging down, parked cars, portable signs, a surprising number of people driving against traffic before heading whatever direction they'd really like to go, and an occasional suicidal pedestrian can be counted on to liven up the competition. The track is gaily lit by bright signs of every color and store fronts, so scooter lighting is optional, and since working mufflers are also optional, the sound of the race is authentic.

Once the pack gets up to speed the riders jockey for position ready to squeeze between the various moving as well as stationary obstacles and the now overtaking cars and trucks. To assure the action never slows an assortment of vehicles backing into the roadway, making U turns, and maneuvers of unknown purpose are performed randomly.

It was amazing to me that we were able to travel several miles each way through this mayhem without observing an actual collision. By the time we got back I had begun to develop a begrudging admiration for these fearless riders, and today I'm ready to rent a scooter and join them, slowly with both legs hanging down.

Da Keng Mountain

2008-12-01T00:28:00.002-05:00

My father posted a video of our outting to Da Keng, check it out:

My Father's Photos

2008-11-19T11:25:00.003-05:00

Okay, just posting this up. My father's camera is a lot nicer than mine, check out all the photos we took during his trip. I have to say, some of them are really amazing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15979413@N02/

My father's visit

2008-11-10T23:07:00.003-05:00

My father arrived here in Taiwan about 2 weeks ago. This Thursday he will head back to the US. It has been a fun visit. We didn't do much tourist stuff, mostly just checked out the local life and the sorts of things tourists rarely get to do or see.

My father wrote some interesting little journals to send back in e-mails, I asked him and he said it's okay for me to post those on my blog here. I took some video , but actually not a whole ton of it, we were too busy having fun. I did get some good stuff though, so I will be excited to use that.

Here are some photos to tide you over before the video gets finished:

Episode 1 has been posted!

2008-10-26T01:33:00.002-04:00

After a long time and a lot of work, it is completed and online! Check it out:

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeM_ipFzDU

Please sign up for YouTube and give me some stars and a comment! Thanks!

Taiwan Dreamin'

2008-10-22T15:38:00.003-04:00

Episode 0 is complete and i will be uploading it tomorrow. 0 is just a intro to Taiwan, Episode 1 will be focused on temples and religious type things like that.

I am using my Taiwan Dreamin' promo to warm things up on YouTube and advertise the posting of Episode 0. I plan to post episode 1 a day after 0 to help boost interest in the show. I hope that I can get a lot of views, and more importantly comments.

My father will be here soon and I will have a chance to get a lot of video. Things like Taipei 101, Hualien, the night markets, and other things will be easier and more fun to film with two people.

So please go and support my video on YouTube here:

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=52KvqhxtEWk

I've already posted this on LiveVideo but please click the link even if you've seen it before, help me get more views and spread the word!

10 - 29... my father will be here soon!

2008-10-21T12:48:00.004-04:00

My father and I almost had our brains exploding due to a strangely typed itinerary page. In the end I discovered that the date listed only applied to the departure and not the arrival, so he will leave on 10-28 and arrive on 10-29. Glad to figure itout, but it also means I'll lose a day of hanging out time...

I am one step closer to completing my Taiwan Dreamin' episode 1, I may also make and episode 0 which is just a short introduction to Taiwan. I just uploaded my footage today and I think I have enough to make a full episode.

I also spent a few minutes to give a tour of my house, check it out here:

LIVE VIDEO

Taiwan Apartment Tour

10 / 10

2008-10-10T11:15:00.003-04:00

Today is 10 - 10 day, independence day for Taiwan. I didn't have to go to work but it doesn't seem that there are any special things going on. To be honest I don't know much about the independence day and I'm sure that people who believe Taiwan is not independent from China would ignore this holiday.

I recently got a few photos of myself teaching. Here you can see one of them.

This student I am swatting is Oscar. He, like many of my students, is full of energy and pretty funny. Of course they can drive me insane sometimes, but overall I am still enjoying teaching.

I went out driving around today and took a few photos. I just looked at the map and drove north on one of the bigger roads. I came across this small Temple so I took a photo. It was across the street from a big stadium, I'll upload more pictures to Flickr later.

Also I discovered Donald Duck condoning cannibalism on a sign over a shop selling roasted ducks. Teacher Jen once pointed out that there are a lot of signs in Taiwan with a cartoon animal suggesting that you eat it. "Please come and kill me and eat my flesh, thank you!"

Temple MANIA!

2008-10-01T06:02:00.005-04:00

Guan Yu sitting atop Nantian Temple, yours truly in the foreground

Well I went and took some photos of the exterior of three different temples. Baojue, with a huge statue of Milefo (Budai / Hotei / Laughing Buddha,) Nantian Temple, with a huge statue of Guan Yu (Guan Di,) and another smaller Buddhist Temple near to my house.

Statue of Guatama Buddha's Succesor, Budai

I took more photos which you can see on my Flickr account here.

I also saw a funny sign, take a look:

Sign reads "Pants Kingdom: Even the biggest of birds can fit in our pants."

Here is a statue broken by the most recent Typhoon:

I took some video as well and hope to edit it with some other things I have in order to create the first episode of Taiwan Dreamin'. It shouldn't take much longer! I may be able to get chinese subtitles as well!

General Update

2008-09-29T16:30:00.003-04:00

Well we just had a big Typhoon, I didn't need to go to work today because of it. Yesterday at one point when i went outside the door was yanked out of my grip by the wind and the door knob slammed into the outside wall. Seems it was damaged a little because now it is more stiff to turn and lock. It was a surprise to me! My scooter was also blown over so I took it inside. Many stores were closed during the Typhoon.

Leah stayed with me and we walked to McDonalds and were well soaked and blown about. Lucky for us they were open. A lot of people were there getting food and staying out of the rain.

I took Leah to catch her bus to Kaohsiung and ended up getting lost on the way home. I still had a general notion of where I was going, and which way was North, but I was getting a bit confused about exactly where I was. Finally I found a road I knew, and followed it to another intersection. Many of the bigger roads are also labeled in English. I am able to read the characters than mean 'Beitun District' as well which helped me at one point. Anyway, I was soaked by the time I got home. During my time being lost, however, I discovered a really cool big temple with a statue of a red skinned bearded man, most likely a daoist god. I think I'll try to go back there to get some footage for my Taiwan Dreamin' program.

Speaking of that - well actually, randomly discovering that statue was really cool for me and inspired me to continue thinking about how I can put segments together to create the first eppisode. It's been a long time and I still haven't gotten all the pieces I want. When my father is here I will be doing more traveling so I am expecting to get a lot of footage at that time as well.

Just driving around in my every day life I see the same things and sometimes kind of forget I am on the other side of the world from where I was born. But when I see something new, like a traditional temple, or a big sky scraper, anything like that, I am reminded and I get really excited. That's when I really want to show everyone else! So I really want to get some eppisodes completed.

My main problem is trying to decide on a production value I am going for. I mean, how 'professional' it needs to be. Basically, shooting video is difficult, but editing is probably twice as hard. The other thing is keeping the editing process in mind when you are filming, make sure you get the shots you want. On some of the footage Ive gotten so far I found that I moved the camera way too quickly, I'll need to slow it down. The thing is, when you are filming, you have an urge to be quick. When you are slowly panning over something you feel it's too slow and might be boring, but that's what editing is for, you need the shot to be long enough and slow enough to work with.

Okay, enough about that... I think my Taiwan Dreamin' questions and comments video has over 200 views now. That's not a TON, but it's enough for me to feel there is an interest out there for the video. Once I actually have some interesting content, I hope Taiwanese and the rest of the world will be interested to watch.

I'll also need some translating done if I am to use subtitles, so if anyone is interested let me know!

Video Game Conquest

2008-09-23T17:04:00.006-04:00

I just felt like listing every video game I have COMPLETED, I'll see if I can remember them all. I have to say, there are many many games I have played that I never beat. Some of which I was extremely far along in.

I got to the last boss in Xenogears, and also Breath of Fire 3, without ever beating it. However BOF3 let you complete the game by giving up to the last boss so maybe I should count that version, haha! Hm, I also remember my game clock in BOF3 had over 100 hours on it, that let's you know, some of the games that don't make this list still took up quite a lot of time.

Anway, here goes nothing!

NES:
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
River City Ransom
Super Mario Bros 3
Kirby

Gameboy:
The Legend of Zelda- Link's Awakening
Lock and Chase
Kirby's Dreamland

Arcade:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Final Fight

SNES:
Mega Man Soccer
Final Fight
Street Fighter 2- World Warriors
Super Mario Kart

Dreamcast:
Shen Mue

PS1:
Tekken 2
Tekken 3
Tenchu- Stealh Assassins
Tenchu 2
Time Crisis
Bushido Blade
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 3
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy Tactics
Ehrgeiz
Ace Combat 2
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Metal Gear Solid
Mega Man 8
Twisted Metal 2
Road Rash

PS2:
Tekken Tag
Tekken 4
Tekken 5
Tenchu- Wrath of Heaven
Time Crisis 2
Time Crisis 3
Dynasty Warriors 2
Capcom VS SNK 2- Mark of the Millenium
DOA 2- Hardcore
The Warriors
Urban Reign
Grand Theft Auto 3
Grand Theft Auto- San Andreas
Dragon Ball z- Budokai 3
Katamari Damacy
We Love Katamari
Resident Evil- Code Veronica X
Metal Gear Solid 2
Metal Gear Solid 3
Madden 2002 (Super Bowl)
Final Fantasy 10
Silent Hill 2

Gamecube:
Resident Evil
Resident Evil 0
Resident Evil 4
Metal Gear Solid- Twin Snakes
The Legend of Zelda- Wind Waker
Mario Kart- Double Dash
NHL 2003 (Stanley Cup)
Soul Calibur 2
Tales of Symphonia

Wii:
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Resident Evil- Umbrella Chronicles
Wario Ware- Smooth Moves
The Legend of Zelda- Twilight Princess
Victorious Boxers Revolution

PS3:
Grand Theft Auto 4
Call of Duty 4
Metal Gear Solid 4
Soul Calibur 4
Assassin's Creed

PC:
Civilization
Civilization 4
Pirates
Starcraft
Warcraft 2
Age of Empires
Sim City
Sim City 2000
The Movies
Theme Park
Sam & Max- Hit the Road
Day of the Tentacle
Maniac Mansion
Space Quest 2 (or 4? I think I beat one of them...)

Much time invested, but Incomplete:
Fallout
Breath of Fire 3
Xenogears
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 8
Final Fantasy 9
Mega Man Legends
Mega Man Legends 2
Dungeon Master
Star Control 2
Star Control 3
Diablo
Chrono Trigger
The Legend of Zelda- A link to the Past
Grand Theft Auto 2
Grand Theft Auto- Vice City
Pokemon Red
Gran Turismo 3
Gran Turismo 4
Battlefield 2
Counter Strike
Silent Hill
Silent Hill 3
Super Mario World
Super Mario Bros 2

Currently 'working' on:
Mario 64
Super Mario Galaxy
Zack and Wiki
Super Metroid
Super Smash Bros- Brawl
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 3
Final Fantasy XII
Zelda- Ocarina of time
Bionic Commando rearmed
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 7
Street Fighter 3

Currently waiting for:
Mega Man 9
Fallout 3
Little Big Planet
Street Fighter 4
Silent Hill 5
Tekken 6
Resident Evil 5
Dead Space
Final Fantasy 13
NHL 09
Spore (maybe?)

Chinese Lesson

2008-09-20T06:46:00.002-04:00

I had my first session of being tutored last Wednesday. I hired my friend Pei Xin to teach me. She is very good in English so I think she can understand every question I will have or things I want to learn. Right now I am just typing up some lesson plan ideas and sending them to her to form into something she can teach me.

Last time I reviewed things like I, you, she, he, we, them. How to say I am 'excited' or 'scared' or 'bored.' The days of the week... how to write my Chinese name properly... lot's of cool things!

I also recored my voice saying the words as I copied her prompts. I think It should all be pretty good and useful! I feel like if I keep doing this I can really improve quickly, but I guess we will see!

Also on another note I have been practicing playing Super Street Fighter II Turbo and I think I am improving at that as well. I hope when I go to play Street Fighter 4 in Kaohsiung that I can do well and not waste too many quarters!

Typhoon Sinlaku

2008-09-13T03:46:00.001-04:00

Here's an image from wunderground.com of the tropical storm hitting my poor little house currently!

Moon Festival

2008-09-13T03:12:00.006-04:00

Moon festival is here. I don't know too much about it's history but I think it is the Taiwanese after harvest festival. Most cultures have one, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. A celebration before winter makes food more scarce.

In Taiwan you can find many people having BBQs. You can buy some cinder blocks and a BBQ tray really cheap, then just get some charcoal at 7-11, set it up on the sidewalk, then you have a great barbeque! We did this on Claire's sidewalk area. It was really fun! Alisha invited me to another one this weekend so I can see if I am able to go.

Street Fighter is an important game for me. I am not particularly good at it, but it's one of the games that influenced me to keep drawing every day. I would watch my friend Michael play Street Fighter and Mega Man, and I would draw the characters. That was when I was a kid, Street Fighter 2 was really popular. Well now they are coming out with Street Fighter 4. It's in Arcades. I found online that in USA there are only a few places that have the machines, California, New York, Washington State, but here in Taiwan there is a single solitary machine in Kaohsiung city! Leah just moved there so I hope she can help me find it! I would be really excited to play that game in an arcade. I've always wanted to play games in a Japanese Arcade, but playing SF4 in Taiwan is pretty awesome too!

On October 28th, my father will come to visit me here to visit me! He will be here for about three weeks. That's two weekends to work with. I hope we can do some fun and exciting things around Taiwan. I will take plenty of video of that, and maybe my quest for the SF4 machine too. I really want to get some interesting and compelling footage for my show. I want to do my best to make it dynamic and engaging.

Finally, there is a Typhoon hitting Taiwan right now, a big one! I haven't been outside yet today but I can hear the winds racing through the street and trying to force its way into my house through any crack or crevice it can find! I still didn't buy a raincoat either, hahaha!

Taiwan Dreamin' - Suggestions Video!

2008-09-02T17:09:00.002-04:00

Okay, I just uploaded a video asking for suggestions for my Taiwan Dreamin' show.

Another big reason to watch the video is that I show the intro I made for the show in after effects.

So please take a look, give me some comments and suggestions!

Watch the video here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KD6Ez-coEa8

Thanks!

Gaming video.

2008-08-31T17:15:00.004-04:00

I just used my webcam this weekend and talked for a while about some game series I like and what I thought of the direction they are taking with the sequels.

The first 2 mins of part A are about my Taiwan Dreamin' video, so you can check that out. The rest is game related so unless you want to hear me talk about that, I guess you can turn it off, haha! I hope you can go to you tube and give me a good rating, help me get up my views.

Game Sequels Crit (A)
Game Sequels Crit (B)
Game Sequels Crit (C)

Let me know what you think! I didn't use any special effects, just me talking.

Oil change in Taiwan!

2008-08-28T10:24:00.004-04:00

The other day I got the oil in my scooter changed. It has been about 5 months or so since I got it. I didn't really drive it very far, just to and from work and some places in the city. I was a bit worried about getting the oil changed. I always get nervous when I have to do something where I don't really know much about what I need to get done.

Here's a photo of the front of my scooter, some more drawings on there now. I still haven't seen any other scooters in the city like it, haha! I have some friends who are selling their scooter and motorcycle by the way, if you are interested!

So, I asked my friend Claire how to say 'change oil' in Chinese. It's 換機油 which sounds something like 'Huan Ji Yo.' I had been putting off changing the oil because I wasn't sure where I should do it, and I thought it might take a long time. In the US you need to put aside an afternoon to get the oil changed. There will be some waiting and they will try to sell you some other services and so on.

So I realized I could try the place around the corner. My friend said that every scooter shop should be able to do this. So I drove my scooter about 20 seconds down the block. I told the mechanic who was sitting in the shop 'huan ji yo' he said 'hao' (ok) and I used my made up sign language and broken chinese to say I'd walk home which was right around the corner. I gave him the key and left him alone. After literally 5 mins I walked on back and the work was done with my scooter waiting for me. I paid about $150 NT, that's around $4 US. WOW! 5 mins and $4! I mean you could probably just do it while waiting for a red light, or waiting for a friend.

Here is a photo of the shop:They have a sign outside that advertises English service. I guess if I need some other things done I can try there. The seat on my scooter needs to be replaced and I would like this part of my kickstand fixed too.

Most shops in Taiwan have the same kind of set-up:

You can see there is the inside of the building on the left, then a sidewalk area with a ceiling overhead held up by supports on the right. Beyond that is the street. Many shops have things inside the building area but the counter where you order will be out in this sidewalk area, sometimes the place they are cooking is out there as well. They will have propane tanks hooked up to provide power for cooking. Some restaurants have the seating out on the sidewalk part too. This means that if you want to walk down the sidewalk area here in most places you will be walking behind counters, and navigating through chairs and tables. Sometimes you will feel its more convenient to walk in the street, but as cars and scooters whiz by you about 10cm away from hitting you, you may reconsider.

The scooter shop has tools and office things inside the building and the actual work on the scooter takes place on the sidewalk area. Hard to really explain but I hope you can see what I mean in the photos.

Anyway, I had a good experience with the oil change, and once again I found I was worrying for no reason. One reason I came to Taiwan was part of facing my fear of not knowing exactly what was going on, and asking for help, getting chores done, stuff that an adult has to do all the time, without worrying too much.

In the future I'd like to get an interview with a scooter mechanic for my Taiwan Dreamin' video. I wonder when I can actually get the 1st eppisode completed...

Photos!

2008-08-13T04:15:00.006-04:00

Okay, I updated my flickr page, check out those photos here.

This weekend we went to Lobby. Was really fun, just talking and hanging out. Claire asked me to make a hat for Darren, so I gave it to him. It's the red one that Vic is wearing in the photo above. Vic and Darren got a bit drunk and after dancing and all that we went to McDonalds. In USA I think we don't have proper fried chicken at MC, but here you can get a 'chicken box.' It was pretty good!

The next day we went to an electronics show. It was very crowded but we were able to walk around and look at a lot of gadgets. TVs, laptops, electronic dictionaries, and so forth. Claire and Darren helped me to talk with the people in the Sony and Toshiba booths. We compared prices and did a little haggling. In the end I got that TV I mentioned las post.

After that Darren, Claire, and I went to a big bookstore near to the Hotel One building here in Taichung. I looked at the design books and magazines for a long time, was pretty cool! Gave me some ideas for things I could do. I really enjoy drawing on my scooter and the hats.

After the bookstore we went to my house to play PS3, fun times! Darren really kicked my ass in Soul Calibur 4 and Capcom VS SNK! Well here, I can show you my TV too - with Soul Calibur 4 playing on the PS3.

Well it was a fun weekend - thanks everyone! Tonight I'll have people over to watch a blue ray movie on the new TV - full HD man! AMAZING! It will be my first time to watch an HD movie actually!

I'm ALL HD baby!

2008-08-11T10:30:00.002-04:00

High Definition... WOW! I just entered a new era of visual standards! PS3, running HD graphics, and an HD TV to display it. I can't even explain how awesome it is!

I will add photos soon, but right now I want to enjoy the TV! I had a really fun weekend. We went to a club on friday and played around. Saturday we went to an electronics show where I got a good deal on the TV. You can see an example here.

It was expensive but I think I saved up enough to make a safe purchase. Also I think if I need to sell it in the future I can make most of the money back, unlike with a vehicle. These new TVs don't suffer many of the same screen burn problems that the old ones did that would make it lose value as a second hand sale. Next post will be photos of the TV and my fun weekend!

I also want to say thank you to Claire and Darren for helping me haggle the TV and look at the different companies' booths. Without them I wouldn't have been able to get this! I am really glad I can have some great friends in Taiwan!

Typhoon #2

2008-07-28T07:33:00.004-04:00

Typhoon Fung Wong, or Pheonix... 180 kilometers per hour winds... that's over 100 mph.
Here are two videos on CNN about it:

Typhoon Pheonix

Huge Waves

Lots of flooding in certain places- but here in Taichung its not seeming too bad, just a lot of wind and rain! I used to wonder what Taiwanese school children did without snow days, but now I know they have typhoon days to look forward to instead, well that is unless their house floods or something, then it's not so fun.

Typhoon Part 2 + Movies!

2008-07-20T05:32:00.004-04:00

Typhoon Haitang was stronger than estimated. Very surprising to Taichung residents, some streets were flooded waist high. Taichung is famous for not getting much rain and flooding is just about unheard of. A lot of people did not know what to do it seems. On the news there was footage of people trying to rescue their scooters, which is silly, they are already under water, so of course they ended up being swept away by the water. I am not sure if there were any deaths though. This article talks about large damage to agricutlure:

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/detail.asp?GRP=E&id=65563

Dodging between rain I was able to meet with my friend Elvia. We ate sushi at a very cool Japanese style restaurant that uses conveyor belts and color coded plates to let you know prices. Later we watched a movie called Donnie Darko. She mentioned she likes Butterfly Effect, I think they are similar in theme. They both deal with time travel and making choices to change your destiny, and actually being able to see the different outcomes.

Ian + Elvia - Making faces!

Last night, Albert, KC, Claire, and 3 of Claire's friends came along with me to go see Dark Knight, the sequel to one of my favorite movies, Batman Begins. The movie was amazing. Comic book fans, and people who didn't really even know who Batman was really enjoyed it. There were many amazing actors all giving perfect performances. The late Heath Ledger was amazing as the joker and just about made Jack Nicholson look like a hack. I don't want to say anything about the plot, but right now on IMDB Dark Knight is already rated as #3 best movie of all time behind Godfather and Shawshank redemption. Of course the rating will fall back down into place over time, but it can really give you a hint of the quality. I can't imagine any mature viewer not liking the movie. GO SEE IT!

Typhoooooooon!

2008-07-17T13:34:00.002-04:00

Not much to say on this one really, just letting you know Taiwan is in the middle of a small Typhoon. Well when i say in the middle, I am serious, take a look at this weather map, can you make out the outline of Taiwan from within the pink?

Taichung city, where I live, is a little above the white central part. There is a lot of rain and a lot of wind. So far I have been super lucky and driving to and from work have not needed much more than a small windbreaker to keep off the rain.

Speaking of the scooter, I am still drawing on it, got a lot of space to cover still, it's pretty fun just doodling on it.

My buddies!

2008-07-16T12:35:00.003-04:00

Well I am happy to say I have made some good friends here in Taiwan! KC and Claire are both really nice girls and very funny! I am always making bad jokes for them to make fun of me with, haha! Well KC had to go early but Albert came over later and we watched Batman begins! I felt watching it for probably the fifth time, it has quite a slow build up, but I think it will be worth it in the long run of the series because so many questions are answered that are usually a bit confusing about the Batman character.

Ian + Claire + KC

Dark Knight is getting really good reviews, I have been waiting 3 years for it. I guess I am a little hyped, I hope it can meet my high expectations!

Ian + Claire

Albert and I (sorry, no photo of him today!) have also been discussing E3 events. Thats the big video game conference where the companies announce their new projects. Seems we are both really excited for Street Fighter 4. Also Mega Man 9 has been announced. Both are really exciting for me in particular because they are part of the reason I got into drawing. I used to go to my friend Michael's house all the time and watch him play the games while I drew the characters and created my own, was really fun, and inspired my creativity!

I am trying to get going on my animation and video projects so hopefully I can get something up soon!

SPIDERS - MAN!

2008-07-15T11:40:00.003-04:00

Spiders - they like to hang out on walls. They never get bored of them. They can just stare at a wall for hours and hours. They don't make any noises, just sit there contemplating the universe. Well anyway I saw a few big spiders in my house - well they aren't tarantulas - but for a house spider they are pretty big!

Okay, so look at this photo above, you may think, oh its not that big. But compare it to the back of my hand - first of all I am not touching the wall so my hand appears slightly bigger than it should - and even at this size the spider looks like it could probably cover my palm just about. When you see how fast they run its really freaky! Haha! The little geckos are quite quick too!

Recently when I was in the park near to the Science museum I saw some BIG snails too, I guess their shells are a little bigger than a photo roll container. It was night time and I didn't have a camera but I will try to get a photo if I have a chance - really cool to me!

Tomorow I am hoping to get my friends Albert, KC, and Claire to come over to my house to watch Batman Begins. The sequel will come out on Friday, DARK KNIGHT. I am pretty excited about that, it is getting good write ups, has some amazing actors, and one of my favorite characters - BATMAN! I am really happy I have enough friends to have a small get together now too! I hope my friend Ivy will also be able to come with us for Dark Knight on the weekend! If everyone can make it I will feel really happy!

Gotta change my lifestyle

2008-07-07T01:47:00.005-04:00

KC + Emily + Ian @ 89k

UGH!!! I haven't written on here for a while because I have been lazy. It's really bad! I think I just need to MAKE myself a scedual. When I was in the US, I worked 40 hours a week. I woke up at 7 something, got to work by 8:30 and worked till 5. Got home around 5:30. If I wanted to get anything done I had to do it on my way home. Well my point is that I had to do things at those times because of my work time.

Here in Taiwan I work only 19 hours, and its from around 3:30 - 9:10pm. I am not a morning person and before work I am always watching the clock to make sure I won't be late. So I end up waking up really late, going to work, coming home, and staying up really late. Also because of this timing I find its harder to get dinner.

Because of this I think I really need to enforce my own schedual and change this lifestyle. Today I woke up at 11am which is EARLY for me here, haha! I feel really tired right now, but I can't let myself take a nap or I wont sleep earlier tonight.

I think I need to be asleep by 2am. Then I can wake up around 10am, that should be plenty of sleep. After waking up I can go get some proper lunch/breakfast, all the shops will be open at this time. Then I need to stop being paranoid about being late for work, just set an alarm to warn me when I need to get ready to go. On weekends I need to stick to the schedual most times too or it will get out of whack. People have told me that sleeping between certain hours gets you better rest. Not sure if that's true, but I am not getting good rest currently so I can try it.

Hm... so what else is new? I just met a few new people in the past weeks, I think I need to try to be more social - part of stopping being lazy. We went to 89k to see some bands play. Actually they were pretty good I think. After that we went to the dance club Lobby, it was really crowded but having a bunch of friends in there is more fun I think. It's funny though, I thought having all this free time would make me more productive but it doesn't. I still need to make sure I am not sinking into the lazyness cycle. I really need to get working on my video and stuff. Just right now I am really having a hard time with thinking about the structure and format...

Ian + Emily @ 89k

On Saturday night Albert and I rode our scooters down a long road that led towards the mountains, then up beitun road into the next township. Albert just bought the scooter so he is practicing still. The roads at that time didn't have much traffic so it was good, and fun to drive faster on a straight road.

Okay - that's all I got for now - I'll try to post more later!

Multimedia Fusion 2 + Taiwan Dreamin' Video

2008-06-25T13:06:00.004-04:00

I am attempting to create a videogame using multimedia fusion 2. It lets you import any kind of graphics you like and set up conditions while the program writes the actual code. My idea is to create a sidescrolling platformer. The main character finds himself in the middle of a Zombie invasion. The only way to save the city is to use a weapon immune to the Zombie's bite - a robot! He must find the parts needed for the professor to complete his machine. Heres What I created so far:

On the Taiwan' Dreamin video front: I am working on episode one. The intro is complete. I have 2 segments worth of footage, and way too many ideas. I am still working on figuring out what's the best style and format, something I can stick with for multiple episodes.

Console Wars

2008-05-31T05:02:00.006-04:00

Once again, this generation, we have 3 videogame companies in a huge sales war. This time though I feel it is more interesting than ever because there is no CLEARLY better product.
The Wii is much less powerful graphically and has less space to work with, however it have many motion sensing abilities and a new balance board periphrial. It's being marketed to kids, casual gamers, and housewives.

Xbox360 is powerful - but uses DVDs, has a lot of storage space, good online components in xbox live, and some good exclusive content.

PS3 uses Blueray DVDs which are the highest capacity out there, it has plenty of storage space, works online well enough, is region free, can play the blueray movies and outputs 1080 graphics which are the highest definition available currently.

My white PS3 - to match the Wii, haha!

I went for the PS3 because of the blueray, the region free aspect, (I can play European, Japaneses, and American games.) Also some of my favorite series are still on PS3, such as Tekken and Metal Gear.

Recently the gaming industry went through a hiccup with E3, the big videogame expo, they cut it down in size and moved to a new location to try to make it manageable. Without going into the details it was a disaster and this year a lot of companies are not interested in going back. The videogame industry is HUGE pumping out tons of games which often beat the movie industry for money earned by the companies.

I am curious to see what happens in the future. People are saying that the wii is too limited and will die out soon, however sales are still going strong and beating out it's more powerful competators. Xbox360 is in a bit of a bind because Sony has the monopoly on HD discs with its Blueray DVD, as well as the fact that the Microsoft owned company is failing in Japan against the home team Sony.

My hope is that the Wii starts to get better 3rd party games, not just Nintendo owned properties. The controller has been proven to be good by various games and is just waiting for a masterpiece to put it all together. PS3 has had a slow start but they are getting rolling now. Once all the japanese companies like SquareEnix, which usually stay Japan focused start releasing their next gen games, I think we will see that because Japanese people don't care for Xbox360, that the number of games for PS3 will surpass Xbox and the once exclusive Xbox games will be ported to PS3. It seems likely to me, but we'll see.

Living here in Taiwan the gaming industry here hangs on the industry in japan. Most games here are just the japanese originals. Taiwanese who wish to play these games must either learn japanese or go online and download fan translated scripts to go along with it. Quite a hassle.

Snails, Geckos, Roaches, and Dogs - OH MY!

2008-05-30T14:23:00.004-04:00

My house has been invaded! Well It's not so surprising, but I have had a few critters in my house. I had 2 BIG roaches so far. Taiwan has big Madagascar looking bastards! Well I guess they are not really that big but not small either - and they can fly I've heard as well. I sprayed them with some cleaner and then threw a paper towel on top and smashed them, then tossed 'em inthe trash. My co-worker said to be careful because they usually put out their eggs before they die.

I also saw a very cute gecko kind of critter hanging out on my wall, most likely eating the other random bugs in my house. I live on the first floor and there is a big gap under my door so I figure it's easy for them to get in.

Yesterday it was raining hard and I had a snail in my house. Later I went outside and found there were a few out there on the street, one was smashed.

I am not sure If I've ever seen a real snail before actually. Well I saw some water dwelling creek snails - but these are like the land snails I saw in cartoons. Cool! I picked them up and posed them on this leaf for the photo above, looks natural eh? One fell down and then he put out some liquid and green stuff, maybe some bug poison for birds? I don't know!

There are also many stray dogs outside, I saw a very cute one today and took this photo, he wanted to dig through my trash but I wouldn't let him. He looked like a Doberman mutt and had a cute floppy ear. Later he came back with the other dog you see in the background.

Anyway you can see a lot of different wildlife here in Taiwan, and I heard, if you go to the mountains and are lucky you may even see some monkeys!

Weather - Teaching - PS3

2008-05-28T02:05:00.003-04:00

It's getting hotter, I got a small sunburn while riding around on my scooter. I bought the PS3 like I said I wanted, so I have found myself sitting in my underwear in front of the fan playing 'Grand Theft Auto 4' quite a few times, haha! Trying not to use the Air conditioner too much. I bought 3 games, Call of Duty 4, Assassins creed, and of course Grand Theft Auto 4! Very fun! Good graphics! Good controls! State of the art!

It will get really hot, I don't know the actual temperature, and then it will pour down rain for a hour or two and cool it down. Taichung is a very sunny city, I think people are right when they say it has better weather than the others.

On the scooter the highest speed I normally get up to when driving is 80kmh, which is about 50mph. Speed limits are around 60kmh, which is about 40mph. Well I should say I've heard that is a normal speed limit because I've never seen a speed limit sign, or at least I didn't know that's what it was. I also have never seen a stop sign here, they mostly use lights. In small neighborhoods they have big mirrors at intersections sometimes to help you see if a car is coming.

Taiwanese Drivers will often slow down slightly (or not) and honk their horn as they are approaching an intersection to let others know they are coming through. I think the general understanding is that if you are coming to an intersection you may not have to stop but you better be careful! But hey, health care is cheap here, so if you don't mind having all your bones broken in a crash, at least its not too expensive to get your casts and surgery! Weee!

Back to the cram school topic, I will be working all summer, since it is not like a normal school, there aren't any big breaks in the schedule. Taiwanese Elementary School students get 2 months off for summer vacation, and 1 month for winter and a few scattered holidays. Older students, in high school, get 3 weeks summer vacation, and 1 week for winter. During those breaks the students will still be coming to the buxiban. The summer will be hot but luckily the classrooms, and most places here really, have air conditioning!

Teaching English in Taiwan - Keeping Kids Off The Streets

2008-05-28T01:48:00.002-04:00

I have been teaching English here in Taiwan for a few months now, I am still a newbie for sure, but I did learn a lot in that time. Teaching in a Buxiban (cram school) here is quite different from teaching in a Elementary or Highschool, or University of Course. Taiwan is full of cities, parents are very, very busy making money. Some huge percentage of Taiwanese own their own business, a lot to manage, and so these kids don't have anywhere to go after school.

It's really impressive that as Taiwan is developing, the country hasn't really been free for so long, they have used schools, like mine, as a way to teach the children as well as being a sort of a daycare to keep the kids off the streets. Of course there are plenty of parents who can't afford it, but it's still doing its part. In the US we have many big gang problems, kids out after school with parents working two jobs. They have nowhere to go so they just make their own rules on the street, this starts them on the path to being social outcasts who don't really match up with the rest of the world.

In my neighborhood back home I saw plenty of other kids, and even some friends, go off on this path. As a kid I never really understood the phrase, "Keeping kids off the streets." To me it was like, "What's wrong with the street? How can just being outside make you bad?" Obviously that's not the point. Kids need rules, parents who know what they are up to, who their friends are. You don't need to rule everything in their life, like their clothes, or their hobbies, but just know who they are getting their moral ideas and things from.

So when I start to feel that my teaching is boiling down to playing games and teaching minor English vocabulary, I am satisfied to know I am a kind of a role model, or at least a good influence for these kids, to keep them out of trouble for the future.

HIGH DEF!

2008-05-07T15:19:00.003-04:00

The world is now in HIGH DEFINITION! It's the next generation in entertainment. Now to tell the truth, I am fine with our current TVs and DVDs, but HD is replacing it whether you like it or not, and truthfully it does look pretty awesome.

There is an idea in the US that in Asia you can buy electronics and media and such things much cheaper. Well I haven't seen that in Taiwan. Right now I am considering going HD with my gear. I just checked those prices and they are pretty heavy, looks even worse when you see the price in NT.

SOOOO PS3, it plays Blueray DVD, the only way to go for HD movies now that HDDVD has gone out of business. At the store up the road the PS3 bundle costs about NT$17,800. That includes any two games, an HD Cable for connecting with an HD TV, and a new Dualshock 3 controller. Its a decent deal - comes out to about US$580. I think this is affordable enough. It seems I will be able to save about US$300 - 500 a month with my current spending and work hours and all that, just guessing.

HD TV = NT$34,500 for a big one, that's about US$1,125. It's about the same as in USA... I think its a decent price for what you are getting. Maybe I can get the PS3 first, check my spending for the next month, and if I decide I can afford it, maybe get the TV.

Whenever I leave Taiwan I'd have to re-sell it or something I guess which will suck. Really, moving back to the states sounds like a super pain in the ass. Leaving USA was easy because I could just give things to relatives and so forth, but going back - I think I need to sell everything.

Over 100 Posts!

2008-05-03T18:12:00.003-04:00

Well I just noticed this will be post 102 for me! I guess I really wrote a lot!

My sleep schedule has been very messed up these days and I've been sleeping till very late like 2 o clock, and staying up 'till like 8am, haha! So this morning, it is 6:13 now, I just got back from a nice jog. I ran around the city, the air seems a lot cleaner in the morning and the sky is so blue. I saw lots of stray dogs and old people out for an early Sunday morning stroll.

I have been losing weight and gaining muscle with all the walking I have been doing, maybe if I start jogging in addition i can get more tone to my muscle, that would be nice, I still have some flab I guess, just being picky, not like I am fat at all. Anyways I was feeling a little depressed recently but this morning I am feeling cheerful.

I saw the movie IRON MAN last night with Albert, was really awesome. Right up there with Batman Begins for me really. The story was well done, special effects on Iron Man's suit were prefect, looks like a possible sequel featuring The Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Giant Man, Wasp, among others.)

Unlike many super hero movies, Iron Man looks even more awesome in real life!

It's fun to see a super hero who isn't really trying to hide from anything, no scarred past, no conflict between his personal life and his super hero life, it's a different kind of character than we see with Batman or Spiderman. I also heard that this was the first movie that Marvel Comics developed on their own instead of licensing out their characters to another company, anyways, check it out!

General Update

2008-04-30T15:32:00.011-04:00

I have been busy lately but it's hard for me to recall what exactly I've been doing.

On this past weekend I met with my friend Albert to play super-smash bros, after that we went to Grant and Diane's small get together, just chatting and drinking a little. After that we went to the 2nd 'Latex' Party at the club ZOO here in Taichung. It was very exciting and fun for me, just like the first one. Once again they had the 3 'Latex Girls' their pro dancers. I danced my way up to the front and proceded to showcase my skills and was pulled on the small stage by one of the girls. It was cool because as my friends came in they saw I was already on stage, haha! I am turning into a bit of a show off I think! Well anyways those girls sure were hot, one even told me later that I was a good dancer, which surprised me really!

Two of the Latex Girls - Dance with me again!~~

Last week I hung out with my friend from Hong Kong, Ronnie. She came to Taiwan for a few days to visit. Will, one of my Taiwanese friends who I met in USA was also here for a visit so the three of us went out to eat. Ronnie just started a new job in an office that represents celebrities in Asia, some famous Taiwanese stars like Jolin Tsai, and the boy-band lollipop.

Ronnie + Ian + Will @ Sogo Garage

Another cool thing for me is that, even though Ronnie had been to Taiwan a few times she had never ridden on a Scooter, so I gave her the first ride! Also after leaving Ronnie at the train station Will and I got lost and I was the first one to recognize where we were, haha! I am starting to feel like a Taichung native!

I have also been adding more graffiti to my scooter, I think it is starting to look pretty cool. I drew Donkey Kong, tried to make it look pixelated like an old game, and a face.

I also met a new friend named Claire! She is really cool and laid back, she also lives close by to me so it is easy for us to hang out. She also found a good use for my big apartment, we are doing a 2000 piece puzzle together on my floor. It's an image of a bunch of life size soda cans on a shelf, I think its pretty cool! I am really glad we met because I have had a lot of fun talking with her. I also was proud to help her out by picking her up from the Bus station, it was hard to find and far away but I managed it!

Today Jess flew to Vietnam in the morning and back to Taichung in the evening, so we met up at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi for dinner. We had some Thai food and a chat, I think working as a Flight Attendant sounds really stressful, I wouldn't like to live in so many dorms and hotels. But I am glad she is successful in her work!

Ian + Jess - Making silly faces!

So lastly I am having some eye problems right now. I opened a new contact lense set and one started to irritate my left eye so I took it out, next day I tried it in the right eye, still a little irritating but not as bad so I left it in. Well while I was working it got worse and worse, so finally I took it out. Well I am an idiot for leaving it in so long! Today my eye was very irritated and red so I couldn't wear contacts at all. I have been putting in eye drops and I think its getting better, doesn't seem as red at the moment, I will see tomorrow how it looks. So, was that enough to read?

Scooter Graffiti!

2008-04-23T14:42:00.003-04:00

I started customizing my scooter by drawing on it, graffiti style! I am using some markers that I think will be permanent and seem to use the same paint as spray paint bottles. Well I did a old english typeface "A" for Alexander, and some arrow designs. I plan to really cover the whole thing, make it look really wild, haha!

You can see in the photo I now have a new Cell Phone, it is a Sony Ericsson, pretty nice and not too expensive, I had to shop around to get one that was a little cheaper, many 'cheap' ones were around $90 US, mine was about $45, and looks nicer too I think!

You can also see my helmet, its a pretty nice one with a face shield and close-able air vents in the top. So just wanted to show you that stuff!

Taipei Trip!

2008-04-23T14:31:00.002-04:00

I went up to Taipei this weekend on the bus to visit my friend Nancy. I stayed at her place Friday night and we went out on Saturday. We went around the city on the Metro (MRT) and I saw Taipei 101 for the first time from the distance on the train.
It's so big and impressive in real life. So we decided to go to the Mao Kong Gondola, it can take you up into the mountains where there are many tea shops, then down to the Taipei Zoo. We didn't drink tea or see the zoo but we took a bunch of pictures in the mountains there.

The view from the gondola was great! You can see all the pictures I took on my Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sayianianian/

You can see Taipei 101 in the background of many of them, so tall it even peaks over the mountains!
After that we went to another part of Taipei to eat and watch a movie - Street Kings, it was pretty cool! Sort of similar to the movie Training Day.

So yeah it was a great weekend, a lot of fun! Thanks Nancy!

Scooter all up in my house son!

2008-04-21T15:42:00.006-04:00

Hey! I am really excited to tell you that I now own a scooter. This weekend I bought it from my neighbor Diane for 9000 NT, thats under $300 USD. Its old and slightly beat up but I think its a great deal for me. I plan to customize it, like adding stickers and graffiti, It's old so I think it's not a big worry to mess around with it. Here you can see some images of it. Since I live on the ground floor I can just let it cool down outside and then roll it inside for safe keeping during the night.

I showed you the hat I was working on before, I was making another for my friend Mirabelle, and I bought a marker that uses the same ink as spray paint. So I think that is permanent enough for the scooter, I can draw on it. It has some stickers already, some european union stickers and stuff. There was an Iceland sticker too but i took that off before this photo and relocated it into the seat storage. Not that I don't like Iceland but I thought its a little weird for me to have it front and center, people will ask me why, and I would say "Uhhhh I dunno..." so I don't like that. I want it to be unique to me.

So first thing I did was ink in the scratched with a black sharpee, looks better than the white scratches. Then I put a Shin Chan (Xiao Shin) sticker over the union jack on the back. Shin Chan is a little boy in a cartoon, maybe similar to a japanese Calvin and hobbes. He has big eyebrows and short hair like me so I like to use him as my mascot, haha!

You can also see I blurred out my license plate, don't try to track me down, haha! Okay - next time I can tell you about the new Cell phone I bought and the fun things I did in Taipei with my friend Nancy!

Da Jia Mazu

2008-04-13T10:49:00.003-04:00

I have new photos up on Flickr now from Da Jia Mazu.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sayianianian/sets/72157600036573461/

Mazu (sounds kinda like ma-ju) is a taoist goddess of the sea that tours Taiwan at this time to answer prayers and generally check up on things and tries to make everyone happy. So many people travel from temple to temple along with Mazu, but you can also go before she arrives.

My friend in the US, Hui Ting, her boyfriend Wei lives near Taichung. He took me, Albert, and his friend TaiYu to see the festivities in his car. Before we arrived we ate some Rice Cakes and Brain soup - yes pig brains! I ate pig brains, there's not really much flavor to it just salty and soft like custard. I don't know what the zombies are on about!

After doing all that we came home and played some one on one Tekken 5, and some 4 player free for all in Super Smash Bros, pretty fun!

So here are some photos:

ARE YOU READY!?

2008-04-09T07:29:00.004-04:00

Well my last post was about being a nerd, well it's about to get nerdier! Sylvia sent me the US version of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, about a month ago, and it finally arrived! I think it must have been shipped by sea. Well it's here now so I can play it! Well you can see I am kissing the game, actually I am not a huge fan of this series because I never played the 1st two games, but I am excited to play this now and happy its not lost! Thank you Sylvia you're the best! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Well another thing is, I am very sick with some sort of Flu, I think I got it from my friend Nancy because she was also sick. So I am feeling really crappy right now. I have a nasty cough, head ache, sore aching body, and a fever. I went to work yesteday, I was feeling OK at that time, but by the end I was feeling a fever again. Today I only had one class so I forced myself to go. But if I don't feel better tomorow I think I will use my new health card and go to the clinic.

In Taiwan, health care is far superior to the US. There are many small clinics everywhere and the national health insurance is very cheap, most visits will cost under $20 and are much faster. On my way to work there are 2 clinics, one dentist, and one traditional chinese medicine shop, which according to the door also accepts the national health insurance.

If you go to a hospital you can also see a doctor right away and fill out the forms later, not like the US where I am dying of my food allergy and am forced to fill out a ton of forms, by the time you're done, you are either dead, or you've recovered.

Okay, well I am off to play the game now! Hope my friends can come play with me too!

逸彥 is a 宅男... (Ian is a nerd)

2008-04-03T11:30:00.004-04:00

I just bought this Goku figure for 160NT which is less than $6 USD I think this must cost like $20 - 30 in the US. Well I know its nerdy, but I really like it! The photo doesn't do it justice really, its well made and well painted, looks really nice with the classic style and pose like the old comics.

I still didn't get my Super Smash Bros game from USA, I hope its not lost or stolen...

Tomorow is 'Tomb Sweeping Day' here in Taiwan. It's a national holiday so I don't need to work. I guess the idea is that to honor the ancestors you need to attend to their tomb and make sure its looking good and proper. In old times I think people did this more often but in these busy days maybe it's been a whole year, since the last tomb sweeping day, that someone visited, so it's a lot of work, basically a years worth of gardening, well thats what I heard at least.

So I wanted to go to a big party down in Kenting City, (the famous beach hang out of Taiwan,) but there is no convenient way for me to go since my friends don't have room for me. It's fine though, I think I can visit with my friend Pei Xin hopefully and have a nice day. My friend Albert who recently arrived from Virginia, here in Taichung also seems to be free on Saturday so maybe we can finally meet up in person.

I also am thinking maybe I can push myself to get a scooter this weekend. Grant let me drive his the other day, we went about 15 mins away, but seemed really long to me. It was really fun and I started to get the hang of it.

OK - Wish me luck! Haha!

Youtube VS LiveVideo

2008-03-31T01:51:00.001-04:00

YOUTUBE:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oXU11RP-6iM

LiveVideo:
http://www.livevideo.com/video/BF448C9F189240579F5230671C730DB0/dance-masters-competition.aspx

Which do you think runs better?

Dance Competition

2008-03-30T12:49:00.004-04:00

【青春達人SHOW】舞春─勁舞大賽
Dance Masters Show - Spring Dance Competition.
http://www.livevideo.com/video/BF448C9F189240579F5230671C730DB0/dance-masters-competition.aspx

Follow the link to see the video- my friend Queenie and her friends dance together as 'Ice Queen' in a Dance Competition in Taichung in front of 新光三越 (shin kuan san yue) Department Store.

New Photos - Flickr

2008-03-29T06:50:00.002-04:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sayianianian/

Here are some samples:

Nostalgia

2008-03-27T13:05:00.007-04:00

I guess I already knew it, but recently I really noticed how crazy I am for nostalgia! Recently it was announced that Street Fighter 4 is coming out this year in arcades. Let me tell you why this means a lot to me. When I was a little kid I used to go over to my friend Michael's house. I remember many times he would play the NES or SNES and I would just sit there watching and drawing. One of the games I loved to watch was Street Fighter 2.

I would draw all the characters and when I went home I would imagine stories about them and their super special skills they used to fight. Over the years there have been many remakes, and a few proper SF games, but this is only the 4th numbered sequel. I spent almost a whole day looking at the artwork from the games. I love to see how different artists render the same characters. I have one of the games that feature the characters from SF2 (Capcom VS SNK 2) It came out around 2000 when I was still in high school. I was never a great SF player but I can beat a newbie pretty easily at least. I can't wait for SF4, and I think the new 3D artwork really follows the series roots. I really have to say that Street Fighter 2 was one of the things that got me interested in art in the first place. It drove me to imagine, pay attention to anatomy, action poses, and just to sketch over and over.

Another game I just re-discovered is Twisted Metal 2. It's a really original game I think. Basically you drive a car that comes complete with missiles and guns. It's like a destruction derby, you are going around the world to different locations trashing the competators. The plot tells us that the world is in Chaos. A man with god like abilities is in control of the world. His name is Calypso and he has promised that whoever wins this destruction derby will receive one wish, whatever they desire. There are many characters to chose from with many different goals.

Many of the ending movies show Calypso granting their wishes, and in a Twilight Zone like twist, the wishes aren't granted quite the way they expected. As for the game play, its really accessible for beginners but there is also a lot of room to grow and improve your skill, similar to Street Fighter. If you learn the timing and all the special moves you can really learn to play well and a beginner has no chance to beat you.

My friends who weren't really into the rock and roll, crazy post apocalyptic future thing, or driving games in general, still got into it. Even my dad and I played the co-op mode many times, it was really fun that I could share that game with so many friends. They made a handful of crappy sequels and rip-offs, but Twisted Metal 2 was best. I popped it in yesterday and found that even though the graphics suck now and the speed is a little slower, with some strange glitches, its still really fun and challenging. They just made a sequel for the PSP and are porting it to PS2, for a bargain price of $20 US I think I might have to pick it up. The graphics are not really that great compared to other PS2 games, but compared to the PS1 original is MUCH better, and being able to see further into the distance is pretty important.

Anyway - I really love to remember the times playing these games, and the sense of imagination I put into them. As a kid, these games were really special to me, maybe like books were for past generations. You may think 'oh its sad kids today don't read' but i think these games gave me some other useful skills, drawing, plot analysis, a sense for motion design, interface design, many things are there to study if you are interested in it as I am.

I might as well mention this as well, there is a guy who does video reviews of old and classic video games, but only the bad ones, its really fun to hear him rip into games I've played, but also ones that I didn't because I can relate to spending money on a game and finding out that it sucks. He is the 'angry videogame nerd' and you can see his videos on Screwattack.com and Gametrailers.com.
Really great stuff. So - maybe those of you who read this can let me know what things do you get nostalgic for?

Hat

2008-03-27T10:59:00.004-04:00

I bought a blank hat and wrote on it with some markers and stuff, I think its pretty cool...

Here you can see another view:

Teaching English in Taiwan

2008-03-27T10:21:00.002-04:00

I have been Teaching for a little while now so I have a few comments I can make.

First of all, every class is different, not just the age level, or the level of book they are in, but also just the class dynamic. Most classes energy focus around 1 or 2 students and depending on how those poplular/class clown/stand out kids act, the rest will follow. Some classes are slow and you will feel they are brain dead, other classes are high energy, sometimes good, sometimes bad. As a teacher you need to learn to adjust to their style, which is really hard.

For example I have one class where I can drill vocabulary in games, the students listen, and they enjoy the games, they make an effort to talk to each other in English when they know the words they want to say. I have another class at the same level who are pretty bad. They are too aggressive when playing games, and mean spirited, sore losers to boot. They also constantly speak Chinese, including foul language in Taiwanese and Chinese. Nothing much I can do about that, because this is a buxiban, a cram school. I can't send them to the principle, I can't kick them out, or really punish them in any way so the only way I can motivate them to listen is with rewards. Some people will tell you that this is a good system, but really, sometimes punishment is called for I believe.

The actual material is not too hard to teach, the books are good in general, although some days you don't have too much to work with. The tests are easy so any student who has been paying attention should pass. It's rare for a student to fail because the school wants to keep pushing the kids along to the next level. I think thats how my bad class got so high, just got passed along.

Most lessons go like this: First we have a spelling test, maybe 6 - 12 words. THis takes about 10 - 20 mins depending on the class. Next I have the kids open their books and we go over the written material, the different books can vary greatly on how much material is presented. After this, with younger groups we use flash cards to drill vocab, older kids we need to read or play a game that allows them to write, or speak, or in some way identify new sentence structures or vocabulary. Younger groups also need to work in a phonics book and a printing book as well.

It's much easier to make games out of flash cards than it is to do something with writing or speaking, but those are also more valuable sometimes. I can talk more about games in a future post. So generally the teaching is going well and I am enjoying it. The week goes by quickly and I fell happy after teaching my good classes, and after the bad ones, just relieved, haha!

Crime in Videogames

2008-03-24T10:01:00.002-04:00

Grand Theft Auto 4 is coming out soon. Everyone is in a big huff. It still has killing, sex, and now even drunk driving (although in the past games there were missions with driving while on speed.) I think that games are a form of expression, a form of art, and they should not be limited in any way that other forms of media aren't.

I think Rockstar (the game developer behind GTA4) can put whatever they want in the game but they need to stress 2 things. This game is Rated M, that is the equivalent of a movie being rated R. If a kid gets a hold of it, it's the parent's responsibility to know and control the situation how they see fit. Some people say "well how can they control what games they play?"
Well, the store isn't allowed to sell the game to kids under 17, and if they play it at a friends house, the parent will probably hear about it, kids aren't that good at keeping secrets. Its the same as sniffing glue or doing drugs, parents have to pay attention!

The second issue is that GTA is a criminal simulator. This game is all about giving you a glimpse into things we should NEVER do. We should never commit a massacre with a AK-47, drive drunk, or steal airplanes from a US aircraft carrier! We all know its bad, but that's why we think its funny to play it in a game! GAMES ARE NOT ONLY FOR KIDS! How many times do we need to tell the public! In GTA4 we can pretend about doing these wild things, the same as we played cops and robbers as children. There are many many games that let you play as a good guy, but here we can be the bad guy and it's a nice change of pace. The only people who are influenced by these things are psychos who are bound to be influenced by anything. Before it was games, it was Rock N' Roll music, and before that, Books! BOOKS! I mean, now we act like books are some special form of media, there are tons of books about sex and violence and whatever.

To take it even further, you know what book probably caused the most people in the world to be killed - well I'm going to guess the Bible.

So lay off the video games, its just for fun. If you want to have a crusade against them then just remember the REAL crusades, and try to think if you want to ban the bible, the koran, and every other holy book as well!

Adjusting some more.

2008-03-21T00:53:00.004-04:00

Everything is going well. Adjusting to teaching, getting used to the weather, and food. Things are going well. I've been meeting new friends, finding what I have in common with others, and I am still planning how to do my Taiwan Dreamin' show. I have been a little busy/lazy and I need to work on the intro some more.

Teacher Craig gave me this cool photo of a Door he found in Lu-Gang. Supposed to look like a temple door - but hm... those don't look like Chinese gods to me!

I hope I can get a scooter soon. I need some more advice and a Taiwanese friend to go with me for bargaining and such things. I am still thinking about getting a new scooter, but if I found a nicer used one I guess that is also good.

My Chinese is improving slowly but surely, learning from my friends. I am still waiting for Super Smash Bros to arrive, excited about that. I watched a really cool anime yesterday called Paprika, with Grant. It's made by mad-house and seems very similar in theme to their TV series, Paranoia Agent.

Well I should stop playing on the internet and try to get some work done!

ARC BABY!

2008-03-19T07:45:00.005-04:00

I got my ARC now - Alien Resident Card. I was really lucky, the owner of my school basically went through the whole process for me, but it's mainly because I don't have a scooter.

So now I have an ARC I can try to buy a proper and legal scooter. I can also do other things with the ARC. SO yeah, it's good.

I have been meeting new people recently and it's been fun. A lot of people are interested to try the Wii here at my house. Sylvia is sending me Super Smash Bros from the USA - THANKS SO MUCH! So I can play that here with my friends, wish I can play with my USA friends too!

KC and Joanna playing Wii Boxing.

I went to a 24-hours-open Hot Pot place, that was cool. Tonight I will go out with friends to eat again. I will post some more things soon about the school.

A Few Updates.

2008-03-16T01:44:00.001-04:00

I am learning new Chinese words everyday, some are more useful than others. I have also found that I am learning many words that other foreigners are not taught in school, mainly because I talk with more Taiwanese than they do. It seems many foreigners here have few Taiwanese friends and tend to stick to themselves. It's not all that surprising really because the Taiwanese make it kind of hard to interact with them, even with each other, in addition to their many stereotypes.

There are many things to eat but my Chinese makes me a little too frustrated and/or shy, at times, to get the food I want. I have to have photos to point to or be able to use my limited Chinese. I will be studying the menu that my Co-Worker gave me, with all the common items labeled in romanized Chinese and a translation.

Due to all my walking and eating less, and maybe a little more healthy, I seem to have lost a little fat and gained some muscle, not a huge change, but I can see it.

You may also be surprised to hear that in Taiwan you can't find much in the category of canned foods. You can get canned corn, and maybe canned beans or something, but that's it. If you want western style canned foods you need to go to a western style grocery. The French Carrefoure that I go to doesn't even have anything more than that.

I don't need to boil water for drinking, it's not expensive or difficult to buy a huge jug of water from the store. I have a kettle- but I never make tea, so water is just for drinking or instant noodles (pao mien) which I cook using a rice cooker.

Taichung has many night markets, I have been to two of them. One is near the university, Feng Chia, and it is very big and crowded, many college age people there. Another is near the
highschool, Yi Zhong. This place of course is smaller and has more HS kids, but you can still get many of the same items, people have told me that Yi Zhong is a little more expensive.

Taichung is also famous as a culture city with a few museums and many Tea Houses. I think it is the most famous city in Taiwan for traditional and unique tea houses, but since I don't really drink tea, I can't say that gets me too excited.

The weather is warm, hasn't really been cold for a few weeks now. I am getting more and more mosquitoes as well, and getting more crazy about making sure to squash them. Maybe I will need to buy an electric bug zapper or something. It's nice though, I think summer will be insane but at least the nights will be nice and warm. Also I think we all know that warm weather means girls wearing less clothes, and for a single guy, that's never a bad thing.

I got my Resident Visa

2008-03-12T05:51:00.002-04:00

Well I got my Passport back today from the office. I now have a resident visa! I guess that makes me an official ex-pat? Well I am glad about that, I will have my ARC in about a week I think! Really great! I hope I can buy a scooter after that! I am still debating on getting a new or used one. I hope I can get some more opinions. I hope I can live here for at least a few years and having a new reliable scooter seems like a good investment.

Teacher Craig's Menu

2008-03-10T10:26:00.003-04:00

Teacher Craig created this menu to help beginners to understand a few basic things on a normal local Taiwanese Menu. I'll post the photo now but I hope later I can get it in text format with the help of friends!

Clubbin' + Confidence

2008-03-02T03:04:00.005-05:00

I had a fun at the club last night. I met a few new people somehow, two girls I met both studied design and had also lived in Melbourne Australia, that was a funny coincidence. At first I kinda just stood around talking to a few people and looking around listening to music. Later I went in to dance with one of the girls. At first I didn't really know how to dance to the DJ mixes they had. I don't know the popular term now but I'd say it was more like 'Techno.' Anyways after a while I got into it and kinda danced TOO much, haha I was all worn out and needed to get get some water. It was fun. I guess I found I really like to dance, haha!

One thing that was nice was when I was dancing and I just didn't really care if I was dancing with anyone, just having people around me dancing was fun. I danced with a few friends and all that. I have started in the last year or so to have more confidence. I think I am a good looking guy, and to me I am, I don't really care if others agree because that's just what I think. Now I feel the same with dancing. In my opinion I was like one of the best dancers in the club, maybe its not true, maybe others will think I suck at it, but I don't care, I had fun and enjoyed it.

When I got home I lied in bed and stretched, then OW! My leg cramped up super bad, the muscle got really tight, I rubbed on it and finally it went back to normal, I guess I should have drank even MORE water. Its a little sore this morning but its ok. Well - it's still fun!

Stereotypes again?

2008-03-01T06:29:00.006-05:00

Nathan Miller, at bicycle-sidewalk, was asking me how things are going in Taiwan. I said it was fine but that some of the stereotypes were annoying me, he said;

"Well, living the expat' life can be very liberating. You are not surrounded by Americans, thus there is no need to live by the social norms, and you are not Taiwanese, as much as you try to follow the rules/social norms you will most likely always get a get out of jail free card because you are not Taiwanese, and not expected to play the part.

One thing, you are living in a place where you have no memories of the your past... which can be tough or again liberating...

it is all what you make it.
Don't sweat stereos - they only play loud music...never bite...."

Well I have to agree, in reality stereotypes are just something to move past, don't let them get in your way. Another thing I need to stop worrying about is other people's opinions on minor things. Like I am a little embarrassed to eat at McDonald's, I don't want others to think that's all I eat, but I guess it's pretty silly. I still like to eat a big-mac every once in a while.

Tonight I will do another stereotypical thing, going to the dance club! I had fun last time because I was with a group, but this time, just me and my friend Viki from Taipei. She is friends with the DJ, Gareth, from Swank DJ; http://www.swank-dj.com/events.htm. Looks like it's going to be pretty cool, I hope I can get some photos or something. I asked some other people if they wanna come, like Phoebe, not sure if they are available. Well it should be fun either way, at the least I can enjoy watching the pro-dancer girls, haha! Wish me luck!

New Photos on Flickr

2008-02-28T04:05:00.004-05:00

I have added new photos on my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68191358@N00/

KTV (Karaoke) I need to learn more Chinese songs...

Cat on the wall.

Market in Beitun.

School kids on bikes.

Scooters VS Motorcycles. TW VS US

2008-02-28T02:18:00.004-05:00

Some of my friends and family in the US were asking me, "Why would you buy a scooter rather than a Motorcycle?" Well here is my answer, you can correct me if I am wrong:

In America a Motorcycle can be safer at high speeds because it has a larger wheel, this allows you to hit pot holes without flying off your bike. However, in Taiwan you rarely get up to any speed that will send you flying, the cities are crowded. So far I have seen no traffic jams whatsoever but you rarely get up past 40 or 50 mph in the city. Another point is that there are TONS of scooters, they are very maneuverable due to the small wheels and if you are not able to keep up with their maneuvering that will be more of a danger. Taiwan driving is at a lower speed with more obstacles to dodge, American driving is at a higher speed where you need to worry more about road surfaces and maneuvering around large cars, rather than other scooters. Another point to mention is that Taichung is a totally flat city with really no hills to speak of so that makes it nice for scooters as well.

I also live on the first floor and I have huge garage doors on both sides of my house, I could park my scooter inside easily, and really I could park my dad's pickup truck in my living room if I wanted, I have enough room. I am considering whether or not to buy a new scooter. New scooters are quite a bit more expensive that a used one, but if I stay in Taiwan for a few years I think it could be worth it, I wont have to be as concerned about it randomly breaking down, and I can try to take good care of it to make it last a long time.

Taiwan Dreamin' Videos

2008-02-25T12:04:00.004-05:00

I am currently working with my graphics programs to make an intro for my Taiwan Dreamin' show. I am planning to make a silhouetted landscape, black on red, the camera will move backwards across the land showing some Taiwan landmarks. There will also be the words "Explore" "Experience" "Examine" with the final image being similar to the one above.

I also want to comment quickly on some messages I've received online recently. I'm getting the feeling more and more that Taiwanese have a super strong stereotype of foreigners. Any time I mention that I don't like, or don't do one of these stereotypical things people act shocked. Well It's really annoying me. It makes me appreciate where I come from in Maryland. America has a lot of racial tension but we also have many accepting, tolerant, and fair people. Every day we can see mayn types of people and after getting out of middle school I rarely met with many problems in that area. Phoebe mentioned that many Taiwanese love to gossip, so even though it has not effect on them, and its none of their business, they can spread rumors and things like that. I think even if they think its bad for foreigners to date with many TW girls, it's their choice, and the girls like it too, so how is it really even bad. The people involved are satisfied and everyone else needs to butt out.

I hope I can do a segment on Taiwan Dreamin' discussing race issues in America VS Taiwan, and also dispell some stereotypes in the process.

More Taiwan Photos

2008-02-21T02:24:00.003-05:00

Just letting you all know I updated my Flickr account with new Taiwan Photos:

My Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68191358@N00/
My Taiwan Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68191358@N00/sets/72157600036573461/

Here are a few of them:

Xbox360 VS PS3 - HD-DVD VS Blue Ray

2008-02-19T22:19:00.003-05:00

Well sorry to tell you this mom, but your HD-DVD just went obsolete!

In an amazing marketing move Warner Bros, Walmart, and some other big name companies have decided to go exclusively to Blue Ray technology. Similar to VHS and Betamax there were two formats of the next-gen DVDs. Back when Sony was selling Betamax they had the better product, but made it too inaccessible. This time Sony learned their lesson by putting out the comparatively cheap Blue Ray player in the PS3, and getting other companies to go 'Blue-Ray' only.

The companies backing HD-DVD decided to hurry and cut their losses by cutting off their production. This also means that PS3 now is the only video game console that can play Blue Ray movies, Xbox 360 is stuck with HD-DVD, and since Sony is competing with Xbox360 its unlikely that they will allow them to use Blue-Ray technologies on that machine.

So I am guessing there will be big HD-DVD sales and you can grab up some good quality movies cheap, but not too long down the road they will stop selling normal DVDs and you will have to move to the Blue Ray player. Now that this has happened it's likely that PS3 will see a large shift in sales, however, the Wii, which relied on its controller as the main draw, should be unaffected.

Very interesting stuff!

Minor Notes

2008-02-19T09:14:00.003-05:00

I wanted to go eat at this place today that I like. They cook the food up in front of you, similar to how they might make subs or something in the states, but instead of putting the contents in a bowl or in a sandwhich they just push it over to you and you eat it off the cooking surface. Maybe it sounds weird but its pretty cool, tastes good, fast, and it's not expensive.

Well it was closed, so I took my first trip to McDonalds. I ordered a Big Mac meal which is #4 here for some reason (#1 in USA.) I wish I could say something interesting about it, but really the interior of the restraunt, the fries, the Big Mac, everything was exactly the same. I guess the only difference is that people like to hang out in McDonalds here, kind of like Starbucks. So, it tasted exactly the same. I guess one thing is here the recycle and trash items need to be sorted by the customer and put into the proper bins.

I also read a thread on Forumosa the other day about odd store combinations, such as motorcycle repair shop / noodle house. Well I found probably the worst one I can imagine, on the way to the Wells school. Ok, so you walk by the front of the store, and like most stores here, the shop has tables set up out on the sidewalk area, so as you walk by the store's door is on the right and the tables are on the left. I look in the store and it's full of cheap kid's toys, stuff you might see in the supermarket in the US. Little dart guns, crappy robot toys, little soldiers, but then, oh look whats on the shelf above that! Oh its Hentai Manga (Sex Comic Books!) Kids toys and porn, seems like a great combination! Hey Johhny, go find yourself something to play with, and take your time! What makes it even funnier is its out on the sidewalk area, while it looks like its all toys inthe actual store. So you can peruse in front of everyone! Oh man, makes me laugh everytime I walk by!

I heard there was an earthquake today...

2008-02-18T12:00:00.002-05:00

but I guess I slept through it...

Dance Club - 'Lobby'

2008-02-18T11:47:00.003-05:00

I met Phoebe at Sogo again on Saturday night. She took me on her scooter to a dance club called Lobby. We met Queenie and her Friend Fei, a guy, riding on his motorcycle. So we waited outside for a bit and a bunch of her other friends showed up. A guy they called 'No-No' reserved a VIP type room upstairs with a window looking out on the dance floor.

So we paid about $500 NT to get in and then we get free drinks after that, I only had 2 beers, but whatever. So we all went to dance and went back up to the room. The group I was with was really nice and fun to hang out with. No-No was always doing some crazy and funny things, doing impressions and funny dances with the girls.

When I went out to dance I felt it was pretty fun, I am a decent enough dancer that I don't stand out at all I guess, haha, but in the club really theres not much room to do anything flashy. I felt that a few of the girls I danced near were giving me scared or dirty looks. Later some people told me Lobby is one of the clubs that can sometimes have an anti-foreigner vibe. There is another place called Pig-Pen that is full of foreigners and girls who are crazy for foreigners- not sure if I want to go there either. Maybe I can try, so far I haven't found that other people's descriptions are too accurate to me.

So in the end I had a lot of fun with Phoebe, Queenie, Fei, No-No, and the others. I got to see some hot girls and some crazy ones too. Too bad though, there were way too many guys there, like 70% guys it seemed! Maybe I can try the other big clubs around here, see if I like them better, and I need to try some in Taipei too because i think they must be a lot bigger and more fancy. So even anti-social Ian can manage to go to a dance club, I was super tired after that though!

Valentines

2008-02-18T11:42:00.002-05:00

For valentines I went out with my friend Phoebe. Queenie was supposed to come too but couldn't make it. She sent me some chocolate with Phoebe though. So we passed by a place called 'The Dive Lounge' it seems like a good place to get cheap drinks but they only sell hamburgers, so not good for dinner.

We went to another place called 'Oldies.' Has okay food but limited menu, mostly a bar too I guess. Both are supposed to be foreigner hang outs I guess. Anyway so Phoebe took me back to Sogo Dept. Store where we met, then I need to walk 45 mins back to my house. On the way I are one of the chocolates and as i swallowed it I thought to myself, was that some peanuts? Of course it was, so I got really allergic and red and itchy and threw up in an alley.

I got home fine, no big problem really, just annoying. Other than that it was a really nice night, just talking and relaxing with Phoebe. Glad we got hang out!

Birthday Video - Taipei + Danshui Trip

2008-02-13T08:33:00.002-05:00

This video starts off with a clip of Ben and I setting off firecrackers on Chinese New Year. The following music video part is my trip to Taipei and Danshui. We went to many places and had a great time. This video is really special to me! Thanks to Cher and Joy for taking me around and helping me to see all the cool things and experience these places.

The video is up on LiveVideo here: http://www.livevideo.com/video/BFCB6F78CD7F4FB5A387DFE430F8C5EA/taipei-danshui-trip.aspx

Taipei & Danshui Trip

Please visit the LiveVideo page as well and give me some votes and comments and things. Just viewing it on that site will help me stuff get to be more well known. Thanks!

Teacher Jen

2008-02-12T09:54:00.000-05:00

Today I did a few things. In the morning I walked to Carrefour and bought some important things like laundry detergent, toothpaste, and a proper Mini-SD Adapter. Now I can take photos as well as video, although the quality on the photos is not that great, and there is no flash, so the light needs to be decent.

The overpass on the way to work.

Anyway, I took a few photos on the way to my class today. Also, before class I went and got some beef noodles from one of the small local shops. I have not been eating enough recently because it's too annoying to find things I can eat sometimes. Oh well, I am getting better at it.

The Confucius Temple can be seen from the street the school is on.

So yeah, today I went to observe another teacher, Teacher Jen. She had a little bit more of a laid-back style than craig, she used some more games, and had some interesting classroom control tips. One was to use chance whenever there was some arbitrary decision to be made, that way, you, as the teacher, are not directly blamed by the students for picking who will do what. With some of the more rowdy classes she suggested using a points system and some arranged commands that the kids would respond to.

Wells English School.

I think her students were learning well, and seemed really interested to learn the new vocabulary. I was able to learn alot from watching both Craig and Jen, I think I can put together a good lesson plan tomorow.

Some interesting looking buildings on the way home.

I will go to school about 2 hours early to get started. I think in the future maybe one hour will be enough. I also considered using my laptop to type up my plan because I think I can organise things better on the PC than on paper. Once I have it all planned I can jot the outline on a piece of paper.

My new watch.

Hmmm- after watching Jen I went down to the nightmarket. It was crowded with young folks as usual. I bought a semi-cheap watch from a vendor there. Its a big fat digital watch, super easy to read in a millisecond, just what I want for class. Also I think it looks pretty cool, kinda overly big.

Teacher Craig

2008-02-11T07:22:00.000-05:00

Today my boss Tammy had me come in to observe one of the teachers in 3 of his classes. Each class was about 90 mins. Teacher Craig, as he is called, was super helpful, very nice, and very honest about his teaching style and theories. I think watching his classes really helped me get an idea of the flow of the class.

The Wells school has a strict lesson plan for each session. Craig was able to fit 5 - 7 activities into each class. That will help me with the pacing a lot, and I think thats one hard part of lesson planning. You have a certain amount of material, a certain amount of time, and you need to figure out how much time to spend on different segments.

It was also obvious between the different classes that the students make a huge difference in the way the class goes. Some classes are slow and take a lot of patience, others are quick and you can really see them learning and retaining knowledge. Some classes may even be too energetic and you would find yourself trying to keep everyone focused. It seems the pacing between exciting and more calm activities is really important. If the students can feel interested and happy then they will look forward to coming each session.

The teacher's aide can also be very important for keeping discipline and dealing with grading. It's also important to keep the language between teacher and student strictly in English. If the students realize they can talk to you in Chinese they will become lazy and less creative in trying to use their limited English to convey their thoughts.

So I think I learned a lot today. Tomorrow I need to watch another Teacher, Jen. I hope I can learn something different from seeing her style.

Ian went to a bar!

2008-02-11T07:08:00.000-05:00

I walked about 45 mins from my home to the Sogo department store in Taichung and met one of my MSN friends, Phoebe (which I used to think was spelled Pheobe...) We drove to the Jing Meng area and went to an Italian restaurant called Fatties. It was good, I had some salmon and cream sauce with fettuccine. Once again it was fun and I personally didn't feel all that nervous or awkward. I guess it's easier when you don't really have any expectations or intentions of dating or whatever. Just meet as friends, if you like them later then thats fine.

So after eating Phoebe took me to Feng Jia, the same place Jess and I went, but this time it was later and much more crowded. Just for fun we went down this one part of the street where it was so crowded that people just had to stop sometimes, it was pretty crazy, good place for pick pockets I'd guess, I put my wallet in my front pocket. After that we went and had some tea drinks at a little cafe type place.

So then Phoebe suggested that we meet one of her friends at the bar, they both work there as bartenders/hostesses. Most of you know I am not a guy who just goes to bars, but this place was small and knowing someone who works there is nice. So I just had one drink, a Red Baron, it wasn't very strong at all, but thats good for me, haha! So I just hung out with them till about 2:30 am and then they helped me get a cab home for $400 NT, it's kinda far from my house.

Phoebe and her friend Queenie were both very cool, funny, and hot as well. I gotta get a scooter soon so I can go hang out with people easier. $400 NT is too much to spend driving around.

FEB 09 - Ian's Birthday!

2008-02-10T00:09:00.000-05:00

A while ago I told my MSN friend Cher that I was trying to think of something to do on my birthday. We came up with the idea of going to Taipei and meeting up with her friend. So yesterday I woke up early, got a taxi to the high speed railway station. Sadly the time it takes to get there and the price of the taxi is really disproportionate to the HSR fare and speed.

So I managed to buy a ticket, instead of using the automated teller things I went to a real person, which took much longer. Later I found that the machines seem to have and English option, I need to try that next time. The train came, it at about 10:16, and I was off to Taipei! They don't call it high speed for nothing, I think the top speed I noticed on the indicator was 286 kmph. When it got to Banciao I thought maybe we were halfway there but it only took about 10 more mis from there. The whole trip takes 2 - 3 hours on a normal train I heard, HSR is about 50 mins.

So I met Cher and her friend Joy at the Taipei station. We went to a big mall, Breeze Center, I think, and ate a good lunch. Then it was off to Danshui, which was even colder and rainier. We took the MRT (Metro) this time. Cher and Joy were both really funny and sweet and getting to know them and making jokes was really great. In Danshui we walked down some night market streets and then up to Fort San Domingo. The signs were a little confusing to me, but it seems the fort was used by the spanish (hence the name) but later was used by the English. There were some other sections discussing the Dutch's occupation as well.

After this we went back down by the water, it was a very dark day but the view was still fun. People were still setting off fireworks over the water, CNY celebrations won't stop until Monday the 11th. We played some little games at the night market and then headed back into Taipei. There we went through another night market, ate some shaved ice dessert, and took some silly photos.

In many Asian countries it is popular to go to these crazy photo-booths. In America I have only seen the old style which quickly takes 4 photos. This kind lets you choose all types of backgrounds, and you can go out and write on them too. Then the machine lets you print them as stickers of all different sizes and even e-mail them to yourself. So then we were pretty exhausted, we had been out playing for almost 12 hours. I got back on the HSR from the MRT, and went back to Taichung, took a Taxi home, and my legs were aching!

Somewhere in there I also bought my favorite Taiwanese artist's (Chang Chen Yue's) CD, an older album called "Useless Guy." I took a good bit of video too so I will edit that together, maybe with one of his songs, so you can see the trip.

So thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and greetings, and thanks to Cher and Joy for a really memorable birthday trip!

Chinese New Year!

2008-02-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

CNY eve was on Feb 6. Maria and her family took the neighbors and I out to eat a big dinner at a restraunt they reserved. We ate fish, crab, lamb, chicken, beef, and plenty of vegetables. It was really a great meal, lots of food and I think we ate almost all of it too really. So we were all feeling fat and full and happy so we walked on home.

At 12 midnight Ben came down and we set off firecrackers, I took a video of it, pretty fun. Much louder in person than in the video. Ben said that back in the day, everyone on the street would come out at 12 and set off the firecrackers, it must have been something special to see, just one was exciting!

So everyone treated me well on CNY, very fun and memorable!

Talking to Americans

2008-02-05T02:48:00.000-05:00

I had to post this one. I just hope I am not this bad.

TALKING TO AMERICANS - Pt 1

After living in Taiwan for a while maybe I will have a small bit of international knowledge.

I got a job! Damn, I am so awesome!

2008-02-05T00:35:00.000-05:00

I casually wrote out my resume yesterday, I thought, "Hey, might as well get a head start, maybe there are some people out there not preparing for CNY yet, they can get my resume early and consider me over the new years break. Then in the afternoon I got a call from Tammy Wu at Wells English Buxiban. She got an appointment with me for today at 10. She explained the address and the landmarks to look for. I knew some of them so I thought its easy to find.

So I got dressed up, wearing a tie and all. Walked down, got a little lost, but eventually I found the school, it has a big W logo. So I interviewed with the owner, she is very friendly with a kind face and attitude. I think we get along so she explained the job and all that. Basically I can tell she is ready to hire me as long as I give a good impression. I know I am prepared and will do a good job, so I don't feel very nervous. So she basically hired me right away, not sure if she even offered the job, just started getting my information for the ARC forms.

Then she decided, hmm- chinese new year is coming so everything will be closed, maybe we can do the health test today! I said - sure! If you can take me there, that's fine. So we jumped in the car and went to the hospital, they X-Rayed me, took my blood, and poked me in the stomach. Asked a few funny questions and then I was outta there. I guess I will have an ARC very soon.

After that we went to take the photos we needed too. That was quick, although I don't think my hair was as perfect as I wanted.

Then Tammy and her Husband took me to MOS BURGER. It's a japanese burger place, some weird burgers, but actually really tasty, better than McDonalds of course. I had like a pork and cabbage burger...

So yeah, the pay is like $580 NT an hour and about 15 Hours a week. $580 NT = $18 US, so that's about $1080 US a month, which is $34,000 NT. My Rent is $10,000. So even with only 15 hours a week I can pay the rent with a 3rd of my salary. Later they can offer me around 20 Hours a week, once I know what I'm doing.

So yeah, I will be all legal, easy to get a legal scooter, easy to do everything after I got an ARC.
I think their book seems good too. It a work book for the kids, a homework book, and a teachers guide, all made in the same system. I will get to see two other teachers first as well.

Okay, so go watch my video some more, I want more votes! Show it to your friends! Send them the link to the live video page: http://www.livevideo.com/video/2947CFC95DC746B49D001B6AE00575E3/taiwan-dreamin-promo.aspx

I will try to get it up on youtube as well.

Taiwan Dreamin' Promo

2008-02-04T10:57:00.000-05:00

Okay, I downloaded a trial version of this editing software today and took a few of my DVDs I recorded and smashed them all together into this video. I guess this will portray the exciting style that I hope my Taiwan Dreamin' Program will take on.

This editing program is actually really amazing because it runs on my laptop pretty well, and I had like over an hour of footage i was editing down to the short video. I might try to buy it.

I used the punk rock version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" a cover by 'Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.' I think it's exciting and also gives you the idea of dreaming about travel. There are some little jokes in there too if you pay attention to the lyrics and the images.

Okay so here is the link to the video on LiveVideo:

http://www.livevideo.com/video/2947cfc95dc746b49d001b6ae00575e3/taiwan-dreamin-promo.aspx?m_tkc=10608554

Taiwan Dreamin' Promo

Please Leave me comments on the LiveVideo page, and vote too! Let me know what you think!
Also, don't feel bad if you were left out of this one, I will use all my intros eventually!

I got a job interview!?

2008-02-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

I was just looking around on tealit.com. Actually, I was looking at scooters at first, but then I saw an ad on the side for a teaching job, so then I just went into the jobs section. I saw a few good ads so I fixed up my resume and then sent out a few letters of interest with my resume and a anti-fraud copy of my diploma (I made a layer in photoshop and put 'copy' all over it, and 'ask for id' in the middle.)

Suprising even to myself, I even called one place, because it was right here in my district. Sadly they allready had someone. But then a few hours later while I was working on my video editing I got a call asking to come in for an interview. Tomorrow is the last day before the Chinese new years week off, so I got an appointment for 10am. I am pretty excited, I just need to show up and talk with the owner of the school I guess, let them get an impression of me.

One thing I want to stress to her is that I want to be legal. I need an ARC, and I really don't want to work before I receive it. Also I know some teachers are arrested when doing demos and things, so I am worried about that. I like to follow the rules so I think that's a good point she will want in an employee anyway.

So I am pretty sure I know how to get there, it seems pretty close. She mentioned an old train as a landmark and I think I recall seeing one when I was walking to the night market in that direction, see, all the walking paid off, I allready know my part of Taichung pretty well!

Well wish me luck on that!

I was editing my video earlier as well so expect another post in about an hour or so with that as the topic!

Friendly Foreigners

2008-02-03T20:19:00.000-05:00

Well, just as many other things are becoming obvious to me, I think the stereotype that all foreigners in Taiwan are losers is being busted, in my mind at least.

Even though I was told this by foreigners, but I have met my neighbors and they are super nice. The French guy gave me some chinese learning tools that are really helpful, he is here to study and goes to sleep early every day, not a party animal or anything.

The other is a couple, a French girl and a South African guy. They are both really generous and polite, and just interesting to talk to. I guess they like to go out to the pubs and stuff, but not like in a crazy way, maybe I need to tag along in order to get a feel for what normal people are doing on weekends, haha!

They also were asking what I will be doing during the non-foreigner-friendly Chinese New Year, where everything is closed and the Taiwanese are all inside with their families.

On another note, but still related to Foreigners, the Canadian guy who is selling the scooter said I can either pay him to bring the scooter down or try to do it myself. It would be a long drive but I'd also get to see Taiwan and maybe even film some video. I think maybe it'd be worth it. All I need to do basically is keep heading south till I get to Taichung. With the mountains on the east and ocean on the west there is not too much room to get REALLY lost, although, who knows, I might manage it.

Either way, getting back to your hometown is easier than going to another person's place.

So yeah my experience so far has been good, and with the people I met online too, all the foreigners I meet are educated and pretty responsible. When you are in a foreign country, you just gotta do what yah gotta do sometimes!

MORE SCOOTER!

2008-02-03T02:25:00.000-05:00

So now I am looking at scooters for sale in Taichung, they seem reasonable as well. Low prices, like 10 - 15k. They are in Taichung too so that makes it easier.

The thing is I still don't have an arc because I don't have a job yet. You know, having an ARC is really a big deal, its used for everything. I guess I underestimated, I need to hurry and get a job!

Well, maybe somebody can sell me a scooter and then settle the other stuff later. But I wonder if I get pulled over will the original owner get in trouble if they let an unlicensed driver use what is technically their bike?

Hmm- gotta figure this out!

SCOOTER!

2008-02-03T00:16:00.000-05:00

Theres a guy I met online who lives in Taiwan, he makes a lot of videos while riding his motorcycle, and just talks about random topics. Anyway, I was talking to him on MSN and he said that he has a cool scooter for sale. It's 125cc, which is i guess the biggest class of scooter, and it's been modified as well. He is going to put it on sale online today, for about $22,000 NT (about $660 USD.) I think it sounds like a good deal, he seems confident that it's a great scooter. I think its a good value too, I can probably get a crappy used scooter for less, but who knows if its going to break right away.

The only problem is he lives faaar North of me in another city, and also I don't have a working visa yet so we wouldn't be able to do the paperwork right away. I am trying to think if it would be cost effective to take it down here in a truck or if i might as well just buy a scooter locally instead.

Anyway, I think I will try to buy that, he got offline, but when he comes back I'll ask him more.