1 Ping = 3.5 sq. Meters = 36 sq. Feet

Well I think the title says it all. Many of the rooms I found were about 10 Ping. The place I have reserved is 50.
Thats about 175 sq. Meters or 1800 sq. Feet. I need to ask my parents what is the size of their homes so I can compare. Anyway, I know its not small, haha!

On another subject I need to have a card made up to express my allergy. My friend Kevin wrote it out for me in simplified chinese, but in Taiwan they use traditional. Here it is:

I am allergic to 'legumes' and beans.
我对豆科植物以及豆科植物所作食品过敏.

This includes peanuts, tofu, and soy.
这其中包括了花生,豆腐,大豆等食物.

I can have the oil, but not the protein.
我能食用豆制油类,但是不能食用豆制蛋白质.

I need to print this out I guess. I also need somebody to type up my full adress where I will be staying so I can show it to Taxi drivers and such people.

When I arrive in Taiwan I will take a bus or the High-Speed Train from the airort to Taichung. There are places to buy bus tickets right inside the Airport, for a 2 Hour ride to Taichung it's about $7 US. For the Train its about $30 but takes like 40 mins, something like that. The bus terminal is open until 1:00 am.
Taiwan is practically a 24 Hours Open culture so I think I can travel easily in the night.

Photos of Taiwan.

I've been looking around online and there are some really great photos of Taiwan out there. If you look in a travel book it's likely they will only show you resorts and things that look like Hawaii, but thats not what most of Taiwan looks like. These Flickr users will help you see Taiwan from their perspective:

Paogao
http://www.flickr.com/photos/poagao/

Paogao's photos are are very artistic, well composed, great subjects, wonderful lighting. Even grimy city streets look beautiful through his lens.

Michael Turton
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelturton/

Michael Turton is primarily a blogger, and a good one at that, but his photos are fun to see as well. They are more 'what you see is what you get.' He travels all around Taiwan to many different cities, museums, parks, and beaches and is always documenting as he goes.

Alidarbac
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alidarbac/

Another artistic photographer giving his insight on Taiwan. From photos of people to landscapes, all his work is impressive.

There is a lot to see on those three pages, but keep in mind they travel to other countries too so not EVERY photo there is Taiwan. Here are a few others to check out, just regular users taking photos of their daily life:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandman1/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frostfox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucybabewho/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83102412@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lupillus/

One last thing! On YouTube, and LiveVideo, check out the Motorcyclin' Mordeth13. He basically drives around Taiwan interviewing himself equiped with his trusty Helmet-Cam. Pretty interesting way to see Taiwan and he has some funny storys to tell as well. Here are his pages:

http://livevideo.com/mordeth13
http://youtube.com/user/13mordeth

I hope that when I get to Taiwan I can get a camera and take my own photos of the island! Okay, so take some time to look through those, leave them comments, and leave me comments too, tell me which ones are your favorites!

My Thoughts on Entertainment.

This blog primarily focuses on my plans and procedures formulated for flying to Formosa. But, of course I have other interests and I don't want to make a separate blog for that, so here it is. I can relate this to Taiwan in that I believe with the more convenient lifestyle in Taiwan I would have more time to devote to my hobbies. I am conflicted, however, in the following question: Do Taiwanese look down on 'nerds' as much as Americans do? My inclination is to say no. I think the general slack jawed, Fox 5 viewing ,American feels that anyone with intelligence or an interest in technology or anything academic is a nerd and should be criticized. I don't know if they are intimidated or they feel that nerds look down on them and they need to stick up for themselves or what. At the same time I think that the industrious Taiwanese would look down on people who spend too much time on their hobbies, whatever they are. At the same time over in Japan there seem to be tons or hobbyists and record numbers of shut-ins...

Anyway, on to the real topic.

There is a 3D animated movie, done in a near photo-realistic style, coming out this week. It is called Beowulf, and it is based on the poem we all know as the oldest written document in English. I have heard of a few adaptations on Beowulf and they all seemed to veer away from the original story in one way or another. One horrible version had Beowulf as a wimpy looking coward with an infinite Rocket Launcher called the 'Kings Weapon.' Well I really think from the preview that this movie will cover almost everything in the book, from fighting sea serpents, to Grendel and his mother. I am really excited for watching this, I just hope the animation is naturalistic, the acting comes across as comfortable, and they are able to stick to the original text in the art direction and storyline. I am working on my own animation and I really think working on a project like Beowulf would be a dream come true!

The second thing I wanted to discuss is that I own a Nintendo Wii. At first I loved it, the controls seemed really great and intuitive. Soon after I got bored with the Wii Sports game and found Zelda and Mario Strikers to just be ports of Gamecube games with Wii controls slapped on in place of buttons. There are also many lame party games out there taking advantage of the controls but not really making a worth while gaming experience. 'Zack and Wiki' has changed my mind on that. Although it has some downsides, its clever use of the controller is really immersive. Its sort of a stage based game that reminds me of the old point and click adventures on the PC, such as Space Quest, or Monkey Island. I wish it had a good comical storyline to hold it all together like those PC games but the puzzles at least are really great! Also made by Capcom is 'Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.' (Which coincidentally almost copies my title for my own spin off flash animation, Resident Evil: Umbrella Confrontation.) This title summarizes 3 of the great RE games and puts it into an on-rails-shooter format. I was sad to see RE2 and Code Veronica were not included, but hopefully they can be in a sequel since both of those games follow Claire Redfield, the sister of one of the Main Characters in this one. Well, my point is that Capcom is really finding clever ways to use the Wii Remote as well as giving the fans what they want in the form of actual game content. I am also looking forward to Mario Galaxy which came out today, I hope Nintendo is able to use their own hardware well. PS3 and Xbox 360 look pretty cool, but right now I have enough games to beat on Wii, I can wait for the others to go down in price before I start getting back into those franchises I am missing on their systems. I hope RE5 comes out on Wii as well as Xbox and PS3...

Well I think that's enough off topic discussion. I'll try to make another more Taiwan related post soon.

Phase 2 underway!

I stopped working at the end of October, then met Sha Sha in December. I was being lazy about finding a job until she started to make me feel motivated. I applied to a few places and had horrible luck. I applied for Pla-za art store and they dicked me around, had me come for 2 interviews then ignored my e-mails and calls. In early February I decided (with the prodding of my mom and grandmother) to join with a temp agency. Apparently mother knows best because it turned out really well!

I think within a week they had a job for me - The Housing Oppurtunities Commission, doing IT!
I was doing IT at towson, but this job pays $15 an hour as opposed to $6, the management is WAY better and the people I work with are really awesome.

Now that I have a steady income (with no rent still, thanks dad!) I am able to have fun on the weekend and save up for my future Taiwan trip.

Heres another issue though, Sha Sha needs to stay here for about 2 years or so to finish school and get some work experience, I really wish I could go to Taiwan with her now, but it looks like I'll have to wait. If nothing is going wrong I don't want to give her up just to go to Taiwan, especially if I am finding some decent work.

Sha Sha and I have been having a lot of fun too - had just about the best Valentines day ever- we went sledding, we built a snow-bunny, watched a lot of movies, and this weekend he have tickets to see the Washington Capitals VS Tampa Bay Lighting (these are hockey teams in case you dont know...)

I will try to update this blog more often, but I tend to forget!

The Beginning

Last winter I took a trip with my girlfriend to Taiwan. I knew it was going to be a special thing, maybe a 'once in a lifetime oppurtunity,' but now I think it is going to turn into something more than that.

I stayed with my girlfriend's parents in the south of Taiwan, Ping Dong. It was really an interesting experience, I got to see Taiwan from the point of view of a citizen rather than a tourist. I went on the regular shopping trips, to the local stores, the night markets, and so on. I felt like I got to see the real gritty side of Taiwan that a lot of foreigners might miss on a short visit. I did manage to go to a lake and a couple other places outside the city. I visited 'Love River' in Kaohsiung and hung out in a few cities in central Taiwan over a weekend.



As soon as I got back to the US I felt that I had left something important behind. I had made a few friends, and I just felt like the culture really suited me. I'll go into more detail on that in the future.

Now my girlfriend and I have broken up, luckily it was a smooth transition, we are still great friends, and currently roommates. I just graduated from college with a BA in Graphic Design, and I have only a small part-time job. It looks like its the perfect time for me to follow my dream of living in Taiwan. For the last year I have been reading websites, blogs, and forums in order to get the upper hand on the situation. Forumosa.com and Michael Turton's projects were a great help to me. I think I have the will, the skill sets, and the desire needed to make it in Taiwan and I am planning to chronical my progress here with this blog. I thank you for reading and I hope that I can entertain you with my 'newbie' observations and other personal insights.

-IAN-