General Update

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!

Teacher Craig's Menu

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!

Taiwan Dreamin' Promo

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!

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.

Superstitions - A guide to Taiwanese women.

All in all, women around the world are all the same. There is no special trick to them. Taiwanese women have the same parts as American women, they like it when you do something sweet and they get pissed off when they think you're not thinking of them, or being selfish.

One thing though that seems to bring up some troubles with the waiguoren and taiwanren couples are when the foreigner won't bow down the the taiwanese superstition, urban legend, or some odd thing they heard from their grandma/some friends/'the news.'

One example I have heard a BUNCH of times, and a whole thread about it on Forumosa, is:

You must wait for hot food to cool down before putting it in the fridge.

If you try to go against a superstition such as this you will face an hour long argument, which will not end well for you, and you will be forced to do things 'her way' next time unless you want to face it again.

'Chris' posted, citing the NY Times:
"In the olden days, refrigerators were "powered" with ice. Putting hot food into an icebox caused the ice to melt faster.

Nowadays, this is not a concern. If it increases the electric bill, the amount of the increase would be so negligible as to be unnoticeable on a bill. And leaving food out to cool slowly increases the length of the period in which bacteria can multiply: it's best to put hot food in the fridge right after dinner, thereby cooling it quickly and minimizing bacteria growth."

I am not sure if this applies to Taiwanese men as well, but it seems women latch onto these ideas more often. There is almost never a way to convince them otherwise, because they see it as an insult to their culture, their intelligence, or the person who told them. It seems the only way to bring it up with out a problem is to do it when there is no argument yet. You just say, hey my friend told me -insert counter-superstition here-, what do you think? If you can cite a good source and she believes in science you might be able to convince her. Its not about proving her wrong, its about doing things in a more sensible way. If you make her feel stupid for making a small mistake then you're just being an asshole.