Today I am 25.

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.

Oil change in Taiwan!

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...

Feeling Depressed

I guess it's natural, but I am feeling super home-sick and depressed. It's funny really because I was so excited to come here. I guess I just need to keep myself busy. Starting to write this I feel a little better actually.

I really miss all my friends in America, I really love you all so much. I will surely come back soon to visit at least! I can work hard to make the money I need to visit. Haha!

My dad is sending me my diploma so then i can apply for jobs. In the mean time I guess i just need to keep busy doing my own things. I can document Taiwan with my camcorder, work on my animation, and play Wii and stuff. But I guess I just get depressed when I can't show that stuff to my friends right away.

I need to get some way to call others, like a phone card or cell phone.

I don't know how I can do that yet but I need to figure it out. I have some of my MSN Taiwan friend's numbers so I need to write them down and try to call them.

Okay, well, once I get a job I will be busy, I can meet more people, improve my chinese, and get more settled. I know others warned me that the first few months can be hell but I didn't know it will be this stressful.

Ok - I won't freak out on you guys anymore - thanks for reading!