March Madness

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Rather than do long infrequent updates I think it would be a better idea to do smaller more frequent ones. That way i can relay a more accurate picture of life, without forgeting the details, cause life here is clearly all about the details. Id say 9/10 of the time im pretty busy and the other 1/10 of my time im pretty lazy. With my busy time it seems i am either teaching or learning.

The teaching I am still enjoying. The kids are amazing. The chinese teachers (with a few exceptions) are amazing. The company still sucks but oh well. Fairy is still my private student. It is even better then ever becasue lately she has taken it upon herself to feed me. I can always count on a fresh plate of bear apples (wierd apple like taiwan fruit) guavas, or some odd banana apple hybrid fruit to eat while im explaining the wierd subtlties of the English language. She even made me sweet potatos last week...some of which are purple on the inside! To pay her back I am starting to buy books for her such as yurtle the turtle and The little prince (but ntot before i read the little prince). I hope she will like them. I almost had another private student, but it dint pan out. I drove 30 minutes into the boonies in the rain, Gave a free two hour lesson, and was almost late to work. You should know that driving a roofless, sideless vehicle in the rain is not a pleasant experience, especially when you have no idea where you are and how to get back to work/ civilization. Anyways bottom line is they were too cheap. The audacity.

Things I am learning/things going on in my life.

Jiu Jit su - Still into it. Last week got into ankle locks and escapes. This stuff is awsome. I also met a wicked guy from Calgary who is actually in Taiwan to persue a career in mixed martial arts. If anyone is interested in starting to fight professionally apparently Guam is the best place to get started....Lots of sailers there or something.

Guitar. with my freebie guitar and ringo amp, me and Andrew have decided to start a band. We had a jam session just guitar and bass and it went pretty well. We have some good covers like man who sold the world, pride and joy, babe im gonna leave you, and may even come up with some songs of our own.

Tv- We got cable last week and Taiwanese TV is pretty good, particularly the commercials. I think i just saw a commercial for Chinese viagra, there were rockets launching, missles being fired off helicopters, really cheesy sets and older Taiwanese men in bed with younger Taiwanese girls. Interesting. We get espn too. Im glad the jays are in the yanks division because there seems to be a plethora of yank games being broadcast due to the fact that Wang (A now Taiwanese legend) pitches for them. We also get a couple movie channels. Not too shabby for 5 bucks a month.

Chinese- I seem to be stumbling across several Chinese words while teaching English to my kids. I will be in the middle of teaching a lesson or introducing a word and suddenly the kids will burst out with laughter. I guess its not surprising that some english words sound like Chinese. For anyone interested, sunny when pronounced Sah-ni means kill you. My kids personal favorite is side, which when prounounced very sharply with a quieter "d" means poo-poo in Taiwanese. Although everyone in Taiwan speaks Manderin, something like 5% of people speak Taiwanese which is somehow slightly different from Manderin. I have been informed that comparing Taiwanese to Mandarin is somewhat similar when comparing Newfoundland to the rest of Canada. I guess for the States the best comparison would be north to south. Different accent and some different words. I also had a fluent conversation with a guy at the grocery strore. Here is a rough translation:
Me "Excuse me sir how much do these cost" pointing to the frosties (frosted flakes).
Him "109 dollars"
Me "Thank you very much."
Him "your welcome"
Impressed? I know i was

Made in Taiwan- I'm also learning the meaning of Made in Taiwan. Let me explain. In the previously mentioned rainstorm i had the forsght to go out and buy a pair of what i thought would be waterproof gloves. They claimed they were upto -20 degrees. Needless to say my hands were soaking within 10 minutes. The gloves were returned soaking wet later that evening.

Example 2- After a night at freedom (my favorite Taiwanese bar) i decide to turn on the air conditioner. I wake up to find the bottom of my sheets and floor soaked in air conditioner fluid. I have yet to solve this mystery

Example 3- My phone which i bought 3 months ago already has a slightly cracked LCD. Fucken synnex.

New thought- I hate proud people. Pride is a trait that barely exists Taiwan, and it is very refreshing. No one trying to prove anything to anyone. Is there really a greater mark of insecurity? Modesty and harmony in realtionships seem to be much more important here and i think Its great. I simply dont want to be around argumentative people who always need to prove something to you or themselves. Its a great revelation im very happy with.

Last week was lantern festival. Lantern festival is a festival that happens 15 days after Chinese New Year. There are fireworks and everyone has these red helium lanters. People go to the park and all let them go at the same time. Suposed to be quite the visual simulus but unfortuneately i missed it because i was called into action to do some wine tasting. At least i got to experience "Le Grand Jean", some shitty vintage wine. Some good did come out of it as i may have found a link to a good squash court and learned where I could purchase some good cheese, and purchase it I did.

This last weekend was Wes's and Kats one year Taiwanaversery so me and the roommates showed up as three mexicans. I was Tito te mexican wrestler. More imprortantly it gave me an opportunity to finally wear the suspenders i purchased for Halloween. The night was amazing and was capped at freedom (obviosuly enough). Possibly more details to follow at a later time...

This week is March Madness and i think it will be the first time in eight years i havent skipped school to watch the games. At least there is a palce i know that is showing the games. I have my pick to win but am unable to make it public as some people in my pool may be reading this. The year is moving by fast and i have to decide whether I'm going to go to Thailand in 3 weeks or not. Whereever I am I will be sure to do some surfing. Next update coming soon.
DG