Inside 101
At 新光三越
Outside 101
Outside SogoThursday, December 25, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
ICLP = Over
So Tuesday marked the very last day of ICLP...meaning my UC EAP study abroad semester is officially over. I still have one NTU class every Thursday morning and tutoring twice a week but besides that my days are free free FREE!!!
Monday was pretty much the last day of ICLP classes. Got exams back. Gave teachers their gifts. And we treated our 3rd class teacher to afternoon tea. It was kind of weird hanging out with our teacher outside of the classroom. You would think that since he talked so much in the classroom that we could all have conversations outside of the classroom. Instead it felt a little awkward. And in the end we still had like a "lesson" on chinese slang at the afternoon tea place. Haha. Guess it's in his blood to teach...doesn't feel comfortable around students if he isn't teaching. xP
棋王class!!!
singing with the teachers
And then after that was the banquet at Sheraton Hotel. All you can eat Western style buffet!! The food was good but there wasn't a big selection. The dessert selection was pretty crazy though. Besides crepes, cakes, ice cream, etc...there was also a chocolate fountain AND a 抹茶 (green tea) fountain!!! crazy!!! Just like the last day of anything, we took tons of pictures.
抹茶fountain!!!
most of the ICLP girls
most of the ICLP guys
Monday was pretty much the last day of ICLP classes. Got exams back. Gave teachers their gifts. And we treated our 3rd class teacher to afternoon tea. It was kind of weird hanging out with our teacher outside of the classroom. You would think that since he talked so much in the classroom that we could all have conversations outside of the classroom. Instead it felt a little awkward. And in the end we still had like a "lesson" on chinese slang at the afternoon tea place. Haha. Guess it's in his blood to teach...doesn't feel comfortable around students if he isn't teaching. xP
The teacher opening his gift from us.
Tuesday was the last day of ICLP. Instead of class, we all went singing with our teachers! It was exciting...we had like around 40 people? Got a huge KTV room and tons of food.
棋王class!!!
singing with the teachers
抹茶fountain!!!
most of the ICLP girls
most of the ICLP guys
And that marks the end of ICLP. Some people from the program have already left for the US. And as December slowly comes to an end, more and more people will be leaving...then what do I do? @@
Friday, December 12, 2008
DONE!
Taiwanese final. DONE.
棋王 final. DONE.
台灣社會短文 final. DONE.
I'm DONE. ^^
I do have to admit though that this has probably been the most relaxing finals week I've ever had. Haha. Granted it should be but yea.
And now...to celebrate the end with Christmas shopping!!!! :D
Some friends will be leaving at different times in the next two weeks. @@ Must make the most out of their remaining time here!
棋王 final. DONE.
台灣社會短文 final. DONE.
I'm DONE. ^^
I do have to admit though that this has probably been the most relaxing finals week I've ever had. Haha. Granted it should be but yea.
And now...to celebrate the end with Christmas shopping!!!! :D
Some friends will be leaving at different times in the next two weeks. @@ Must make the most out of their remaining time here!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Finals
It's that dreaded time of the semester....finals.
Finals start tomorrow. First one up...Taiwanese. Gonna be hard...I can already feel it. Studying for this is proving to be a headache because it requires a lot of memorizing since I have to write down pinyin tomorrow. T_T
Thursday is 棋王 final which is basically memorizing tons and tons of 成語. Maybe I'll end up writing another long entry with tons of 成語 again as studying. It seemed to work last time. Haha.
Friday is the third class final which is probably going to be the hardest. The review packet was super hard that we all begged the teacher for mercy today. Good thing he's easily swayed and somewhat cut us some slack. But it's still gonna be super hard. @@
Yea this entry is really a nothing entry since I'm mainly doing this to procrastinate and take a break from studying Taiwanese. Guess it's back to studying...T_T
Finals start tomorrow. First one up...Taiwanese. Gonna be hard...I can already feel it. Studying for this is proving to be a headache because it requires a lot of memorizing since I have to write down pinyin tomorrow. T_T
Thursday is 棋王 final which is basically memorizing tons and tons of 成語. Maybe I'll end up writing another long entry with tons of 成語 again as studying. It seemed to work last time. Haha.
Friday is the third class final which is probably going to be the hardest. The review packet was super hard that we all begged the teacher for mercy today. Good thing he's easily swayed and somewhat cut us some slack. But it's still gonna be super hard. @@
Yea this entry is really a nothing entry since I'm mainly doing this to procrastinate and take a break from studying Taiwanese. Guess it's back to studying...T_T
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Blockade
Every semester I go through this phase where I hit a roadblock. By this I mean I reach a point where my brain simply refuses to let me stuff new information in it. I just simply can't learn anymore stuff. I probably should have never chosen to go to a school with a semester system because this usually happens like a month before the semester is over in Berkeley. I thought coming to Taiwan would change things a bit. Well...I guess you can say it has...because this roadblock came 2 weeks before finals rather than a month.
I simply can't stick anymore Taiwanese vocab in my head. Can't stick anymore 成語s in my head. Can't motivate myself to do homework and study and everything. I even accidently overslept today and missed my NTU class when I actually went to bed early the night before! [I blame the stupid mosquito flying around in our room buzzing at me all night long.]
Sighness...One more week til finals...@@
I simply can't stick anymore Taiwanese vocab in my head. Can't stick anymore 成語s in my head. Can't motivate myself to do homework and study and everything. I even accidently overslept today and missed my NTU class when I actually went to bed early the night before! [I blame the stupid mosquito flying around in our room buzzing at me all night long.]
Sighness...One more week til finals...@@
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Busy Day
Today was such a busy day that it deserves bullet points.
This past week I've been feeling super busy. And I feel like I'm behind in things and am having a hard time catching up. Maybe it's because there's only two weeks left of ICLP and all the teachers are trying to jam in as much stuff as possible so homework is starting to get heavy. Plus I need to start thinking about my future and prepping myself for the spring semester. Bleh~ @@
- went to 台灣銀行 (Taiwan Bank) to deposit the rest of my traveler's checks today. i now am starting to regain my faith in Taiwan banks again because the whole process took only 15 minutes while my last experience took almost an hour. Plus the service fee was less at this bank. I now know which bank to use if I ever decide to open a bank account here.
- got my Taiwanese ID (身分證). i somehow lost my ID the last time I got it. kinda funny cuz the guy was like...where did you lost it? um....california? yea...but now i have a new one again! woo!
- went mucho shopping at 五分埔 since i have money again. we were there for a around 4 hours. pretty crazy. i ended up getting one shirt and two hoodies. probably the most money i've spent on a 五分埔 trip. @@
- made three phone calls via skype [thanks to lil sherry for letting me use her account!]. my bank. paypal. my savings account bank. end result? claims have been made at my bank and paypal. and i now have access to my savings account again. am no longer broke in the US. [long story short: my paypal account got hacked into and that person took $470 from my bank account and my savings account got locked so i was denied access]
This past week I've been feeling super busy. And I feel like I'm behind in things and am having a hard time catching up. Maybe it's because there's only two weeks left of ICLP and all the teachers are trying to jam in as much stuff as possible so homework is starting to get heavy. Plus I need to start thinking about my future and prepping myself for the spring semester. Bleh~ @@
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Kenting (Long Entry w/ Pics!)
So last weekend was the crazy trip down to the most southern part of Taiwan, Kenting. I planned this group trip all by myself with some help from a couple of friends. I must admit that I was super nervous at first because I was not confident in myself. I mean me...planning and booking stuff in Taiwan? I have to speak Chinese? Crap! LoL. But everything worked out fine. So thank goodness for that. And I wasn't super stressed about it all so was able to slip in some fun time for myself.
So Friday night we (13 people) took the overnight train down from Taipei to Kaohsiung. Left at 11pm. Arrived at 5:30am. Unfortunately, the seats in the train were not very comfortable so I only managed to get like 1 hour of sleep during the ride. Some people didn't get any sleep at all while others managed to sleep the whole ride down.
Mr. Paul here is the only one who managed to sleep the whole train ride down. Lucky dude.
So Friday night we (13 people) took the overnight train down from Taipei to Kaohsiung. Left at 11pm. Arrived at 5:30am. Unfortunately, the seats in the train were not very comfortable so I only managed to get like 1 hour of sleep during the ride. Some people didn't get any sleep at all while others managed to sleep the whole ride down.
Mr. Paul here is the only one who managed to sleep the whole train ride down. Lucky dude.
Once we arrived in Kaohsiung, we got picked up from the train station and then driven to our 民宿. A little 12 person van with 13 people in it. Originally we were all going to sleep on the van until we discovered that this van has KTV on it. So I guess you can guess what the ride was like...LoL. Felt sorry for the poor driver
死了都要愛~~~~ LoL. 這麼早還飆歌...
死了都要愛~~~~ LoL. 這麼早還飆歌...
Arrived at our place. Freshened up. Left our luggage lying around and then talked about what to do during our time here. I had only planned the essentials (transportation, living, etc) but didn't make any plans for activities since I figured we would all want to do different things. So in the end we decided to pay the driver and have him bring us around for the day. So off to tour Kenting we went!
Went to a lot of scenic places that I've actually been to with my family before. Like this lighthouse place. And went near the water. And we also went go-karting too.
This would be the 12 person van that drove us around all day.
The famous lighthouse
go-karting
After we got tired of the beach we went back to Kenting big street. We ate a late lunch. Did some more last minute shopping. And then got back in the van and headed back to Kaohsiung. Took the Kaohsiung MRT to the High Speed Rail station in 左營. First time on the Kaohsiung MRT. Quite different looking than Taipei's.
Arrived in Taipei at 11pm. And we all headed back to the dorms. The end. It was a fun and tiring weekend. And very successful.
And here is the one group picture that I have on my (well...my bro's camera):
All 13 of us
Went to a lot of scenic places that I've actually been to with my family before. Like this lighthouse place. And went near the water. And we also went go-karting too.
This would be the 12 person van that drove us around all day.
The famous lighthouse
go-karting
By the time we got back to our place, it was like dinner time. And lucky for us, the place I found just happened to be located at the end of 墾丁大街夜市 (night market) so we explored the night market.
Kenting Nightmarket
Kenting Nightmarket
Did some gift shopping. Had some nasty American dinner. The night market was small. Shilin still beats it by a bajillion. But the souvenirs they sell are probably only found there. So yep.
The boys had bought some sparklers and fireworks earlier during our tour so around midnight-ish we decided to set those off. Quite fun. Can't wait til New Years when we get to go all out. xP
(Left) setting up the big stuff. (Right) playing with sparklers.
The next day was beach day. Lucky for us again, our place was really close to a beach. So we all headed off to the beach. The weather was beautiful, very sunny out. And the sand on the beach was super smooth and the water was pretty awesome.
The boys had bought some sparklers and fireworks earlier during our tour so around midnight-ish we decided to set those off. Quite fun. Can't wait til New Years when we get to go all out. xP
(Left) setting up the big stuff. (Right) playing with sparklers.
The next day was beach day. Lucky for us again, our place was really close to a beach. So we all headed off to the beach. The weather was beautiful, very sunny out. And the sand on the beach was super smooth and the water was pretty awesome.
On the Kaohsiung MRT
Took the HSR back up to Taipei. Only a 1.5 hour ride. Not enough time to sleep and I got bored so I took pics of myself (like a true FOB. xP). Here's one.
And here is the one group picture that I have on my (well...my bro's camera):
All 13 of us
And now it is Thanksgiving break for us ICLP kids. No class today and tomorrow. Most everyone has gone off somewhere (HK, Japan, Korea, etc..). Unfortunately my Thanksgiving trip to Hong Kong got canceled. But I will take this time to relax and catch up on work that I've been putting off for a while. And there's always that Saturday concert to look forward too...=)
Monday, November 17, 2008
Bad Day
Traveler checks are a bitch. End of story.
Sometimes when I'm in Taiwan I think to myself, "yes, i'm doing just great, i can get myself around and everything." And then other times I think to myself, "what am i thinking about possibly living here in the future? i don't belong!"
This morning would be a "i don't belong" moment. I go to the bank this morning to exchange my traveler checks and the security guard there doesn't know if the bank even does it or not. So he tells me to go to the counter and wait and ask. So I wait [this whole entire time I'm waiting the person behind me in line is bitching about how the service here is really slow and bad and everything]. And probably like 20mins later the security guard comes up to me and was like...oh it's not possible to exchange traveler checks here because you need a bank account in taiwan. And I'm like..um...well this other bank told me to come to this bank because they said I can do it here. And he was all like well...他們[the other bank]不負責任. [basically saying the other bank isn't taking responsibility by referring me to this one] The eff?!
Anyhow, right at the moment it's my turn and the person behind in line was just like..don't listen to the security guard, go ask the counter. So I went to the counter. And once again I get asked the stupid question: "do you have a bank account in taiwan?" serious? why the fack would I be exchanging traveler checks if i had a tw bank account? NO LADY. and she just stares for a while. makes a couple of phone calls. and hands me a piece of paper to fill out. she had no idea what to do. and then she gets someone to come help her and i get asked the same question about the bank account. how many times do i need to repeat myself? serious. that helper leaves. another helper comes. more phone calls are made. i'm getting effin frustrated. i send an angry text to my dad. he calls. i yell in the phone while tearing up "NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO DO ANYTHING HERE!" [in english]. finally get my money. and i leave while continuing yelling into the phone. [i'm really only yelling because he couldn't hear me].
And that would be my entire morning. A big fat waste of time. The end.
Sometimes when I'm in Taiwan I think to myself, "yes, i'm doing just great, i can get myself around and everything." And then other times I think to myself, "what am i thinking about possibly living here in the future? i don't belong!"
This morning would be a "i don't belong" moment. I go to the bank this morning to exchange my traveler checks and the security guard there doesn't know if the bank even does it or not. So he tells me to go to the counter and wait and ask. So I wait [this whole entire time I'm waiting the person behind me in line is bitching about how the service here is really slow and bad and everything]. And probably like 20mins later the security guard comes up to me and was like...oh it's not possible to exchange traveler checks here because you need a bank account in taiwan. And I'm like..um...well this other bank told me to come to this bank because they said I can do it here. And he was all like well...他們[the other bank]不負責任. [basically saying the other bank isn't taking responsibility by referring me to this one] The eff?!
Anyhow, right at the moment it's my turn and the person behind in line was just like..don't listen to the security guard, go ask the counter. So I went to the counter. And once again I get asked the stupid question: "do you have a bank account in taiwan?" serious? why the fack would I be exchanging traveler checks if i had a tw bank account? NO LADY. and she just stares for a while. makes a couple of phone calls. and hands me a piece of paper to fill out. she had no idea what to do. and then she gets someone to come help her and i get asked the same question about the bank account. how many times do i need to repeat myself? serious. that helper leaves. another helper comes. more phone calls are made. i'm getting effin frustrated. i send an angry text to my dad. he calls. i yell in the phone while tearing up "NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO DO ANYTHING HERE!" [in english]. finally get my money. and i leave while continuing yelling into the phone. [i'm really only yelling because he couldn't hear me].
And that would be my entire morning. A big fat waste of time. The end.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Another Weekend Over
There's too much to talk about. So I guess bullet point again?
Fri - Danny's Birthday
Fri - Danny's Birthday
- KTV at 西門町. super fun! KTV always makes me happy. especially when we sing duets and harmonize perfectly. sounds so pretty. =)
- 007 at 西門町. tons of action. forgot what happened in the last movie so there were parts that i didn't understand. the action parts were cool. the rest of it was kinda boring.
- pigging out. after the movie (which ended around midnight), we were hungry so we got some sausages. then when we got back to the dorm we decided we wanted to eat more so we went to 永和豆漿. super yummy. finally went back to the dorms around 2amish.
- super fun day. i was in such a happy mood when i got back. no idea why. wasn't celebrating my birthday. LoL.
- BEAUTIFUL weather. the sun was out. it was finally hot again.
- big day for NTU. so lots of activities. there were club performances. food stands. games. concerts. was introduced to bands i've never heard of. quite exciting.
- 通化街 for dinner again. third time there. and i finally got that bag i've been staring at everytime i go. good thing i did because the one i got was the very last one he had. if i had waited any longer there might not be any more the next time i go back! also got some scarves.
- back to CRAPPY weather.
- NTU student exchange fair! i didn't volunteer to help out but i went anyways because i wanted to help out. it was actually super fun talking to locals who were interested in studying abroad about the UCs. i think it's probably the only day i've ever talked to so many locals. was sad i had to leave for tutoring.
- tutoring...frustrates me. i still don't know if im approaching this the right way. BUT. at least he now has his days of the week memorized and almost all the months memorized. so at least there is some sort of improvement. =)
- went to sogo after tutoring cuz they have their anniversary sale right now. well sale or not...sogo is still damn expensive. and i think i spent most of the time there wandering makeup counters (read: following sherrys and erica around). but at least the food at sogo is really good.
- i now have a camera to use again! received my bro's camera from my mom's friend who brought the camera over from china. so yay for pictures in the future! ^^
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hail?!
Lots of strange things happening in Taiwan recently. Besides the blackout (which still hasn't been fixed yet), it apparently hailed last night. Hail in Taiwan? Unbelievable! I remember when I was super surprised that one time it hailed in Texas [when I was still living there]. So does hail jus randomly appear in really hot places once in a while or what? @@
Coooooooooooooold. I need more fall clothes. Gotta go shopping soon. But weekends are filled. What to do....@@
Coooooooooooooold. I need more fall clothes. Gotta go shopping soon. But weekends are filled. What to do....@@
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
BLACKOUT!
Say what?
So I'm taking a break from work and playing my DS [discovered a new game that's pretty fun!] and then suddenly...the room gets darker. I was actually confused for like a minute as my roommate and I look around the room wondering what just happened because we knew something was different about the room but we couldn't figure out what it was. And then we looked up and saw that our room light was out. Like...wtf? LoL. I open the door and poke my head out and the whole hallway is pitch black. Of course...everyone else is also poking their heads out their doors too. Weirdest blackout ever because it's only the room lights and the hallway lights and the sinkroom lights that are out. Our desk lights and the electricity in the room still works seeing how my laptop didn't just die too. And the showerroom lights work too. So weird. The other funny thing is that there are emergency lights in the hallway but they do jack shiet since they are located in a lit area. Haha. Makes walking down the hall an adventure especially since things look even fuzzier without my contacts on and I have to watch out for all the drying umbrellas in the hallway.
Okay that is all. Just had to share. xP
So I'm taking a break from work and playing my DS [discovered a new game that's pretty fun!] and then suddenly...the room gets darker. I was actually confused for like a minute as my roommate and I look around the room wondering what just happened because we knew something was different about the room but we couldn't figure out what it was. And then we looked up and saw that our room light was out. Like...wtf? LoL. I open the door and poke my head out and the whole hallway is pitch black. Of course...everyone else is also poking their heads out their doors too. Weirdest blackout ever because it's only the room lights and the hallway lights and the sinkroom lights that are out. Our desk lights and the electricity in the room still works seeing how my laptop didn't just die too. And the showerroom lights work too. So weird. The other funny thing is that there are emergency lights in the hallway but they do jack shiet since they are located in a lit area. Haha. Makes walking down the hall an adventure especially since things look even fuzzier without my contacts on and I have to watch out for all the drying umbrellas in the hallway.
Okay that is all. Just had to share. xP
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Cold
So this weekend has just been rainy and yucky. And today the temperature decided to drop major to I don't know how many degrees. But I went outside for lunch in jeans and a t-shirt and I was FREEZING. I don't remember Taiwan ever being this cold before but maybe my memory is just bad like it always is. @@
Had my second tutoring session today. The transit there is long. I don't particularly like that. The kid is quiet. Can't do much about that. And my lessons are not organized enough. I keep underestimating things. I hope I can get myself straightened out soon though because I only have 2 months with this kid and I really want to be able to see improvement when I leave. The mom is really nice though. And super friendly. I've often thought about dropping this job and trying to find a closer one. But I feel committed already and the parents are super nice so I would feel bad about leaving them. Sigh...me and my issues. But it's okay. Think of it as an experience since that is what I need if I really want to go down this path.
I think I might be getting sick. Had a headache all day long even though I got 9 hours of sleep today. Might have been from the short walk to and from the lunch place without a jacket on because it was sprinkling and freezing cold. Well...the headache is currently gone. So hopefully I'm okay. *crosses fingers*
Had my second tutoring session today. The transit there is long. I don't particularly like that. The kid is quiet. Can't do much about that. And my lessons are not organized enough. I keep underestimating things. I hope I can get myself straightened out soon though because I only have 2 months with this kid and I really want to be able to see improvement when I leave. The mom is really nice though. And super friendly. I've often thought about dropping this job and trying to find a closer one. But I feel committed already and the parents are super nice so I would feel bad about leaving them. Sigh...me and my issues. But it's okay. Think of it as an experience since that is what I need if I really want to go down this path.
I think I might be getting sick. Had a headache all day long even though I got 9 hours of sleep today. Might have been from the short walk to and from the lunch place without a jacket on because it was sprinkling and freezing cold. Well...the headache is currently gone. So hopefully I'm okay. *crosses fingers*
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Rain Rain Go Away......
...never come back another day. @@
So today Taiwan's weather decided to do a 180 going from nice weather to disgusting weather. It's....POURING! Like crazy Berkeley winter rain pouring. And I was dumb enough to attempt to brave the rain because we were going to go to a free concert at 淡水 today. Well...I ended up not making it to the MRT station. One-third of the way there, my jeans were completely soaked. So we decided not to go. When I got back to the dorms my shirt was also soaked. Disgusting. HAD to shower when I got back. At least my underwear was still dry. LoL. Not as bad as that one football game where it poured all game and we could only stand in the rain shivering for 2 hours.
Sad that I can't go to the concert. But I have a feeling it will be canceled since it's outdoors. And it was my second chance to go see 卓義峰. Sigh...guess 老天爺 doesn't want me to go hear him perform live. xP
I finally got myself a butt pillow! Now I don't have to deal with the holes in my chair and the hardness of the seat. Woohoo! xD
So I guess people are starting to realize that we are halfway through with the semester and are trying to get in as many trips as possible. You don't really think about it until you start getting asked about trips and realize that there are barely anymore weekends left. Let's see...
Weekend Plans:
11/15-16 NTU 80th Anniversary + potential day trip to 日月潭 (sun moon lake)
11/22-23 墾丁 (Kenting)
11/28-29 V-Power Concert
12/6-7 阿里山 (Ali Mountain)
12/13-14 nothing...study for finals?
12/16 Last day of ICLP!!
Yep...looks like the remaining weekends are pretty much packed. I'll still have another month in Taiwan when ICLP ends so I still have free time to go places though most of the UC kids will be leaving once the program is over.
I don't know...I'm having mixed feelings. I want to become friends with locals [which I'm currently in progress of doing] but all I can do right now is talk to them online. They don't seem to have time to hang out on weekdays and then weekends exchange kids have plans. Meh...too much thinking. @@
So today Taiwan's weather decided to do a 180 going from nice weather to disgusting weather. It's....POURING! Like crazy Berkeley winter rain pouring. And I was dumb enough to attempt to brave the rain because we were going to go to a free concert at 淡水 today. Well...I ended up not making it to the MRT station. One-third of the way there, my jeans were completely soaked. So we decided not to go. When I got back to the dorms my shirt was also soaked. Disgusting. HAD to shower when I got back. At least my underwear was still dry. LoL. Not as bad as that one football game where it poured all game and we could only stand in the rain shivering for 2 hours.
Sad that I can't go to the concert. But I have a feeling it will be canceled since it's outdoors. And it was my second chance to go see 卓義峰. Sigh...guess 老天爺 doesn't want me to go hear him perform live. xP
I finally got myself a butt pillow! Now I don't have to deal with the holes in my chair and the hardness of the seat. Woohoo! xD
So I guess people are starting to realize that we are halfway through with the semester and are trying to get in as many trips as possible. You don't really think about it until you start getting asked about trips and realize that there are barely anymore weekends left. Let's see...
Weekend Plans:
11/15-16 NTU 80th Anniversary + potential day trip to 日月潭 (sun moon lake)
11/22-23 墾丁 (Kenting)
11/28-29 V-Power Concert
12/6-7 阿里山 (Ali Mountain)
12/13-14 nothing...study for finals?
12/16 Last day of ICLP!!
Yep...looks like the remaining weekends are pretty much packed. I'll still have another month in Taiwan when ICLP ends so I still have free time to go places though most of the UC kids will be leaving once the program is over.
I don't know...I'm having mixed feelings. I want to become friends with locals [which I'm currently in progress of doing] but all I can do right now is talk to them online. They don't seem to have time to hang out on weekdays and then weekends exchange kids have plans. Meh...too much thinking. @@
Monday, November 3, 2008
Just Another Day
Today was just another reminder of how much me + health-related places = no good.
No, I'm not sick or hurt or anything. My friend on the other hand, twisted/sprained/SOMETHING her ankle/foot/SOMETHING. So we brought her to the campus health center to get it checked out. Two hours of waiting and we don't actually find out what that SOMETHING is. She gets an x-ray of her foot to see if anything is fractured. Find out nothing's factured. And they ask if she wants to borrow crutches or a wheelchair. Crutches. Then they ask if she wants to be prescribed pain medicine. No. And then they send her to another room to get her foot wrapped. And that was that. I get this piece of paper saying how to take care of self if you twist your ankle [扭傷]. And that was that. They didn't actually tell us what was wrong, just gave us that paper. So there was really no point in us going because someone from the dorms had already wrapped her foot. All we really needed was to borrow some crutches. End of story.
And it had to pour in the morning too. So I was not in the mood for class. Hence I skipped Taiwanese. First absence this semester! Now I have four more excused absences left for that class. And I found out how much more enjoyable ICLP is without Taiwanese class. Wish I could skip it everyday now. xP
We sang Jay Chou songs in the second class today. Now I'm currently loving 稻香. Had it on repeat until I got sick of it. But yea...for once it's a song that's not about love but about hope and dreams. I like the lyrics. 不要這麼容易就想放棄 就像我說的 追不到的夢想 換個夢不就得了. Good message he's sending out.
The day ended with a nice surprise from a friend I haven't talked to in almost two years. =)
Tomorrow's my first day of tutoring. What oh what should I do? @@
No, I'm not sick or hurt or anything. My friend on the other hand, twisted/sprained/SOMETHING her ankle/foot/SOMETHING. So we brought her to the campus health center to get it checked out. Two hours of waiting and we don't actually find out what that SOMETHING is. She gets an x-ray of her foot to see if anything is fractured. Find out nothing's factured. And they ask if she wants to borrow crutches or a wheelchair. Crutches. Then they ask if she wants to be prescribed pain medicine. No. And then they send her to another room to get her foot wrapped. And that was that. I get this piece of paper saying how to take care of self if you twist your ankle [扭傷]. And that was that. They didn't actually tell us what was wrong, just gave us that paper. So there was really no point in us going because someone from the dorms had already wrapped her foot. All we really needed was to borrow some crutches. End of story.
And it had to pour in the morning too. So I was not in the mood for class. Hence I skipped Taiwanese. First absence this semester! Now I have four more excused absences left for that class. And I found out how much more enjoyable ICLP is without Taiwanese class. Wish I could skip it everyday now. xP
We sang Jay Chou songs in the second class today. Now I'm currently loving 稻香. Had it on repeat until I got sick of it. But yea...for once it's a song that's not about love but about hope and dreams. I like the lyrics. 不要這麼容易就想放棄 就像我說的 追不到的夢想 換個夢不就得了. Good message he's sending out.
The day ended with a nice surprise from a friend I haven't talked to in almost two years. =)
Tomorrow's my first day of tutoring. What oh what should I do? @@
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Say What?
I bought myself some perfume today. My first real perfume ever.
Wtf. Taiwan is making me more and more girly every single day.
xD
Wtf. Taiwan is making me more and more girly every single day.
xD
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Halloween!!!!
Well it's not Halloween here anymore...but it's still Halloween in the US! xP
So after the last midterm (woo!) a couple of us went to 太原路 (i think those are the right characters) to get some last minute Halloween costumes/accessories. Despite the limited number of stores [Halloween isn't really celebrated here. Only the little kids dress up because their English classes teach them about Halloween.], we were lucky enough to find all the accessories we needed.
Then...probably half of our floor went out on campus in our costumes and walked around saying Happy Halloween and passing out candy to people. It was pretty fun. Though walking in heels was not that fun and my feet still hurt from it. xP
After walking from one end of campus and back, the dorm party began! Dinner at like 930pm...but it was so worth it! Delicious food from some fancy restaurant because there was like a dish from every country out there! I wish I could've taken a picture.
Anyways...here's some pictures from Sherry's camera.
So what was I for Halloween? I was the guitarist for the Music Man Band! LoL. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the band because Sherry didn't take one but you can see the two out of three band members in the top picture. Only person we're missing is Leehom. Haha. I'll post a picture once I can get it from someone who has one. xP
Party lasted til around midnight. And that was the end of that. It was a fun Halloween. =)
And now what to do for the weekend...
So after the last midterm (woo!) a couple of us went to 太原路 (i think those are the right characters) to get some last minute Halloween costumes/accessories. Despite the limited number of stores [Halloween isn't really celebrated here. Only the little kids dress up because their English classes teach them about Halloween.], we were lucky enough to find all the accessories we needed.
Then...probably half of our floor went out on campus in our costumes and walked around saying Happy Halloween and passing out candy to people. It was pretty fun. Though walking in heels was not that fun and my feet still hurt from it. xP
After walking from one end of campus and back, the dorm party began! Dinner at like 930pm...but it was so worth it! Delicious food from some fancy restaurant because there was like a dish from every country out there! I wish I could've taken a picture.
Anyways...here's some pictures from Sherry's camera.
So what was I for Halloween? I was the guitarist for the Music Man Band! LoL. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the band because Sherry didn't take one but you can see the two out of three band members in the top picture. Only person we're missing is Leehom. Haha. I'll post a picture once I can get it from someone who has one. xP
Party lasted til around midnight. And that was the end of that. It was a fun Halloween. =)
And now what to do for the weekend...
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Missing You...
I love Taiwan and I love all my newly made friends here...
But I miss my friends in the US. And it's especially hard when some of these friends can't be reached online. I miss my lunch and dinner dates. I miss having my own personal space [though my roommate here isn't bad at all]. I miss talking to certain people. I miss the drives. I miss the hugs. As much as I don't like Berkeley there's something that I have there that I seem to be missing here. Can't really say exactly what it is. But I guess it's knowing that no matter what, I know that there's someone I can depend on if I ever need to talk, need a hug, need some comfort. That is what I'm missing here. Someone I can turn to when in need. I will not be able to make a future here in Taiwan until I can find that someone. Which is also half the reason why I would not want to extend my stay here to a year so thank goodness my scheduling dilemma has been fixed.
Tomorrow is Halloween. And people here want to just dress up and go clubbing all weekend long. I'm not participating because that is not what I want to do. If I was in the US, I'd be celebrating Halloween dressed up as some Pokemon trainer playing with the kids in OASES. Then at night I'd probably be going over to someone's apartment for a movie or a party. My living style does not seem to match up with the party style of people here. Which only makes me miss US kiddos even more.
Grace, Jackie, Nathan, Yuan, Wenqi, Yen, Lawrence, Julie, Sally, Jimmy, etc etc etc..don't know if you all read this but I miss you!!!!
But I miss my friends in the US. And it's especially hard when some of these friends can't be reached online. I miss my lunch and dinner dates. I miss having my own personal space [though my roommate here isn't bad at all]. I miss talking to certain people. I miss the drives. I miss the hugs. As much as I don't like Berkeley there's something that I have there that I seem to be missing here. Can't really say exactly what it is. But I guess it's knowing that no matter what, I know that there's someone I can depend on if I ever need to talk, need a hug, need some comfort. That is what I'm missing here. Someone I can turn to when in need. I will not be able to make a future here in Taiwan until I can find that someone. Which is also half the reason why I would not want to extend my stay here to a year so thank goodness my scheduling dilemma has been fixed.
Tomorrow is Halloween. And people here want to just dress up and go clubbing all weekend long. I'm not participating because that is not what I want to do. If I was in the US, I'd be celebrating Halloween dressed up as some Pokemon trainer playing with the kids in OASES. Then at night I'd probably be going over to someone's apartment for a movie or a party. My living style does not seem to match up with the party style of people here. Which only makes me miss US kiddos even more.
Grace, Jackie, Nathan, Yuan, Wenqi, Yen, Lawrence, Julie, Sally, Jimmy, etc etc etc..don't know if you all read this but I miss you!!!!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Challenge
So I have to memorize almost 50 chinese idioms for my midterm. As a way to practice, let's see how many I can use in this entry. Ready...set...go!
人生難免會有大起大落。大起，可以像是找到難能可貴的稀世奇珍的興奮，或者自己白手起家獨當一面地完成自己的夢想的快樂；大落呢，有可能是發現自己男朋友風流程性，還金屋藏嬌，或者做生意節節失利，都是些會讓心裡隱隱作痛的事。不過，無風不起浪，而失敗也為成功之母，不管人生落到什麼地步，一定要另起爐灶，從新開始，不能抱頭鼠竄，不然就無功不受祿。
我呢，不是什麼可造之才，也不是個多才多藝的人，可是這麼普普通通的人也是會有大起大落的人生ㄛ！通常人生的落點都是自己自找苦吃。我的落點就是太會相信別人，碰到信口開河的人還不知道，要等到他們過河拆橋我才知道誤上賊船了。我也蠻會照顧別人，會費經心機地幫助別人。看到朋友有需要什麼就會拱手讓人。這可以算是優點，但反過來說，也可以是缺點，因為我只懂得照顧別人，而不懂得照顧自己。人善被人欺，馬善被人騎。我的好朋友常為我打抱不平，說該學著說ＮＯ不然會站不住腳，被人佔便宜。我沒聽，以為他們杞人憂天，覺得自己做好事就好了，被佔便宜難免會發生一兩次，不會對自己有什麼影響。但我錯了。大一時就沒頭沒腦地真的誤上賊船，而且是個很大的船，然我整個人碰到個莫大的低潮，從此使我對男性處處曹操，把他們看成不懷好意和言不由衷的人。
時間一閃即逝，我現在也已經大四了，快要畢業，但個性一點也沒變。這兩年中也發生了很多事。我呢，在福不知福，天賜不取，必有後禍，不懂得把我好機會，而讓機會擦生而過。可是這次來台灣讀書讓我大開眼界了，終於開始了解自己照顧自己的重要性。人家說吃一次虧，學一次乖，可是我是吃好幾次虧才終於開始明白了。
ICLP每一堂課很小，大約會有５－６個人。因為人數很少，而且大部分的同學是女生，上課時間還會聊一些關於人生和感情的事。聽到大家聊到未來的終身大事也讓我耳目一新，因為我從來沒想過結婚的事，也沒想過未來的老公（如果真的結婚的話）需要什麼條件。老師說，愛情是踏破鐵鞋無覓處，得來全不費功夫，你越想要就越找不到，反而，沒有在想的時就會找到。我覺得老師說的有道理，不要為了節節失利而忘了為自己著想。現在最重要的是埋頭苦幹地把書讀好，開始想想我未來的生活要怎麼過。要先把自己照顧好才能照顧好別人。
好了～我已經黔驢技窮了，那就點到為止。感覺上像寫了一篇文章似的。希望寫的不是一塌糊塗的胡言亂語。
===
Okay, I managed to use around 40 Chinese idioms and sayings. Can you find them all? xP [Don't actually know if this whole thing is grammatically correct, but hey, it took me nearly 3 hours to write!!)
人生難免會有大起大落。大起，可以像是找到難能可貴的稀世奇珍的興奮，或者自己白手起家獨當一面地完成自己的夢想的快樂；大落呢，有可能是發現自己男朋友風流程性，還金屋藏嬌，或者做生意節節失利，都是些會讓心裡隱隱作痛的事。不過，無風不起浪，而失敗也為成功之母，不管人生落到什麼地步，一定要另起爐灶，從新開始，不能抱頭鼠竄，不然就無功不受祿。
我呢，不是什麼可造之才，也不是個多才多藝的人，可是這麼普普通通的人也是會有大起大落的人生ㄛ！通常人生的落點都是自己自找苦吃。我的落點就是太會相信別人，碰到信口開河的人還不知道，要等到他們過河拆橋我才知道誤上賊船了。我也蠻會照顧別人，會費經心機地幫助別人。看到朋友有需要什麼就會拱手讓人。這可以算是優點，但反過來說，也可以是缺點，因為我只懂得照顧別人，而不懂得照顧自己。人善被人欺，馬善被人騎。我的好朋友常為我打抱不平，說該學著說ＮＯ不然會站不住腳，被人佔便宜。我沒聽，以為他們杞人憂天，覺得自己做好事就好了，被佔便宜難免會發生一兩次，不會對自己有什麼影響。但我錯了。大一時就沒頭沒腦地真的誤上賊船，而且是個很大的船，然我整個人碰到個莫大的低潮，從此使我對男性處處曹操，把他們看成不懷好意和言不由衷的人。
時間一閃即逝，我現在也已經大四了，快要畢業，但個性一點也沒變。這兩年中也發生了很多事。我呢，在福不知福，天賜不取，必有後禍，不懂得把我好機會，而讓機會擦生而過。可是這次來台灣讀書讓我大開眼界了，終於開始了解自己照顧自己的重要性。人家說吃一次虧，學一次乖，可是我是吃好幾次虧才終於開始明白了。
ICLP每一堂課很小，大約會有５－６個人。因為人數很少，而且大部分的同學是女生，上課時間還會聊一些關於人生和感情的事。聽到大家聊到未來的終身大事也讓我耳目一新，因為我從來沒想過結婚的事，也沒想過未來的老公（如果真的結婚的話）需要什麼條件。老師說，愛情是踏破鐵鞋無覓處，得來全不費功夫，你越想要就越找不到，反而，沒有在想的時就會找到。我覺得老師說的有道理，不要為了節節失利而忘了為自己著想。現在最重要的是埋頭苦幹地把書讀好，開始想想我未來的生活要怎麼過。要先把自己照顧好才能照顧好別人。
好了～我已經黔驢技窮了，那就點到為止。感覺上像寫了一篇文章似的。希望寫的不是一塌糊塗的胡言亂語。
===
Okay, I managed to use around 40 Chinese idioms and sayings. Can you find them all? xP [Don't actually know if this whole thing is grammatically correct, but hey, it took me nearly 3 hours to write!!)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Taiwanese vs Me
Taiwanese habits vs my (possibly American) habits that I've noticed.
Cell Phones
TAIWANESE. lives depend on their cell phone or something. A phone is never on silent. And they pick up their cell phones no matter where they are. Students pick up their cell phones in class and either whisper their conversation or simply leave the classroom to talk. My friend told me that his professor even stopped mid-lecture to pick up his cell phone. I remember two years ago I went to watch a movie with a friend and his cell phone rang during the movie and he picked it up too. Granted the theater was big and no one was sitting around us but still. What's up with that?
ME/AMERICANS. silent their phones when they are doing something that shouldn't be interrupted. We silent our phones for class, dates, meetings, etc. And if our phone does happen to ring or we happen to forget to silent our phones, we apologize profusely, look super embarrassed, and immediately stop the call and either turn off our phones or silent them. It's our way to respect those around us so that we don't cause a distraction.
I silent my phone for class, movies, club meetings, etc. Wonder if that's a bad thing for here because people here also don't leave messages. So if I receive a phone call from an unknown person (which I did yesterday) while my phone is silent I won't know who called me.
Walking Speed
TAIWANESE. walk soooooooooooooooo slow. and not only that, they all like walking in the middle of the path so it's not like fast walkers can even like pass them.
I. walk super fast. I've always been a fast walker since I walk pretty much everywhere (to school, to class, for food) in the US. Do you know how frustrating it is to walk behind a super slow person? I don't know how to walk slow! LoL. When Dan and I went on our club outing we like lost the other club members because we walked waaaaay too fast. Haha.
Personal Space
TAIWANESE. the concept of personal space does not exist. People squeeze and push and everything to get what they want. Yet they have a problem with physical contact. Doesn't really make sense.
ME. after coming to Taiwan some much and interning here [hence taking public transportation during rush hour], I have become used to this. Basically, if you shove me, I will shove you right back. xP
Cell Phones
TAIWANESE. lives depend on their cell phone or something. A phone is never on silent. And they pick up their cell phones no matter where they are. Students pick up their cell phones in class and either whisper their conversation or simply leave the classroom to talk. My friend told me that his professor even stopped mid-lecture to pick up his cell phone. I remember two years ago I went to watch a movie with a friend and his cell phone rang during the movie and he picked it up too. Granted the theater was big and no one was sitting around us but still. What's up with that?
ME/AMERICANS. silent their phones when they are doing something that shouldn't be interrupted. We silent our phones for class, dates, meetings, etc. And if our phone does happen to ring or we happen to forget to silent our phones, we apologize profusely, look super embarrassed, and immediately stop the call and either turn off our phones or silent them. It's our way to respect those around us so that we don't cause a distraction.
I silent my phone for class, movies, club meetings, etc. Wonder if that's a bad thing for here because people here also don't leave messages. So if I receive a phone call from an unknown person (which I did yesterday) while my phone is silent I won't know who called me.
Walking Speed
TAIWANESE. walk soooooooooooooooo slow. and not only that, they all like walking in the middle of the path so it's not like fast walkers can even like pass them.
I. walk super fast. I've always been a fast walker since I walk pretty much everywhere (to school, to class, for food) in the US. Do you know how frustrating it is to walk behind a super slow person? I don't know how to walk slow! LoL. When Dan and I went on our club outing we like lost the other club members because we walked waaaaay too fast. Haha.
Personal Space
TAIWANESE. the concept of personal space does not exist. People squeeze and push and everything to get what they want. Yet they have a problem with physical contact. Doesn't really make sense.
ME. after coming to Taiwan some much and interning here [hence taking public transportation during rush hour], I have become used to this. Basically, if you shove me, I will shove you right back. xP
Sunday, October 26, 2008
One Day Break
So I am back from my grandma's. It was a nice break. Got some studying done, had some yummy home-cooked food, and just talked to my grandma about...stuff. I even finished writing my postcards! Go me.
Anyways...I feel more relaxed now, I think I know what to do about kenting now. I like how my family has always been able to trust me with traveling. Like I told my grandma that I'm going to kenting and hong kong in november and she wasn't against it at all. Same with the rest of my family.
不過這次回板橋又讓我面對過去的事. 我想來想去...I really did make a big mistake. 這個mistake也可能沒辦法彌補, 除非另一邊也想再試一次. 現在也不知道要怎麼辦...do i let it go? Or do I bring it up again? As my grandma likes to call him...我跟這位小男生要怎麼辦?
旁觀者清，當局者迷。Maybe someone will be able to tell me what I should do...@@
But for now...off to 社遊!! A recording studio! I can't wait!
Anyways...I feel more relaxed now, I think I know what to do about kenting now. I like how my family has always been able to trust me with traveling. Like I told my grandma that I'm going to kenting and hong kong in november and she wasn't against it at all. Same with the rest of my family.
不過這次回板橋又讓我面對過去的事. 我想來想去...I really did make a big mistake. 這個mistake也可能沒辦法彌補, 除非另一邊也想再試一次. 現在也不知道要怎麼辦...do i let it go? Or do I bring it up again? As my grandma likes to call him...我跟這位小男生要怎麼辦?
旁觀者清，當局者迷。Maybe someone will be able to tell me what I should do...@@
But for now...off to 社遊!! A recording studio! I can't wait!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Stressed!!
So I'm trying to plan a group trip down to 墾丁 for a weekend. Emphasis on the TRYING part because it is proving to be more difficult that I imagined. I mean...at first I thought we should be going down to 屏東 because it's closest to 墾丁. But then after surfing the web I see that everyone says to travel from 高雄. Which kind of makes things hard since I wanted to stop by 屏東 and see some friends while I was at it. Will have to figure that part out later.
And then everyone has different schedules, though as of now it's really only two schedules that are really conflicting each other, mine and someone else's. And that is also giving me a headache. But it's probably just going to result in me sucking it up and try to do something about the tutoring job that I haven't even started yet @@
But the biggest headache right now is finding a place to live. There's so many choices. And there's so many websites. And they are all in chinese. Me + tons of chinese = major headache [unless they are people's blogs because I like reading those]. GAAAAAH. Don't even know how payment for living will go since I don't exactly have a taiwan visa.
To make things better...midterms next week! LoL. Well, I'll be at my grandma's for half the weekend which means no computer and internet so I'll be able to study and not think about 墾丁. Of course that also means there's a tv to watch. Hm.....xP
And then everyone has different schedules, though as of now it's really only two schedules that are really conflicting each other, mine and someone else's. And that is also giving me a headache. But it's probably just going to result in me sucking it up and try to do something about the tutoring job that I haven't even started yet @@
But the biggest headache right now is finding a place to live. There's so many choices. And there's so many websites. And they are all in chinese. Me + tons of chinese = major headache [unless they are people's blogs because I like reading those]. GAAAAAH. Don't even know how payment for living will go since I don't exactly have a taiwan visa.
To make things better...midterms next week! LoL. Well, I'll be at my grandma's for half the weekend which means no computer and internet so I'll be able to study and not think about 墾丁. Of course that also means there's a tv to watch. Hm.....xP
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Clubs
So it's been 1.5 months now. I've scrolled through my past entries and realized that I haven't really talked about the clubs that I'm in or sort of in. So here we go...
Songwriter's Club (歌曲創作社)
Yep...I'm not exactly sure why I'm in this. But it's actually like the only club so far that I've been consistently going to. I guess I was interested in song writing due to the influences of watching 星光大道 and of course the awesome songs of awesome singers. Plus my friend Dan was interested too and so we checked it out together. They have classes every week about writing songs. I don't really do much in the class because I mean..me...come up with chinese lyrics? In your dreams. But the people are nice and they always ask me if I understand what's going on. The club president always sits close by to me and Dan I suppose to answer any questions if we have them. We have a club outing this sunday to KTV and a recording studio. Kind of excited about that. I'd like to see a recording studio!
Singing Club? (台大樂社)
So I didn't go to this club's info session and have only gone to one meeting so far because they never emailed me their information and I didn't know how to use ptt at that time so couldn't look it up myself. Not quite sure what they do but apparently once every two weeks a teacher comes and teaches you how to sing a chinese song. And the weeks in between, the club board members teach about different genres of music. The first time I went I sat and listened to them talk about rock and roll for almost 2 hours. It was insanely boring. But I guess I have to see what the teaching sessions are like to decide if I want to officially join.
And that's pretty much the two clubs that I'm still keeping tabs on. I guess I will officially join the songwriter's club just for the heck of it. We'll see about the singing one...
Songwriter's Club (歌曲創作社)
Yep...I'm not exactly sure why I'm in this. But it's actually like the only club so far that I've been consistently going to. I guess I was interested in song writing due to the influences of watching 星光大道 and of course the awesome songs of awesome singers. Plus my friend Dan was interested too and so we checked it out together. They have classes every week about writing songs. I don't really do much in the class because I mean..me...come up with chinese lyrics? In your dreams. But the people are nice and they always ask me if I understand what's going on. The club president always sits close by to me and Dan I suppose to answer any questions if we have them. We have a club outing this sunday to KTV and a recording studio. Kind of excited about that. I'd like to see a recording studio!
Singing Club? (台大樂社)
So I didn't go to this club's info session and have only gone to one meeting so far because they never emailed me their information and I didn't know how to use ptt at that time so couldn't look it up myself. Not quite sure what they do but apparently once every two weeks a teacher comes and teaches you how to sing a chinese song. And the weeks in between, the club board members teach about different genres of music. The first time I went I sat and listened to them talk about rock and roll for almost 2 hours. It was insanely boring. But I guess I have to see what the teaching sessions are like to decide if I want to officially join.
And that's pretty much the two clubs that I'm still keeping tabs on. I guess I will officially join the songwriter's club just for the heck of it. We'll see about the singing one...
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Another Weekend Summary
This weekend has once again been busy. Saturday was the EAP arranged day trip to 宜蘭.
(the two pictures my camera managed to take before it started malfunctioning again)
Recognize these pics? Came here with TTT two years ago. It's still the same old place. Wasn't as crowded and 熱鬧 as two years ago but yea. Walking around brought back some funny memories especially since I was looking at those pictures before this day trip. Watched some performances and painted our own 布袋戲 puppets.
On the way back, we stopped at some place for an ocean view. Below are pictures from my cellphone.
Then I had dinner with Danny at Momo Paradise. 400some NT for around 5 plates of vegetables and 6 plates of meat. Expensive but delicious and well worth-it. We were so bloated after. But sooo goood.
Today I went to go "interview" for a tutoring job. Basically showed up, chatted with the parents, smoothed out some details and that was that. So now I have a tutoring job! Twice a week, two hours each time, and 400NT/hour. So I get 1600NT/week. The only crazy thing is this kid is in 3rd grade. Except he's TALLER or almost as tall as me. WTF!!! Crazy stuff I know. And the parents keep referring to me as 老師 which I find weird. But I guess I might as well get used to since that is the path I plan on taking.
Then after went to 五分埔 AGAIN with lil sherry. Shopped around a bit. Bought a dress and a shirt. And then back to the dorms for dinner.
====
Now that things have settled down everywhere (school stuff, Berkeley stuff, life stuff) I can start focusing on enjoying life here again. =)
(the two pictures my camera managed to take before it started malfunctioning again)
Recognize these pics? Came here with TTT two years ago. It's still the same old place. Wasn't as crowded and 熱鬧 as two years ago but yea. Walking around brought back some funny memories especially since I was looking at those pictures before this day trip. Watched some performances and painted our own 布袋戲 puppets.
On the way back, we stopped at some place for an ocean view. Below are pictures from my cellphone.
Then I had dinner with Danny at Momo Paradise. 400some NT for around 5 plates of vegetables and 6 plates of meat. Expensive but delicious and well worth-it. We were so bloated after. But sooo goood.
Today I went to go "interview" for a tutoring job. Basically showed up, chatted with the parents, smoothed out some details and that was that. So now I have a tutoring job! Twice a week, two hours each time, and 400NT/hour. So I get 1600NT/week. The only crazy thing is this kid is in 3rd grade. Except he's TALLER or almost as tall as me. WTF!!! Crazy stuff I know. And the parents keep referring to me as 老師 which I find weird. But I guess I might as well get used to since that is the path I plan on taking.
Then after went to 五分埔 AGAIN with lil sherry. Shopped around a bit. Bought a dress and a shirt. And then back to the dorms for dinner.
====
Now that things have settled down everywhere (school stuff, Berkeley stuff, life stuff) I can start focusing on enjoying life here again. =)
Friday, October 17, 2008
The Long Weekend
So I just realized that I never actually talked about the long weekend due to everything else that was happening at that time.
First of all, a friend of mine who I haven't seen in two years came up to Taipei for the weekend and joined in on our adventures.
Friday (10/10) 淡水
Happy Birthday to my brother! And happy birthday to Taiwan too! Went to 淡水 with friends. There were so many kids on the MRT to 淡水 is was so adorable! Apparently there was some sort of event happening there hence the massive crowd of kids. Anyways...wandered around 老街 for a bit with the friends. And it started pouring. I had originally bought an umbrella in the dorm convenience store but it turned out to be a defective umbrella [waste of 100NT -_-||] so had to buy another one. Man I have such bad luck with umbrellas...they hate me. Anyways...after wandering with them for a bit I left and went off to visit my grandparents. And that was that.
Saturday (10/11) 九份
So when I was polling my friends about where to go [yes i'm back to planning events] 九份 got the most votes. So we headed there. I've never been there before [at least I don't think so] but an hour bus ride turned into like a 1.5-2 hour bus ride. And the place itself was crazy crowded that it was near impossible to stay together as a whole group [we had a total of 12 people]. Just imagine, a super thin alley with a bajillion people in it trying to go opposite directions. We had to split our group into two for lunch because all the stores there were tiny and definitely wouldn't have space for 12 people at once. And the weather wasn't spectacular there so the view wasn't exactly that great either.
But the craziest part was coming back...now that was an adventure! So today was also Janice's birthday and she wanted to go clubbing for her birthday so some of the people wanted to go back to Taipei earlier and nap so they can prep for the night outing. So they split from us. Except the line for the bus ride back to Taipei was RIDICULOUS. Basically when we were done exploring and were ready to head back, they were STILL IN LINE. They probably waited like almost 2 hours for that bus! Well we decided that we didn't want to wait in line anymore so took a taxi to a train station and took the train back to Taipei. Except there were no more seats on the train so we had to stand the whole way back. The funniest part was that half our group got on the bus at the same time the other half took the taxis, and we both arrived in Taipei around the same time (around 8:40-9pmish).
It was quite an experience. I felt pretty bad about the whole thing because I never expected there to be such a huge line for the bus since we didn't experience that on the way there. And it was pretty windy up there so I came back to Taipei with a headache and ended up not going clubbing with everyone else.
Sunday (10/12)
Basically spent it recovering from the outings.
Yep...really boring and basic summary of the weekend. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show since my camera decided to start malfunctioning and now I can't take pictures without them showing up white or yellow. Such sadness. I must figure out something for this camera problem because abroad with no camera? That's no good...-_-||
First of all, a friend of mine who I haven't seen in two years came up to Taipei for the weekend and joined in on our adventures.
Friday (10/10) 淡水
Happy Birthday to my brother! And happy birthday to Taiwan too! Went to 淡水 with friends. There were so many kids on the MRT to 淡水 is was so adorable! Apparently there was some sort of event happening there hence the massive crowd of kids. Anyways...wandered around 老街 for a bit with the friends. And it started pouring. I had originally bought an umbrella in the dorm convenience store but it turned out to be a defective umbrella [waste of 100NT -_-||] so had to buy another one. Man I have such bad luck with umbrellas...they hate me. Anyways...after wandering with them for a bit I left and went off to visit my grandparents. And that was that.
Saturday (10/11) 九份
So when I was polling my friends about where to go [yes i'm back to planning events] 九份 got the most votes. So we headed there. I've never been there before [at least I don't think so] but an hour bus ride turned into like a 1.5-2 hour bus ride. And the place itself was crazy crowded that it was near impossible to stay together as a whole group [we had a total of 12 people]. Just imagine, a super thin alley with a bajillion people in it trying to go opposite directions. We had to split our group into two for lunch because all the stores there were tiny and definitely wouldn't have space for 12 people at once. And the weather wasn't spectacular there so the view wasn't exactly that great either.
But the craziest part was coming back...now that was an adventure! So today was also Janice's birthday and she wanted to go clubbing for her birthday so some of the people wanted to go back to Taipei earlier and nap so they can prep for the night outing. So they split from us. Except the line for the bus ride back to Taipei was RIDICULOUS. Basically when we were done exploring and were ready to head back, they were STILL IN LINE. They probably waited like almost 2 hours for that bus! Well we decided that we didn't want to wait in line anymore so took a taxi to a train station and took the train back to Taipei. Except there were no more seats on the train so we had to stand the whole way back. The funniest part was that half our group got on the bus at the same time the other half took the taxis, and we both arrived in Taipei around the same time (around 8:40-9pmish).
It was quite an experience. I felt pretty bad about the whole thing because I never expected there to be such a huge line for the bus since we didn't experience that on the way there. And it was pretty windy up there so I came back to Taipei with a headache and ended up not going clubbing with everyone else.
Sunday (10/12)
Basically spent it recovering from the outings.
Yep...really boring and basic summary of the weekend. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show since my camera decided to start malfunctioning and now I can't take pictures without them showing up white or yellow. Such sadness. I must figure out something for this camera problem because abroad with no camera? That's no good...-_-||
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The End.
Today at 3am marked the end of another chapter of my life. It's strange how at peace I feel about it all. 雖然真得很捨不得...不過這個決定終於能讓我把這兩年背得負擔給擺脫掉. 沒有壓力了, 也輕鬆多了.
不知道你有沒有看這個...不過這首歌送給你 (xanga上的歌也是).
Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt
Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.
===
這個結果是來自我沒好好把握機會, 讓好的機會擦身而過. It's time for a change. Time to learn from my mistakes. again.
不知道你有沒有看這個...不過這首歌送給你 (xanga上的歌也是).
Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt
Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.
===
這個結果是來自我沒好好把握機會, 讓好的機會擦身而過. It's time for a change. Time to learn from my mistakes. again.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Bits & Pieces
**My past is coming back to visit me. Two years ago...I don't really know what to think or expect. It's interesting how I spend so much effort trying to keep the past alive, trying to hold onto it by making an effort to keep in touch with people....yet I end up failing and getting hurt. And the one that I didn't spend any effort on is still here and coming to visit. Life sure is funny.
**So earlier today I was thinking that I have been slacking in schoolwork and not really making an effort to learn because I was unhappy with my course situation. But I recently have come to accept this situation and was telling myself that I need to start working harder. And then I get an email from the Chinese minor advisor telling me that they don't transfer credit for language EAP courses. Well...now what do I think? Like my friend says...I'm pretty much here for nothing. Not that I wasn't expecting it...after all I have a semester free and chose to spend it here. Of course I wasn't planning on spending my free semester taking intensive chinese courses which I can't get credit for even though they are pretty much the same as taking Chinese courses in Berkeley. Hopefully my petition with the education department gets approved. Then I'll at least be here for something. *crosses fingers*
**I still haven't really made any local friends yet. I've talked to some at the club meetings that I went to during the first week. But I haven't really gone to a club meeting since. I feel bad and I'm a little mad at myself about it. I did come here to meet some more locals. Yet I'm not actually doing it. Have to start making more of an effort to go to these club meetings. There is one club that has been reaching out to me by making phone calls...however I haven't attended their meetings because it conflicts with another club that I want to join. Gosh I'm so conflicted. @@
**Long weekend coming up. I planned the whole weekend out for us. It should be fun I hope.
**So earlier today I was thinking that I have been slacking in schoolwork and not really making an effort to learn because I was unhappy with my course situation. But I recently have come to accept this situation and was telling myself that I need to start working harder. And then I get an email from the Chinese minor advisor telling me that they don't transfer credit for language EAP courses. Well...now what do I think? Like my friend says...I'm pretty much here for nothing. Not that I wasn't expecting it...after all I have a semester free and chose to spend it here. Of course I wasn't planning on spending my free semester taking intensive chinese courses which I can't get credit for even though they are pretty much the same as taking Chinese courses in Berkeley. Hopefully my petition with the education department gets approved. Then I'll at least be here for something. *crosses fingers*
**I still haven't really made any local friends yet. I've talked to some at the club meetings that I went to during the first week. But I haven't really gone to a club meeting since. I feel bad and I'm a little mad at myself about it. I did come here to meet some more locals. Yet I'm not actually doing it. Have to start making more of an effort to go to these club meetings. There is one club that has been reaching out to me by making phone calls...however I haven't attended their meetings because it conflicts with another club that I want to join. Gosh I'm so conflicted. @@
**Long weekend coming up. I planned the whole weekend out for us. It should be fun I hope.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Good and the Bad
The Good
- no typhoon this weekend = being able to go out
- not getting lost when going to that 牛肉麵 place near 西門町
- getting S.H.E.'s autograph
- good communication with the education minor advisor...possibility of using my current NTU course for my education minor which would complete the minor for me
- KTVing 4 hours with 1 hour free
- finally getting a usb cable for my external! i can now use my external again!
- getting myself a pair of 環保筷 even though i didn't get them at 五份埔. maybe i'll go tomorrow. can never have enough 環保筷! xD
- i finally bought 卓義峰's cd! and i <3 it!
- spent 5 hours waiting just to get the autographs
- half the weekend is over...and it was mostly spent standing in a line with two loud and obnoxious high school boys who would swear and talk about really weird topics behind us
- Berkeley suffering from budget cuts...there's like such a limited selection of classes for me to take next semester! I'm thinking it might even be better to just extend my EAP to a year and finish all my requirements here. @@
- our KTV room was smokey. ew.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Typhoon Break!!
So...typhoon no 3 decides to hit taiwan during a weekend AGAIN. At least it hit on sunday so we still had saturday to roam around. And it was a super typhoon so it gave us an extra long weekend because there's no school or work today! LoL.
So yesterday when it was super bad we decided to go out for dinner because we already had 泡麵 for lunch and didn't want to get it for dinner too. We went with the typhoon eye was somewhere around taipei so it wasn't as windy and rainy. It was quite fun...kind of felt like we were in a wading pool the whole time. Haha. Too bad I didn't bring my camera with me...would've been some nice pics.
So yesterday when it was super bad we decided to go out for dinner because we already had 泡麵 for lunch and didn't want to get it for dinner too. We went with the typhoon eye was somewhere around taipei so it wasn't as windy and rainy. It was quite fun...kind of felt like we were in a wading pool the whole time. Haha. Too bad I didn't bring my camera with me...would've been some nice pics.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Week's Recap
So I haven't updated in like a week with the main reason being that I'm lazy. I would open a new entry but never actually write in it. And I figured I should finally write before I forget everything.
So what's been done this week?
I've gone to three different club meetings/info sessions. The quote of the day for clubs...I went to a song writers club with my friend Dan who's white. First of all, we get there half an hour late and embarrass ourselves while they stare at us as we walk into the room. And then we introduce ourselves with Dan going first and saying he's an exchange student from America. Then I introduce myself and say the same thing. And then the club president goes..."可是....妳看起來像東方人..." -_____-|| Well no DUH dude. I am Asian! Just from America! LoL. So yea. That was interesting. Don't know which clubs I will end up actually joining. But everyone was really nice and it's kinda weird when everyone goes OOOOOOO when you introduce yourself as an exchange student. Haha.
So schedule has finally been set. I'm not very happy about it because I'm still taking three ICLP courses. I didn't come to NTU to take Chinese, even my parents didn't want me doing that. But I can't get out of it. So I'm just taking one NTU course in addition to the ICLP courses. It's called Special Topic in Foreign Language Teaching. Basically about how to teaching English. It's taught in English and I'm actually liking this class out of the three classes I that audited last week. So I chose to keep it.
Hm what else has happened. Oh bother...can't remember. Went to shilin nightmarket again last night and bought some shoes. And today we went to 101 area for the 3C convention. I bought a webcam! So now I can webcam with people! And later tonight heading to a club with friends to register to vote. LoL. A club that has a register to vote party. Amazing.
So what's been done this week?
I've gone to three different club meetings/info sessions. The quote of the day for clubs...I went to a song writers club with my friend Dan who's white. First of all, we get there half an hour late and embarrass ourselves while they stare at us as we walk into the room. And then we introduce ourselves with Dan going first and saying he's an exchange student from America. Then I introduce myself and say the same thing. And then the club president goes..."可是....妳看起來像東方人..." -_____-|| Well no DUH dude. I am Asian! Just from America! LoL. So yea. That was interesting. Don't know which clubs I will end up actually joining. But everyone was really nice and it's kinda weird when everyone goes OOOOOOO when you introduce yourself as an exchange student. Haha.
So schedule has finally been set. I'm not very happy about it because I'm still taking three ICLP courses. I didn't come to NTU to take Chinese, even my parents didn't want me doing that. But I can't get out of it. So I'm just taking one NTU course in addition to the ICLP courses. It's called Special Topic in Foreign Language Teaching. Basically about how to teaching English. It's taught in English and I'm actually liking this class out of the three classes I that audited last week. So I chose to keep it.
Hm what else has happened. Oh bother...can't remember. Went to shilin nightmarket again last night and bought some shoes. And today we went to 101 area for the 3C convention. I bought a webcam! So now I can webcam with people! And later tonight heading to a club with friends to register to vote. LoL. A club that has a register to vote party. Amazing.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
First Week Over!
So the first week of class is FINALLY over. I can't believe it's only been a week. It feels like a month. @@ It's probably because in addition to going to class everyday, I've also been going out with friends almost everyday. Quite tiring I must say. But having fun is part of studying abroad is it no? ^^
This week my friends and I traveled to 台北車站 to eat dinner and buy school supplies. We also went to 西門町 to watch this Taiwanese movie called 海角七號 which was really funny. Then we walked around and ate some street food. Good stuff yo~ Got me some yummy peanut powder mochi stuff. Delish~
We also went to the Prince Apartments welcome party and I saw 韋禮安!!! He's a NTU student who won this singing competition that was broadcast on tv like a year ago. He's like a mini celebrity because he's appeared in some music videos and have written song lyrics for some famous singers. His prize from the competition was supposed to be a singing contract but he denied it because he wanted to focus on his studies. Anyways...he performed some of the songs he wrote at the party and they were really great. He has a great voice and speaks really good English. Got his autograph and took a picture with him. Hehe. Yay. ^^
And today we all went to 貓空, this place up in the mountains with tons of tea places for people to drink tea and look at night scenery and just have fun. We took the gondola up and down. It was pretty fun. The beef noodle soup I had up there was pretty darn delicious too.
Tomorrow is the leehom concert. Can you say excited? I so am. And we're going KTV right before the concert too. Woo for tmrw!
On a completely different note, my class schedule is currently a big fat mess. There are 3 NTU courses that I want to take but if I were to do that, I'd be taking 6 hours of class for 3 days. Definitely not fun so I want to drop one of the Chinese courses that I'm currently taking right now. But the program won't let me drop it so now it's a whole bunch of emailing EAP and talking to the EAP liaison professor here to see what can be done. But yea. When this whole mess gets settled this coming week I'll talk about the NTU classes that I'm taking.
This week my friends and I traveled to 台北車站 to eat dinner and buy school supplies. We also went to 西門町 to watch this Taiwanese movie called 海角七號 which was really funny. Then we walked around and ate some street food. Good stuff yo~ Got me some yummy peanut powder mochi stuff. Delish~
We also went to the Prince Apartments welcome party and I saw 韋禮安!!! He's a NTU student who won this singing competition that was broadcast on tv like a year ago. He's like a mini celebrity because he's appeared in some music videos and have written song lyrics for some famous singers. His prize from the competition was supposed to be a singing contract but he denied it because he wanted to focus on his studies. Anyways...he performed some of the songs he wrote at the party and they were really great. He has a great voice and speaks really good English. Got his autograph and took a picture with him. Hehe. Yay. ^^
And today we all went to 貓空, this place up in the mountains with tons of tea places for people to drink tea and look at night scenery and just have fun. We took the gondola up and down. It was pretty fun. The beef noodle soup I had up there was pretty darn delicious too.
Tomorrow is the leehom concert. Can you say excited? I so am. And we're going KTV right before the concert too. Woo for tmrw!On a completely different note, my class schedule is currently a big fat mess. There are 3 NTU courses that I want to take but if I were to do that, I'd be taking 6 hours of class for 3 days. Definitely not fun so I want to drop one of the Chinese courses that I'm currently taking right now. But the program won't let me drop it so now it's a whole bunch of emailing EAP and talking to the EAP liaison professor here to see what can be done. But yea. When this whole mess gets settled this coming week I'll talk about the NTU classes that I'm taking.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Typhoon + Class
So this past weekend was 中秋節 [Moon Festival]. Unfortunately, a typhoon decided to come to Taiwan and ruin it for everyone. LoL. I went to my grandmother's and we stayed home all weekend. It poured like crazy the whole Saturday so that was spent watching tv [which would sometimes lose signal for a couple of minutes] and playing my DS. Then I braved the rain on Sunday to head back to the dorms.
And today was the first day of class! Had three classes today with the ICLP program. Brief overview:
Beginning Taiwanese (生活台語) - Teacher was super slow. But the class was super fast. Like she didn't even really teach sounds and stuff and just went straight into teaching us to recite a taiwanese poem about the moon festival. But the teacher talked super slow. She must have been nervous or something because yea...it was weird. But I'm excited to learn Taiwanese! I've wanted to learn for a loooooooooong time.
Chess King (棋王 ) - That is the name of a novel. So yea...basically reading a novel for this class. The teacher is really funny. She looks super strict, but she was like cracking jokes left and right. And there's only one guy in our class so she like picks on him. Poor Brian. Haha. This should be interesting. I want to be able to start reading Chinese novels.
台灣社會短文集 ( Essays on Taiwan Society) - meh...translation is something like that. We didn't really talk about the class itself today. Most of it was just spent introducing ourselves to each other and then just talking to the teacher. The teacher is like 8 months pregnant but really cool. Don't know what else to say besides I have a quiz for this class tomorrow. @@
So basically all the ICLP [Intensive Chinese Language Program] classes are from 1-4pm everyday. Booness. But each class is like super tiny. There's like an average of 5 students in every class. I've never been in a class that small before.
I still want to take a NTU course so that I can actually meet some locals and get to know more people. Have to figure out what I want to take. And I have to go talk to professors too to see if they will let me take their class. I'm thinking of abnormal psychology since it's like a different version of clinical psychology which I've already taken at Berkeley so it can't be that difficult to keep up? *shruG* Guess I'll see on Wednesday when I go audit the class.
And teehee...I went and pre-ordered my Leehom cd today. I now have his single! And a notebook though I don't particularly like the cover. But hey...I have his single now! And concert on Saturday! Excited! Yay!
And today was the first day of class! Had three classes today with the ICLP program. Brief overview:
Beginning Taiwanese (生活台語) - Teacher was super slow. But the class was super fast. Like she didn't even really teach sounds and stuff and just went straight into teaching us to recite a taiwanese poem about the moon festival. But the teacher talked super slow. She must have been nervous or something because yea...it was weird. But I'm excited to learn Taiwanese! I've wanted to learn for a loooooooooong time.
Chess King (棋王 ) - That is the name of a novel. So yea...basically reading a novel for this class. The teacher is really funny. She looks super strict, but she was like cracking jokes left and right. And there's only one guy in our class so she like picks on him. Poor Brian. Haha. This should be interesting. I want to be able to start reading Chinese novels.
台灣社會短文集 ( Essays on Taiwan Society) - meh...translation is something like that. We didn't really talk about the class itself today. Most of it was just spent introducing ourselves to each other and then just talking to the teacher. The teacher is like 8 months pregnant but really cool. Don't know what else to say besides I have a quiz for this class tomorrow. @@
So basically all the ICLP [Intensive Chinese Language Program] classes are from 1-4pm everyday. Booness. But each class is like super tiny. There's like an average of 5 students in every class. I've never been in a class that small before.
I still want to take a NTU course so that I can actually meet some locals and get to know more people. Have to figure out what I want to take. And I have to go talk to professors too to see if they will let me take their class. I'm thinking of abnormal psychology since it's like a different version of clinical psychology which I've already taken at Berkeley so it can't be that difficult to keep up? *shruG* Guess I'll see on Wednesday when I go audit the class.
And teehee...I went and pre-ordered my Leehom cd today. I now have his single! And a notebook though I don't particularly like the cover. But hey...I have his single now! And concert on Saturday! Excited! Yay!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Shopping
Blogging every day is starting to get a little tiring. And school starts next week so this is probably going to be the last consecutive entry for this particular streak of entries.
Anyways. Today I FINALLY got a SIM card for my phone. Honestly, this thing was like way more complicated than it needed to be. And it took three tries. And then when I got finally got it it didn't activate immediately which sucked major. So I had to call the guy at the store and then we had this whole calling each other back and forth thing. I feel bad for the guy for making him go through all the trouble of getting my card activated. But he was super nice. So yea. I finally have my own cell phone number in Taiwan. Yay!
Also went to 五分埔 today. It was my first time there and wow it's pretty darn amazing. Clothes for 100NT each (~$3). We were there for probably like 3 hours I think. I bought four clothing items for a total of 350NT (~$11). Can I say cheap? LoL. Here's a glimpse of the place:
It's basically a huge clothes shopping district with little stores lined up right next to each other. And there like streets and streets of it. My feet were sore after the whole ordeal. Not because of the walking...but because I was wearing heels the whole time. I mean they aren't even like really high or anything but I just don't normally wear heels for everyday wear. The only time I heels is for formal wear. Guess this is another thing the new Pam is trying. LoL. Though I have to say that it is painful. I don't know how people do it. But yea.
A typhoon is coming so the weather recently has been outrageously sporadic. Sometimes it's sunny and then the next thing you know it starts pouring. Five minutes later and it's sunny again. Freakin annoying. It will be all over this weekend when the typhoon finally hits and leave. Unfortunately the typhoon has chosen a bad time to come cuz it's the weekend of the Moon Festival. But yea. Will be going back to my grandma's tomorrow for the weekend to 躲颱風 [as she says it]. And then when I come back...classes will begin! @@
Last orientation tomorrow and then school club fair. Shall be interesting.
Anyways. Today I FINALLY got a SIM card for my phone. Honestly, this thing was like way more complicated than it needed to be. And it took three tries. And then when I got finally got it it didn't activate immediately which sucked major. So I had to call the guy at the store and then we had this whole calling each other back and forth thing. I feel bad for the guy for making him go through all the trouble of getting my card activated. But he was super nice. So yea. I finally have my own cell phone number in Taiwan. Yay!
Also went to 五分埔 today. It was my first time there and wow it's pretty darn amazing. Clothes for 100NT each (~$3). We were there for probably like 3 hours I think. I bought four clothing items for a total of 350NT (~$11). Can I say cheap? LoL. Here's a glimpse of the place:
It's basically a huge clothes shopping district with little stores lined up right next to each other. And there like streets and streets of it. My feet were sore after the whole ordeal. Not because of the walking...but because I was wearing heels the whole time. I mean they aren't even like really high or anything but I just don't normally wear heels for everyday wear. The only time I heels is for formal wear. Guess this is another thing the new Pam is trying. LoL. Though I have to say that it is painful. I don't know how people do it. But yea.A typhoon is coming so the weather recently has been outrageously sporadic. Sometimes it's sunny and then the next thing you know it starts pouring. Five minutes later and it's sunny again. Freakin annoying. It will be all over this weekend when the typhoon finally hits and leave. Unfortunately the typhoon has chosen a bad time to come cuz it's the weekend of the Moon Festival. But yea. Will be going back to my grandma's tomorrow for the weekend to 躲颱風 [as she says it]. And then when I come back...classes will begin! @@
Last orientation tomorrow and then school club fair. Shall be interesting.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Officially a NTU student!
So it really only processed in my mind today that I was going to be spending a semester studying here.
Took placement test this morning. Meh. Wonder what level I get placed in. And right after I went to register and get my student id and stuff. And that was when I was like...holy shit...I'm really doing this. And then I get suckered into joining the Foreign Student Association cuz I was like thinking I need to join a club and get to know people but Sherry pointed out that fact that I could just go to the club events and not get the membership which was 400NT. Oh well, I always fall for that kind of stuff. It's like when I joined TSA for a semester my first semester in Berkeley. It was like $20 and I only went to two events. Sucks to be me.
Anyways, I now have a NTU student id. I'm officially a NTU student! Still have yet to activate my NTU email account but whatevs. And I just realized I forgot to sign up for a class I wanted to take. Oh wells. I'll just visit the class laterz.
Anyways. Do you know how ridiculous it is to get a SIM card in Taiwan? Just ridiculous. I've already gone to the store twice and failed both times. Sad sad times. And quite frustrating too since I can't exchange phone numbers with people.
Went to Shilin Night Market today with some peeps. Met more peeps. And had oyster omelette. Good stuff dude. Then did some shopping. Holy crap I bought two pairs of shoes and two shorts. What the heck. I don't usually shop that much. Guess this is the new Pam in action eh? LoL. And then we went to eat 雪片 [I think that's what it's called]. I got the coffee flavored one which was pretty awesome tasting. Here's a pic:
The top left in the pic above is mango and the other is I don't know what it's called. LoL. Good stuff. And my first time eating it. Amazing huh. I go to Taiwan so much and yet there is still some stuff that I haven't done yet.
Ok, 1am. Time to sleep. Gnite.
Took placement test this morning. Meh. Wonder what level I get placed in. And right after I went to register and get my student id and stuff. And that was when I was like...holy shit...I'm really doing this. And then I get suckered into joining the Foreign Student Association cuz I was like thinking I need to join a club and get to know people but Sherry pointed out that fact that I could just go to the club events and not get the membership which was 400NT. Oh well, I always fall for that kind of stuff. It's like when I joined TSA for a semester my first semester in Berkeley. It was like $20 and I only went to two events. Sucks to be me.
Anyways, I now have a NTU student id. I'm officially a NTU student! Still have yet to activate my NTU email account but whatevs. And I just realized I forgot to sign up for a class I wanted to take. Oh wells. I'll just visit the class laterz.
Anyways. Do you know how ridiculous it is to get a SIM card in Taiwan? Just ridiculous. I've already gone to the store twice and failed both times. Sad sad times. And quite frustrating too since I can't exchange phone numbers with people.
Went to Shilin Night Market today with some peeps. Met more peeps. And had oyster omelette. Good stuff dude. Then did some shopping. Holy crap I bought two pairs of shoes and two shorts. What the heck. I don't usually shop that much. Guess this is the new Pam in action eh? LoL. And then we went to eat 雪片 [I think that's what it's called]. I got the coffee flavored one which was pretty awesome tasting. Here's a pic:
The top left in the pic above is mango and the other is I don't know what it's called. LoL. Good stuff. And my first time eating it. Amazing huh. I go to Taiwan so much and yet there is still some stuff that I haven't done yet.Ok, 1am. Time to sleep. Gnite.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Orientation
So I had TWO orientations today. One for EAP [basically UC students] in the morning. And literally right after was one for NTU [all international exchange students]. This whole thing [basically lots of powerpoint presentations] went from 11-8pm ending with a Welcome Party from the Foreign Student Association.
I met my student volunteer today. Really nice person. And easy to talk to. Feel bad that I didn't call her when I arrived but I didn't exactly know what to say if I did call her.
The welcome party was cool. Met some people and got to know some other people a little better. Though I did get like 6 mosquito bites which wasn't fun at all. Time to go buy some bug repellent! ><
Oh, and the funny thing at the welcome party was that they were serving mixed drinks and ONLY mixed drinks. And when I say mixed I mean like actual alcohol and stuff. I thought that was quite interesting since it's something you won't see at Berkeley or probably any of the college in the states. The drinking age in Taiwan is 18 so I guess it's okay for alcohol to be served to students since most people are 18 by the time to get to college.
Anyways...I'm freakin tired from this day of listening to a lot of stuff that I don't remember. Tomorrow is chinese placement test and registration. Fun.
I met my student volunteer today. Really nice person. And easy to talk to. Feel bad that I didn't call her when I arrived but I didn't exactly know what to say if I did call her.
The welcome party was cool. Met some people and got to know some other people a little better. Though I did get like 6 mosquito bites which wasn't fun at all. Time to go buy some bug repellent! ><
Oh, and the funny thing at the welcome party was that they were serving mixed drinks and ONLY mixed drinks. And when I say mixed I mean like actual alcohol and stuff. I thought that was quite interesting since it's something you won't see at Berkeley or probably any of the college in the states. The drinking age in Taiwan is 18 so I guess it's okay for alcohol to be served to students since most people are 18 by the time to get to college.
Anyways...I'm freakin tired from this day of listening to a lot of stuff that I don't remember. Tomorrow is chinese placement test and registration. Fun.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Moved In!
Arrived in Taiwan yesterday. The grandma picked me up and stayed the night at her place.
And today I have officially moved into the NTU dorms. Finding the dorm was ridiculous. First of all, the international student dorm is in the same building as the graduate student dorm. And there's no sign. And it's like right next to a construction site. And the taxi driver circled campus like three times before we found it. RIDICULOUS. At least the taxi driver deducted money from the fare because he felt bad about it.
Here's a glimpse of my dorm room.
Kinda ghetto looking I know. But that's life in Asia. I have the bottom bed and the desk closest to the door. Something interesting is that there are like keys for everything. You see the storage space under the top bed? There's keys to lock those. And there's a lock on one of the desk drawers. And another lock for another closet. Crazy. So basically I have four keys for the room.
And there is actually tons of storage space. At first I thought I had brought too much stuff. Left, a small suitcase of winter clothes at my grandmother's. But it turns out that I didn't really bring that much because I was able to hang everything in my big suitcase in the closet under the top bed. So I didn't actually bring too much. More like the suitcases I brought are too small. I look around and see everyone's suitcases and they are HUGE compared to mine. Guess I'll have to figure something out later when I leave.
Anyways. Moved in. Met up with Sherry who lives on the same floor and had lunch with her aunt and then wandered around and bought some stuff. I needed to get a SIM card for my phone and so we went into this phone store and the lady there was really cool and nice and super funny. And we ended up having a nice conversation with her. I also got a case for my DS.
And we also played DS together! Sherry brought her sister's DS and we played multiplayer games. Super fun. Haha. It's funny how the UCs pretty much take up the whole floor. Our floor is co-ed but divided into guy and girl wings. And the girl wing has a door which closes and locks at 9pm. You need a card key to swipe yourself in so guys can't walk in. LoL. And most of the girls I've met so far are from a UC. Haha. But tomorrow is orientation so I'll probably meet a variety of people. It's kinda like TTT.
And lastly...roommate. Met my roommate today. And laughed. Because my roommate is from singapore. Haha. My subletter is from Singapore and so is my roommate. I think that's pretty funny.
Tomorrow is orientation day. EAP orientation 11am-1pm. NTU orientation 2pm-something because there's a welcome party at the end. Busybusy day. I'm already super tired.
And today I have officially moved into the NTU dorms. Finding the dorm was ridiculous. First of all, the international student dorm is in the same building as the graduate student dorm. And there's no sign. And it's like right next to a construction site. And the taxi driver circled campus like three times before we found it. RIDICULOUS. At least the taxi driver deducted money from the fare because he felt bad about it.
Here's a glimpse of my dorm room.
Kinda ghetto looking I know. But that's life in Asia. I have the bottom bed and the desk closest to the door. Something interesting is that there are like keys for everything. You see the storage space under the top bed? There's keys to lock those. And there's a lock on one of the desk drawers. And another lock for another closet. Crazy. So basically I have four keys for the room.And there is actually tons of storage space. At first I thought I had brought too much stuff. Left, a small suitcase of winter clothes at my grandmother's. But it turns out that I didn't really bring that much because I was able to hang everything in my big suitcase in the closet under the top bed. So I didn't actually bring too much. More like the suitcases I brought are too small. I look around and see everyone's suitcases and they are HUGE compared to mine. Guess I'll have to figure something out later when I leave.
Anyways. Moved in. Met up with Sherry who lives on the same floor and had lunch with her aunt and then wandered around and bought some stuff. I needed to get a SIM card for my phone and so we went into this phone store and the lady there was really cool and nice and super funny. And we ended up having a nice conversation with her. I also got a case for my DS.
And we also played DS together! Sherry brought her sister's DS and we played multiplayer games. Super fun. Haha. It's funny how the UCs pretty much take up the whole floor. Our floor is co-ed but divided into guy and girl wings. And the girl wing has a door which closes and locks at 9pm. You need a card key to swipe yourself in so guys can't walk in. LoL. And most of the girls I've met so far are from a UC. Haha. But tomorrow is orientation so I'll probably meet a variety of people. It's kinda like TTT.
And lastly...roommate. Met my roommate today. And laughed. Because my roommate is from singapore. Haha. My subletter is from Singapore and so is my roommate. I think that's pretty funny.
Tomorrow is orientation day. EAP orientation 11am-1pm. NTU orientation 2pm-something because there's a welcome party at the end. Busybusy day. I'm already super tired.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Just to Start This Off...
Oh gosh, I already have enough online blogs as it is...why in the world am I creating another one?
Anyways...I noticed that Sherry made a blog for our semester abroad and I figured I might as well too. This shall be interesting...I'm curious myself about how often I will update this. But anyhoo...
Three weeks in China with the family is coming to an end. Berkeley already started a week ago and facebook has never stopped reminding me of it with all the recruitment event invitations and fb statuses. Is it weird to be sad about missing the beginning of school?
But it's ok. The beginning of Berkeley has ended. And the beginning of NTU, MY school for the semester will be starting very soon. Tomorrow I fly off to Taiwan. The next day is dorm move-in day. And the day after that is orientation. And the day after that is Chinese testing. Busy schedule I got there. But it's okay. After three weeks of not having a busy schedule I'm ready to start getting busy again.
One complaint though. Packing. Packing is such a biatch. No...scratch that. REpacking is a biatch. Especially when one airline allows two checked baggage and two carryons and another only allows two checked baggage and ONE carryon. So imagine me trying to fit a carryon into a checked. It's quite bothersome. But I guess it's to start getting my brain working again...haha.
Throughout the whole summer and even during last semester people would often ask me if I was excited about studying abroad. And I could never really answer the question. For most people (I think) studying abroad is new and exciting because they are going somewhere they've never been before or haven't really been to in a while. For them, it's a chance to explore a new place and culture. Well...in my case it's a little different. I go to Taiwan like at least once every year. It's my home country. So it's not exciting in the sense that I'm exploring a new place or culture since I'm pretty familiar with it already. For me, it's more of a developing my own identity kind of thing. Yes, Taiwan is my home country, only because I was born there. But I grew up in the US. I don't know what it's like growing up in Taiwan. So, to better understand this place I call my home country, I go back to experience life the way the natives do. I've already gone back and worked for a summer. I've gone back for culture camps. And now I'm going back as a student. So am I excited? Probably not as much as other people. But as time gets closer I'm starting to feel the excitement build. So we shall see...
This entry is really long. Anyways, I shall end this entry with one last thought.
Studying abroad will mark a new chapter is this thing they call life. Three years of college already and while OASES has made a big impact, I can't really say much about college being all that great. I'm really hoping this semester will be able to show me the greatness of college. This new chapter is a new beginning. And a new beginning means starting over again. So I'm starting over again. I'm going to enter Taiwan a "new" person. These three weeks in China have been spent making this new person. I got my first manicure, got my hands waxed, new hairstyle...hell I even got a PINK cell phone [of all colors..@@]. Life is all about taking risks and I'm doing it right now. Now it's time to see how this new me handles this new life....加油!! ^^
Anyways...I noticed that Sherry made a blog for our semester abroad and I figured I might as well too. This shall be interesting...I'm curious myself about how often I will update this. But anyhoo...
Three weeks in China with the family is coming to an end. Berkeley already started a week ago and facebook has never stopped reminding me of it with all the recruitment event invitations and fb statuses. Is it weird to be sad about missing the beginning of school?
But it's ok. The beginning of Berkeley has ended. And the beginning of NTU, MY school for the semester will be starting very soon. Tomorrow I fly off to Taiwan. The next day is dorm move-in day. And the day after that is orientation. And the day after that is Chinese testing. Busy schedule I got there. But it's okay. After three weeks of not having a busy schedule I'm ready to start getting busy again.
One complaint though. Packing. Packing is such a biatch. No...scratch that. REpacking is a biatch. Especially when one airline allows two checked baggage and two carryons and another only allows two checked baggage and ONE carryon. So imagine me trying to fit a carryon into a checked. It's quite bothersome. But I guess it's to start getting my brain working again...haha.
Throughout the whole summer and even during last semester people would often ask me if I was excited about studying abroad. And I could never really answer the question. For most people (I think) studying abroad is new and exciting because they are going somewhere they've never been before or haven't really been to in a while. For them, it's a chance to explore a new place and culture. Well...in my case it's a little different. I go to Taiwan like at least once every year. It's my home country. So it's not exciting in the sense that I'm exploring a new place or culture since I'm pretty familiar with it already. For me, it's more of a developing my own identity kind of thing. Yes, Taiwan is my home country, only because I was born there. But I grew up in the US. I don't know what it's like growing up in Taiwan. So, to better understand this place I call my home country, I go back to experience life the way the natives do. I've already gone back and worked for a summer. I've gone back for culture camps. And now I'm going back as a student. So am I excited? Probably not as much as other people. But as time gets closer I'm starting to feel the excitement build. So we shall see...
This entry is really long. Anyways, I shall end this entry with one last thought.
Studying abroad will mark a new chapter is this thing they call life. Three years of college already and while OASES has made a big impact, I can't really say much about college being all that great. I'm really hoping this semester will be able to show me the greatness of college. This new chapter is a new beginning. And a new beginning means starting over again. So I'm starting over again. I'm going to enter Taiwan a "new" person. These three weeks in China have been spent making this new person. I got my first manicure, got my hands waxed, new hairstyle...hell I even got a PINK cell phone [of all colors..@@]. Life is all about taking risks and I'm doing it right now. Now it's time to see how this new me handles this new life....加油!! ^^
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