22 September, 2006
20 September, 2006
Public Service Announcement
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
I want to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to let everyone know that the above series of buffalo is a legit, valid sentence.
Here's more info.
Also, yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Did you celebrate?
Aarggh!!!
I want to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to let everyone know that the above series of buffalo is a legit, valid sentence.
Here's more info.
Also, yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Did you celebrate?
Aarggh!!!
19 September, 2006
Today's lunch
I figured I'd take a picture of what your average Chinese Take-Out(In) looks like. Today's dish is beef and onions with spices over a healthy bed of sticky rice. Why sticky rice? Because it's the only kind you can eat with chopsticks. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's why it was invented. Yes, I'm saying that the Chinese invented a new type of food to adapt to chopsticks rather than change their eating utensils. I'm probably wrong, but I'm sticking with my theory.Back to lunch... along the top row from left to right, there's mushrooms with peppers, green beans and some sort of meat I can't identify, and I have no idea what's in the top right. Some sort of veggie with another unidentifiable meat. But, it all tastes super delicious. I have this meal at least twice a week and I'll actually miss it when I leave.
The cup is a water-based soup with onion cubes and other veggies and spices. Not too bad.
Usually, when I have this particular meal it's all the same, but once they offered me a choice of meat - either beef, chicken, or "ink fish." Ink Fish? I thought about it for a second and realized he as talking about squid. Of course, that's what I had. :) Calamari is quite tasty for those who have never tried it. They fry it here, but without the batter. I think it tastes better that way.
15 September, 2006
Taipei 101
After the museum and lunch, we went to check out Taipei 101. Yes, that's the real name and it's the world's tallest building. How many of you knew that? I had never heard of it before this. Unfortunately, the rainy weather caused them to close the top, so I couldn't go up.The rest of the building is a large mall - about 5 or 6 stories of mall. In America, it's a known rule that all malls are built for women. I now know this is an International rule as well. This mall had the exact same shops that are in America and probably the entire world. I saw Gucci, and Tommy Hilfinger, and Prada, and every other store you'd expect in an upscale part of town. I even introduced Haagen-Das to my tour guides. They ate it, but said it was too sweet, hehe.
I was actually a bit disappointed as Taipei doesn't have much culture. The city is very nice and clean, but looks just like every other big city. Greanted, I was only in the commercial district, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Sunny was pretty shy during the whole museum trip, but after awhile she wanted to take a picture with me. Notice the obligatory Hello Kitty raincoat.
New York New York was another shopping center. Mostly clothes, but they also had a Toys R' Us as well. Not too far away, there was a Starbucks, heheh.
Taipei Palace Museum
The museum was very cool. There were artifacts from as old as 16th Century BC, and even a few older items. I got only one picture in before some guy in a red vest started waving a No Pictures sign at me. So here it is. If I remember correctly, this statue was carved in 200 AD.Jade was a big deal for Chinese artisans, so there were a ton of cool things crafted out of Jade. The big ticket item was the Jade Cabbage. I couldn't get a pic of it, but I found one online here.
The museum also had a large collection of books. Did you know the Chinese had wooden moveable-type printing presses about 1000 years before the printing press was invented in Europe?
One funny story... There were quite a lot of people at the museum, mostly students, but lots of others as well. At one point, Daniel said to me, "There's a lot of Japanese here." I looked around and thought he was talking about the students, so I asked him if they were who he was talking about. He said no, then, "Your eyes cannot tell the difference?" I laughed and said shook my head. In America, that probably would have started some sort of race riot, but here it's just inquisitive knowledge.
Here's a pic of what the museum looked like.
And here's a pic of Daniel, his wife Linda, and their daughter Sunny. You may have caught on the everyone I've mentioned so far has an Anglo name. I'm not sure when or why that happens, but some people go by their Anglo name all the time, and others do only when talking with Westerners. I'll have to ask some folks how that all works out.
Crazy Taxi
After the beach run on Saturday, Daniel and his family took me to Taipei on Sunday. It's about an hour away, so to avoid traffic, we took the bus from Jhongli.
Once we arrived, we flagged down a taxi and it's one of those "Crazy Taxi" stories I have to tell. When we got in, the driver was stashing away his bottles into the center console next to his seat. I'm not sure what kind of bottles they were, but they were empty and looked a litle "booze"-ish.
Our destination was the Taiwan History Museum that contained all the artifacts Chiang Kai-Shek brought with him when they escaped the Communists 50-60 years ago. As we were getting close, I noticed an LCD TV pop out from above the car radio and started playing a video. It was all in Chinese, so I didn't understand what was going on, but the pictures looked like it was for some sort of colon cleansing system. I'm not kidding. Had I not been no confused as to why a taxi driver was peddling colon cleansers, I might have been a little disgusted.
After our driver gave us flyers and a business card for his apparent side gig, we made it to the museum. I'm fairly certain this was Mr. Taxi Driver's first trip as he had to clue where to go. The Museum was once the old palace and it definitely looked the part. The architecture was definite Chinese and there were two large, stone lions guarding a long walkway lined with trees to the front steps. We somehow ended up on a side road, then maneuvered around a barricade and before you know it, we're driving right in front of the museum. However, the road was actually one level below us and I'm pretty sure no car had ever driven on the finely masoned rocks that were placed in front.
Mr Taxi Driver sort of slowed down in front and not seeing an entrance (or people for that matter), kept driving to the other side. He stopped when he hit the stairs. At this point, with the car now completely on a flight of stairs, he let us out. Some of the guards noticed him and started yelling that he can't park there. After realizing he was a moron, they kind of backed off and just laughed at him. I think there was some pointing, too.
We all got out safely, and we sat there watching Mr. Taxi Driver slowly drive down the stairs, then over a small drop (well large for a car) to the road below.
Once we arrived, we flagged down a taxi and it's one of those "Crazy Taxi" stories I have to tell. When we got in, the driver was stashing away his bottles into the center console next to his seat. I'm not sure what kind of bottles they were, but they were empty and looked a litle "booze"-ish.
Our destination was the Taiwan History Museum that contained all the artifacts Chiang Kai-Shek brought with him when they escaped the Communists 50-60 years ago. As we were getting close, I noticed an LCD TV pop out from above the car radio and started playing a video. It was all in Chinese, so I didn't understand what was going on, but the pictures looked like it was for some sort of colon cleansing system. I'm not kidding. Had I not been no confused as to why a taxi driver was peddling colon cleansers, I might have been a little disgusted.
After our driver gave us flyers and a business card for his apparent side gig, we made it to the museum. I'm fairly certain this was Mr. Taxi Driver's first trip as he had to clue where to go. The Museum was once the old palace and it definitely looked the part. The architecture was definite Chinese and there were two large, stone lions guarding a long walkway lined with trees to the front steps. We somehow ended up on a side road, then maneuvered around a barricade and before you know it, we're driving right in front of the museum. However, the road was actually one level below us and I'm pretty sure no car had ever driven on the finely masoned rocks that were placed in front.
Mr Taxi Driver sort of slowed down in front and not seeing an entrance (or people for that matter), kept driving to the other side. He stopped when he hit the stairs. At this point, with the car now completely on a flight of stairs, he let us out. Some of the guards noticed him and started yelling that he can't park there. After realizing he was a moron, they kind of backed off and just laughed at him. I think there was some pointing, too.
We all got out safely, and we sat there watching Mr. Taxi Driver slowly drive down the stairs, then over a small drop (well large for a car) to the road below.
Hit the beach
This past Saturday, Daniel (one of the managers) took me to check out the Pacific. I guess technically, you could call it a beach, but California it was not.It had been raining for days up until then, but it cleared up for us to check things out along the shore. In the picture, you're looking towards mainland China. Shanghai is the closest city in that general direction.
Anyway, not much happened along the shore. There were a few folks wandering around and a family digging for crabs. I asked Daniel if that was going to be dinner for them and he sort of gave me an odd look and said, "of course."
But the real action was happening on the other side of the beach. There was a large group of buildings along the harbor with cars and scooter overflowing the parking lot. And inside those buildings? The fish market!I knew Asians had a healthy diet of seafood, but now I saw where they all got it. The fish market was huge and packed with people. It's hard to describe, but you know how crazy tourist markets are with weird vendors constantly harassing you to buy some crappy trinket made of wood? This was like that, but instead of wood trinkets, it was fish. And not just fish -- it seemed squid, crab, and shrimp made up the majority of what folks were selling. Some things were alive and swimming in tanks, while others were dead in baskets. I saw a large box of anchovies (or some minnow-like fish) on sale for about a $1.
Which brings me to my next point. Everything was dirt cheap. When we first walked in, we were greated by this guy, who I'll call The Fish Monger. I didn't understant a word he was saying, but I swear he could have worked a few auctions in his life.In the picture, he's holding up a basket of crabs. I can't remember how much they were going for, but my translator Daniel seemed to think they were a good deal. After the crabs, he started filling up the basket with fish (normal-looking fish, by the way). He'd throw some in, saying something to the crowd like, "not done yet," then throw some more in. He did that a few times and literally filled the basket. His asking price? $10 for the whole thing. That's a fantastic deal here and it seemed to be there, too as those fish were sold in no time. He sold two or three more baskets of fish before we left.
I asked Daniel if he ever came here to shop for his family, but he said no, it was too much food for just he, his wife, and daughter. I knew that feeling well. I get it every time I walk into Costco.
Typhoon Shanshan
Just to add a bit more excitment, Hurricane Shanshan is paying us a visit tonight and tomorrow. It's a Category 4 now, but far enough east that we'll just get lots and lots of rain for the next 24-36 hours. The city where I'm at is on the west side of the island with some mountains between us and the east coast, so things should be fine here.
All this means tomorrow I won't be going anywhere, so I'll have plenty of time to update some more stories. I was supposed to fly out today, but looks like someone was watchin out for me.
13 September, 2006
One more week
You know that scene in "Office Space" where Lumbergh says, "Hi, uh, yeaaaah. I'm gonna need for you to come in on Saturday....Oh, and I almost forgot. Ahh, I'm going to have to go ahead and ask you to come in on Sunday, too...." right at the 5pm bell? I now know how that feels. I got an email this AM from my manager asking to stay another week.
But, things aren't as bad as I make them out to be. Taiwan ain't such a bad place.
Anyway, I'll now be back home on the 22nd. My visa expires around then, so they'll actually kick me out if I stay any longer. :)
'Til then, more stories....
But, things aren't as bad as I make them out to be. Taiwan ain't such a bad place.
Anyway, I'll now be back home on the 22nd. My visa expires around then, so they'll actually kick me out if I stay any longer. :)
'Til then, more stories....
Chopstix
My chopstick skills suck.
I remember the first time I had sushi, I was trying to grab a Spider Roll (mmmmmmm....Spider Roll) off the plate and it was proving to be quite a test of my manhood. My friend's wife, who's with Boulder PD and just happened to walk in at this exact time, was standing over my shoulder and I believe her exact words were, "Dear Lord, he's butchering it."
Needless to say, a trip to Asia with my chopstick skills lacking was on the front of my mind. But with the company serving me lunches and dinners everyday, it's either chopsticks or my hands.
One interesting thing I've discovered is that there are two different types of chopsticks here - wood and plastic (you smarter types probably knew that already). The Take-Out (In) lunches have wooden chopsticks and I'm proud to say I've worked my way up to Junior level on those. The fancy restaurants have plastic 'stix and I swear are about two times longer. Those aberrations are still a considerable challenge and the bane of my eating enjoyment.
There's not enough time left for me to really master the skill, so it's something I'll have to work on when I order sushi back home. :)
I remember the first time I had sushi, I was trying to grab a Spider Roll (mmmmmmm....Spider Roll) off the plate and it was proving to be quite a test of my manhood. My friend's wife, who's with Boulder PD and just happened to walk in at this exact time, was standing over my shoulder and I believe her exact words were, "Dear Lord, he's butchering it."
Needless to say, a trip to Asia with my chopstick skills lacking was on the front of my mind. But with the company serving me lunches and dinners everyday, it's either chopsticks or my hands.
One interesting thing I've discovered is that there are two different types of chopsticks here - wood and plastic (you smarter types probably knew that already). The Take-Out (In) lunches have wooden chopsticks and I'm proud to say I've worked my way up to Junior level on those. The fancy restaurants have plastic 'stix and I swear are about two times longer. Those aberrations are still a considerable challenge and the bane of my eating enjoyment.
There's not enough time left for me to really master the skill, so it's something I'll have to work on when I order sushi back home. :)
Party!!
So on Friday, everyone on the team took me out for dinner to an International Restaurant. Of course, by "International" they mean different countries in Asia. There were traditional Chinese dishes, Japanese sushi and sashimi (everyone was impressed that I knew what those were), and some Korean dishes. It was buffet style, so I helped myself to those items I could recognize (plus a few I couldn't). Overall, very good food.
After dinner, all the members of the team gathered around the table and played a game that I couldn't recognize. On the count of three, they all put their hands in the middle while holding either one to five fingers out. Someone counted the total and then played eenie-meenie-mynie mo around the table. I watched with an odd couriosity, wondering what they were up to. Finally, the counting stopped and everyone ooh-ed and aah-ed for the "winner." There was lots of clapping, then the guy got up and, in broken english, introduced himself to me. Oh, so it was a bet....and he lost.
After introducing himself, he said we needed to have a drink together. Huh? He motioned that we needed to lock arms and have a drink, all while posing for the camera. Well, you can see the results of that here.
Anyway, it was a good time, so here's a few more pics of me and the people I've been working with...
12 September, 2006
Vespa!!
Taiwan loves the scooter. There are twice as many scooters on the road as cars and I gotta say, it sure helps the traffic problem. It's definitely not the safest mode of transportation and I wonder how many accidents they have each year. They sort of dash in and around traffic and play by their own rules.
It's fairly common to see more than one person on one, including parents with their child (or children). Once, I even saw a family of 4 on one scooter.
Cars cost about $20,000 in US dollars while your average scooter runs about $1000. So you can see why it's such a convenient mode of transportation.
I'll throw in an extra pic of what my morning drive is like. This street looks completely different at night, so I'll try to get one of those, too.
11 September, 2006
My Normal Day...
So I thought I'd tell you what a typical day for me looks like.
I get up at 7AM to the Wake-Up call, "Herro. Good Morning. This is your wrake-up call" recorded by a very sweet Chinese woman. I've heard it for a week solid so far and it cracks me up every day.
Now before most of you fall over in shock, yes 7AM is quite early for me. However, my body is still not turned around so I usually end up waking up at 4AM, say something rude to the clock, fall asleep again to wake up at 6. By the time the phone rings at 7, the daily giggle from the wake-up call is necessary to keep me in good spirits. :)
After checking the internet for the news from the past (it's cool and frustrating living in the future by 15 hours), I head down for breakfast served by the hotel. Like I mentioned earlier, the hotel is very Western, so they have normal foods like waffles, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Plus, they throw in a few Chinese items for fun like steamed dumplings and a few noodle dishes. The Chinese version of French Toast is very tasty.
On another floor, the hotel has a Cantonese Restaraunt. There are signs everywhere of some of their dishes and the sight of a fish split open with head, tail, and scales still intact on a bed of rice is not really something I feel my adventure is lacking.
My driver shows up at 8:30 to take me to the factory for the work day. It's a 40 minute drive and since my diver doesn't speak English, I use the time to catch up on my reading. I've become quite envious of people who have drivers now. Imagine how much more you could get done if you removed all the time in the day you spent driving. I'm convinced it's making me dumber. Of course, Christina Aguilera on the radio probably doesn't help things.
I won't bore you with work details. Making TVs is like making sausage. You really like the end product, but you really don't want to know how it's made. But the hours in the factory are quite long. I usually end up going home around 7:30 or 8 every night, but they do feed me lunch and dinner.
Lunch and Dinner is always fantastic. It's like the Chinese Take-out you're used to (or Take-In in this case), but better. Much, much better. I usually have beef or chicken over rice, but today they spiced it up with some Beef Lo Mein. Tasty!
Everyone here eats at the same time. I'm not sure if the company provides them meals or how that all works, but food gets delivered to everyone from the same place. And then, after lunch, everyone takes a nap. I'm serious....everyone. They even have a bell system in place to wake them up after 30-45 minutes (but sadly, no taped Chinese woman. Just a bell). In fact, I'm writing this now and there's three people in the same room with me all asleep on their desks. Personally, I think American companies should inherit this custom.
I make it home around 8:30 and try to learn more about this Blogging thing. Last night I just added a new calendar. :)
I get up at 7AM to the Wake-Up call, "Herro. Good Morning. This is your wrake-up call" recorded by a very sweet Chinese woman. I've heard it for a week solid so far and it cracks me up every day.
Now before most of you fall over in shock, yes 7AM is quite early for me. However, my body is still not turned around so I usually end up waking up at 4AM, say something rude to the clock, fall asleep again to wake up at 6. By the time the phone rings at 7, the daily giggle from the wake-up call is necessary to keep me in good spirits. :)
After checking the internet for the news from the past (it's cool and frustrating living in the future by 15 hours), I head down for breakfast served by the hotel. Like I mentioned earlier, the hotel is very Western, so they have normal foods like waffles, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Plus, they throw in a few Chinese items for fun like steamed dumplings and a few noodle dishes. The Chinese version of French Toast is very tasty.
On another floor, the hotel has a Cantonese Restaraunt. There are signs everywhere of some of their dishes and the sight of a fish split open with head, tail, and scales still intact on a bed of rice is not really something I feel my adventure is lacking.
My driver shows up at 8:30 to take me to the factory for the work day. It's a 40 minute drive and since my diver doesn't speak English, I use the time to catch up on my reading. I've become quite envious of people who have drivers now. Imagine how much more you could get done if you removed all the time in the day you spent driving. I'm convinced it's making me dumber. Of course, Christina Aguilera on the radio probably doesn't help things.
I won't bore you with work details. Making TVs is like making sausage. You really like the end product, but you really don't want to know how it's made. But the hours in the factory are quite long. I usually end up going home around 7:30 or 8 every night, but they do feed me lunch and dinner.
Lunch and Dinner is always fantastic. It's like the Chinese Take-out you're used to (or Take-In in this case), but better. Much, much better. I usually have beef or chicken over rice, but today they spiced it up with some Beef Lo Mein. Tasty!
Everyone here eats at the same time. I'm not sure if the company provides them meals or how that all works, but food gets delivered to everyone from the same place. And then, after lunch, everyone takes a nap. I'm serious....everyone. They even have a bell system in place to wake them up after 30-45 minutes (but sadly, no taped Chinese woman. Just a bell). In fact, I'm writing this now and there's three people in the same room with me all asleep on their desks. Personally, I think American companies should inherit this custom.
I make it home around 8:30 and try to learn more about this Blogging thing. Last night I just added a new calendar. :)
Hotel
10 September, 2006
Name Change
Beginnings...
The trip over was pretty uneventful. First stop was LAX for a quick, 2-hour layover, then straight to Taiwan with EVA Air.
I had no idea what to expect from EVA but they were cheap and, well, you get what you pay for. There's not a lot you can do to spice up economy class overseas, but the flights on British Air had more comfortable seats for sure. The food was pretty good, though.
13 hours and two movies later (Nacho Libre and The Sentinel), I landed in Taiwan. After gathering my bags, going through customs, and passing the attack beagles who were sniffing for imported foodstuffs, I met Luis, my guide.
I'm fairly certain that the Taiwanese are the friendliest people on the planet. Literally going out of their way to make guests feel comfortable. Luis and his wife gathered up all my bags into their minivan and whisked me away to my hotel in Jhongli (pronounced Jong - Lee) about 45 minutes away.
Luis is one of the managers here at the factory and his wife teaches elementary Chinese. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to learn a little Chinese while I'm here. Of course, that hope died shortly.
You know how, in English, we have two accents (long and short) per vowel? For example, there's the long 'a' as in "tomato" and a short 'a' as in "tomato." :) Anyway, you get my point. In Traditional Chinese, there are 4 accents per vowel. And if that weren't hard enough, in the Taiwan dialect, they have 8. Are you kidding me? Needless to say, my Chinese is not improving at all.
I had no idea what to expect from EVA but they were cheap and, well, you get what you pay for. There's not a lot you can do to spice up economy class overseas, but the flights on British Air had more comfortable seats for sure. The food was pretty good, though.
13 hours and two movies later (Nacho Libre and The Sentinel), I landed in Taiwan. After gathering my bags, going through customs, and passing the attack beagles who were sniffing for imported foodstuffs, I met Luis, my guide.
I'm fairly certain that the Taiwanese are the friendliest people on the planet. Literally going out of their way to make guests feel comfortable. Luis and his wife gathered up all my bags into their minivan and whisked me away to my hotel in Jhongli (pronounced Jong - Lee) about 45 minutes away.
Luis is one of the managers here at the factory and his wife teaches elementary Chinese. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to learn a little Chinese while I'm here. Of course, that hope died shortly.
You know how, in English, we have two accents (long and short) per vowel? For example, there's the long 'a' as in "tomato" and a short 'a' as in "tomato." :) Anyway, you get my point. In Traditional Chinese, there are 4 accents per vowel. And if that weren't hard enough, in the Taiwan dialect, they have 8. Are you kidding me? Needless to say, my Chinese is not improving at all.
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Travelling John
Well, in the famous footsteps of my friends Travelling Stan, and Travelling Jason (and to a lesser extent Travelling Jack from a Stephen King crapfest), I'm jumping into the blog bandwagon to document my travels.
Hopefully I won't jinx myself through this endeavor and there will be more trips in my future - but until then, watch this spot for stories from my current stay in Taiwan.
See you then...
Hopefully I won't jinx myself through this endeavor and there will be more trips in my future - but until then, watch this spot for stories from my current stay in Taiwan.
See you then...
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08 September, 2006
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