busy

hi,

just a quick one to say i'm still alive, i have my own (cheap) computer now, xmas was relatively uneventfull, and i hope to have some more time to post something this weekend.

naming rights

one of the things that you occasionally get to do as an english teacher in taiwan is to give a kid an english name. i started a new class last night, and as i prepared i noticed that several of the kids had no western names listed. i thought about all of the good names - i have thought about using names from the nba here in basketball crazy taiwan, but my boss told me to make the names normal. i love the idea of having a student named Lebron (i could call him 'bron 'bron!) but it would be a little weird. besides, at some point i may be given a chinese name so i don't want to create bad name karma. i really like my grandfather's name - Marshall. It's a good southern name, it sounds very American to me, and it's possibly coming back into vogue thanks to eminem. but when it came down to it, these kids didn't look like Marshalls. Ultimately, I had two boys to name, and i named them Mark and Kevin after my good friends from college. I now feel kind of protective of these two - as i teach them ABC i really want them to do well. So far, mark is doing fine, but kevin is a little bit slow. there was also a girl with no name, and the moment she walked in i knew that she should be called Sarah. As it turned out, she had already been named Sarah. i guess someone else agreed with me.

christmas

oh, a little bit about xmas here. people keep asking me if i'm doing anything to celebrate, so i guess i'm supposed to care. but with limited $ and no interest in the holiday, it doesn't mean too much to me. kojen is going to force me to teach the students some ridiculously simplified versions of carols (and their choices are bizarre for little kids - little drummer boy but no frosty the snowman), and apparently i have to go caroling in the night market on xmas eve. as part of a freakish band of foriegn dumbasses i expect some odd looks. on the plus side, i have been asked to dress up as santa claus which gives me an excuse to work on my billy bob thornton impression. i need to make sure i have the hip flask filled with whiskey handy - isn't it funny how drunken santa has become a cliche? anyway, at least i don't have to deal with the xmas shopping season in the us.

busy

working and going to chinese class have reduced the free hours that i can devote to this blog. also, sleep is extremely important because i work around children who are, let's face it, festering disease carriers. my coworkers are all sick, and if my first experience of taiwan flu is any indication, they are all suffering terribly. smokers seem to have a continuous flu from october to may. anyway, i'm taking multivitamins and trying to sleep 7 hours minimum (not always possible). getting run down is a very bad idea.

in addition to my chinese class, i have started a language exchange with a taiwanese teaching assistant from work. at the moment, because my chinese is limited, most of our time is spent on english grammar and conversation. i go over my textbook and homework with her and she helps me with my tones. she is very nice - i told her i was interested in tea and she bought me her favorite convenience store jasmine tea. we meet in mcdonalds.

today after class richard and i went out with our teacher and one other student for shui jiao (fried dumplings). she knew a good place, and we had wonderful shui jiao, steamed dumplings, and hot and sour soup. yum. now i'm exhausted and about to drink a lot of tea - i seem to have developed a mild caffeine dependence. today is my day off (for now - it seems likely that it will change soon) so i will study chinese this afternoon, cook myself some dinner, and get to bed early. did i mention that i'm tired?

rip dirt mcgirt

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.html

http://www.thestranger.com/current/feature.html

blah

i'm relatively ok now, just a nagging cough that won't go away. i have been very busy trying to teach (it takes forever for me to prepare), and studying my chinese (i'm not used to being the slowest member of the class, but here i am - i seem to have been cast in the role of guy who asks stupid questions and feels like an idiot - most of the class has lived here for a while and knows the basics already). postings may continue to be about weekly until i get myself a computer. homesickness has become an issue (especially when i was ill), but i'm excited to get my first real paycheck from work. and soon, i will be insured. i have cable set up now, which helps me waste what free time i have.

my complaining for the day will relate to the system of garbage pick up in taiwan. there is no dumpster or garbage can outside of the apartment that a truck picks up here - instead, there is a set time when a truck drives by on a major road (i live in a back alley), playing a loud song like an ice cream truck (beethoven's fifth seems to be popular), and people throw the garbage and recycling in the back of the truck. it's very inconvenient if you happen to be busy when the truck comes by (our garbage seems to pile up quite a bit), and even if you do happen to be free, you have to waste your time waiting by the side of the road. adding to this, the recycling is only picked up on certain nights, and these don't exactly seem to be fixed. basically, the whole thing is a pain in the ass. add in the fact that there are very few (and very small) public garbage cans, and it is no wonder that there is a fair amount of litter here. it also helps to explain the burning of waste on the sidewalks that helps to make the air so challenging here.

sick

so now i'm very sick. i have missed my first two days of scheduled work (i worked last saturday as a substitute for another teacher) and i continue to cough with gusto. let me describe my week.

monday - i sleep in short bursts, but i am in bed unconscious or semi-conscious for 20 of 24 hours. i have a fever, i sweat, i'm cold, i feel weak and tired, time moves extremely slowly. i eat nothing but i drink over a gallon of water and a half gallon of juice. and some tea. and some other drinks. i was supposed to work today, but i tell them i can't. in a remarkable case of bad planning, i have no phone number for my work so i walk there. i am covered in sweat when i get there, i get a number, then i have to go home.

tuesday - my fever has gone down, but my cold symptoms are worse. my cough is awful, i go through tissues like mad, i have sinus problems, headache, etc. i'm starting to get a bit lonely stir crazy - i rent some stupid dvd's from a nearby store (challenging) and hope for the best for tomorrow. by the end of the night, i'm coughing up a little bit of blood.

wednesday - i feel a bit better! i've missed 2 days of chinese class, time to get in there. i survive the bus ride, make it to class, and my brain is still not working. it refuses to remember what i learned last week. and my cough is loud and nasty. still, i am a bit better, so i make it through class and go to work afterwards (training only). while there i get very tired and my cough is powerful. a nice woman makes me soup with pork and shitakes and noodles, actually just what i needed. still i can't stay long enough to plan for my class tomorrow. feeling like crap doesn't make it any easier to swallow the fact that my stupid country just re elected our moron president. i'm so ashamed.

thursday - i wake up and have a major coughing fit before i even make it out of bed. thinking i pushed myself too hard yesterday, i decide to skip chinese class. no matter - i still feel like crap right now and i just called in sick for my second day of teaching. which brings me to saturday, when i'm teaching again. i need the money and the experience and this doesn't look good in the first week of the job, but my body is really falling apart right now. i hope this doesn't screw me up here.

typhoon

there is a big storm here today - very heavy rain, its very pretty, but our cable is out. looks like i'm going to costco later today - there are lots of things i need but a water filter is definitely coming home wiht me. r hooked up the washing machine today so i will be doing some cleaning. this cafe is very noisy - packed with video game players and they aren't shy about yelling and turning up the volume. my keyboard is filthy and uncomfortable - i really need a laptop at home for so many reasons. made tea in my new teapot today - cheap tea but i enjoyed it. ok, bye.

job

we are currently moving into a new place so i'm stuck in an internet cafe. the sound of video game fighting is loud in here and there is goo on the keyboard. yuck. hopefully, we will have internet access at the house on tue. we are currently without water, and r is at this moment trying to get it back on and resolve any past due bills that were left at the apt. fun! i spent yesterday in taipei, and it looks like i have a job at kojen (http://www.kojenenglish.com/). i had a medical exam (which the school paid for) including an eye exam, a chest xray, and some blood work (i was informed that it was to make sure i dont have any vd's!) tonight i will be watching classes and my first class will be a week from monday. i'm a little nervous, but it will be good to make some money. i need to take a trip to hong kong to get the resident visa here and i'm excited to see one of the best food cities in the world. someone is really kicking video game ass right now and i'm getting a little bit distracted. anyway, i have bought sheets and a comforter in the last few days and now i have a job. it feels like things are kind of coming together. kojen offers partially subsidized mandarin classes, so once i get somewhat comfortable with teaching i think i will try to start working on that. then i need to figure out what kind of exercize i can do here - maybe i will start working on my tai chi.

asst

in addition to everything else, people will drive their scooters on the sidewalk. you always kind of need to be on the lookout.

when you have a crosswalk, or even when you have the green light, you need to be aware of cars turning. there is no assumption that pedestrians have the right of way - quite the opposite. and you need to look both ways on a one way street, because scooters don't care.

you can eat a filling, good meal for under $1 us. very filling and delicious cabbage dumplings are about 20 cents us, grilled bite size sausages are about 15 cents.

there is a system of hand gestures for numbers here that i dont understand. since it's all done with one hand, 1-5 make sense. 7 looks like a 7. and 10 is an x with 2 hands (the only one to use both). the others, i don't know. and when representing larger numbers, there is a syntax that i don't understand. i'm sure it's easy and it helps. maybe i'll get it later.

children, when they aren't pointing and laughing, often say "HUH-low" to me as i pass them on the street.

the average doorway here is just high enough to slam the top of my head. this is exacerbated by the little step that you see as you pass through the doorways. i have taken to bowing as i enter a room, as a show of respect to the pain that the door can cause me. my new religion will be devoted to avoiding the pain of banging your head.

you can get a cheap (under a dollar) sushi like thing in the 7eleven/circle k stores here. it is a triangle of sushi rice with a little smear of something (i like the crab and the tuna) wrapped in nori. it's pretty easy and good.

i made myself congee for breakfast this morning. it's recommended for invalids, and my stomach problems may qualify me. i just put last night's left over rice in a pot with some water and a slice of ginger and cooked until it was a good soup consistancy. i added green onion, salt, a little pepper and a little bit of soy. yum. and my stomach felt ok. today i bought brown rice - we'll see how that works.

i get to listen to late night seattle radio on the internet during the day here. i like it a lot.

fri

so, we make sure to take off our shoes before walking in the apartment.

just had my first earthquake here. not as big as what we had in seattle, but i felt it more because we're up higher. made me feel a little bit dizzy as my equilibrium got screwed up. still an odd experience for me.

sidewalks

the sidewalks in keelung are colorful tile dealies unlike sidewalks in most places. they receive heavy use beyond the average us sidewalk. everyone here has a scooter, and they all park on the sidewalk, so space that could accomidate 5 people side by side becomes too small for two people to pass each other. this is especially noticeable when you are behind someone moving very slowly, or children who run all over the place. believe me when i say that i'm very aware of how wide my shoulders are. there also doesn't seem to be any expectation that people will move out of your way. people just squeeze by when they can. at first i felt bad that i didn't know how to say "excuse me," but no one seems to say or expect it. i just try not to step on kids or knock little old ladies down, and feel ok about it.

the other aspect to parking scooters on the sidewalk is that the sidewalks are filthy. accumulated road dirt, combined with a lack of pet curbing, combined with the habit of spitting betel nut (the juice and the finished nut - it ends up looking like old tobacco), combined with the work that people do on the sidewalk (on my block alone people are welding (!) every day, food stands are washing dishes and pouring the water down the sewer grates in the street, and scooter mechanics do work in the middle of the sidewalk) changes the once colorful tiles to varying shades of gray. the betel nut is especially nasty, leaving bright red stains everywhere. i haven't noticed anyone chewing it yet, but i understand it looks like they have been punched in the mouth and are spitting blood. i understand that during the rainy season the sidewalks get very slippery and dangerous. i suspect i won't have to worry about passing people as i carefully pick my way down the street, trying to avoid breaking my neck. in addition to everything else, people burn papers on the sidewalks, filling the (already black with scooter exhaust, welding fumes, unknown chemical smells, and cigarette smoke) air with more thick smoke and adding ash to the mix of dirt on the road. breathing can be very challenging, especially when the air is humid and stagnant. it really makes you appreciate a breeze. all that said, the sidewalks do feel vibrant if chaotic. and if they can make it work here, seattle, with its' wide sidewalks and small scooter population, should change their sidewalk scooter parking policy. yeah.

debate

watched the debate on nytimes.com. kerry is infuriating. he is debating a (admittedly, well trained) talking monkey and he can barely frustrate him. he acts overly cautious when he should attack and sometimes seems outwitted by a moron. i stand by my assertion that i would vote for a septic tank before i would vote for bush, but kerry hardly seems up to the challenge. it feels like he's going to lose, and then bush will have 4 more years to terrify people and just generally make the world a worse place to live. and then mccain will come in and finish the job. dammit kerry, you better *#@!*&!!! win. taiwan is (apparently) pretty corrupt, and will probably be taken over by china (!) in the near future, but at least taiwan is too small to do major damage. it makes me ill to consider the leaders now in place in russia, china, and the u.s. i want to hide in some obscure corner of the world and stick my head in the sand.

thinking. 

richard and zoe bowling. 

shiny, and wearing a baseball cap because i need a haircut. i have seen better days. 

this is me with zoe, riding a wierd panda thing in a bowling alley. mechanical pandas. in bowling alleys. 

this is my street. i was told by a local girl that this is the "hood." 

our front door. note the painted window - my bedroom is behind that 

crane 

this is r's crazy cat.  

these are the varieties of can you see for the local beer. only the one on the right (looks almost like heineken) is different. 

near my apt, jesus sign with buddhist temple in backround. 

more food

i cooked for the first time today. despite the cramped kitchen, it actually turned out pretty well. cooking with gas is so much better. getting the flame low enough for the rice was a challenge, but it turned out ok. i put a little rice wine vinegar and salt in the short grain white rice, so it was like sushi rice. then i got the wok very hot and swirled in some peanut oil. when it was very hot i threw in the garlic for a couple of seconds, and before it burned i hit it with some shaoshing wine and chile paste. next came some tofu that i had soaked in soy sauce. it was silken - kind of soft for a stir fry - but i have no way of knowing when i buy it. anyway, it kind of stayed together and i love it's texture. after about a minute i added some chopped up baby bok choy, stirred, and covered the wok to wilt it (which didn't take very long). finally i threw in some oyster mushrooms - i love them and they are very cheap here - maybe a dollar for 4 oz. they cook very fast. it was delicious over the rice with a little bit of soy sauce. the peanut oil and the high heat make a big difference - my stir fries back home are usually kind of crummy and the same. this one was quick and easy and better.

long day

yesterday was long. i did a teaching demo (pretty poor) and i was disappointed to find out that there was no critique after, no info on what was good what was bad. listening to other teachers give the same lesson on beginning english for 3 1/2 hours was incredibly boring/deadening, and by the time i got up there i felt drunk. so we finished and left. sherry and i went to a huge buddhist temple which was beautiful and interesting. lots of incense and fruit offerings. we caught the bus to keelung near the temple and i kind of dozed off (it was hot and uncomfortable, but i was exhausted.) in keelung i went straight to the school to watch some teachers in class. the first woman i saw teach was very good - she was strict but nice to the kids and they seemed to like her and learn from her. i also saw r teach for 2 hours - he was also good, though he was teaching a lesson plan he didn't like or create. more time spent on tests and repetitive vocab. when he wrapped up around 9:30 we needed a drink so we went next door to the the bar. r was excited to watch the football game. we had a few asahi and a little bit of the scotch he keeps there, along with some snacks. they're very friendly there - the bar girls were teaching r some mandarin and the shorthand symbols. we walked home, picking up fried snacks on the way (the squid was especially good, but everything was good and loaded with cayenne). r's dog, now to be known as "princess" after the animation, followed us home, but she is still too dirty to be invited up. r's friend zoe came over and they stayed up for who knows how long. i took a shower and went to bed for some well deserved rest. until this morning when some bastards started cutting cement over the river - the noise was very unpleasant and i am sure to be cranky all day today.

training

so.

the party was interesting - almost all westerners, many canadians, much alcohol and general drunkeness. the cops showed up because of the noise. i met several interesting people, and many of them had info about jobs that may be available. i got home very late and slept late. got a call from the taiwanese girl with the accent (by the way, i would like to revise my description to a philly accent) who's name in sherry. apparently the sesame street (where r teaches) boss wanted to know if i wanted to go to a training session on monday. i watched several b movies on sunday and slept. this (monday) morning i got up at 6 and ran to meet sherry. we went into starbucks so she could get a bagel, where i met an american english teacher at the local catholic school. we both complained bitterly about the lack of bagel quality outside of the east coast until sherry's "bagel" was ready and we ran to catch the very busy bus. we got to taipei and i went to mcdonalds (!) for a hash brown and oj breakfast. i haven't been to a mcdonalds in years, i don't like to support mcd's, but the b-fast wasn't bad and it was cheap. and i needed to eat something. the training consisted of playing games with sesame street characters, several of which i have never seen before. who the hell is prairie dawn, betty lou, or herry (yes, with an e, he's a blue muppet)? i dunno, but i should say i need to work on my body language before i try to teach - at the moment i think i'm way too boring to be inflicted on small children (we did a brief demo - i tried and sucked). Tomorrow there will be more of a full class demonstration -- hopefully good experience even if i totally screw it up. after class, sherry and i went to eat in the american zone. i should have had something western - everything was very pricey and the kung pao i had was not as good as the much, much cheaper lunches i have in keelung. sherry is very nice and fun to talk to -- i will see her later when we witness some classes and pick up props for our demo tomorrow. her husband is an american who moves around a lot - they just moved back from the states. ok, gotta go.

party 1

i went to r's work around 8 and chatted with a taiwanese girl married to an american while r finished up his class. she had lived in oregon, pennsylvania, and hartford CT. and her accent was from jersey, which amused me. she translated for me with r's boss as i filled out an aplication. r emerged from his class with a giant plastic hammer - evidently he does prop comedy in the style of gallagher as a part of his classes. we left and went to check on the stray dog that r feeds. she is a very sweet black dog that lives in an alley behind the building where r works. r had bought her a pink bathrobe to keep her warm on this cold, wet night but it had ended up underneath the wheel of a scooter. he pulled it out and put it on the shivering dog, who promptly shrugged it off and followed us out of her alley. since we couldn't bring her to jacque's party, we ducked into a bar and had a few beers. also had some batter dipped french fries which were pretty good. the dog waited outside for a long time (it never goes inside), but finally gave up. it is only a matter of time before r brings it home - i told him as long as he takes her to a vet first and gets her a good bath, i don't have a problem with it. she is certainly a nice dog, but it's on him. and the cat already destroys quite a bit.

i paid $75 nt for some corn on a stick for lunch in the night market today. slathered in hot sweet sauce, cooked over a rotiserie (sic?) until it carmelized, and handed to me piping hot. more expensive than my usual lunch, but different and pretty damn good. i ate it under the covered sidewalk across from the harbor (it has been raining all day), and watched the traffic drive by. a couple of those decorated blue trucks drove by with a taiko drummer, a gong, and two discordant horn players looking wet and miserable in their bright raincoats. i wonder which God had a birthday today. just another mystery for now, like the water jug with attached cup on the bridge over the railroad tracks. i do like that music though. tonight i'm going to meet richard's boss and see where he works. then we're going to a party at the apartment of a canadian named jacques. it is possible that we may be moving into his apartment in the next week. i'm actually happy it rained today - it has stayed below 80 and this is the first day that i haven't been drenched in sweat. the rain also seems to have knocked the pollution down a bit, though walking by the guys welding in the middle of the sidewalk i still felt like i might pass out.

sat 10/2

maybe yesterday wasn't so bad. i was just feeling tired and isolated. i'm going to make sure today is better. one thing i need to mention is the great food i'm eating here. in addition to the dumplings that make up my normal breakfast, i have been having great success at restaurants that offer a wide variety of dishes on hotplates, to be served with rice. i especially like the ubiquitous spinach with garlic and chile. the fluorescent eggplant, tofu with chewy mushroomy things, and vegetarian fish like piece with a sweet hot sauce are other highpoints. last night, richard and i ate tender clams with basil, delicate sashimi, the spinach, and some fried fish with vegetables. and beer. for $5 us. this was an expensive meal, but it had some fancy stuff. my standard meal has been costing me $.80 - $1.50 US. if there is one thing i love, it is good, cheap food.

friday 10/1

today was not good.

wednesday 9/29 part 3

needless to say, i was very impressed. the costumes were remarkable, as were the trucks (several had what looked like quilted tigers on the sides), and the music was discordant and powerful. i have no idea what they were celebrating - i saw no coffin, i know that there was a major holiday yesterday, but i think that today is just another day. they could have been advertising toothpaste for all i know. anyway, i had been feeling lonely and a bit homesick, so i kind of needed this to make me feel like this is the place i should be. i will probably buy the camera later tonight, or maybe tomorrow.

wednesday 9/29 part 2

the marching band was dressed like they might be in the states, with a very uncomfortable looking women scantily clad in shiny green sequins spinning a baton in the front. i'm not exactly sure about the logic of having this band take part in what seemed to be a possibly religious parade, but i certainly enjoyed seeing them. at the end of their band there were more old people with incense, and an old man with a cart selling very bright, colorful kitchen supplies (mops, sponges, bleachy things, etc.) next came more blue trucks, this time with many drumers doing repetitive, loud beats on the bass heavy little taiko drums. and more cymbals accenting their beats. another short gap (and i'm walking by a buddhist temple with a large kuan yin by this time - there are many many fireworks on the ground in front of the temple), then yet another blue truck with several different percussionists that i didin't get a good look at. behind them were men in different matching shirts holding horns that were maybe 5 feet long -- the type that i think of as calling monks to prayer in Tibet -- and they made a very low sound. mixed among them were more shrine trucks, dragon dancers, men with 10 foot tall, elaborately constructed puppet-like costumes of wraithful gods (?), stern looking elders(?), or maybe historical figures that i don't recognize, and, of course, people holding big sticks of incense. as the dancers went by the shrine, the fireworks went off

wednesday 9/29

first, a few disclaimers:

this keyboard is a crazy taiwanese keyboard. the keys are in slightly off places, especially the shift keys. please excuse my lack of caps and frequent typos.

this chair and table is not made for me. it is uncomfortable and i will only be able to sit at it for short periods, so my entries should stay pretty short.

today i was going to buy a digital camera, but i decided to wait and check prices online. this turned out to be a bad decision. i explored the region around the night market for a while and it was interesting but my feet hurt and i was heading home. things turned very interesting when i heard loud drumming and shrill horns coming my way. a bizarre parade! many of the little blue half trucks that you see all over asia were coming my way, covered with red, green, and yellow decoration -- maybe some kind of plastic, it looks like the outside of a pinata. the last one in the line carried a young guy playing what looked like a small taiko drum and a guy with some cymbals. behind them there was a gong on wheels that was repeatedly struck. next came 20-30 men in identical polo shirts and straw hats (almost like a dixie land band) playing shrill horns -- the type of horn you might imagine someone using to charm snakes. i was on the covered sidewalk, and the acoustics were such that the sounds echoed around me, distorted and very loud, creating a very psychedelic effect. next in the line were old people carrying sticks of incense as long as my arm and as thick as a big cigar. then there was some space while the next group waited for some traffic (i should add that the first part of the parade thought nothing of shutting down traffic by walking in the middle of a very busy street - a remarkably brave undertaking given the nature of driving in Keelung (pronounced Chee-lung, in case anyone wondered)). The next section was, amazingly enough, a mediocre marching band playing "and the saints go marching in."