Protests

Not sure if it's made any Western or European news outlets, but therehave been nightly protests directed towards the President since my 2nd night here. They have gotten increasingly worse too. Intially they were innocous and just chants and whatnot. Recently they have become somewhat violent and more widespread. Every friday as I walk to school I see guards and troops constructing and staging barricades and barb-wired fencing to protect the Presidents House and estate. Both are only two blocks from my school. The protests are in regards to apparent money smuggling and bribes accepted by the President and family. Most say this will die soon enough, and as a democracy the protests are basically pointless, though interesting nonetheless. Something unheard of in the US. Went out to eat again with Liu and his brothes and his family last night. They took me to a place called Las Vegas. It was a huge buffet with seafood, steak, and local dishes. All you can eat and drink. I had the equivalent of a bottle of wine and remained sober as Liu watched in awe. Wine is so $$ (12-15 for a cheap bottle) I needed to get a fix. He was amazed at how much I could drink and eat while remaining sober, also at how I could drink it warm sans ice. It was an obscene amount of money per plate and again he treated. His wife also gave me a water boiler-perfect for cheap noodle bowls here. Afterwards, and by that I mean 3+ hrs. of eating drinking and schmoozing, they make an event out of dinner here, I met co-workers at a bar. There was about 15 of us, Americans, Canadians, Chinese, and an Aussie with his sis and mum. We decided on a local "dive" bar. When I say dive bar, that cannont be understated. It was a good time though, and afterwards some of us went to a proper British pub on the other side of town. MRT shuts down @ 12 so it's all taxis. Luckily, taxis are cheap, four of us paid about a buck fifty for the trip. It was nice to drink a proper pint of Stella and watch the premiership. The aussies mum got drunk, made for an interesting experience. She is a novice traveler who has absolutley no tolerance for anything foreign, but a very nice lady as she bought drinks most the night. More oddities: there are no dryers here, anywhere. Even the rich use clothes lines. Much to my disdain, there is also no cheese, and the rare sour milk you can find is prohibitively $$. The sun ceases to exist. It's cloudy everyday, though the temp has fallen and it doesn't rain too often anymore. The great race is to learn English. There is almost a cultish obssesion with the people here to speak and learn english. I've gotten approached numerous times on the MRT and other various places by mothers/fathers who want me to speak english with their kids, as though to show them off or something. The seafood here is rare unless your willing to pay for it, though on the flip side the bakeries rival there counterparts in France and Italy. They are ubiquitious, cheap, and delicious. Half the time I go in I just pick something that looks tempting w/o the faintest idea whats on top or inside of it. Have yet to be dissapointed. Ciggies are dirt cheap, about $1/2 a pack. Of course that means that almost everyone my age and slightly older smokes, not a good habit. They have a lottery here, though not in the traditional sense. Every receipt you get has some #s at the top. Every two months they draw #'s and you can win $$ based on correlating #'s on your reciepts. Thus everyone keeps their receipts. Apparently it's done as a means to ensure that stores keep their books properly. Also it's quite common to win. Some of my co-workers won last time, albeit a small amount 400NT (15). Went to IKEA last week, lots of things I want to buy when I start to make $$. People love it too, place was a madhouse. Not much else, settling into a rythym of sorts, trying to pick up Chinese, though largely in vain. I seem to pick something up but then that displaces something else I've learned. Very weird phenonmenon. Has this happened to anyone else learning trying a foreign language? Again, thanks for the post, must get off here and grade some HW.

Taipei

Well, it's been an intresting two weeks. Much to write, try tokeep as short and succinct as possible. I finally moved out of my sponsored housing yesterday. It was a good move, have my own place to call home and since my two travelmates (Sam and Roisin) the canucks moved out, the large apt was somwhat lonely. My new apt is in a great location, near the Uni, bars, cybercafes, right on top of Taiwans coveted nightmarkets and only a 10 min walk to my school and a 3 min walk to the nearest MRT (subway). Before I proceed I must thank my grandmother Maier and my Uncle Bill Maier for the connection with a businessman here named Liu. Liu has been a literal Godsend. He has taken me out to eat numerous times, driven me from apt to apt in his car, and bought me a few things for my new apt. He lives an hour south of Taipei,so its no easy task.I can say there has been little to no culture shock as of yet. The food has been agreeable (and dirt cheap 5-6 bucks a day suffices) the people overly friendly, the school and students as good as can be expected. My only real qualm is the language barrier and unbelievable humidity. I can't walk more than 10 mins without breaking into a moderate sweat. Taipei is a land of such striking contrasts: the streets and city itself is clean, though shotty dilapatated buildings are ubiquitous, the people are friendly and helpful though only if you try to establish contact. Everywhere you go there are mom andpop shops that literally sell out of the side of a wall, yet most have flat screen TV's and laptops. The weather can go from sunny and cool to humid as hell and windy with driving rain in a matter of seconds. You can pass rows of shops such as Diors, Rolex, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. all the while walking along with a stray dog and giant hog. Speaking of which, its the year of the dog, therefore apparently there allowed to go anywhere and do anything. Odder things: garbage trucks come into each neighborhood playing Beethovens 5th as women in towels race outside to deposit their trash. Everyone wears shirts w/the most ridiculous English written on them-girl today wore a shirt labeled "Sow for cash"!?!?! Yes I'm the 2nd tallest person in the country, some guy I work with , Hans, from Sweden is taller.School is going well, quickly accruing more hours, kids seem tolike me. They goto school all day then come to English "cram" for 2 hours 3 nights week. Some also come Saturday mornings. I'm doing a 1 on 1 with a Japanese man who is visiting Taipei for a month, but lives in Australia. He wants to make sure his English doesn't get rusty. Slowly learning some Chinese, its tough, not like any other language, it's pictures for God's sake. If your still reading sorry for being superflous, thanks to all those who read and left posts. Feel freeto drop me an email with any questions.

And Im off...

Leaving tomorrow for Taiwan, hopefully the flight and everything else goes well...Not too sure what to expect, so I guess the proper mindset would be to expect the unexpected. I leave on Monday, but I won't arrive until 6am Taiwan time on Wednesday, should make for a long commute. Nonetheless I'm excited and am looking forward to the experience. My email is coleaquino@gmail.com, feel free to contact, generally pretty reliable via email.