Sometimes The World Just Comes Crashing Down…

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Location | Taipei

I’m started to read the news less and less now. Not because I have less time or have gotten lazy, but more because so many of the stories are so depressing and sad that if you want to keep sane, you have to pretend that these stories are fairytales, and not reality.

Bomb Damage to Iraqi Boy’s Eyes Is Worse Than Expected – New York Times

Anyway, I’ve been home sick today because I had an allergic reaction to a drink that had orange juice in it. *Sigh. It really sucks. At least I feel A LOT better now. I’ll be back at work again soon.

Today we went to the doctors, which was too full, then to a computer store to get some stuff for my cousin, then to Danshui, where we ate some McDonalds. Afterwards we just came back here. I really wish there wasn’t any rain. I really hate rain. *sigh.

Oh, I finished Harry Potter 6!!!! Anyway, let’s say that the book was REALLY scary and that little kids SHOULD NOT read it. Wooowww… I was really freaked out. A lot of the stuff surprised me this time around. I don’t know what to make of the book. Oh well, if you’ve finished it and want to discuss it with me, let me know. 😉

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

Typhoon go WOOOOSH!

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Location | Taipei

Today I don’t have work because of the typhoon. The wind is going WOOOSSSHHH and the road is flooding and its raining and today there’s supposed to be lots of thunderstorms and more rain rain rain!!!!

The Danshui River (aka the delta to the ocean) is looking quite nice. Probably not as bad as the east side of Taiwan, but still, it’s the ocean. (Quite nice = really wavy water good for surfing … in a river)

Today I have many things to do:
[ ] Finish HP6
[ ] Read Sugar Magazine
[ ] Start writing my report
[ ] Watch “Shall We Dance”
[ ] Read Newsweek Magazine
[ ] Blog some more

YAAAYYYY!!! GOOD DAYYYY!!!

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

I Want To Eat My Chocolate

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Location | Taipei

I’m at the museum right now “researching.” I’ve already decided on my paper topic. I’m going to write about museums and how a museum can prove to be aesthetically appealling. Most of all, in my genius essay, I’m going to write about how the NPM can definately improve… cuz seriously, its hella boring.

I’m really tired. I wanna go take a nap. Tonight I think at least Angel and I are gonna go to DingTaiFong and then to Bing Guan. We’re also going to shop around Gongguan. I really hope that the Hsinchu people can join us. I’m glad that Taiwan is so fun thusfar tho. I’ve gained a new di di (Joey) and a new mei mei (Angel). YAAAYYYY!!! We are one happy family. Doris can be my jie jie. 😀

Dorkiness has overcome me. Let me sort out my thoughts:

Hotel: Chaussie, Fung-Lin, Bernice, Dave, Jonny, Angel, Joanna
Possibles: Andrew and… ?

Club: Chaussie, Fung-Lin, Bernice, Dave, Jonny, Angel, Joanna, Johnny Lin, Johnny Liu, Eric?, Alex?, Justin, James?, Will?, Andrew, Chris, etc etc etc

More people, cannot think of who.

*headache

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

Joey and Angel

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Location | Taipei

HOLA! Joey is sitting next to me. Joey is cool. In reality though, we just think Joey is really cute. KAWAAIII DESU YO!!!

Angel is on my other side. Angel is super cool! I’m not talking about Angel from the show Angel though, I’m talking about… a person I know named Angel… but not the Angel I know from UCSD. She’s cool too, but not the topic of conversation.

I’m bored.

Please feed me more cereal.

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

Worst Walk

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Location | Taipei

Today I walked from Zhongxiao Dunhua to Taipei City Hall… on accident. After work, Angel, Andrew, Joey and I went to Angel’s uncle’s publishing company to hear a pitch about a new book and become participants. Then Angel and I split with Andrew and Joey and we went to Zhongxiao Dunhua station to wait for Eric. We waited for 5 trains to go by, then we went to about where Eric lived. Then Alex (Eric’s local friend) pointed us in the direction of a night market. So we walk… and walk… and walk… and walk… and… walk. We finally see Taipei 101… cuz we were totally walking for 10 or more blocks.

So I ate at Taipei 101 for the second time in 2 days… it’s almost my home away from home. I never want to walk there ever again.

Hmm… besides seeing construction out my window, I can also see… the Danshui river. *sigh.. such contrast. Go away construction.

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

Back Again

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Location | Taipei

I went to Taichung for the weekend and now I’m back again. I bought a Puma bag and Puma tube/halter top. That is, if you call a small string part of a halter top.

Anyway, overall the weekend was fun. Saturday I went with my grandma and 2 cousins to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, then we went to visit some family members. Then my cousins took me to look at Puma clothing. The next day I went to a wedding party with my cousin, then back to the Puma store to buy what I wanted. Then a long bus ride home, and here I am. Not a very eventful weekend, but a nice and calming one. I slept 22 hours overall this weekend. :)

*sigh, It’s time for work, BOOOO I don’t wanna go.

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

w00t

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Location | Taipei

I forgot, I put up many pictures: check it out here. I need to get them on the website, but lately I’ve been too tired and too lazy to do this. Maybe if I go to Taichung this weekend, I’ll make an attempt at it. At least when I go to Taichung I don’t have to bring back my laundry!! Yay for laundry here!! I really need new contacts… *cry… I left them in Taichung. Ok, I’ll go back this weekend to get it.

I went to Taipei 101 again — with Angel and Andrew. O. M. G. I just realized… I have 2 friends who are related named Angel and Andrew… how freaky…

Anyway, I’m working on a new project at the National Palace Museum, I’m doing all the promotion materials for a new museum in Chiayi, Taiwan that will exhibit Buddhist art. It’s sooo hard to make it neutral so both Buddhists AND non-Buddhists will want to visit the museum… waaah… this job is getting harder and harder.

Ok, it’s SOOOO time to sleep. Good night.

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

That Michigan Accent

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Location | Taipei

So while meeting all these people from all around the world (ok, mostly Cali and Canada), we got into talking about the Michigan accent. Here are some words that you might hear coming out of my mouth:

Ciddy – aka City – T’s are too hard to pronounce :)

Cloze – aka clothes – cloze just sounds nicer

FI-yerr – aka fire – don’t ask why its 2 syllables

Foilage – aka foliage – obviously people in Michigan can’t read

Graage – aka garage – again, too lazy for 2 syllables

Grarrapids – aka Grand Rapids – Grand Rapids is too long and too hard to say

Groshries – aka groceries – too many syllables

Mier – aka mirror – again, too many syllables

Minnuhsoda – aka Minnesota – I’m sorry Jonny, your states name is too long

Others:

Euchre – a card game (pronounced you-ker)

Michigan Left – A right turn onto a boulevard followed by an immediate u-turn at the next available crossover. This keeps traffic from backing up at intersections with boulevards…

Ok, I’m done.

Went to the World Trade Center for a Toy/Maternity Convention with Dave and his friend Steve. Steve got a huge Gundam figure. Then we went to 101 and Dave and Steve ate some food. Then we went to Shilin and went in search of shoes for Eu-chan. We didn’t find any, but that’s ok…

Anyway, I got a purse (knock off leSportSac) and also 2 pins (playboy bunny and penguins).

I’m out now. Bye.

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

I’m Here!

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Location | Taipei

It’s been a year since I’ve been back to Taipei, so I’m finally back and I’m so happy!! Other than that, let’s talk about one of the best weeks I’ve had in a long time.

So, on Sunday last week I went to Kaohsiung to start orientation for the Taiwan Tech Trek (TTT). Seriously, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in a long time. Let’s go day by day…

Sunday, June 26, 2005
So I arrive by Train in Kaohsiung to find tons of people waiting in front of the 7-11 for the TTT to take us to the Ambassador Hotel. So I ended up talking to a girl named Carrie (and later on the bus also to John and Eric… to be mentioned more later). We get to the hotel which is REALLY NICE. I end up in room 903 and my roommate’s name is Diana. Anyway, I’m in group 9, bus C. Oh, I found Jonny there and we actually were down waiting for the bus, and then we disappeared, missed the first bus, had to wait for the second one and finally got to National Sun Yat Sen University (NSYSU) where I met the rest of my group (or most of the rest of my group). There’s Stella, our group leader who is a student at NSYSU. Then Karen, Angel, Chi, Ray, Martin, Tiffany, Esther, and James. So anyway, we get an orientation about NSYSU and about the program and some information about health in Taiwan. We all get shuffled off to eat dinner and do some ice breakers. The dinner was outside (so hot!) but we got to see the sun set and also enjoy a nice, I guess, Hawaiian style dinner. Anyway, we listened to some speeches, played 2 truths and a lie and then went back to the hotel, where I just slept (waah too tired).

Monday, June 27, 2005
First we had a lecture on Taiwan and kind of some of its history. (It was really boring cuz the lecturer was so dull). Then we had a Celebrity Panel with Dr. Perry Shieh and Philip Wu. Those were both interesting. Perry and Philip ended up chilling with us later. Anyway, we went to lunch, and then to Advanced Semiconductor Engineering to listen to another lecture. Finally we went to Yuan-Heng Temple, which was really nice. Very traditional Buddhist temple – no incense!! (Well I guess its like my grandparent’s temple). Afterwards, we had dinner and then we listened to 2 more celebrity panels. I had broken my cell phone (oops, wrong access code and I broke the sim card, but luckily it was fixed). So I went to this shopping district with a bunch of the girls, James, Perry and Philip and our tour guides. That was a lot of fun.

Buddhist Temple

Buddhist Temple

Tuesday, June 28, 2005
First, a Taiwanese lesson, Lunch, Celebrity Panel, and a Harbor Tour, then Dinner. I was super dehydrated on the ship, and almost felt like throwing up, luckily I got water when we got the shore. Too bad the shore smelled like the island of poop (rotten fish). This was just a bad day cuz I felt horrible. Very under the weather. When we got back to the hotel I went to Family Mart with Diana (my roommate) and bought a ton of stuff. Then I went back to the room, did my laundry, and then went to sleep.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005
We had a mandarin lesson and then a speech on foreign policy. I agreed with the speech, but it does seem very one-sided (cuz they’re dpp promoted speeches), so a lot of people had issues with the speeches. We went to lunch, then off to Sandimen Aboriginal Cultural Park. There we got to see a cute show of the aboriginals and their dances. We also got to participate. Then we went and saw a musical instrument presentation of the Thao tribe. We got Thao tattoos on our faces too (pictures to be seen soon). Afterwards we went off to the Caesar Park Hotel in Kenting. We had to do interviews at dinner though, which took FOREVER. Luckily we still went out to their night market and looked at all the little trinkets. Then I just sleeeppttt.

Aboriginal Park

Aboriginal Park

Thursday, June 30, 2005
So we ended up going on a walking tour (yes in the heat) at Kenting. We walked around the forest. I even climbed into a 500 year old tree. Then we saw a tree that looked like there were planks growing out of it.

National Rainforest

National Rainforest

Anyway, after that we didn’t have time to see anymore of the park, so we went to lunch, then to the Aquarium. There I played in the water (so much fun!!!) and then we took lots of picture and my butt ended up soaked cuz… SOME PEOPLE (*glare*) like to splash other people. Anyway, then we went and saw the marine animals. Its cool cuz the tanks are all tunnels so you can see all the fish all around you. Soo niceee! We got to see a Beluga poop (ok, that wasn’t exciting). I got a cute keychain at the gift shop. Then we walked around the Taiwan fish part, didn’t go see the beluga show (too crowded). I got to touch a sea urchin… I screamed tho. It recoiled… when I touched it and the fact that it looks like one of those dog chew toys, yet it moves, freaks the crap out of me. Oh, I got to see penguins too!!! I <3 penguies, they’re so cute. I remember, that was my favorite display at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and its always been one of my favorite things. After the Aquarium, we came back to Kaohsiung, had dinner, and then we were in the Splendor Hotel. Which is ONE OF THE NICEST HOTELS I’ve ever stayed in (almost as nice as the one in Luxembourg… mmm $400/night goodness, thank god for company expense accounts). Anyway, the bathroom had a separate shower and tub. Oh, so I went out to the night market with a bunch of people. I won a cute little duck in the claw games (tho I had to play plenty of other games before I got to the duck). I also got my secret gift for my friend, and I had fun bargaining with the night market people. I’m more excited to bargain in Taipei, more things to bargain for!!! Anyway, so after the night market, we got back and I took a bath (omg, so nice… I haven’t had a bath in sooo long). Then I conked out and went to sleep.

Making Shamu Fly

Making Shamu Fly

Friday, July 1, 2005
The next day we went out to Tainan to see the Tainan Science Park. It wasn’t too interesting, but its nice to hear Taiwan is doing so well. I’m not too interested in science stuff (unless its electronics itself). Then we had a tour on our bus of the science park, then off to lunch, then to historical sites around Tainan. It is WAAAYYYY too hot in Tainan. Our tour guide in Tainan had the worst teeth I’ve ever seen (even worse than the black teeth of the waitress in Toronto!). Sometimes I’m glad that I own my lovely spinbrush pro. It makes me feel so … clean and healthy. Anyway, so after that we went off to another site, which was even more hot. Bad idea to wear capris. Everything was sticking to me. Then we came back to the hotel, where I showered and prepared for the goodbye party (by dressing up). The goodbye party was cute, they had traditional instrumental performers. Then we had dinner and a talent show. Our group didn’t do anything for the talent show . We participated in the shrimp eating contest though… tho we didn’t win, it was crazy. Every single meal this past week had shrimp in it!!! So… woohoo for shrimp eating contest. Well, some of our group snuck out early to go get Stella’s gift. We ended up buying a stuff elephant, and later bought a scrapbook and ribbon. James gave us one of his undershirts so we could put a shirt on the elephant that said “9” and “Stella” on it. So she’d always remember our group. Hehehe… I have pics of James wearing the cut off shirt. Well, everyone went to Karaoke (uhh,.. like a whopping 30 people… ) I miss my big and his Jay Chou love and always knowing all the songs. Hehehe… Anyway, back to the point. James and I watched some Wimbledon, then he left and I watched some more, then some MTV (ahhh, MTV is so great here), and then

[Eu-chan is having a heart attack right now, we’ll be back after these messages]

ok, anyway, I just ended up going to sleep.

Saturday, July 2, 2005
So we end up going to Mei-non Hakka Villages near Tainan (or something like that) and we didn’t do much there. They did custom make mugs with our names on them… yay! After that, we went to lunch and then I presented Stella with our elephant gift. It was our last meal together as a group. (Aahhh!! I miss you guys already). Anyway, we all took some pictures and then went our separate ways. Angel and I sat together up to Taipei. Long ride. Finally, I’m in Taipei at my aunt’s house. I’ll talk more about it later in another entry. This is my “short” version of the events. There’s lots of funny stories and nice things to say about TTT and how much I really loved the trip and really appreciated everything that’s happened so far.

TTT Group 9

TTT Group 9

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

Still in Taipei

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Location | Taipei

I’m still here, but tomorrow is my last day. Today I went to Hsimen with Sami, Steve, and her cousin. I’ve spent so much money… -_-;;;;;;; I got another Takeshi poster and also a Takeshi sticker… Then I went up to Danshui with Steve and I got gifts for my friends. Stevie and I had some mussels and vegetables. Total cost: less than $10 american. Oh yeah, at Hsimen we also got sticker pictures… but the big problem was… the machine was in Japanese so we had NO IDEA what was going on… the poor pictures…

Anyway, I can’t believe I’m leaving tomorrow. I’m really sad. I really love Taipei now… but I must… go… oh the sadness… At least in November I’ll probably see Sami, Timmy, George and Stevie… aww the Californians.

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]