There's another typhoon on our doorstep here in Taipei, and this one really is going to hit Taipei almost head on. Called Jangmi, this storm was considered a super-typhoon earlier in the day, but it's now been downgraded to a Category 4 storm, around a Level 15-16, I think, according to the system used here in Taiwan. In any event, the news stations are all advising us to prepare supplies for the next few days, and though no one's really sure when the storm will hit or where, exactly, it looks like late tomorrow/early Monday is when the full brunt of the typhoon is expected to arrive. If that's the case, I think there's a very good chance we won't have class on Monday, which is kind of a gift for me since I'm supposed to have a speaking exam on Monday, and I don't feel very prepared for it yet. Of course, I'll be stuck inside all of tomorrow, so I'll have plenty of time to practice then, but it's one of those things I'll gladly put off a day, if given the opportunity.
Lauren and I were talking just recently about how typhoons, while still massively destructive and even deadly, don't seem to generate as much of a fuss as hurricanes do in the United States. It's almost like people here are more accepting of what nature is going to throw at them, and the country as a whole seems to take stuff like this a bit more in stride. I know it seems extremely stereotypical, but I have to wonder if it's something to do with the psyche of people here in Asia. History has taken this entire region on a massive rollercoaster ride over the centuries, and it's as if endurance is embedded into the innate consciousness of society. Sometimes I think people here are just tougher, more apt to just get on with their lives in the face of hardship, rather than protest, or complain, or try to change it.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just operating on Western stereotypes of the hard-working, silently-suffering good peasant people of Asia. Obviously I'm making a huge generalization. But I remember my Chinese politics professor back at Oxy, Professor Chi, explaining that, when the United States threatens twenty-year sanctions on the mainland for human rights abuses, the Chinese barely blink an eye, because to them, twenty years is a proverbial drop in the bucket, nothing compared to enduring centuries of dynasties rising and falling. Endurance, he explained, has an entirely different meaning to them than it does to those of us used to a new president every four years.
--
A quick endnote: I watched Liverpool play Everton tonight in the Merseyside derby, and I was really happy with what I saw. A Torres double even though he wasn't really in the game much, some amazing distribution from Steven Gerrard, and a really good partnership between him and Xabi Alonso. Plus some really good defense, Arbeloa and Skrtel both very solid. Arbeloa even showed a bit of temper for getting into it with one of the Everton players. If Liverpool could play like this week in and week out, they would have a real shot at the title. The problem is, they have yet to show that they can kill off games that they should win easily, like last weekend against Stoke. If they only win big games, like Everton and Man U, it won't matter in the end, except maybe for bragging rights.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Daily routine
08:00 Get up, eat breakfast of fruit and 面包 (bread)
09:30 Catch the 311 bus on the main drag by our apartment
10:00 Arrive at the language center on campus, study, review yesterday's lesson/preview today's lesson
12:00 Class begins
15:00 Class ends, go to late lunch/early dinner with classmates
16:30 Catch the 311 bus back home
17:15 Arrive back at the apartment, study
20:00 Shower, go to bed
Monday through Friday, that's pretty much what I do. It's a bit surprising how much studying I'm doing, to be honest. I think my case is a bit unusual, though, in that our teacher is really strict with characters and such, so you can't cut even the smallest corner. It's good, it means my Chinese is going to eventually get better, but I think there's definitely a period where you kind of lose a bit of confidence and have to adjust to being constantly corrected.
Grading is done a bit differently here. 70 is considered passing. That's pretty high, especially compared to the States. But 90 is considered stellar, which is low compared to the States. Anything in the 80s is considered very good. Talk about an adjustment. I nearly had a heart attack when my first exam came back with an 87, but then my Japanese classmate told me that 87 was really good and that anything over 85 was considered a really solid score. So I felt a bit better after that. I still felt pretty bad when I scored an 82 on the second exam, and I really busted my butt for the exam that we took today. I'm kind of hoping for something in the extreme high 80s, or even a 90, if for no other reason than to boost my self-confidence a bit.
Have to run over to the post office tomorrow. Unfortunately, because the post office near the apartment is small, they don't receive packages, so I have to go all the way over to the main post office near the MRT station to pick up the package. Last time, the delivery guy just left the package on top of the mailbox, but my neighbor told me that technically, they're not supposed to do that, and maybe the delivery guy just did it because I was a foreigner and he thought it wouldn't matter. In any event, it's not that big of a deal, I can get over there for free on the city shuttle, and just walk back. It's about a twenty minute walk, and if I go in the morning, it shouldn't be too hot.
I'm also going over to campus tomorrow afternoon to participate in a linguistics experiment that an NTU student is doing. She needs native English speakers, and I guess she needs more females. Lauren saw an advertisement in the language center for it and told me about it, and the nice thing is, in addition to helping this student out, I also get a NT500 compensation, so that's kind of nice. Bit of spending money.
Our scholarship is supposed to be arriving on the 30th, although it doesn't sound at all for sure. I've been in to the office several times asking about it, and I think the woman there is getting kind of sick of me, but the fact of the matter is, the 30th is really, really late to be receiving the money for September. I really, really hope that the money for October comes much earlier. Living here can be cheap, but it's not quite as cheap as China, and it's quite easy to spend a lot of money here. In China, it was almost impossible to spend too much money, things were so cheap there. Here, it's more of an effort.
Saw a cockroach in the kitchen a few nights ago. Not a particularly fun experience, the thing scared the living daylights out of me because he kind of popped up out of nowhere. Not huge, but not small either. I let him live because he was just in the kitchen and not in my bedroom. I haven't seen any bugs in my bedroom, but if I do, it's game over for them. Kitchen, living room, that's all fair, but my bedroom is off limits.
I got hit with this unbelievable wave of nostalgia a few dyas ago as well. Sitting in the study lounge at the language center, reviewing for my exam, listening to Jimmy Eat World, I had this sudden flashback to sitting in the library at Oxy, studying on a Saturday morning. It was amazing how vivid the memory was too, I could almost smell the coffee I had bought at the Marketplace, and I could almost see the books open in front of me. I guess it's just kind of unbelievable to me how fast life is moving, how that was less than six months ago, that memory, and yet it feels like a world apart. That was my reality for four years, that was my world, and now, Taipei is my world, my reality. I guess I don't know how to explain it, it's just kind of stunning and overwhelming to think about.
09:30 Catch the 311 bus on the main drag by our apartment
10:00 Arrive at the language center on campus, study, review yesterday's lesson/preview today's lesson
12:00 Class begins
15:00 Class ends, go to late lunch/early dinner with classmates
16:30 Catch the 311 bus back home
17:15 Arrive back at the apartment, study
20:00 Shower, go to bed
Monday through Friday, that's pretty much what I do. It's a bit surprising how much studying I'm doing, to be honest. I think my case is a bit unusual, though, in that our teacher is really strict with characters and such, so you can't cut even the smallest corner. It's good, it means my Chinese is going to eventually get better, but I think there's definitely a period where you kind of lose a bit of confidence and have to adjust to being constantly corrected.
Grading is done a bit differently here. 70 is considered passing. That's pretty high, especially compared to the States. But 90 is considered stellar, which is low compared to the States. Anything in the 80s is considered very good. Talk about an adjustment. I nearly had a heart attack when my first exam came back with an 87, but then my Japanese classmate told me that 87 was really good and that anything over 85 was considered a really solid score. So I felt a bit better after that. I still felt pretty bad when I scored an 82 on the second exam, and I really busted my butt for the exam that we took today. I'm kind of hoping for something in the extreme high 80s, or even a 90, if for no other reason than to boost my self-confidence a bit.
Have to run over to the post office tomorrow. Unfortunately, because the post office near the apartment is small, they don't receive packages, so I have to go all the way over to the main post office near the MRT station to pick up the package. Last time, the delivery guy just left the package on top of the mailbox, but my neighbor told me that technically, they're not supposed to do that, and maybe the delivery guy just did it because I was a foreigner and he thought it wouldn't matter. In any event, it's not that big of a deal, I can get over there for free on the city shuttle, and just walk back. It's about a twenty minute walk, and if I go in the morning, it shouldn't be too hot.
I'm also going over to campus tomorrow afternoon to participate in a linguistics experiment that an NTU student is doing. She needs native English speakers, and I guess she needs more females. Lauren saw an advertisement in the language center for it and told me about it, and the nice thing is, in addition to helping this student out, I also get a NT500 compensation, so that's kind of nice. Bit of spending money.
Our scholarship is supposed to be arriving on the 30th, although it doesn't sound at all for sure. I've been in to the office several times asking about it, and I think the woman there is getting kind of sick of me, but the fact of the matter is, the 30th is really, really late to be receiving the money for September. I really, really hope that the money for October comes much earlier. Living here can be cheap, but it's not quite as cheap as China, and it's quite easy to spend a lot of money here. In China, it was almost impossible to spend too much money, things were so cheap there. Here, it's more of an effort.
Saw a cockroach in the kitchen a few nights ago. Not a particularly fun experience, the thing scared the living daylights out of me because he kind of popped up out of nowhere. Not huge, but not small either. I let him live because he was just in the kitchen and not in my bedroom. I haven't seen any bugs in my bedroom, but if I do, it's game over for them. Kitchen, living room, that's all fair, but my bedroom is off limits.
I got hit with this unbelievable wave of nostalgia a few dyas ago as well. Sitting in the study lounge at the language center, reviewing for my exam, listening to Jimmy Eat World, I had this sudden flashback to sitting in the library at Oxy, studying on a Saturday morning. It was amazing how vivid the memory was too, I could almost smell the coffee I had bought at the Marketplace, and I could almost see the books open in front of me. I guess it's just kind of unbelievable to me how fast life is moving, how that was less than six months ago, that memory, and yet it feels like a world apart. That was my reality for four years, that was my world, and now, Taipei is my world, my reality. I guess I don't know how to explain it, it's just kind of stunning and overwhelming to think about.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Liverpool
Well, for once I'm going to divert from my carefully thought out posts on life here in Taiwan and do some writing about Liverpool, because I've just seen two matches in less than a week that have me cautiously optimistic about the Reds' chances of bringing home some silverware this season, and football, after all, is still one of my first loves. :)
So. Saturday, Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-1, the first time they've done so in seven years, and they did it at Anfield. What's even more impressive is that they did it without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, and even more impressive than that, they went a goal down within the first three minutes, and instead of collapsing like they have so often in the past, they went out and swung right back at United.
Yesterday (or today, because of the time difference), Liverpool beat Marseille 2-1 away at Marseille in the first leg of the Champions League knockout round. The first half was exactly the kind of football that helped them beat United--constant pressure on the ball, crisp pass-and-move, and very strong defense. They also went down a goal there as well, but fought back, and continued to play attacking football up until the end of the first half. Now, the second half was pretty much all Marseille, and Liverpool were lucky not to concede an equalizer, but CL football is so different from league football, and Rafa seems to have more or less had the key to it for a long time, so maybe it was to be expected that the game tightened up after the halftime break.
Player by player:
Albert Riera: the new Spanish signing, this guy has really impressed me. I was skeptical when he came in, didn't know if this was going to be a fluke by Rafa. But he came out and made the United defense scramble on Saturday. He has quick feet, the confidence to take the ball at defenders, and the ability to actually come away with the ball on the other side. He even toyed around with some backheels and fancy passes, and they all came off nicely, as if he'd been working with his teammates for years. Against Marseille he came in as a sub, but immediately started showing the same influence as against United. If he had had more time, or if Rafa had been pushing a more attacking style, I think he could have helped set up a goal.
Ryan Babel: this is the first time I've really seen why people call him the second Henry. He's looking really confident on the ball, trying some moves and also showing his pace when he gets some space. He had a really cheeky nutmeg against Wes Brown on Saturday, and some really nice work in tight spaces last night. The main thing with him I think is experience, and maybe his finishing. He had an amazing chance last night, inside the six yard box, and instead of trying to slot it into the corner, he blasted it straight at the keeper. If he can figure that part of his game out, he'll be right up there with Torres.
Xabi Alonso: though he didn't play last night, he was brilliant on Saturday. United gave him a bit of space, and he took it with a vengeance, pinging balls all over the attacking third. As someone on RAWK said, "Why would United give him that kind of space?" and it's true, Alonso works much better with a bit of space, which is often why he drops back farther into the defensive third, but in the preseason, he was also getting himself involved in the attack and getting shots (and goals). Interestingly, Gerrard singled him out after the United match and praised him for stepping up to the place after the Barry transfer saga, and a lot of people think that may indicate that the whole mess was a lot nastier than it appeared on the surface.
Steven Gerrard: not much time on Saturday as he was coming off an injury. First half last night was absolutely brilliant, the Steven Gerrard I hope to see the rest of this season. He was running hard for every ball, pressuring like he actually wanted to win possession, and when he got his chance, he converted, first a one-time shot, and then a penalty that he had to re-take because someone moved early into the box. Second half he reverted back to his old self, sort of meandering around the center of the pitch but not running hard like he did the first half. Part of that was probably fitness, and part of it was probably Rafa's strategy, as the whole team seemed to collectively take their foot off the gas in the second half. Overall, though, he's showing himself as a captain. After he scored yesterday, he immediately started talking to Lucas, looked like something about marking, and on Saturday, he had a word with Riera as he was coming off.
Martin Skrtel: is going to be immense. He was very, very solid last night and on Saturday, especially in the air. You can still see occasionally he's a little inexperienced, maybe not quite sure, but most of the time he looks very confident, and he's got good vision, can knock the ball up with a lot of accuracy. I think it'd be a great pairing, him and Daniel Agger in the center of the backline.
Alvaro Arbeloa: some people aren't happy that Liverpool sold Steven Finnan and kept Arbeloa, but to be honest, Arbeloa is showing some tremendous potential. He had a lot of work to do last night, with the Marseille front line constantly running at him, and though he got burned a couple times (as did pretty much every Liverpool player at some point last night, Marseille were far and away the quicker team), he also showed he has the strength and stamina to keep up with quick, fast, strong players. I've also been really impressed with how he's been getting forward and getting involved in the attack. His crossing needs a bit of work, perhaps, but if he can get that part down, he'll be as good, or better, than Finnan was.
Javier Mascherano: is showing some great stuff as well. Constantly hounded the ball Saturday and last night, not afraid to go in for tackles. My only gripe with him is, and pretty much always has been, his passing ability. He tends to give the ball away a lot on forward passes. He's definitely more of a defensive player than an attacking one. Though it was his run against Ryan Giggs on Saturday that set up the Ryan Babel winner, I still prefer to see him sitting in front of the backline and picking up the first runner as they come through.
Lucas Leiva: started against Marseille last night. Showed his potential with his passing and movement, but also showed his weaknesses/inexperience with some poor challenges and getting muscled off the ball. I think he will be very good though.
Jamie Carragher: always a legend in my book, but he was the weak link when Marseille scored last night. He tried to catch the forward in the offsides trap and was just a bit too slow. He's still a defensive force to be reckoned with, but I think Rafa should start thinking about giving Agger and Skrtel more time to get used to playing together.
Dirk Kuyt: workhorse, just like always. Only this time, the rest of the team followed suit and pressured the ball at every turn, which made Dirk's job easier and really showed why his work rate is so important. Though he doesn't have a high goal scoring rate, I think if Liverpool keep playing the way they are, Dirk may get some more chances.
Fernando Torres: the first time since he joined Liverpool that I've really seen his first touch fail him. I've seen him have some heavy first touches before, but last night he had a few first touches that were really dismal. Of course he also had some good opportunities going forward, and some of it is probably down to fitness. But the pressure also must be immense, for him to try and recreate, or even outdo, what he did last season. I hope he finds the net against Marseille at home.
Robbie Keane: the one really worrisome point right now. He hasn't found the net yet, and after all the hype surrounding his transfer, I really hoped he could help Torres up front. Neither of them are having a steller opening to the season, so it may just be a matter of time, but there's this little niggling doubt in the back of my mind that worries what's going to happen if Keane turns out to be a total fluke.
Conclusion: If Liverpool continue to play like they did on Saturday and the first half of last night, with constant pressure on the ball and a willingness to go forward with patience and tenacity, I think they will be in the thick of things at the end of the season. I also think they'll have a very good chance at another European final. Ironically I think the real test will be when they play smaller teams, like West Brom and Hull, because that's where they faltered last season--fixtures they should have run away with.
So. Saturday, Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-1, the first time they've done so in seven years, and they did it at Anfield. What's even more impressive is that they did it without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, and even more impressive than that, they went a goal down within the first three minutes, and instead of collapsing like they have so often in the past, they went out and swung right back at United.
Yesterday (or today, because of the time difference), Liverpool beat Marseille 2-1 away at Marseille in the first leg of the Champions League knockout round. The first half was exactly the kind of football that helped them beat United--constant pressure on the ball, crisp pass-and-move, and very strong defense. They also went down a goal there as well, but fought back, and continued to play attacking football up until the end of the first half. Now, the second half was pretty much all Marseille, and Liverpool were lucky not to concede an equalizer, but CL football is so different from league football, and Rafa seems to have more or less had the key to it for a long time, so maybe it was to be expected that the game tightened up after the halftime break.
Player by player:
Albert Riera: the new Spanish signing, this guy has really impressed me. I was skeptical when he came in, didn't know if this was going to be a fluke by Rafa. But he came out and made the United defense scramble on Saturday. He has quick feet, the confidence to take the ball at defenders, and the ability to actually come away with the ball on the other side. He even toyed around with some backheels and fancy passes, and they all came off nicely, as if he'd been working with his teammates for years. Against Marseille he came in as a sub, but immediately started showing the same influence as against United. If he had had more time, or if Rafa had been pushing a more attacking style, I think he could have helped set up a goal.
Ryan Babel: this is the first time I've really seen why people call him the second Henry. He's looking really confident on the ball, trying some moves and also showing his pace when he gets some space. He had a really cheeky nutmeg against Wes Brown on Saturday, and some really nice work in tight spaces last night. The main thing with him I think is experience, and maybe his finishing. He had an amazing chance last night, inside the six yard box, and instead of trying to slot it into the corner, he blasted it straight at the keeper. If he can figure that part of his game out, he'll be right up there with Torres.
Xabi Alonso: though he didn't play last night, he was brilliant on Saturday. United gave him a bit of space, and he took it with a vengeance, pinging balls all over the attacking third. As someone on RAWK said, "Why would United give him that kind of space?" and it's true, Alonso works much better with a bit of space, which is often why he drops back farther into the defensive third, but in the preseason, he was also getting himself involved in the attack and getting shots (and goals). Interestingly, Gerrard singled him out after the United match and praised him for stepping up to the place after the Barry transfer saga, and a lot of people think that may indicate that the whole mess was a lot nastier than it appeared on the surface.
Steven Gerrard: not much time on Saturday as he was coming off an injury. First half last night was absolutely brilliant, the Steven Gerrard I hope to see the rest of this season. He was running hard for every ball, pressuring like he actually wanted to win possession, and when he got his chance, he converted, first a one-time shot, and then a penalty that he had to re-take because someone moved early into the box. Second half he reverted back to his old self, sort of meandering around the center of the pitch but not running hard like he did the first half. Part of that was probably fitness, and part of it was probably Rafa's strategy, as the whole team seemed to collectively take their foot off the gas in the second half. Overall, though, he's showing himself as a captain. After he scored yesterday, he immediately started talking to Lucas, looked like something about marking, and on Saturday, he had a word with Riera as he was coming off.
Martin Skrtel: is going to be immense. He was very, very solid last night and on Saturday, especially in the air. You can still see occasionally he's a little inexperienced, maybe not quite sure, but most of the time he looks very confident, and he's got good vision, can knock the ball up with a lot of accuracy. I think it'd be a great pairing, him and Daniel Agger in the center of the backline.
Alvaro Arbeloa: some people aren't happy that Liverpool sold Steven Finnan and kept Arbeloa, but to be honest, Arbeloa is showing some tremendous potential. He had a lot of work to do last night, with the Marseille front line constantly running at him, and though he got burned a couple times (as did pretty much every Liverpool player at some point last night, Marseille were far and away the quicker team), he also showed he has the strength and stamina to keep up with quick, fast, strong players. I've also been really impressed with how he's been getting forward and getting involved in the attack. His crossing needs a bit of work, perhaps, but if he can get that part down, he'll be as good, or better, than Finnan was.
Javier Mascherano: is showing some great stuff as well. Constantly hounded the ball Saturday and last night, not afraid to go in for tackles. My only gripe with him is, and pretty much always has been, his passing ability. He tends to give the ball away a lot on forward passes. He's definitely more of a defensive player than an attacking one. Though it was his run against Ryan Giggs on Saturday that set up the Ryan Babel winner, I still prefer to see him sitting in front of the backline and picking up the first runner as they come through.
Lucas Leiva: started against Marseille last night. Showed his potential with his passing and movement, but also showed his weaknesses/inexperience with some poor challenges and getting muscled off the ball. I think he will be very good though.
Jamie Carragher: always a legend in my book, but he was the weak link when Marseille scored last night. He tried to catch the forward in the offsides trap and was just a bit too slow. He's still a defensive force to be reckoned with, but I think Rafa should start thinking about giving Agger and Skrtel more time to get used to playing together.
Dirk Kuyt: workhorse, just like always. Only this time, the rest of the team followed suit and pressured the ball at every turn, which made Dirk's job easier and really showed why his work rate is so important. Though he doesn't have a high goal scoring rate, I think if Liverpool keep playing the way they are, Dirk may get some more chances.
Fernando Torres: the first time since he joined Liverpool that I've really seen his first touch fail him. I've seen him have some heavy first touches before, but last night he had a few first touches that were really dismal. Of course he also had some good opportunities going forward, and some of it is probably down to fitness. But the pressure also must be immense, for him to try and recreate, or even outdo, what he did last season. I hope he finds the net against Marseille at home.
Robbie Keane: the one really worrisome point right now. He hasn't found the net yet, and after all the hype surrounding his transfer, I really hoped he could help Torres up front. Neither of them are having a steller opening to the season, so it may just be a matter of time, but there's this little niggling doubt in the back of my mind that worries what's going to happen if Keane turns out to be a total fluke.
Conclusion: If Liverpool continue to play like they did on Saturday and the first half of last night, with constant pressure on the ball and a willingness to go forward with patience and tenacity, I think they will be in the thick of things at the end of the season. I also think they'll have a very good chance at another European final. Ironically I think the real test will be when they play smaller teams, like West Brom and Hull, because that's where they faltered last season--fixtures they should have run away with.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Typhoon Sinlaku
The typhoon has officially arrived. As I write this, the rain is pounding down on the roof of the balcony and it's so loud I can barely hear my music from my computer. The wind hasn't been too bad yet, but I'll hold off on saying we've escaped the worst of it until tomorrow afternoon.
Lauren arrived here just ahead of the major rain. It was pouring when she arrived, but it let up for awhile around 5 and we ducked out to the convenience store for some food and drinks. I think hers must have been one of the last flights to arrive in Taipei, because when I was watching the news just before she arrived, they were saying (I think) that all international flights had been canceled.
So far, no major mishaps, no power outages or anything. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
Liverpool play Manchester United at Anfield in just over half an hour. Torres and Gerrard are supposedly fit. I don't know what to expect. As much as I'd love to see the Redmen come out and demolish United, I just don't think it's going to happen. I would be very happy a) to see Liverpool play some quality football and b) for Liverpool to escape with a tie.
Lauren arrived here just ahead of the major rain. It was pouring when she arrived, but it let up for awhile around 5 and we ducked out to the convenience store for some food and drinks. I think hers must have been one of the last flights to arrive in Taipei, because when I was watching the news just before she arrived, they were saying (I think) that all international flights had been canceled.
So far, no major mishaps, no power outages or anything. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
Liverpool play Manchester United at Anfield in just over half an hour. Torres and Gerrard are supposedly fit. I don't know what to expect. As much as I'd love to see the Redmen come out and demolish United, I just don't think it's going to happen. I would be very happy a) to see Liverpool play some quality football and b) for Liverpool to escape with a tie.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Tai feng lai le!
Translation: "A typhoon's coming!"
The first I heard about this typhoon was about four days ago, when the landlord's sister came over to check on a bill that came to the apartment. She said something about a typhoon coming and I was like, "Wait wait, say again please?" Later, I looked on this handy-dandy website that tells you all the active storm systems in the world, and lo and behold, there it was, Tropical Storm Sinlaku.
Over the past few days, I then watched said storm menace its way slowly but surely towards our little island, growing all the time until reaching its current size, a Category 4 typhoon. At the moment, the storm could completely miss us and veer off to go bang on Japan's doorstep instead, but if it keeps on its present course, it's projected to give Taipei a good soaking on Saturday. It doesn't look like we're going to get the full brunt of the storm, just part of it, but with this big of a storm, I would assume there'll be a lot of rain and a lot of wind. Tomorrow I'm going to go by the grocery store and buy some water and food, just on the off chance that things get really sticky. I don't think they will, but just in case.
And Lauren is supposed to fly in Saturday. Unless things really change drastically, I think she may have to wait a couple of days. We'll see though. And for all my friends in southern Japan, you guys are going to catch the tail end of this storm, but it's going to be a smaller storm by then, so hopefully nothing to worry about.
The first I heard about this typhoon was about four days ago, when the landlord's sister came over to check on a bill that came to the apartment. She said something about a typhoon coming and I was like, "Wait wait, say again please?" Later, I looked on this handy-dandy website that tells you all the active storm systems in the world, and lo and behold, there it was, Tropical Storm Sinlaku.
Over the past few days, I then watched said storm menace its way slowly but surely towards our little island, growing all the time until reaching its current size, a Category 4 typhoon. At the moment, the storm could completely miss us and veer off to go bang on Japan's doorstep instead, but if it keeps on its present course, it's projected to give Taipei a good soaking on Saturday. It doesn't look like we're going to get the full brunt of the storm, just part of it, but with this big of a storm, I would assume there'll be a lot of rain and a lot of wind. Tomorrow I'm going to go by the grocery store and buy some water and food, just on the off chance that things get really sticky. I don't think they will, but just in case.
And Lauren is supposed to fly in Saturday. Unless things really change drastically, I think she may have to wait a couple of days. We'll see though. And for all my friends in southern Japan, you guys are going to catch the tail end of this storm, but it's going to be a smaller storm by then, so hopefully nothing to worry about.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Chilling out on a Saturday night
Well, got myself a new cell phone over in this electronics district last night, only had to spend NT3000, which is super cheap. Basically had a lazy day today, did quite a bit of homework, and did some research on graduate school programs--at the moment, I'm looking at something in the realm of Asian Studies/Anthropology/History. The pure Asian Studies programs tend to be focused on pre-modern content, which isn't what I'm really interested in. History and Anthropology offer more modern focuses, and often work in collaboration with the Asian Studies departments, so I think one of those is my best bet. However, now I have to start figuring out exactly what I want to study, and let me tell you, that is much easier said than done.
Hot day today, and no rain, though it's cooling off rather nicely as the sun goes down. I cleaned the apartment today--vacuumed, washed, scrubbed, all that. Also boiled some more water for drinking. The ants got into my last pot, and that was unhappy, because I started to fish the bodies out, only to find that they were actually still alive. I remember reading about this survival mechanism some insects have, where if they fall into water, they gather together in a ball so that they rotate around and get a chance to breathe. In any event, I decided the water was a total loss and boiled a new pot today, then set it on the opposite end of the kitchen to cool. I asked Jessie about the ants, and she said it's just the season for them and she has them all over too. They're really small and generally harmless, just kind of annoying.
Not much else to report. I bought some envelopes today so I can send letters (and most importantly, my absentee ballot request!), but I still need to buy stamps, and no one seems to know exactly where to get those. I think there's a place on campus that sells them, so when I go to class on Monday, I'll check it out. Jessie thought 7-11 sells them too, but the 7-11s around here are really small and don't seem to have them.
So that's how my weekend is going. Very low key.
Hot day today, and no rain, though it's cooling off rather nicely as the sun goes down. I cleaned the apartment today--vacuumed, washed, scrubbed, all that. Also boiled some more water for drinking. The ants got into my last pot, and that was unhappy, because I started to fish the bodies out, only to find that they were actually still alive. I remember reading about this survival mechanism some insects have, where if they fall into water, they gather together in a ball so that they rotate around and get a chance to breathe. In any event, I decided the water was a total loss and boiled a new pot today, then set it on the opposite end of the kitchen to cool. I asked Jessie about the ants, and she said it's just the season for them and she has them all over too. They're really small and generally harmless, just kind of annoying.
Not much else to report. I bought some envelopes today so I can send letters (and most importantly, my absentee ballot request!), but I still need to buy stamps, and no one seems to know exactly where to get those. I think there's a place on campus that sells them, so when I go to class on Monday, I'll check it out. Jessie thought 7-11 sells them too, but the 7-11s around here are really small and don't seem to have them.
So that's how my weekend is going. Very low key.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Settling in
I'm getting into the swing of things now, I think. After floundering a bit the first couple days in class, today went really well, and afterwards, I went to dinner with Michael P (the other Michael moved out of our class) and Aki, a Japanese guy in our class who has been in Taiwan for over a year now. Tomorrow Michael and I are going to go over to Zhongxiao Xinsheng to see if we can find me a new cellphone, since the one Jessie gave me died on me rather suddenly last night. When I wrote her to tell her about it, she wrote back, "Hahaha, phone going crazy?" so I think she kind of figured this might happen.
Stormed like crazy today. The thunder and lightning were super intense, and they lasted for nearly an hour, much longer than any storms at home. It didn't rain that much, but even with the small rain, we were told to take umbrellas, because apparently the rain here is really acidic and not something you want soaking through your bare skin.
Took the bus back from Gongguan MRT station, which turned out to be a mistake. First of all, the 311 bus didn't arrive for at least half an hour. I think maybe it missed a cycle or something, because it's supposed to come every 15 minutes. But because it didn't arrive on time, there were a ton of people who got on the bus with me, and it was super crowded and uncomfortable on the bus. Plus it was rush hour so there was lots of stopping and going and jostling and bumping in to people and maybe it was just because I was tired and sweaty, but man, it was really uncomfortable in there.
Liverpool play Manchester United next weekend. Without Fernando Torres and without Steven Gerrard. Shit. If the Reds can escape with a tie, I will consider it a major victory, especially considering the way they've been playing as of late. I'm kind of sad that Steve Finnan left, but I guess that was kind of expected.
Stormed like crazy today. The thunder and lightning were super intense, and they lasted for nearly an hour, much longer than any storms at home. It didn't rain that much, but even with the small rain, we were told to take umbrellas, because apparently the rain here is really acidic and not something you want soaking through your bare skin.
Took the bus back from Gongguan MRT station, which turned out to be a mistake. First of all, the 311 bus didn't arrive for at least half an hour. I think maybe it missed a cycle or something, because it's supposed to come every 15 minutes. But because it didn't arrive on time, there were a ton of people who got on the bus with me, and it was super crowded and uncomfortable on the bus. Plus it was rush hour so there was lots of stopping and going and jostling and bumping in to people and maybe it was just because I was tired and sweaty, but man, it was really uncomfortable in there.
Liverpool play Manchester United next weekend. Without Fernando Torres and without Steven Gerrard. Shit. If the Reds can escape with a tie, I will consider it a major victory, especially considering the way they've been playing as of late. I'm kind of sad that Steve Finnan left, but I guess that was kind of expected.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Starting the real work
Classes have now officially started, and I have to say I'm glad that they have. It gives me a routine to settle into, a schedule to work with each day, and I think that after the first couple weeks, I'll be in much better shape than I am right now. Not to say that I'm particularly down, but I'm just kind of going through the motions right now, just trying to get through each day, one at a time.
My class is small, only 6 students. Three are Japanese students who have been in Taiwan for awhile now. Two are Germans, and then there's me. I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle in terms of overall language ability--the Japanese students definitely have an edge on all of us when it comes to character writing and recognition, but I think one of the German guys is by far the best speaker in the class. I'm hoping that in a few days, I'll be able to settle into the pace of the class--yesterday and today I've felt a bit out of step, like I'm struggling to catch on even though the content isn't all that difficult. I think part of it is the traditional characters, and part of it is just adjustment. I remember feeling like this my first few days in Nanjing as well, and I guess that makes this a lot less scary, knowing that I'll probably get used to it pretty fast.
Yesterday I actually spent a fair amount of time hanging out with my two German classmates, both named Michael, and their friend, Alex, a German student whose speaking is pretty much fluent (his mother is Taiwanese). We went to dinner together, and thought I was initially a little unsure about Alex, after talking a bit with him I found him to be quite amiable. Dinner became quite entertaining because the waitress kept referring to me as "xiao mei mei" which literally means "little sister," but basically just indicated me, the only woman in the group. Alex and Michael P (the really good speaker) started calling me "xiao mei mei" as well, and I let them go for awhile until we got onto the subject of birth dates and it came out that I was actually older than Alex. He then sheepishly said he would call me "jie jie" from now on ("jie jie" means "older sister).
Last night, I also managed to get myself slightly lost by getting off at the wrong bus stop. I think the 311 line, the one I take to and from NTU, has added a stop on the return route that isn't on the main maps, so when I looked at the map before getting on the bus, I thought I needed to get off at the third stop after NTU. In fact I should have gotten off at the fourth. So I basically wandered the streets of Yonghe for awhile until I finally came across a street I recognized from the night the landlord was showing me around. From there I was able to get the city shuttle (which is free) to City Hall, and from there I knew my way back.
It rained cats and dogs last night, waking me up multiple times because the sound of driving water against corrugated metal isn't exactly a soothing one. It stopped around 10 this morning, and the nice part was that the weather today was, for the first time, bearable. Still unbelievably humid, but much cooler than the past week, and I think it's supposed to stay like this for a couple days before heating up again on the weekend.
It's an up and down time right now. I was just on Skype with Cira, an old friend from Oxy, and I was telling her that I can't allow myself to think about 9 months right now, I can only think in terms of days and weeks. If I think about the big picture right now, I just end up feeling really homesick and lonely. So yeah. It's up and down, but I'm getting through it alright.
My class is small, only 6 students. Three are Japanese students who have been in Taiwan for awhile now. Two are Germans, and then there's me. I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle in terms of overall language ability--the Japanese students definitely have an edge on all of us when it comes to character writing and recognition, but I think one of the German guys is by far the best speaker in the class. I'm hoping that in a few days, I'll be able to settle into the pace of the class--yesterday and today I've felt a bit out of step, like I'm struggling to catch on even though the content isn't all that difficult. I think part of it is the traditional characters, and part of it is just adjustment. I remember feeling like this my first few days in Nanjing as well, and I guess that makes this a lot less scary, knowing that I'll probably get used to it pretty fast.
Yesterday I actually spent a fair amount of time hanging out with my two German classmates, both named Michael, and their friend, Alex, a German student whose speaking is pretty much fluent (his mother is Taiwanese). We went to dinner together, and thought I was initially a little unsure about Alex, after talking a bit with him I found him to be quite amiable. Dinner became quite entertaining because the waitress kept referring to me as "xiao mei mei" which literally means "little sister," but basically just indicated me, the only woman in the group. Alex and Michael P (the really good speaker) started calling me "xiao mei mei" as well, and I let them go for awhile until we got onto the subject of birth dates and it came out that I was actually older than Alex. He then sheepishly said he would call me "jie jie" from now on ("jie jie" means "older sister).
Last night, I also managed to get myself slightly lost by getting off at the wrong bus stop. I think the 311 line, the one I take to and from NTU, has added a stop on the return route that isn't on the main maps, so when I looked at the map before getting on the bus, I thought I needed to get off at the third stop after NTU. In fact I should have gotten off at the fourth. So I basically wandered the streets of Yonghe for awhile until I finally came across a street I recognized from the night the landlord was showing me around. From there I was able to get the city shuttle (which is free) to City Hall, and from there I knew my way back.
It rained cats and dogs last night, waking me up multiple times because the sound of driving water against corrugated metal isn't exactly a soothing one. It stopped around 10 this morning, and the nice part was that the weather today was, for the first time, bearable. Still unbelievably humid, but much cooler than the past week, and I think it's supposed to stay like this for a couple days before heating up again on the weekend.
It's an up and down time right now. I was just on Skype with Cira, an old friend from Oxy, and I was telling her that I can't allow myself to think about 9 months right now, I can only think in terms of days and weeks. If I think about the big picture right now, I just end up feeling really homesick and lonely. So yeah. It's up and down, but I'm getting through it alright.
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