I'm done the first semester of grad school. Unfortunately, that has been accompanied by a nice sore throat. And painfully swollen tonsils. As a result, I've sat in bed the last two days, getting up to only finish the two papers I had done. But I'm done. And it's a nice feeling.
Sydney FC won a game! It was awesome. We mobbed each other after each of their three goals. And we also got on Australian TV when they scored. That's all that has been going on for the past fews days. I'm done, it's summer, and I'm ill. Awesome. Here's to cutting my own tonsils out.
Oh, and interestingly enough, they have Daylight Savings Time here. So now the US and I have a 15 hour time difference.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The Fly
As summer approaches, my thus far great enjoyment of Australia is already being put to the test. First and foremost, it is not. Not like Taiwan hot (that would be murderous to live in. Oops), but a much drier hot. And while less humidity is nice, the sun is malicious here. It wants to make you feel dehydrated and sick after getting exercise. I don't understand how the cricketers across the street do it.
The second and even bigger nuisance--had to to look that word on Google, I'm shameless--are the flies. They seem to be nowhere and everywhere all at once. Today I was playing basketball, and I thought I swallowed at least three of them. They are shameless. They just think they can come and fly onto your face and hang out there. Not sure what to do, but kill them all.
In scholarly news, as I was walking back from work yesterday, it dawned on me that I'm getting a Masters Degree here. I know, it happens to be the end of my first semester and a little late for this realisation, but it's not like the work isn't hard. Just that I'm going for a higher degree and it kind of just feels like going through the motions. But it's going to be sweet to have a Masters. And to have lived in Australia. Two awesome things going on at once. Anyways, just wanted to rant about the heat and the flies. Be back soon.
Cheers.
The second and even bigger nuisance--had to to look that word on Google, I'm shameless--are the flies. They seem to be nowhere and everywhere all at once. Today I was playing basketball, and I thought I swallowed at least three of them. They are shameless. They just think they can come and fly onto your face and hang out there. Not sure what to do, but kill them all.
In scholarly news, as I was walking back from work yesterday, it dawned on me that I'm getting a Masters Degree here. I know, it happens to be the end of my first semester and a little late for this realisation, but it's not like the work isn't hard. Just that I'm going for a higher degree and it kind of just feels like going through the motions. But it's going to be sweet to have a Masters. And to have lived in Australia. Two awesome things going on at once. Anyways, just wanted to rant about the heat and the flies. Be back soon.
Cheers.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
My Interpretation
So I'm in the library, trying to make headway on my last paper. I've completely finished two, need revision on one, and the last one is in the opening stages. I have eight books checked out, have been reading and studying them for an hour, and still have nothing. The end is so close though. So close.
The weekend was nice. Sydney FC dropped another game on Saturday, and I was there. Lots of fun, but I'm still waiting to watch that inspiring first win, should they ever get there.
Sunday was an epic trip up to Manly. The beach was breath-taking! And to think that I live only an hour from up to 6 different beaches is a wonderful feeling. I went to church at St. Matt's that night. It was an incredible experience. There was a pastor from Indonesia who spoke about the last few years of his life. And how difficult they were. You can read a lot about it here: http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/news/news_archives/000659.php. Long story short, he taught the necessity to forgive fellow human beings who have done you wrong and love one another. Now, I know that people aren't perfect, but we Christians have really left a long line of failure in our path, especially recently. I could go on a political rant here, but will refrain. But needless to say, listening to a man from Indonesia speak about some of the craziest events that happened in his life (meeting a man that was ordered to kill him, the mastermind behind the Bali bombing of 2002 among other things) has made my trip almost worth it in itself.
And this example represents one of the many reasons I wanted to come here. When in a thousand years, would I get to hear about Indonesia if I lived in America? I wish all people, especially in our country, would expand their horizons. Dare to do something different and outside the box. Because it would leave the world a better place, of that I'm convinced.
Ok, my philosophical/spiritual/political rants are over. I should just have a separate blog for it. This week I've had no class and had to work everyday thanks to XML training. It's been kind of cool. I'm almost positive that I could get a job at any of the 29 Thomson locations around the world. And that might be what I do. I'm kind of torn between trying to go after sport journalism, or just play it safe. I don't know what to do with myself. Email me some suggestions. Oh and please come visit.
The weekend was nice. Sydney FC dropped another game on Saturday, and I was there. Lots of fun, but I'm still waiting to watch that inspiring first win, should they ever get there.
Sunday was an epic trip up to Manly. The beach was breath-taking! And to think that I live only an hour from up to 6 different beaches is a wonderful feeling. I went to church at St. Matt's that night. It was an incredible experience. There was a pastor from Indonesia who spoke about the last few years of his life. And how difficult they were. You can read a lot about it here: http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/news/news_archives/000659.php. Long story short, he taught the necessity to forgive fellow human beings who have done you wrong and love one another. Now, I know that people aren't perfect, but we Christians have really left a long line of failure in our path, especially recently. I could go on a political rant here, but will refrain. But needless to say, listening to a man from Indonesia speak about some of the craziest events that happened in his life (meeting a man that was ordered to kill him, the mastermind behind the Bali bombing of 2002 among other things) has made my trip almost worth it in itself.
And this example represents one of the many reasons I wanted to come here. When in a thousand years, would I get to hear about Indonesia if I lived in America? I wish all people, especially in our country, would expand their horizons. Dare to do something different and outside the box. Because it would leave the world a better place, of that I'm convinced.
Ok, my philosophical/spiritual/political rants are over. I should just have a separate blog for it. This week I've had no class and had to work everyday thanks to XML training. It's been kind of cool. I'm almost positive that I could get a job at any of the 29 Thomson locations around the world. And that might be what I do. I'm kind of torn between trying to go after sport journalism, or just play it safe. I don't know what to do with myself. Email me some suggestions. Oh and please come visit.
Friday, October 19, 2007
In Limbo
Well I'm at an awkward time right now. I have two papers done, and two left to write. Then I will have successfully completed one semester of graduate school here in Sydney. It's kind of a cool feeling. Also a bit strange, almost as strange as the sight of cricketers dressed in all white playing across the street.
This past week flew by. It was also kind of mundane. Went to work on two days, and worked on my papers for the rest of the time. I did have a meeting with the lady in charge of internships here at USYD and I'm trying to find a place to work one day a week between Jan-June. My dream is to score an internship at Four Four Two Australia. I can only imagine what doors that would open up, and to have someone pay me to write about football would be insane.
I did take some time off to go to a pub and watch the Red Sox play the Indians, to do some trivia, and explore Darling and Sydney Harbour. One of my favorite things about Uni here is the proximity to the water. I absolutely love going out at night and being able to walk alongside Cockle Bay. Tomorrow I'm off to Manly for a day of writing papers and (hopefully) swimming in the ocean.
It is a daunting thought to realize I have 4 months off from school. I finish October 31 and return to classes on March 3. A long time indeed. But I plan on over working myself and taking a number of weekend trips around Australia. If there is no limit to how much I work, I might try and clock in with 50 hours a week. If I'm paid by the hour, might as well make the most of it. Couple that with the fact I can take off days whenever I want to sets me up for a good amount of working and exploring. Trying to figure out where to go in this country is difficult. I'm tossing around the notion of flying up north and driving back down the coast to Sydney. That would be one way to explore. The only drawback is that it costs me an extra $30 a day to rent a car due to being under the age of 25. Crappy rules. Hope everyone reading this is doing well, and please feel free to email or call me.
Cheers.
This past week flew by. It was also kind of mundane. Went to work on two days, and worked on my papers for the rest of the time. I did have a meeting with the lady in charge of internships here at USYD and I'm trying to find a place to work one day a week between Jan-June. My dream is to score an internship at Four Four Two Australia. I can only imagine what doors that would open up, and to have someone pay me to write about football would be insane.
I did take some time off to go to a pub and watch the Red Sox play the Indians, to do some trivia, and explore Darling and Sydney Harbour. One of my favorite things about Uni here is the proximity to the water. I absolutely love going out at night and being able to walk alongside Cockle Bay. Tomorrow I'm off to Manly for a day of writing papers and (hopefully) swimming in the ocean.
It is a daunting thought to realize I have 4 months off from school. I finish October 31 and return to classes on March 3. A long time indeed. But I plan on over working myself and taking a number of weekend trips around Australia. If there is no limit to how much I work, I might try and clock in with 50 hours a week. If I'm paid by the hour, might as well make the most of it. Couple that with the fact I can take off days whenever I want to sets me up for a good amount of working and exploring. Trying to figure out where to go in this country is difficult. I'm tossing around the notion of flying up north and driving back down the coast to Sydney. That would be one way to explore. The only drawback is that it costs me an extra $30 a day to rent a car due to being under the age of 25. Crappy rules. Hope everyone reading this is doing well, and please feel free to email or call me.
Cheers.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
My Body Is a Cage
I love this place. It's quite a rush knowing that I'm currently living about 9,869 miles away from home. Love it.
Not too much from the past week to recap. On Monday, went to work, then had class. I got my first mark for the term (yep, I'm using the British/Australian lingo). It was a "D". Don't worry, that stands for distinction, which is good. Quite a relief to know that I'm pulling down grades that meet my standards. The next day, I wrote about 1,000 words for my essay that was due on Friday, went to class, and then walked all the way out to Waterloo for a Connect group that I had been set up with through Hillsong church. It was good time, we grilled out and had burgers, talked about Encounterfest, and just hung out. I found it difficult to come into a group of guys that all know each other, but I'll give it time.
Wednesday was the same as Monday: work, class, got another mark. An "HD" this time. And no, that doesn't mean High Definition, but High Distinction. So I'm on a roll now. Thursday was kind of a repeat of Tuesday. Work on the paper, class, come back and finish the paper. Not the most glamourous week, but I was done that night. Around 8 PM I went to the Rocks with Hol-lee and Eamonn. Pretty low key, as we were only out for a couple of hours.
Friday brought a new spin to the week. I walked to the Mills building to turn in my paper. I panicked a little when I couldn't find the MECO drop box, but my fears were relieved after a few minutes of searching. I managed to catch the right bus up to work and spent another day in the legal library, filing away. No fun, but it pays the bills. After a day at work I went to the Landsdowne for dinner.
That night I decided to head to the camel races. Yeah, that's right, camel races. Who goes to camel races? Well apparently, a lot of Australians do. Racing and betting are two of Australia's favourite past times, but to the break out of equine flu with horses here, the race tracks have been shut down. This means that the tracks are all losing money, so they cooked up a camel race to stir interest, and more importantly, get people out there to buy beer and food from them. And so they came. It was a good crowd, but the races were quite underwhelming. They would last just one straightaway of the track, and the camels weren't particularly fast. In fact, every race there would be one camel that wouldn't even run. This gave me a good laugh, and we would make small bets here and there to make things a bit more interesting. Post races, we went down to an area of the track dubbed as the "Neverending Poker Room" and watched Sydney FC take on Perth. A few of my friends decided to play in a $10 tournament and I would watch the game and follow what went on at the table. Upon return, I quickly went to bed with plans of going to the beach on Saturday.
Unfortunately, cold weather greeted me in the morning, and I made the call to put it off until either Sunday or perhaps next week. Dave and I ended up going to the Sydney Aquarium (most impressive) and the Australian International Motor Show. Quite an interesting experience, seeing lots of cars that most people there would never be able to afford. I felt like it was almost worth the $17 entrance fee. But coming from someone that tries not to care about cars at all, a little bit steep.
After the show, we returned to the village, where I quickly threw on a change of clothes and basketball shoes and played pick-up for about an hour and a half. At the end of the games, my end hurt and I couldn't see straight. I was dehydrated and tired. Today, I'm sore and my body kind of hates me. A bit of a bummer, as I decided to stay in that night and take it easy. All the walking and running had wiped me out.
Today I got a nice taste of home as I watched most of the Red Sox-Indians playoff game. It's funny to perceive the Australian reaction to the games (some claim it to be boring--try watching cricket though) while others try and learn how it's played. But, for the most part, I only watch it with Americans. Due to the length of the game I have managed to get no work done and didn't go to Manly. Hmmph. Life goes on, but I'm down to the home stretch, with only two weeks of class left. It has been quite a good ride this first semester. I'll try and post more thoughts and less boring stories later this week.
Not too much from the past week to recap. On Monday, went to work, then had class. I got my first mark for the term (yep, I'm using the British/Australian lingo). It was a "D". Don't worry, that stands for distinction, which is good. Quite a relief to know that I'm pulling down grades that meet my standards. The next day, I wrote about 1,000 words for my essay that was due on Friday, went to class, and then walked all the way out to Waterloo for a Connect group that I had been set up with through Hillsong church. It was good time, we grilled out and had burgers, talked about Encounterfest, and just hung out. I found it difficult to come into a group of guys that all know each other, but I'll give it time.
Wednesday was the same as Monday: work, class, got another mark. An "HD" this time. And no, that doesn't mean High Definition, but High Distinction. So I'm on a roll now. Thursday was kind of a repeat of Tuesday. Work on the paper, class, come back and finish the paper. Not the most glamourous week, but I was done that night. Around 8 PM I went to the Rocks with Hol-lee and Eamonn. Pretty low key, as we were only out for a couple of hours.
Friday brought a new spin to the week. I walked to the Mills building to turn in my paper. I panicked a little when I couldn't find the MECO drop box, but my fears were relieved after a few minutes of searching. I managed to catch the right bus up to work and spent another day in the legal library, filing away. No fun, but it pays the bills. After a day at work I went to the Landsdowne for dinner.
That night I decided to head to the camel races. Yeah, that's right, camel races. Who goes to camel races? Well apparently, a lot of Australians do. Racing and betting are two of Australia's favourite past times, but to the break out of equine flu with horses here, the race tracks have been shut down. This means that the tracks are all losing money, so they cooked up a camel race to stir interest, and more importantly, get people out there to buy beer and food from them. And so they came. It was a good crowd, but the races were quite underwhelming. They would last just one straightaway of the track, and the camels weren't particularly fast. In fact, every race there would be one camel that wouldn't even run. This gave me a good laugh, and we would make small bets here and there to make things a bit more interesting. Post races, we went down to an area of the track dubbed as the "Neverending Poker Room" and watched Sydney FC take on Perth. A few of my friends decided to play in a $10 tournament and I would watch the game and follow what went on at the table. Upon return, I quickly went to bed with plans of going to the beach on Saturday.
Unfortunately, cold weather greeted me in the morning, and I made the call to put it off until either Sunday or perhaps next week. Dave and I ended up going to the Sydney Aquarium (most impressive) and the Australian International Motor Show. Quite an interesting experience, seeing lots of cars that most people there would never be able to afford. I felt like it was almost worth the $17 entrance fee. But coming from someone that tries not to care about cars at all, a little bit steep.
After the show, we returned to the village, where I quickly threw on a change of clothes and basketball shoes and played pick-up for about an hour and a half. At the end of the games, my end hurt and I couldn't see straight. I was dehydrated and tired. Today, I'm sore and my body kind of hates me. A bit of a bummer, as I decided to stay in that night and take it easy. All the walking and running had wiped me out.
Today I got a nice taste of home as I watched most of the Red Sox-Indians playoff game. It's funny to perceive the Australian reaction to the games (some claim it to be boring--try watching cricket though) while others try and learn how it's played. But, for the most part, I only watch it with Americans. Due to the length of the game I have managed to get no work done and didn't go to Manly. Hmmph. Life goes on, but I'm down to the home stretch, with only two weeks of class left. It has been quite a good ride this first semester. I'll try and post more thoughts and less boring stories later this week.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Heat Wave
So I've been back for a week now. Lots to report, but first, final thoughts from Taiwan:
-An interesting trip. Never been in a place where I couldn't speak on read a bit of the language. The concepts of different languages and why we speak them confounds me a bit.
-Singapore Airlines is awesome. Fly them when you get the chance. Superb service, great food, watched a ton of movies, and enjoyed it.
-Airplanes amaze me. How do they get off the ground? One of the planes we took looked as though it was going to fall to pieces on take-off. Obviously it didn't.
-The food in Taiwan is overrated. I'm sure it's good, just hard to find and order.
-Can you say humid?
With those thoughts out of the way, time to share the events from the last week. After landing, I bought a Mountain Dew at the airport train station at 7 AM (yes it was awesome), hopped on the train, and came back to the good ol' Sydney University Village. Felt good to be back. The whole day I was useless, sleeping from about 1 PM-5 PM. I missed class. Oops.
So when I said there was a lot to catch up on, I may have been exaggerating a bit. Wednesday and Thursday I was back at Thomson. This time I was put in the Law library. Sorting and filing assorted laws was not the most stimulating job, but hey, money is money right? There were a few laws that intrigued me. For example, I'm pretty sure Prostitution is legal. Breaks my heart. Most of this country does though, just seeing the brokenness and depravity. Anyways, I had no class Wednesday night because of the holiday on Monday (go figure) and Thursday my favorite Network class.
Friday was interesting. A few weeks ago, I had signed up for Encounterfest, a youth retreat put on by Hillsong Church. For those of you who don't know who that is, Hillsong is a mega church here in Sydney with over 18,000 people attending each week. It was quite the interesting time, to say the least. The church is Pentecostal and Assembly of God, so whatever that means. People are really spirit-led, which I don't have a problem with (too badly) but I am not going there. No, what really grinds my gears about Hillsong is the appearance of a business it carries. Sure, there is biblical teaching there. And the message preached by Jonah Smith was awesome. I even saw a presentation by a 15 year old named Zach Hunter, an abolitionist (yes, there are millions of slaves still in the world). I am skeptical of a church that spends $28 million on a spot of land in Sydney. That releases a CD every year. That has its own business entity. That asks you for tons of money. They take in millions a year. Is that church? I can't tell you for sure, but I don't look upon it with favor right now.
I am now fired up to make a change. To try and fight for peace, justice, and against poverty. To love people. Put their interests before my own. We live in a world that is run by selfishness. Hate, anger, and violence, dominate the headlines. And yes, good does happen. But we need to thrust it to the forefront of our society. These tests and trials are what I was looking for when I took this trip.
But I'm not here to complain about Hillsong. They have plenty of quality people there, and I will dabble there. But I prefer St. Matthew's up in Manly. Much more emphasis on Biblical teaching, and I'll take the word of God over someone telling me what the Spirit should be telling me. No thanks.
So on Saturday I decided to skip the conference and do work. Semi-successful, although not as much as I would have liked. Sydney FC was on Saturday, and we went. It was awesome! They were playing the arch-rival Melbourne Victory, and it was pandemonium before the game as police were in place to ensure there was a limit to violence. Eamonn and I only managed to catch the tail end of the squabble, although once we were in the Stadium, the Melbourne fans began to throw flares amongst the Sydney fans across the field. Unfortunately, Sydney lost 1-0 in a tight match. One of the better games I've seen them play this year, but still a loss.
After that, it was time for rugby, as the world cup reached the quarterfinals. England and Australia squared off against each other, and I watched with a mixture of Englishmen, Australians, and Americans. Quite a fun experience, although kind of a dull game. England won, 12-10, without scoring a single try. Kind of boring.
Sunday was a trip to the Curl's for cooking, laundry, and relaxing. It is quite the experience hauling my packed suitcase and two plastic bags full of cooked stir-fry and pasta. I had a good laugh, and it is so nice to have an actual house to go to and hang out. Manly is a ridiculously nice place as well.
Today was quite ho-hum. I had another day of work, finding me in the library once again. Class dragged on for a long time as I was fighting off a headache the whole time. Post class, Eamonn and I went to the Marly for steaks, after which I came back here to watch the Office and do some reading. That's the latest. Email me if you want to hear more, but that covers most of it. Hope all of you are well.
-An interesting trip. Never been in a place where I couldn't speak on read a bit of the language. The concepts of different languages and why we speak them confounds me a bit.
-Singapore Airlines is awesome. Fly them when you get the chance. Superb service, great food, watched a ton of movies, and enjoyed it.
-Airplanes amaze me. How do they get off the ground? One of the planes we took looked as though it was going to fall to pieces on take-off. Obviously it didn't.
-The food in Taiwan is overrated. I'm sure it's good, just hard to find and order.
-Can you say humid?
With those thoughts out of the way, time to share the events from the last week. After landing, I bought a Mountain Dew at the airport train station at 7 AM (yes it was awesome), hopped on the train, and came back to the good ol' Sydney University Village. Felt good to be back. The whole day I was useless, sleeping from about 1 PM-5 PM. I missed class. Oops.
So when I said there was a lot to catch up on, I may have been exaggerating a bit. Wednesday and Thursday I was back at Thomson. This time I was put in the Law library. Sorting and filing assorted laws was not the most stimulating job, but hey, money is money right? There were a few laws that intrigued me. For example, I'm pretty sure Prostitution is legal. Breaks my heart. Most of this country does though, just seeing the brokenness and depravity. Anyways, I had no class Wednesday night because of the holiday on Monday (go figure) and Thursday my favorite Network class.
Friday was interesting. A few weeks ago, I had signed up for Encounterfest, a youth retreat put on by Hillsong Church. For those of you who don't know who that is, Hillsong is a mega church here in Sydney with over 18,000 people attending each week. It was quite the interesting time, to say the least. The church is Pentecostal and Assembly of God, so whatever that means. People are really spirit-led, which I don't have a problem with (too badly) but I am not going there. No, what really grinds my gears about Hillsong is the appearance of a business it carries. Sure, there is biblical teaching there. And the message preached by Jonah Smith was awesome. I even saw a presentation by a 15 year old named Zach Hunter, an abolitionist (yes, there are millions of slaves still in the world). I am skeptical of a church that spends $28 million on a spot of land in Sydney. That releases a CD every year. That has its own business entity. That asks you for tons of money. They take in millions a year. Is that church? I can't tell you for sure, but I don't look upon it with favor right now.
I am now fired up to make a change. To try and fight for peace, justice, and against poverty. To love people. Put their interests before my own. We live in a world that is run by selfishness. Hate, anger, and violence, dominate the headlines. And yes, good does happen. But we need to thrust it to the forefront of our society. These tests and trials are what I was looking for when I took this trip.
But I'm not here to complain about Hillsong. They have plenty of quality people there, and I will dabble there. But I prefer St. Matthew's up in Manly. Much more emphasis on Biblical teaching, and I'll take the word of God over someone telling me what the Spirit should be telling me. No thanks.
So on Saturday I decided to skip the conference and do work. Semi-successful, although not as much as I would have liked. Sydney FC was on Saturday, and we went. It was awesome! They were playing the arch-rival Melbourne Victory, and it was pandemonium before the game as police were in place to ensure there was a limit to violence. Eamonn and I only managed to catch the tail end of the squabble, although once we were in the Stadium, the Melbourne fans began to throw flares amongst the Sydney fans across the field. Unfortunately, Sydney lost 1-0 in a tight match. One of the better games I've seen them play this year, but still a loss.
After that, it was time for rugby, as the world cup reached the quarterfinals. England and Australia squared off against each other, and I watched with a mixture of Englishmen, Australians, and Americans. Quite a fun experience, although kind of a dull game. England won, 12-10, without scoring a single try. Kind of boring.
Sunday was a trip to the Curl's for cooking, laundry, and relaxing. It is quite the experience hauling my packed suitcase and two plastic bags full of cooked stir-fry and pasta. I had a good laugh, and it is so nice to have an actual house to go to and hang out. Manly is a ridiculously nice place as well.
Today was quite ho-hum. I had another day of work, finding me in the library once again. Class dragged on for a long time as I was fighting off a headache the whole time. Post class, Eamonn and I went to the Marly for steaks, after which I came back here to watch the Office and do some reading. That's the latest. Email me if you want to hear more, but that covers most of it. Hope all of you are well.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Waterfalls
Well, spring break is now complete. I’m sitting in the gate for my flight from Singapore to Sydney. While sitting and doing nothing is fun, I’d figure I’d share the rest of my time in Taiwan.
One point I forgot to mention in my previous post: Taiwan has Costco. Now, I know that being in a foreign country, one should indulge in the culture and experiment with food. Personally, I feel like that is bullocks sometimes. There is no reason to not make yourself feel at home while overseas. So Sarah and I went to Costco for dinner on Tuesday night. I had a hot dog and a slice of Hawaiian pizza. Delicious. With that out of the way, it is time to continue on my adventure.
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Sarah had to work. That meant I was stuck by myself for up to eight hours at a time. Instead of going out into the town of Sijhih, I stayed in for those three days, getting some Uni work done. Fine by me. If I had my way, I would have travelled around the whole island. But since I was there for a person and not the destination, I was content with planning out a few papers and essays that I need to start writing.
Friday night, I picked up Sarah from work, and we headed towards Shilin night market. We caught the bus near to place of employment, caught the MRT, and went searching around for the market. Since most of Taiwan is sweltering during the day, most markets are conducted during the night time. This makes enough sense. We cruised around, trying to find a bite to eat. We finally found a place that was making some kind of meat-doughy-dumpling type food. Not bad. I ordered myself a Pearl Milk Tea, which I had read somewhere was well known in Taiwan. Boy was I wrong. There was some weird food inside of it (the pearls I guess) that made the entire drinking experience bizarre. I neglected to drink the whole cup. Couldn’t force myself to do it. Just about the weirdest drink I’ve had.
The food aside, there was nothing spectacular about the market. Just a lot of people in one place looking to either peddle a trade or purchase clothes, foods, or other trinkets. So we caught the MRT back to her place and went to bed.
The next day Sarah was given the day off, so we decided to explore another part of the country: Wulai. A small mountain town about an hour and a half from Taipei, Wulai is most well known for having one of the largest waterfalls in all of Taiwan. Pretty neat, but consider that Taiwan isn’t all that big to begin with. So after a long ride on the MRT, plus another bus ride, we were at the small town.
It was a pretty neat scene. The whole town consisted of a one lane road running through a series of shops and vendors. A river ran parallel to the side of the town we were on, so we had to cross a bridge to continue walking through Wulai. We wanted to make our way to the waterfall, so we searched through the town. Neither of us were certain of how to get there; we were lucky to stumble upon signs in English indicating some kind of small train located above the road. We ascended the steps and walked up to investigate.
The sight that greeted us was fairly comical. The “train” was nothing more that four small cars linked together. They could hold two people per seat, so pretty much like a roller coaster. It was about a 10 minute ride to the falls, and it provided a nice, scenic view of the river.
We arrived at the makeshift station and walked towards the best view of the falls. This was directly across the river, on an overlook that was no more than 30 feet from the river and the falls. It was a nice view. After checking that outlook, we walked up the mountain, as there were different paths constructed taking you up. It was both fun and exhausting; because of the humidity we were both left soaked in sweat. Definitely worth the effort, as we got to see a pretty unique view of the whole valley and the falls. Once we were done there, we caught the next “train” back to the main part of Wulai. There we bought dumplings at a 7-eleven and drank iced coffee at a café.
After finishing off the coffees, we decided to head back. Walking to the bus station was not fun; the mosquitos were feasting on my legs and it wouldn’t stop raining. I can’t imagine living in the country; it rained so much. But I’ll touch on that later. We took the bus back to the MRT station, and went to our next stop: Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.
Exiting the MRT station at the memorial, we were accosted with people handing out different pamphlets written in Chinese. As I had no idea what they were saying, we walked by them without taking any. Bizarre to think they would give it to us. Couldn’t even begin to understand it. Anyways, I have no idea who Chiang Kai Shek was and why he is famous. The memorial to him is in a very nice place. It is in a large open space; quite unusual for Taipei. Facing the memorial, on your left and your right are two buildings of similar oriental design: one is a performing arts center and the other a museum. I don’t have internet right now, otherwise I would do a bit of research and not sound like a complete ignorant fool. We didn’t linger at the memorial for very long. After leaving, we headed towards Taipei Main Station, grabbed a bite to eat at an Italianish restaurant and called it a night.
Sunday was to be my last full day in Taiwan. We had decided to check out the hot springs near Beitou; again, another stop on the MRT line. We wondered around for a long time, looking for Hell Valley, a lake that was the source of the hot springs in the area. The temperature of the lake is 70 degrees Celsius. However, after a frustrating search, we ended up deciding to go to the hot springs, since were going to try and have a nice meal out on our last night. That didn’t work out either, as the hot spring closed for 45 minutes through out the day for cleaning. As a result, we walked back near the MRT station and enjoyed a meal at a Japanese fast food place. Not bad.
After lunch, it was time to finally make it to the hot spring. It was quite the experience. The water is streamed directly from the source of the lake; this creates quite a hot experience. We met a Taiwanese man who said he went to the springs 4 or 5 times a week. He was retired and looked in good health for a 74 year old. He explained each of the temperatures to us: the hot spring had four different pools on the far side of the area; these were the hot baths. As you went down a level, the temperature was cooler. The hottest pool was 42 C, the next 40 C, the next 35 C, and the last 33 C. On the other side were two “cool down” pools. They were set up to give you a time to cool down after spending a long time in the hot spring. We made sure to spend at least a minute in each pool. Even working our way up to the hottest. 42 degree water is hot! Yikes.
Once we were done at the hot spring, it was time to head back. We caught the MRT and bus back to Sarah’s apartment, changed, and went into Taipei for a last meal together. We ended up at one of the nicest restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. It was a five course meal. I ate escargot (delicious), French onion soup, Caesar salad, NY strip steak, and a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. While the restaurant was very American, the portions were much smaller than normal. It was both satisfying and delicious.
So as I write this latest entry, I’m sitting in the airport in Singapore. I’m getting tired of typing, so I’m going to try and post this and share my final thoughts on Taiwan in another day or so. We’ll see.
One point I forgot to mention in my previous post: Taiwan has Costco. Now, I know that being in a foreign country, one should indulge in the culture and experiment with food. Personally, I feel like that is bullocks sometimes. There is no reason to not make yourself feel at home while overseas. So Sarah and I went to Costco for dinner on Tuesday night. I had a hot dog and a slice of Hawaiian pizza. Delicious. With that out of the way, it is time to continue on my adventure.
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Sarah had to work. That meant I was stuck by myself for up to eight hours at a time. Instead of going out into the town of Sijhih, I stayed in for those three days, getting some Uni work done. Fine by me. If I had my way, I would have travelled around the whole island. But since I was there for a person and not the destination, I was content with planning out a few papers and essays that I need to start writing.
Friday night, I picked up Sarah from work, and we headed towards Shilin night market. We caught the bus near to place of employment, caught the MRT, and went searching around for the market. Since most of Taiwan is sweltering during the day, most markets are conducted during the night time. This makes enough sense. We cruised around, trying to find a bite to eat. We finally found a place that was making some kind of meat-doughy-dumpling type food. Not bad. I ordered myself a Pearl Milk Tea, which I had read somewhere was well known in Taiwan. Boy was I wrong. There was some weird food inside of it (the pearls I guess) that made the entire drinking experience bizarre. I neglected to drink the whole cup. Couldn’t force myself to do it. Just about the weirdest drink I’ve had.
The food aside, there was nothing spectacular about the market. Just a lot of people in one place looking to either peddle a trade or purchase clothes, foods, or other trinkets. So we caught the MRT back to her place and went to bed.
The next day Sarah was given the day off, so we decided to explore another part of the country: Wulai. A small mountain town about an hour and a half from Taipei, Wulai is most well known for having one of the largest waterfalls in all of Taiwan. Pretty neat, but consider that Taiwan isn’t all that big to begin with. So after a long ride on the MRT, plus another bus ride, we were at the small town.
It was a pretty neat scene. The whole town consisted of a one lane road running through a series of shops and vendors. A river ran parallel to the side of the town we were on, so we had to cross a bridge to continue walking through Wulai. We wanted to make our way to the waterfall, so we searched through the town. Neither of us were certain of how to get there; we were lucky to stumble upon signs in English indicating some kind of small train located above the road. We ascended the steps and walked up to investigate.
The sight that greeted us was fairly comical. The “train” was nothing more that four small cars linked together. They could hold two people per seat, so pretty much like a roller coaster. It was about a 10 minute ride to the falls, and it provided a nice, scenic view of the river.
We arrived at the makeshift station and walked towards the best view of the falls. This was directly across the river, on an overlook that was no more than 30 feet from the river and the falls. It was a nice view. After checking that outlook, we walked up the mountain, as there were different paths constructed taking you up. It was both fun and exhausting; because of the humidity we were both left soaked in sweat. Definitely worth the effort, as we got to see a pretty unique view of the whole valley and the falls. Once we were done there, we caught the next “train” back to the main part of Wulai. There we bought dumplings at a 7-eleven and drank iced coffee at a café.
After finishing off the coffees, we decided to head back. Walking to the bus station was not fun; the mosquitos were feasting on my legs and it wouldn’t stop raining. I can’t imagine living in the country; it rained so much. But I’ll touch on that later. We took the bus back to the MRT station, and went to our next stop: Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.
Exiting the MRT station at the memorial, we were accosted with people handing out different pamphlets written in Chinese. As I had no idea what they were saying, we walked by them without taking any. Bizarre to think they would give it to us. Couldn’t even begin to understand it. Anyways, I have no idea who Chiang Kai Shek was and why he is famous. The memorial to him is in a very nice place. It is in a large open space; quite unusual for Taipei. Facing the memorial, on your left and your right are two buildings of similar oriental design: one is a performing arts center and the other a museum. I don’t have internet right now, otherwise I would do a bit of research and not sound like a complete ignorant fool. We didn’t linger at the memorial for very long. After leaving, we headed towards Taipei Main Station, grabbed a bite to eat at an Italianish restaurant and called it a night.
Sunday was to be my last full day in Taiwan. We had decided to check out the hot springs near Beitou; again, another stop on the MRT line. We wondered around for a long time, looking for Hell Valley, a lake that was the source of the hot springs in the area. The temperature of the lake is 70 degrees Celsius. However, after a frustrating search, we ended up deciding to go to the hot springs, since were going to try and have a nice meal out on our last night. That didn’t work out either, as the hot spring closed for 45 minutes through out the day for cleaning. As a result, we walked back near the MRT station and enjoyed a meal at a Japanese fast food place. Not bad.
After lunch, it was time to finally make it to the hot spring. It was quite the experience. The water is streamed directly from the source of the lake; this creates quite a hot experience. We met a Taiwanese man who said he went to the springs 4 or 5 times a week. He was retired and looked in good health for a 74 year old. He explained each of the temperatures to us: the hot spring had four different pools on the far side of the area; these were the hot baths. As you went down a level, the temperature was cooler. The hottest pool was 42 C, the next 40 C, the next 35 C, and the last 33 C. On the other side were two “cool down” pools. They were set up to give you a time to cool down after spending a long time in the hot spring. We made sure to spend at least a minute in each pool. Even working our way up to the hottest. 42 degree water is hot! Yikes.
Once we were done at the hot spring, it was time to head back. We caught the MRT and bus back to Sarah’s apartment, changed, and went into Taipei for a last meal together. We ended up at one of the nicest restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. It was a five course meal. I ate escargot (delicious), French onion soup, Caesar salad, NY strip steak, and a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. While the restaurant was very American, the portions were much smaller than normal. It was both satisfying and delicious.
So as I write this latest entry, I’m sitting in the airport in Singapore. I’m getting tired of typing, so I’m going to try and post this and share my final thoughts on Taiwan in another day or so. We’ll see.
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