Wenzao!

July 9

Sorry for the lack of posts. Now that we are doing more activities it is becoming more difficult to post. But just be sure that we are having a lot of fun. I will give a really short description of what we did yesterday. In the afternoon after the Chinese lessons we took a tour of Kaohsiung. The first stop that we took was of a museum. It was fun, but still nothing to write home about. After that, we went to the former British consulate, which was really awesome. The view was incredible and well worth the trip. On one side of the building you could see a great view of the ocean and a couple of docks, and on the other side was one of the best views of the Kaohsiung skyline. I imagine that if we went at nighttime it would be absolutely spectacular. We went to the Dream Mall and that is where we ate dinner. The Dream Mall is just a really big mall that is Western in its style. One of the cool features is that it has a ferris wheel on the top of the 9 story building, so I imagine that it would also offer a really good view if you were willing to fork out the NT150. The final stop of the night was the Love River. It's also really nice and relaxing at night. As you might figure, it's a good place to take a significant other.

As for the days activities, in the afternoon we listened to a lecture on Taiwan and its position in the international world. It sounds like an interesting topic, especially for me, but it ended up being really boring. For part of the time I even had trouble staying awake. He was very scattered in his thoughts and I was pretty disappointed overall. After that we played dodge ball. The rules here are a bit different. There is only one ball that is used and there are people that surround the opposing team on the outside. Nothing happens if you catch the ball. Basically, the games are really slow and go on for a long time. All in all, it wasn't very exciting.

The highlight of the day was going to the Night Market. It is on of the bigger ones in Kaohsiung. A button fell off on one of my pairs of shorts so one of the things that I got there was a belt for NT100. It is nothing special, but at least it will hold my pants up. I stayed with Craig from England and Christine from Indonesia. Christine is one of the helpers in the program who is fluent in Chinese, English, and Indonesian (?). We also played a game where they have air-soft guns and you have to shoot all of the balloons.

It was really funny because Craig had never shot a gun before because of the strict

gun laws in the UK so we had a UK vs. US challenge. He ended up winning because I tried to be a hotshot and not use the sights which ended up being a poor decision. Oh well, it was still fun. For the prize, we pooled our points together and got a Sponge Bob light. Finally, the three of us all got about a pint sized Heineken green tea, which of course was delicious. After that we went bowling for a little bit, but weren't even able to complete the game because of the 10:30 curfew that the school enforces. If you aren't in by 10:30, you can't even get into the campus. So we had to leave the game before we could get to the 10^th frame, but at least the cost was only NT60 for the shoes and the game. The taxi ride split four ways was NT25 more. All in all, it was a fun evening and I am looking forward to tomorrow for the first culture night.

There are students from 8 different countries here, and tomorrow each of the groups have to do a traditional dance or theatre. It should actually be a lot of fun because nobody really wants to dance in front of the group, so it could provide some interesting moments. The three Americans here are going to get funky funky funky and do the Cha Cha Slide as our dance. We are going to tie it to traditional line dancing. It should be enjoyable. Alright, we'll see when I get around to blogging next. Opening Ceremony for the World Games is less than a week away!

Independence Day Half a World Away

July 4

Today I made the trek from Chiayi to Kaohsiung (pronounced Gow-shung). As a side note, try breaking the habit of typing “sh” when pronouncing that sound. I have to remind myself every time I write it that the “h” comes before the “s.” Anyways, I left the familiarity of the practice hotel where I had lived the whole time I have been here (except for my time in the Philippines). After cleaning the place, which took longer than expected, I got a taxi and went down to the local train station. An hour and 15 minute train ride later I was in Kaohsiung (that took me at least 5 seconds to type that time). Somehow I got confused on where to go and took an emergency exit down to the main level. Yup, even with all of this traveling I am still an idiot when it comes to simple things. I am able to travel to different countries, but don't expect me to find the stairs.

I met two of the people from Wenzao University, Scott and Tina. As Ray and Emilie pointed out, Tina is a very common English name for the Taiwanese to adopt. As they say, the Taiwanese “are still stuck in the '60s” when it comes to American names. They took me to a street close to the station where I was able to get lunch. Since they speak English I was actually able to know what I was ordering. The pork noodles were tasty and cheap. The meal cost NT50.

After that, we went back to the station and took the MRT to the Kaohsiung Arena stop. The students told me that the KMRT was different than the MRT in Taipei, but I thought it was pretty similar. It only opened a year ago, so the facilities were really nice, just like the rest of the public transportation facilities. Luckily Scott and Tina were with me because there was one difference when getting the token. In Taipei, you just look at the map and the fare is on each stop so you just enter the token amount in the computer. On the KMRT, there is a map that you physically have to press the stop you want. It is really convenient, but the map was so new that I wasn't able to tell that I had to press it. I just kept hitting 20 and wondering why the screen wasn't changing. But once the snafu had been settled we were on our way.

From the stop we took a taxi to the school, and the school covered the fare. Awesome! They gave me a quick little tour of the campus and then took me to the dorms. The dorms are also in great condition. The main problem that I discovered is that there are no mattresses at all. Apparently when they said to bring bedding materials, they meant all bedding materials. It looks like I will be spending the next three weeks sleeping on a wooden board. Oh well, I can tough it out.

While I was in the room, they also made me fill out a few forms and explained some of the rules of the building. The best part about going through the rules was finding out that I was already breaking one. I found out that alcohol was not allowed in the dorms, which makes sense. Normally, this would not be a problem, as I am not a degenerate drunk and don't carry booze on my person. However, when we got out of the cab, we made a brief stop at a tea stand. I decided to try my first Heineken green tea. When they were going over the rules I was still holding the tea in my hand. Tina and I both just looked at each other and decided that I was just holding tea. Crisis averted.

By the way, Heineken green tea is pretty awesome. It tastes much like green tea, except it still has the kick from the beer. Since I liked that, I am going to try the recommendation to go with the Heineken green tea with passion fruit next time. I am surprised that they don't serve it in America seeing as it combines the two amazing ingredients of beer and tea. It's gotta be one of the healthiest alcoholic beverages on the market. After drinking it, my body seemed to be confused. It didn't know whether to be tired or awake. Right now I still feel kind of drowsy.

And that's basically where I'm at right now. Both Scott and Tina had to do other things, so I am just sitting in the room typing this up waiting for 6:30 to come when we will go out for dinner. This is not going to be posted immediately because there is a problem with the internet. The school configured the internet so that you need to type the IP address in before you can access the network. Unfortunately, they only have the instructions to do it for Windows operating systems. Since my computer runs on Ubuntu Linux we were not able to figure out how to configure it. Later on we will try again. If worse comes to worse I can always borrow other peoples computers long enough to send out e-mails and update the blog.

Anyways, I am really excited to be here and already had a chance to look at the itinerary and it looks amazing! There are so many trips and other events that I am really looking forward to. And I would like to thank Taiwan's Ministry of Education in advance because there is no way that this could cost $250US without their help. With all of the stuff that we are going to do, the actual cost for all of this is probably at least three times what I paid. All in all, it looks like this is going to be an awesome three weeks. I'll be sure to keep writing for the blog, even if I am not able to post the entries very often. Take care friends.

I'm Lovin' it

So today was my second full day alone in Chiayi.It would have been my sixth in a row here had the whole visa thing not been a problem. Since there is not a whole lot going on right now, I will talk about my dinner tonight. I decided to go somewhere exotic. I chose...McDonalds. Yeah, I know that I should be trying all sorts of new things while I'm over here, but I haven't had too much to eat the past couple of days so I decided that I needed an influx of calories. McDonalds was happy to oblige.

When we were in Kending, we ate at McDonalds both mornings and ordering was easy. We just pointed to what we wanted and it worked out just fine. Here in Chiayi it was not so simple. I tried the pointing technique was unsuccessful and the girl at the register was kind of scared that we weren't able to communicate. Luckily, she brought over someone else who knew enough English to take my order and the crisis was averted.

One of the things that I have wanted to try since arriving to Taiwan is the Super Big Mac. I actually don't know what it is really called since I still know a grand total of one Chinese character. But anyways, the brilliance behind this beast of a burger is that instead of two all beef patties, they double it to four. And let me tell you, four is greater than two. The only complaint that I have is that it loses some of the special sauciness because the beef to sauce ratio increases. But other than that small detail it was pretty great.

Before she left, my sister and I decided that the only reason this beast of a burger isn't sold in the US is because health advocates would rip them apart for the decision. On a side note, why do we call them health advocates anyway? How many people are against health? Anyways, I think that if this burger made its way to the states it would be a big success.

1898

June 29

Day Two- Much Better Than Day One

It was a slow start to the day today. The morning is when the streets are busiest with people that will try to rip you off. They are absolutely everywhere. It is impossible to avoid people that want to make some sort of deal with you. Because of that, and the guy I “owe” Php 200, I elected not to go out in the morning and instead watch television until noon. At noon, I elected to go do the same lunch that I did yesterday. Today's menu was not as good. The curry chicken with fried noodles and white rice was alright, but not nearly as good as yesterdays jerk chicken. However, I was still able to access the internet and get caught up on some things.

For the afternoon, I was in “Don't get ripped off” mode. On the internet I saw that I was close to the American Embassy as well as a big park so I decided to check those out. It was definitely a good choice. The US Embassy was huge, way bigger than any of the other ones that I saw. They have like three different areas just for Filipinos to get US visas. I would have pictures of it, but I barely had my camera out of my pocket before two security guards started yelling at me. So no pictures on that front.

I was about to skip the park because of how huge the intersection was to get to it. That's one thing about the streets here: it takes a serious amount of testosterone to cross. While the area may have crosswalks, the preferred strategy to cross is to wait for the smallest gap and then just start walking. It is common for people to be halfway in the street waiting for another car or two to pass before they reach the median. Then they repeat the process again.

So instead I crossed the street at a different point and looked around the area there. Little did I know that I was still entering the park, just at the very end of it. From there, I was able to get to the rest of the park at an easier section in the road. The park was huge and had lots of stuff in it. It was not just a big area of grass. There were many statues and monuments. I can't say for sure, but I believe that it is the national park. One of the main areas has a plaque commemorating the exact location where the United States granted the Filipinos independence on July 4, 1946. It made me wonder how much fun it would be to celebrate independence day halfway across the world around people that are doing the same thing.

I was checking out a cool little bridge area when a man said that I couldn't walk there. So I walked to another statue and he approached me and started telling me information. He told me he would show me some of the other areas in the park. Weary of getting ripped off again, I let him take me there but I knew that I needed to make terms with him before he showed me too much. Two of the areas that he showed me were a Chinese area and a chess park. The highlight of the Chinese park was the big statue of Confucius. I was surprised that he had an influence all the way down in the Philippines. The interesting part of the chess area was how quick the games go. Most of the players played games where they would start out with 5 minutes and no time would be added per turn. These guys were absolutely flying. At one point in the game, the button barely popped up on their side before the player would pound it down again. I found out that it is 10 pesos (about 20 cents US) per hour to use the equipment. Not too shabby. Still weary of getting ripped off, I declined the multiple offers to play a game. Oh yeah, un-timed chess here is called “Long Chess.”

When the told me he would show me another area of the park, I knew it was time to talk money. He explained to me that he did it for goodwill and if people felt inclined they could give him a donation at the end. I explained what happened to me yesterday and he told me that not all Filipinos were like that. Scam artists give a bad reputation to the rest of the people. I wanted to believe him, but I still had to be hesitant.

Next, he told me that we would go to see an old Spanish fort, and I made sure it was close by before I went with him. It ended up being pretty cool and offered a great view of a spectacular golf course and some of the government buildings. After that we went back to the park and that's where he said we would part ways. I gave him a 20 peso and he insisted that we buy water with it. We both got a water and then parted ways. In hindsight, I should have given him more than that since he showed me areas that otherwise I would not have seen. A 50 or 100 would have been more appropriate. I also feel bad for lying to him because I told him early on before I realized that he actually was a good man that my parents were staying back at the hotel. I said that I was leaving in two days and if we weren't doing anything I would invite my family back to the park to get a better tour. He said that he would take us on the train and the jeepneys (kind-of long pick-ups with benches in the back used as buses) to get places so I wouldn't get ripped off by taking a cab again. At least I told him that we would probably have plans. In any case, if you are ever in Manila and looking for a cool historical tour, I would highly recommend walking to Rizal Park and looking for the man named Paul.

Life in the Philippines- Bad Start

June 28

Wow. What a start to my first full day in the Philippines. One of the first things that I did was get outside to explore the area that I'm staying in. Along the road as I was walking towards the ocean, a man approached me and said that he remembered me from the hotel last night. He said that he worked there. He introduced himself as Rico and I told him that I was Graham. He then told me that it was his day off and that he would take me and show me some of the touristy things. The first thing that we did was explore the coast next to the hotels. I was expecting a beach, but instead it's really just the ocean with a wall in the area that I'm staying at. He pointed to a few different things, one of which being the American Embassy, which I was thankful for.

He also was talking about an American cemetery that was nearby for the Filipino and American soldiers that had died during World War II. I thought we were going to walk there but instead he hailed a cab. At this point, I was too much of an idiot to ask how much it would cost. I thought that it was just going to be a quick ride. Instead, it turned out to be probably a 15 minute ride. I was very nervous at this point and realized that this guy was going to try to take advantage of me.

Once we got there, however, the cemetery was really beautiful. The grass was perfectly trimmed and the facilities were in pristine condition. I would have stayed and enjoyed it longer, but the taxi parked instead of leaving, and that's when I realized that I was in serious trouble. At this point, he was talking about taking me to another location, and that's when I finally asked him about how much this whole deal would set me back. He told me $100. I was thinking Philippine Pesos. He was not. I said that I could handle that. Somehow, the message became clear that he was talking about American dollars and the situation got more interesting. I said that I was unwilling to pay $100 American for anything and he said that instead I could pay $2500 peso. I said that that plan would not work either. I told him that I was only carrying $500 peso. He told me that we could go back to the hotel for $1000 peso. I reluctantly agreed to that offer. I pulled out $500 peso, but he saw that I was carrying more than just the one bill. After talking with him a little more I gave him another $300 peso with the agreement to pay the last $200 once we reached the hotel.

The ride home was very tense. He called about three different people and was absolutely livid. At least whenever he was talking to me he was much calmer. He ended up getting dropped off close to the hotel so he could be with his “baby” that he kept talking about. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. He also wanted a bottle of milk for his baby because it was its birthday. But before the taxi rode away, I made sure that all of the expenses were already paid. The driver said that they were. He then drove a couple more blocks and dropped me off. As of now, I have still only paid the $800 peso. I don't plan on paying any more because it looked like my money was the only money that was given to the cab driver. The thing that makes me nervous is that he knows where I am staying because I stupidly said my hostel, even though the hotel that he thought I was staying at was right across the street. But I forgot the name of that when we were driving so I just wanted to make sure that I got back successfully. I am now out $800 peso but at least I know from now on ALWAYS to ask for the cost before I do anything. There is no such thing as free hospitality in the area that I am staying.

One Bad Trip to Manila

June 26-27

This is not exactly what I expected. To make a long story short-scratch that. To not have to repeat a story that makes me mad, I was not able to receive a visa extension on the trip to Taipei. Therefore, to be able to study for the full stay, I had to leave Taiwan and then return in order to get a fresh 30 day stay. So I needed to look for a cheap place to stay for a few days. The two cheapest choices that I found were Thailand and the Philippines. Since Thailand has so many political problems, the choice became pretty easy- I would spend a few days in Manila.

Since Alex, Ray, Emilie, and I were already in Taipei, I looked for a flight that would depart while I was still in town. That would save money as opposed to traveling back to Chiayi and then coming back to Taipei a couple of days later. One of the drawbacks to this was that I had only packed for a one night stay in Taipei. Luckily for me, I had packed a few extra things, but still not enough for the three night stay in Manila. Even with that problem, I still booked an 11:00 am flight to Manila at about 9:00 pm the night before.

After all of the shenanigans, the four of us still elected to check out some of the bars in the area. The one that we decided on was a bar that was going to have a live band playing about 20 minutes after we got there. We decided that it was worth the NT600 charge to go. The band ended up being really awesome. They were a Taiwanese group that played a lot of American covers. They had both a male and a female singer. Both had really great voices and their English was pretty much spot on. They both talked with a good Midwestern accent. Unfortunately, the ventilation was poor and it got smoky pretty quickly. Ray ended up having problems with his asthma and I joined him for the taxi ride home.

In the morning, I woke up around 7 and began my trek to the second largest archipelago in the world. After a scary bus ride where we almost got into an accident, I successfully made it to the airport. Surprisingly, there were no problems getting my boarding pass and getting through immigration. The flight was nice and I was glad that I got a window seat because I was able to look at the different islands that we were flying over on the way down. Arriving was interesting, because apparently our plane was too small to use the normal gate (it appeared that only the big 747 and 777s could use it) so we had to take a bus to the terminal. Customs in the Philippines was pretty nuts because we also had to fill out a health form. On each of the three forms that were required, each one asked to write a permanent Philippines address. I didn't realize that it meant the hotel or hostel that I was staying at so there were problems fixing my forms. I am so glad that I had my hostel information on my Expeedia confirmation because I'm not sure if they would have let me into the country otherwise. They seemed to be very strict about having a place to stay. Once I got through that part though, the rest was really easy. Going through Customs, they didn't even check what was in my backpack.

The taxi ride to the hostel was eye opening because I quickly learned how little importance lanes are here. There were people driving between lanes and the congestion was so bad that I wondered if people just picked a lane if it would be nearly as bad. I successfully arrived at the hostel and got checked in. After a nap, I had dinner at a seafood place. It was delicious. I got a seafood dish were I dipped my assorted animals into a mix of soy sauce, chili mix, and some sort of little green citrus food. The woman told me the name of it but I quickly forgot. Whatever it is, it added an excellent kick to the dish and made it worthwhile to order.

The main drawback to the area so far is sticking out as an American. So far walking down about two blocks I have already been offered some silver coins, 2 different sets of watches, ganja, Viagra, and of course, a full body massage with the emphasis on “full body.” It makes me realize how much I enjoy staying in Taiwan because being American is a cool thing, but for the most part they will still leave you alone. Here, it appears that being an American is just going to be a hassle and people will just try to take advantage of me. Hopefully I will be wrong about that.

$50 Wine Never Tasted So Bad

Today was a pretty low key day. I don't even think that I left the house until about three in the afternoon. Basically the highlight of the day for me was trying the rice wine that I bought yesterday. I figured that it would have a similar taste to regular wine, just not as good. Instead it tasted “like watered down vodka,” as Alex described it. As I am writing this at midnight, my glass is still half-full but I haven't the heart to throw it away.