Yuck

One of the downsides to being around all these cute Taiwanese kids all day is the propensity you have for picking up bugs. I took the day off work today because my voice sounds like that of a large bear, recently woken from an extensive period of hibernation. I'm going on a company trip to an amusement park tomorrow, I mean later today, so I had better be better!!!

I'll post photos of the trip when I get back.

Only in Taiwan... Where else can you go to a conveniance store at any time of day or night and pick up a pack of soy soaked birds eggs when you're er, peckish? (Sorry for the bad pun) 

Photos never do reality justice! The sun was perfectly aligned with the cross of the church steeple, and it cast a great shadow on the road. The photo doesn't do it justice... 

I was bored... 

It was so hard to choose one. I had a bunch of super blurry photos that I thought looked quite nice. I couldn't decide which one was the best.  

I went for a photo shoot on a bridge over one of Taichung's busiest roads. I should have been in bed... 

I did it!

On Saturday night, I completed a major milestone in my Taiwanese experience. I ate stinky tofu. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's a cube of beige coloured bean curd that smells like (how do I put this nicely) a dirty person's nether region when cooked. As such, it is a rather scary thing to have to put in your mouth.
Well I did.
I ate it once, and didn't like it.
So I thought I'd try again - I still didn't like it.
After the third cube, I decided that I really didn't like it at all.

It doesn't taste nearly as bad as it smells, the taste is more like that bad taste you have in your mouth in the morning when you've eaten a steak the night before and have forgotten to brush your teeth.

It would have been nice to like it though, so I could have another thing in common with my Taiwanese friends.

In South Africa, people stick them on cars. Here they put them on scooters! I don't know what this one says though, so if you know, please comment! 

If you have a blog yourself...

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Same place, same time, same story with Picassa upping the contrast on this one. 

So here's my picture of the day. I went for a photo shoot at midnight for no particular reason at an abandoned building site. There was this couch, and it was vaguely lit up by a traffic light. I decided to draw on it with my good ol LED torch. I think it worked out OK...

:D 

Took this one with my phone. No comment necessary :) 

Nifty hey? This is the data recorded from my little ride this morning. 

Buy a phone, get a bike.

I was holding back posting this until I actually had the bike in my possession. Well, now it's official - I got a free bike because I bought a new phone. Pretty unbelievable stuff. Why would someone do this? I guess it's because the phone can act as a cycle computer (as well as a phone, surprise surprise). So I guess Siemens figured that it would be a real waste to spend all that time and effort developing the phone if no one actually used it for its intended purpose. Whatever the case, I now have a free (but crusty of course) mountain bike.

Now here's a clever system: Instead of queuing and getting bored in long lines at banks, post offices etc, you take a piece of numbered paper from a small printer. When it's your turn to be served, your number flashes above a free counter. This way, you can sit down, relax and otherwise just not get so tense. This particular piece was from my visit to the bank yesterday. 

Another great piece of art that was waiting to be thrown away. It's apparantly some famous Chinese poem. To be honest, I just like the look of it. Feel free to comment if you actually know what this poem means! 

Now I'm no art fundi, but this looks like a resonable oil painting to me. It was at the bottom of my apartment waiting to be thrown away, so I picked it up and took it home. 

My chop is made out of some kind of jade I think. 

This is a pic of the baseball facility I mentioned in my previous post. It's good fun to hit the covers off some baseballs just for the heck of it!

I spent Sunday afternoon evening with a couple of Taiwanese mates. Yay. For all the time I've been in Taiwan, I've done very little socialising with Taiwanese people.

From right to left is:
Me
Monica, my friendly language exchange partner
Patrick, a really cool guy (he rides mountain bikes for fun and sells them for a living)
Michelle, Patrick's girlfriend and my friend from work, who introduced me to everyone else in the photo
One of Monica's friends from University, is behind Michelle and his girlfriend is to the left of Michelle (on Michelle's right).
We had a good time lurking at Taichung's sculpture park, listening to msic and then hitting and throwing baseballs at a brand new automated baseball practice facility. It's like a a golf driving range for baseball, which is pretty much the most popular sport in Taiwan, along with basketball.

My chop.

So this is my Chinese signature. It's a weird system, because anyone who gets your stamp can legally sign documents in your name. A bit silly I think, but maybe that's just becasue I'm not very careful. My name is:

'gou' - Tall
'yen' - not sure
'ching' - clear, as in clear water.

So essentially my name means 'tall and clear'. Someone recently remarked that it sounds like a professor! I like it a lot :)

This name was given to me by one of the guys at work, responsible for handling all the foreigner's documents.

WOW

OK, this post has got nothing to do with Taiwan, but this band is SO good that I felt I had to post this as a public service anouncement!

If you like good music and an appreciate raw talent, PLEASE watch this video. It's a live song by a new band called Mute Math. They're one half of the brilliant band Earthsuit which split up after their first album (much to my dissapointment). So very, very, very good.