I think by this time, most of us were already anticipating the vacation so our minds are not into studying anymore. Wahahaha... 不好意思老師!
 |
| Second to the last day of school with my favorite class in the whole world! Grabbed from 刁老師! |
Friday, December 4, 2009
Last Week of Class
...is also the third week of November. :-P
I think by this time, most of us were already anticipating the vacation so our minds are not into studying anymore. Wahahaha... 不好意思老師!
I think by this time, most of us were already anticipating the vacation so our minds are not into studying anymore. Wahahaha... 不好意思老師!
Monday, November 30, 2009
A Month of Silence
Man, I suck at blogging!!! Hahaha... I haven't posted in a long while - about a month, I think. Raar!
What have I been up to these past silent days? On the earlier part of November, I was fairly busy at school. See, I do study! Early part of November, I was mostly taking Mandarin proficiency tests for my scholarship or for my class; then we also had to do our final project in class where we were forced (and we yielded quite happily) to take part in a fake student organization election campaign.
Basically, I was a candidate for a fictional organization and I had to make a speech about why they should vote for me. I was paired off to 惠京, my awesome Korean classmate, who was my campaign manager. It was a lot of fun. Hahaha!
We made a poster, and then our speeches were also video-recorded. Since my partner and I were both crazy people, we just did some crazy out-of-this world fictional speeches. We won second place! Yeah! :-D (And we were also team # 2!) Thanks to Jen, Heidi and Jamie for attending the event and supporting Michelle and me! :D
What have I been up to these past silent days? On the earlier part of November, I was fairly busy at school. See, I do study! Early part of November, I was mostly taking Mandarin proficiency tests for my scholarship or for my class; then we also had to do our final project in class where we were forced (and we yielded quite happily) to take part in a fake student organization election campaign.
Basically, I was a candidate for a fictional organization and I had to make a speech about why they should vote for me. I was paired off to 惠京, my awesome Korean classmate, who was my campaign manager. It was a lot of fun. Hahaha!
We made a poster, and then our speeches were also video-recorded. Since my partner and I were both crazy people, we just did some crazy out-of-this world fictional speeches. We won second place! Yeah! :-D (And we were also team # 2!) Thanks to Jen, Heidi and Jamie for attending the event and supporting Michelle and me! :D
 |
| 惠京 and I doing our thizz face. Photo grabbed from Jen. |
Monday, November 2, 2009
我Marcos的文章
I'm just so happy to have written this... I wouldn't have been able to do this using my Chinese education in the Philippines. (mainly because I was a bad Chinese student back then.)
菲律賓人多少都喜歡自己國家的民主化。一般的人民覺得People Power革命成功的事情﹐就是菲律賓人厲害的證明。
對我來說﹐每個國家適合不一樣的領導﹐而且菲律賓不適合民主化。
Marcos當總統的時候讓菲律賓發展多﹐經濟比較好﹐國家很安定﹐而且總統的太太也把很多的方法﹐像交通﹐博物館﹐什麼的﹐好好地建設﹐聽說那時的人民也比較有禮貌。
Marcos總統任期快滿的時候﹐他覺得他還可以做更多對國家好的事情﹐所以他把總治的辦法改成Martial Law﹐一般的人民不同意這樣的改變﹐因為他們覺得Marcos只要讓他控制的力量更大更多。
人民覺得Marcos的情形很嚴重了﹐他們就革命不讓Marcos當總統了。人民不希望Marcos將來領導菲律賓。
對我來說﹐現在的菲律賓跟以前的菲律賓比起來﹐以前的菲律賓非常好。現在菲律賓發展那麼慢﹐交通很差﹐博物館沒進步﹐真可惜!
PS. I feel that I won't be able to understand my own essay a few months after I go back to the Philippines. Hahahaha! I fervently hope that it doesn't happen though... *wishing hard*
菲律賓人多少都喜歡自己國家的民主化。一般的人民覺得People Power革命成功的事情﹐就是菲律賓人厲害的證明。
對我來說﹐每個國家適合不一樣的領導﹐而且菲律賓不適合民主化。
Marcos當總統的時候讓菲律賓發展多﹐經濟比較好﹐國家很安定﹐而且總統的太太也把很多的方法﹐像交通﹐博物館﹐什麼的﹐好好地建設﹐聽說那時的人民也比較有禮貌。
Marcos總統任期快滿的時候﹐他覺得他還可以做更多對國家好的事情﹐所以他把總治的辦法改成Martial Law﹐一般的人民不同意這樣的改變﹐因為他們覺得Marcos只要讓他控制的力量更大更多。
人民覺得Marcos的情形很嚴重了﹐他們就革命不讓Marcos當總統了。人民不希望Marcos將來領導菲律賓。
對我來說﹐現在的菲律賓跟以前的菲律賓比起來﹐以前的菲律賓非常好。現在菲律賓發展那麼慢﹐交通很差﹐博物館沒進步﹐真可惜!
PS. I feel that I won't be able to understand my own essay a few months after I go back to the Philippines. Hahahaha! I fervently hope that it doesn't happen though... *wishing hard*
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sorry Haven't Posted For A While
Haven't posted for a while! Hahaha... having too much fun here! :-D
Ate a lot of new food, tried a lot of new things, visited new places, and met a lot of people these past few days...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW FOOD:
- Evan's burger: beefiest burger I've tasted in Taiwan so far.
- Hongkong restaurants in Zhongxiao-Dunhua: tastes like Chinese food back home...yum!
- Pizza Hut: Japanese Teppanyaki Pizza is weird and sweet.
- Burger King or 漢堡王: Tried their buy one take one thingies with classmates. Cheap food!
- mini siopao's and misua from Shida night market 師大夜市.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EVENTS:
- Visited "Filipino-town" here in Taipei and hoarded Filipino chips (piatos, tempura, oishi, etc).
- Michelle cooked Filipino food (sinigang, pancit, adobo) for us. I helped chop veggies!
- Gatecrashed Heidi's classmate's party... Culture shock! Didn't know what to do at this social setting. hahahaha!
- Went to the gym: it's cheap here!!! CHEAP!!!
- Went to 九份 (jiufen): awesome traditional Chinese/Japanese looking place! Want to have my prenup shots done here! :-D
- Helped Michelle move 搬家!
- New haircut - which sucks a bit. Jamie said he was stunned. Hahaha!
- Went to a Fahrenheit Concert (飛輪海的演唱會) and cried tears of joy. 很感動吧! :-P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW PEOPLE:
- Met Heidi's classmates and friends. :-)
- Met my 阿姨 and 姨丈 from the States! Love them!
- Met Jen's friends (Joy and Mae), went with them to 九份.
- Met Heidi's family!
- Met a friend's "friend" - let's leave it at that. ;-D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We're having our mock-TOP tests this week, and the workload is much much lighter. 所以可以輕輕鬆松一點。。。 :-D
Just this Monday, I had an oral examination... It was so much fun because the exam is computer-based, they have set questions that they ask the examinees and they record our answers and will check them on a later date. The result comes out on December 15, 2009. Good thing the score won't affect our grades! :-D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WEIRD EXAM ANSWER
I also had a chapter exam last Monday, and I probably won't forget this composition I did. We basically need to use up the grammar points to answer some questions.
For one of the items, the question was "昨天我打電話給你時﹐你為什麼沒空跟我說話?你那個時候在忙什麼?" (roughly translates as: "I called you up yesterday and you didn't have time to talk, what were you busy with?").
My answer using the grammar points was "真的不好意思﹐你打電話的時候我正要去廁所﹐大便就快出來了﹐所以沒辦法跟你說些話。" (which translates to: "Very sorry, I was about to go to the bathroom when you called; My poop was about to go out, that's why I wasn't able to talk to you.")
Then I added a "對不起!不好的題目。" ("sorry! bad topic!) apology for my teacher. hahahaha! Got that item right though - no deductions for grossness! :-D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow, we will have our typing/composition exam. Then we have a listening exam on Thursday... Looking forward to the coming days!!!!! ^____^
Ate a lot of new food, tried a lot of new things, visited new places, and met a lot of people these past few days...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW FOOD:
- Evan's burger: beefiest burger I've tasted in Taiwan so far.
- Hongkong restaurants in Zhongxiao-Dunhua: tastes like Chinese food back home...yum!
- Pizza Hut: Japanese Teppanyaki Pizza is weird and sweet.
- Burger King or 漢堡王: Tried their buy one take one thingies with classmates. Cheap food!
- mini siopao's and misua from Shida night market 師大夜市.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EVENTS:
- Visited "Filipino-town" here in Taipei and hoarded Filipino chips (piatos, tempura, oishi, etc).
- Michelle cooked Filipino food (sinigang, pancit, adobo) for us. I helped chop veggies!
- Gatecrashed Heidi's classmate's party... Culture shock! Didn't know what to do at this social setting. hahahaha!
- Went to the gym: it's cheap here!!! CHEAP!!!
- Went to 九份 (jiufen): awesome traditional Chinese/Japanese looking place! Want to have my prenup shots done here! :-D
- Helped Michelle move 搬家!
- New haircut - which sucks a bit. Jamie said he was stunned. Hahaha!
- Went to a Fahrenheit Concert (飛輪海的演唱會) and cried tears of joy. 很感動吧! :-P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW PEOPLE:
- Met Heidi's classmates and friends. :-)
- Met my 阿姨 and 姨丈 from the States! Love them!
- Met Jen's friends (Joy and Mae), went with them to 九份.
- Met Heidi's family!
- Met a friend's "friend" - let's leave it at that. ;-D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We're having our mock-TOP tests this week, and the workload is much much lighter. 所以可以輕輕鬆松一點。。。 :-D
Just this Monday, I had an oral examination... It was so much fun because the exam is computer-based, they have set questions that they ask the examinees and they record our answers and will check them on a later date. The result comes out on December 15, 2009. Good thing the score won't affect our grades! :-D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WEIRD EXAM ANSWER
I also had a chapter exam last Monday, and I probably won't forget this composition I did. We basically need to use up the grammar points to answer some questions.
For one of the items, the question was "昨天我打電話給你時﹐你為什麼沒空跟我說話?你那個時候在忙什麼?" (roughly translates as: "I called you up yesterday and you didn't have time to talk, what were you busy with?").
My answer using the grammar points was "真的不好意思﹐你打電話的時候我正要去廁所﹐大便就快出來了﹐所以沒辦法跟你說些話。" (which translates to: "Very sorry, I was about to go to the bathroom when you called; My poop was about to go out, that's why I wasn't able to talk to you.")
Then I added a "對不起!不好的題目。" ("sorry! bad topic!) apology for my teacher. hahahaha! Got that item right though - no deductions for grossness! :-D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow, we will have our typing/composition exam. Then we have a listening exam on Thursday... Looking forward to the coming days!!!!! ^____^
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Six Days of Food and Exercise
After Hamy left for Manila, my days have been filled with more eating and exercise. :-D
Last Thursday, Heidi was telling us how we should start exploring more eating options. We've become fond of the normal eating places here in Shida Night Market that we don't experiment and try others anymore. According to Heidi, we've only eaten at 24 different places in the month that we've been in Taiwan.
In order to diversify and add to the list, we decided to have lunch at a place that we've never had lunch before. We call it the "spicy place" because everything on the menu has the word 辣 or spicy in it. The thing is, you can order them non-spicy - like non-spicy spicy noodles. Hahaha... Anyway, it was a nice discovery because it was good and cheap food - just how the locals like 'em.
After eating, I felt sleepy so I left everyone to do their bit and went home to sleep the whole afternoon away. At around dinner time, Michelle, Heidz and Jamie came to my place to raid me! Hahahaha. They brought a mahjong set and some mantou rolls for dinner. We played bad mahjong then moved to 1-2-3-Pass (and write on loser's arms). Neung played with us for a few rounds then left. After she left, the game went wild! Jamie and Michelle are forever having these United States vs. England matches so when Michelle got to write her love for US in Jamie's arm, Jamie was so pissed. Jamie wasn't able to get his revenge because we didn't have enough time to play. Hahaha! It was good fun to watch them show their distaste for each other's countries (even though they actually really like the other's country).
Jamie's arm with "我愛美國,很好的地方" written on it (Taken by Michelle):
Friday was the day before our beach day so we spent most of the day planning for the beach trip. We ate at the hotpot place for lunch (with Michelle, Eli, Hanni, and Wayne), bought some swimming, volleyball, and tennis stuff; then headed for the Shida Tennis Courts to play my first tennis game in Taiwan. I still and will always suck at tennis, but i really do enjoy playing it for some reason. I was playing with Jamie for a bit before we got tired of picking up the balls (more than hitting them).
I did walling for a bit while the others played volleyball (I'm scared of being hit by volleyballs!). One other person was walling beside me, and he asked me if I wanted to play with him. Of course!!! 當然啊!!! So we played while the others were playing volleyball. I found out later that the guy's name is 生活 or something that sounds like that. I hope to play with him again next time - he's the only one who can catch and return by bad shots so far. :-D
Jamie, Michelle and I went to try a new place for dinner and ended up discovering Jamie's new favorite place which served Thai-Malaysian food. We had some coconut milk beef, sweet vinegar chicken and pineapple fried rice. We talked the night away, until the restaurant started closing the lights to shoo off the loitering customers.
Saturday is Fulong Beach day which I am gonna reserve for a different blog entry. Just because it was the most fun and unique experience in my stay here in Taiwan (so far). :-D
Sunday was spent for resting our aching bodies from all the sports and activities that we were doing. We still couldn't part from each other though; Heidz, Michelle, Jamie and I met up with each other to eat dinner together. We finally had Japanese thanks to Neung's help. :-D
Monday is another sleep day for me. We had a chapter test and an oral examination in class, then we (Jen, Mike, Michelle, and I) ate roast duck and asado for lunch. After that, I slept the whole afternoon away until Michelle called me up to meet everyone for dinner. We went back to Jamie's Thai-Malaysian place to introduce Jen and Heidz to the good food.
Today Tuesday, we ate the cheap 小龍包 place for lunch with a bunch of peeps from class and extended friends. Michelle went home to sleep, then Jen and I spent the early afternoon chatting and cleaning my room. The five of us (Michelle, Heidz, Jen, Jamie, me) met up at the oval for a run. The weather was so nice for running! I had a very nice and easy 10 laps. Jamie thought I was not tired enough though so he asked me to run another fast lap which I did in around 2 or 3 mins (400km). Not bad, I think. :-D
We met up with Michelle's friend, Dan. Then we ate at a place that served Mexican food. The food reminded me of "Hola!" burritos from the Philippines. :-D
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I might finally be able to try Evan's Burger (50% off on their burgers every Wednesday). :-D
Last Thursday, Heidi was telling us how we should start exploring more eating options. We've become fond of the normal eating places here in Shida Night Market that we don't experiment and try others anymore. According to Heidi, we've only eaten at 24 different places in the month that we've been in Taiwan.
In order to diversify and add to the list, we decided to have lunch at a place that we've never had lunch before. We call it the "spicy place" because everything on the menu has the word 辣 or spicy in it. The thing is, you can order them non-spicy - like non-spicy spicy noodles. Hahaha... Anyway, it was a nice discovery because it was good and cheap food - just how the locals like 'em.
After eating, I felt sleepy so I left everyone to do their bit and went home to sleep the whole afternoon away. At around dinner time, Michelle, Heidz and Jamie came to my place to raid me! Hahahaha. They brought a mahjong set and some mantou rolls for dinner. We played bad mahjong then moved to 1-2-3-Pass (and write on loser's arms). Neung played with us for a few rounds then left. After she left, the game went wild! Jamie and Michelle are forever having these United States vs. England matches so when Michelle got to write her love for US in Jamie's arm, Jamie was so pissed. Jamie wasn't able to get his revenge because we didn't have enough time to play. Hahaha! It was good fun to watch them show their distaste for each other's countries (even though they actually really like the other's country).
Jamie's arm with "我愛美國,很好的地方" written on it (Taken by Michelle):
Friday was the day before our beach day so we spent most of the day planning for the beach trip. We ate at the hotpot place for lunch (with Michelle, Eli, Hanni, and Wayne), bought some swimming, volleyball, and tennis stuff; then headed for the Shida Tennis Courts to play my first tennis game in Taiwan. I still and will always suck at tennis, but i really do enjoy playing it for some reason. I was playing with Jamie for a bit before we got tired of picking up the balls (more than hitting them).
I did walling for a bit while the others played volleyball (I'm scared of being hit by volleyballs!). One other person was walling beside me, and he asked me if I wanted to play with him. Of course!!! 當然啊!!! So we played while the others were playing volleyball. I found out later that the guy's name is 生活 or something that sounds like that. I hope to play with him again next time - he's the only one who can catch and return by bad shots so far. :-D
Jamie, Michelle and I went to try a new place for dinner and ended up discovering Jamie's new favorite place which served Thai-Malaysian food. We had some coconut milk beef, sweet vinegar chicken and pineapple fried rice. We talked the night away, until the restaurant started closing the lights to shoo off the loitering customers.
Saturday is Fulong Beach day which I am gonna reserve for a different blog entry. Just because it was the most fun and unique experience in my stay here in Taiwan (so far). :-D
Sunday was spent for resting our aching bodies from all the sports and activities that we were doing. We still couldn't part from each other though; Heidz, Michelle, Jamie and I met up with each other to eat dinner together. We finally had Japanese thanks to Neung's help. :-D
Monday is another sleep day for me. We had a chapter test and an oral examination in class, then we (Jen, Mike, Michelle, and I) ate roast duck and asado for lunch. After that, I slept the whole afternoon away until Michelle called me up to meet everyone for dinner. We went back to Jamie's Thai-Malaysian place to introduce Jen and Heidz to the good food.
Today Tuesday, we ate the cheap 小龍包 place for lunch with a bunch of peeps from class and extended friends. Michelle went home to sleep, then Jen and I spent the early afternoon chatting and cleaning my room. The five of us (Michelle, Heidz, Jen, Jamie, me) met up at the oval for a run. The weather was so nice for running! I had a very nice and easy 10 laps. Jamie thought I was not tired enough though so he asked me to run another fast lap which I did in around 2 or 3 mins (400km). Not bad, I think. :-D
We met up with Michelle's friend, Dan. Then we ate at a place that served Mexican food. The food reminded me of "Hola!" burritos from the Philippines. :-D
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I might finally be able to try Evan's Burger (50% off on their burgers every Wednesday). :-D
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Hamy-day and Other Days
So yeah, Hamy finally visited me here after more than a month of not seeing each other. I'm still gonna do my usual rundown of activities since I want to remember them in the future, so please bear with me. Hehehe...
Thursday was the day before Hamy arrives. The only thing I remembered was that it was the first time I was able to try sibut (chinese medicinal soup) and that it was my first full 10-lap run since I came here in Taiwan (due to Jamie's encouragement).
Hamy arrived on Friday and we were able to meet each other at around 4pm that day (I brought him fried dumplings which he absolutely loved). Jen waited with me just to be able to meet him, then she had to go home. We had dinner with Heidi, Jamie, and Michelle. Hamy was finally able to meet my Taiwan friends. Oh, and we ate at the Goon's chou fan place for dinner. Weirdly enough, he was also able to meet all my housemates that day. This isn't usual, I usually don't get to see all my housemates in one day!
Saturday was our foodie and lucky day (It was also Taiwan's Mid-Autumn Festival). I had breakfast with Hamy in the hotel, since he got two free breakfast stubs from his room. We wasted the rest of the morning doing my laundry and talking. For lunch, I took him to DinTaiFung to try the famous xiaolongbao. We had to wait for around 45-60 mins before we can get into the place so we went to a roast duck place nearby and shared a plate of mixed roasted meat (duck, pork, chicken). When we got back to DinTaiFung, we ordered two orders of xiaolongbao.
Me, waiting for our turn to come up in DinTaiFung! Things we do for good food...
Thursday was the day before Hamy arrives. The only thing I remembered was that it was the first time I was able to try sibut (chinese medicinal soup) and that it was my first full 10-lap run since I came here in Taiwan (due to Jamie's encouragement).
Hamy arrived on Friday and we were able to meet each other at around 4pm that day (I brought him fried dumplings which he absolutely loved). Jen waited with me just to be able to meet him, then she had to go home. We had dinner with Heidi, Jamie, and Michelle. Hamy was finally able to meet my Taiwan friends. Oh, and we ate at the Goon's chou fan place for dinner. Weirdly enough, he was also able to meet all my housemates that day. This isn't usual, I usually don't get to see all my housemates in one day!
Saturday was our foodie and lucky day (It was also Taiwan's Mid-Autumn Festival). I had breakfast with Hamy in the hotel, since he got two free breakfast stubs from his room. We wasted the rest of the morning doing my laundry and talking. For lunch, I took him to DinTaiFung to try the famous xiaolongbao. We had to wait for around 45-60 mins before we can get into the place so we went to a roast duck place nearby and shared a plate of mixed roasted meat (duck, pork, chicken). When we got back to DinTaiFung, we ordered two orders of xiaolongbao.
Me, waiting for our turn to come up in DinTaiFung! Things we do for good food...
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Teacher's Day and Happy Day
Last Monday (September 28, 2009) was teacher's day! To show our teacher how much we loved her (because we do love her), the whole class gave her a bouquet of flowers and treated her to a xiaolongbao lunch!
Here's Diao Lao Shi with her bouquet! Upper left to right: Michelle (US), Me, 茉莉 (Poland), 京林 (Korea), 煌聰 (Vietnam). Lower left to right: 惠理 (Japan), 家美 (Indonesia), 刁老師, 惠敬 (Korea).
Here's another one from behind our building. This was after we finished lunch. :D
After this, Michelle and I met up with Heidi and Jamie then we went to Taipei Main Station to check out the laptops. :-D Gonna buy one this coming weekend! I soo need a new one, the one I'm using now is too small!!
We headed back to Shida and ate dinner at the Goon's fried rice place; bumped into Paolo (my Brazilian roommate) so he had dinner with us. :-)
This was also the day when I was finally able to drop off my film in the cheap dev place recommended by flickr friends. I think I need to have my SLR serviced, its sticky shutter problem is happening more often now!
Tuesday was fairly uneventful save for the stipend's arrival. Yes! I am finally able to pay the last part of my fall semester tuition and pay my rent!
I also went running with Jamie and Heidi (ran 6 laps); then we ate together with Neung (my Thai housemate) at the Goon's fried rice place. Yes, two times in a row - we really like our fried rice! :-D
Remember the time when Jamie beat me twice in chess? Well, we had another manly competition. I was telling him how English people are useless when it comes to spicy food. So he challenged me to a chili sauce eating duel. Who won? The non-English person, of course! Jamie-2; Jac-1. He cried! Tsktsktsk...
Today Wednesday, We had a huge chapter exam and a huge oral exam. Ate at a Vietnamese place for lunch and at a sibut (si-boot) place for dinner. We loitered around the running track while Michelle did 10 laps. I wanna do 10 laps tomorrow too!! :-D
We miss you Jen! Hope you won't be too busy soon! ^__^
Here's Diao Lao Shi with her bouquet! Upper left to right: Michelle (US), Me, 茉莉 (Poland), 京林 (Korea), 煌聰 (Vietnam). Lower left to right: 惠理 (Japan), 家美 (Indonesia), 刁老師, 惠敬 (Korea).
Here's another one from behind our building. This was after we finished lunch. :D
After this, Michelle and I met up with Heidi and Jamie then we went to Taipei Main Station to check out the laptops. :-D Gonna buy one this coming weekend! I soo need a new one, the one I'm using now is too small!!
We headed back to Shida and ate dinner at the Goon's fried rice place; bumped into Paolo (my Brazilian roommate) so he had dinner with us. :-)
This was also the day when I was finally able to drop off my film in the cheap dev place recommended by flickr friends. I think I need to have my SLR serviced, its sticky shutter problem is happening more often now!
Tuesday was fairly uneventful save for the stipend's arrival. Yes! I am finally able to pay the last part of my fall semester tuition and pay my rent!
I also went running with Jamie and Heidi (ran 6 laps); then we ate together with Neung (my Thai housemate) at the Goon's fried rice place. Yes, two times in a row - we really like our fried rice! :-D
Remember the time when Jamie beat me twice in chess? Well, we had another manly competition. I was telling him how English people are useless when it comes to spicy food. So he challenged me to a chili sauce eating duel. Who won? The non-English person, of course! Jamie-2; Jac-1. He cried! Tsktsktsk...
Today Wednesday, We had a huge chapter exam and a huge oral exam. Ate at a Vietnamese place for lunch and at a sibut (si-boot) place for dinner. We loitered around the running track while Michelle did 10 laps. I wanna do 10 laps tomorrow too!! :-D
We miss you Jen! Hope you won't be too busy soon! ^__^
Monday, September 28, 2009
My Weekend
Picture below (c/o Jen) from the Hawaiian Party last Friday:
Last Saturday after my TOP mock exam, Heidi, Jen and I met up with Michelle and Jamie in Ximending to catch a movie (The Ugly Truth). We saw Michelle's friend Chris after the movie so he joined us for dinner and talked with us while we were walking around the place.
When I got home, I got a message from Hamy that there's a big storm in Manila and that there's no electricity and water there. I went online and saw a lot of freaky videos (especially of UERM where my mother currently works.) I sent text messages to my parents but did not receive anything so I got a bit worried. Called home, my dad answered and told me that they were all at home and that the flood didn't reach our area. *Whew*
Sunday, Heidi, Jamie and I met for lunch. He headed to Jamie's place to check if he has WiFi using Heidi's laptop. We tried to study there but it was not conducive to study groups. Hahaha! Met up with Jen after a bit, and we decided to study in my place instead.
After a couple of hours (or minutes) of slaving with the books, we decided too take a break and play 1-2-3-Pass. I had some water-based markers in my place, so we used it to draw stuff on the losers' arms. It was havoc!!! Jamie had too much fun writing on people's arms, and he draws and writes like a five year old (very big!). Anyway, he was able to learn to write some Chinese phrases like 我做了第二個-大家不好意思 (I pooped-sorry everyone), 注意-咬人 (warning-I bite), 色浪 (pervert), 你看什麼笨蛋 (what are you looking at stupid?), and 熊貓迷會 (panda fanclub). I'm sure this will be very useful for his Chinese education (yeah, right!).
We met up with Michelle after the game - she had her hair done (red highlights rock!); then we went out to eat dinner at a nearby Thai BBQ place. :-)
Beth called me Sunday night to invite Hamy and me to their dice game. So looking forward to winning anything!! :-D Looking forward to seeing Hamy this Friday!!! ^___^
Last Saturday after my TOP mock exam, Heidi, Jen and I met up with Michelle and Jamie in Ximending to catch a movie (The Ugly Truth). We saw Michelle's friend Chris after the movie so he joined us for dinner and talked with us while we were walking around the place.
When I got home, I got a message from Hamy that there's a big storm in Manila and that there's no electricity and water there. I went online and saw a lot of freaky videos (especially of UERM where my mother currently works.) I sent text messages to my parents but did not receive anything so I got a bit worried. Called home, my dad answered and told me that they were all at home and that the flood didn't reach our area. *Whew*
Sunday, Heidi, Jamie and I met for lunch. He headed to Jamie's place to check if he has WiFi using Heidi's laptop. We tried to study there but it was not conducive to study groups. Hahaha! Met up with Jen after a bit, and we decided to study in my place instead.
After a couple of hours (or minutes) of slaving with the books, we decided too take a break and play 1-2-3-Pass. I had some water-based markers in my place, so we used it to draw stuff on the losers' arms. It was havoc!!! Jamie had too much fun writing on people's arms, and he draws and writes like a five year old (very big!). Anyway, he was able to learn to write some Chinese phrases like 我做了第二個-大家不好意思 (I pooped-sorry everyone), 注意-咬人 (warning-I bite), 色浪 (pervert), 你看什麼笨蛋 (what are you looking at stupid?), and 熊貓迷會 (panda fanclub). I'm sure this will be very useful for his Chinese education (yeah, right!).
We met up with Michelle after the game - she had her hair done (red highlights rock!); then we went out to eat dinner at a nearby Thai BBQ place. :-)
Beth called me Sunday night to invite Hamy and me to their dice game. So looking forward to winning anything!! :-D Looking forward to seeing Hamy this Friday!!! ^___^
Friday, September 25, 2009
Haven't Posted in a While
Haven't posted in a while, and that's for good reasons. I've been studying and having fun too much. :-)
Last week Sunday, after Liu Fu Chun, Michelle, Jamie and I met up and shopped around the Gongguan area. We were supposed to go running in the afternoon but then just decided to watch a movie - The Rebound. I was the only one, out of us three, that liked the movie. Jamie, on the other hand, kept complaining about his salty popcorn. Let's just not get into that. Hahaha...
The next day Monday, I brought Jen to Gongguan area again and we also met up with Heidi. Jen bought shoes and running clothes. :-D
Come Tuesday, we went running around the oval. I think I ran 5 rounds and walked a round. :D
Wednesday, I ate xiaolongbao with my classmates for lunch (YUM!!!); and we also went to Chinese singing class where we learned a song each from WangLeeHom and Mayday. We ran around the Shida oval again, then went for some roast duck and asado and lechon. It's so cheap at $85! We also ate some mango, strawberry, kiwi thingy at Ice Monster. :-D
Thursday is cheap day. We ate at the Biandang store for lunch and ate at the Shida dorm canteen for dinner. This was also the day where I lost TWICE (!!) in chess against Jamie.
You see, Jamie pronounces "pawn" in this posh British accent as "pawrn"; we asked him what "porn" sounds liked and he also said "pawrn". The chess bet was that whoever wins in chess will concede to the winner's pronunciation of "pawn". I'm now stuck with pronouncing "pawn" as "pawrn". What's annoying about this blinking rubbish of a guy is that he finds reasons for me to say "pawn".
So he'll be like, "Hey Jac, can you tell Wayne what that small piece in chess in called?"
And I'll say, "Pawrn!"
Oh, joy!
Thursday (or yesterday) was also the day they discovered that we can hang out at our place. My place is the closest to school and is the largest among the three places (Michelle's and Jamie's) near Shida. We spent the whole night playing cards and laughing at sneezing pandas.
Friday (today!) is international students party day! We dressed up in hawaiian or beach clothes (Thanks for lending me your beach dress jen!) and ate filling pica-pica for free. We went back to my place to play some cards. Heidi, Jen, and I forgot how to play 1-2-3-Pass and we wanted to play it because we remembered it to be so much fun. Anyway, I found out how to play it now (thanks Google!) so we can start playing it soon! :-D
I need to sleep soon. Jen, Heidi, and I will be meeting up tomorrow for a TOP mock exam. TOP is the mandarin proficiency exam being used in Taiwan, and we'll need to take the real one as part of the scholarship requirements. :-)
I'm super enjoying my stay here in Taiwan! *Thankful mood*
Last week Sunday, after Liu Fu Chun, Michelle, Jamie and I met up and shopped around the Gongguan area. We were supposed to go running in the afternoon but then just decided to watch a movie - The Rebound. I was the only one, out of us three, that liked the movie. Jamie, on the other hand, kept complaining about his salty popcorn. Let's just not get into that. Hahaha...The next day Monday, I brought Jen to Gongguan area again and we also met up with Heidi. Jen bought shoes and running clothes. :-D
Come Tuesday, we went running around the oval. I think I ran 5 rounds and walked a round. :D
Wednesday, I ate xiaolongbao with my classmates for lunch (YUM!!!); and we also went to Chinese singing class where we learned a song each from WangLeeHom and Mayday. We ran around the Shida oval again, then went for some roast duck and asado and lechon. It's so cheap at $85! We also ate some mango, strawberry, kiwi thingy at Ice Monster. :-D
Thursday is cheap day. We ate at the Biandang store for lunch and ate at the Shida dorm canteen for dinner. This was also the day where I lost TWICE (!!) in chess against Jamie.
You see, Jamie pronounces "pawn" in this posh British accent as "pawrn"; we asked him what "porn" sounds liked and he also said "pawrn". The chess bet was that whoever wins in chess will concede to the winner's pronunciation of "pawn". I'm now stuck with pronouncing "pawn" as "pawrn". What's annoying about this blinking rubbish of a guy is that he finds reasons for me to say "pawn".
So he'll be like, "Hey Jac, can you tell Wayne what that small piece in chess in called?"
And I'll say, "Pawrn!"
Oh, joy!
Thursday (or yesterday) was also the day they discovered that we can hang out at our place. My place is the closest to school and is the largest among the three places (Michelle's and Jamie's) near Shida. We spent the whole night playing cards and laughing at sneezing pandas.
Friday (today!) is international students party day! We dressed up in hawaiian or beach clothes (Thanks for lending me your beach dress jen!) and ate filling pica-pica for free. We went back to my place to play some cards. Heidi, Jen, and I forgot how to play 1-2-3-Pass and we wanted to play it because we remembered it to be so much fun. Anyway, I found out how to play it now (thanks Google!) so we can start playing it soon! :-D
I need to sleep soon. Jen, Heidi, and I will be meeting up tomorrow for a TOP mock exam. TOP is the mandarin proficiency exam being used in Taiwan, and we'll need to take the real one as part of the scholarship requirements. :-)
I'm super enjoying my stay here in Taiwan! *Thankful mood*
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Costco Buffet and Liu Fu Chun
I'm back with my English blogs! Hahaha, I think it'll take a while before I do another Chinese one. Hahaha! I need to rest my brain. :-P
FRIDAY
Jen, Heidi, and I went to Guanghua Electronic Mall after class, and we met up with Jen's uncle. The place feels like V-Mall. Hehehe. I'm going to take Hamy there when he visits Taiwan. I also saw a Babolat tennis racket there (NT2300) which I wanted to buy. *DROOL*
After Guanghua, we went to Costco (Similar to S&R or Macro) and sampled the many free tastes in the place. Michelle told me that they call that the "Costco Buffet" in the States. Hahaha!
After that, we (Heidi, Jen, myself) met up with Michelle and Jamie and ate dinner at the Jamaican place. We went to a lounge nearby, after dinner. I had my first (and last) taste of Taiwan Beer. I found it better tasting that San Miguel Beer (or SanMig Premium even). We also got to meet one of Michelle's college friend, Chris.
FRIDAY
Jen, Heidi, and I went to Guanghua Electronic Mall after class, and we met up with Jen's uncle. The place feels like V-Mall. Hehehe. I'm going to take Hamy there when he visits Taiwan. I also saw a Babolat tennis racket there (NT2300) which I wanted to buy. *DROOL*
After Guanghua, we went to Costco (Similar to S&R or Macro) and sampled the many free tastes in the place. Michelle told me that they call that the "Costco Buffet" in the States. Hahaha!
After that, we (Heidi, Jen, myself) met up with Michelle and Jamie and ate dinner at the Jamaican place. We went to a lounge nearby, after dinner. I had my first (and last) taste of Taiwan Beer. I found it better tasting that San Miguel Beer (or SanMig Premium even). We also got to meet one of Michelle's college friend, Chris.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
中文的部落格
大家好! 今天是一個有意思的天. 下課時候, 我和 Michelle 跟 Heidi, Jen 和 Jamie 有約. 我們一起去火鍋飯館. 這是我第三次了 - 還沒吃膩!
吃完了飯, 我們去圖書館做功課. (我現在還沒做完!!) 然後我們去師大跑道跑步.
好好笑時候, 我把 "Are you finished with your homework?" 這些話說了有英國口音. 我不知道為什麼! 大概是很多時間跟 Jamie 講話吧! 昨天我也看英國 IT Crowd 的電視節目. 我覺得 Jamie 很高興, 哈哈哈!
跑完,我們五個人跟 Wayne 和 Keryl 一起吃小龍飽 (不是鼎泰豐的可是我也知這飯館的名子). 我真的喜歡小龍飽!! 這家的小龍飽比鼎泰豐便宜, 而且跟鼎泰豐一樣好吃!
很難寫中文, 我受不了! 明天要用英文了!
對了, 如果有不對的地方, 請告訴我. 我知道我的中文不太好! :D
吃完了飯, 我們去圖書館做功課. (我現在還沒做完!!) 然後我們去師大跑道跑步.
好好笑時候, 我把 "Are you finished with your homework?" 這些話說了有英國口音. 我不知道為什麼! 大概是很多時間跟 Jamie 講話吧! 昨天我也看英國 IT Crowd 的電視節目. 我覺得 Jamie 很高興, 哈哈哈!
跑完,我們五個人跟 Wayne 和 Keryl 一起吃小龍飽 (不是鼎泰豐的可是我也知這飯館的名子). 我真的喜歡小龍飽!! 這家的小龍飽比鼎泰豐便宜, 而且跟鼎泰豐一樣好吃!
很難寫中文, 我受不了! 明天要用英文了!
對了, 如果有不對的地方, 請告訴我. 我知道我的中文不太好! :D
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Still Alive
Just a quick shout to let everyone (especially my mom) know that I'm still alive and kicking. :-D
I went out to lunch with my whole class yesterday. We ate fried rice (among other things) at a "goons" (it seems like the restaurant is owned by an ex-mafia or something) restaurant. I came back for dinner with Neung (Thai housemate). Hahaha.
Today, I ate lunch (with Jen's classmates) at this vegetarian pientang place. I got too excited with the many choices and ended up eating a NT$158 meal. Hahaha, I'm never going back there!
Heidi and I went running today (while Jen and Jamie sat and talked). We also saw Keryl and Wayne around the oval.
For dinner, Keryl and Wayne brought Heidi and I to this Thai Chicken BBQ place. I loved it! :-D
After the meal, Heidi and I headed to Li-Yuan Hotel to check out their facilities. It's very near Shida and fairly cheap too, so our family and friends can stay here if they want to visit us. :-D
I went out to lunch with my whole class yesterday. We ate fried rice (among other things) at a "goons" (it seems like the restaurant is owned by an ex-mafia or something) restaurant. I came back for dinner with Neung (Thai housemate). Hahaha.Today, I ate lunch (with Jen's classmates) at this vegetarian pientang place. I got too excited with the many choices and ended up eating a NT$158 meal. Hahaha, I'm never going back there!
Heidi and I went running today (while Jen and Jamie sat and talked). We also saw Keryl and Wayne around the oval.
For dinner, Keryl and Wayne brought Heidi and I to this Thai Chicken BBQ place. I loved it! :-D
After the meal, Heidi and I headed to Li-Yuan Hotel to check out their facilities. It's very near Shida and fairly cheap too, so our family and friends can stay here if they want to visit us. :-D
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Miramar and Furniture Reshuffling
Saturday
Yesterday, I met up with the Filipino scholars (past and present) and visited Miramar for the first time. Nothing really much to see there. Miramar is just a mall with a ferris wheel. The ferris wheel was a fun ride but the price is a bit steep at NT$150 per round trip (Yes, you only get to the top once!). Hahaha...
I got really excited at first because Miramar has been used as settings for many Taiwan TV series, but I couldn't really remember where the exact places were (except for the ferris wheel, of course.)
It was a fun day because there were a lot of new people to meet, (I think there were 13 of us all in all.) and the conversation was non-stop until 12 in the midnight!
Sunday
I woke up today because of my ringing phone. Diet was calling me about a Fahrenheit show at Ximending! I called up Jen and Heidi to tell them about it, and plans were made to meet up at 1pm in Ximending. (photo from Fahrenheit official website.)
When the plans were made, I suddenly realized that I haven't done any of my homework yet. I decided not to join the Ximending party because my "homework conscience" was nagging me nonstop.
I had my lunch with Neung (my Thai housemate) at a Japanese restaurant nearby. My consolation for being a good student is salmon 泡飯 (pao fan). yumyum!
Neung ordered a big lunch which she was not able to finish. Hahaha! (She also didn't want to have her picture taken. Pfft!)
I spent the rest of the day studying, reshuffling the furniture in my room, and catching up on lost sleep. :-)
For dinner, Neung went with me to buy 雞排 (jipai) and chocolate milk tea. Last night, I found out from Wayne and Keryl that Shida has the same 雞排 store branch as the one in Shilin so I had to eat one today!
Anyhoo, I still have a bit of homework to do, and there's no better time to start than now. ;-)
Yesterday, I met up with the Filipino scholars (past and present) and visited Miramar for the first time. Nothing really much to see there. Miramar is just a mall with a ferris wheel. The ferris wheel was a fun ride but the price is a bit steep at NT$150 per round trip (Yes, you only get to the top once!). Hahaha...
I got really excited at first because Miramar has been used as settings for many Taiwan TV series, but I couldn't really remember where the exact places were (except for the ferris wheel, of course.)
It was a fun day because there were a lot of new people to meet, (I think there were 13 of us all in all.) and the conversation was non-stop until 12 in the midnight!
Sunday
I woke up today because of my ringing phone. Diet was calling me about a Fahrenheit show at Ximending! I called up Jen and Heidi to tell them about it, and plans were made to meet up at 1pm in Ximending. (photo from Fahrenheit official website.)
When the plans were made, I suddenly realized that I haven't done any of my homework yet. I decided not to join the Ximending party because my "homework conscience" was nagging me nonstop.I had my lunch with Neung (my Thai housemate) at a Japanese restaurant nearby. My consolation for being a good student is salmon 泡飯 (pao fan). yumyum!
Neung ordered a big lunch which she was not able to finish. Hahaha! (She also didn't want to have her picture taken. Pfft!)
I spent the rest of the day studying, reshuffling the furniture in my room, and catching up on lost sleep. :-)For dinner, Neung went with me to buy 雞排 (jipai) and chocolate milk tea. Last night, I found out from Wayne and Keryl that Shida has the same 雞排 store branch as the one in Shilin so I had to eat one today!
Anyhoo, I still have a bit of homework to do, and there's no better time to start than now. ;-)
Friday, September 11, 2009
Scholarship Orientation and DinTaiFung
Today was such an eventful day!
The scholarship details were already informed to us before this, but they wanted to reinforce the scholarship rules so that no one can say that they weren't informed enough. I especially loved the part where the school staff was telling us things not to do in Taiwan - do not rob a convenience store with a machete! Apparently, someone really did that. Hahaha!
Kim and I are planning to go to the Fahrenheit concert this coming October. I want to go to Wilber Pan, Wang Lee Hom, Jay Chou, and Tank Lu concerts too! Now just need to figure out how to buy tickets from the Chinese website. :-O
The Philippine scholars are also planning to meet up tomorrow at Miramar! (Giant ferris wheel, yeah!) Awesome, I'm gonna bring my cameras with me! :-D
Honestly though, her place is really nice! I'm sure she'll enjoying living in her new place. The building even has a lobby and gym!
They have this thing outside their place where you can see the dumplings being made inside their kitchen.
They had the BEST xiaolongbao that I have ever tasted! The first few minutes of our dinner was really quiet because we were enjoying the food so much. I just sat there eating and shaking my head in disbelief at how good it was. Definitely going back there with Hamy next time. ^_^
After dinner, Jamie got his dessert; and Michelle and I headed for Starbucks. They DON'T have White Chocolate Mocha (!?!?) so I tried their Cafe Mocha. White Chocolate Mocha is better, and I probably won't be visiting Starbucks in Taiwan again. :-P
Thanks for the awesome dinner treat Michelle! ^__^
- 8:00 - 9:00 am: Scholarship Orientation for Shida students
The scholarship details were already informed to us before this, but they wanted to reinforce the scholarship rules so that no one can say that they weren't informed enough. I especially loved the part where the school staff was telling us things not to do in Taiwan - do not rob a convenience store with a machete! Apparently, someone really did that. Hahaha!
- 9:00 - 10:20 am: Lounging at the Student Lounge
- 10:20 am -12:30 pm: Class (new chapter discussions and a quiz)
- 12:30 - 4:30 pm: More Scholarship Orientation for all Mandarin Students in Taipei
Kim and I are planning to go to the Fahrenheit concert this coming October. I want to go to Wilber Pan, Wang Lee Hom, Jay Chou, and Tank Lu concerts too! Now just need to figure out how to buy tickets from the Chinese website. :-O
The Philippine scholars are also planning to meet up tomorrow at Miramar! (Giant ferris wheel, yeah!) Awesome, I'm gonna bring my cameras with me! :-D
- 4:30 - 7:00 pm: Helped move Michelle's stuff to her new place
Honestly though, her place is really nice! I'm sure she'll enjoying living in her new place. The building even has a lobby and gym!
- 7:00 - 10:00 pm: Xiaolongbao and Starbucks
They have this thing outside their place where you can see the dumplings being made inside their kitchen.
They had the BEST xiaolongbao that I have ever tasted! The first few minutes of our dinner was really quiet because we were enjoying the food so much. I just sat there eating and shaking my head in disbelief at how good it was. Definitely going back there with Hamy next time. ^_^
After dinner, Jamie got his dessert; and Michelle and I headed for Starbucks. They DON'T have White Chocolate Mocha (!?!?) so I tried their Cafe Mocha. White Chocolate Mocha is better, and I probably won't be visiting Starbucks in Taiwan again. :-P
Thanks for the awesome dinner treat Michelle! ^__^
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Bopomofo and Running Rocks!
Got my quiz#2 results today and got an A+. Yaaay for Bopomofo! :D
So we went out to eat at a Jamaican place for lunch. I was initially going with Michelle, Jen, and Wayne; but ended up going with half of my class. We bumped into each other outside school and decided to eat together since we were all going to lunch anyway.
Wayne suggested this Jamaican resto that served yummy 宮保 (kungpao) chicken (or was that beef?). Since we were waiting for Jen to join us, I was able to take pictures of the people that I was with (Sorry Jen, I forgot to take your picture when you came! Raar!). :-D
First, here's a photo of my kungpao lunch (Pardon for the crappy phone cam shots, again!):
So we went out to eat at a Jamaican place for lunch. I was initially going with Michelle, Jen, and Wayne; but ended up going with half of my class. We bumped into each other outside school and decided to eat together since we were all going to lunch anyway.
Wayne suggested this Jamaican resto that served yummy 宮保 (kungpao) chicken (or was that beef?). Since we were waiting for Jen to join us, I was able to take pictures of the people that I was with (Sorry Jen, I forgot to take your picture when you came! Raar!). :-D
First, here's a photo of my kungpao lunch (Pardon for the crappy phone cam shots, again!):
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
First Quiz
I got the results for my first ever Mandarin quiz here in Taipei and got an A-. My teacher called me out and asked me if I had problems with my pinyin since all the corrections in my paper were in the pinyin and tones. I told her that I don't really know pinyin and have studied using bopomofo before, and she told me to use bopomofo if I'm more comfortable with it. She's really great! Thank you 刁老師!
So I got my 5 rolls of film yesterday night from the Philippines! Thanks An-an!! Here's from the first roll of my new UWS cam that I bought here in Taipei! ^__^
I went out to eat lunch with my classmates today (insert conversation about 辣肚子); it was awesome to discover that beef noodle shop in Shida road. They have those unique sliced noodles vs. the more popular hand-pulled ones. I found the noodles thick and chewy which I liked very much! :-D (Damage: NT$120)
For dinner, I ate with Jen, Heidi and Wayne in this 燒肉 place. Heidi and I shared a bowl of beef-topped rice. I'm going to go back there for sure. The 老板娘 was so friendly and accommodating! (Damage: NT$35)
I need to do a lot of things tonight. Need to study for a chapter test and finish a large amount of homework for tomorrow! Tomorrow's gonna be a big day! :-O
So I got my 5 rolls of film yesterday night from the Philippines! Thanks An-an!! Here's from the first roll of my new UWS cam that I bought here in Taipei! ^__^
I went out to eat lunch with my classmates today (insert conversation about 辣肚子); it was awesome to discover that beef noodle shop in Shida road. They have those unique sliced noodles vs. the more popular hand-pulled ones. I found the noodles thick and chewy which I liked very much! :-D (Damage: NT$120)For dinner, I ate with Jen, Heidi and Wayne in this 燒肉 place. Heidi and I shared a bowl of beef-topped rice. I'm going to go back there for sure. The 老板娘 was so friendly and accommodating! (Damage: NT$35)
I need to do a lot of things tonight. Need to study for a chapter test and finish a large amount of homework for tomorrow! Tomorrow's gonna be a big day! :-O
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Good Food and Stupid Medicine
YESTERDAY
Last night, Heidi and I met up with fellow Fil-Chi's Keryl and Wayne for dinner. They have been living around the 師大 campus since February this year so they know which places offer good food.
I was a bit late in meeting up with them because I got distracted by a giant Oreo. I did a double-take and had to go back and take pictures of the monster. I wasn't aware that Heidi, Keryl and Wayne already saw me and was watching me gleefully take pictures of the Oreo monster. Hahaha!
We ate at a Korean BBQ restaurant which is famous around the place. I wasn't able to take any pictures of the place because I was already hungry, and the talk was non-stop. :-D
TODAY
I ran out of Vitamin C yesterday so I bought some new ones locally. This morning was my first day to try out the new vitamins, and I think that I almost choked to death! Hahaha!
So the new vitamins are LARGE - not like the ones in the Philippines. See Domo-kun's demonstration below where the new vitamin tablet (big yellow round one) is so much larger than the regular-sized ones (orange capsule) we have in the Philippines.
Anyway, I drank it like how we drink capsules and tablets in the Philippines - place it at the back of my tongue and drank a mouthful of water. It got stuck in my thoat!
The initial reaction of my body was to spit out the stuff but the tablet was already wedged deep in my throat so it won't come out. I tried jumping around, drinking hot water, eating stuff, and massaging my neck to make the tablet go down but none of them worked. I did those things for around 30 minutes, and I was ready to cry and go to the school infirmary. I was already so tired and my throat already hurt so much; I was also so full of food and water because I been trying to push the tablet down. (Haha!)
Anyway, I finally gave up trying to get the tablet down and just sat down to rest for a while when I suddenly felt the tablet slide slowly down to my stomach. (The next step is the stomach, right?) I gave a loud "HAH!", got my backpack, and finally went to school for class.
Later that day, I told my experience to Jen and Wayne only to find out that those tablets are chewables. *STUPID ME!* Wayne made me feel better when he told me that the same thing happened to him the first time he ate local vitamins. I swear, there wasn't any "chewable" word on the bottle - I looked a billion times! And anyway, aren't chewables supposed to look cute like those Flintstone ones we ate when we were kids?
Anyway, for lunch and dinner, I ate at this 便當 place that Keryl and Wayne showed us. It's similar to the Philippines' turo-turo where you have a lot of dishes to choose from but you get your own viands into your own plate (unlike in turo-turo where the canteen peeps get it for you). After getting your viands, you show your plate to the counter; and the guy there "guestimates" how much to charge you.
I paid NT$65 for my lunch and NT$39 for dinner. Hahahaha! Maybe I'll just eat there for my whole stay in Taiwan!
Last night, Heidi and I met up with fellow Fil-Chi's Keryl and Wayne for dinner. They have been living around the 師大 campus since February this year so they know which places offer good food.
I was a bit late in meeting up with them because I got distracted by a giant Oreo. I did a double-take and had to go back and take pictures of the monster. I wasn't aware that Heidi, Keryl and Wayne already saw me and was watching me gleefully take pictures of the Oreo monster. Hahaha!
We ate at a Korean BBQ restaurant which is famous around the place. I wasn't able to take any pictures of the place because I was already hungry, and the talk was non-stop. :-DTODAY
I ran out of Vitamin C yesterday so I bought some new ones locally. This morning was my first day to try out the new vitamins, and I think that I almost choked to death! Hahaha!
So the new vitamins are LARGE - not like the ones in the Philippines. See Domo-kun's demonstration below where the new vitamin tablet (big yellow round one) is so much larger than the regular-sized ones (orange capsule) we have in the Philippines.
Anyway, I drank it like how we drink capsules and tablets in the Philippines - place it at the back of my tongue and drank a mouthful of water. It got stuck in my thoat!
The initial reaction of my body was to spit out the stuff but the tablet was already wedged deep in my throat so it won't come out. I tried jumping around, drinking hot water, eating stuff, and massaging my neck to make the tablet go down but none of them worked. I did those things for around 30 minutes, and I was ready to cry and go to the school infirmary. I was already so tired and my throat already hurt so much; I was also so full of food and water because I been trying to push the tablet down. (Haha!)
Anyway, I finally gave up trying to get the tablet down and just sat down to rest for a while when I suddenly felt the tablet slide slowly down to my stomach. (The next step is the stomach, right?) I gave a loud "HAH!", got my backpack, and finally went to school for class.
Later that day, I told my experience to Jen and Wayne only to find out that those tablets are chewables. *STUPID ME!* Wayne made me feel better when he told me that the same thing happened to him the first time he ate local vitamins. I swear, there wasn't any "chewable" word on the bottle - I looked a billion times! And anyway, aren't chewables supposed to look cute like those Flintstone ones we ate when we were kids?
Anyway, for lunch and dinner, I ate at this 便當 place that Keryl and Wayne showed us. It's similar to the Philippines' turo-turo where you have a lot of dishes to choose from but you get your own viands into your own plate (unlike in turo-turo where the canteen peeps get it for you). After getting your viands, you show your plate to the counter; and the guy there "guestimates" how much to charge you.
I paid NT$65 for my lunch and NT$39 for dinner. Hahahaha! Maybe I'll just eat there for my whole stay in Taiwan!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Hotpots and Buses
STEADY STATE
My Taiwan life is slowly being established, and I do think this is more or less what life here will feel like for the next six months. :-)
Weekday mornings, I attend school from 10:20am until 1:10pm. By the time class is dismissed, Michelle and I are hungry and ready for late lunch. We'll meet-up with Jen and Heidi and whoever they feel like bringing to have lunch around the campus.
Weekday afternoons and nights, I'll do my homework and eat dinner with my housemates (unless there are plans to meet up with other Filipino-Chinese peeps.)
Weekends, I try to go out and visit places in Taiwan with other people. It's also housework day.
Last weekend, I went to IKEA and Daiso and Muji to buy stuff for my room. (I want to go back and buy curtains!!)
My Taiwan life is slowly being established, and I do think this is more or less what life here will feel like for the next six months. :-)
Weekday mornings, I attend school from 10:20am until 1:10pm. By the time class is dismissed, Michelle and I are hungry and ready for late lunch. We'll meet-up with Jen and Heidi and whoever they feel like bringing to have lunch around the campus.
Weekday afternoons and nights, I'll do my homework and eat dinner with my housemates (unless there are plans to meet up with other Filipino-Chinese peeps.)
Weekends, I try to go out and visit places in Taiwan with other people. It's also housework day.Last weekend, I went to IKEA and Daiso and Muji to buy stuff for my room. (I want to go back and buy curtains!!)
Friday, September 4, 2009
Modern Toilet
I said I would make a separate post for this, so yeah, here's some pictures from when my sister and I visited the place. :-)
First Two Days of School
My first week in school was composed of only two days - Thursday and Friday. The school really made it hard for me, I tell ya!
First Day
In my previous post, I said that I was intimidated with the book that would be used for class. The night before the first day, I studied for 4 hours! I basically copied all the text into my notebook and made sure to understand each and every word. I also checked the pronunciations for the words that I'm not sure how to read.
I woke up at around 7am and continued studying until lunch time (my class is from 2pm until 5pm.) I was really nervous the whole time I was waiting for my class to begin.
So class finally begun and the teacher (lin2 lao3 she1) asked everyone to introduce themselves. I almost fainted from all the unknown words that I heard that day! My 5 classmates (it's a small class) are from Poland, Holland, Japan, US, and Thailand; and they speak like pro's! I can detect their accents, and I catch some words that are a little off in terms of tone, but they knew what they were talking about!
Come self-introduction time, I wrote my Chinese name on the board (like everyone else); and read it out. My teacher made me repeat my name a lot of times because she says that I pronounce it incorrectly. Then, she went ahead and corrected each and every phrase and sentence that I said. She also asked me what I was doing in her class.
In my almost two weeks in Taiwan, that was the only time that I felt like crying! Don't get me wrong here, the teacher was not nasty and mean. I would describe her as more direct-to-the-point than evil, but that didn't really made any difference to how I felt.
The 3-hour class started after the small round on introductions, and this is when I realized how unsuited I was for the class. I talked to the teacher during the break, and we both agreed that I should move to a different class level. Woot!
I asked the teacher to put me in the beginner level and then I'll just work my way up, but she insisted that I belong to a basic level class because I already know a handful of things. She got my number and told me that she will call me if she finds a class for me - which was a really really nice gesture. :-)
After class, my American classmate Michelle made friends with me. I found out that she's a 2nd generation Filipina living in the States and that she speaks zero Tagalog/Filipino (except for tsinelas and twalya). We decided to have dinner together to talk about the class from hell.
I initially wanted to show her the dorm canteen and then introduce her to Shida canteen food, but Shida canteen was closed when we got there. I also wanted to introduce her to An-lie and Ah-ming (my housemates), but they were planning to eat dinner at a later time.
We ended up visiting Michelle's hostel, and eating Japanese food that was recommended by the Hostel staff. I also made new friends - Jamie from UK and Pin who's local Taiwanese.
When I got home, everyone had stories about their first day! It was the only time I was able to see all my housemates in one room, and it was awesome! We were all conversing in bad mandarin except for Aimee (because she's Taiwanese) , and I really like how I was able to practice my Mandarin during that time. :-D
I'd say that was a good way to end my first day of horror school. :-)
Second Day
I went to school early just because I might be needed when my teacher moves me to a new class (and schedule.) I also saw Heidi so we talked a bit in the office while waiting for her 10am class to start. A few minutes before Heidi was due to go to her class, my teacher saw me! She then ushered me to my new class so that I can check if the level was right for me.
The class was perfect; not easy, but not too hard. My new teacher was so nice; my classmates were very friendly (not to mention that they were at the same level as me). A few minutes later, Michelle also joined the new class (my previous teacher thought that she's not fit for her class, as well.)
We met up with Jen and her Japanese classmate for a late lunch at Subway, (Sub of the Day is $69 a pop, baby!) then Jen and I decided to go to Xsimending to meet up with other scholars.
We met up with Diet, Bea, Suzette, and Heidi. We basically just walked around the place, tried new food, and talked about money shortages. Hahaha!
When I got home, Neung invited me to go to Ikea and Daiso with her. I've never been to the two so I'm so keen to see the stuff they're selling.
Anyway, I'm off to sleep because it's already 2am here! Not good! I still have an adventure tomorrow! :-)
First Day
In my previous post, I said that I was intimidated with the book that would be used for class. The night before the first day, I studied for 4 hours! I basically copied all the text into my notebook and made sure to understand each and every word. I also checked the pronunciations for the words that I'm not sure how to read.
I woke up at around 7am and continued studying until lunch time (my class is from 2pm until 5pm.) I was really nervous the whole time I was waiting for my class to begin.
So class finally begun and the teacher (lin2 lao3 she1) asked everyone to introduce themselves. I almost fainted from all the unknown words that I heard that day! My 5 classmates (it's a small class) are from Poland, Holland, Japan, US, and Thailand; and they speak like pro's! I can detect their accents, and I catch some words that are a little off in terms of tone, but they knew what they were talking about!
Come self-introduction time, I wrote my Chinese name on the board (like everyone else); and read it out. My teacher made me repeat my name a lot of times because she says that I pronounce it incorrectly. Then, she went ahead and corrected each and every phrase and sentence that I said. She also asked me what I was doing in her class.
In my almost two weeks in Taiwan, that was the only time that I felt like crying! Don't get me wrong here, the teacher was not nasty and mean. I would describe her as more direct-to-the-point than evil, but that didn't really made any difference to how I felt.
The 3-hour class started after the small round on introductions, and this is when I realized how unsuited I was for the class. I talked to the teacher during the break, and we both agreed that I should move to a different class level. Woot!
I asked the teacher to put me in the beginner level and then I'll just work my way up, but she insisted that I belong to a basic level class because I already know a handful of things. She got my number and told me that she will call me if she finds a class for me - which was a really really nice gesture. :-)
After class, my American classmate Michelle made friends with me. I found out that she's a 2nd generation Filipina living in the States and that she speaks zero Tagalog/Filipino (except for tsinelas and twalya). We decided to have dinner together to talk about the class from hell.
I initially wanted to show her the dorm canteen and then introduce her to Shida canteen food, but Shida canteen was closed when we got there. I also wanted to introduce her to An-lie and Ah-ming (my housemates), but they were planning to eat dinner at a later time.
We ended up visiting Michelle's hostel, and eating Japanese food that was recommended by the Hostel staff. I also made new friends - Jamie from UK and Pin who's local Taiwanese.
When I got home, everyone had stories about their first day! It was the only time I was able to see all my housemates in one room, and it was awesome! We were all conversing in bad mandarin except for Aimee (because she's Taiwanese) , and I really like how I was able to practice my Mandarin during that time. :-D
I'd say that was a good way to end my first day of horror school. :-)
Second Day
I went to school early just because I might be needed when my teacher moves me to a new class (and schedule.) I also saw Heidi so we talked a bit in the office while waiting for her 10am class to start. A few minutes before Heidi was due to go to her class, my teacher saw me! She then ushered me to my new class so that I can check if the level was right for me.
The class was perfect; not easy, but not too hard. My new teacher was so nice; my classmates were very friendly (not to mention that they were at the same level as me). A few minutes later, Michelle also joined the new class (my previous teacher thought that she's not fit for her class, as well.)
We met up with Jen and her Japanese classmate for a late lunch at Subway, (Sub of the Day is $69 a pop, baby!) then Jen and I decided to go to Xsimending to meet up with other scholars.
We met up with Diet, Bea, Suzette, and Heidi. We basically just walked around the place, tried new food, and talked about money shortages. Hahaha!
When I got home, Neung invited me to go to Ikea and Daiso with her. I've never been to the two so I'm so keen to see the stuff they're selling.
Anyway, I'm off to sleep because it's already 2am here! Not good! I still have an adventure tomorrow! :-)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Settling In
Last Monday (August 31, 2009), I sent off my sister who is going back to the Philippines after a week in Taipei. I then moved to my new place and basically just made it more livable. I'll share a picture or two when I'm finally satisfied with how my new place looks. :-)
I also met my housemates - all 5 of them! In no particular order, there's
Jen was around Shida campus, monday afternoon, so we also met up and bought some stuff that I needed for my new room (like bed sheets and stuff).
The next day, Jen invited me to go sight-seeing in Xindian. An-lie and Ah-ming came along with us, and we walked around the place to take pictures and go exploring. We met a Filipina caretaker who asked us if it was our "day-off".
For dinner, Jen and I met up with other Philippine scholars (Diet, Mhuck and Bea) and had dinner at the Taipei 101 mall.
Yesterday was the orientation day for Mandarin students. Jen and I met up with Heidi and Suzette (other Philippines scholars) for lunch.
Jen and I also familiarized ourselves with the Shida area so we'll be able to ride buses and trains more efficiently. A Filipina helper overheard us speaking in Tagalog and asked us if we work in factories. >_<
Yesterday, we were also able to pick up our schedules (2-5pm daily for me) and books for the quarter. I got the hardest book compared to everyone so I got a bit iffy and studied the whole night!
I'm going to talk about my first day of school (today!) next time because I still need to do my homework! Yes, I'm procrastinating.
PS. Please wait for the pictures next time. I'm already starting to feel the need to develop my film! Hey An-an, have my 5 rolls sent to Digiprint already!
I also met my housemates - all 5 of them! In no particular order, there's
- Taiwanese Aimee (F) - a high school English teacher
- Vietnamese Ah-ming (M) - a HS graduate whose taking up Mandarin in Shida
- Brazilian Paolo (M) and his dog Nato - an English teacher and Mandarin student
- Thai Neung (F) - a college graduate who is taking up Mandarin in Shida, as well
- Indonesian An-lie (M) - an officer who is also taking up Mandarin in Shida
Jen was around Shida campus, monday afternoon, so we also met up and bought some stuff that I needed for my new room (like bed sheets and stuff).
The next day, Jen invited me to go sight-seeing in Xindian. An-lie and Ah-ming came along with us, and we walked around the place to take pictures and go exploring. We met a Filipina caretaker who asked us if it was our "day-off".
For dinner, Jen and I met up with other Philippine scholars (Diet, Mhuck and Bea) and had dinner at the Taipei 101 mall.
Yesterday was the orientation day for Mandarin students. Jen and I met up with Heidi and Suzette (other Philippines scholars) for lunch.
Jen and I also familiarized ourselves with the Shida area so we'll be able to ride buses and trains more efficiently. A Filipina helper overheard us speaking in Tagalog and asked us if we work in factories. >_<
Yesterday, we were also able to pick up our schedules (2-5pm daily for me) and books for the quarter. I got the hardest book compared to everyone so I got a bit iffy and studied the whole night!
I'm going to talk about my first day of school (today!) next time because I still need to do my homework! Yes, I'm procrastinating.
PS. Please wait for the pictures next time. I'm already starting to feel the need to develop my film! Hey An-an, have my 5 rolls sent to Digiprint already!
Monday, August 31, 2009
My Sister's Last Weekend in Taiwan
Saturday (August 29, 2009)
We woke up late last Saturday and just went to visit National Palace Museum. We took our time during the morning so when we reached Shilin station, it was already lunch time. We decided then to eat first at a small pasta place near the station. I just have to say that Taiwan really gives BIG servings! Everything is so filling!
Anyway, the museum is still as gorgeous as I had remembered it (Sorry, the photo below doesn't include the main museum building). I think we must have spent 4 hours just looking at all the exhibit and visiting the nearby park.
A funny blooper that happened was when my sister almost fell onto the lap of a disabled person. The person was on a wheelchair, and my sister wasn't aware that there was someone behind her. When she stepped back a bit to view some museum exhibit, she lost her balance and grabbed hold of me. There was a long (really long) awkward struggle to get her towards me and away from the wheelchair. Hahaha! Good thing the person on the wheelchair was a good sport and just laughed it off. :D
There are two parks inside the museum grounds and we decided to roam around the nearer one. It has a pond with lots of gigantic carps that you can feed with fish food (NT$10 value for a big bag). We even saw two kids who fell into the pond because they were so intent on feeding the fish! Hahaha! (It wasn't so funny at that time, but it is now since I know they are safe. :-D)
After the museum, we went to the "Chinese Movie Culture City" which was apparently a theme park with sets for old movies. Looks like we've been looking through some outdated guides because this one looks like it has been closed for a long time already. >_< Sunday (August 30, 2009)
Jen decided to join us play tourist in Taipei for Sunday. We met at Yuanshan station and ate some spaghetti. Then we went ahead and visited the Confucius Temple and Bao'an Temple which were awesome placed to visit because there were few people there. :-D (Pictures to follow.)
We ran out of things to do so my sister suggested to visit Shin-Kong Mitsukoshi malls. The clothes there were nice and expensive so we just window-shopped a bit. We then discovered a foodcourt on the basement floor where we ate a very hearty early dinner. There was also a small grocery where my sister bought her pasalubongs. :-)
After that, we went back to the station and discovered that an underground (as in under the ground not illegal) bookstore street ran from one station to another. We spent our remaining time there until it was time to go home. :-)
There's no more time last Monday (August 31, 2009) for my sister to tour because her flight back to the Philippines was at 11:00 in the morning. She's now back to the Philippines, and I have moved into my room near Shida. :-)
We woke up late last Saturday and just went to visit National Palace Museum. We took our time during the morning so when we reached Shilin station, it was already lunch time. We decided then to eat first at a small pasta place near the station. I just have to say that Taiwan really gives BIG servings! Everything is so filling!
Anyway, the museum is still as gorgeous as I had remembered it (Sorry, the photo below doesn't include the main museum building). I think we must have spent 4 hours just looking at all the exhibit and visiting the nearby park.
A funny blooper that happened was when my sister almost fell onto the lap of a disabled person. The person was on a wheelchair, and my sister wasn't aware that there was someone behind her. When she stepped back a bit to view some museum exhibit, she lost her balance and grabbed hold of me. There was a long (really long) awkward struggle to get her towards me and away from the wheelchair. Hahaha! Good thing the person on the wheelchair was a good sport and just laughed it off. :DThere are two parks inside the museum grounds and we decided to roam around the nearer one. It has a pond with lots of gigantic carps that you can feed with fish food (NT$10 value for a big bag). We even saw two kids who fell into the pond because they were so intent on feeding the fish! Hahaha! (It wasn't so funny at that time, but it is now since I know they are safe. :-D)
After the museum, we went to the "Chinese Movie Culture City" which was apparently a theme park with sets for old movies. Looks like we've been looking through some outdated guides because this one looks like it has been closed for a long time already. >_< Sunday (August 30, 2009)
Jen decided to join us play tourist in Taipei for Sunday. We met at Yuanshan station and ate some spaghetti. Then we went ahead and visited the Confucius Temple and Bao'an Temple which were awesome placed to visit because there were few people there. :-D (Pictures to follow.)
We ran out of things to do so my sister suggested to visit Shin-Kong Mitsukoshi malls. The clothes there were nice and expensive so we just window-shopped a bit. We then discovered a foodcourt on the basement floor where we ate a very hearty early dinner. There was also a small grocery where my sister bought her pasalubongs. :-)
After that, we went back to the station and discovered that an underground (as in under the ground not illegal) bookstore street ran from one station to another. We spent our remaining time there until it was time to go home. :-)
There's no more time last Monday (August 31, 2009) for my sister to tour because her flight back to the Philippines was at 11:00 in the morning. She's now back to the Philippines, and I have moved into my room near Shida. :-)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
My Home for the Next Six Months
Yeah, so my phone is crappy. I still have no plans on investing on a good digicam though. :D
I'll be moving in tomorrow because this new one is cheaper than my current accommodations and is also nearer my university (around 10 minute walk).
Here are pictures of my bedroom. The room has two shelves. One is shown in the pictures; the other one is on the right of the door and can handle a lot of hanged clothes.
I haven't done anything to the room yet. I'll probably make it more homey when I move in. ^_^
I'll be moving in tomorrow because this new one is cheaper than my current accommodations and is also nearer my university (around 10 minute walk).
Here are pictures of my bedroom. The room has two shelves. One is shown in the pictures; the other one is on the right of the door and can handle a lot of hanged clothes.
I haven't done anything to the room yet. I'll probably make it more homey when I move in. ^_^
Friday, August 28, 2009
Lazy Thursday and Friday
Lazy Thursday
We visited Longshan Temple yesterday, and I totally enjoyed it yesterday than when I visited last year. Last year (see photo below), the place was jam-packed with people.
We visited Longshan Temple yesterday, and I totally enjoyed it yesterday than when I visited last year. Last year (see photo below), the place was jam-packed with people.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Taiwan Banking
My sister and I decided to take it easy yesterday. Hah! As if that could really happen.
I did my first batch of Taiwan laundry yesterday morning. I'm still at the honeymoon stage, so even doing the laundry is fun. Hahaha!
Come lunch time, we walked around the hostel area and ate beef noodles. It was a bit pricey at $110 but was really really good and filling. Yum!
I then left my sister in the hostel and headed for Shida, where I met up with Jen and her cousin. We had our ying1 chang2 (chinese name stamps) created so that we could open an account in the postal bank for our scholarship. I already have two name stamps at home (Philippines), but I didn't bring them to Taiwan. (Sucks to forget things like that at home. Haha!) We created our bank account on the same day.
Went back to the hostel and fetched my sister for a little site-seeing. We went to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall where my sister, to my irritation, insisted to visit every nook and cranny of the place.
Taipei 101 was near so we decided to go there, too. Once again, I got frustrated because it was already dark we reached the building. Last year, I was able to visit Taipei 101 at night time, so I was hoping to visit this time during day time. Anyhoo, it was still enjoyable except for the cakes that we had at 88th floor which were so-so but very pricey!
After visiting the top of Taipei 101, we went to its mall on the lower floors. We spent a lot of time in the bookstore and I was even able to buy myself a new camera for $1000! It's a newer version of Vivitar UWS (Ultra Wide and Slim) camera which I have been hankering for a long time now.
We were not yet hungry when we headed home, but we decided to eat a late dinner anyway. My sister was craving for rice because we have been eating noodles for the past few days. Since all the nearby eating places were closed, we headed for 7-11 to eat microwaveable rice meals. :D
Today, we're planning to go to Jay Chou's Secret-themed restaurant and to do more site-seeing. I'm so excited to use my new cam. Hahahaha!
PS. I want to put in Chinese Characters already but my laptop OS needs to be updated for Chinese support. Pfft!
I did my first batch of Taiwan laundry yesterday morning. I'm still at the honeymoon stage, so even doing the laundry is fun. Hahaha!
Come lunch time, we walked around the hostel area and ate beef noodles. It was a bit pricey at $110 but was really really good and filling. Yum!
I then left my sister in the hostel and headed for Shida, where I met up with Jen and her cousin. We had our ying1 chang2 (chinese name stamps) created so that we could open an account in the postal bank for our scholarship. I already have two name stamps at home (Philippines), but I didn't bring them to Taiwan. (Sucks to forget things like that at home. Haha!) We created our bank account on the same day.
Went back to the hostel and fetched my sister for a little site-seeing. We went to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall where my sister, to my irritation, insisted to visit every nook and cranny of the place.
Taipei 101 was near so we decided to go there, too. Once again, I got frustrated because it was already dark we reached the building. Last year, I was able to visit Taipei 101 at night time, so I was hoping to visit this time during day time. Anyhoo, it was still enjoyable except for the cakes that we had at 88th floor which were so-so but very pricey!
After visiting the top of Taipei 101, we went to its mall on the lower floors. We spent a lot of time in the bookstore and I was even able to buy myself a new camera for $1000! It's a newer version of Vivitar UWS (Ultra Wide and Slim) camera which I have been hankering for a long time now.
We were not yet hungry when we headed home, but we decided to eat a late dinner anyway. My sister was craving for rice because we have been eating noodles for the past few days. Since all the nearby eating places were closed, we headed for 7-11 to eat microwaveable rice meals. :D
Today, we're planning to go to Jay Chou's Secret-themed restaurant and to do more site-seeing. I'm so excited to use my new cam. Hahahaha!
PS. I want to put in Chinese Characters already but my laptop OS needs to be updated for Chinese support. Pfft!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Boy @ Taipei Main Station
You probably saw the previous post where I listed all the things that my sister and I did in our first 3 days in Taiwan. Last night, we decided to "loiter" a bit in Taipei Main Station (MRT) to rest our legs from all the walking done yesterday.
We were seated on a stone bench where a couple of people were also seated. Very noticeable was the impatient-looking boy seated behind us because he's been sitting on the bench for a long time. I'd say he's 6-10 years old. (No, I don't know how to approximate the ages.)
After around 5-10 minutes, he asked to borrow my mobile phone to call someone. I got a bit iffy about the idea. In the Philippines, this doesn't usually happen; and some kid would probably take off with my mobile if I lent my phone to him.
After a long pause, we finally decided to let him use my phone. I taught him the basic mechanics of my English display phone, and then he was off to call 2-3 people from my phone!
I'd normally make side comments to let the kid know how annoyed I was with all the calls he's been making, but I'm in a foreign country and can't really think of many Chinese snide things to say. (Hahaha!) Anyway, he finally returned my phone back to me after making a lot of calls.
After a few minutes, he borrowed my phone again. By then, I was sure that the kid wasn't going to run off with my phone; but he will probably use up all the money I have credited inside it.
He borrowed my phone a few more times until we finally decided to go home. (because it's starting to get a bit late and his borrowing is getting a bit annoying.) I un-eloquently told the kid that we were going home and that he should probably do the same. He gave us a weak smile, and we were off.
A few minutes after we got home, my phone started ringing. The parents of the boy called up and asked to talk to him. I told them that we were already home and that we left the kid on Taipei Main. We then found out that the boy didn't know how to go home! Apparently, he lost his phone; and his parents are trying to find him!
I told them all the details that I can think of. (I'm sure they were more confused than helped by my bad Chinese.) Finally, the mom begged us to help her; my sister and I decided to hurry back to the station where we last saw the kid.
When we got there, the kid wasn't sitting on the bench anymore! I'd say that was 30-45 minutes since we left him to go home. We called up his mom to tell her that we didn't see the boy, and the mom said that she was also headed for Taipei Main.
We ran around the station and even asked a staff on post if he noticed the seated boy earlier - he didn't. We called the mom a few times to check if she had found her kid. After about 30 minutes of looking for the kid, we called again and the kid is now safely with the mom.
Whew! With a big sigh of relief, we headed back home.
There is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is yet. :D
We were seated on a stone bench where a couple of people were also seated. Very noticeable was the impatient-looking boy seated behind us because he's been sitting on the bench for a long time. I'd say he's 6-10 years old. (No, I don't know how to approximate the ages.)
After around 5-10 minutes, he asked to borrow my mobile phone to call someone. I got a bit iffy about the idea. In the Philippines, this doesn't usually happen; and some kid would probably take off with my mobile if I lent my phone to him.
After a long pause, we finally decided to let him use my phone. I taught him the basic mechanics of my English display phone, and then he was off to call 2-3 people from my phone!
I'd normally make side comments to let the kid know how annoyed I was with all the calls he's been making, but I'm in a foreign country and can't really think of many Chinese snide things to say. (Hahaha!) Anyway, he finally returned my phone back to me after making a lot of calls.
After a few minutes, he borrowed my phone again. By then, I was sure that the kid wasn't going to run off with my phone; but he will probably use up all the money I have credited inside it.
He borrowed my phone a few more times until we finally decided to go home. (because it's starting to get a bit late and his borrowing is getting a bit annoying.) I un-eloquently told the kid that we were going home and that he should probably do the same. He gave us a weak smile, and we were off.
A few minutes after we got home, my phone started ringing. The parents of the boy called up and asked to talk to him. I told them that we were already home and that we left the kid on Taipei Main. We then found out that the boy didn't know how to go home! Apparently, he lost his phone; and his parents are trying to find him!
I told them all the details that I can think of. (I'm sure they were more confused than helped by my bad Chinese.) Finally, the mom begged us to help her; my sister and I decided to hurry back to the station where we last saw the kid.
When we got there, the kid wasn't sitting on the bench anymore! I'd say that was 30-45 minutes since we left him to go home. We called up his mom to tell her that we didn't see the boy, and the mom said that she was also headed for Taipei Main.
We ran around the station and even asked a staff on post if he noticed the seated boy earlier - he didn't. We called the mom a few times to check if she had found her kid. After about 30 minutes of looking for the kid, we called again and the kid is now safely with the mom.
Whew! With a big sigh of relief, we headed back home.
There is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is yet. :D
So Far, So Good
Here's a breakdown of the things I have done in my 3 days in Taipei, mainly so I won't forget.
Day 1: Arrival (August 23, 2009)
- checked in Taipei Hostel (met Leslie, the very very hospitable Filipina helper of the hostel owner.)
- ate dinner (yummy noodles!) and snooped a bit in 7-11
Day 2: Getting a feel of things (August 24, 2009)
- brunch at McDonald's
- Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
- checked out MTC@Shida
- called up prospect apartments
- immigration center to apply for Alien ID
- explored a Carrefour and bought laundry supplies
- roast duck and bihon dinner at XsiMenTing
- XsiMenTing shopping happiness (where I got my Taiwan Mobile sim card)
Day 3: Enrollment (August 25, 2009)
- met up landlady and made reservations for more permanent place to stay (walking distance to Shida)
- 7-11 breakfast at a small park near Shida (yummy rice and peanut drink!)
- went to Shida for enrollment
>> met up with Jen Ang (another TECO scholar)
>> met new people (Hi Turner and Alexa from the States!)
>> ate at the dorm canteen and was finally able to drink some free tea! :D
>> placement exam where I got 27/100 on the advance test. (sucky sucky sucky!)
>> got my MTC ID with a built in Easy Card. Cool!
- Shilin Night Market (yummy Kiampong and shark's fin-like soup for dinner!)
- lost kid at Taipei Main Station (which I'm going to go into next time because I'm too lazy to do it now.)
We're planning to take a break tomorrow to rest our aching legs from all the walking that we have been doing. :-)
Day 1: Arrival (August 23, 2009)
- checked in Taipei Hostel (met Leslie, the very very hospitable Filipina helper of the hostel owner.)
- ate dinner (yummy noodles!) and snooped a bit in 7-11
Day 2: Getting a feel of things (August 24, 2009)
- brunch at McDonald's
- Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
- checked out MTC@Shida
- called up prospect apartments
- immigration center to apply for Alien ID
- explored a Carrefour and bought laundry supplies
- roast duck and bihon dinner at XsiMenTing
- XsiMenTing shopping happiness (where I got my Taiwan Mobile sim card)
Day 3: Enrollment (August 25, 2009)
- met up landlady and made reservations for more permanent place to stay (walking distance to Shida)
- 7-11 breakfast at a small park near Shida (yummy rice and peanut drink!)
- went to Shida for enrollment
>> met new people (Hi Turner and Alexa from the States!)
>> ate at the dorm canteen and was finally able to drink some free tea! :D
>> placement exam where I got 27/100 on the advance test. (sucky sucky sucky!)
>> got my MTC ID with a built in Easy Card. Cool!
- Shilin Night Market (yummy Kiampong and shark's fin-like soup for dinner!)
- lost kid at Taipei Main Station (which I'm going to go into next time because I'm too lazy to do it now.)
We're planning to take a break tomorrow to rest our aching legs from all the walking that we have been doing. :-)
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
How Much Money Can You Bring Out of Philippines?
Currency Export Regulations:
Residents and Non-residents: local currency (Philippine Peso-PHP): up to PHP 10,000.-. Exceeding amounts require authorisation from the Central Bank of the Philippines. foreign currencies : up to USD 10,000.-, or its equivalent. Amounts exceeding USD 10,000.-, or its equivalent must be declared.
Information must be furnished on the source and purpose of the transport of such amount. Violation will be subject to sanctions under Philippine customs law and regulations.
Residents and Non-residents: local currency (Philippine Peso-PHP): up to PHP 10,000.-. Exceeding amounts require authorisation from the Central Bank of the Philippines. foreign currencies : up to USD 10,000.-, or its equivalent. Amounts exceeding USD 10,000.-, or its equivalent must be declared.
Information must be furnished on the source and purpose of the transport of such amount. Violation will be subject to sanctions under Philippine customs law and regulations.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Panic!
Just a quick post to tell everyone that I'm starting to panic! Hahaha! My flight is this Sunday, and I've started packing some of the stuff that I will be bringing. :-)
I'm told that the weather will range from 30-12 degrees Celsius; so I'm packing for cold weather. :-D Woot!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Visa and Office Despedida
Last Friday (August 14, 2008) was a very eventful time for me. It was officially my last day at work, (Freedom!!) and it was also the day I finally got my 180-day Visa for Taiwan. Yaay! I'll try to take a picture of my passport (soon) to show everyone how happy I am.
So what else happened last Friday? Well, I've been a huge pain in the butt to my officemates because I've been bugging them for more than a year now to do a photo exhibit just for the heck of it. It finally pushed through because of two awesome and very hardworking peeps, Cip and Carol. You really made it happen!!
So what else happened last Friday? Well, I've been a huge pain in the butt to my officemates because I've been bugging them for more than a year now to do a photo exhibit just for the heck of it. It finally pushed through because of two awesome and very hardworking peeps, Cip and Carol. You really made it happen!!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Dinner and Newspaper Happiness
Dinner at Mey-Lin's
Last Thursday, (August 6, 2009) the TECO scholars were invited by Director Wei to get together at Mey-Lin's Restaurant in Jupiter Street. We were treated to a yummy Chinese dinner; the patatim was S-U-P-E-R among the other great dishes! Director Wei even ordered bao fan (泡飯) when I told him how much I loved it from when I visited Taipei last year. (Thank you, Director Wei! It was very good!)
Standing from left to right: Diet, Shar, Ms. Happy, JP, Joel.
Seated from left to right: Me, Heidi, Riza, Director Wei, Paolo, Rinka.
The venue was also used to collect the contact information from everyone (Thanks for initiating this, Heidi!) so that we'll be able to keep in touch with each other. We plan to have regular meet-ups with each other so we can get updates on each other's Taiwan lives.
PS. We missed you, Jen!
Newspaper Happiness
While partaking on the delicious dinner, Ms. Happy mentioned that the scholarship awarding was announced in a couple of news publications! So cool, right?
Here's a news-clipping sent to us by Ms. Happy from Malaya on August 7, 2009:
There was another newspaper that featured the awarding prior to Malaya but I can't seem to remember the name of the newspaper. (If anyone knows, please tell me. hehe!)
We also got a space in Manila Bulletin yesterday (August 9, 2009);but I don't have a scan of it yet. I'll update this entry as soon as I can to include the Manila Bulletin clipping. Thanks for sending this to us, Ms. Happy!
13 more days before I leave for my Taiwan adventure. I can feel the panic and the excitement escalating as the day draws nearer and nearer to my departure. Woot!
Last Thursday, (August 6, 2009) the TECO scholars were invited by Director Wei to get together at Mey-Lin's Restaurant in Jupiter Street. We were treated to a yummy Chinese dinner; the patatim was S-U-P-E-R among the other great dishes! Director Wei even ordered bao fan (泡飯) when I told him how much I loved it from when I visited Taipei last year. (Thank you, Director Wei! It was very good!)
Standing from left to right: Diet, Shar, Ms. Happy, JP, Joel.Seated from left to right: Me, Heidi, Riza, Director Wei, Paolo, Rinka.
The venue was also used to collect the contact information from everyone (Thanks for initiating this, Heidi!) so that we'll be able to keep in touch with each other. We plan to have regular meet-ups with each other so we can get updates on each other's Taiwan lives.
PS. We missed you, Jen!
Newspaper Happiness
While partaking on the delicious dinner, Ms. Happy mentioned that the scholarship awarding was announced in a couple of news publications! So cool, right?
Here's a news-clipping sent to us by Ms. Happy from Malaya on August 7, 2009:
There was another newspaper that featured the awarding prior to Malaya but I can't seem to remember the name of the newspaper. (If anyone knows, please tell me. hehe!)
We also got a space in Manila Bulletin yesterday (August 9, 2009);
13 more days before I leave for my Taiwan adventure. I can feel the panic and the excitement escalating as the day draws nearer and nearer to my departure. Woot!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Visa Application
WARNING: This is a long read. Sorry! :D
I'm now in the process of applying for a Student Visa for Taiwan. Last Friday, after the scholarship awarding ceremony, my visa application was not accepted because I was missing some documents. (The DFA certified ToR and Diploma, to be exact.) I'm sure that a lot of the grantees also had slight problems during their application so here's me trying to help consolidate the requirements (even though I'm still not finished with mine, yet. Hahaha!). :-)
I'm now in the process of applying for a Student Visa for Taiwan. Last Friday, after the scholarship awarding ceremony, my visa application was not accepted because I was missing some documents. (The DFA certified ToR and Diploma, to be exact.) I'm sure that a lot of the grantees also had slight problems during their application so here's me trying to help consolidate the requirements (even though I'm still not finished with mine, yet. Hahaha!). :-)
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Scholarship Awarding
The scholarship awarding happened two days ago, last Friday July 31, 2009 at TECO; and I finally have a face to go with Ms. Happy's name. I also met fellow scholarship grantees and the scholarship grantees from last year. Food was also over-flowing; where can you go wrong with that, I say? Yum!
Found out that two of the six Huayu Scholarship grantees are taking their Mandarin Education in 師大, as well! That means I'd have some homies to talk to when I feel lost or homesick.
Another awesome thing is that one of last year's grantees also came from 師大 (Hi Trixie!). She was able give some tips on housing, money and, most importantly, food! I feel more prepared now because of her talk.
I don't have any pictures with me on the event because I didn't bring any camera with me. (Blegh! Need to remedy that soon.)
Here's the group picture of all the grantees. Ambassador Lee (in the black suit) and Director Wei (in gray suit) gave awesome speeches that made me more excited with the 6-month trip. I'm the one with the red shirt; and the two girls on my right, Jen and Heidi, are also going to study in 師大. Thanks for sending me the pictures, Ms. Happy!
Found out that two of the six Huayu Scholarship grantees are taking their Mandarin Education in 師大, as well! That means I'd have some homies to talk to when I feel lost or homesick.
Another awesome thing is that one of last year's grantees also came from 師大 (Hi Trixie!). She was able give some tips on housing, money and, most importantly, food! I feel more prepared now because of her talk.
Here's the group picture of all the grantees. Ambassador Lee (in the black suit) and Director Wei (in gray suit) gave awesome speeches that made me more excited with the 6-month trip. I'm the one with the red shirt; and the two girls on my right, Jen and Heidi, are also going to study in 師大. Thanks for sending me the pictures, Ms. Happy!
Monday, July 20, 2009
I Got It, Yeah!!
So TECO finally called; and if my blog subject isn't clear enough, I got my scholarship grant! Yes!! *woot woot woot*
Ms. Happy (perfect name for what I am feeling right now), the TECO lady who broke the good news to me, told me I was wait-listed; and this was the reason why I just found out about the scholarship result today and not June as I had initially anticipated. I almost didn't make it, and I got weak-kneed when I realized this near jac-is-a-female-bedspacer-in-taiwan experience.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you TECO! I swear I'm gonna make you proud, or, at the very least, won't embarrass you too much.
Aaahh!! *happy happy joy joy cartwheels*
Ms. Happy (perfect name for what I am feeling right now), the TECO lady who broke the good news to me, told me I was wait-listed; and this was the reason why I just found out about the scholarship result today and not June as I had initially anticipated. I almost didn't make it, and I got weak-kneed when I realized this near jac-is-a-female-bedspacer-in-taiwan experience.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you TECO! I swear I'm gonna make you proud, or, at the very least, won't embarrass you too much.
Aaahh!! *happy happy joy joy cartwheels*
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Patience Running Out
You know that feeling you get, when you know something is going to happen but it hasn't happened yet?
It's July 16, the middle of July. Unlike what TECO said, The scholarship result is not released yet.
The funny thing was that TECO actually called me while I was writing this and asked a couple of questions linked to my application. I initially thought that they were already going to inform me that I got the scholarship (or not)! Apparently, they are doing deliberation today and just need to make sure that I still want to go to Taiwan to study. (Of course, I still want to study!)
So, another week to go (or so they say) before I finally know if I will become a Taiwan scholar or a starving homeless Taiwan student. I'm so excited I probably won't be able to sleep properly until the scholarship results finally come out.
Wish me luck!! *fingers crossed*
It's July 16, the middle of July. Unlike what TECO said, The scholarship result is not released yet.
The funny thing was that TECO actually called me while I was writing this and asked a couple of questions linked to my application. I initially thought that they were already going to inform me that I got the scholarship (or not)! Apparently, they are doing deliberation today and just need to make sure that I still want to go to Taiwan to study. (Of course, I still want to study!)
So, another week to go (or so they say) before I finally know if I will become a Taiwan scholar or a starving homeless Taiwan student. I'm so excited I probably won't be able to sleep properly until the scholarship results finally come out.
Wish me luck!! *fingers crossed*
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Let's Begin!
I'll be blogging mainly to document my adventures in my 6 month stay in Taiwan. I've applied in the Mandarin Training Center (MTC) of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU or 師大) earlier this year and got accepted for the September 2009 school year. Yay!
Other than the school application, I've also submitted a scholarship application to the local Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO). I'll be receiving the news sometime this mid-July if I get the 6 month scholarship grant or not. Wish me luck!
As a back-up plan, I've been saving for a year now and should have enough money to cover me (for tuition and basic living expenses) if the scholarship grant doesn't push through. A scholarship would be a welcome relief though. *Pray*
So, why Taiwan and not China? Well, why not? Aside from the fact that I love those Taiwan dramas and pop idols (Think Jay Chou!), Taiwan is also a very familiar yet unfamiliar place for me.
I'm a third generation Filipino-Chinese (100% Chinese blood) and my parents sent me to a school that uses Taiwan textbooks for teaching Chinese/Mandarin. We also use Fookien/Amoy language (which is very similar to the Taiwanese language), albeit sparingly, at home since my grandparents from all sides came from the Fujian Province. (Fujian is partly under Taiwan and partly under China.)
Don't be misled, now. Even if I've been exposed to the Chinese culture all my life, I still think that I don't know enough about my heritage. I didn't really study my Chinese during my elementary and secondary years. I passed my grades by memorizing the texts and pronunciations and then forgetting them after the exams. I also don't speak much Fookien and only know the very basic stuff.
So before I get any older, I want to have this chance to study my heritage and also learn the lessons of being independent along the way. I've filed my 6 month leave in my work, (Thank God for awesome employers!) and I'm ready for my adventure! 加油!!
PS. Hopefully, I'll use more Chinese in my blog as I progress in my studies.
PPS. I'm still in the Philippines and will probably be in Taiwan late August.
Other than the school application, I've also submitted a scholarship application to the local Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO). I'll be receiving the news sometime this mid-July if I get the 6 month scholarship grant or not. Wish me luck!
As a back-up plan, I've been saving for a year now and should have enough money to cover me (for tuition and basic living expenses) if the scholarship grant doesn't push through. A scholarship would be a welcome relief though. *Pray*
So, why Taiwan and not China? Well, why not? Aside from the fact that I love those Taiwan dramas and pop idols (Think Jay Chou!), Taiwan is also a very familiar yet unfamiliar place for me.
I'm a third generation Filipino-Chinese (100% Chinese blood) and my parents sent me to a school that uses Taiwan textbooks for teaching Chinese/Mandarin. We also use Fookien/Amoy language (which is very similar to the Taiwanese language), albeit sparingly, at home since my grandparents from all sides came from the Fujian Province. (Fujian is partly under Taiwan and partly under China.)
Don't be misled, now. Even if I've been exposed to the Chinese culture all my life, I still think that I don't know enough about my heritage. I didn't really study my Chinese during my elementary and secondary years. I passed my grades by memorizing the texts and pronunciations and then forgetting them after the exams. I also don't speak much Fookien and only know the very basic stuff.
So before I get any older, I want to have this chance to study my heritage and also learn the lessons of being independent along the way. I've filed my 6 month leave in my work, (Thank God for awesome employers!) and I'm ready for my adventure! 加油!!
PS. Hopefully, I'll use more Chinese in my blog as I progress in my studies.
PPS. I'm still in the Philippines and will probably be in Taiwan late August.
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