Living in Taiwan: March 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Different

There are days when I don't notice that I look different here. Actually most days I forget my eyes are green, my hair is brown, and I am not stick thin. It's not because I don't look in the mirror (I do). It's because I look around me. I am surrounded with brown eyes, dark hair, and 9.9 times out of 10 thin people. You see so much of this that you forget that you don't have these characteristics.

When I first got here all I saw was a sea of brown hair (mostly because I am taller than most people). Now I don't notice that. I notice hair styles, fashion, shoes (I love shoes).

But today I was walking home and I realized that I must look so wild in a sea of Taiwanese people. I am reminded of a silver space jacket that my old roommate Heather use to wear. We would joke that you could see her from space or at least across campus.

I always wanted to ask the question "When you see me, what do you think?"

I though that I share this with you. You can never experience the feeling of being so different until you are in a place where most of the people have similar physical characteristics.

(And to clarify to the people getting angry with me right now, I do not mean that Taiwanese people look alike, because they don't. I am just saying that 99.9% have dark hair and dark eyes. Plus a good amount are shorter than me.)

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Nothing much to report

There is nothing much to report. The past two days have been section test days so I have been grading like crazy.

I went on a hike this past weekend. I will post pictures later.

Next week is the school anniversary. I am taking 5 days off (they give you four) and driving with Christa down the East coast of Taiwan. Good times (I hope).

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

End of a long week, beginning of another

For some reason I think the long weeks this year feel even longer than last year.

We had Sunday off which was good just for my sanity. Saturday I went dancing with Kris and Christa to Luxy. It was fun. I got my hair done, which seems a trend right now for me at least. I go every week to a place and get my hair done just to get it done. It's nice.

It was a interesting night (I bruised the crap out of my leg) and I was glad to have Sunday to sleep in. I met Christa and Geo at Chili's and then we went to Page One.

Monday came to quickly though. It seems that I wake up, shower, dress, and teach grade one right away. This new time (8:15) is great because the day ends earlier, but gives you no time in the morning to turn of the teacher mode.

It's time for class. I don't know how I will be able to work in a job at home. I only have three classes today. The downtime is quite nice to have so I can catch up on work (or just right blogs and emails).

Monday, March 10, 2008

At the beginning

Today is the first day of a 6 day work week. Anyone who has to work on the weekends knows that working on a Saturday or Sunday is just wrong. We have to do this because we have a "day off" in April. They call it a day off, but it isn't. If we makeup the day then it is not truly a day off. Call it what it really is people: another con of working in Taiwan.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

BSB Concert

Taipei Arena where the concert was

I have to say that I was a little bit nervous about going to the concert. It could have been crap for one thing.

But it wasn't. I was great. Christa and I had fun and we could tell that they were relaxed (pros you might say) and having fun too. They sang all the songs I wanted to hear and a song each from their solo albums (Howie, Brian, and Nick's were good, but A.J.'s was a mess).

Christa and I paid an absorbent amount of money to sit 17 rows from the stage (we would pay it again). We could see their expressions and details of instruments and clothes. It was wonderful. At one point Brian was frowning and then turned to the audience and smiled and we could see him clearly go from frown to the smile without looking at the big screen. We sighed with happiness because why go to a concert if you can't see the people performing?

Christa and I waiting for the concert to start

Our seats were great because we could turn to the right and look up and have a big screen to look at if we wanted a good picture and there were enough people to hide us taking pictures and videos (you are not allowed to take videos and pictures of BSB for copyright reasons). I got a video of my favorite song ever, Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely. It is only 25 seconds long because I almost got caught, haha.

The concert opened with a boxing ring appearing on the stage and the boys coming out in boxing robes. They then climbed into the ring and started to sing and dance in a kind of kickboxing style. Christa thought "Crap." I thought "This is so cool!" Luckily for Christa they took off the boxing ring right after the song. haha. Howie did all the talking. When he came out for his solo he asked us if we wanted to hear songs from their solo albums. I wondered what they would do if everyone in the audience said no. I didn't get to find out because people screamed yes. Howie then went on to talk about the other guys and got all their names mixed up, haha. The next song was my Show Me.... and they sitting around drinking and playing poker. Nick asks "Where is Howie?" A.J. replied "Who cares. He doesn't even know our names." Howie came out on stage after that (he was changing his clothes) and said "Hey Rico" to A.J. A.J. said "I'm A.J. That's Nick and that's Brian." Howie replied "Nice to meet you". I almost rolled onto the floor. (You probably had to be there)

The boys brought back memories of me being a teenager dancing around my room singing along. I was still smiling and singing the next day. What a great concert!