Hello all,

You know how I've mentioned that this is a fucked up place already? Yup, still is.
I am doing well, working pretty hard and all that good stuff. I'm working like 36 hours a week until atleast Chinese New Years, which becomes about 50 with marking and lesson planning and all that garbage. It is all quite hilarious because I have no idea what I'm doing. I spend most of my time completely bullshitting and I must say, I am good at that. And, it is a good thing I am because otherwise I would be in some trouble. But ya, the job itself isn't that hard and there are teacher trainers (both of whom are not leaving Taiwan any time soon since they've both accidentally (?) impregnated unsuspecting Taiwanese girls) to help out with planning stuff.

The teaching itself is pretty humourous because the people I'm teaching are pretty fuckin funny. The adult and teen classes I have are OK but not overly special. I have this one 3 hour class every weekday for the next 3 weeks, and it is all teenagers on winter break from school who have absolutely no interest in being there. The adult class is slightly better, mostly because of comments such as the Robert DeNiro line and a more recent one where they were learning either/or and one woman said "I don't like my cocaine and the teacher does not like it or either." I thanked her for her belief in my clean living style and have since then been trying to figure out what she was trying to say. I also started teaching very very tiny kids who don't know a word of english and are about 4 years old. It didn't start very well when I tried to play a game with them, and Kiki (who I am certain will grow very sorry in the future that she had to pick her english name when she was 4 years old) took one look at me, started bawling and attempted to crawl into her backpack. She didn't fit, and the rest of the class was an adventure. It was pretty fun though, as it is pretty much all, "A a apple!" and then they scream it out after you. Good times. By the way, in case you are wondering what the dominating female english name is in Taiwan, you may be surprised to learn that it is Candy. Good luck with that ladies of Taiwan.

Taiwan in general is quite the place. We have found that the mentality of the Asian people is quite different than our own. For example, a Taiwanese teacher who works at Dave's school came into work to ask his director if he could take the next day off because his best friend from childhood had just died and he wanted to attend the funeral. She said no, because it would leave them shorthanded the next day. Or, Mike put a question on his test asking "What would you do if you saw a person drowning in a pool?" 100% of the class answered, "I would not help him because if I did I might drown." So apparently, something different is going on here. I guess it's just a cultural thing?

I have loved immersing myself in this culture, as it is about as different you can experience. Whenever I get some free time I try to get out and have a look around. So I've spent alot of time walking around markets and temples and all that good stuff. The other day I went to Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Temple, which is for the first president of the country. If you'll look at the picture where there are 3 soldiers lowering a flag, you will see the spot where i was sitting against the base of the flagpost just a moment before and had a very awkward moment where I got in the way of the traditional march and flag lowering ceremony and had to scramble out of the way because I didn't see or hear them cuz I had my headphones in.

We were out having a beer at a bar the other night, and as we were leaving we saw an actual, real life, good looking blond girl. Dave was very excited, as this was the first good looking blond he had seen here in 5 months, so he decided we would have to stay and make a night of it. So, we made a quick stop off at 7-11 (there is seriously 2 on every block, it is insanity) to buy cheap beers and we proceeded to get belligerently drunk. Apparently the rest of the night was fun, as it included Boner Dave getting molested by a terrifying, unidentified Asian girl and an oreo cookie wedding proposal. Also, there are pictures of me standing next to a sleazy white businessman and his newest friend, as i drew attention to the large crowd of people outside the bar that he was buying himself some night-time accompaniment. At that point, he dropped the money and she had to pick it up, and I pulled a massive awkward face and then proceeded to make things awkward-er by asking them how they knew eachother; however, that part is pretty fuzzy and i dont know how he came back to that one.

There is a basketball court a block from our apartment building. So I bought a ball and have been playing a bit, which has obviously led to alot of humourous situations. Most of the teens and other people who play there can't speak much english, and they certainly aren't used to my whiteboy styles. I try to explain that I play basketball like Manu Ginobili and they dont understand, and then they ask me, i think, my name, and i tell them Duncan, and they get unreasonably excited and started yelling "Tim Duncan! Tim Duncan!". So, that gets interesting, especially when I yell "White Chocolate" every time I drive to the basket, but I don't think that "street name" is really catching on in the streets of Taipei yet. Sigh.

Anyways, I'm posting some pictures below. There are a few of the view from our rooftop of the city, pictures from the Longshan Temple, pictures from the market at Danshui and the ocean, etc... LAter