As I write this another typhoon is raging outside, and this one is supposed to have winds near 118 mph. I actually hope there is no typhoon holiday because I have a 1.5 million piece shipment to get to Thailand tomorrow.
So Friday night I wanted to check out an underground rock place I had read about only to find it had moved. That meant I stopped by a watering hole about 7 min walk from my apartment. Here is the translated conversation between the owner, me, and the only other patron there:
Me: Hi do you have a menu? (Gives me menu) Do you have Taiwan beer? (No response)
Me: Do you have Taiwan beer?
Owner: Yes.
Me: Ok, get me a Taiwan beer (no response)
Me: Can you bring me a beer? (no response)
Me: Can I have a beer? (just looks at me)
Patron: Are you going to get him a beer? (owner finally brings me a beer)
Owner: Where do you live?
It was no wonder there was only one dude there. And to top it off the AC was almost non-existent in there. I will not be going back.
Then last night I decided to check out a bar in the university district called Club W (all you can drink bikini night!), what a name, then again Club Fever it’s not. However, when I got off of the subway there was no one outside the place so I decided to walk to another bar/club called 9% to see if that was any better. Now this was the place. I paid NT$600/US$18 and it was also all you can drink. There should be no questions as to if I took advantage of this state of affairs. The major downside to the place was the large number of dudes and generally smaller number of ladies.
Some of the highlights: meeting an Indian guy who loved to dance and/or grind up on the ladies all the while yelling “Woooo!” Talking to a random girl from Austria. Talking to a Taiwanese baseball player who had amazing English. Two very attractive women dancing on the bar. Some dude deciding I was his buddy since he heard me speak Chinese and then meeting all of his friends. As a side note, whenever I speak Chinese I suddenly become everyone’s friend.
The place closed at 4AM but this story doesn’t end there. It was raining pretty hard and there were a lot of people and not many cabs so I walked a few yards to 7-11 and sat down to wait. Well I ended up talking to some three girls and a guy who had just left as well and they wanted me to go to karaoke with them, why the hell not? When we get to the karaoke place who should I run into but my buddy and all of his friends from the club.
Well after singing some karaoke and drinking a bit (ok, a lot) more it was pretty good times. There was one crazy chick with some wild tattoos (“Live in the present” on her upper thigh) who was impressed that I could read Chinese when singing karaoke. The best part was they paid for everything. Even the cab ride back was paid by this other girl who was there. I was even happier since I got her number.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
My Voice
Well I got my overseas ballot today in the mail (all of Oregon is vote by mail). It shouldn't take a genius to figure who I voted for. But in case you are not sure I included two pictures. Hint: I voted for some guy who's name sounds like "Obama."
奶粉
That means milk powder (or what we call powdered milk) here in Taiwan. People here use powdered milk for everything it seems like. Milk teas are extremely popular here and my boss once told me that when he eats cereal that he only uses powered milk and not the real stuff.
That’s why it’s such HUGE news here (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/09/23/2003423983) that there is an ongoing scandal with powered milk that was made in China that has sickened tons of babies but some of which was also imported here to Taiwan. (Side note: Shit there goes my weekly pearl milk teas).
Tonight my coworker sent me a concerned MSN message warning me not to eat the bread I always eat for breakfast because it likely contains some sort of milk powder. Come to think of it I had an upset stomach the other day. It’s got to be that damn powdered milk!
That’s why it’s such HUGE news here (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/09/23/2003423983) that there is an ongoing scandal with powered milk that was made in China that has sickened tons of babies but some of which was also imported here to Taiwan. (Side note: Shit there goes my weekly pearl milk teas).
Tonight my coworker sent me a concerned MSN message warning me not to eat the bread I always eat for breakfast because it likely contains some sort of milk powder. Come to think of it I had an upset stomach the other day. It’s got to be that damn powdered milk!
A New Adventure (Part II, the anti-climax)
Well today I got up at 5:30AM to take my adventure to China. I bought a $60 one way ticket to Jinmen/Kinmen island (an island controlled by Taiwan but within sight of Mainland China and one of the few places you can travel direct from Taiwanese territory to China) and got in at 8:00AM (by the way Taiwanese domestic flights necessitate you getting to the airport a whole 30min early) then hauled ass in a taxi to get to the ferry terminal for the 8:30AM ferry to Xiamen, China to get that visa extension (see the picture above).
Side note: I have included some pictures of Jinmen since it was really pretty and not as built up as Taiwan. That's mainly due to the fact htat China shelled the hell out of the island for years so not many people wanted to live there. The downside is most pictures are from an old-style village and don't show the rest of the island.
Side note: I have included some pictures of Jinmen since it was really pretty and not as built up as Taiwan. That's mainly due to the fact htat China shelled the hell out of the island for years so not many people wanted to live there. The downside is most pictures are from an old-style village and don't show the rest of the island.
I got to the terminal in time and was juggling a phone call from my boss, since his father-in-law owns the ferry company so I had to go talk to some lady about the ticket. So I find the lady, Xiao Lan, and she says that the 8:30AM is cancelled since due to the very high winds and waves from a typhoon south of Taiwan and I would just have to wait for the next one. Then she calls me back to say all of the ferries are cancelled. Oh. Shit. I am at the end of my visa limit and if I don’t make it to China today I get a fine and a fucking record that may not allow me back into Taiwan.
Then for some reason I calmed down, I had stressed out a lot yesterday so I decided to go with the flow, which was the only thing I could do. My boss had his wife and her brother come to pick see me at the terminal to see what could be done. Now remember, I was there since I could not get a visa extension in Taipei, even for a multiple entry extendable visa.
Well we go up and talk to the immigration people to make sure that when I catch the ferry out the next day after the wind passes and that I don’t get fucked for being stuck there when everything was cancelled (basically to get a pass that says it’s ok I’m there for 61 days). However, within 15 minutes, a booked ferry order, and a form filled out the immigration people handed me a visa extension (the very one that Taipei could not handle)!
Apparently this is the little secret of Taiwanese immigration. As long as you show that you are planning to leave at a port of exit (seriously, wtf Taipei is the largest port of exit in Taiwan) and book a ticket out you can get an extension. That meant no more trip to China, which is good since that means I don’t have to waste my visa on a trip of only a few hours and now I can use it for a real trip.
Then I went out with my boss’s wife and her brother for some rice soup (it was only 10AM or so) and managed to spill some of this (good) shit on my hand and burned the hell out of myself. I’m ok now but I felt like an idiot. Then an hour later I had another meal at my boss’s in-law’s place, it was Chinese food made by a Filipino maid. That was the second time today I had talked to a person who never spoke with a white person who could speak Chinese (the first being the immigration lady). I then had a little time to tour the island before I jumped on a flight to Taipei.
And of course when I got into Taipei my boss had me go back into the office, which figured since as soon as something good happened today then something bad would follow.
Monday, September 22, 2008
A New Adventure (Part I)
So for those of you who do not know I am actually working here in Taiwan in a not-so-legal state. You see I have a tourist visa, which technically does not allow me to work but since I am paid under the table it’s not really a problem.
My visa is a multiple-entry tourist visa for 60 days that is extendable to 180 days. Seeing that I am at the 60 day limit I figured I would go to immigration, fill out a few forms, hand over the passport, come back the next day, and miss a few hours of work as a bonus.
The first warning was when the extension forms said I needed some government authorized form to fill out. No big deal I thought, I made a few calls (including one to a cop I know here). Then the shit hit the fan. When talking with the immigration agency they asked why I was here in Taiwan (tourism I said). Well it turns out (I shit you not that I am not making this up) the only way you can extend a tourist visa is if you are a rock star or you have blood relatives here in Taiwan. I am none of the above.
That meant I had to get the hell out of this place since tomorrow is my 60 day limit (even though the fine for up to 10 days over is only NT 2000—this is about $60). Well I made some calls to my boss and we decided that I can go to Xiamen, China I have a visa for China and it is easy to enter through Xiamen then stay with my boss until Saturday at his place. The initial plan was for me to leave tomorrow morning by taking a flight from Taipei to Jinmen island then a ferry to Xiamen.
The problem here is that I am also very urgently needed in the office since I speak English and we are trying to work out some new specs for our largest customer and there is a 1.5 million piece order going out Monday. So that means if I left I was going to screw my coworkers hardcore then absolutely have to work my but off when I came back.
So in a terrible twist of fate I agreed to cut my visit to a foreign country short. I will go to Xiamen via Jinmen tomorrow, take some pictures from the ferry terminal, and then turn around and come straight back to Taiwan. Sort of a waste of a single entry Chinese visa if you ask me.
My visa is a multiple-entry tourist visa for 60 days that is extendable to 180 days. Seeing that I am at the 60 day limit I figured I would go to immigration, fill out a few forms, hand over the passport, come back the next day, and miss a few hours of work as a bonus.
The first warning was when the extension forms said I needed some government authorized form to fill out. No big deal I thought, I made a few calls (including one to a cop I know here). Then the shit hit the fan. When talking with the immigration agency they asked why I was here in Taiwan (tourism I said). Well it turns out (I shit you not that I am not making this up) the only way you can extend a tourist visa is if you are a rock star or you have blood relatives here in Taiwan. I am none of the above.
That meant I had to get the hell out of this place since tomorrow is my 60 day limit (even though the fine for up to 10 days over is only NT 2000—this is about $60). Well I made some calls to my boss and we decided that I can go to Xiamen, China I have a visa for China and it is easy to enter through Xiamen then stay with my boss until Saturday at his place. The initial plan was for me to leave tomorrow morning by taking a flight from Taipei to Jinmen island then a ferry to Xiamen.
The problem here is that I am also very urgently needed in the office since I speak English and we are trying to work out some new specs for our largest customer and there is a 1.5 million piece order going out Monday. So that means if I left I was going to screw my coworkers hardcore then absolutely have to work my but off when I came back.
So in a terrible twist of fate I agreed to cut my visit to a foreign country short. I will go to Xiamen via Jinmen tomorrow, take some pictures from the ferry terminal, and then turn around and come straight back to Taiwan. Sort of a waste of a single entry Chinese visa if you ask me.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
BBQ, Beer, and a Babe
Just a rule, putting me around small children is usually not a good idea. Mainly since my maturity level is only rarely discernibly higher than that of a small child. So I was a little worried last night when I went to a bbq with two language partners at their friend’s house and they brought along a 18 month old.
First, let me say a Chinese/Taiwanese bbq is different than an American one. It is a little thing on the ground with some open coals that you use to grill small bite-sized pieces of all sorts of meat, seafood, and veggies whereas an American bbq usually has just one or two types of food that are grilled.
The thing was the whole event took place outside in an area that had NO breeze. Well within no time at all it was very hot, especially sitting next to a grill. So in addition to sweating a lot, my Taiwanese hosts figured they should give the white dude some beers. Now this is never a bad thing but the fact that I had not eaten much yesterday and I was sweating hard made me feel those beers much more than I would have liked.
Of course when I finished those they announced a beer run to 7-11. That was when I knew it…I had found a home!
Well the night was fun and I got to play around with an 18 month old who thought the white dude was pretty interesting. Overall, despite the sweating, it was a great night (come on bbq, beer, and good company is something I will only turn down if I die).
First, let me say a Chinese/Taiwanese bbq is different than an American one. It is a little thing on the ground with some open coals that you use to grill small bite-sized pieces of all sorts of meat, seafood, and veggies whereas an American bbq usually has just one or two types of food that are grilled.
The thing was the whole event took place outside in an area that had NO breeze. Well within no time at all it was very hot, especially sitting next to a grill. So in addition to sweating a lot, my Taiwanese hosts figured they should give the white dude some beers. Now this is never a bad thing but the fact that I had not eaten much yesterday and I was sweating hard made me feel those beers much more than I would have liked.
Of course when I finished those they announced a beer run to 7-11. That was when I knew it…I had found a home!
Well the night was fun and I got to play around with an 18 month old who thought the white dude was pretty interesting. Overall, despite the sweating, it was a great night (come on bbq, beer, and good company is something I will only turn down if I die).
Friday, September 19, 2008
Karma is a crazy thing
So I'm still not over my little ride.
It started innocently enough. I was out tonight to a cool bar with my coworker and her friend. While there I taught them fun English words like "douchebag" and they taught me the Taiwanese equivalents. Just a note hearing a person who cannot speak English try to string together a bunch of f-bombs and such is one of the funniest things on the planet.
Then it was time to go and this is where karma came back to bite me in the ass, big time. I was to hitch a ride back to my place on my co worker's moped/mini-motorcycle. Not a bad deal, I get to ride right behind a decently attractive girl and get home for free.
Then reality set in. In the back, there were only some crappy handles and no real footrests. On these little devils you feel all of the bumps in the road and being on the back always feel like you are about to fall off. It was without a doubt one of the scariest times of my life to be barreling down streets at night when I couldn't see around the driver's head to see what was coming and there was very little to hold onto. All I wanted to do was get off of that thing so karma couldn't come all the way around (i.e. the only thing worse than being on the thing would be falling off of it then being rolled over by the car behind you). On top of that, my coworker thought this was the funniest thing in the world. Nothing like fearing for your life while your driver can't stop laughing.
I'm never doing that again, unless of course...
It started innocently enough. I was out tonight to a cool bar with my coworker and her friend. While there I taught them fun English words like "douchebag" and they taught me the Taiwanese equivalents. Just a note hearing a person who cannot speak English try to string together a bunch of f-bombs and such is one of the funniest things on the planet.
Then it was time to go and this is where karma came back to bite me in the ass, big time. I was to hitch a ride back to my place on my co worker's moped/mini-motorcycle. Not a bad deal, I get to ride right behind a decently attractive girl and get home for free.
Then reality set in. In the back, there were only some crappy handles and no real footrests. On these little devils you feel all of the bumps in the road and being on the back always feel like you are about to fall off. It was without a doubt one of the scariest times of my life to be barreling down streets at night when I couldn't see around the driver's head to see what was coming and there was very little to hold onto. All I wanted to do was get off of that thing so karma couldn't come all the way around (i.e. the only thing worse than being on the thing would be falling off of it then being rolled over by the car behind you). On top of that, my coworker thought this was the funniest thing in the world. Nothing like fearing for your life while your driver can't stop laughing.
I'm never doing that again, unless of course...
Haircut
So last night I went for my first haircut since I arrived in Taiwan. Needless to say I was getting a little shaggy and having such a high-brow office job that just doesn't work. About a month ago an American, who speaks no Chinese, on the floor below me told me how tough finding a good place to get a cut was and since the Taiwanese aren't used to Western hair they tend to mess up on the haircuts.
Well I speak enough Chinese to make it mildly clear what I want (short on the sides and slightly longer on the top). However, the simplicity confused the stylist since when everyone has straight black hair everyone wants a cool haircut to stand-out. When I said I wanted short on the sides and long on the top he figured I wanted my bangs cut and my sides cut and then leaving the rest in a mullet was perfectly fine (and it would be if not for my job). After some explaining I was able to come out just fine and I was only set back $4.50.
But since I came in late the guy had to stay over a bit. The thing was that he was cool with it since it was a chance to cut a foreigner's hair. Then the owner of the place came over and wanted just to touch my hair. For me it was really funny since both of them were totally shocked that I have no ladyfriend; I still haven't figured out what that is such a big deal.
Well I speak enough Chinese to make it mildly clear what I want (short on the sides and slightly longer on the top). However, the simplicity confused the stylist since when everyone has straight black hair everyone wants a cool haircut to stand-out. When I said I wanted short on the sides and long on the top he figured I wanted my bangs cut and my sides cut and then leaving the rest in a mullet was perfectly fine (and it would be if not for my job). After some explaining I was able to come out just fine and I was only set back $4.50.
But since I came in late the guy had to stay over a bit. The thing was that he was cool with it since it was a chance to cut a foreigner's hair. Then the owner of the place came over and wanted just to touch my hair. For me it was really funny since both of them were totally shocked that I have no ladyfriend; I still haven't figured out what that is such a big deal.
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Sun
It sure is good to see the sun again. It has been about 4 days since I last saw it and much of that time was taken up by pouring rain. Now rain is nothing for me, I'm from Oregon, but this stuff during the typhoon was unreal. There would be a light to heavy rain for 10 minutes then an all-out open the flood-gates deluge for 45 minutes then the cycle would repeat (for 3 full days). Beyond that there was a small leak around my AC that went from small to somehow letting a mini-waterfall into my place. But in the end it turned out ok, my landlord--who is an awesome dude--came over last night and fixed that up with a load of caulking.
What's In a Name?
Apparently not much. So over the last 24 hours I found three really funny pronunciations of my name. First, someone at work thought I was named "clean" and figured this worked well because my desk is always clean. Second, another person thought I was named "client." No comment there. Finally, and most forgivable of all someone thought I was named Clinton.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Great Stuff
So maybe SNL is starting to be funny again. This is a great video that started this new season. Check it out.
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_xQdynFVLg
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_xQdynFVLg
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Notre Dame football post
First, typhoons suck hard. The one hitting now has been DUMPING rain for the last 48 hours and it is supposed to be around until Tuesday. The wind hasn't been bad but it has been constantly raining. It even rained so hard for a bit that there was some water leaking in around my windows and air conditioner.
Ok, so the ND game. Thankfully, you can watch all the games on NBC without commercials and it takes under an hour. So these are the things I've noticed over the first two games. We have some ballers: Brian Smith (who will be in the NFL as he was all over the field), David Bruton is great, as is Mike Anello who has more heart than all of last year's team, Aldridge showed some flashes, and Tate is going to be great too. And to give credit where credit is due McGuffie from UM is going to be amazing.
In general there have been some good things. The safety play has been great as has tackling and hitting. We have caused a lot of TO's which is always good news. It was funny to see a 330 pound man running down the field. We also have a strong youth movement. But most of all, it's always great to beat UM and start the season 2-0.
However, there are are a lot of things that are concerning to me. We blitz a lot (which I absolutely love) but we don't get consistent pressure or come up with sacks. Conversely, we are lucky not to have given up any sacks as our OL still needs a lot of improvement. Overall the offense needs a lot of work, but it's still early so that will come. The d-line is still absent on too many plays--which cannot happen in a 3-4 defense.
Finally, I say we spread the field with three receiver sets. Get Tate, Floyd, and Kamara in so the defense has to cover them then pound the ball on the right side and run the occasional play-action pass.
The arrow is pointing up on this team.
Ok, so the ND game. Thankfully, you can watch all the games on NBC without commercials and it takes under an hour. So these are the things I've noticed over the first two games. We have some ballers: Brian Smith (who will be in the NFL as he was all over the field), David Bruton is great, as is Mike Anello who has more heart than all of last year's team, Aldridge showed some flashes, and Tate is going to be great too. And to give credit where credit is due McGuffie from UM is going to be amazing.
In general there have been some good things. The safety play has been great as has tackling and hitting. We have caused a lot of TO's which is always good news. It was funny to see a 330 pound man running down the field. We also have a strong youth movement. But most of all, it's always great to beat UM and start the season 2-0.
However, there are are a lot of things that are concerning to me. We blitz a lot (which I absolutely love) but we don't get consistent pressure or come up with sacks. Conversely, we are lucky not to have given up any sacks as our OL still needs a lot of improvement. Overall the offense needs a lot of work, but it's still early so that will come. The d-line is still absent on too many plays--which cannot happen in a 3-4 defense.
Finally, I say we spread the field with three receiver sets. Get Tate, Floyd, and Kamara in so the defense has to cover them then pound the ball on the right side and run the occasional play-action pass.
The arrow is pointing up on this team.
What a Week
This week was pretty busy. We had two technicians come in and I had to take care of them. That means transport arrangements, hotels, and translating between them and the workers. The good part is that I'm building a better rapport with the production team that I have to work with so that is never a bad thing, one lady even told me in that she couldn't understand what the hell the technician was saying unless I helped translate. The other good thing was that I was able to get a sweet Italian meal with the technicians on the company bill. The downside was that I still had all of my regular work to do and next week I have to order and catalogue several thousand dollars worth of spare parts.
Interesting note: the ride back from the airport with the technician was 30 min and that was the most I talked to a white person in over 2 weeks.
Right now there is a typhoon hitting the island. It has been about to hit for the last three days and now it finally is coming close. The rain seems to come hard for a 30min then fade off then come back. Tonight will be the real test to see how it looks.
The downside to the typhoon is that I was going to go to the beach in Yilan with a coworker this weekend but now that the typhoon is here that trip was cancelled. That means I'm also not sure about the mid-autumn festival bbq I was supposed to have with my language partners tomorrow. But most galling of all is that I planned to go to the bar this weekend and get hammered, but probably not a good idea with the typhoon.
I mentioned the new girl who works at the office now. I think it's kinda strange but whenever i talk to her in Chinese she laughs a ton since she claims she is not used to seeing "Chinese words come from a white face." So that is good. The bad lady news is that I made the mistake of giving my MSN to a chick I met at a bar and now whenever I get on she wants to talk.
I went to the airport this afternoon with my boss to pick up a business partner. He has all of these big plans and big ideas for me. But I stay cautious since he has a tendency to overstate things. But he trusts me and wants to give some of my work to someone else in the company so I was happy to hear that.
Interesting note: the ride back from the airport with the technician was 30 min and that was the most I talked to a white person in over 2 weeks.
Right now there is a typhoon hitting the island. It has been about to hit for the last three days and now it finally is coming close. The rain seems to come hard for a 30min then fade off then come back. Tonight will be the real test to see how it looks.
The downside to the typhoon is that I was going to go to the beach in Yilan with a coworker this weekend but now that the typhoon is here that trip was cancelled. That means I'm also not sure about the mid-autumn festival bbq I was supposed to have with my language partners tomorrow. But most galling of all is that I planned to go to the bar this weekend and get hammered, but probably not a good idea with the typhoon.
I mentioned the new girl who works at the office now. I think it's kinda strange but whenever i talk to her in Chinese she laughs a ton since she claims she is not used to seeing "Chinese words come from a white face." So that is good. The bad lady news is that I made the mistake of giving my MSN to a chick I met at a bar and now whenever I get on she wants to talk.
I went to the airport this afternoon with my boss to pick up a business partner. He has all of these big plans and big ideas for me. But I stay cautious since he has a tendency to overstate things. But he trusts me and wants to give some of my work to someone else in the company so I was happy to hear that.
Friday, September 12, 2008
3 Questions
Without fail every Taiwanese person here will ask me the following questions in some order (even the GM of my company asked me these one day). 1. What do you do on the weekend--coffee shops, sleep a lot, study, read, go to bars, be lazy, etc. 2. Do you have a Taiwanese girlfriend--no. 3. Do you think Taiwanese women are pretty/Do you like Taiwanese women--yes, but not necessarily more than any other race of female.
A fourth question that I love to be asked is if I teach English. The VAST majority of the foreigners here teach English so when I say no its a great conversation starter. Seriously, how many 23 year-olds are working in international sales, production, ordering, and in charge of machine maintenance at at Taiwanese company? That is not to say that I always like my job but I'll post on that a little bit later.
A fourth question that I love to be asked is if I teach English. The VAST majority of the foreigners here teach English so when I say no its a great conversation starter. Seriously, how many 23 year-olds are working in international sales, production, ordering, and in charge of machine maintenance at at Taiwanese company? That is not to say that I always like my job but I'll post on that a little bit later.
Monday, September 8, 2008
The Last Week
This weekend the old couple I teach English to invited me on a little trip to the famous Yang Ming Shan (Mountain). It was a pretty nice drive up there and even though it was hot the park on the mountain was pretty cool. The biggest thing for me was to get out of the city since most of my days are spent in the concrete jungle so that was a welcome break to go there. Then we drove to the ocean, again, a great place to go. We had a great lunch of clams, cuddlefish, shrimp, and fish at a cool seaside restaurant and we got to pick the stuff we wanted from bins of live seafood (some of the things there I had never need before in the second to last picture). 
The weather here is finally starting to cool off a bit and by that I mean in the evenings it’s below 30 degress C with a breeze. Of course, the middle of the day is still hotter than all hell.
This last week was a ton of work since I had a bunch of orders to take care of. On top of that two engineers are coming in and I have to make all of their arrangements with hotels, transport, and working schedule. That also meant that I had to have countless meetings to go over the details with my coworkers. Then one of the machines broke…more work. Then the boss said to accept the engineer’s request only to have the GM keep delaying the decision. The worst part was my boss was in China and would randomly give me emails to prepare stuff for customers I had never even heard of (sure I can take an order of thermal paper from a company I’ve never heard of for a contract bid I’ve never heard of). No the worst part would be emailing vendors who I knew were swamped then to have a coworker come ask me to email with a new question 5 min after I sent the original email.
The strange thing was that my boss wants me to drive to the airport to pick up one of the engineers (with his car) for some reason. No way I say, the drivers are pretty crazy, I don’t know the rules of the road, I don’t have an international drivers license. No problem he says, drive my car and the cops are nice so you won’t get in trouble or care that you work here illegally. Doesn’t seem like the best bet to me. So far I’ve put it off by saying that I was too tired to drive.
Well one engineer is here this week and it’s already been a sonofabitch. He’s a nice enough guy but now I have to order a ton of shit for him, maintain the machine, translate (for him and the workers and some huge hand-written document I was handed today), and do all of my other work too.
This weekend I went back to the Bravo bar where I had been before. I actually saw other white people my age for the first time in a long long time. It was pretty strange, since I’m used to only being around Taiwanese people now. But one dude bought me a shot so it was all good. Also at the bar I also ended up talking with a group of Taiwanese people and shocked them at I speak some Chinese. People are always a little nervous to talk to you since they think their English isn’t very good but once they hear me speak Chinese they all want to talk.
The plus side to all of this is that my Chinese is getting much better, or at least it’s coming more fluently and I have been able to pick up on more of what is said. Then again I still have a hard time with the business meetings since there are so many words I still don’t know.
The weather here is finally starting to cool off a bit and by that I mean in the evenings it’s below 30 degress C with a breeze. Of course, the middle of the day is still hotter than all hell.
This last week was a ton of work since I had a bunch of orders to take care of. On top of that two engineers are coming in and I have to make all of their arrangements with hotels, transport, and working schedule. That also meant that I had to have countless meetings to go over the details with my coworkers. Then one of the machines broke…more work. Then the boss said to accept the engineer’s request only to have the GM keep delaying the decision. The worst part was my boss was in China and would randomly give me emails to prepare stuff for customers I had never even heard of (sure I can take an order of thermal paper from a company I’ve never heard of for a contract bid I’ve never heard of). No the worst part would be emailing vendors who I knew were swamped then to have a coworker come ask me to email with a new question 5 min after I sent the original email.
The strange thing was that my boss wants me to drive to the airport to pick up one of the engineers (with his car) for some reason. No way I say, the drivers are pretty crazy, I don’t know the rules of the road, I don’t have an international drivers license. No problem he says, drive my car and the cops are nice so you won’t get in trouble or care that you work here illegally. Doesn’t seem like the best bet to me. So far I’ve put it off by saying that I was too tired to drive.
Well one engineer is here this week and it’s already been a sonofabitch. He’s a nice enough guy but now I have to order a ton of shit for him, maintain the machine, translate (for him and the workers and some huge hand-written document I was handed today), and do all of my other work too.
This weekend I went back to the Bravo bar where I had been before. I actually saw other white people my age for the first time in a long long time. It was pretty strange, since I’m used to only being around Taiwanese people now. But one dude bought me a shot so it was all good. Also at the bar I also ended up talking with a group of Taiwanese people and shocked them at I speak some Chinese. People are always a little nervous to talk to you since they think their English isn’t very good but once they hear me speak Chinese they all want to talk.
The plus side to all of this is that my Chinese is getting much better, or at least it’s coming more fluently and I have been able to pick up on more of what is said. Then again I still have a hard time with the business meetings since there are so many words I still don’t know.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Stuff Around the Office
Listening to Taiwanese people say my name is something that I hope will never get old. It is absolutely hilarious. I tell them my name is a lot like Bill Clinton's without the on at the end (his name in Chinese is Ke Lin-dun). So most people try and say my name and it comes out pronounced like "kuh lin." In fact, a coworker here thought my name was spelled Cliat for a long time so maybe that explains some of the problems.
Do you ever have the urge to just mess things up? I do. Or I do now, I found that I will likely not be travelling much if at all this month-this of course is what I have been looking foward to. So maybe if I screwed up all my work and made some customers drop us as suppliers I could go out and travel to get some new business.
There is also a new employee here at the office (three people have left in the last week, including the only person younger than me). The new girl is nice but is a year older than me which makes me unhappy since I don't want to be the youngest one here. I am more okay with it now since I've known her only a few hours and she's trying to set me up with her friend.
In the office, as in life, I send a ton of email. But I have a bad habbit of not CC-ing everyone on it. Here even routine things need to be CC-ed to all the people involved so I'm trying to break that habbit of mine. My boss here is REALLY into Skype. I'll admit that it's nice and I use it to talk to my parents. However, my boss has me send him texts with Skype since it is supposed to be cheaper. He even called me on it one night after work at 10PM. That means from now on I'm always on invisible.
I know I need to put up more pictures. I'll try but my main goal is to drink hard this weekend so pictures might have to wait a little bit.
Do you ever have the urge to just mess things up? I do. Or I do now, I found that I will likely not be travelling much if at all this month-this of course is what I have been looking foward to. So maybe if I screwed up all my work and made some customers drop us as suppliers I could go out and travel to get some new business.
There is also a new employee here at the office (three people have left in the last week, including the only person younger than me). The new girl is nice but is a year older than me which makes me unhappy since I don't want to be the youngest one here. I am more okay with it now since I've known her only a few hours and she's trying to set me up with her friend.
In the office, as in life, I send a ton of email. But I have a bad habbit of not CC-ing everyone on it. Here even routine things need to be CC-ed to all the people involved so I'm trying to break that habbit of mine. My boss here is REALLY into Skype. I'll admit that it's nice and I use it to talk to my parents. However, my boss has me send him texts with Skype since it is supposed to be cheaper. He even called me on it one night after work at 10PM. That means from now on I'm always on invisible.
I know I need to put up more pictures. I'll try but my main goal is to drink hard this weekend so pictures might have to wait a little bit.
Crassly Political Post
No, it's not crap. It just looks like crap, smells like crap, and has the same color and all the qualities of crap. That's what I hear coming from the RNC. Romney called the Dems the party of big brother. Anyone who has been conscious for the last 8 years would see this as double-speak. He is trying to tell you yes we Republican-led Congresses passed all sorts of measures that intrude on privacy and degrade the ability of courts to oversee those processes but that's not big brother-ish it's really the Dems who are big brother. He is telling you "No, this is not crap even though it has all the qualities and properties of crap-don't believe your eyes."
Here is a great opinion piece by one of my favorite columnists, Leonard Pitts Jr., about Sarah Palin: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/670090.html.
This jives perfectly with the last few days. Palin tells the media not to intrude on her family (note: I wholeheartedly agree, families should be off limits), only to have the campaign trot out her 7 year-old and then show McCain meeting the father of her daughter's kid. If you want them out of the media don't put them there in the first place. This is also the same McCain that stooped low and made off-color jokes about Chelsea Clinton being ugly when Bill Clinton was elected as president.
Also on the subject of Palin, the new line on here is she has experience, and not just any experience but "executive experience." Yeah, she has been a governor for 20 months and was a mayor of a tiny town. I'm not entirely sure how that translates into qualifications, after all, if you need executive experience to be president then where does that leave McCain (and Obama)? Moreover, Bush had 8 years of executive experience in Texas and that didn't translate to the national level very well.
The other great line on Palin is she is like the next door neighbor-I think by that they mean a normal person. Well two of my neighbors are off-the-wall strange and mildly creepy so if she's like my neighbors that's bad news since neither of them need to be VP. But the point is that she is normal and down to earth. Frankly, I want a person in the White House who not normal in that they are much smarter than I am and if they are down to earth and normal that's a bonus.
One reason I don't care for Palin: she has stated global warming is not related to human action. Thomas Friedman has a fantastic column (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/opinion/03friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) about how McCain has avoided voting on measures that would help fund alternative fuels and Palin is just another step there. For a nature lover from Oregon there is nothing worse.
But when all else fails, Republicans can blame the media and avoid talking about the economy at all costs because if you just shift the focus then it all goes away...
Here is a great opinion piece by one of my favorite columnists, Leonard Pitts Jr., about Sarah Palin: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/670090.html.
This jives perfectly with the last few days. Palin tells the media not to intrude on her family (note: I wholeheartedly agree, families should be off limits), only to have the campaign trot out her 7 year-old and then show McCain meeting the father of her daughter's kid. If you want them out of the media don't put them there in the first place. This is also the same McCain that stooped low and made off-color jokes about Chelsea Clinton being ugly when Bill Clinton was elected as president.
Also on the subject of Palin, the new line on here is she has experience, and not just any experience but "executive experience." Yeah, she has been a governor for 20 months and was a mayor of a tiny town. I'm not entirely sure how that translates into qualifications, after all, if you need executive experience to be president then where does that leave McCain (and Obama)? Moreover, Bush had 8 years of executive experience in Texas and that didn't translate to the national level very well.
The other great line on Palin is she is like the next door neighbor-I think by that they mean a normal person. Well two of my neighbors are off-the-wall strange and mildly creepy so if she's like my neighbors that's bad news since neither of them need to be VP. But the point is that she is normal and down to earth. Frankly, I want a person in the White House who not normal in that they are much smarter than I am and if they are down to earth and normal that's a bonus.
One reason I don't care for Palin: she has stated global warming is not related to human action. Thomas Friedman has a fantastic column (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/opinion/03friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) about how McCain has avoided voting on measures that would help fund alternative fuels and Palin is just another step there. For a nature lover from Oregon there is nothing worse.
But when all else fails, Republicans can blame the media and avoid talking about the economy at all costs because if you just shift the focus then it all goes away...
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