Happy New Year

I plan to party hard, as I have been known to do on past New Years.

A Few Things...
My resolution for the New Year: start running again

What am I not happy about: I have to work on Saturday

What am I happy about: I have a job in Taiwan

Cool thing for next year: move into a bigger apartment with my friend Nick

This last year has been: a whirlwind

Person on my mind: my main man Eric who was also away from home for Christmas and will be for the New Year too

Person who would like to be on my mind: girl I met at the club a week ago

Merry Christmas to All!

No matter how I try and spin it being away from home on Christmas sucks big time. There is no getting around it. Skype is good but it cannot replace the real deal. Here are some links for Christmas Day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX3mjxAg2e0 (no video but a great song)

http://www.christmas-tree.com/stories/nightbeforechristmas.html (I decided not to post the parodies, which are fantasic. Google the lawyer version)

http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/ (one of my favorite newspaper editorials of all time)

It also sucks since I have never had a white Christmas and the first year I am abroad look what happens, record snow (it was 66 here today and 80 this weekend). Then again trying to come home right now would have been a complete disaster with all of the delays.

So to all of you back home reading this you are lucky you are home and I miss all of you.

A Card for the Season

Dear All,

I wanted to take the time to wish you a very happy and blessed Christmas (or Hanukah/Ramadan/Kwanza/Sienfeld Festivus/Winter Solstice, etc.).

Because I am abroad and due to the fact that I enjoy emailing, you will not receive a paper card from me. Beyond that, I dislike killing trees for a piece of paper that will hang on a refrigerator and then be thrown out. Much better to send an email that you will delete in a few seconds and never feel guilty about not responding to (I know what you’re up to).

Unfortunately, since I am out of the country, I cannot be part of any family pictures. Instead, I chose to scour the internet and find a vintage family picture from the good ol’ days. I chose one that reminds me the most of my family.
In case you are wondering, that’s me on the far left. That picture makes a warm and fuzzy feeling come over me, kind of like that one time in China where I…uh, never mind, forget you even read that.

I know there may not seem to be much good news in the world today. So I was happy to run across this information:

As you can no doubt see, global warming is indeed getting worse due to the alarming lack of pirates. That’s why I am so happy to hear about rising piracy off of Somalia, there’s one feel good story that’s being overlooked! They are doing their part to fight global warming, are you?

This past year has been good to me. There have been ups and downs, ins and outs, light and dark, pain and joy. Sometimes it even felt like this,

like this,

and this,

as you can see things have really been looking up for me this year. But most of all this year has been good to me because of your continued contact and friendship.


Best,

貝川

Christmas, 2009, and Chinese New Year

X-mas
Well it’s that time of year, the weather in Taipei has dropped to the low 70’s, the locals break out the parkas, odor of stinky tofu floats through the air, and all the stores play poor renditions of traditional songs. Yes, its Christmas time.

This year will be rough. I have never spent Christmas away from my family. When I try and explain Christmas to people here I really can’t encapsulate how special it is to have all of your family and friends together in the Christmas spirit. It is even hard for me to put into writing, but Christmas has always been really special to both me and my family. Family is what the season is about. So I will have to take some of my Taiwanese friends out to dinner or something.

Christmas Eve I plan to go to Church for the first time since I have started in Taiwan. Then on Christmas day I have to work. I want it like that. If I didn’t work I would be super lonely and sad since my Taiwanese friends have to work too, it will be a little sad to talk to my family on Skype though. At the same time I will feel somewhat connected to my brother from a different mother, Eric, since he will be at sea with the Coast Guard so we will share that in common this Christmas.

The 26th will be fun since I am going to a big party with the local ND club in town. This is the year end club party and everyone should be there. There is supposed to be a really nice dinner and some prizes at one of the nicest venues in town, but for the price I am paying to get in it had better be nice.

I got my Christmas gifts from my mom the other day. Let me first say, she is one hell of a lady to send me all of this stuff. I got a small fake tree for my apartment, some lights, X-mas M&M’s, a travel, clothes, a book, and other stuff. I was happy to get the book since I haven’t had much to read over here. But my mom was slightly nudging me with the book; it is a rational argument for a belief in God. That is just her way of countering my atheist tendencies (I am more of a deist really) and I appreciate it. Needless to say, my coworkers were really impressed with all of the stuff I got and I had to open the box several times to show people the stuff and share my M&M’s.

In the package, I got my dad’s famous/infamous X-mas CD’s. Except for Kenny G they are pretty good since they have a healthy does of the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Better to listen to these real CD’s than the knock-offs played in all the stores around here.

2009
Looking ahead I am trying to figure out what to do for New Years Eve, if you have advice leave it in the comments or email me. Basically every club and bar has a cool special that is going on. My friend, Calvin, said most people just head for the bars on New Years.

The “best” place in the city, Luxy (look a several posts down to see why I really didn’t like it too much when I went) has an open bar before 11PM then a show by the Three 6 Mafia. I love live music so that sounds pretty good to me.

Of course, Taipei is world famous for its New Years celebration since at midnight Taipei 101 is used as a 101 story tall fireworks platform. I would feel really bad to be here and miss seeing that.

Taking a cue from the college days I think this means that I will go to some club/bar and drink before leaving to see the fireworks then going back to said club/bar. But that plan would rule out Luxy and the Three 6 Mafia, unless I take a taxi, since it is pretty far from area around Taipei 101.

Decisions, decisions.

Chinese New Year
Then at the end of January there is the Chinese New Year and I get a week off. I want to get out of Taiwan since Chinese New Year here means a week of nothing but constant firecrackers. But I am still undecided on where to go and I need to book something soon and I want to try and convince someone here to go with me too.

I can go to Thailand, but I have already been there and I am going there for work 2 weeks before the Chinese New Year. I may go to Vietnam but that requires a pre-trip visa and I am not sure where I would go in the country (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hue, etc.).

I am thinking about Cebu in the Philippines. It is supposed to be tropical and have some of the best beaches in the world. But my first choice is Bali, Indonesia. To get an idea check out the link from a good photographer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/javajive/sets/167412/.

However, during Chinese New Year Bali will likely be filled with tourists, so no decision yet.

I Hate It When It's True

I have been thinking about this for a long time. When I first heard it I was a teenager it was my dad saying it in reference to my grandpa. I thought it was sort of funny but also a little silly.

There is a Mark Twain quote that goes something like, “When I was 15 my dad was the dumbest guy in the world but when I was 25 I was amazed by how much he had learned.”

Now for me, my dad has become awfully damn smart. Not that I would ever tell him that of course.

Not smart in the sense that he told me some pearl of wisdom that I live by. No, smart in the way that now that I have a real job I see things I didn’t see before that have made me really respect both of my parents. What I mean is that I feel really busy and overworked with just me to take care of, so I cannot imagine how hard it is to take care of a full-time job, kids, the kid’s activities and homework, and still remain sane.

What is the lesson here? If I ever have kids I have a damn high bar. So the best option is not to have any kids, problem solved—no bar, no way you can’t make it.

The Weekend Update

So, as is standard, this weekend saw a continuation of the bar tour. But I will get to that later. I actually took it easy on Friday since we had an engineer in town to work on one of our machines and I had to get up early the next morning.

On Saturday morning, I went across the city to listen to a talk about Taiwanese politics by left leaning members of the community who know an older ND alum. I met some cool people, listened to some interesting talks about Taiwanese politics, and was able to talk to a leader of the ongoing Taiwanese student protest.

After that I walked around downtown in some expensive shopping areas and tell myself one day I will change some of my wardrobe from just “rolled out of bed” to “looks like hell but at least his shirt is decent.” I was also pretty pumped since I found a hidden Tibetan shop that sells all sorts of stuff. I am planning to go back there and get some prayer flags to decorate my apartment.

That night was fun. I went to the Brass Monkey bar. It was all people who were older than me so I just had a pint of Guinness and laughed at the 20 or so very drunk Irish guys (seriously though, these guys are Irish, what do you expect?) dressed in Santa suits and drinking Coronas.

From there, I went to another place that I heard about called Bliss. At first it really sucked since hardly anyone was there and the only redeeming factor was the owner’s cute dog. Well, I made up my mind to order some fries and leave. But the fries were out so I ordered a bunch of nachos that ended up being huge. So I offered to share them with people in the bar and eventually got roped into some drinking games. It also turned out one of the foreign dudes there, Nick, lives a short walk away from me. When the time came to leave I went to breakfast with Nick and some Taiwanese girls then shared a cab home with them.

Sunday was a waste. I slept all day. About the most productive thing I did was read 100 pages of a book my mom sent me. Seriously, I did nothing else of value today.

Six Months in Taiwan

Today is a real milestone for me. I have been living and working in Taiwan for 6 months. Half a year. It’s crazy to think of it like that and how fast the time has gone by.

This is also the longest single time I have ever spent away from my home, and what better place to do that than in a foreign country and working in a company where I am the only white person.

Thinking about my life here it is strange in a way, to me this is my “normal.” Normal is getting up and spending most days not seeing white people—it is strange when I do—Taiwan has become what I define as normal. To me, my life here is utterly normal. I have my routine, I work, I buy food, I go out for some dinners, etc. In fact, what is more interesting to me is that I can have time to bitch and complain—as I am known to do—instead of caring or worrying about life here. In the list below of the good and bad in Taiwan there is nothing about culture shock or such it is more mundane, which tells me I have settled into this place.

Since Thanksgiving I have been thinking about what I am thankful for. I am going to mesh that with a list of some of the good things about my life here:

Good: I have a job when so many people do not, I have a stable job for at least one more year or longer (if I want it), I get along with the people at work, I can get around here easily, I have plenty of little haunts, my language has improved, I have two good friends in Calvin and Kara, my boss is a good dude, I am getting a crazy load of experience with my job, I am increasingly running the show at the office in terms of international business, and I get to achieve my dream of working abroad.

Bad: I have nearly abandoned the LSAT, I hardly run anymore, I don’t get around greenery enough, my language—especially business Chinese—is not where I want it, I am losing my Chinese handwriting (damn computers), my English regresses the more I speak Chinese, I still don’t have a lot of friends, the lack of travel for work, I have a shit-ton of work and I keep getting more, and I always seem to be the youngest person no matter where I go.

Par for the course. Whenever I feel angry, stressed, or overworked I just have to remind myself how luck I am to be here and have a job. Even if I never stop bitching.

Cultural Thing I Guess

A lot of janitors here are female. Apparently it is no big deal for them just to come in and clean bathrooms when there are people in it. I can’t tell you how many times I have pulled into a restroom and found a few cleaning ladies in there, which makes me stop dead in my tracks. Personally, I think that it’s a little strange but the Taiwanese dudes they just pull right up and do their thing while the janitor mops around their feet. I am still not used to this one.

Great Video for Christmas

I consider myself hard to the world. But this video had me tearing up, but not crying mind you. These deals with the dad-soldier home from war to see the kid always get me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/28086865#28073985

Latest in the Bar and Club Tour

I went with my friend Calvin to one of (supposedly) best clubs in the city, Plush. It was underwhelming. The menu was expensive, even if we got in without cover, and the place was nearly empty. The only thing it has going for it was the really cool interior. We waited there until a little after 11 and the place felt deserted (there were seriously no more than 15-20 people there).

Then we left and went to what is now supposed to be one of the cool clubs in the city, Room18. This was a bitchin’ place. They had a good drink selection, cool interior, a trance area, a hip-hop area, and it actually had people inside. But, how do I say this, the vibe I got from the people was a little less than friendly or maybe haughty. Part of that could be the hip-hop section was too damn loud to hear anything much less talk to people (if I go back I’ll take a pen and paper since that will be easier instead of trying to talk over the music).

There seemed to be a ton of Canadians (Taiwanese-Canadians) there. In fact, there was one table full of attractive but less than friendly Canadians. I also met another Canadian dude. I was hitting on some girl towards the end of the night, well it turns out it was this dude’s girlfriend. But no worries, he lived in Vancouver and we Northwesterners tend to get along.

The other highlight to the night was the 1.5 fights that took place. For the first one, I was wisely moved out of the way by Calvin and we were able to watch the action in one of the mirrors on the ceiling. Apparently there were just no bouncers around since these two Taiwanese dudes were just beating the shit out of each other and throwing some wild punches. The best part was a waiter tried to walk through with a big pitcher of ice—that ended poorly. The next 0.5 fight was one I was right next to. Some Taiwanese guy said something to a foreigner and they started posturing for a fight—but this time one of the waiters wisely grabbed a bouncer who pulled the two dudes apart.

A New Adventure

Well my boss always seems to have a new market or plan up his sleeve but they never seem to work out or they just amount to little more than pipe-dreams. This is why I initially thought I would be travelling all over Asia then never did. However, I am slightly more optimistic about the new pipe dream. It is the biggest, most advanced, and well thought out plan he has given so far.

We had a vendor here to try and get us to buy a new machine. But to buy a new machine we need to have new customers, and the boss really wants the new machine.

So where to look for customers for phone cards? Africa, of course.

Seriously, there are large and growing populations that all have access to mobile phones and there are no landlines. The mobile companies do not trust the people to follow through if they sign a contract so everyone has to buy phone cards and the market is booming. So, in theory, this looks like a good deal.

Now it is up to me to get this off the ground. That means developing contacts, finding and agent, finding customers, etc. Oh yeah, and best to do it within 2-3 months.

Thing is I am actually pretty excited about all of this. Definitely what I thought I would be doing more of when I came here to Taiwan. It is cool to think that as a young dude I essentially have control of this new business endeavor.

The downside is of course the dangers of the region. But as long as I say away from the danger spots (Nigeria included) I should be fine. We actually got a lot of good information from our vendor who is in Africa all the time. He had some insane stories about Nigeria and the close brushes he had with death in that country.

We shall see if this comes to anything, hopefully so.