The Chinese New Year

Most days of the 9 day Chinese New Year break (this is X-mas for Chinese and Taiwanese people) were pretty boring. Not much was open and not much was going on. That meant I finished moving into my new place. Other than that there was a lot of sleeping (I would go to bed at 4am then wake up at 3pm and stay in bed for a few more hours) and lots of playing Starcraft.

So the interesting parts. The two days before the break I was at the office 13 hours and 14 hours, respectively. Then on the first day of the break I went in at 9am on 4 hours sleep to confirm a package was being sent out before sleeping the rest of the day. We were doing an important project for our Thailand customer and thankfully everything turned out ok. The day I was at the office 13 hours I had to leave so fast and rush to the airport with my boss that I forgot my keys and didn’t find out until 1am. So I spent the night at Nicks (I am now officially moved in).

On that Saturday my boss took me to dinner at a great prime rib place called Lawrys. The prime rib was killer, then again most prime rib would be great after such a long hiatus. I stuffed myself. The highlight of the evening was getting there. My boss offered to let me back his car, a Benz, out. I accepted. Then once we were in the car he said just drive to the restaurant. I will say I was less nervous than I should have been. I was on roads infested with motor scooters, in a foreign country, without a legal license, and in someone else’s (expensive car). To be honest, I have never been a car guy. But that was still the nicest car I have driven.

The next night my boss and his parents invited me and Nick to their place for a dinner. It was a nice gesture since it is only supposed to be family on the Chinese New Years Eve. No matter, we had a huge homemade meal, did a Chinese dice gambling game, and played some blackjack. Needless to say my poor gambling skills have not improved.

Other than that the only major excitement was going to the bar and the “fight” described below and having a dinner with Nick’s Taiwan mama.