Category Archives: Journal

What I am doing from day to day.

Struggling in Taiwan

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So I’m struggling to stay motivated here in Taiwan. I absolutely love the place, but it seems that I’m having trouble securely setting up things here. Looking for work is a pain in the ass because lots of companies are slow at responding. Although they aren’t being terribly slow. It is probably just because I feel the pressure of needing a job stat and that is making the time it takes for them to respond seem so much longer in duration. I might have some job lined up on Thursday but it may not be enough to get by on…although I’m not sure yet, have to wait till Thursday.

The biggest problem I’m running into is that I’m losing motivation. I think I may have been spoiled by Korea which as Danny so articulately put it “they handjob you into Korea.” Where as in Taiwan it’s a more usual job hunting experience. Including going to lots of interviews, in places that I don’t know, for something that falls short of exactly what I need. To compound the “places I don’t know” problem is a healthy language barrier which makes navigating streets and asking direction much more difficult.

I’m going with the “fighting” motto that Koreans love to use so much. But things are wearing me out here. I like it here but the winds of fate aren’t being that favorable at the moment. Let’s hope for Thursday.

My money is no good in Kaohsiung markets

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So earlier today I was attempting to get myself lost in Kaohsiung and happened upon a street market. This was good because I was starving. First thing I do is wander up to where the street food vendors are frying, steaming, or boiling up deliciousness…I smelt the street before I got there and it was good, until I walked past the stinky tofu stand ughh. Since I am currently linguistically challenged in Taiwan the best I can do is wait for someone else to get food and just pantomime that I want the same thing as they had. So there I was standing with a group of people on their way home from work who all ordered already. I was waiting for food to be handed to them so I can awkwardly point and signal with my hands that I want the same. Instead the old lady brings me a dumpling and just hands it to me. “Cool” I thought to myself, “that was easy.” Then I hold out some random sum of money that I knew was greater than the cost of the dumpling. She starts refusing to take it. So as I’m trying to convince her to take my money a second old lady from the next stand hands me a bowl of noodles. At this point, I’m confused and I turn to her with money in hand and try to give her money. She also refuses. They said something to me in Taiwanese and motioned for me to eat, which I did because I was starving. After that I proceeded to try to give them money again. All they did was laugh, smile, and gently push my hand holding money in it towards my pocket.

I think this is the first time I’ve ever had someone in a market just give me free food. People always told me Taiwanese are generous, friendly people. I just didn’t understand how truly generous they could be. It was a heartwarming experience, if at first bewildering.

Blood Thirsty Chubs

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Time to post some pics of my most evil cat, Chubs. Thankfully my sister has decided to take care of that beast. He is hair shedding, needy, demanding, pain in the ass but I absolutely love him.

He will indiscriminately kill any living thing smaller than him (and he is a massive little shit) in his territory and Continue reading →

Reconnected

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My Mac is back in my possession! Last week, I was watching a movie on my Mac but I decided to take a break and go get some lunch. Well it seems that while I was out my Mac decided it was bored and to alleviate itself, it promptly self-destructed. I came back to a dead Mac. It wouldn’t turn on and not even the lights would blink. Thankfully I back my stuff up and so I wasn’t too worried about my data. Turns out my Mac decided to be a freak and fry it’s main board. Fortunately though, Macs have a 4 year warranty on the motherboard so all it cost was $40 in labor. And Eddie told me computers almost never just give out…my mac showed you! Happy to have you back Mac!

Welcome back to Busan by a mushroom and food odysseys

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So I landed back in Busan on Wedsenday night in Busan time and was immediately tracked down by the Lil’Ye. While she was here she decided to transform herself into a mushroom (I call her mushroom in Korean, boseot). Here she is

and a more zoomed out shot (I love her new hair)

After she found me at the airport, she informed me that we had to take a 5 hour bus ride to Busan…ughh. A 5 hour bus ride after just getting off a 12 hour flight is not an appealing thought. At least we got all the pain dispensed with in one shot. Something nice though is YeYe scored her cousin’s apartment for us to use while we are in Busan, Thanks Anji!

Continue reading →

Road-Trippin’ Tahoe

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Road trippin’ with my two favorite allies
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies
It’s time to leave this town
It’s time to steal away
Let’s go get lost
Anywhere in the U.S.A.

Yeye, Jake, and I decided to take a roadtrip to show Lil’Ye Lake Tahoe while she was visiting California. We were super lucky because of the absolutely superb weather we had (although it was dumping buckets on us the way home). Lake Tahoe has always been one of my favorite places to visit in Northern California with the clearest blue waters imaginable and gorgeous blue skies.

While we were up there at Tahoe we had all kinds of fun, including:

  • Gambling and drinking free at the casinos
  • Cruising with the top down up the eastern side of the lake
  • Taking a swim in what felt like a bucket of ice (where Jake got second-degree sunburns)
  • A casino buffet with an amazing view
  • Then playing around Emerald Bay and cruising up the western side of the lake
  • I didn’t enjoy listening to metal on glass when the windshield wipers with no wipers scraped over the windscreen of Kelsey’s beat up Stella

Losin’ Mass

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I think it’s from all the food poisoning, parasites, diarrhea, antibiotics, and straight lack of protein in my diet (I’m mostly vegetarian in India) but I’m losing massive amounts of mass: muscle and fat. After my more recent bought of dysentery I looked at myself in a mirror and DAMN I’ve lost size. It’s sad on one level because well in the strength department I’ve definitely come down a lot of levels, but it does have unintended benefits. Some of the benefits are that I’ll definitely fit into that suit for Tyler’s wedding, blood pressures down, and I have more room to fill for all that delicious American food back home. Looks like my India diet worked and I didn’t have to do anything…well except suffer through some illnesses, but that’s unavoidable.

I hope all that stuff I heard about muscle memory is true…would like that back.

Sad News From Home

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Something I always feared while being a more or less long term expat was receiving some bad news from home. Seems that finally happened. My Grandma passed away last night after about of week struggling with a sudden illness. From what the sister tells me she went peacefully in her sleep without much discomfort compared to her battles earlier this week. Doctors told my family that if she would have pulled through she would have been confined to a nursing home for the rest of her time, which knowing her would have been worse than just moving on. Just sad I wasn’t home to see her before she passed. I will be going home a month too late…a month. Sometimes I guess time is not on your side. Even though I wasn’t home with the rest of the family, I’m glad I wasn’t alone here in India.

Some things I’ll miss:

  • Grandma’s blueberry muffins and Crockpadock (she said it’s German but I’ve never been able to figure out it’s real name)
  • Picking on her incessant worrying about the strangest things (recently she was worrying that I was going to have a stroke on top of a Himalayan Mountain…I know go figure)
  • Well, picking on her for just about any of her eccentricities (always fussing about her lipstick, thinking about crab grass, etc…)
  • Always sticking her nose in everyone’s business usually with the strangest advice
  • Watching her worry about her garden and especially her buffet (never understood what the deal with that thing was)
  • Getting mad at me for never being clean enough
  • or her just calling me her “handsome boy”…

R.I.P. Grandma

Goa rejuvenation

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I was right all I needed was some nature and some brews. I finally made it out of Kolkata and found myself on the other side of the country in Goa. Let’s just say things are a lot different here…in a very positive way. Which is good as I mentioned in a previous note about being burned out in India. So far I’ve only been here for 1 full day and I’m already back to my normal self.

Yeye and I flew from Kolkata and landed near central Goa. From where we took a very expensive prepaid taxi to Arambol (about 1200rs). Apparently taking the bus from the airport requires several bus changes to get here, which would have been done while carrying our packs in hot south Indian weather…screw that. Let’s just say Arambol is peaceful bliss. No one being pushy, no rampant homelessness, and no cow shit. Normally the only thing people ask me is “Hey man, you want to chill on the sunbeds and have a beer” which is music to my ears.

This time of year is the beginning of Arambol’s off season for foreign tourists. Which is great! First the beaches are nearly empty…nothing like crossing virgin sand on your stroll into the surf. Second, everything is super cheap because there being a limited supply of tourists means all the business are intensely competing for your business. YeYe and I scored basically an apartment with two queen size beds (what! we are a prudish couple that never shares a bed), a living room with kitchen table, a full kitchen (range, fridge, etc…), hot water shower, satellite TV, and my favorite part AIR-CON. Normally this room is like a 1000+ rupees but we got it for only 350 a night, that’s about $7.88 a night split between two people…I don’t think that is going to break the bank to fast. Oh and walking to the beach takes a minute and a half, most of which is time spent negotiating our buildings stairs. Winning. Finally, since it’s off season it just means a lot of the shops are closed for the off season which initially seemed to be lame, but since I almost never buy stuff (don’t want to carry more) this doesn’t bother me at all. In face that just means less people ask me to come into their shops…btw all the restaurants are still open.

Looks like my biggest troubles here are going to be contending with my already intense sun burns, my hangover from Curly’s club last night, and how to chill out the best for the next few days. I’m down with this plan. After Goa, it’s either up to Mumbai (and surrounding Ajanta and Ellora) then to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple and Dharamsala to roll with the Dali Lama (I’ll check out Bhagsu like you suggested Tony) or just skip the Mumbai portion and bounce straight up north to Amritsar. At the moment I’ve seen my fill of temples and grand buildings…but after a few more days on the beach I think I might be ready for some more!

Must run now, the waves are calling me…

P.S. I still hate sand…but the sand here is fairly nice :)

P.P.S. They serve pork here, this is the home of Vindaloo, and a beer costs 90 cents…welcome back pot belly!

India Burnout

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India is intense and is burning me out man. If you haven’t been able to tell from my last few posts. It’s an awesome place but I’m looking forward to getting to some beaches or mountains and out of cities. I can actively feel my fuse getting shorter and shorter with daily dealings in India (namely walking down the street). I think I need some nature and some brews to cool my head before I toss the next scamming Brahmin I meet into the freaking Ganges or rampage on the next tout that decides to follow me several blocks constantly repeat “hey man, want this…” “where you from?” or “good cutting” over and over and over and over again.

P.S. Kali Ghat in Kolkata wasn’t worth visiting for me. More annoying “brahmins” (if they’re real or fake I have no idea) trying to scam you, tons more homeless, and as usual everything is really filthy.