Ok, two months in Taiwan now, six months abroad. What's new? Last week I finally got an ARC (alien resident card), which allowed me to buy a new phone (and contract) this week. Hopefully a driver's license is in the pipe, we shall see when I get down to the Taiwanese "DMV."
I went to Hong Kong last weekend. Spectacular! I'm beginning to think that one of the most omnipresent and entirely unnoticed features of our lives is the terrain in which we live in. So many years in Santa Barbara kind of made me think that most places looked like Santa Barbara (with different plants, and amounts of snow, and other things that are on top of the earth). Korea's landscape, it's hills, were once, very poetically, described as green waves out on open ocean. Rising and falling in a constant size and rhythm. On my first bus ride in Taiwan from the airport down to Taichung I noticed that the land has sheer mountains rising up in the east; very large and with their own weather patterns. A long valley running below them, and then some hills that remind me of Santa Barbara's "Coastal Range" before gently descending down to the beach. Anyway, back to Hong Kong: Hong Kong is a series of very small to large islands, but unlike Korea's geological erosion, or Taiwan's fault line, Hong Kong looks like it was made by volcanoes. The islands, the rocks rise up out of the sea and then fall back down, even on the map, no line or pattern was apparent to me. I couchsurfed while I was there. A very nice gentleman named Patrick (小龍) hosted me. He had gotten back from a year long stint in Europe (mostly Ireland) 1 week before. I meet maybe 1-2 more people from Hong Kong while I was there--small sample size, anyway one of the most remarkable things I observed was happiness, even while their Special Administrative Region is in the midst of a struggle/fight for freedoms and significant self-rule, the people I met showed constant optimism, and a certain appreciation or respect for all facets life. I didn't see that as much in Korea, and don't feel it as strongly in Taiwan. Interesting. Stayed up until 1 on Sunday night/Monday morning, Left for the airport at 4:30 got back at ~1:00 and opted to just go straight to work. Finally got home that day at ~7:00 and slept gloriously. I have run out of space on Photobucket, all new pictures are going to Flikr here. One day I will transfer all of my pictures to flikr, but that might take a few hours. New link here: I won't have any long weekends until January's Chinese New Year, so it's local travel and money saving time now.
A funny tangent: one of my coworkers said I look like a Taiwanese singer, his name is 蕭敬騰. I disagree, but maybe it's as close as I'll ever get to a Taiwanese guy. Google Image his name if you're curious.
I went to a MMA gym last night, watched their "relaxed/technique-day Wednesday" workout, felt kinda random but enjoyed it, was invited back tonight to their "regular/intense workout." Did some punching, blocks, entrances, take-downs, chokes, and breaks--almost felt right at home. I didn't ask my partner how long he has been practicing, but I learned before the class that one guy has been working out for 1-2 months, and another (12-year old) guy has been working out for ~3 months. I'm grateful the attitude is to go fairly slow, especially nearing tap-outs. I think I'll check it out again on either Saturday or Tuesday; still don't know how much are dues, that will likely make it or break it.
And now off to bed for me, good morning or afternoon to you!
Old pictures: http://s635.photobucket.com/user/dcpetit/library/Taiwan
New pictures: www.flickr.com/dcpetit
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