Things I've Done Since My Last Post...
+ Completed Tomb Raider Legend with some help from Sander. We've taken it in turns to fully complete the levels (eg. finding all the rewards and doing the time trials). It's shocking how easy the game is and how little time it takes to complete. I really wish there had been more than 8 levels...
+ Bought 2 more books for my Japanese study : Barron's Japanese At A Glance and Barron's Japanese Grammar (2nd ed.). Sadly the latter is only in romaji but it's a useful grammar guide nonetheless. The former is a phrasebook with romaji *and* the Japanese script and will be very handy for my trip to Kyoto next month. I think it's even more comprehensive than the Lonely Planet phrasebook (although the LP one does have a fairly good grammar section).
+ Had a relaxing orange juice and cinammon raisin bagel with Sander in Starbucks. That place is always busy...I'm amazed at how many Taiwanese people drink coffee. This was almost unheard of in China when I was living there (then again, there was only one Starbucks in Tianjin at the time).
+ Have read through a few chapters of Japanese For Busy People and have really gotten the hang of reading hiragana. Katakana still gives me a few headaches but I do recognise about a third of them now.
+ Almost finished reading Paulo Coelho's The Zahir. I read most of it on the flight to Taiwan but haven't really gone out of my way to finish it yet. It's been a good read and I've found this book to be better than his best known work, The Alchemist.
+ I made a really delicious masaman gai (spelling?) curry the other night using a sachet I bought at the RT Mart. This is a Thai dish I feel in love with in the UK and have not eaten it since. The sauce is made from this paste and plenty of coconut milk and the other ingredients are chopped chicken breast and potatoes, all on a bed of rice. Very spicy and very yummy!
+ Have made an appointment to meet with my boss and 'colleague' on Wednesday so I'll be making yet another trip up to Taipei to collect my wages.
+ Have written about a third of my Gibraltar city guide for Lifted Magazine and about half of my book review on The Zahir (I have to finish reading it first before I can finish the review!).
+ Had a lovely supper out with Sander, a Dutch colleague of his and his Taiwanese wife at this fantastic shrimp restaurant in Zhubei. We had some black pepper shrimp and garlic shrimp as well as a few extras and drinks. After the meal, we went over to their house (which was absolutely impressive....5 floors!!) and met their adorable kitten. They'd found her as a stray and decided to take her in. She really was a lovely creature...very playful. :)
+ Finally caught a friend on MSN (Michael). Thanks to the time difference between here and Europe, I never seem to catch anyone online any more as they're usually on as from 6pm their time...which is past midnight over here. So whenever I *do* catch someone, it makes me very happy. :)
+ Bought 2 more books for my Japanese study : Barron's Japanese At A Glance and Barron's Japanese Grammar (2nd ed.). Sadly the latter is only in romaji but it's a useful grammar guide nonetheless. The former is a phrasebook with romaji *and* the Japanese script and will be very handy for my trip to Kyoto next month. I think it's even more comprehensive than the Lonely Planet phrasebook (although the LP one does have a fairly good grammar section).
+ Had a relaxing orange juice and cinammon raisin bagel with Sander in Starbucks. That place is always busy...I'm amazed at how many Taiwanese people drink coffee. This was almost unheard of in China when I was living there (then again, there was only one Starbucks in Tianjin at the time).
+ Have read through a few chapters of Japanese For Busy People and have really gotten the hang of reading hiragana. Katakana still gives me a few headaches but I do recognise about a third of them now.
+ Almost finished reading Paulo Coelho's The Zahir. I read most of it on the flight to Taiwan but haven't really gone out of my way to finish it yet. It's been a good read and I've found this book to be better than his best known work, The Alchemist.
+ I made a really delicious masaman gai (spelling?) curry the other night using a sachet I bought at the RT Mart. This is a Thai dish I feel in love with in the UK and have not eaten it since. The sauce is made from this paste and plenty of coconut milk and the other ingredients are chopped chicken breast and potatoes, all on a bed of rice. Very spicy and very yummy!
+ Have made an appointment to meet with my boss and 'colleague' on Wednesday so I'll be making yet another trip up to Taipei to collect my wages.
+ Have written about a third of my Gibraltar city guide for Lifted Magazine and about half of my book review on The Zahir (I have to finish reading it first before I can finish the review!).
+ Had a lovely supper out with Sander, a Dutch colleague of his and his Taiwanese wife at this fantastic shrimp restaurant in Zhubei. We had some black pepper shrimp and garlic shrimp as well as a few extras and drinks. After the meal, we went over to their house (which was absolutely impressive....5 floors!!) and met their adorable kitten. They'd found her as a stray and decided to take her in. She really was a lovely creature...very playful. :)
+ Finally caught a friend on MSN (Michael). Thanks to the time difference between here and Europe, I never seem to catch anyone online any more as they're usually on as from 6pm their time...which is past midnight over here. So whenever I *do* catch someone, it makes me very happy. :)