Backlogged: Part I
http://msee-overseas.blogspot.com
T: "michelle you've been slacking. update your blog or face my wrath. haha those sentences contained the present perfect progressive and simple present"
Okay, so I haven't been updating on the happenings in Taiwan as frequent as I planned due to:
a) lesson planning
b) general hanging about post-work
but most of all
c) sheer and utter laziness.
Note: I wrote half of this blog on Friday, and half of it today.
It's typhoon season in Taiwan. Yesterday afternoon (Thursday), the typhoon ("Typhoon Kalmaegi")hit Taipei, but it only resulted in light showers and wind as it was calmed down from what it was in the Philippines.
So we stayed in for a bit and played some mah jong and then braced the elements to watch the Dark Knight! It could've ended an hour earlier but it was entertaining throughout! I'm just surprised it zoomed up the IMDB Top 250 to #4 so quickly! [now #1 beating out the Godfather]
Anyway, I love the fact that theatres here have reserved seating so we don't need to line up three hours in advanced to see the movie on a first come, first serve seating. We just get the ticket a few hours in advanced, be productive elsewhere and then sit in assigned seating, yay.
A few weeks ago, I finally watched the Sex and the City movie. One thing I don't like about watching movies in Taiwan with Chinese subtitles is that laughter is not on cue. People read faster than the actors speak! And therefore, laugh before the punchline is spoken, resulting in myself and other fellow Chinese illiterates not being able to hear the punchline.
And the movie? It was DISAPPOINTING, OMG.
---SATC Spoiler Alert---
Random thoughts:
Okay, so what have I been up to in the past weeks?
Three weeks ago:
The six of us and Kristin's parents went east to Hualien for some white water rafting. On a tour bus. That had a karaoke machine. It's a dangerous situation to be trapped in a confined area with no where to go but to listen to old people who have an penchant for Taiwanese oldies.
At first, it was novel idea and we were excited to get into it (Just Called to Say I love you). But after over eight hours (to Hualien, one way) of really bad singing (at times wailing) mixed with viewing really awful karaoke videos that mostly displayed alcohol consumption, abuse and tears, we weren't so excited.
On the way to Hualien...
Disco lights.
On the way there we made many pit stops, and usually at these pitstops they would have a bunch of solicitors waiting in little rooms or to get on the bus to pitch products. Products such as spring water natural cleaners (which they would demonstrate by spraying the product in their mouth! ... it was really hard to hold in the laugh) and aboriginal fish jerky.
We actually made several stops at places that weren't so interesting, like forests museums and a shrimp farm. The trip to Hualien that was suppose to be four hours was stretched to eight hours omg.
When we got to our motel, we got our drink on with old men who got us in on their own cocktail of tomato juice, rice wine and water and later, waded in the hot springs all night (not with the old men).
The Taiwanese are straight forward when it comes to naming their píjiǔ
A result of: "Ay girl! Photo! Photo!"
To be honest, white water rafting in Taiwan isn't as exciting as white water rafting in Ottawa. The rapids are for sure calmer but the scenery is definitely more exciting. Huge mountains surrounded us while we paddled. Although unlike Ottawa, when there were no currents and large amount of paddling to do before another large rapids, motor boats would hook us all up and DRIVE us to the next current. Yay! (At one point, it led to us tipping over).
Xiuguluan River with the boats we rafted on.
On the way back to Taipei...riding crazy zig zagging roads up the mountain, passing Taroko Gorge
Scootering in Typhoon season
Overall, it was a good weekend full of watermelon, solicitors, sunburns and excessive sunscreen application, mochi sampling, and really bad karaoke.
T: "michelle you've been slacking. update your blog or face my wrath. haha those sentences contained the present perfect progressive and simple present"
Okay, so I haven't been updating on the happenings in Taiwan as frequent as I planned due to:
a) lesson planning
b) general hanging about post-work
but most of all
c) sheer and utter laziness.
Note: I wrote half of this blog on Friday, and half of it today.
It's typhoon season in Taiwan. Yesterday afternoon (Thursday), the typhoon ("Typhoon Kalmaegi")hit Taipei, but it only resulted in light showers and wind as it was calmed down from what it was in the Philippines.
So we stayed in for a bit and played some mah jong and then braced the elements to watch the Dark Knight! It could've ended an hour earlier but it was entertaining throughout! I'm just surprised it zoomed up the IMDB Top 250 to #4 so quickly! [now #1 beating out the Godfather]
Anyway, I love the fact that theatres here have reserved seating so we don't need to line up three hours in advanced to see the movie on a first come, first serve seating. We just get the ticket a few hours in advanced, be productive elsewhere and then sit in assigned seating, yay.
A few weeks ago, I finally watched the Sex and the City movie. One thing I don't like about watching movies in Taiwan with Chinese subtitles is that laughter is not on cue. People read faster than the actors speak! And therefore, laugh before the punchline is spoken, resulting in myself and other fellow Chinese illiterates not being able to hear the punchline.
And the movie? It was DISAPPOINTING, OMG.
---SATC Spoiler Alert---
Random thoughts:
- Out of all the guys, I think Steve is my favourite guy. So I was utterly devastated when HE CHEATED ON MIRANDA? What? And supposedly, that was shown in the trailer?
- Carrie hitting Big with a big bouquet of flowers so dramatically in a wedding dress made me LOL so hard.
- Poor Smith Jerrod : (
- Did anyone notice how much lamer Carrie's puns were? "Mexicoma"? Really? Really.
- Supposedly, Carrie's label-less suit was by Dior.
- In the theatre, the scene when Carrie gives the LV box to Jennifer Hudson, the entire theatre GASPED in astonishment. Not a few audience members, the ENTIRE theatre. Hilarious!
- Although, the four of them are together again, the writing felt devoid of the wittiness and story structure of the television series. The drama was so over the top and the entire movie was a total "cash grab". But I did like how Carrie and Big reconciled in the closet compared to the whole cheesy Mr. Big all teary eyed in Paris "You're the one" blahness.
Okay, so what have I been up to in the past weeks?
Three weeks ago:
The six of us and Kristin's parents went east to Hualien for some white water rafting. On a tour bus. That had a karaoke machine. It's a dangerous situation to be trapped in a confined area with no where to go but to listen to old people who have an penchant for Taiwanese oldies.
At first, it was novel idea and we were excited to get into it (Just Called to Say I love you). But after over eight hours (to Hualien, one way) of really bad singing (at times wailing) mixed with viewing really awful karaoke videos that mostly displayed alcohol consumption, abuse and tears, we weren't so excited.
On the way to Hualien...
Disco lights.
On the way there we made many pit stops, and usually at these pitstops they would have a bunch of solicitors waiting in little rooms or to get on the bus to pitch products. Products such as spring water natural cleaners (which they would demonstrate by spraying the product in their mouth! ... it was really hard to hold in the laugh) and aboriginal fish jerky.
We actually made several stops at places that weren't so interesting, like forests museums and a shrimp farm. The trip to Hualien that was suppose to be four hours was stretched to eight hours omg.
When we got to our motel, we got our drink on with old men who got us in on their own cocktail of tomato juice, rice wine and water and later, waded in the hot springs all night (not with the old men).
The Taiwanese are straight forward when it comes to naming their píjiǔ
A result of: "Ay girl! Photo! Photo!"
To be honest, white water rafting in Taiwan isn't as exciting as white water rafting in Ottawa. The rapids are for sure calmer but the scenery is definitely more exciting. Huge mountains surrounded us while we paddled. Although unlike Ottawa, when there were no currents and large amount of paddling to do before another large rapids, motor boats would hook us all up and DRIVE us to the next current. Yay! (At one point, it led to us tipping over).
Xiuguluan River with the boats we rafted on.
On the way back to Taipei...riding crazy zig zagging roads up the mountain, passing Taroko Gorge
Scootering in Typhoon season
Overall, it was a good weekend full of watermelon, solicitors, sunburns and excessive sunscreen application, mochi sampling, and really bad karaoke.