Monday, September 29, 2008
DODGEBALL
We entered a dodgeball tournament on Saturday. We did pretty well, we ended up getting 3rd place out of around 15 teams. We lost in the semi's to a team that I'm pretty sure cheated their way through the competition. We won the moral victory and our entry fee back. That was 2 days ago and my entire body is still sore. Who knew dodgeball was that grueling.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Some Taiwan pics
Here's a taste of Taiwan:
I tried to get some shots of the trees to show the wind. Fun stuff.
I tried to get some shots of the trees to show the wind. Fun stuff.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Typhoon in Taiwan
Great minds think alike. It turns out some Asian typhoon and I decided to take a trip to Taiwan on the same long weekend. I don't think they name their storms over here, so I'll call him Ni How (hello in Mandarin). I got in to Taipei on Friday around noon. After I arrived at my hostel I decided to wander around for a couple of hours. I found some good food and other things before my ol legs started to give out. When I got back to the hostel I learned that Ni How was set to arrive that evening. He makes his presence known. Heavy drops of rain and some massive wind gusts were rocking the hostel all night. Rachel and Kate were scheduled to fly in Saturday but it was looking like Ni How would be scaring them off. I was pleasantly surprised when they woke my up from my nap Saturday afternoon.
Rachel has a teacher friend living in Taichung so we took a the High Speed Rail down to the city on the western coast and eventually got to Laura's house. It was weird staying in a house after living in an apartment for so long. Ni How basically shut down the country so it was slim pickings looking for things to do. We went to an interesting club that night. There was a group of 5 Taiwanese girls that covered a bunch of western songs in a huge montage. There were choreographed dance moves with the songs, this whole fiasco lasted for over 30 minutes. It was . . . . . . . interesting. This is gonna sound really homo (no offense Dave Nunn) but the fashion down there was way better than Korea. A lot of the girls are dressed 80's style with short skirts and crazy stockings. The dudes refrain from shiny suits and ties so that was a plus too.
From what I experienced, the food was really good too. I loooooove basil and garlic and a couple of dishes I tried were slathered in just that. I had some crazy meat bun that was pretty good too. Prices weren't too bad, the expensive meals were pushing 6-8 bucks. The bun was big and probably around a dollar. I got a hat for ten, it reads "When you laugh blessings will come your way".
Monday night I rode the worlds fastest elevator to the top of the world's tallest building. Ni How really screwed up the visibility but it was still an experience. They show you the wind damper system in the middle of the building,which is fun to think about if you have traces of nerd in your blood like me. Here's a video of "Damper Baby" in action:
http://www.jamesbarlow.co.uk/taipei-101-mass-damper
It counters the movement of the rest of the building to reduce the sway. Pretty interesting. Also, the foundation of the building in connected to a bunch of pillars which are embedded in the bedrock far below. This means that the building will move along with an earthquake instead of being shaken around by an earthquake. Again, interesting. Dubai is working on the next "Worlds Tallest Building", if I do end up there I hope i get to see it finished.
Ni How finally took off Monday night so Tuesday before our flight we got to check out a Buddhist temple. Everything was so intricately designed, it was intense. I couldn't help but think about how non-Buddhist the whole idea of a golden clad temple is. I guess as a monk you would need to find something to do besides meditate though. Religious art is a logical time filler. My stupid camera broke but I'll be poaching Kate's pics soon.
Murray out
Rachel has a teacher friend living in Taichung so we took a the High Speed Rail down to the city on the western coast and eventually got to Laura's house. It was weird staying in a house after living in an apartment for so long. Ni How basically shut down the country so it was slim pickings looking for things to do. We went to an interesting club that night. There was a group of 5 Taiwanese girls that covered a bunch of western songs in a huge montage. There were choreographed dance moves with the songs, this whole fiasco lasted for over 30 minutes. It was . . . . . . . interesting. This is gonna sound really homo (no offense Dave Nunn) but the fashion down there was way better than Korea. A lot of the girls are dressed 80's style with short skirts and crazy stockings. The dudes refrain from shiny suits and ties so that was a plus too.
From what I experienced, the food was really good too. I loooooove basil and garlic and a couple of dishes I tried were slathered in just that. I had some crazy meat bun that was pretty good too. Prices weren't too bad, the expensive meals were pushing 6-8 bucks. The bun was big and probably around a dollar. I got a hat for ten, it reads "When you laugh blessings will come your way".
Monday night I rode the worlds fastest elevator to the top of the world's tallest building. Ni How really screwed up the visibility but it was still an experience. They show you the wind damper system in the middle of the building,which is fun to think about if you have traces of nerd in your blood like me. Here's a video of "Damper Baby" in action:
http://www.jamesbarlow.co.uk/taipei-101-mass-damper
It counters the movement of the rest of the building to reduce the sway. Pretty interesting. Also, the foundation of the building in connected to a bunch of pillars which are embedded in the bedrock far below. This means that the building will move along with an earthquake instead of being shaken around by an earthquake. Again, interesting. Dubai is working on the next "Worlds Tallest Building", if I do end up there I hope i get to see it finished.
Ni How finally took off Monday night so Tuesday before our flight we got to check out a Buddhist temple. Everything was so intricately designed, it was intense. I couldn't help but think about how non-Buddhist the whole idea of a golden clad temple is. I guess as a monk you would need to find something to do besides meditate though. Religious art is a logical time filler. My stupid camera broke but I'll be poaching Kate's pics soon.
Murray out
Monday, September 8, 2008
Busan-Jinhae free economic zone - speech contest
I was handed a 7th grader's speech yesterday and asked to edit and rewrite it. Usually this isn't a problem but it looks like the kid's parents wrote it and were attempting to sound intelligent which leads to excerpts like this:
"Busan-Jinhae free economic zone for the life circumstance improvement of business environment and the foreigner of the foreign investment enterprise is the free economic zone which creates. Specifically, Korea on the center of the Northeast Asia economic bloc the place catching and together because the airport and the harbor, sightseeing and leisure to do the application of domestic law and the area where equips a proper mouth land tax case lascivious, in order for company activity of up-to-date manufacture * the goods * tourist industry etc. and infra supports this and the special sector the various support to be possible in the area where equips the house environment which is comfortable,to relax to designate."
Haha, that's the first paragraph. 2 sentences. Here's why I can't edit it:
It makes absolutely no sense, so I have no idea where the content is!
I may have no idea what the point of this speech is, but I did learn this:
Lascivious:
1. inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd: a lascivious, girl-chasing old man.
2. arousing sexual desire: lascivious photographs.
3. indicating sexual interest or expressive of lust or lewdness: a lascivious gesture.
I definitely don't know how this word fits into the speech, but if I do edit it it's staying. Hahaha.
"Busan-Jinhae free economic zone for the life circumstance improvement of business environment and the foreigner of the foreign investment enterprise is the free economic zone which creates. Specifically, Korea on the center of the Northeast Asia economic bloc the place catching and together because the airport and the harbor, sightseeing and leisure to do the application of domestic law and the area where equips a proper mouth land tax case lascivious, in order for company activity of up-to-date manufacture * the goods * tourist industry etc. and infra supports this and the special sector the various support to be possible in the area where equips the house environment which is comfortable,to relax to designate."
Haha, that's the first paragraph. 2 sentences. Here's why I can't edit it:
It makes absolutely no sense, so I have no idea where the content is!
I may have no idea what the point of this speech is, but I did learn this:
Lascivious:
1. inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd: a lascivious, girl-chasing old man.
2. arousing sexual desire: lascivious photographs.
3. indicating sexual interest or expressive of lust or lewdness: a lascivious gesture.
I definitely don't know how this word fits into the speech, but if I do edit it it's staying. Hahaha.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Badminton
I've been declared the best Badminton player in my department. This means that I will be representing said department in the school wide tournament next month. I was a little worried about this since all of the male teachers at the school practice every day after class, but I joined in after school yesterday and fared pretty well. They were calling me a "star" haha. It really helps having longer arms and being taller. Having an ex-stepdad punish you at racquet sports as a kid couldn't have hurt either.
I think this is really good for me since I don't like running on the smoggy streets and the closest hiking trails are pretty far from my house. Badminton is actually quite the workout. Also it gives me a chance to bond with the male teachers even though they don't speak English. Badminton is to Korea as Basketball is to America. There are Badminton courts on the sides of mountains next to hiking trails. Korea won 3 medals in the Olympics in Badminton. It's a big deal here. When you think of the jock dudes in the US playing pickup basketball, you can think of their Korean counterparts as shorter versions with cute little racquets and birdies in their hands.
http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2k-tsX5KE
I think this is really good for me since I don't like running on the smoggy streets and the closest hiking trails are pretty far from my house. Badminton is actually quite the workout. Also it gives me a chance to bond with the male teachers even though they don't speak English. Badminton is to Korea as Basketball is to America. There are Badminton courts on the sides of mountains next to hiking trails. Korea won 3 medals in the Olympics in Badminton. It's a big deal here. When you think of the jock dudes in the US playing pickup basketball, you can think of their Korean counterparts as shorter versions with cute little racquets and birdies in their hands.
http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2k-tsX5KE
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