Ah, fall is finally upon us here in Taiwan! That means I don't need to take a shower two times a day and its cold enough to where I don't need to turn on the AC. In many aspects, Taiwan winters don't differ from Austin, or Texas for that matter. One aspect that is different is the humidity. While cold, dry Canadian air blows southward, the cold air from China still has to cross over some ocean, so it picks up humidity and dumps it in Taiwan.
Hot or cold, humidity and I just don't mix. Yes, I won't be sweating very much, but when I do, it'll still be miserable and take forever for the sweat to dry off. At least now I can expand my wardrobe and dress in some long sleeves without excessively sweating. For now, the weather has been perfect. Highs in the mid 70's lows in the mid 60's. It's funny seeing Taiwanese adjust their clothing to the temperature change. I first noticed this when I visited Taiwan in the winter time for the first time back in the late 90's. Anytime the weather dropped below 70, the locals bundle up in their thickest winter coats, like the ones you go skiing in, all for 69 degree weather. I would often get exasperated stares when I wore khaki shorts and a polo because they assumed I was crazy and would freeze to death. I don't know how many times I had to tell my extended family that no, I was not cold. In fact, could they turn on the fan and point it in my direction? It's really easy to spot a foreigner in the winter time, just look for the ones wearing what normal people in the US wear at 75 degrees.
In other news, my friend Nicole paid me a visit this past weekend from Texas! Even though I just saw her not more than a month ago, it was still nice to play host and have some familiar Texan company. She flew in on a Friday afternoon from Hong Kong and left this past Monday for Beijing. I went to more touristy/site-seeing places in those two days than I have the entire time I've been here in Taiwan, and packed in a good amount of fun. Thanks for stopping by Nicole!
I didn't get my afternoon nap at work today, so I'm getting groggy as I write. Until next time friends!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Writing as a profession
I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but most of that is read and self taught, not natural intelligence where someone picks it up and automatically gets it. In that same mold, I'm not terribly creative. I'm a creature of habit, going back to the same tried and true things over and over. Very rarely do I stray outside my comfort zone, and when I do, it's usually in the company of friends and family, so there's always a semblance of support nearby.
Where am I going with all this you ask? I think one cannot truly realize their maximum potential unless they are put into a situation where they are forced to survive, beit physically or fiscally. Someone I once met told me when you being able to afford to eat depends on you being able to sell something, don't just think you can, you'd better be damn sure you can lest you starve. Which brings me to my current state of mind. Having never done writing for a paycheck before, I have a newfound respect for journalists and bloggers alike. While I am fortunate that I'm writing on topics that interest me for the most part, there is the occasional bit of writer's block where I just don't have the creativity to come up with a coherent thought. Sometimes all that's needed is a refresh in scenery, instead of being chained to a desk with a computer. To the other writers out there, what other tricks do you have to overcome your occasional lapse in thought?
Where am I going with all this you ask? I think one cannot truly realize their maximum potential unless they are put into a situation where they are forced to survive, beit physically or fiscally. Someone I once met told me when you being able to afford to eat depends on you being able to sell something, don't just think you can, you'd better be damn sure you can lest you starve. Which brings me to my current state of mind. Having never done writing for a paycheck before, I have a newfound respect for journalists and bloggers alike. While I am fortunate that I'm writing on topics that interest me for the most part, there is the occasional bit of writer's block where I just don't have the creativity to come up with a coherent thought. Sometimes all that's needed is a refresh in scenery, instead of being chained to a desk with a computer. To the other writers out there, what other tricks do you have to overcome your occasional lapse in thought?
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Back to work, 1st retirement officially over!
Dearest friends, my humblest apologies for the hiatus in blogging. I have been negligent in my duties to keep you up to date on my life, even though I do speak with many of you online on a frequent basis. This will hopefully cease, and I will bore you more often with the mundane details of my thoughts in this crazy country.
In any case, much has changed in the almost two months since my last post. The last post was about how I interviewed with ASUS, and that they were thinking of offering a freelance position and my general thoughts on the situation. Well, as it turns out, their term for freelance is the US version of temp/contract to hire. Once that was cleared up, I accepted their contract offer and as of 10/15/2010, I rejoined the working class. I'll be a full time employee starting January 1st, 2011 if all goes well, but both my manager and I are confident that I'll do fine. I'm really liking the vote of confidence already, considering I've never really written on a professional level before. I believe it will be challenging, but at the same time quite fulfilling, as I love learning about new technologies and gadgets, and what better way to do that than being "forced" to learn about the product so I can write about it?
Most of my future posts will most likely be observations in working in a foreign company, as ASUS is headquarter in Taipei, and I'm right in the thick of it. So far, it's been busy learning about all the products I have to write about, but fortunately I already have a good base knowledge of the industry, and happen to know a good deal amount more than the Product Managers themselves. The only real thing I have to get adjusted to are the working hours. Officially, it's 9am-6pm, with about 1.5hrs for lunch, where you can also nap at your desk without being disturbed. However, most people work overtime, as is standard practice in Taiwan. Other than this past Friday when I had prior plans for a friend's going away dinner and left at 6:15pm, the earliest I had left was around 7:15pm, on average leaving around 8pm or so. Tack on the 45 minute commute I have to get home, and I get back around 9pm or so, relax for a bit, then head to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. Once my schedule gets settled down a little more, I'll look around for a tutor to continue my Chinese language studies.
On a sadder note, Texas football is having a bit of rough patch lately. I've had some fair natured ribbing from UCLA fans, as there's a large alumni base here for UCLA, USC, Cal, etc., as they are all west coast schools, but thank god I haven't met too many from the Big 12. Losing to Iowa State AND Baylor, at home? Come on guys...At this rate, I'm not going to bother watching the games live like I have been.
There's so much more to write, but I'll leave it here for now, as I need to get some semblance of sleep before I go to work tomorrow.
In any case, much has changed in the almost two months since my last post. The last post was about how I interviewed with ASUS, and that they were thinking of offering a freelance position and my general thoughts on the situation. Well, as it turns out, their term for freelance is the US version of temp/contract to hire. Once that was cleared up, I accepted their contract offer and as of 10/15/2010, I rejoined the working class. I'll be a full time employee starting January 1st, 2011 if all goes well, but both my manager and I are confident that I'll do fine. I'm really liking the vote of confidence already, considering I've never really written on a professional level before. I believe it will be challenging, but at the same time quite fulfilling, as I love learning about new technologies and gadgets, and what better way to do that than being "forced" to learn about the product so I can write about it?
Most of my future posts will most likely be observations in working in a foreign company, as ASUS is headquarter in Taipei, and I'm right in the thick of it. So far, it's been busy learning about all the products I have to write about, but fortunately I already have a good base knowledge of the industry, and happen to know a good deal amount more than the Product Managers themselves. The only real thing I have to get adjusted to are the working hours. Officially, it's 9am-6pm, with about 1.5hrs for lunch, where you can also nap at your desk without being disturbed. However, most people work overtime, as is standard practice in Taiwan. Other than this past Friday when I had prior plans for a friend's going away dinner and left at 6:15pm, the earliest I had left was around 7:15pm, on average leaving around 8pm or so. Tack on the 45 minute commute I have to get home, and I get back around 9pm or so, relax for a bit, then head to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. Once my schedule gets settled down a little more, I'll look around for a tutor to continue my Chinese language studies.
On a sadder note, Texas football is having a bit of rough patch lately. I've had some fair natured ribbing from UCLA fans, as there's a large alumni base here for UCLA, USC, Cal, etc., as they are all west coast schools, but thank god I haven't met too many from the Big 12. Losing to Iowa State AND Baylor, at home? Come on guys...At this rate, I'm not going to bother watching the games live like I have been.
There's so much more to write, but I'll leave it here for now, as I need to get some semblance of sleep before I go to work tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Wow, 2 months since my last post.
Hey folks, I can't believe it's already been two month's since my last post, so I need to catch everyone up on what's been going on.
I finished my 1st semester of Chinese class at Shida two weeks ago, but decided not to register for the upcoming semester, as I want to focus on getting a job and restarting my career. That lull in my resume will become a bigger question for future employers the longer I am without a job.
I interviewed with two companies, a small high tech company, and ASUS, a globally recognized company. I would have loved to work for ASUS, as that would have allowed me to possibly transfer back to the US with a job with ASUS in either California, or their office in Austin. However, like AMD, the interviewer at ASUS was concerned about my Chinese language ability, since I would have needed to communicate with their R&D/Engineering departments and the dialogue would have been outside my current level. She did however, offer me some freelance editing work for some of their Marketing copy, as well as pass on my resume to other departments who might not need such a high requirement for Mandarin. So, I'll most likely be working for the other company, not that that's a bad thing. Since it's a small company, I'll get to work with a lot of different departments and learn a lot of various roles, which could translate better down the line, whenever I do move back to the states/wherever.
As for the semester (quarter) of school, I learned a lot in those three months, and made some lasting friendships that I'll always remember. Hanging out with my classmates after class definitely made me feel like I was back in college, and helped stave off that feeling of isolation before class started. Some moved back to the states, another taking a class elsewhere, another is doing some traveling with his dad, and the rest, save me, continued on with their studies, albeit not in the same class or teacher. If I do find a job, I'll try to find a private tutor, or maybe do some language exchange with someone who knows pinyin, so I can continue my studies. I should pick it up much faster, since I'd be forced to use it all day interact with coworkers.
Other important items of note that's happened is my brother and sister-in-law came to Taiwan to visit my dad so we could celebrate his 60th birthday together. It was a fabulous Japanese style dinner, with my mom's side of the family on hand to see both my brother and I together for the first time in over five years. Along with his visit, he dropped off my new Taiwanese passport, so I dont have to leave every 60 days with my US passport, and can save some money.
Since my 60 days were coming up, I needed to make a trip somewhere, but I also already had a Chinese visa that I got when my original plan was to move to Shanghai to learn Mandarin. Luckily, my former roommate Vic came to the rescue! His work sent him to Shanghai to do some training, and put him up in the Holiday Inn. Now, you're probably thinking, "the Holiday Inn? Couldn't he have stayed somewhere nicer?" Well, turns out in Shanghai, and outside the US, Holiday Inn is quite nice, being a 4 star hotel. Vic, being the ever gracious friend, offered his room for me to stay in for the week I would be visiting. I got to explore Shanghai during the day, and met up for dinner after he got off work. We ate great gastronomical feasts for dinner, and enjoyed every minute of it. Pictures will be posted on Facebook, all taken by Victor the überphotographer.
My friends have asked what I thought of Shanghai, and I respond by saying that I loved the city, the architecture, and history, but couldn't stand the people. I'm not sure if it's all mainland Chinese, or just people from Shanghai, but they were some of the most rude, uncivilized people I've ever experienced. They're loud and obnoxious in person and on their mobile phones, push and shove to get in and out of places, when waiting a few extra seconds would allow for everyone not to rub up on each other, and have no respect for others when waiting in line. I was routinely cut in front when queuing for the subway, buying tickets to the World Expo, and even ordering food. Once I spoke up and confronted them about it, they would apologize and back off, but seriously, have some patience people! However, I'd say the thing that bothered me the most was the hygiene, or rather, lack thereof, of the people I encountered. They hack and cough, spit and excrete without care, wherever, whenever. The most disgusting thing I saw was a mother squat her son down and opening up a slit in her son's pants to allow him to poop. In the middle of the sidewalk. When I saw this, I made a face and scoffed at her a bit, which embarrassed her, but only enough to move her son from the middle of the sidewalk closer to the edge near the street, to continue the poop. Blech.
In retrospect, I'm definitely glad that I made the option to stay in Taiwan to learn, as I can barely understand the Shanghainese accent, and not sure I could have stood dealing with the locals. It's made me appreciate so much more what I've experienced here in Taiwan, from the new friendships to being able to see my dad on a regular basis. Ok, time for bed, since I might need to take off suddenly tomorrow afternoon.
Ciao ciao!
I finished my 1st semester of Chinese class at Shida two weeks ago, but decided not to register for the upcoming semester, as I want to focus on getting a job and restarting my career. That lull in my resume will become a bigger question for future employers the longer I am without a job.
I interviewed with two companies, a small high tech company, and ASUS, a globally recognized company. I would have loved to work for ASUS, as that would have allowed me to possibly transfer back to the US with a job with ASUS in either California, or their office in Austin. However, like AMD, the interviewer at ASUS was concerned about my Chinese language ability, since I would have needed to communicate with their R&D/Engineering departments and the dialogue would have been outside my current level. She did however, offer me some freelance editing work for some of their Marketing copy, as well as pass on my resume to other departments who might not need such a high requirement for Mandarin. So, I'll most likely be working for the other company, not that that's a bad thing. Since it's a small company, I'll get to work with a lot of different departments and learn a lot of various roles, which could translate better down the line, whenever I do move back to the states/wherever.
As for the semester (quarter) of school, I learned a lot in those three months, and made some lasting friendships that I'll always remember. Hanging out with my classmates after class definitely made me feel like I was back in college, and helped stave off that feeling of isolation before class started. Some moved back to the states, another taking a class elsewhere, another is doing some traveling with his dad, and the rest, save me, continued on with their studies, albeit not in the same class or teacher. If I do find a job, I'll try to find a private tutor, or maybe do some language exchange with someone who knows pinyin, so I can continue my studies. I should pick it up much faster, since I'd be forced to use it all day interact with coworkers.
Other important items of note that's happened is my brother and sister-in-law came to Taiwan to visit my dad so we could celebrate his 60th birthday together. It was a fabulous Japanese style dinner, with my mom's side of the family on hand to see both my brother and I together for the first time in over five years. Along with his visit, he dropped off my new Taiwanese passport, so I dont have to leave every 60 days with my US passport, and can save some money.
Since my 60 days were coming up, I needed to make a trip somewhere, but I also already had a Chinese visa that I got when my original plan was to move to Shanghai to learn Mandarin. Luckily, my former roommate Vic came to the rescue! His work sent him to Shanghai to do some training, and put him up in the Holiday Inn. Now, you're probably thinking, "the Holiday Inn? Couldn't he have stayed somewhere nicer?" Well, turns out in Shanghai, and outside the US, Holiday Inn is quite nice, being a 4 star hotel. Vic, being the ever gracious friend, offered his room for me to stay in for the week I would be visiting. I got to explore Shanghai during the day, and met up for dinner after he got off work. We ate great gastronomical feasts for dinner, and enjoyed every minute of it. Pictures will be posted on Facebook, all taken by Victor the überphotographer.
My friends have asked what I thought of Shanghai, and I respond by saying that I loved the city, the architecture, and history, but couldn't stand the people. I'm not sure if it's all mainland Chinese, or just people from Shanghai, but they were some of the most rude, uncivilized people I've ever experienced. They're loud and obnoxious in person and on their mobile phones, push and shove to get in and out of places, when waiting a few extra seconds would allow for everyone not to rub up on each other, and have no respect for others when waiting in line. I was routinely cut in front when queuing for the subway, buying tickets to the World Expo, and even ordering food. Once I spoke up and confronted them about it, they would apologize and back off, but seriously, have some patience people! However, I'd say the thing that bothered me the most was the hygiene, or rather, lack thereof, of the people I encountered. They hack and cough, spit and excrete without care, wherever, whenever. The most disgusting thing I saw was a mother squat her son down and opening up a slit in her son's pants to allow him to poop. In the middle of the sidewalk. When I saw this, I made a face and scoffed at her a bit, which embarrassed her, but only enough to move her son from the middle of the sidewalk closer to the edge near the street, to continue the poop. Blech.
In retrospect, I'm definitely glad that I made the option to stay in Taiwan to learn, as I can barely understand the Shanghainese accent, and not sure I could have stood dealing with the locals. It's made me appreciate so much more what I've experienced here in Taiwan, from the new friendships to being able to see my dad on a regular basis. Ok, time for bed, since I might need to take off suddenly tomorrow afternoon.
Ciao ciao!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Things I've seen lately...
So today, I saw some humorous things in Taiwan.
Item #1:
Living in Texas, I've grown up seeing my fair share of my mullets. Living in Austin, with a high gay/lesbian community, I've seen Fe-mullets as well. With the population density of Taipei, I was bound to see an Asian mullet, which is of no real surprise. Now, I've seen it all: an Asian Fe-mullet. Her front said she was butch, but her back said I'm a princess! The bonus is, I'm pretty sure she wasn't a lesbian, it was just really bad Taiwan fashion.
Item#2:
I saw someone wearing a t-shirt today that said "I "recycle" Boys" using the "recycle" symbol instead of the actual word. Pretty neat shirt I thought, girls wearing it would be pretty funny. Except it was a guy wearing it. It would be funny, even if it was a gay guy wearing it, but I'm almost positive that this is just another case of bad Taiwan fashion, or people not knowing what the things they wear actually say. It reminds me of this old video (Language NSFW):
If I could have captured a sneak picture on my iPhone, I would have submitted it to http://poorlydressed.com, where I found this lovely gem:
There's a lot more bad fashion I've seen over the last few months, but these are fresh in my memory, and I've been wanting to blog more anyways. Time to ride the MRT during rush hour again and see if there's any new observations I can make.
Item #1:
Living in Texas, I've grown up seeing my fair share of my mullets. Living in Austin, with a high gay/lesbian community, I've seen Fe-mullets as well. With the population density of Taipei, I was bound to see an Asian mullet, which is of no real surprise. Now, I've seen it all: an Asian Fe-mullet. Her front said she was butch, but her back said I'm a princess! The bonus is, I'm pretty sure she wasn't a lesbian, it was just really bad Taiwan fashion.
Item#2:
I saw someone wearing a t-shirt today that said "I "recycle" Boys" using the "recycle" symbol instead of the actual word. Pretty neat shirt I thought, girls wearing it would be pretty funny. Except it was a guy wearing it. It would be funny, even if it was a gay guy wearing it, but I'm almost positive that this is just another case of bad Taiwan fashion, or people not knowing what the things they wear actually say. It reminds me of this old video (Language NSFW):
If I could have captured a sneak picture on my iPhone, I would have submitted it to http://poorlydressed.com, where I found this lovely gem:
There's a lot more bad fashion I've seen over the last few months, but these are fresh in my memory, and I've been wanting to blog more anyways. Time to ride the MRT during rush hour again and see if there's any new observations I can make.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Currently in Singapore
Greetings friends! I'm keeping up with my once a month blog posts, this time from Singapore. I'm here to visit my brother and sister in law for a few days, as they moved here back in May from San Francisco, but also having the added benefit of the trip being a visa run, which needed to be done anyways.
I got in fairly late last night, and had to wait about 15 minutes extra because Jetstar forced me to check my carry-on bag at the gate as it was a sold out flight and they needed the extra overhead space. I'm not sure i want to fly either Jetstar or AirAsia again, as I felt like a sardine in a can while on both flights. The prices are super competitive, offering some of the cheapest options by as much as $200USD, but it comes at a cost for those who are more familiar with US based carriers. The distance between each seat is about 2-3 inches shorter than the shortest seats on Southwest, which is about the only comparable low cost carrier in the states. This is fine for the majority of Asian travelers, as they are usually smaller/shorter than their white counterparts, but for someone who is considered "average" sized in the States, my knees were almost touching the seat pocket in front of me.
I was finally able to sleep in today, as I've been going to Mandarin classes at the lovely time of 8am every weekday. Another reason I'm here is to get my Taiwanese passport. Since I entered taiwan on a US passport, my visa stay is only good for 60 days each time I enter, which means lots of international trips. I'm also worried about the required military service for all males under 35 who were born in Taiwan, regardless of citizenship. Now, since I moved to Texas when I was but a wee tyke, and never spent more than half the year in Taiwan whenever I went to visit, I didn't need to worry about being drafted into the military. Since I've moved here indefinitely, that becomes a little more of a problem. However, I have multiple sources telling me if i get an "Overseas Taiwanese" passport, I only need to leave every four months, and I'm exempt from the 180 day rule. So I've been all over Taipei prepping any documents i might need for the passport, such as my Taiwan national ID number, a health exam, and the actual passport application (which is all in Chinese, so needed translating).
Getting my national ID number was interesting, since apparently someone else has been using it for the last, oh 30 years or so. As it turns out, there was a double booking of that number over 30 years ago, when data was still being entered in manually. The guy is 2 days older than i am, but since my parents registered me first, the number is more legitimately mine than his. But since he's never left Taiwan and uses that number for everything, it was just easier to obtain a new one for me, which is needed for the Taiwan passport application. As it turns out, I didn't end up needing the health exam, so that was a waste of about $50USD. At least I know for sure I still don't have any STD's!
So back to the passport application. I went to the Taiwanese consulate/embassy/whatever here in Singapore with my sister in law, and the lady processing the application at first was a bit rude and seemed annoyed with us. She was confused as to why I had the incorrect ID number written down and also why some fields were left blank. Once I explained what happened with the ID, she recalled the conversation she had with my brother and dad when they called earlier this week regarding my situation. After this, she became more helpful and even partially filled out a new form for me, since mine were now scoured with corrections. One last minor snag was my photo. I take my own passport photos with a digital camera, as it's much cheaper to just print out a single sheet of six 2x2 photos (standard 4x6 photo sheet). There's no special gimmick for passport photos, they just have to be the right size and can't obstruct any part of your face. Well atleast those are the US rules. Taiwan's requirements call for smaller pictures, which the lady could have just cut off for us. She even took out a ruler to measure and was getting set to, when she notices I'm smiling in the picture. Apparently, no teeth are allowed to be shown on your Taiwanese passport photo. She gave us the name of a place that would do passport photos, and off we went, meeting up with my brother to grab some lunch and the passport photos before heading back to the consulate/embassy. For 8 passport photos, it cost a total of $15SGD, which equates to a little under $11USD. For a simple photo on a white background, taken with a digital camera, that they then slap into a pre existing size format that they already have on their computer. Such a big rip off. If I can part one word of advice of this post, it's not to buy passport photos from the Post office, travel place, etc. Do it yourself on the cheap! And with that, I will now head to sleep. It's been a long day, and the weekend's just getting started.
I got in fairly late last night, and had to wait about 15 minutes extra because Jetstar forced me to check my carry-on bag at the gate as it was a sold out flight and they needed the extra overhead space. I'm not sure i want to fly either Jetstar or AirAsia again, as I felt like a sardine in a can while on both flights. The prices are super competitive, offering some of the cheapest options by as much as $200USD, but it comes at a cost for those who are more familiar with US based carriers. The distance between each seat is about 2-3 inches shorter than the shortest seats on Southwest, which is about the only comparable low cost carrier in the states. This is fine for the majority of Asian travelers, as they are usually smaller/shorter than their white counterparts, but for someone who is considered "average" sized in the States, my knees were almost touching the seat pocket in front of me.
I was finally able to sleep in today, as I've been going to Mandarin classes at the lovely time of 8am every weekday. Another reason I'm here is to get my Taiwanese passport. Since I entered taiwan on a US passport, my visa stay is only good for 60 days each time I enter, which means lots of international trips. I'm also worried about the required military service for all males under 35 who were born in Taiwan, regardless of citizenship. Now, since I moved to Texas when I was but a wee tyke, and never spent more than half the year in Taiwan whenever I went to visit, I didn't need to worry about being drafted into the military. Since I've moved here indefinitely, that becomes a little more of a problem. However, I have multiple sources telling me if i get an "Overseas Taiwanese" passport, I only need to leave every four months, and I'm exempt from the 180 day rule. So I've been all over Taipei prepping any documents i might need for the passport, such as my Taiwan national ID number, a health exam, and the actual passport application (which is all in Chinese, so needed translating).
Getting my national ID number was interesting, since apparently someone else has been using it for the last, oh 30 years or so. As it turns out, there was a double booking of that number over 30 years ago, when data was still being entered in manually. The guy is 2 days older than i am, but since my parents registered me first, the number is more legitimately mine than his. But since he's never left Taiwan and uses that number for everything, it was just easier to obtain a new one for me, which is needed for the Taiwan passport application. As it turns out, I didn't end up needing the health exam, so that was a waste of about $50USD. At least I know for sure I still don't have any STD's!
So back to the passport application. I went to the Taiwanese consulate/embassy/whatever here in Singapore with my sister in law, and the lady processing the application at first was a bit rude and seemed annoyed with us. She was confused as to why I had the incorrect ID number written down and also why some fields were left blank. Once I explained what happened with the ID, she recalled the conversation she had with my brother and dad when they called earlier this week regarding my situation. After this, she became more helpful and even partially filled out a new form for me, since mine were now scoured with corrections. One last minor snag was my photo. I take my own passport photos with a digital camera, as it's much cheaper to just print out a single sheet of six 2x2 photos (standard 4x6 photo sheet). There's no special gimmick for passport photos, they just have to be the right size and can't obstruct any part of your face. Well atleast those are the US rules. Taiwan's requirements call for smaller pictures, which the lady could have just cut off for us. She even took out a ruler to measure and was getting set to, when she notices I'm smiling in the picture. Apparently, no teeth are allowed to be shown on your Taiwanese passport photo. She gave us the name of a place that would do passport photos, and off we went, meeting up with my brother to grab some lunch and the passport photos before heading back to the consulate/embassy. For 8 passport photos, it cost a total of $15SGD, which equates to a little under $11USD. For a simple photo on a white background, taken with a digital camera, that they then slap into a pre existing size format that they already have on their computer. Such a big rip off. If I can part one word of advice of this post, it's not to buy passport photos from the Post office, travel place, etc. Do it yourself on the cheap! And with that, I will now head to sleep. It's been a long day, and the weekend's just getting started.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Whirlwind travels
Wow, it's been almost two months since I've posted to my blog, and for the few people that actually read this, I apologize. A lot's happened over the last month and a half, with the highlight being my surprise visit back to Austin for my 30th birthday. I told very few people about the trip, so I could maximize my surprise from my friends, which was difficult enough, as the purpose of me flying back was to enjoy the start of my 3rd decade with my friends, and that would just be wasted time away from them in the short amount of time I had.
I started classes at the Mandarin Training Center (MTC) today, and it's a lot more intensive than I thought it was originally. It's nice to have a routine, and get out and interact with people. I was starting to get a little stir crazy the last few weeks being cooped up in the apartment. My class is fairly diverse, with people hailing from Brazil, Brunei, India, Myanmar (Burma), a Tibetan monk, and 3 others from the US. There will be a lot more to update, but for now, I need to finish up my homework and get some sleep as my class starts at 8:10am (blech).
Wan an!
I started classes at the Mandarin Training Center (MTC) today, and it's a lot more intensive than I thought it was originally. It's nice to have a routine, and get out and interact with people. I was starting to get a little stir crazy the last few weeks being cooped up in the apartment. My class is fairly diverse, with people hailing from Brazil, Brunei, India, Myanmar (Burma), a Tibetan monk, and 3 others from the US. There will be a lot more to update, but for now, I need to finish up my homework and get some sleep as my class starts at 8:10am (blech).
Wan an!
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