A shorty

I was talking to one of my coworkers today before going home and while I can’t recall the conversation that we had, I found it interesting that they pointed out that I have a set number of replies to a lot things in Chinese. While its not something that I do purposely it is something that I just noticed happens frequently.

According to my coworker my set phrases are:

為什麼嗎why?

我不知道啊 I don't know

對不起阿I am sorry

我明白啦I see/understand.

我很好 I am good.

我非常餓I'm very hungry.

好啦好啦 Ok Ok.

你呢 And you? How about you

我/你是笨蛋 I'm/You're an idiot.

我聽不懂 I don't understand.

There are a few others but at the moment I can’t remember them, so when I do I will edit this with the rest. It seems strange that I have a set come back for a lot of thigns in Chinese, but then again it seems that I follow a lot patterns. Also being that these are the first words that I learned to memorize I think that it is appropriate that they are my “auto-replies”

I am Chububobcat and thanks for reading~

You know you have been in Taiwan too long when…

I recently came across a blogger who had a list of things to show you have been in Taiwan longer than the average 外國人 should. So I thought that I would repost it in my blog, and add a few of my own to his already HUGE list. Hoping you enjoy, Chububobcat from Taichung.

1. You can order the entire McDonald's menu in Chinese.
2. You decide it makes more sense to ride on a scooter than driving a car.
3. More than one garment has been ruined by betel-nut spit.
4. Someone doesn't stare at you and you wonder why.
5. You look both ways before crossing the sidewalk.
6. When you order an import beer & find your self drinking Bud Select.
7. You turn left from the right lane.
8. 70 degrees Fahrenheit feels cold.
9. You see three people on a motorcycle and figure there's room for two more.
10. "Squid" sounds better than "steak".
11. You don't notice the smell.
12. There are more things strapped to your scooter than you ever put in a car.
13. Looking at a dog makes you hungry.
14. You stop conjugating verbs.
15. You drive on the shoulder to pass traffic.
16. The main reason you stop at a 7-11 is to buy tea eggs.
17. You expect a Chinese New Year's bonus.
18. Firecrackers don't wake you up.
19. You spend two hours and US$75 to go get potato skins and buffalo wings.
20. You can distinguish Taiwanese from Hakka.
21. Your family stops asking you when you'll be coming back.
22. Taxi drivers are considered "good drivers".
23. You withdraw your money from the bank during Chinese missile tests.
24. Beer really isn't so expensive.
25. You stop and look both ways before driving through a red light.
26. "A", "an" and "the" aren't necessary parts of speech.
27. You know when the next "big bai-bai" is.
28. Getting drunk is an expected part of meeting your girlfriends family.
29. You don't mind when your date picks her/his nose in public.
30. You wear out your horn before your brakes.
31. The police call you to get information about other foreigners.
32. You know which place has the best noodles & duck meat at 3:00 a.m.
33. a) You (male) wear white socks with suits and black socks with tennis shorts.
b) You (female) wear socks with pantyhose in summer.
34. People who knew you when you first arrived don't recognize you.
35. You speak Chinese to your foreign friends.
36. You own a karaoke machine.
37. None of your shoes have laces.
38. Chinese stop you on the street to ask for directions.
39. You leave the plastic on new furniture.
40. Forks feel strange.
41. You can spot the differences between the China News and the China Post.
42. The shortest distance between two points involves going through an alley.
43. You wear blue rubber flip-flops at work.
44. People don't see you for months, and when they do, they don't ask you where you've been.
45. Your deodorant stick has cobwebs on it.
46. You check that the karaoke machine is working before boarding a wild chicken bus.
47. Chinese remakes of Western songs sound better than the originals.
48. You stare at other foreigners.
49. Over half of your clothes were bought at night markets.
50. You become an expert on bug zappers: the best brands & where to get them.
51. The majority of foreigners who have been in Taiwan longer than you are buried here.
52. You find yourself spending a large portion of your pay for “school functions."
53. You know which turn signal should be on when driving the wrong way down a one-way street.
54. You get homesick for Chinese food while away from Taiwan.
55. Praying at a temple for a winning lottery number becomes a regular thing to do.
56. It becomes a tradition that at least a part of Christmas dinner is stir-fried.
57. Other foreigners give you a funny look when you tell them how long you've been here.
58. You can't think of any good reason to leave.
59. The Statute of Limitations has expired and you still don't go home.
60. You understand that smiling and nodding is Chinese body language for "Stop speaking bad Mandarin and leave me alone."
61. Passing a construction site, you realize metal scaffolding is much more dangerous than bamboo.
62. That using sticks and branches are the proper way to warn other drivers of potential road hazards such as holes in the road, and even when a orange cone is available you still pull a branch from a near by tree top off the cone.
63. The last few vacations you've had have been around Taiwan on company outings.
64. You've used up more than one phone card on local calls.
65. Locals are surprised to find out you can't vote in the upcoming election.
66. Your pets are bilingual.
67. Pizza just doesn't taste right unless there's corn on it.
68. Your preferred parking spot is on a sidewalk (and you get upset when someone else parks there).
69. Most meaningful conversations take place in doorways or on slow-moving scooters.
70. You can de-bone a piece of chicken in your mouth within seconds.
71. Your job title has more than three words.
72. You think the service in the restaurants isn't THAT bad.
73. You serve Shaoshing wine at home.
74. You're constantly the first on the elevator to hit the "door close" button.
75. You start cutting off the gravel trucks.
76.You prefer squat toilets.
77.You find having a scooter to be fun.
78.You eat squid on a stick.
79.You no longer find those strange and humorous articles in the paper to send home.
80.Your most commonly used Mandarin phrase is no longer "wo ting bu dong".
81.Your answer to an "either/or" question is "yes".
82.When the fashions in the stores look really hip.
83.You're into Sumo on NHK.
84.When chou tofu is no longer stinky.
85.You go to a nice restaurant and look for the rice bowl to put your food in.
86.You wish they had Lazy Susans in the middle of the tables at TGI Fridays.
87.You spend more time driving ON the lines instead of in between them.
88.You read books from back to front.
89.You start to like Kaoliang brandy more than XO.
90.You think packs of dogs are cute.
91.You are on home leave and you say "xie xie" instead of thank you.
92.You tell friends you are going back home when leaving your home country.
93.You're ready to name the betel nut as a nutritional supplement.
94.You think that $3,000,000NT for a golf club membership is a steal.
95.You get frustrated when driving in the US because you can’t pass in the on coming lane.
96.You think the Taipei-Tamsui ferry is world class cruising.
97.You think that Taiwan is really trying to protect endangered species.
98.Your pinkie nail is over one inch long.
99.You stop using spell check on your word processor.
100.You buy round trip air tickets from Taipei.
101.You are worried when you DON'T see the soldiers on a bridge.
102.You think that ICRT is quality radio.
103.You tell the taxi drivers to hurry up.
104.You think your nose IS kind of big.
105.You hum along to the tunes in the taxi.
106.You've left umbrellas in more than 3 resturants.
107.You understand ICRT traffic reports.
108.You keep stuffed animals in your car.
109.You think walking up Yangmingshan looks like fun.
110.When US $4.00 is just about right for a cup of coffee.
111.You can tell the difference between Spring rain, the Plum rain, and the rainy season.
112.The last time you visited your mother you presented her with your business card.
113.The latest you can stay out is 11:30 pm, even on a weekend.
114.You can tell, just by looking, which moon cake has the egg in it.
115.You're getting allergic to fresh air.
116.You get used to being waken up by the "dump-truck tune" instead of a clock.
117.Cable TV reminds you of boring commercials and stock market advisories.
118.Everything you own is pirated or second hand.
119.You start to treat your scooter like a spouse.
120.You get used to the habit of not paying any tips while traveling.
121.Your first reaction in buying things is to ask for discounts.
122.Your first reaction in hearing the national anthem is to think of the Chinese elementary school.
123.You get addicted to MSG.
124.You get dogdoophobia -- the fear of stepping on dog doo when walking around.
125.You say "Wei?" instead of "Hello?" when you pick up the phone.
126.The red light is merely suggestive to you.
127.You talk on your cellular phone, play Tetris, smoke, and chew betel nuts, all at the same time.
128.You always ask your best friend back home when he's going to get a motorcycle.
129.You greet people by inspecting whatever they're carrying or telling them how fat they've gotten.
130.You can no longer tell the difference between a burp and the hiccups, a cracker and a cookie, or toast and bread.
131.You're on a first name basis with the staff at the local KTV.
132. The perfect date ends at a KTV.
133. You end your IMs, E-mails, and SMS’s with 88 instead of bye-bye or ttyl.
134. You find western foods to be too sweet or too salty.
135. You have lost your celebrity status as a novality westerner.
136. People no longer assume you don’t speak Chinese, and will start in whole conversations in Hakka.
137. You think people who don’t own 2 or more scooter/motorcycles are strange.
138. Instead of being afraid of the coming typhoon you are planning your free day from work.
139. You no longer think it is strange to see police casually driving around with their sirens on.
140. You’re no longer amazed that people run red lights when the police are on the other side of the street.
141. Not having place to do a U-turn safely doesn’t stop you.
142. You notice that your English skills have diminished when talking to people who have newly arrived.
143. You don’t see any problem with setting off fireworks in the middle of the street.
144. You no longer find that people talking about you behind your back in Chinese to be disturbing, you just join in the conversation.
145. When you think of the garbage truck when you hear Beethoven’s Fur Elise.

Well I thought this might bring some cheer to someone’s other wise boring day.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Taiwanese Houses

I have been looking to buy my own house here in Taiwan for quite sometime, which has given me a long time to think about the type the style the features and location of the house that I want. Which has also lead me to looking at and in some cases downloading over 500 different pictures of these houses. Since I am not finished writing the entry about buying a house I figured I could show you the pictures of the places that I was looking into buy. I don’t remember the exact location of each house, and going back through my Firefox history to figure out the sites that I downloaded them from seems a little tedious. So just enjoy the pictures of the nice houses and feel that you learned something today and enriched your life in some way.

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This house is spectacular, but comes with a spectacular price tag too, if I remember correctly it was something like $900-1.2million US.

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This last house is the one I really want but at 29 million NT I don't think I can afford it. But it has everything I want, close to work, good neighborhood, lots of space inside, security, and something that is rare in a congested area like this a back and front lawn. I think I could put up with some crazy neighbors to have that luxury.

Well these are just a few of the 500 places that I have looked at I hope you liked them as much as I do and talk to you later. CB~

Taipei Times Article About Thanksgiving

The other day I some how got conned into being the planner for this years Thanksgiving activity day. Well to tell the truth I know how I got conned but still doesn’t make it any less subversive. Since I only have 5 days to plan the activity and 2 get everything ready I came up with the half hearted idea to do a Thanksgiving dinner, some coloring activities that revolve around English, and a few other small things. When I told my vice principal jokingly of course about the turkey course she jumped all over the idea and before I could explain the joke she was making arrangements for me to cook in the school kitchen. Oh boy. I have never cooked a Turkey before so here is where the topic of this blurb comes in.

Gluttony as patriotic duty

By David Chen
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Nov 19, 2009, Page 13

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and now is the time to make dinner plans if you haven't started already.

This traditional American family get-together means a roast turkey dinner for most. Die-hards who insist on preparing on their own should look no further than their local Costco store, which is selling uncooked turkeys weighing around 4.5kg to 5.5kg (10lb to 12lb) for NT$1,999. All stores are taking advance orders now for pickup next Thursday.

For those who have big appetites but little time, the Taipei Times looks at the plentiful options for Thanksgiving at Taipei restaurants, which include dine-in and take-out, as well as a few choices in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

Dining In (under NT$650 per person)

Carnegie's serves its standard Thanksgiving meal all day next Thursday, at NT$490 per person for lunch and NT$630 for dinner, with no service charge. Along with the requisite roast turkey, gravy and cranberry sauce, the set includes mashed potatoes, vegetable casserole, stuffing, butter rolls and cranberry and spinach salad with citrus dressing. For dessert, it's pumpkin cheesecake with coffee or tea. Address: 100, Anhe Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市安和路二段100號). Tel: (02) 2325-4433

Citizen Cain is offering Thanksgiving dinner next Thursday and Friday. The bar and restaurant's dinner set includes hearty cream of mushroom soup, roast turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes with gravy, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese and homemade pie. If you're too stuffed to move afterwards, stay for another Thanksgiving tradition: live NFL football on TV. The cost of dinner is NT$590 per person; online reservations get a 5 percent discount. Drink specials include Don Paul Malbec (Argentina) at NT$780 per bottle, Carlsberg at NT$299 per pitcher and Stella Draft at NT$399 per pitcher. Address: 67 Dongfeng St, Taipei City (台北市東豐街67號). Tel: (02) 2708-4557

The Tavern is aiming for the late crowd - a day late, that is. Next Friday from 7pm to 10pm, the sports bar serves a Thanksgiving spread that includes the standard roast turkey, gravy, stuffing and pumpkin pie. Prices are NT$550 per person for adults (includes a glass of California white or red wine) and NT$300 per person for children. Address: 415, Xinyi Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市信義路四段415號). Tel: (02) 8789-0892

Dining In (above NT$650 per person)

Capone's is serving a prix fixe Thanksgiving dinner next Thursday evening for six to eight persons at NT$850 per patron, plus 10 percent service charge. For the same price, there's a set menu for individual diners, which includes a "buttery stuffing celery stick" with Waldorf salad, a choice of mushroom or pumpkin soup, roast turkey with cranberry sauce and stuffing, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, and vegetables with gravy. Dessert choices are either pecan or apple pie with ice cream. Those lucky enough to have been born in November get 50 percent off the meal. Reservations are required for the prix fixe dinner and recommended in general. Address: 312, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路四段312號). Tel: (02) 2773-3782

Chicago-themed restaurant Dan Ryan's offers its traditional Thanksgiving dinner next Thursday, which includes roast turkey, walnut green beans and candied yams, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and homemade gravy for NT$700. The price goes up to NT$825 for an additional salad with creamy Italian dressing, pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie. The children's dinner special is NT$500 and does not include dessert. All dinner sets are available for takeout, and whole 4.5kg to 5.5kg (10lb to 12lb) turkeys with stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce are available for NT$3,500. Turkeys without the trimmings are NT$2,500, and whole pumpkin pies are NT$600. Turkeys-to-go must be ordered three days in advance. Address: 8 Dunhua N Rd, Taipei City (台北市敦化北路8號). Tel: (02) 2778-8800

The Grand Hyatt Taipei's Cafe has an excellent buffet spread for NT$880, plus 10 percent service charge. This year the restaurant says its "Thanksgiving Turkey Station" will feature roast turkey with bread and sage stuffing, as well as chestnuts and Brussels sprouts topped with giblet gravy and cranberry sauce. Even though the Grand Hyatt Cafe is a usually a good last-minute choice, call ahead to make sure they're not fully booked. Address: 2F, 2 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路2號2樓). Tel: (02) 2720-1200, X3198 or X3199

Grandma Nitti's celebrates Thanksgiving from next Thursday until next Sunday with a dinner set of roast turkey, a choice of Japanese-style or Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, tea or coffee, and a glass of wine for NT$880, plus 10 percent service charge. Take-out dinner sets, which the restaurant says will feed up to 15 people, include turkeys ranging from 4.5kg to 5.5kg (10lb to 12lb), mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy; prices are calculated at NT$250 per pound of turkey [1kg = 2.2lb]. Pumpkin pie can be ordered as part of the take-out set for an additional NT$400 or ordered individually for NT$560 each. Dinner starts at 5pm. Make reservations or place take-out orders by this Sunday (Nov. 22). Address: 8, Ln 93, Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路93巷8號). Tel: (02) 2369-9751

Adding a French touch to Thanksgiving,La Brasserie at The Landis Taipei (亞都麗緻大飯店) also offers meals from next Thursday until next Sunday. The set menu starts off with bacon and cheese vol-au-vent (a puff pastry), salad and minestrone soup with Merguez sausage. The main course includes a serving of turkey breast and leg with cranberry sauce and truffle mushroom stuffing, and sides of sweet potatoes, chestnuts and seasonal vegetables. For dessert, it's pumpkin pie served with pecan nuts and vanilla ice cream and coffee or tea. The price is NT$980, plus 10 percent service charge. Address: 41, Minquan E Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市民權東路二段41號). Tel: (02) 2597-1234

Take-out Thanksgiving Meals

The Deli at the Sheraton Hotel offers three types of hampers for Thanksgiving and Christmas priced at NT$2,800 each. The turkey set comes with port wine and giblet sauce and cranberry jelly, the "Roasted Virginia Ham" is garnished with Hawaiian pineapple and raisin and apple sauces, while the "roasted US beef hamper" comes with beef gravy and horseradish sauce. An additional NT$700 gets you a full assortment of trimmings, including sausage and cornbread stuffing, mashed red-skin potatoes with fresh thyme, roasted vegetables and sweet potato bread. Eight-inch pumpkin pies are NT$800. All hampers are available until Dec. 31. Orders must be placed at least three days in advance. Address: 12, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路一段12號). Tel: (02) 2321-5858 ext. 8373

The Grand Formosa Regent's Thanksgiving basket includes a 6kg (13lb) roast hen turkey and stuffing made with green apples and chestnuts imported from France. Side dishes are mixed mushrooms, "fresh glazed vegetables" and mashed potatoes. The set is available from now until Christmas and costs NT$3,000. Orders must be placed in at least three days in advance. Six-inch pumpkin pies made by the hotel's French chef are also available for NT$500. Address: 41, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市中山北路二段41號B3). Tel: (02) 2523-8000 ext. 3157

Liz Gastro's at the Landis Taipei offers a take-out turkey hamper for six people or so, which includes a bacon-basted roast turkey weighing around 5kg (11lb) and seasonal vegetables with freshly made cranberry sauce for NT$2,980. The hampers are available until Christmas and orders placed at least three days in advance receive a 10 percent discount. Address: 41, Minquan E Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市民權東路二段41號). Tel: (02) 2598-5558

Wendel's German Bakery and Bistro offers a Thanksgiving hamper for six to eight people for NT$4,500. The set includes a 6kg (13lb) roast turkey, sherry gravy, glazed chestnuts, Brussels sprouts, mashed sweet potatoes, a house specialty cake, baguette and a bottle of Rivaner or Dornfelder rose wine. All items are available separately; contact the restaurant for prices. Orders must be placed three days in advance. Address: 5 Dexing W Rd, Taipei City (台北市德行西路5號). Tel: 2831-4592

The Westin Taipei's Thanksgiving set is NT$3,500 and includes a turkey weighing approximately 6kg (13lb), roast potatoes, buttered broccoli, wild berry sauce and chestnut stuffing. Orders must be placed three days in advance. Address: 2F, 133, Nanjing E Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (南京東路三段133號2樓). Tel: (02) 8770-6565

TAICHUNG
PJ’s Cafe has been offering a price-busting Thanksgiving dinner for 12 years. For NT$195, diners get one plateful of turkey, mashed potato, stuffing, cranberry sauce and coleslaw. The owner, American expatriate PJ McKenna, says that one plate usually manages to satisfy the appetites of most customers, but if it doesn’t, a second plate certainly will. A vegetarian option is also available. Dinner will be served next Thursday and Friday. Address: 23 Dayeh Rd, Taichung City (台中市大業路23號). Tel: (04) 2325-2457

KAOHSIUNG:
The Splendor Kaohsiung (高雄金典酒店) offers a simple Thanksgiving takeout hamper. The set includes a 6kg (12lb) turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, an assortment of bread rolls and a bottle of 750ml of French red wine for NT$2,600. Three days’ advance notice is needed, and orders placed before Nov. 25 receive a 10 percent discount. Address: 37F-85F, 1, Zihciang 3rd Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市自強三路一號37-85樓). Tel: (07) 566-1149

TAINAN:
The Evergreen Plaza Hotel (台糖長榮酒店) in Tainan has several holiday takeout hampers available until Christmas. The turkey basket, which is NT$2,288, includes a 5kg to 6kg (11lb to 13lb) turkey with black pepper sauce and port wine and giblet sauce, chestnut bread rolls, and a choice of a 7-inch pumpkin pie or four pumpkin cupcakes. An alternative to turkey is the Thai roast chicken basket, which includes the same side dishes and three honey-roasted chickens each weighing between 250g to 300g, for NT$1,988. Orders must be placed three days in advance. Address: 1, Ln 336, Jhonghua E Rd, Tainan City (台南市東區中華路三段336巷1號). Tel: (06) 337-3861

I am Chububobcat wishing you a happy thanksgiving and a happy holidays

Cold Weather Comes to Taiwan

Until recently the weather in Taichung has been warm and wonderful for wearing shorts and a T-shirt. But just a few days ago it got cold enough that after going outside with my new dog Ringo that I should be wearing something a little warmer. This got me to thinking that I am going to have to find some more wintry clothes this year, normally I don't have to worry about these types of things but recently I have noticed that I am missing some of my warmer clothes. So I either sent them home to the US for storage or I have misplaced them when I moved to my current house. Either way seeing that is getting chilly here especially at night makes me feel a lot more tired these days. I think it has something to do with my built in hibernation mode or something.

Just because I said it is getting a little Chilly don't think that I am any where near as cold as oh lets say Ohio.
Saturday this week is going to be the coldest in the next 7 day week.

11/21 Sat.	11/22 Sun.	11/23 Mon.	11/24 Tue.	11/25 Wed.	11/26 Thu.	11/27 Fri.
75° 62°	78° 64°	80° 66°	82° 68°	77° 68°	81° 66°	81° 68°

I am really going to have to start writing about something interesting here. I know I said I would write about buying a house in Taichung and that I would post the 2^nd half soon, well that has come to a screeching full reverse thrust careening halt as I realized that I do not having too much time on my hands to do the research required for such a post. I do, however, have a bunch of pictures of potential houses and apartments that would like to live in. So maybe tomorrow, if you kiddies are good, I can post them here since I found new way to upload my blog.

Thank you Windows Live you finally came up with something that isn’t pointless, now if only Google can follow this pattern and make a more user friendly gadget that doesn’t make you feel like your computer got privacy raped when you learn that it magically know Every thing that you do on your computer.

Well its 3:30am I am tired and cold so I think I am going to head on to bed crank up the water heater so that I can more comfortably drift off to sleep.

晚安~我是中部山貓

Driving in Taiwan

While talking to a friend of mine a few days ago while we were surfing around on YouTube we found our selves on the topic of driving in Taiwan. My friend with a straight and honest face told me directly that “People in Taiwan are excellent drivers.” and that he doesn’t know where the idea came from that Taiwanese are horrible drivers. This led us to a very entertaining search around YT for the videos of drivers in Taiwan. One of the videos had a link to a post that had the following to say about driving in Taiwan. Something that I personally find to be a nearly perfect representation of the driving mentality in Taiwan. The only thing missing is the little blue trucks.

“Though the basic rules of the road are the same as in most other countries, Taiwan has a widely practiced, alternative highway code. This alternative code is built around getting to your destination as quickly as possible with little or no regard to the safety of yourself and others. Some of the main points:

1. Driving on the Right
In Taiwan people drive on the right, but under certain special circumstances, especially if riding a motorbike or scooters, driving on the left is accepted,
i) You’re only traveling a short distance.
ii) Your destination is on the left and it’s inconvenient to drive on the right.
iii) You’re on the left, the traffic is busy, and it’s just too difficult to get across the road onto the right hand side.
iv) You’re having a good day and simply don’t feel that anything bad is going to happen to you.
These rules particularly apply to the elderly.

2. Red Lights
i) You don’t always need to stop for them. If you think you can get through ok, then go for it.
ii) If you do stop, then don’t stop completely. Keep edging forward. You’ll shave valuable milliseconds off your destination time and you make sure that guy next to you cant get in front and cut you off. In the competition to be first off the blocks, think nothing of edging out so far that you start to obstruct legally moving cars.
iii) Don’t wait for your light to change to green before putting your foot down. Keep an eye on the other light, wait for that one to change from green to red or even to orange, then go. You’ve got places to get to and waiting for a green light will add 7 or even 8 seconds on to your journey time. It’s not worth it.

3. Turning Right
When turning right, even onto a busy road, it’s not necessary to wait for a gap in the traffic. In fact, you don’t even need to look and check if there any cars coming your way. Feel free to put people’s lives in danger.
Even if there’s a red light, ignore it. Red lights only apply to people turning left or going straight on.

4. Overtaking
i) Overtake on both the inside and outside.
ii) Overtake on blind corners.
iii) Do it like ‘Michael’ Schumacher.

5. The Fast and The Furious
Great movie, right? You can do it too!

6. Speed Limits
These are more of a guideline than an actual rule. They’re meant for new drivers, women, and not for the likes of you. You’re a good driver, people have told you so, and you’re driving an SUV that has an engine big enough to power an airplane. You go as fast as you like.

7. Big Cars
Buy one. Not only will spend a lot of money running them, waste the Earth’s dwindling resources in a bid to make yourself look cool, add to the Nation’s chronically bad air pollution problem, but you can also intimidate people in smaller cars. Why bother with the hassle of overtaking? Instead just drive right up to puny car’s bumper, they’ll move for you. If they don’t, drive even closer, possibly honk your horn, you’ll get ’em.

8. Parking
Double parking, blocking someone else in, parking on a corner, these things might be considered lazy, selfish, and inconsiderate. But hey, what do you care?

9. Motorbikes and Scooters
i) Never look in your mirrors.
ii) Weave in and out through cars and slower bikes, cut them off if you want.
iii) Scooters can be specially adapted with a small wicker chair on the foot plate. What better or safer way to transport a baby?
iv) Child passengers don’t need a helmet. Hasn’t a scientific report shown that in the event of a 40 km/h bike crash, a child’s head will simply bounce off the tarmac?
v) A 125cc scooters can easily seat a family of four.
vi) Carrying very large, and very long objects on a bike is totally safe.

Taiwan’s roads are extremely dangerous and to survive them you need to do more than just prepare for the worst. Expect to be amazed by some new act of lunacy every time you get on your bike or in your car. Even then, even if you’re a careful driver, and many are, there’s no guarantee of safety when the roads are filled with so many complete idiots.

There are numerous causes for this terrible state of affairs: the teaching and testing systems are laughably inadequate; police routinely turn a blind eye to indiscretions; drink-driving is not socially unacceptable; even the laws governing liability for a crash are hazy. I am told that things are changing in this last regard, but in many cases compensation must be paid to whichever party was most seriously injured, even if the accident was their fault.

The number, and scope of these causes ensure that, even if the government took immediate and drastic action, Taiwanese roads will remain dangerous for many years to come. Perhaps the most worrying thing is that very little action, drastic or otherwise, is forthcoming.” --Written by Andrew Crosthwaite

~~Drama~~

Recently I have been having trouble with a coworker of mine. He has only been working with me for nearly 1 year and half now, this guy is a real pain in the ass to me on a regular basis. He isn't a bad teacher but he really doesn't know his place in this world.In the way of rank in the company I am his senior by 2 1/2 years and on top of that I have been in training to become the co-head NST teacher.

Just a little info on what NST stands for “Native Speaking Teacher”, which is the foreigner who teaches English to the students.The Head-NST is usually the most senior NST but in the case of my school’s she is not only the most senior with 9 years working for the school, but she is also the only one with a masters in early childhood education and English as a Second Language, After her there is another teacher who has been working here for 6 years now, but he has no aspirations to advance his rank in the school, he enjoys coming to work spending time with the kids and then going him and being with his lovely wife and daughter. Third in the list is me with 4 years with the school, there use to be people in front of me but the 3 of them moved on to new schools or went back to their home countries.

Back to the story.
This particular teach has been harassing me from nearly the start of the year, and for what reason I have no idea. Normally I am not interested in the going-on’s of those around me, so its not like I have interfered with his personal life and he is seeking retribution for something I did. Since it is completely unprovoked attacks on me I am not really holding back on him and the things I say to him.

For instance a few weeks back he and I had an argument over how I run one of my advanced classes. Which lead him to walk into the middle of my class uninvited and walk to the back of room and just sit there. This was not only a distraction for me but it was a distraction and unwanted stress for the students as well. He didn’t introduce himself, he didn’t explain why he was there, just sat there starring. So, after 20mins of his causing an uncomfortable wave completely washing over the class making even the best students to hesitate to answer the simplest of things, I walked slowly to the back of the room still reading from the passage grabbed him by the arm, and told one of the girls in the front of the class to read from where I stopped and dragged him out of the classroom. Once I shut the door I kept my voice down and yelled at him for disrupting my class. I told him something along the lines of “If you ever disrupt my class like that again I will make sure it is the last time you do”.

This wasn’t even the first time that we had a problem like this. The first that I can remember was when we had an open house for the parents to see what would our advanced classes will be like. I think what set him off was when I told the parents that the advanced class is there to help the students whose English is at a level high enough to be taking Jr. High or Sr. High School level classes but because of their age are stuck in Elementary or Jr High. As such these classes there to help the students to progress their skills without being held back by being taught at a lower level. Every student admitted in the class has passed and entrance exam that they needed to score at least 80% on to be allowed in, and if at any time during the class I feel that they are not progressing because they are not able to keep up, or didn’t understand the material even after additional assistance I would return them to their normal English classes. Even though they are being placed back in the mainstream class it is in no way a punishment, it is to prevent the students from having to struggle in the class and to keep them moving onward and upward. I think the part that pissed him off was when I told the parents that “I” would be the one to take them out of the class if I thought it was best for them. However I am not sure on that.

Anyway the most recent fight that I have had with this guy has pissed me off so much that I am seriously thinking about trying to get him fired. One of my new responsibilities is helping to review each of the teachers performance reviews and archiving them into the computer. Several days before the most recent incident with him I had made it to his performance review and saw that he is actually ranked with the lowest of the teachers. His classes have the lowest overall test scores and his approval rating with the other teachers is low as well. So I don’t know if he is taking his frustrations out on me or if he just doesn’t like me?

Living for 2 years in Taiwan is a hard thing for a westerner. It takes a lot of resilience and inner strength to make it. I found that once I made it to the 2 year mark I was ready to fight my way out of Taiwan if I had to, but I pushed on and said if this year sucks as bad as is starting to I will leave. 2 years later I am still here and still giving it my all. Still have a quick flight suite case though. Fighting on every single day.

~Chububocat~

Mega Millions

In the US we have a lottery called the MEGAMILLIONS Lottery, it has several states that participate in the drawing and because of that it can reach amazing jackpots. In March 6, 2007 before changing its name from the Big Game, to its current Mega Millions it had a world record jackpot of 390million dollars. After taxes the 2 winners of this jackpot shared 223 million dollars. When I checked the current pot it was up to 145million dollars and has been running for nearly 2 months with out a winner. I was however surprised to see that someone in my hometown won $200,000 from it.

It makes me wonder what in the world I would do if I ever won the Mega Millions jackpot. Some how I think that the first thing I would do is pass out, ha-ha. After that I think that I would buy my self a new house here in Taichung, maybe one of the new luxury high-rise apartments or a larger mansion style house near where I currently live and furnish it lavishly. After that maybe I will buy a nicer scooter than the one I have and since I already have a nice car maybe I will skip that step. I could use some of the money to go back to school and study a new subject to get my Masters and the PhD degrees. Finally I think that I would like to start my own business. It has been my dream for a long time to own both a book store and a cafe, so maybe I can combine the two and have a dream business. Living in Taiwan that 145 million would translate into NT$4.67billion, that’s billion with a ‘B’. That’s enough money that even If I worked the barest minimum 14hrs a month teaching I could live a full and relatively happy life here for the rest of my life.

I still before I do any of this I should take care of my mother and family, so I would give my mom money to live happily, buy her a nice new house, give my youngest brother some money to finish off school even if it takes him 10years, give my middle brother some money to play with. Give some money to my grandmother so that she can live with out worry in her old age, and can travel if she wants, and she can care for her health with out worry.

I wonder what other people would do with $145million?
If anyone would like to share their dreams or plans with that kind of money please feel free to. It is always good to dream about things like this, in my humble opinion it is something that gives us strength to move on and give us hope for the future. Because even if we can’t win that Mega Millions we can still take the items from our list and through hard work and determination make them into reality.

This has been the random thought for the day, from Chububobcat who wishes everyone a safe and happy 10-10 day.

>Edit<
The Megamillions lottery dragged on for another week reaching a total of 200million dollars before being won by a single ticket holder in Virgina. Ahh 200 million dollars, what to do with it?

Am I going to be a Christmas Cake?

Recently, I had an argument with my girlfriend about how we are getting older, and that after 30 it becomes hard to get married and have a family. Personally I don't really understand the whole concept of becoming a Christmas cake after the age of thirty, but still it seems to be something that is popular in Asian culture.

I know that my mother is giving me some pressure to "get a life", get a "real job", and get married. So I am sure her mother is doing the same thing, because of this we are in a strange place right now.

I know that getting married young is a good thing because it gives you more chances in life, and it allows you to be able to start your family much slower, and while you still have your youthful energy. However, I think that being able to start your family after you have a good career and enough money to support both your wife and future children is just as important.

I don't know, maybe these ideas are what is going to make me become a Christmas cake. In my life I have had many girls that I liked, but only 3 girls that I was in love with 2 of whom I was deeply in love with.

The first girl was my good friend in college. I had only known her for about a year but we sent so much time together that my feelings began to change somewhere along the line. Even though the first time I saw her the first thing that jumped into mind was her carry on suite case, the second being how cute she was. Strange the things that we notice about other people. At of my sophomore year she asked if she could room with me and rent the other room in my apartment. because I had a 2 bedroom apartment that one room was going to waste. So being the good friend that I was I allowed her to stay, so every day for 5months we saw each other day and night. For me this was a great source of excitement and ... pain, I guess would be the word. Having her as my roommate was the highest point in my life. Even though we didn't share and truly intimate moments the time we shared together was at least to me priceless. However, do to the actions of another our wondrous relationship came to a blazing end sudden end. She left my life mad and has never spoken to me again. The lose of both my best friend and the girl that I loved brought me to my knees, and sent the remaining 6 months of my life into a fog.

The Second girl was the first person to actually be my real girlfriend. I know it sounds weird, but at 23 that was a huge deal for me. We were together for a year, and about 3 or 4months and had plans for the future, so much so that I had even moved to Taiwan to be with her. However, in the end she broke up with me leaving me with only a dear john letter "I don't think we will work out, we don't match each other. Good bye". Since then none of me emails, IMs, Phone calls, or letters have been replied to or even returned to sender. Its like there is a void that sucked everything in and never let it go.

It took me nearly a year, but after her I met the 3rd girl who day by day made me forget that pain, and gave my heart a new light feeling. Even though I was still gun shy about letting someone get that close to me, she made me happier than I had been in a long time. So, one day things became official that we were together, even though there was some distance between where we lived we stayed faithful to one another. Each day growing closer and closer to each other so much so, that now 2 years later the thought of losing her has made my heart drop to the floor, and every day seems greyer than the last.

I know this seems to some like a stupid idea, but I have come to the conclusion that if things don't work out between her and I, and we separate for real. Then I will give up completely on trying to find a girlfriend, I will resign myself to living a life as a single and make each day for myself. To me it seems simple enough, I spent the majority of my life alone, and when I attempted to have a relationship with a girl has lead to my life being turned upside down by the lose of not only my the girl who captured my heart but by the lose of my best friend as well.

I know the concept of being married before 30 is something ridiculous but it seems to hold some power in my family, as everyone who has been married has done so before their 30th birthday, and those who have not are still single all the way into their late 40s, 50s, and 60s. With the oldest being 3 uncles who lived their entire 80 and 90 year lives with out getting married.

Is being a Christmas cake really that bad? ... I guess only time will tell.

Traveling in Taiwan

Before the fall school session started I had some free time so I decided to do something new.
I found a new video editing software called Cyberlink PowerDirector 7 that allows you to edit videos, music and pictures in order to produce high quality, high definition, blue ray quality movies that you can either burn to disk or upload directly to Youtube. So I gathered together some of my pictures from the time I spent in Taiwan and created 2 different videos. One is limited to the places that I saw while in 台中市和台南市 (Taichung and Tainan) the other is from all the different places that I saw while in Taiwan. I still have hundreds more but since it was a new project and I was not too familiar with the software I decided to just make a couple short videos that are good for Youtube. By the time that I got to the end of the process I was too tired and didn't want to let my laptop run over night to produce the much Higher quality video. Although both videos are High Quality the resolution is a little lower than the pictures themselves causing some of them to look a little blocky. 


Well I hope that you like them and find them at least interesting.


最近我有很多空閒時間，所以決定嘗試一些新事物。當我在台灣這段時間，當我在台灣這段時間，我收集了一些我的照片並製成(做成)了2段影片。其中一段影片是我在台中市和台南市特定的地點所拍攝的，另一段是我在台灣的時候走過的不同的地方時所拍攝的。我這裡還有數百張照片，但是我太累了，以致於不能用它們再做成一個更長的影片。



Taichung and Tainan

Traveling in Taiwan
Even though the second link is a completely different video than the first, they do share some pictures due to the limited number that I could put into the project folder. So please be kind and enjoy. If you have a youtube account and would like to you are more than welcome to leave a comment on them.
Part 2 of the Buying a house in Taichung series will be posted later. I am still looking for some decent pictures of the houses that I am interested in, as well as trying to come up with some clear thoughts as to what to say. I know this is suppose to be a random thoughts blog so saying that I am trying to have clear thoughts is a little ironic but I think it is important for me to be able to look back later in life and see where my mind was at that time.

I'm Chububobcat and I'm wishing you have a good weekend.

Buying a House in Taichung Series Part 1

For sometime I have been thinking about buying a house in Taichung, one that I can own and do with as I please. I have been here for long enough now that I feel that I will want to live here long term if not permanently, therefore I am thinking that I should stop living in random apartments and find some place that I can call my own. Over the last 2 years I have looked a dozens if not hundreds of different apartments and houses all over Taichung-city, which is the 3rd largest city in Taiwan with a population of 1,064,440 spread over 163.4256 sq km (63.1 sq mi).

I am not looking for anything spectacular, but I do have some strict ideas for the type of place that I am looking for. One of them being that it has to have a least 3 rooms, not because I am planning to have other roommates with the exception of maybe my girlfriend. Its more for the need for extra space, after living in several apartments before moving into a house I can tell you that the need for work space is not met by an apartment. A decent apartment is at least 15 ping (533.74 ft.²), and even though these apartments are of adequate size most of them do not have kitchens. The ones that do have kitchens only have single burners, or no oven. Why not that these are not things that I need, they are still something that I would like to have. It's not hard to find food here and cooking at home is not exactly something a common for single ex-pats, however there are times when you feel homesick you wish to eat food from your hometown.

In my research for finding out what I'm looking for an apartment or house is that Taiwanese real estate websites are more complicated than you might find in an American site. The major complication is that the whole site is in Chinese, for an American whose Chinese isn’t perfect that is a hurtle to over come. However, with good friends a good translator and some patients you can easily navigate the site even all you do is click around. Another reason is the different classifications of homes in Taiwan, such as houses that have shops in them (machine shops usually), villas, apartments that are actually designed to be permanent residencies, blah blah blah. I most of it once you learn the Chinese meanings are pretty much the same as in the US, the difference is trying to figure out an American real estate website. The advantages to the Taiwanese websites are that they have pictures taken through out the houses giving you a good view of them.

I am not too sure what else to say about this so this will be part one of the Buying a House inTaichungseries. There is still a lot of information that I need to gather and a lot of preparations that I need to make before being able to buy a house. So for the end of this one I will just show a description of the Chinese names for things on the websites.

Beginning with the Chinese navigation words:

出售for sale            出租for rent

工商租售Industrial and commercial rental
請選擇Please select
電梯大樓 Highrise building   華廈買賣mansion sale

透天厝Houses         別墅 villas

住宅 residential      整層住家 single floor of a house or building

套房 suite               獨立套房 independent suite

店面 store              分租套房 sublet suites

辦公 office             雅房 elegant room

住辦 home shop     廠房 plant/factory

辦公 office             車位 parking spaces

土地 Land               廠房 plant/factory

工商 Industrial

進階條件 advanced conditions

有冷氣>AC             有電視> tv

有冰箱>Frig           有洗衣機> washer dryer

有寬頻網路> broadband internet 有電熱水器>  electric water heater

有電梯>lift                                  屋主刊登owner published

近公車站> bus stop                    有車位 has spaces

可養寵物>Pets allowed               可開伙 may open group

可短期租賃>short term leasing option

租金 rent                                     屋齡 housing age

房屋格局 floor plan

> 1房  　 > 2房 2 rooms

坪數 ping number (total area of the house)

性別要求 gender requirement

> 男生 male　　> 女生 female

房屋型態 housing styles

無電梯公寓 no lift apts.　         > 電梯大樓 elevator tower (high rise apt. building)

透天厝 house (normal )            > 別墅 villa

生活機能> functional living (local conveniences)

便利店> convenience stores    >傳統市場 Traditional Market

近醫療機構> near hospital       >近學校 near school

近公園> near park                   >近夜市 near night market

百貨公司> department stores >近警察局 near police station

>屋主刊登 homeowners published (the owner is selling the place without a realtor)

近公車站> near bus station     >有車位 has a parking spaces

售金 Selling price
> 200萬以下      2,000,000 and under  ( 萬= 10,000)

臺灣

I am born and raised American from the rural state of Ohio, and I was taught to love mom apple pie and the red white and blue. However after going to Taiwan I realized that there are a lot of things that are lacking from the US, and a lot of things that are great about the US.
One of the things that I really enjoy about living Taiwan is the fact that no matter where you live you are not too far from any interesting attraction or destination. Another being that after growing up in the US and experiencing how much it cost to live alone, the relatively low cost of living compared to the US in relation the pay rate. In the US I had a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen living room and a full bathroom about a mile and half from my University it cost me $650/mo, here in Taiwan I have had several apartments the most expensive is my current "apartment" at NT$25000/mo ($775). I put apartment in to quotes because it is not just an apartment it is a 5 story house with 6 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, 2 washrooms, large living room kitchen and dinning room small front and back yards with a garage, and all of this for just 125 dollars more per month than what I was paying for my tiny apartment in the US. I know your wonder what the hell do I need such a huge place for, well simply because I have to share it with 4 other roommates. The cheapest apartment which was practically the same layout as my apartment in college except my college apartment was a shotgun style place while my Taiwanese apartment had the bedrooms along the back wall of the apartment, and it the rent for it was only $300/mo.
As for salaries, even though we are paid monthly here, even though the normal Taiwanese person makes enough money that they can live well off, the expats such as myself make a significant amount more on average which makes it even more attractive to people from the US, UK, and Canada who are finding it harder and harder to get by on a salary of $750~$1000/mo., because here they can make close to the same thing as in the home country and still be able to save enough (after the first 6moths to a year) that they are able to travel around to other Asian countries.
One of the best parts about living and working in Taiwan is the medical system. There is universal health care in Taiwan, it is paid for by taxes from everyones income tax, and is open to anyone who has a residency visa and works and their children. The average hospital charges (in my experience) aren't much more than $3-400 with comparable health care to the US. I had a use of this system after my first year here because I had gotten bit by some strange bug, and had to spend a few days in a hospital bed while I was treated for the effects of the toxins in its venom. It actually wasn't too bad but it sure did make me more aware of the crazy bugs that are in Taiwan. I also used it last year when I got the flu and was taken to the hospital by my roommates because I had started to become dehydrated (which was my fault I didn't take very good care of myself and wasn't drinking enough water to replace what was being lost). This time I spent a week in the hospital and even though I have secondary health coverage which is used to pay for the things that are not covered under the NHI I still only had to pay out of pocket $310 which mostly the cost of my medicine and the price for my semi-private room. Got to LOVE universal health care. Now I am not saying that these are the average prices for things like this but that is what it amounted to with my level of health insurance coverage. I have a friend who was in a more serious little blue truck on scooter accident recently and his medical bills were something in the order of NT$350,000~400,000 (about 10-12,000US). He had several broken bones, numerous cuts and bruises all over his body, he under went 3 different surgeries and spent nearly a month in the hospital, he was very lucky that he wasn't more seriously injured than he was or that the medical bills were not has high as they would have been had he had a similar accident in the US.
For these reasons I am happy that I live in Taiwan.
(Haha I sort of got off track of where I was headed with this post.
(ㄱ_ㄱ);; Well it is a random thought blog. So I guess this will do)

Hello World~!

Ok so recently I was told about linkbucks, thought it was a scam at first but now I see I was wrong. So this is my first entry in to the blog site that came along with my account. I hope everyone will find something interesting about this site and will support me in some way...hopefully by clicking often on the links that I will post through out the entry.
Any way I have been looking for some way to make a little extra scratch on the side because I am planning to go to Guangzhou China for the Chinese New Year. I have been facinated with Chinese culture since I was in Jr High and saw "Raise the Red Lantern", "The Story of Qiu Ju"  and several other classical Chinese movies. Since then I have had this romantic image of China and more importantly southern China in the Canton region. I know that there are people who would say that going to China is a crazy thing because of the "totalitarian government" or because they are communist or any number of other negative political propaganda reasons that people have in their minds. Sure there are some valid reasons but none of this has changed my romantic idea of lazily floating down a quiet river in the DInghu district of Guangdong Providence surrounded by the lush green Dinghu Mountains. So I figure that if I can promote this blog and add some links to various other things that interest me out there that enough people would visit to help me earn even a fraction of the cost to go.
I am not very good at writing blogs because I am not a very interesting person, but I will give it a shot in order to chase a dream.
Well I think that is enough for this Entry entry.*
Until the next time I am Chububobcat, and this was my first blog entry.
*sorry for the bad attempt at a joke