I just got back from snowboarding in Japan yesterday and I am exhausted! I loved Japan, their cities are super clean and they have just the right amount of mix between old and modern architectural styles. The people there are really cute and they are way too curteous for their own good. Besides getting a small cold and getting held up in immigration on my way back, this was such a great trip!
I went to Osaka, snowboarded in Hiroshima, and toured a little bit in Kyoto. I went to go see my friend Thomas, and he was so great to show me around the country! We ran around and pretty much owned whatever town we were in. It was refreshing to get to speak fluent and coherent English pretty much the whole time I was there.
Snowboarding is ridiculously hard but I sort of figured it out on the second day. I managed to beat myself up learning so I've got several big bruises on my legs. Thank goodness our hotel had great hot springs so we could unwind every day afterwards.
Food-wise, I had great okonomiyaki in both Osaka and Hiroshima but I do have to say that I preferred Hiroshima style better. I also had amazing sukiyaki in Kyoto and I finally got to eat conveyer sushi! Now to plan my next trip... Korea anyone??
Pictures to come soon!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Hualien
This weekend, a bunch of my coworkers and I went on a biking trip to Hualien. It was great to go to a new place in Taiwan since I feel like I've been to Taiwan every other summer for my entire life but really have never been outside of three cities! We biked around a ton and basically just enjoyed the scenery, sadly, it was probably the most exercise I've gotten in the past three years.
I met some Americans there, since this place is a favorite spot for tourists, and I realized how rusty my English has gotten! I kept second guessing myself when I spoke, which is weird since my job requires me to read and write English all day, but I guess without speaking it every day, you can loose that fluency really quickly. Obviously, I can still speak English fine and without a crazy accent or anything like that, but I think that sometimes I couldn't talk as quickly and as fluently as I usually do at home.
Anyway, now I am trying to figure out how to get myself to the airport early Thursday morning so I can go spend Christmas in Japan! It can be difficult to be without a car. I never realized that I liked driving so much until now. I can't wait to go skiing, it'll be perfect to see snow for Christmas.
Well, I will leave you with some pictures from the trip for now. Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!!
P.S. I just noticed that my Chinese Word of the Day application hasn't posted a new Chinese word since I've put it up. Sort of defeats its own purpose ... I will have to look into it.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Christmas Cow
This picture was just too great to pass up sharing. I'll definitely miss being in America for this Christmas holiday. Being away from it all makes you really miss the hyper-commercialized yet hyper-traditional and uniquely American holiday. On what other holiday can we enjoy not only great food, great family, great friends, AND great gifts? Possibly a wedding but that's only fun for two people. Now, I've already shared what I'll be doing for Christmas, so now I'd like to know that YOU're doing for Christmas!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
I Got a Catfish
Before, I think I had been having a hard time transitioning to life in Taiwan. After all, as an editor, my best asset is my command of the English language which is difficult to take advantage of in a social situation here in Taiwan. But as of now, I have found friends at work and many other things for which to be thankful for, which makes life in Taiwan much easier, although I still get homesick now and then. And I still can't be happier that I'll be moving back to the states around May.
Things for which I am thankful for.. currently:
1) I got a small catfish for my tank. Its super cute and works as a miniature janitor in my tank. I'm considering letting him work in my coworkers' tanks too... although he's a pretty pricy fellow ;).
2) This weekend I'm going to Hualien with my coworkers. Hualien is a beautiful part of the country where people go out to hike and bike around. It'll pretty much be an outdoorsy sort of merriment.
3) Christmas will be spent in Japan with other Americans. I'm thankful for this opportunity to not only visit Japan for my very first time but also to spend Christmas with friends. I think that Christmas would be disappointing at the office and in a country where people only celebrate Christmas because its trendy.
I, of course, have many other things to be thankful currently. But I mostly am glad that I have found my bearings here. I know that four months seems like a long time to finally get used to a place, but thats where I am right now!
P.S. This experience has not only made me appreciate how other people live around the world but I really think that it has allowed me to appreciate how much one can become fond of their "home."
Things for which I am thankful for.. currently:
1) I got a small catfish for my tank. Its super cute and works as a miniature janitor in my tank. I'm considering letting him work in my coworkers' tanks too... although he's a pretty pricy fellow ;).
2) This weekend I'm going to Hualien with my coworkers. Hualien is a beautiful part of the country where people go out to hike and bike around. It'll pretty much be an outdoorsy sort of merriment.
3) Christmas will be spent in Japan with other Americans. I'm thankful for this opportunity to not only visit Japan for my very first time but also to spend Christmas with friends. I think that Christmas would be disappointing at the office and in a country where people only celebrate Christmas because its trendy.
I, of course, have many other things to be thankful currently. But I mostly am glad that I have found my bearings here. I know that four months seems like a long time to finally get used to a place, but thats where I am right now!
P.S. This experience has not only made me appreciate how other people live around the world but I really think that it has allowed me to appreciate how much one can become fond of their "home."
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Biking Around Taipei
Yesterday, I totally had a "Now and Then" moment. For those that don't know, "Now and Then" was a great childhood movie for me. It's a 1995 film about four women who get together and reminisce about their days as childhood friends growing up in suburbia in the 1970s. For me, its particularly iconic moments are when the four (as preteens) bike around their suburban town in search of adventure. So yesterday when I experienced such a vivid "Now and Then" moment that I thought I would share it.
In Taipei, it is difficult to get around with a car even if you have one, due to the lack of parking spaces. So yesterday when a couple of friends and I decided to go shopping around town, we decided to bike. Obviously biking around a large city is very different from biking around a 1970s suburban movie set but while biking I felt the wonderful euphoria that comes with the joy of feeling wind rush past your face and the vivid impression that I, myself, was placed inside my favorite childhood film.
Although I am completely out of shape and nowhere near athletic, I feel like biking can be a great way to explore a city, its a bit faster than walking and its definitely more convenient than driving. Its unfortunate that most suburban towns like the one I grew up in can be very inconvenient for sightseeing by bike -- maybe only for biking as a means of excercise. This I find disappointing since in the movie the girls all seemed to have a ton of fun biking around their neighborhoods. Maybe I'm too old to remember what childhood is like, but I don't remember biking around Allen, Texas with my best friends to raise money for a tree house!
Perhaps this newfound inspiration to bike around will take hold and the next time I travel will be by bicycle... we shall see. Until then, here is a picture that I thought best describes how I felt. Enjoy!
In Taipei, it is difficult to get around with a car even if you have one, due to the lack of parking spaces. So yesterday when a couple of friends and I decided to go shopping around town, we decided to bike. Obviously biking around a large city is very different from biking around a 1970s suburban movie set but while biking I felt the wonderful euphoria that comes with the joy of feeling wind rush past your face and the vivid impression that I, myself, was placed inside my favorite childhood film.
Although I am completely out of shape and nowhere near athletic, I feel like biking can be a great way to explore a city, its a bit faster than walking and its definitely more convenient than driving. Its unfortunate that most suburban towns like the one I grew up in can be very inconvenient for sightseeing by bike -- maybe only for biking as a means of excercise. This I find disappointing since in the movie the girls all seemed to have a ton of fun biking around their neighborhoods. Maybe I'm too old to remember what childhood is like, but I don't remember biking around Allen, Texas with my best friends to raise money for a tree house!
Perhaps this newfound inspiration to bike around will take hold and the next time I travel will be by bicycle... we shall see. Until then, here is a picture that I thought best describes how I felt. Enjoy!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Business Etiquette
Today I had an awful meeting with my boss and I've learned through these wonderful bi-monthly meetings with her, some helpful lessons of Taiwanese business etiquette that I must abide by, although they make me angry.
Business etiquette #1: Although I'm not an intern or assistant, I or another one of my coworkers must pour tea for our boss.
Perhaps I have been blessed with jobs and internships in the past that did not require me to be a coffee girl but I find this ritual to be an unecessarily degrading aspect of the job. It's not that bosses in general are incapable of pouring tea or getting coffee for themselves or that they are so incredibly busy that they can't take that one minute out of their time to do it for themselves but perhaps this is a general perk that they get for having made it to the top. In any case, I find it incredibly unnecesary and I also feel that this was not part of my original job description.
Business etiquette #2: We must all report directly to our topmost boss.
There is a business word for this and it's called micromanaging. Not only is it a waste of our time, it's a waste of our boss's time. The fact that I have to list even the smallest articles that I have edited these past two weeks to my boss's boss seems unnecessary. Because she is so far removed from my work it is difficult for her to assess how hard I work and what exactly it is I do or even if I am good at what I do. Therefore, it is difficult for me to plead my case twice a month to someone that I don't even see on a weekly basis.
Business etiquette #3: Courtesy is upheld most, even above the truth.
In my boss's interest in micromanagement, she often likes to ask us what we think of the work we're doing or whether we enjoying doing certain projects. There was one assignment to which I was tasked with for which I disdained with great fervor. So during one of our bi-monthly meetings I thought that I would enumerate my distaste for the task due to several valid reasons I had for its inappropriateness, but I was quickly shut down by my coworkers who thought it would be unwise and discourteous to confront the boss. But if everyone remains tight lipped on issues then how does a work place function smoothly?
You may say that perhaps these are not particular to Taiwan but only particular to my boss but I suppose I think otherwise due to the fact that I am the only one that seems to be shocked by these proceedings when discussing these issues with my fellow coworkers.
After a nice in depth discussion with one particular coworker, she came up with the conclusion that perhaps Taiwan is not as far along in worker rights as the U.S. so here, boss's have much bigger scope in power to do what they please. When I return to the U.S. I will gladly welcome my rights as a worker and as an individual and my hope is that Taiwanese citizens will begin to receive the same.
Business etiquette #1: Although I'm not an intern or assistant, I or another one of my coworkers must pour tea for our boss.
Perhaps I have been blessed with jobs and internships in the past that did not require me to be a coffee girl but I find this ritual to be an unecessarily degrading aspect of the job. It's not that bosses in general are incapable of pouring tea or getting coffee for themselves or that they are so incredibly busy that they can't take that one minute out of their time to do it for themselves but perhaps this is a general perk that they get for having made it to the top. In any case, I find it incredibly unnecesary and I also feel that this was not part of my original job description.
Business etiquette #2: We must all report directly to our topmost boss.
There is a business word for this and it's called micromanaging. Not only is it a waste of our time, it's a waste of our boss's time. The fact that I have to list even the smallest articles that I have edited these past two weeks to my boss's boss seems unnecessary. Because she is so far removed from my work it is difficult for her to assess how hard I work and what exactly it is I do or even if I am good at what I do. Therefore, it is difficult for me to plead my case twice a month to someone that I don't even see on a weekly basis.
Business etiquette #3: Courtesy is upheld most, even above the truth.
In my boss's interest in micromanagement, she often likes to ask us what we think of the work we're doing or whether we enjoying doing certain projects. There was one assignment to which I was tasked with for which I disdained with great fervor. So during one of our bi-monthly meetings I thought that I would enumerate my distaste for the task due to several valid reasons I had for its inappropriateness, but I was quickly shut down by my coworkers who thought it would be unwise and discourteous to confront the boss. But if everyone remains tight lipped on issues then how does a work place function smoothly?
You may say that perhaps these are not particular to Taiwan but only particular to my boss but I suppose I think otherwise due to the fact that I am the only one that seems to be shocked by these proceedings when discussing these issues with my fellow coworkers.
After a nice in depth discussion with one particular coworker, she came up with the conclusion that perhaps Taiwan is not as far along in worker rights as the U.S. so here, boss's have much bigger scope in power to do what they please. When I return to the U.S. I will gladly welcome my rights as a worker and as an individual and my hope is that Taiwanese citizens will begin to receive the same.
The Purple Gang
So here is my office all dressed up for our purple party!
Wow, I know this is an odd thing to say but looking at this picture makes it all the more acutely obvious that I now live in an area where I am surround by Asians. Because I grew up in Texas and went to school in Oklahoma, it was rare to find myself surrounded with people that looked similar to me. And even though I'm constantly surrounded by Asians now, its not really something that I think about everyday. It is sort of refreshing but at the same time, I'm used to what I grew up with... which is to say that I am used to being "unique" or as "unique" as an Asian American is living in the U.S. Does that mean my friends who are Caucasians living in America feel somehow not unique at all? It's a curious thought that I'm not confronted with really until I'm here in Taiwan where I'm not "unique" at all.
This is the crazy hair style that my girl coworkers fixed me up with. Lovely isn't it?
Well, that is all for now friends. Until we meet next time!
Wow, I know this is an odd thing to say but looking at this picture makes it all the more acutely obvious that I now live in an area where I am surround by Asians. Because I grew up in Texas and went to school in Oklahoma, it was rare to find myself surrounded with people that looked similar to me. And even though I'm constantly surrounded by Asians now, its not really something that I think about everyday. It is sort of refreshing but at the same time, I'm used to what I grew up with... which is to say that I am used to being "unique" or as "unique" as an Asian American is living in the U.S. Does that mean my friends who are Caucasians living in America feel somehow not unique at all? It's a curious thought that I'm not confronted with really until I'm here in Taiwan where I'm not "unique" at all.
This is the crazy hair style that my girl coworkers fixed me up with. Lovely isn't it?
Well, that is all for now friends. Until we meet next time!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
