Welcome to Cha Cha Good

This is the sign that welcomes me as I approach my home every night, "Welcome to Cha Cha Good!" You might be thinking that I live next to a ballroom dance studio, right? Not so. There are no windows on the street level of Cha Cha Good... and were the huge heavy wooden doors accidentally left open, you'd catch no glimpse of Jennifer Lopez stretching at the bar.

What you would see, is evidence that the Japanese were here. You'd see mama-san, a middle-aged lady wearing too much make-up and tight shiny clothes serving fruit platters and beer snacks to middle-aged Taiwanese men with hair implants and bad dye job. These are (of course) the men not lucky enough to be on the little stage singing Taiwanese enka at the top of their lungs with mama-san's daughters.

Chocolate Chip Cookies on PPT

This Friday I will have another little trip to Southern Taiwan -Tainan to be exact. The teachers there have requested that we share some ideas on teaching reading. So I spent most of this morning scanning stuff to paste in my PowerPoint presentation, animating text and coming up with fun activities and examples. Even though all the participants will be teachers, I felt a bit like an elementary school teacher this morning. I even got to get out the colored pencil crayons. The above thumbnail is an example of a text only reading passage (a recipe) that has been summarized in comic form. Click on the link for a readable size of Pearson Taiwan's recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I am no artist, but I think the teachers will like... I know that my students who were poor at English, but good at art, liked to show off thier skills in English class by drawing the story. The trick is they have to read and understand first.

No Egg No Wait

This morning, I had coffee and a Moss burger's half-sandwich for breakfast. It was my first time back since last week's incident. This time, they got it right.

Last week, I was in a hurry, but I wanted the warm sandwich... kind of like McDonald's egg Mc muffin (without all the grease... and including peanut butter). a I told the clerk that I had little time and that I didn't want to wait.... I would order something else if I had to wait. The clerk told me there would be no problem... and then asked me to wait 2 minutes! I was a bit confused since I already said that I didn't want to wait (and 2 minutes really meas 4-10 minutes). Anyway, after receiving breakfast and rushing back to the office, I opened my sandwich wrapper to find a warm bun with a few bits of wilted lettuce inside... there was NO EGG! I went back to the shop to find out how such an omission could be made... I mean what's the point of an egg sandwich sans egg? Turns out the guy didn't hear "den" (wait), he heard "dan"(egg)... thus: "I don't want an egg," instead of "I don't want to wait." Thank goodness... when he first told me to wait after me telling him that I didn't want to, I had started thinking there was something a little wrong with him.

CNN.com - Strong quake rattles Taiwan? - Oct 15, 2004

Click to read about Friday's earthquake.. magnitude 6.7!

Earthquake

Just before noon today, I was sitting at my desk doing something of not much more value than that of keeping my chair from drifting away. Then it happened... the building shook as it does when a big truck passes by too quickly... except that it didn't stop shaking for over a minute. I help onto those of the books on my shelf which are precariously balanced (most of them) until it passed. None of them fell! This adds to my feelings of accomplishment today! Now I am curious as to the magnitude and location of epicenter. The smallest tremor I ever felt in Japan, turned out to be the largest earthquake that occurred while I was there (a slight tremor in Yokohama = a huge earthquake in Kobe).

 

The last time I remember an earthquake lasting that long in Taipei, although not as devastating as Kobe, was in March of 2002. I was standing at the door of my apartment trying to fit the key in the lock. I had just been to a cafe where I had had one beer (Unibroue's Fin du Monde). I remember thinking I must be getting even weaker at holding my alcohol if one beer made me shake THAT much. Anyway, the earthquake passed, but not before a beam from the Taipei 101 contruction site fell from a crane, crushing a car. Some people won't visit it now as they think it and other landmark highrises are cursed (World Trade Towers, Petrona Towers etc).  Cursed? I am not sure. An engineering triumph? Perhaps. An eyesore? definately. (Even if it does look like the bamboo shoot it is meant to resemble). But don't worry, Fengsui master Chang Hsu-chu has ensured no more like that will happen there. No matter, I am glad I wasn't on the 101st floor when the earthquake hit!

 

(PS. I guess the Freedom Tower in Mahattan will soon eclipse Taipei 101 as tallest building by 33.3 meters.)

Pumpkin Pie

The best part about being born in October... and right between Thanksgiving and Halloween is (in Canada anyway) that there are plenty of pumpkins! Hence, the request to substitute birthday cake with pumpkin pie seems fairly reasonable. Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I forgot to go out and get some pie (Happy belated...). This morning I decided to celebrate late and picked up a piece at Starbucks. I hate to report that whatever was in that pie, it wasn't pumpkin!

 

Well, I suppose there is always American Thanksgiving... I think I have a couple weeks to find a restuarant serving Thanksgiving dinner (and of course pumpkin pie), right?

Fish Tales

Saturday – Finding Nemo
When I woke up at 8:30am, my only wish was for the infernal racket outside my window to stop. Mr. Lin somebody-or-other (a political candidate of some sort?) appeared to be rallying the passer-byers over a loudspeaker while pop music blared in the background and the snap, snap, snapping of fireworks punctuated his speech. Anyway, at about noon, Tommy got up and we made plans for breakfast and a quick trip to FNAC to buy a wireless router. (I needed the router to get the work I brought home done). Of course, getting on the back of Tommy’s scooter pretty much guarantees you that whatever plans you had for the day… they aren’t going to happen. After swinging by his old neighborhood, driving around looking for a place to have lunch and shopping for… SOAP (Lush, L’Occitaine… who knew a young guy could be so picky), we finally made it to FNAC where I bought the router. Instead of driving right back however, Tommy informed me we had to go buy fish. I figured we could pick up some in the grocery store across from our house, but my mistake… Tommy wanted LIVE fish for the little tank in his room. If you have lived in Asia, then you know that not all things can be bought in one neighborhood. You go to one area to but electronic goods, one area to buy plants, one area to buy furniture, and of course an area to buy fish: Minchuan East Road. Here we found tons of fish shops… of which Tommy wanted to go into every single one. To be honest, the variety of fish appeared to be the same in all of the stores… but not to Tommy. After an exhausting search, we finally piled onto the scooter with our router, our purchases from LUSH, a few other sundry items and 3 plastic bags full of water and fish and headed home. (Of course we couldn’t get the router to work and my day was already lost so I went dancing).

Sunday – Shark Tales
Elvis lives! At noon, Elvis came to visit. (Elvis is the local mac expert.) It took him all of 15 minutes to get the router working. We then downloaded Skype and Proteus - programs to make calling/connecting overseas even easier. I couldn't resist playing on the Internet for a bit (uploaded the photos of Jon’s wedding last Saturday) before running to Hsimenting to meet Vondell and her friends. We saw Shark Tales. Although all of us are over 10, we all found it pretty entertaining. After this, however, I did not go home and do the work I was supposed to do on the weekend. By the time I got home (with Helen and Vondell in tow), Tommy and his friends were gathered to watch Fahrenheit 911 and eat pizza. By the time everyone was gone, something was wrong with the Internet… too much traffic? I gace up and went to bed, but didn’t sleep well. Damn Chunghua Telecom. Next weekend, I will start my work and studying on Saturday.

Okinawa

Amy... I am thrilled that you are going to Okinawa.... Remember how much I used to want to go? Can you believe that I now live so close to Okinawa and haven't taken the opportunity to visit again

When living in Yokohama , I wanted to go SO much... but tickets were so expensive (more than travelling to Korea or even South East Asia). I loved the island music: The Boom, Nene's, Shang Shang Typhoon, The Diamantes... Where else can you hear Japanese pop mixed with Latin rythms, traditional Japanese drumming, Jamisen and punctuated with those wierd vocals which sound like women declaring war, "Ah-yee, ah-yee, ah-yee, ah-yee-yah!" I admit, I also wanted to lie on the beach, visit K-mart, and drag home some ceramic lions.

When I finally made it to Okinawa, I was living in Korea. I went with a Korean-American woman who really wanted to visit Japan... She was less than thrilled with Okinawa as she had imagined a more Shibuya-type experience: karaoke, Japanese street food, ultra-modern flatscreen TV signboards, weird stuff being sold in vending machines and all.... (Lucky we had to fly via Osaka, so she could have at least a little taste of all that).

Anyway, Okinawa is a lot closer to me than Pasadena. My travel agent has gotten back to me with the following possibility. Let me know if you think this is worth my coming:

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my relationship with blogger. I started blogging due to my inability to keep motivated to keep a journal. So what makes blogging any different? Well, I would never really revisit a journal to re-read what I have written as attempts in the past have proven too difficult to read. The words are messy enough as to be undecipherable and the flow of writing a dissacociated stream of consciousness or worse.

So what makes a blog any different? Well, while I am unmotivated to read the contents of past posts, I do consult past posts to find out how I made clickable photo links, etc... I learned how to post photos on another site and make them appear on my page at blogger, how to resize them using Photoshop and Macromedia fireworks and other very small accomplishments that Internet-shy people could be proud of. I am slowly learning how to create webpages. I have the Macromedia Studio, Photoshop and Illustrator and am just waiting for someone to teach me (or to find time to teach myself).

Why did I feel the need to start a weblog? After the better part of a decade living in Asia, I figured my time here was drawing to an end and it was better late than never to start a kind of journal. I wanted to write abut all the things that are unusual or surprise me about my life here, but nowadays it is more often things back "home" that suprise me... Well, so as you can see... I didn't do very well in the beginning... only 6 posts for all of 2003. But I am getting more used to it now. Posts don't need to make sense... and every now and then, I am pleased to receive a comment or two from friends.

What Everyone Wants

Everyone wants...
... to build walls.
... to be the cowboy living life in the wild wild West.
... to govern the Internet.
... to be a critic.
... to be naked.
... to know where to get hurricane shutters fast.
... to be a Jedi.
... to be treated with respect.
... to be remembered.
... to be a winner.
... to work at National Geograpic.
... be your digital hub.
... to be happy.
... to be a comedian.
... to be seen with the penguin.

Not everyone wants...
... to marry a millionaire.
... to live like an American.
... to work hard and play hard.
... to go to Mars.
... to be Frodo.
... to climb the corporate ladder.
... to spend the summer in Houston.
... to be a doctor.
... to go to university.
... to hear your entire life story.
... to be happy.
... to move onto the new .NET platform.
... to own a home.
... to sit behind a desk all day waiting for their life to pass them by.
... to know what's going on.

Some examples of the use of "everyone" on the Internet. (Hmmm... We didn't use any of these in book 5, Unit 1).

Wide-Angle or Telephoto?

The above image is from Douglas Brown's Strategies for Success. What do you see? It is quite easy to read, right? I guess this makes you at least partly "wide-angle" or right-brained...
Do you follow guidelines rather than rules? Do you do things in ways that are more intuitive, flexible, and spontaneous than logical, systematic and planned?

When I show this on a PPT slide in Taiwan, most viewers see only the black shapes, not the white letters F-L-Y. This would explain why it is so difficult for teachers to understand that the goverment guidelines for teaching English are ONLY GUIDELINES, not rules written in stone! There is no right and wrong way... Can you believe that I even receive phone calls asking about such small details as why we use "police officer" rather than "policeman" (as in the government books)? Using gender-neutral language is less of a priority than teaching the word that will appear on the exam.

This month, there are many presentations coming up and I am busy preparing my PPTs. Most attendees of presentations are there because they are being forced to attend.... or because they are hoping to receive some concrete materials to use. However, the problem with giving matierlas is that if it isn't perfectly suited, many teachers don't know how to adapt it.

Is it a little messianic to want to adjust not only the materials, but also the way in which teaching is regarded? I am wondering if I am not as bad as that a certain dance teacher in Taipei who insists that his students listen to "Attitude is Everything". I inflict the quizzes in Strategies for Success on the teachers! They are designed to help the quiz-taker find out if they are left or right brained, reflective or impulsive learners, and which of Gardner's multiple intelligences they are stronger in. I also have a number of books on Psychological testing (such as Myers-Briggs and other Personality/values/IQ etc tests)... and I even have books on Eastern/Western methods of Astrology/Fortune telling which I am not shy to whip out and use (for controversy's sake). I think these quizzes help show how materials and methods can be adjusted to suit needs.

My last presentations focused on VAK learner models (to show how our books can be used with all 3 types of learners)... and on right and left-brain processing (to show how activating the right brain is important, even though education here is based on getting good test results). The new methods of testing are requiring more and more inductive and deductive logic skills, as opposed to grammar mastery.

Recently, someone made me aware a different application of the VAK models: How they can be applied to the building of interpersonal relationships... If you are primarily a Visual learner, with some Kinaesthetic tendencies and few to no Auditory ones... How can you adjust to communicate/interrelate with a primarily Auditory person? If you can answer this, then you will be giving me good advice on how to solve problems with my roommate.

If you can find a new "angle" for my presentations (one that I can relate to problems in education in Taiwan), I will buy you lunch.

Venting

I am afraid to say that I had to delete yesterday's post. Although entirely true, I am afraid even without naming names, it came across like gossip... or idle venting. What is it that mom used to say? (I mean aside from, "children should be seen and not heard.") I think it was, "If you don't have anything nice to say..."

It's easy to sometimes get upset with the way people conduct themselves overseas. For too many people, it seems the guidelines they use to structure their behavior and attitudes towards others get thrown out the window when they step off the plane... They see their situation as temporary and therefore give themselves license to behave in ways they couldn't conceive of "back home." This is a little problematic, especially in places where there hasn't much contact with "overseas residents". There is the possibility that the person behaving badly might be seen as a kind of an anthropological specimen - an example of what people from that culture are like. I am not suggesting that people conduct themselves as "ambassadors" for their country.... but that just behave as they normally would - no better, no worse.

This is a pet peeve which often gives way to venting. Unfortunately venting doesn't help anything either... and I am guilty! I am guilty of not only venting re: the behaviour of my compatriots, but also about the work culture of my current "home". Venting doesn't really help me learn how to deal with the disorientation that seems to have lasted longer than in other places I have lived. It is not fair to measure working life here against another cultural standard as working in a foreign country is a choice! There is always the option to leave! (But hopefully not without having learned something first).

Two weeks ago Monday, there was an ad for a senior editor for the Taiwan Review, a local government published monthly magazine. Although I never seriously considered applying, I thought about what it would be like to write for that magazine all week long. Think about it... writing in English in part for the local culture would mean that anything I wanted to say about Taiwan would have to be written with a Taiwanese person's view taken into consideration... This completely eliminates any compulsion one might feel to classify into "us" and "them" because "we", the readership, would inlcude both.

a VIP birthday card and the compulsion to shop

I received my first birthday card of 2004 yesterday - more than 2 weeks early! I am sure you probably think it is from my mom... but you'd be wrong! It was from mexx!

Since I arrived in Taiwan, a little too much pork fat on my vegetables and a few too many bowls of greasy noodles for lunch have limited my shopping to imported brands carrying Western sizes (anything larger than a size 2... size double 0 can be found in the local markets at a fraction of the price).

Local goods in Taiwan can be bargained for, haggled over and sometimes, as much as 20% can be cut from the price... However, the important brands are as ticketed: Sinequanone, Mexx, Mango, Oasis, Diesel, Benetton, Esprit (links are for the European brands not available yet in Canada and are provided so shopaholic Canadian friends can see what is popular in Taiwan - not so they can shop online). Anyway, the only way to be able to afford such things is to spend a fortune your first time shopping and be presented with a VIP card. This will allow the shopper 10-20% off every purchase. However, once a year (on your birthday) several of these chains will send you a special birthday card entitling the holder of the card to 50% off!

After recently moving and finding out that I had enough to fill a closet measuring about 3 meters across (with clothes spanning 4 sizes), I promised myself that I would stop shopping (and playing yo-yo with my scales)! Anyway, now the questions is how to stem the compulsion to take advantage of the card and spend my birthday shopping at Jin Hua Cheon (Core Pacific City Living Mall).