Vienna Boys' Choir

There are a number of great musical groups that come to the Taiwan National Concert Hall to perform each year. I was hoping we could see Lang Lang in concert recently, but he is so popular, that tickets were sold out before we could even think of getting them. After going through the calendar schedule, I saw that the Vienna Boys' Choir was performing. I had heard of them (how many other choirs can you actually "name" besides them?) so I thought it would be great to check out. We ended up getting tickets and saw them perform this week.

This is a group that isn't 100 years old, isn't 200 years old, no...keep going...they have been around for over 500 years. Mozart used them in concerts and Schubert was actually a member of the Vienna Boys' Choir. It was quite amazing to realize that these boys range in age from 10 to 14 and can sing in any singing style you can imagine, and then some. In the concert they performed songs from: China, India, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Vienna and Africa. They also performed traditional classical as well as popular music: Schubert, Strauss Jr., Gershwin, music from the Broadway show "Hair" and even an amazing arrangement of Billy Joel's "The Longest Time."

It was an awesome concert and a lot of fun. From the kids running out clapping throughout the audience, to watching them sneeze and cough onstage trying not to laugh at it; it was great to see "traditional music" in an environment that was very relaxed, fun and honest. It showed that music really is the universal language, and that it should be enjoyed and not be taken too seriously.

As far as Chinese, my Power Point Presentation on my daily schedule went well and I got a 90% on my latest test. My Midterm in coming up on November 19th and that is 20% of my final grade so that's the next big thing coming up for me.

After not playing guitar for almost half a year, I started playing guitar again this week without any "real" pain, and that's the best news I had in a while. It's been 6 months since I first injured my tendon, and it is still not 100% healed...crazy! One common theme you can gather from this blog is GETTING OLD SUCKS!!!

Halloween 2010

Well it's not only Halloween, but also our 12th wedding anniversary (yes we got married in Las Vegas on Halloween).

We decided to get some outfits and I ended up being a pirate and Charlene dressed up as a Taiwanese policewoman. I'm used to getting stared at in Taiwan and China because I'm a 外國人 (foreigner) but it was interesting riding the subway and walking around dressed as a pirate. Little children actually waved to me and said "hello" and "bye bye" and quite a few young girls were happy to come up to me ask to take pictures. Maybe I should just start wearing a pirate's outfit everyday at this rate?

We had dinner at a nice restaurant and drank and ate way too much. Surviving 12 years of marriage these days is quite an accomplishment, so I think it's ok that we indulged a little too much. It's not exaggeration, I really do think Halloween is the best holiday out there...and I thought this before it was ever my wedding anniversary. Like my dad, I'm a kid at heart, and I that's something that I never want to lose in life. Young at heart is great, I just wish my body would follow suit.

On a crappier note, I have my 4th test tomorrow in Chinese. In addition to the test, I also need to give a Power Point presentation on my daily schedule, describing what  I do every day (seriously, this isn't a joke). I got an 89 on my last test, so that's a good step above the 65 I got on the previous test, but I somehow think I'll be closer 65 on my test tomorrow.

Rain, rain go away...

You may have seen on the news that there was a huge typhoon that went through the Philippines. It did quite a bit of damage there and is also causing some flooding and damage to the Southern parts of Taiwan (Taipei is in Northern Taiwan and we just have a lot of rain). Because of this typhoon, it has been raining literally non-stop for the past week, and the extended 10 day forecast says it will continue to rain for another week and maybe stop around Halloween.

In Los Angeles, if there is rain for more than a few hours, it is "Storm Watch 2010" on the local TV news: video footage of cars skidding off the freeway, accidents, mudslides, streets flooding, etc. Here in Taiwan, one week of solid rain doesn't even ruffle the feathers, it just comes with the territory of living in a tropical environment. It is so hot here, that it is actually nice to have some rain because the temperature drops at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

As far as my Chinese class, I got my second test back and wow did it suck; I got a 65%. I would have scored in the 80's but I didn't have enough time to go back and convert the pinyin words I wrote down that the teacher recited us, and convert them to Chinese characters. Pinyin uses English letters to represent Chinese sounds: like "zhong guo" = 中 國 = China. Without this part of the test, I would have gotten a 90% score.

Oh well, as the French say, "c'est la vie". As you can see, my 30 minutes a day of French studies are really paying off...au revior!

Our neighbors and their interesting pets

One of the things I like best about our apartment is that I can pick any direction, walk for a while and discover something interesting. So far I've found a Philly Cheese Steak restaurant, $199 all you can drink beer house, British Pub that shows the UFC for free, Chicago restaurant/bar, a Muslim Middle Eastern restaurant, a French restaurant, and many other interesting places.

Another cool thing is that I also run into some interesting people and their pets. Beagles were very popular about 5 years ago, so I still see quite a few of them being walked. Chihuahuas are actually becoming very popular now, but only the ones with a white body and light brown spots. Poodles and Shih Ztus are still by far the most popular dogs though.

The police department up the street have a pet iguana that is over 3 feet long. Apparently someone abandoned it, the police rescued it and it is now the police mascot. During the day he sits outside (like in this picture) in the grass sunning himself, while during the night he sits inside the police station on a large leather chair sleeping.

One of the neighbors in our apartment complex owns a pig. Not a small miniature pot belly pig, but a LARGE full grown, five year old pig. He is very friendly but he can get your hands and clothes very dirty with his snout (he sniffs around the ground for food so it isn't so clean). The coolest thing is his name: 熱狗 (re gou)...or in English..."Hot Dog" (in Chinese re = hot & gou = dog).

I completed my first test last week and didn't feel very good about it. I was second to last to finish the test, and didn't think I did too well. On Friday we got the tests back and I got an 82. Not bad, not great, but considering the highest score in the class was an 85, I guess I did ok.

First week of class & Gusto St. Hot Dog

After the first day, I wasn't quite sure what to expect in my Chinese 2 class. My previous Chinese teacher was excellent and spent a lot of time explaining things on the board as well as distributing printed handouts. My new teacher's top priority is having every student in the class speaking and listening as much as possible.

At first I wasn't sure about this approach, but after one week, I agree that this is a very good way to teach the class. We do go over grammar and other lessons during the class, but it always involves speaking and using examples that we create on our own. I've taught myself guitar, am teaching myself piano, but to learn a language you actually need other people to have a conversation with to learn, so it's good to be forced into this situation.

Each week we have two tests (1 written test, 1 online computer test) as well as two written homeworks (1 Chinese characters, 1 grammar/vocabulary workout). In addition to this, we also have a Midterm and a Final. So there is plenty of reading and writing involved to balance out all of the speaking and listening.

After class today I went to "Gusto St. Hot Dog" for lunch. It is basically a New York/Chicago style "Western" hot dog joint. They had a sign that said they had chili cheese hot dogs, so being from LA, I could not resist. The restaurant was pretty small, but had a cool vibe and was a great place to grab a quick lunch. I got a chili cheese dog with fries and a Coke for $135 NTD ($4 US).

It wasn't bad, but for some reason in Taiwan and China the bread/buns always have a slight sweet taste that just bothers me. I love candy and sweet things, but somehow sweetness in bread just kills it for me. With a non-sweet hot dog bun, I'd say it was very good, but with the sweet bun, I'd say it was ok. Much like the Philly Cheese Steak place up the street from us, I'm not going to complain about imperfect Western food literally halfway across the world...especially at the price of $4 US.

Class is in session...again

So after spending three weeks doing contract work for my old job in China, then decompressing and being a bum for the past 4 weeks (well I actually studied and reviewed Chinese everyday for many hours..but that also included drinking a lot of beer and watching Battlestar Galactica episodes at the same time), I finally started my Chinese 2 class today. It is a 12 week class, five days a week, three hours a day, course that is at the same University I attended two years ago: Chinese Cultural University (文話大學) in their Mandarin Learning Center department.

I arrived at class and found out it was the same original teacher I had for Chinese 1 two years ago, but that was only for one day. I switched to an earlier class with a different teacher the rest of the semester two years ago, so I'm not sure how this new (old) teacher will be.

It's only been one 3 hour class, so I'll keep my observations short:

• There is a LOT of talking in this class. I'd say 90% of the class is some student talking, so that is VERY good. I don't push myself to go out and speak Chinese unless I have to, so this is a good way to force me to listen and speak Chinese every day.
• I'm old. I'm twice the age of some of the people in the class. It is a small class of 11 students, there are a few older people, but 8 out of the 11 people are in their early 20's.
• Everyone in the class can speak some Chinese. This is great because there is no excuse for me to not be speaking at the level of the other people. Some people are better, some are worse, but it's great to be inspired by the others to keep practicing and stay on my toes.

There are daily tests and homework, as well as a Midterm and Final, but I think if I keep up with things and study I should improve quite a bit with my level of Chinese. If after the course is completed, I can actually feel "comfortable" speaking Chinese with others, then it will be Mission Accomplished.

We shall see.

Hell has officially frozen over

Well get out your sweaters, hats and gloves because hell has officially frozen over...I own and am using a cell phone.

Well actually Charlene bought a used iPhone from her friend at a good price, and I just ended up buying her 2 week old LG GW620 Android phone from her. I have a pay as you go SIM card, so I'm not stuck in any plan, and the phone is unlocked so I can use it in Taiwan, France and the USA with any SIM card. I also created a California phone number from SKYPE that will forward any call to that California number to this cell phone, so that's useful.

I don't really think of it as a cell phone, I'm thinking of it really more as an MP4 player that has a camera, internet browser, email, video games and oh yeah, can send and receive telephone calls and text messages. One thing I'll say, it is nice to carry just one item, instead of carrying three separate items in my pockets: a cell phone, a camera and MP4 player.

About 10 years ago, I said if they could put "everything" into a cell phone, and I wouldn't be locked into a 2 year calling plan, I would consider buying one. Well here we are in 2010, and I can do all of that and more. For the past 15 years I've been fighting it, but begrudgingly I must admit, that owning and using a cell phone is pretty cool.

310 Mini Chinese Flash Cards

Two years ago when I first started experimenting with making my own Chinese flash cards, I realized that the only way I was going to quickly re-learn the 300 or so characters I learned from my last class was to make some more flash cards (I left my old flash cards from my previous class back in the USA). After going through the entire Practical Audio-Visual Chinese #1 book again and creating the new flash cards, I was surprised that it was only 310 unique characters. I guess the reason they say there are about 500 characters to learn is that many characters used are combined to give a brand new unique word.

Example:

小 = small (xiao - 3rd tone)
心 = heart (xin - 1st tone)

小心 = warning, be careful

small + heart = be careful...makes perfect sense to me, and who said Chinese wasn't easy?

I only put one character on each card. On the front, the Chinese character; on the back, the Pinyin Chinese pronunciation on top, and the English translation on the bottom.

Before I had used 3"x5" cards, but this time I ended up using some smaller flash cards with a hole inside that Charlene got me. They are more difficult to write on because they are smaller (1.5"x3.5") but I was able to melt three of their plastic ring binders together with a lighter (each plastic loop is only designed hold 100 cards) and made one giant loop that snaps and closes together to hold them all. It ain't pretty, but it works, and that's what I'm all about.

Mid Autumn Moon Festival - 中秋節

I have been to Taiwan and China, many, many times over the years just prior to the Mid Autumn Moon Festival, but never had a chance to actually see the celebration day. To quote from Wikipedia:

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

In other words it was yesterday, September 22, 2010.

The big gift is the giving of "mooncakes" basically very small cakes with various fillings and toppings. It seems to parallel the Western tradition of giving of fruitcakes during Christmas time, because everyone gives them as presents, but no one really likes to eat them (at least I was the only one I saw last night that ate one).

We traveled  over to Charlene's parents for dinner and there were a number of family members and friends in attendance. The highlight of the evening wasn't the mooncakes or the food, it was the two puppies. Charlene's brother brought over their 6 month old Pekingese and our friend Ping  bought over his 3 month old Miniature Pinscher. I always seem to get along pretty well with dogs and little kids...I'm not sure what that means, but I think that's a good thing.

Another weird thing is that beagles are still very popular here in Taiwan. Not as popular as a few years ago, but they still use beagles as the customs dog at the Taipei airport (we actually saw one bust a guy smuggling in some "illegal" food in his traveling bag). It is quite strange coming from the Midwestern USA where beagles run around in backyard and in the the woods, to then come to Taiwan and see them being walked en mass on the city streets of Taipei.

My Chinese classes start 2 weeks from today, and I'm looking forward to getting some structure and order back into my life. It is great not working, staying up literally all night, waking up at noon, drinking as much as I want, but it is getting very tiring and boring. Getting back to a structured life is going to be a very good thing for me I think.

中秋節快樂
(Happy Mid Autumn Season)

Typhoon & "slapping leg guy"

You may have heard about the 2010 September typhoon that is hitting Taiwan right now. There was a lot of talk about last year's typhoon that did ungodly damage to the landscape as well as human lives all across Taiwan, so this year there was plenty of preparation to get everyone as ready as possible to try to minimize the problems that occured in 2009.

Luckily for Taipei, there was mostly just wind, and not much rain at all. The wind was actually very strong, but there was no flooding or any real water damage to be seen. The worst damage I saw was a few large plants knocked over on the street and a very large tree branch that broke off and was blocking the street behind our apartment. I was able to pick it up and move it out of the street, so at least I felt like I did something to help out with the the typhoon.

The wind was so crazy that I went outside to film some of it in the park behind our apartment. When I got out there, I realized that the "slapping leg guy" was out there. I was going to make a unique post just about this guy, but to be able to capture the wind of the typhoon AND the "slapping leg guy" all in one shot was just too good to pass up. Basically "slapping leg guy" sits outside in the gazebo about 20 feet from our 1st floor window and slaps his leg for probably 30-45 minutes every day. Yes EVERY day. Maybe it's a zen thing, maybe he is mentally ill, I'm not sure, either way, it is "unique" so I was happy to capture a very small part of it in this video. There is not much video of "slapping leg guy" (much like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster) but you can hear his slapping leg sound throughout most of the video.

So now for your viewing pleasure, I present to you the wind of the 2010 Taiwan Typhoon and "slapping leg guy":

Philly Cheese Steak - Taiwan style

To follow up the last post, we went to the cell phone store but walked away with more questions than answers. Charlene's cell phone is actually broken, so we figured out the least expensive name brand cell phone that runs the Android OS (same as my iRobot) and she purchased the LG GW620 from an online vendor at an extremely good price. I might end up buying the same cell phone, but I'm in no big hurry.

Now onto the Philly Cheese Steak story...

Last night we took a walk and discovered a new Philly Cheese steak restaurant a few doors down from the $199 beer house. Yesterday we found it after we had eaten dinner, so I waited until tonight to grab a sandwich. How was it? On a scale of 1-10, I'd probably give it a 5. In Taiwan, getting Advil or Swedish Fish is next to impossible, so I'm certainly not going to complain about a place that is a five minute walk from our apartment, where I can get a Philly Cheese steak and french fries for the equivilant of $4 US. Although next time I think I might ask them to add lettuce and tomatoes, so I can get a "hoggie" version instead of the traditional cheese steak.

I've been taping up my wrist with some sports tape and it has held up pretty well. After one week, I've had no pain from playing the piano so that's good. I gave a guitar lesson today to our friend Quincy in exchange for some Taiwan Beer and Chinese lessons. It was the first time I had played guitar in a few weeks, but there was still some pain, so I won't be playing guitar for at least another week.  I think I'm slowly starting to accept the fact that things are only going to get worse, and not better with my body as I get older. I just need to accept it, and quit trying to fight it so hard.

I feel like I have the maturity of a 20 year old, the mind of a 40 year old, and the body of a 60 year old. That's some crazy shit.

iRobot = gateway to cell phone?

Last month when I was in Shenzhen, China, I picked up an iRobot (aPad), an internet tablet that uses WiFi to go online. Basically it is a cheaper ($130 US) 7" version of the Apple iPad. The touchscreen is not as good as the iPad (resistive single touch vs. capacitor multi touch) but it does offer a lot of features that the iPad does not: camera, microphone, USB connection, micro SD card slot, it can multitask (play music in the background while at the same time you can chat on MSN, SKYPE, check your email, surf the internet, play games, etc). It also has all of the Google apps like Google Maps, Google Translate, Google Skymap and access to the Android Market to download hundreds of free applications. It is basically a 7" iPhone without the GPS and phone capabilities.

The iRobot (aPad) runs the Android OS v1.5. The Android interface is pretty much used on all "non-iPhone" smart phones. It is also easy to upgrade new and custom versions of the firmware so you can constantly and easily upgrade how the device works. The Android interface is very nice and easy to use, which leads me to the next topic...

Most "non-iPhone" smart phones run a version of the Android software. Even though I own some Apple stock, I still can't bring myself to buy an iPhone...I just can't drink the Apple Kool Aid. So for the first time in my life, tonight I'm going to a cell phone store to check out the different types of phones, carrier options, international calling, etc.

I'm not sure if I'll get one, but I'll at least check them out. Somehow not owning a cell phone has been a pretty strong statement in my life, so actually owning and using a cell phone is a pretty big change. I only know 4 other people that don't own and use a cell phone, we're almost like an endangered species that needs to be protected (or sent to a hospital for a mental evaluation).

So has hell frozen over? Not yet, but it's pretty damn close.

40th B-Day - The beginning of the end

A number of people asked me if I would be creating another blog like I did two years ago when I spent Three Months in Taiwan. At first I thought, "of course I will", then I realized that I'm not into the Facebook "hey look at me!" thing, and decided not to do another blog. I didn't want to do another blog unless I could figure out some reason why I should do it. I thought about it for a while, and decided the only thing I could think of was doing a one year documentation about turning 40 and what, if any midlife crisis changes occurred over the following 365 days. It may end up being just another mindless rambling blog, but I figure I should at least try to have some kind of method to the madness.

As crazy as it sounds, I've been looking forward to turning 40 for quite some time. I've been kidding myself for a number of years thinking I was "young". I don't look 40, and I certainly don't act 40, but it's nice to have some kind of milestone in life to actually confirm what I've been feeling recently the past number of years...I'm not young, I am old, and only getting older. The only people that will tell you 40 is not old, are people that are older than 40 (usually people in their 50-60's). "Life begins at 40"? I wonder how old the person was that came up with that phrase?


So today I turned 40 and it didn't start any differently than any other day. I woke up, exercised, took a shower and started the day. I decided to treat myself and go to "Subway" and get a steak and cheese sandwich and afterwards started reviewing my Chinese studies from 2 years ago. I signed up for the second Chinese class yesterday, but the class doesn't start until October 6th, so I have a month to get ready and review.



I bought myself a nice present that was delivered today, a Yamaha P-95B keyboard. My right hand is still messed up from tendinitis from lifting heavy amps at work, playing too much guitar and recently moving, so I can't really play guitar right now without pain. Playing the piano doesn't seem to bother my recent tendinitis, I'm just hoping a different hand injury from playing the too much piano earlier in the year doesn't come back, or I won't be doing anything music related anytime soon. In the first 26 years of playing music, I never had one music related injury. Now in the past 6 months, I've had two pretty serious hand injuries related mostly to overplaying. All I want is for my hands to hold up for the next year...after that, fine I'll give in and quit if that's what my body is telling me to do. This getting old thing seriously sucks. I can't imagine the nightmare it must be to be a professional athlete and watch your body slowly degenerate and fall apart as you watch your career slowly slip away right before your very eyes.

In the evening, my wife Charlene invited a bunch of our friends to meet us for a late dinner at my favorite restaurant in all of Taiwan, 永朋 (Always Friends) Beer House located one block from where we live. For $199 NTD ($6 US) you can drink all of the Taiwan Beer you want from a tap that faces outward, so you just go up and serve yourself. One time we left early around 10pm, and the owner told us, "If you want to come back later tonight, you can come back and drink more for free". That place would go out of business in a week in the USA. Needless to say we go there at least once a week.


So a group of our friends came out and we ate, drank, and were merry and ushered in the start of my 5th decade of life (my god that sounds 1000 times worse than turning 40). The older I get, the more I realize how important family and friends are, and how unimportant so many other things are in life.

I was in Germany touring with Steel Prophet when I turned 30, I'm in Taipei, Taiwan turning 40, if I make it to 50, I should probably find a pretty interesting place to do it. Life's short, enjoy the ride...before you know it, it's going to be over...and like it or not, there's no refund on that purchase.

Jim