Just When I Thought I Had Life Figured Out...

It's been about 5 weeks that I have been in Taiwan. I think I have fully accepted... no that's not the word. I have finally figured out how this side of the world kind of works. Surprisingly, I can go out and talk in a different language grab food or buy groceries (may not be the best ATM, but it's 10x better than when I got here). Another thing that is crazy is that I can semi-go to Chinese to English and back, in conversations with friends. I still have to think about it a little but it's starting to feel a little natural. It's something that just blows my mind when I sit down and think about it. I can think back to when I was in Chinese 202 two semesters ago. I had hardly put any effort into it at all. I remember I was just so side tracked and that I kind of just settled for where I was. It's always been a life goal to be able to speak a different language because... well how sweet is it that I can speak to another person or friend and not every will be able to understand what we are talking about. The best thing that has happened right now is that I am able to study really hard and actually see benefit in the real world. I learn like 3 new sentence patterns in class and then I can actually use them outside of class here. In American it was hard to find people that you actually want to talk to that knows the same language. So I pretty much didn't even study nor really care outside of class to speak Chinese or even practice. But coming to Taiwan is just awesome. I'm able to speak it all the time or not at all. It's however much I choose, but the longer I'm here the more I pick up and the more I use it because it's so entertaining to speak Chinese.

Yesterday, something just clicked. The moment of walking back from 7/11 with my roommate and a carton of chocolate milk. Everything felt like it was falling into place but at the same time nothing in my life is in place. But that moment I knew that I made the right choice. The right choice of where I'm going in Life even though I have no idea where that road leads. I've realized that I was quite spoiled living back in Dub-town with Ty and how we had made that upstairs into a positive feng-shui type of place to be. The feeling of everything coming together isn't because my life is going somewhere but more of a realization that I don't and hopefully won't ever just settle because I'm happy where I'm at. Where at one moment in time, I was about to settle for a job at Walgreens because it seemed like how I should be living my life even though I knew it wasn't where I wanted to be. I guess realizing that I shouldn't forget about all my dreams and passions because I've hit a spot in my life where I'm happy and content. Over the years I've picked up and tried so many new things that I never imagined I would ever get to experience. But at the same time, I've also dropped some of my favorite past times because I don't have time or they aren't the easiest things to do. Picking up my old love of writing took years to bring back but there's not a moment where I think, "oh I wasted an entire morning writing." But I remember I once told someone that I had stopped writing because "I was happy and I only write when I was sad." What I have realized is that writing all around is just an awesome thing.

The one thing that has came to mind on this sleepless earlier 5am morning is that sometimes we get so carried away with this life and we always are chasing for that moment of happiness or fun that we forget about the moment we are "in". This moment has as much potential to have fun and bring countless numbers of tears and stabbing aches in your side from laughing so hard. I've chased after that moment so many times, until I realized that sometimes it's great to relax and focus on me. Focus on the goals that I've set for myself. Focus on all the things I want to accomplish and just do it. And that's the reason I know I have amazing friends is because they don't mind when I say that I'm just going to stay in on a Saturday night, listening to a podcast/ watch a documentary, and play guitar. Last night, for example.. Just 4 friends and I went out to eat for my bday. (I didn't want anything special because I've never really been a big birthday person) but I've never laughed so hard in my life in a restaurant before. That's what helped me understand that I should stop trying to plan my life but instead just go with it. Of course there are things that I'm trying to plan and that I need to plan certain aspect of my life, but I feel that happiness and fun really can't be planned.

Life is full of craziness and everyday I'm learning something new about myself whether it be my insecurities or something that helps me understand something better. Everyday should be full of things you want to be doing because at the end of the night... you're the one that has to fall asleep.

Just like my friend quotes me, "There are no mistakes in Life, just lessons learned..."

Much Love from the other side of the World,

Alastar Swift



PS: Something new I might add,

And maybe it's not my weekend, 

but it's gonna be my year, 

and I'm so sick of watching 

while the minutes pass as I go nowhere...

All Time Low - Weightless

Love4Music 3.0

The one thing that keeps me sane from all the insanity that happens in this little world we call "earth" is the love of music. I've been introduced to some new music but at the same time I'm not much of a fan of it. It's probably because it's pop music at it's finest or its the fact that I can't understand a single word of the song. But I do try. But sometimes I just have to go back to my favorite pastime... surfing Youtube for favorite songs that I wear out constantly from listening to them 24/7... These songs are pretty old and but I always hit a long gap where I stop listening to songs and then pick them up again after a few months of not listening to them. These aren't new songs to me but at the same time they have brought a whole new perspective to my life at this moment in my life. I hope you enjoy them as much as I currently do.

Dub FX - Love Me or Not
- I love this song.. I love the beat, I love the harmony, and most of all the lyrics are just.. Quiet Simply couldn't be any better. This man shows pure love for the creation of music and that's what I enjoy most. It also reminds me that I always have to keep moving ahead no matter what even if our chapter is over or if a new chapter is just beginning. "What will the world bring..."

I guess it's only been 10 days since my best friend's birthday and it's still on my mind how much I've changed over the years. I'm also granted to be able to see and hang out with him in my dreams the past few weeks. They are bittersweet but I would never wish them to stop. This song just has so many meaning to me that it's crazy. I guess that's what happens when I find a musician that love music as much as I do. Maybe I connect to this song so much because this is how I kind of view my life and that I simply couldn't explain it any better than Dub FX has done. This is only a one song post for the sole purpose of [me] wanting to have you experience "youtube surfing." Dub FX has many more songs that I wanted to post up but it would be great to share the feeling of finding a great song that you just want to share with your friends. Have fun and try "youtube surfing" for your favorite type of music!

Enjoi and Cheerio!

Alastar Swift


PS: If you don't want to youtube surf nor have time. Let me give you a link to see this artist perform live.
Dub FX - Made ... This video show's how he makes his songs. This is why I enjoy listening to his music.

2nd Chance Dreams.

The topic that's been on my mind for the past 5 days are the things that I have regretted for 3 years. I dislike the quotes of living life without regret because I don't believe you can honestly live the life you want without having to make a choice that defines your life as you know it. Many people live their life without ever making that decision but does that eat them from the inside? Never being able to do what they really want to do, never possessing the confidence to put out their words and ideas at the fear of being disregarded. I couldn't imagine that. I struggle to keep my opinions and expressions to myself for 15 minutes of listening to my Professor in Taiwan speak about his wild generalizations and blatant misconceptions. I become so antsy, where I can't stop moving my legs and tapping my fingers or pencil. I'm forced to raise my hand (or speak out, which is common in these classrooms). The best thing in this life so far that I've discovered is the fact that I can learn something new each and everyday. It can be anything and that's the beauty of it. One day I could learn about the biggest caves in Asia or the next hour I could learn about the psychology of the human mind. To even build off that extent, watching documentaries aren't everything when I want to learn about the world. The best place to learn is what's right in front of you. The people that you interact with everyday. They know something that you don't. It could be the craziest information or story that you would have never thought about. It could be an opening to a whole new feeling that you never knew existed by listening to them explain what happened to them in the past.

That leads me to my next point. I will never. ever. understand the culture over here. No matter how hard I try to understand where they come from. I should re-phrase that. I have trouble understanding why they don't think about the things they are doing. Many times when I have asked why they do a certain thing or do a certain action, they answer me with a, "I don't know." or "It's just the culture." I guess it's something that I shouldn't hold myself accountable for since I've only been here for a little less than a month but at the same time... I've been told I'm a little brighter than the average human being or I just have to high of standards for myself. One aspect comes from that even though I'm on the lower side of the middle class in America, over here I'm definitely the "rich" kid. I have seen people take care of the littlest things because here it is 2 steps above being a 3rd world country. The food is so cheap because the money supply of the average customer is so small. For example, on American campuses everyone almost has an ipod. I haven't noticed near as many on this campus. This also bring me to a great aspect. People actually talk to people on campus and on the way to class. There's many times when I wondered on campus back in the states and everyone is looking down or avoiding eye contact and listening to their music. Taiwan is great to see people smiling and having a good time.. instead of the opposite.

Clothes, shoes, hair style, and glasses are just huge part over here. Clothes, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, and American Eagle are pretty huge over here and they are willing to pay top dollar for these. Shoes. The more color and flair the better. Timberlands are everywhere and are shown off to a T on every single guy and girl. They are willing to tuck in their skinny jeans into their boots just to show everyone how sleek and shiny their Timbs are. Hair styles. The guys I know spend about an hour and a half to get ready. Most of the guys own a hair dryer and have plenty of hair products to rival some of my ex girlfriends. Now I don't have anything against looking good and trying to pick up your favorite girl... but most of these guys aren't trying nor willing to talk to that said girl. Maybe it's the American culture for being the only reason to look good is to pick up that cutie that sits in the front left in your favorite class to skip. The best fashion that I've noticed while being here is the fad to wear fake glasses. People who need glasses hate wearing them and people who don't need them will buy huge frames just to wear. No lenses, just the frames. That's one of the things I just can't wrap my head around. It's culture I guess, right?

Being here for a month, I have no idea how this will help me grab my dream job. The only thing I can say is that I will definitely not forget the things I've encountered nor the people I've met. One thing that I have learned is there is no doubt in my mind that I do not want to do any sort of business on this side of the country. Flying over to this side of the planet feels like I just hopped into the Delorean and time traveled back in time. Everything from outside activities (drinking, not drinking, playing board games and card games, etc.) to just how people are make me feel that I just don't belong. It's crazy to see how people live their lives and compare and contrast to what I'm used to... One thing I have noticed is there are a lot of Mom&Pop shops that sell food. I mean that's true love right there. Seeing your significant other all day, working side by side, and then going back home with them.. Every single day. I doubt that could ever happen in America, I remember when some of my friends are always like.. argh, my gf is coming over... or aah I wish I could but I have to hang out with my gf. (I'm not sure if it works vise-versa where the girls complain about hanging out with their bf..) But I give props to these Mom&Pop shops. That's awesome, that makes me want to find a girl that I could fall asleep to and wake up to everyday and just love it.

Next blog I'll post some pictures so that it's more looking rather than reading. I've just been forgetting to take pictures. So I'll write on my hand, "Take a Picture." It's just that I enjoy the moment and the last thing on my mind is.. I should take a picture of this.

Until next time,

Cheerio & Enjoi

Alastar Swift


PS: Some days I feel in control of the game and others I feel like I'm losing. Should I just put it out there or sit here just wondering.

Memories Are A Way to Visit the Past

I remember the first day I had ever met you like the first day I ever tasted chocolate milk. I'll never forget it and it's something I wish I could have everyday. It was a late summer night and I was just a little guy at the tender age of 12 or 13. You had won this giant stuffed animal from one of the carnies and were off to the same house I was going to. Jasken's fair party. It was always Jaskens and I hanging out all the time and he was one of your best friends. It was the summer before 8th grade. I know this because that's when we started to become best friends. It really didn't happen until the spring. Baseball... who would have thought that this sport would have brought us to together. 8th grade baseball had the A team and B team. I got cut from the A team and got sent to the best baseball season ever. I don't think I have had that much fun playing such a boring sport. You manned Short Stop and I played 3rd base. I always gave you shit about the only reason you got to play SS is because I knew you couldn't play any other position and I didn't want to take your spot. I remember days at practice where I tried to teach you how to swing a bat. Oh man, I just remember how awful you were. But when you hit that ball you either hit a small grounder or you smoked that thing. Thinking now I probably should have forced you to use a bigger bat... We pretty much came inseparable playing that side of the field. We said screw sunflower seed. So we would always buy that giant bag of jolly ranchers and you always ate the ones that I hated. You took the Lemon and Watermelon. I'd take the Cherry and Apple. We always thought we were badass having this huge jolly rancher in our lip and going out and playing the field...

The one game I'll never forget is the first game we won of the season.  It was against one of our rivals. I always was the lead off hitter and the first at-bat I just smoked one dead center for a triple. After that I knew we had this game. I think that game we turned 3 or 4 double plays. Me to you to 1st base. I'm sure we could have turned at least 5 or 6.. maybe even 7. But you and that shoulder of yours gave out. You had such a sweet diving stop but I knew something was wrong when you tried to throw the ball to first and it barely made it there. That forced me to switch to SS. This is when I pulled off the most amazing inning ever. Top of the last inning (can't remember if we only played 7 or if we played 9) game is tied and I just belt another one to dead center for a triple but the throw was off and I just easily jogging into home. The best part of this inning was when we were playing the field. I turn a double play (6-3) and BAM! game over. We won and you were just so stoked even when your shoulder was all jacked. You were like, "dude that play was so sick, You literally jumped off 2nd base, dove, caught it, and picked off the guy at first."...

I think that summer I probably spent every single day and if not spent the night every day. I can't even remember all the things we used to do. I do remember our freshman year you made me join this crazy YLVC club for this girl you wanted. You always chased after the older girls and I thought it was cool so I tried too. (I guess this is why I'm such a good wingman. I've been doing it for so long) You convinced me to go to this camp where we stayed in log cabins with a bunch of YLVC members from the state. We rode the short bus all the way up to the cities... I was sleeping until our crazy teacher/driver smoked the car in front of us during rush hour because she had the map blocking the entire view of the windshield. I slam into the seat in front of me and I just remember waking up to you laughing your ass off. After that, we talked to R.L., T.U. and K.L about some really random stuff... You were after KL and I tried my luck with RL. Freshman boys going after Junior girls. Go big or go home right? I just remember that weekend was terrible. The only highlight of that weekend was making that badass fort with our bunks and mattresses because we both failed miserably with those girls. The things you did for girls... but I think it's rubbed off on me though.

The best part was learning how to play basketball from you. It was your first love and it showed. You were so passionate about the game. It was easy for me to decide to pick it up because I saw how happy you were when you got to play. So I decided to go out for basketball in 9th grade. I was absolutely terrible. But you stuck with me and kept working with me. I think we played 1v1 and PIG all the time. I don't think I started to become somewhat average until the next year on B-squad. Where I started a few games. I think the best game was when it was you, foels, and I starting as the guards. Man that was a great game, even though only foels, paulson, and I scored.

Basketball kind of hit the back burner about junior year. Where we both had girlfriends. Kind of bummed that it happened but it was pretty hard for us to juggle our girlfriends, sports, and making sure we caused enough mischief each day. This might have been one of the best years we had. It was one of those moments where we thought we were just kings. Everything was going right for us and thought nothing could stop us. The first trimester we took a 4th hour study hall. The longest hour of the day because of the 3 lunch periods. Remember all the times we skipped school and went to McDonalds or to our friends place to watch them drink and go back to school. The best was the 2nd tri-mester when we had 1st hour study hall. We both put in a form saying we were working for our parents in the mornings so we could just sleep in. It was great especially for the long away games we had at night. I think every morning I'd pick you up to go to school. Otherwise, I'd spent the night and we'd talk about girls and listen to music. You taught me pretty much everything that I needed to know about girls. Surprisingly, I still remember it all. But you helped me with all my girl problems by either telling me what to do or getting that liter of vodka and being like, "call your mom and tell her you are staying the night." I'm glad that I learned how to drink alcohol with you and your cousin. If it wasn't for that I'm sure that I wouldn't 1) be able to handle my alcohol and 2) be as much of a fun drunk as I am. That first night I still laugh thinking about it. We were watching the newest American Pie movie and we were drinking red kool-aid and Silver Wolf. All the crazy things that happened and your mom still didn't hear us at all.

The rest of high school went pretty fast for us. We hit some bad times where we didn't speak to each other. I learned a great lesson from that though. Fighting with your friends because of a girl is not worth it. And I'm glad I learned it being pissed off at you. I remember we almost got into that huge fist fight at school when I came up to your locker, slammed it shut, and stared at you. I'm pretty sure you wanted to hit me as hard as I wanted to you. It probably would have went down if BK didn't stop it all. I can't remember what happened but after that somehow we got over our little girly fight. Senior year blew by and it all just happened way to fast. I never told you but man I was really proud of you for finishing and graduating high school. I know you really didn't want to but I convinced you that I'd be your tutor and other things to make sure you finished. It was tough for you since you worked every weekend 3am to 3pm. and missed school every Friday due to the work schedule.

Then college hit. I know this really made you felt out of the crowd. With all of us talking about our different college friends and different things we were doing, I know you felt out of place. I tried my best to make sure that didn't happen and signed us up for that dodgeball league and you signed us up for that awesome sand volleyball league. Those were some of the best summers playing sand volleyball with our team and beating up on every team except for those old guys for old world. Every Thursday night we'd have a fire and cook food afterwards and drink beer. You, Joe, and I would climb your apartment's garage for fun and throw things at Peter and Matt. Sadly, it was short lived...

The invincible life that we once lived came to a reality. I've never been at a loss of everything like I was that night. I've come a long ways from that night, from meeting unbelievable friends, spending weekends in hotels in different cities, and falling hard for a girl. But I'll never forget that night... outside of your parent's house, late night, cool breeze, sitting there in the grass just speechless...

I'll never forget the memories that I have with you nor will I ever forget what you have taught me. You were and are the most influential person in my life. I always looked up to you like my big brother. You introduced me to my two favorite loves in this life: Basketball and Guitar. And for that, I can't thank you enough.

My favorite thing to remember was almost every morning after I spent the night, we would build up little forts and shot rubber bands at each other for hours. Or the countless summer nights we spent under the street lights playing ball at the middle school courts. It took me so long to pick up a basketball after it all happened but I'm glad that I picked it back up. I had so much fun playing at my last bball tourny. Wish you could have seen it.

Much love from the other side,

Nate Miller


PS: Take a second and reflect on who are most important to you with this song.

Happy 23rd Birthday BHP.

A Little Late She Said

Well I apologize for the absence of blog postings. The first week in Taiwan definitely got the best of me as I was pretty sick. The moment I thought I was over it and getting better, I had gotten hit by some food poisoning. It was not a fun nor awesome experience. The thought of, "What is my mom going to say, when she finds out that I died in a foreign country... Man she would not be happy." But then again, last time I had gotten food poisoning (late summer '10) I thought I was going to die then too. It's kind of weird thinking back now, I was laying on my futon... and I just was like.. If I died.. How long would it take Ty to find out that I'm just laying on my futon being non-existent. Anyways, enough of the death talk... I got a long and picture filled blog for you to read. So sit back and hit that extra light, because this will be a worthwhile post.

So the craziest part of living in this country is the fact that no one can starve to death. This area offers a variety of small shops that offer unique types of food. I honestly could go for about of month and not eat at the same place and it's all in walking distance.

My Favorite Menu

The only reason that I have ate at a few of the same places would be the fact that the people working there know I'm American and they love that I come there so they give me a little extra. It's awesome. This is the menu that I order off at least once a day. The type of food is on the left and then you have 3 choices of how you want it made. (top row) The first way: They put your choice on top of rice then it's all rolled up into a skinny seaweed burrito type thing. (It's actually really good and filling, and yes, seaweed has a different taste but you get used to it.) The second choice: They hand make like a breaded wrap. It's cool to watch them make it, because they will make the batter by hand, and then just pour it on the grill without measuring and it comes out perfect. (I've been watching a lot of the cooks around here and they are all skilled, it's so fun to watch them prepare your food.) So basically the 2nd option is a giant wrap, which is hands down my favorite. The 3rd and final choice, is just a simple sandwich. The best part about this little shop is that, if you can see the picture, the most expensive item is 49 元 (New Taiwan Dollar, which equals to about... $1.50 USD) This is why I love this place. Then I go and grab some fruit from another vendor, where I can get a cup of fresh strawberries, a bag of pineapple, and some water melon or apples for less than $3. (The fruit lasts me all day, so I eat some with my lunch and then it's a great late night snack too) These small vendors aren't the only place that offers really cheap and awesome food.

Some friends and I went to a random Vietnamese restuarant because Timo and I had never ate at one. (Timo is from Finland, broadening my international status.) So we head into the restaurant, and for

Vietnamese Salad

everyone that doesn't know, all these restaurants are very tiny. (I think the biggest restaurant I've seen seats maybe 40 people. Then again, I've only been here for about 2 weeks so I could still stumble upon bigger and better ones.) Luckily, we grab a table and to start off we order an appetizer. This little Vietnamese salad is a tad bit spicy but very delicious. From talking about Vietnamese food, I end up finding out that all their food is quite spicy. Hmmm, this could definitely cause a problem as I'm not the biggest fan of really spicy food. Anyways, ordering. I am absolutely terrible at ordering in English. Let alone in another language. But luckily. All you have to do in this country is grab a tiny paper menu and jot down what everyone wants. It's easy as cake. So I basically just get what they tell me is good, since I have no ability to read the menu yet. The best thing that I have found out is the fact that, a lot of the restaurants make the food the same but they have different sauces that everyone then can customize how spicy, sweet or sour, or anything they can concoct from the ingredients. The moment the waitress brought out our food.. I'm just like, wow that's

Vietnamese Main Course

one big bowl of noodles. As you can see.. there are no forks or spoons. Only chopsticks. Which after about a week of struggling to eat with them, I'm actually not bad with them. (Well just enough skill to be able to eat, but I'm usually the last person done eating... I am the Peter Swanson of Taiwan.) Actually, I lied. The red handle on the left side of the bowl is a different type of spoon. It's more of a spoon where you pour gravy over your thanksgiving meal. It still doesn't help you to eat the noodles and everything else in this giant bowl of food. Oh yeah, this meal only cost me about 75元. Yet again, another great meal.

Xiao Long Bao

This restaurant has turned into one of the more popular places to eat and my favorite place to eat. Ah man, I wish they had a place like this in America. This restaurant specializes in steamed dumplings and this is where I tried steamed Stinky Tofu. (We'll get into the tofu part later) The cooks in this place are just unreal. I honestly watched them for like 15 minutes because they work as a well-tuned machinery line. One guy breaks up the dough in little balls for the guy that rolls them flat. The guy that rolls them flat is so good that he uses one hand to turn the dough as he rolls it. (He does it so fast and that's what fascinates me. Just straight up skills from doing it so often) Then he rolls about 3 or 4 and then checks on the food that is getting cooked or "steamed". Then the last guy takes it and starts filling the dough to the order and decorates the outside of the dumpling. Oh and there's the lady that just yells orders out and

The Cooking Team

pretty much just directs the flow of the restaurant. The baskets that are in the front of the picture, where all the steam is. That is how they cook them. There are about 6 different little nozzles that just spray steam, and the containers are all made up of wood and have a basket weave to them so that the food can be cooked evenly. Whatever it does, the food is absolutely worth traveling to Taiwan for.

Menus: How you order

So the menus look like this and this is also where you jot down the number of the dishes you want. As you can see in the picture, we ordered 4 dishes of... Xiao (??) Long Bao... I only know 3 characters in that name.. so I'm not sure what the other one is but that's ok because the main point is that for this meal its 60元. A bunch of us International and Exchange students have started to go here after our Chinese Class. (中文課 zhong-wen-ke) (It's crazy to call myself an international/exchange student. I just don't feel like I fit the description when people say International student.) Some how we always beat the rush when we go straight from class. This place gets so crowded and it probably only seats 30-35 people I want to say and it's a very small space to eat in. Oh and another thing, a lot of restaurants
only have little stools to sit on. So a lot of the places you can't sit back and relax until your food gets there. Surprisingly, they still have really bad posture. (not saying that I have perfect posture, but I would think not having backs to a lot of chair would help out.) As you can see to the right, this is what (Xiao Long Bao- 小龍包) looks like. I forgot to take a picture before I started eating, but you actually get 8 of these little dumplings and they are simply amazing. Except I did find out you need to let them cool right away otherwise when you bite into them, you get steaming hot water that gushes out of them. Worth the wait though. Today we got a few different dishes at this restaurant and they are just like the picture except with different fillings and have a little different design to them. Also you can see the bottom of the plates which allows those steam nozzles to cook the food. Crazy design I think I should bring something like this back to the States. Wonder if it would sell... Maybe.

So that's just a couple of the many restaurants that I have ate at. This place offers so many different types of foods that I couldn't have even dreamed up of. It's crazy to see all the differences that aren't in the States. It's so hard to describe them all because some of them are almost unbelievable until you see it for yourself. The fashion trend over here is just insane. It makes no sense. The girls really love wearing short shorts and then wearing (usually) black tights. Almost every single girl will wear tights and rarely do you actually see one just wearing shorts or a skirt. Now I don't understand the reason guys want to wear skinny jeans in the US so it really doesn't make any sense why they wear them here. The two reasons I have thought up of would be that 1) they want to be like the Western Culture or 2) There are a lot of Asian celebrities that dress like that. This leads me to the question the sexuality of a lot of celebrities in these countries. Everyday I hear something about a Korean superstar or some other type of celebrity guy and I always see a picture and ask, is he straight? I just don't understand they just all look really feminine.   Like check out this picture of the Korean superstars that some of the girls are crazy for.

Korean Manliness

What is that? They thought I was crazy for asking them if they were straight. I guess I have to re-check what a real man is... But this brings me to a difference that caught me off guard. There are a lot of lesbians in Taiwan. You won't be able to realize it every time because a lot of the times one will look like a young boy. I asked one of my Taiwanese friends about it because I just had a strange feeling the first time I saw it and they were just like, "yeah, if we segregated the gay community here, it would definitely be 90% lesbians."

Another huge difference that I'm beginning to find out is that people here are very numb to their surroundings. I think it's because there are so many people that they get used to being in very crowded areas. A lot of my Taiwanese friends have almost gotten hit by a car because they just weren't aware. It's hard to explain but I get bumped into all the time. Imagine everyone just in their own world (ipod/cellphone) or in their own conversation and not paying attention to where they are walking. Multiply that by hundreds of people crowded into the little street where all the vendors are and it's just crazy.

The best part of studying in Taiwan is that I have yet again a slacker semester ahead of me. The only class I really have to study for would be Chinese but it's 10x easier to study here because I actually have to use it outside of class. I'm currently using Chin-glish, some people have started calling it Nate-glish because I just murder the Chinese words. I'm going to have to work on those tones... They get me every time. But my favorite sayings are definitely: 我不知道 (wo3-bu4-zhi1-dao4: I don't know), 對不起 (dui4-bu4-qi3: I'm Sorry), 為什麼 (wei4-she2-me: Why?), and 真的 (Zhen1-de-ma: Really?). They are my 4 most common phrases. The numbers represent the tone which you need to say so that the listener understands what you are trying to say. My American accent turn everything that I say into a neutral tone. Thus, spawning them to call it Nate-glish. Awesome.

Well this post is a tad bit too long. I'll remember to sit down and post a few more so that I don't have to type and you don't have to read so much. Until next time.

Enjoi,


Alastar Swift.

PS: Check out this picture! It's Basic Calligraphy and its my favorite class. 2 hours of writing Chinese Characters. Paint Brush, Ink, and Paper. Talk about being AWESOME!

The Adventure to Find Food

So every night so far we have gone out and ate as a giant group from our Reitaku Dorm. Which is pretty much the highlight of my day because that's when I know I'm going to have a solid meal. Last night, we took the bus (by campus) that took us to the Mass Rapid Transit [MRT] (railway system that can take people to Taipei or other places). Now this bus is crazy, it just hauls ass down these tiny roads and every time I walk on the side of the street (not all streets have sidewalks) I feel like one day one of them will just side swipe me. Inside there are only a row of seats by the windows and lining the back of the bus. The rest of the space is all standing room with handles that come from the ceiling. It gets pretty "close" when those things get really crowded. When we get to the MRT station, we exit and damn, there are a ton of people waiting in line for these buses. The great thing about Danshui (City I live in) are all the public transportation that can shuttle you around the city for a low price of 15 New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) which comes to about... 50 cents.

Is that a 3-story McDonalds? 

After getting off and walking around what's the first thing I find? Yep a McDonalds... This one had multiple floors I'm thinking to myself, with all the great food you can find in the back alleys and roads why would anyone want to eat there. But I guess everyone loves to try to live the "Western Culture Life". So we keep walking down the street to this little restuarant and the cool thing about this is that the entrance was completely open. (My FB Friends can check out a picture I'm tagged in where we are all standing in the entrance way) This restaurant was like Hot-Pot (the first place I ate at) but this had the burner on top of the table where 6 people shared food. So we had duck, cabbage, lettuce, mushrooms, tofu, and corn all boiling in our little kettle with a side of noodles for our meal.

This is how Menus should look like.

They gave us a couple of different sauces to eat with our meal and lets just Life Lesson #3 comes in. My roommate put about 3 little teaspoons of this one sauce all over his noodles and then just took a few bites... literally seconds later he is just drenched in sweat. I was like you ok? He just shook his head no and pointed to the sauce. So I dip my chopsticks in the sauce.. just a tad bit, and DAMN that sauce was hella spicy/hot. So Life Lesson, taste test everything before you put it on your food even if people say that it's good. My two friends love taking pictures so after eating.. well I guess during too.. we took a bunch of pictures. Now these people know how to take pictures, they have this extendable pole that attaches to the bottom of their camera so they can hold it out and take a picture of everybody including themselves. No one is ever left out of a picture here. It's a pretty clever idea, I can't believe I haven't seen anything like it back in the States.

Walking back to the MRT, we probably took a little over 20 pictures... craziness. Oh and I think I started a word fad.. Since I've been here I think the 2 most common words out of my mouth are, Crazy and Awesome. Now everyone is beginning to use them.

Just a random street we were walking down.

I might be the downfall of this dorm because I'm just a big book of American Slang. Anyways, we get back the MRT and here comes this giant golden retriever running around. (There are so many stray dogs, but they aren't like American Strays, these are really nice. Probably because they would die if they were because no one would feed them) This stray dog makes all the girls in my group scream at the top of their lungs. I think that someone just got mugged, but then I just realized it was a giant dog. It ran into this tiny 7/11 and just wanted water. So the employee just turned on the sink and let the dog drink from it. That's why I use the word "Crazy" a lot. How else do you explain that scene. Maybe.. That's Bananas? I'll try to think of something new... I already have a card game named after me because I'm so bad at it and I lose all the time. They call it the Nate Game. Lovely.. Right? Its like slap jack, except you count 1-13 and if the card you lay down matches the number count everyone has to slap the card. Last one gets the pile. Tricky part, playing in Chinese. Thinking now.. I think this may have potential for a drinking game.. The Nate Game... hmm this could get popular..

Blurry, but this is the night market. 

After walking to the MRT we start heading a different way back to campus so that we can stop at the night market. This is where it gets really crazy. The first thing I see is a moped biker gang that pulls out of 7/11. (FB friends check out my roommate's wall for a video I posted about this event) Then I noticed just a crowded street full of stores, vendors, cars, mopeds, and people. Honestly I'm sure I could buy almost anything here. Just looking at all the signs of different shops and looking at all the people that were selling their wares was insane. The only downside of this would be the occasional air spot where it smells like shit. But that doesn't happen to often its just happens when you think.. Ah all the good food smells and BAM! that's when you run into one. We went there to get a drink from this certain vendor. I guess it's really popular at night so it made me think of Rubio's back in good ole' Dub-town. The drink is like warm hot chocolate but it has some sort of flavored "gel beads" on the bottom. So when you drink out of the straw you get a couple of those after every sip. It's actually really good but the first time I tried it.. the texture was really weird.

After than we just headed back to campus and walked up probably 150+ steps on the way. Yeah it pretty much killed our whole group and we had to take a break at the top. It was pretty funny to see everyone bent over from exhaustion. Oh and there was a mini amphitheater right before campus, so obviously I had to try it out. To all those that don't know, you can stand in the middle of the stage and hear an echo when you speak. It's crazy, so I had to stand in the middle and sing/say something.

Hope the pictures make it a little better. I'll try to keep them coming while cutting down on the whole reading aspect. Until next time...

Cheerio & Enjoi

Alastar Swift


Ps: It's rained everyday that I've been here. Life Lesson #1, always bring your own umbrella.

A Crazy Island I Call Home

Being in Taiwan for about 2 full days now and I've realized that looking like an idiot is almost impossible to do until I learn Chinese better. To be honest, I have been living off some clif bars I bought at Target before I left because I have no idea how to order stuff. I walked around for about 30 minutes going through all the back alleys and up the streets just looking at all the stores and little food places. It's crazy how different everything is but it's really cool. I was so hungry that I almost made myself point to a random food item and just eat it... but I decided not to. Not because I was scared but I thought I could do way better than just point and smile. So I went back and asked my new friend, Frank, to help me out. He taught me a little basic stuff (which I really should have known) like 我想要这个 (wo-xiang-yao-zhe-ge) and 多少錢 (duo-shao-qian). [Those mean, "I would like that" and "how much"] So now I can go walk around, smile, point, and have something to say in Chinese that is worthwhile.

Crime must be really low in Taiwan because stores just have their goods on the sidewalks and no one watching it. I've also heard from other people that the clubs are really safe because some of the new girls were worried about being jumped. Not to lie I was a little scared too but at the same time I don't know why because I've been walking around this city by myself a couple of time and I've had no troubles. This also leads me to think. Being here for the past couple nights, this culture is way different than America. Well at least the people I have met anyways. They remind me of how I used to be back in the day.. like Freshman in High School. Pretty much having fun without alcohol. It's really fun to play card games and learn new words... but every night is getting a little boring, but I'm sure that's because of my ability to communicate is lacking some. I did find some people that play guitar and basketball. So at the moment I'm not too worried about being bored. Also, I'm in the beginning stages of converting one of my favorite guitar songs to piano. I have the basic layout of the song down (intro-verse-chorus-bridge-final chorus) but I need to find a better rhythm since all I'm doing at the moment is playing the chord once and holding until I need to switch chords. Hopefully soon I'll be able to play my first piano song flawlessly.

One of the things that I was told that might happen would be "culture shock". I haven't even thought about it. Sure I can't understand anything that people are saying when I go out but its kind of fun [to me at least] to be like, OH I know that word! It is kind of weird when I walk down the streets and alleys to only hear a foreign language though. The thing that fascinates me most would be that everyone I have met so far speak at least 2 different languages. Most speak Chinese/Korean/Japanese/English. Some conversations they literally switch in and out. It's insane. I'm slowly learning Korean and Japanese so maybe I can join that awesome group in a couple of months.

I've been slacking on the whole picture taking aspect of this trip. And honestly, I've seen some really awesome things that I wish I had taken pictures of. So from today on, I will have this camera attached to my mother!@#%ing hip. (Hopefully anyways) I wanted to because, there are no words to describe this different culture. It's awesome, terrible, and amusing all at once. I miss a lot of American ways but this culture offers enough positives that culture shock isn't even a big deal to me. I mean on the plus side, I'm like one of the taller people! The biggest thing that has affected me would be that no one really shares the same interests as me... well on a deeper thinking level. I've been searching about watching interviews of Jacque Fresco because after listening to him talk in that interview just leaves me speechless. He has a great level of experience and explains common everyday things that I have never even questioned before. Before I get way off topic, I'll try to take some pictures of this crazy place and show what it is like to live in Taiwan.

Hope all is well back in the lovely U.S of A.

Cheerio,

Alastar Swift


PS: You were right, about page 100 and it's just way to hard to put down. Except I have to force myself to stop so that I don't spend all day reading.