December 31st 2005

A last entry just before the year comes to an end. At midnight, Cindy and I will be near Taipei 101 to see the big firework which is supposed to be burnt down. It’s announced as “Taipei 101 will explode” and should become much more impressive than last years firework, which was impressive no question, but just too short. However, I decided to put one more live cam online, hoping that some folks will see the building and its “explosion”. I just don’t know how much there will be finally to see, but anyways I  give it a try:

Taipei 101 live cam click here

Don’t forget! Taiwan’s local time is UTC +8, please figure out yourself what it means in your local time since I don’t know from where you are ;) By the way, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and have fun at the parties. Take care.

PS: And for the impatient ones I put the video from the last year’s firework online for you to download:

Video Taipei 101 Year 2005

December 11th 2005

Exactly one week after Cindy’s birthday there was another anniversary for us to celebrate on December 8th. At this day 4 years ago we first met each other, how fast time passes over!

Due to this occasion we went to the German restaurant named “Goethe Gourmet Gasthaus” or just Goethe in Taipei. In my opinion it is the best German restaurant in Taipei and actually there a quite a few which compete about customers being curious about German food and beer :) Cindy and I have been so happy about the first three parts of the meal (bread, salad and soup) that we forgot to take pictures, so here we already start with the main course:

Cindy had

and I

with a wonderful

so that both

and

have been very satisfied.

Then we also had

and

What a great evening. I usually don’t make any free advertising for anything, but in this case I can only recommend you, if you are in Taipei and want to have some German food to a quite reasonable price in a very fine atmosphere, go over there! I took a couple of name cards and if you want to know where to go there just ask me by the given ways of communication at this site. Maybe we can also meet there and enjoy a good big glass of German beer ;)

December 04th 2005

Instead of writing too many words I will let some pictures help me to tell you the following:

December 1st was Cindy’s birthday and I bought her a pair of

Not cheap I can tell ya and also not easy to get. Well, maybe easy, but I had to speak Chinese only and I guess there are not many foreigners in Taiwan coming to a Birkenstock store and asking for Birkenstock sandals in size 36 for their girlfriend. At least I got this impression by the shocked shoe seller. Or why did I first had to gently inform her that she just can talk to me in Chinese, before she gave me any notice? For her ignorance I sent her down to the cellar twice to find the right shoes! ;)

In the evening we

walked and drove to a restaurant. I just walked and all the others went by bus, however I have been the first there although we started at the same time. Just proving that it’s faster just to walk than taking the bus in the evening time, furthermore you don’t get the problem feeling like never be able to get out the bus because there too many people standing in your way, which happened to me a couple of times already!

In the restaurant we could

barbecue or like they sometimes do in Taiwan

just put the meat on fire.

Luckily there was always a cup of ice cubes standing around to extinguish, otherwise the house may have been burnt down this evening ;)

Then we also had some

to cool things off and

and of course many

Well, so there’s just one more thing to say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY HONEY !!!

 

November 26th 2005

Recently I got some packages sent to my school’s address. It seems to be much safer than let them send to my home, because there aren’t any letter boxes and the mail is just put somewhere in the staircase. So, everytime when there is a package for me I get a notice by the school’s office and I have to go down there to take it with me…the package, not the office! This happened three times within the last two weeks and people now think that I’m really popular :) Mostly they are packages with stuff bought in internet or from Cindy’s mom from Taichung, who keeps sending us basic things, such as food and clothes, since Taipei doesn’t have any clothes or food stores. ;)

The last package was one like these, but this time there was also something special in it from which I want to tell you right now.

This is an amber bracelet including a “guarantee certificate” and description about what it is about. We are now in a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), however already very spiritual. Cindy first had to explain what this is about (…since I wasn’t able to understand the Chinese manual) and after that I began to inquire myself a little bit:

Amber Specs: Amber is the fossilized resin of ancient cone bearing trees (like pine trees) of the Oligocene period.

Color: Pale yellow/brown to dark brown in color with clear to opalescent features. Some stones contain insects and bits of plants.

Finds/Mines: Eastern European countries like the Baltic region, Russia, Poland. Also North and South America.

Ancient Lore: Amber is one of the oldest substances used for adornment. It has been found as jewelry in grave sites dating back 8000 years. The early Chinese thought the souls of tigers transformed into amber when they died. Amber was sacred to ancient Mother Goddess worship. The old Greek name for amber was “elektron” – amber rubbed against wool or silk becomes electrically charged! Women wore carved amber images of fish, frogs and rabbits to ensure conception/fertility. Norse tradition believed amber to be the tears of the Goddess Freya. Amber was worn to guard against ill luck and enchantment.

Metaphysical: Projective energy; associated with the Sun and the elements of fire and Akasha (spirit). Amber is also associated with the Earth Mother and a symbol of life.

Worn to enhance beauty and attractiveness. Amber stimulates happiness, attracts friends and companions to the lonely. Increases ones enjoyment of pleasure. Amber is considered a general protector of health, especially for strengthening the eyes. It is used to relieve or cure existing conditions such as deafness, earaches, headaches, asthma and insanity. Amber is also used to promote business success and stimulate money flow.

Wow, great stuff then! However, everything is about believe. I was never into that kind of thing before, but since I live in Taiwan, between the world’s highest building and old traditional temples, it seems not to be that obscure as it might seem in the west. I therefore decided to give it a try and, believe it or not, just a few hours after wearing the bracelet I got a profitable translation case, which let me earn this months rent just within two days! So much as for “stimulate money flow”. In this case, it can stimulate me even more :)

Speaking of money…I won’t tell you how much this bracelet was. I just tell you so much: I personally would never have bought the bracelet for this price, not even for the best promises in the world. However, Cindy’s mom did for me, which even made me a little embarrassed since I’m not really sure, if it really works or not. Thinking everything through, I don’t find any point not to believe in some spiritual power around my wrist, so I’m really thankful for this gift and will cherish it as long as I wear it.

October 23rd 2005

Recently I caught a severe disease here in Taiwan. Well, don’t worry, it’s not about avian flu or something like this. My disease could be called Mahjong fever and if you don’t know what it is, you will get to know it very soon :)

Probably you think of this solitaire Mahjong with hundreds of different types you can play at the computer. Well this is something provided using the name Mahjong, however it almost doesn’t have any connection with the original game from China, except the tiles sometimes. Maybe game providers had been afraid that foreigners couldn’t understand the rules of original Mahjong.

Thus, if I write of Mahjong in the following I refer to the game, which rules are described in this great Wikipedia article. I think it’s too long to copy and paste it here, so please just follow the link. Furthermore I found a very interesting intro movie explaining some Mahjong basics in motion.

There’s hardly no one in China who doesn’t know how to play Mahjong, which is very fascinating for a game which might be up tp 4000 years old. The first time I played Mahjong was in Hualien this year in February. Some friends introduced me to the game and helped making the first moves, after a few hours I got it quite ok I guess and since then I never lost interest in playing Mahjong.

Recently I got a software for playing Mahjong at the computer. The graphics are nicely done and the gameplay is very smooth, it just makes fun and it’s really close to  the real game. To give you one more clue how it is to play Mahjong I will add some screenshots of the game for you:

 

The start of each round. Every player gets 16 tiles (Taiwan style). It’s my
turn right now and I can decide whether to keep the right side tile or not.

PONG! I already had a pair of tiles, now someone
offered the third one, so I can shout PONG and finish one part.

During playing Mahjong in real life,
people might also act like this from time to time ;)

Every virtual player has an unique set of comments and jokes,
most of them really funny. Friends told so because it’s still hard to understand for me.

Ups, someone wins and is happy :)

Scoring. The more complicated the
combination is, the higher the score you get.

Usually, one round at the PC just takes two or three minutes, because you don’t have to care about mixing the tiles, building the wall, breaking the wall and sorting the tiles. However it already happened that I played this game for a couple of hours without knowing it ;) In real life, Mahjong games could last the whole night or even longer, it’s not just a game to play for fun, but also a good oppurtunity about anything which comes to your mind.

 

I wanted to learn how to play Mahjong by all means, because it deeply belongs to Chinese culture and foreigners being able to play Mahjong are considered to be really cool, haha ;)

PS: And in case you don’t believe that there’s
something like this in real life, here are some pictures for evidence:

Alright, but now I really have to continue to play…..

September 21st 2005

It’s Moon Festival again! After Chinese New Year it’s the second holiday I spend in Taiwan for the second time….heh, I think I should stop counting like this, since there will be many things coming for the second or even the third time in the near future. However, it’s still quite new for me although it didn’t differ quite much from last year.

Cindy and I went to Danshuei to watch the sunset and later go to Bali by boat. No, not Bali in Indonesia (…also would be quite far), just Bali on the other side of the river. There have been many nice places to watch the bright shining full moon…..just the thing to do at Moon Festival :)

 

September 14th 2005

Hi there, I’m back from Germany. Seems like I have never been away from Taiwan, well three weeks aren’t really long and the time being at home passed very quickly….that quick, that I even didn’t find the time to write something from Germany. However, Cindy and I mostly stayed at home or visited family members, there was so much to talk about and so many people to meet!

So this is the beginning of my second year living in Taiwan now. Wow, one year ago a sentence like this sounded like a dream for me. That time, it was hard to imagine how to figure out all things and how to make it possible to stay for a longer period than a few months. Well, it was possible and in fact, all my expectations have been exceeded. One thing may describe it very clear.

When I came to Taiwan one year ago it was my wish to go on top of Taipei 101 at least once, just by interest and of course to tell others that I have been at the world’s tallest building. In the end I have been on top of Taipei 101 for more than 30 times during my work for Acoustiguide, maybe 40 since I stopped counting sometime in between :) You can take it as an example of my exceeded expectations, for more details you are invited to read the last 360 days of this journal :)

However, there’s nothing to rest about. Especially not after spending almost every saved money to pay the trip to Germany. Thus, the story will continue as there never have been any break. Nevertheless I hope it will become a little easier, since I can consider myself as generally accustomed to the Taiwanese society. If it’s a big advantage or something you cannot buy anything from I have to see and very probably will find out very soon. As for now, welcome back to Taiwan and good luck again!