Christmas in Taiwan

May I start by wishing everyone here and back home, a very Merry Christmas!

This Christmas has been very different to what I am used to. At home, there would be excitement for Christmas amongst friends and family, a warm feeling or a glow in my heart on the day when gifts are shared and we all sit around the table and eat our Christmas dinner.

I knew that in Taiwan, people don't celebrate Christmas, but I thought if me and Scully try to bring Christmas into my new home, then the Christmas spirit would somehow follow. Me and Scully bought a Christmas tree that we were going to put up in the living room to bring a Christmas atmosphere but when we arrived home with it all boxed up she said she didn't want it in there, so it went into our room instead, along with all the other decorations we bought to try and make the place look more 'Christmassy'.

      

  

Mine and Scully's nephews Jun-Jun and Je-Je were amazed at the tree and love to watch the lights flashing and the decorations twinkling. Jun-Jun (being only one and a half years) looks up at the tree, head tilted back and his mouth wide open making high-pitched excitable noises.

After seeing their reaction to the tree, we decided that it would be even more like Christmas if we bought everyone a gift. Nothing too expensive, but something useful and what they might like. Je-Je also mentioned that he had been learning about Christmas at school and that usually he should put a stocking up so Santa can fill it. So with this in mind, we ventured out to find the gifts and spent many hours thinking about what to get them and looking around the shops. Even choosing the wrapping paper was difficult! But late on Christmas eve when we were wrapping all of the gifts and packing the stockings for the two kids we both felt a sense of achievement and excitement for Christmas day, tomorrow. Every person had a gift with a special message from Santa written on a gift tag under our tree in our room.

Early Christmas morning, we were woken up by the sound of the family in the living room. It sounded just like a normal morning. Je-Je's dad had given Je-Je a Christmas gift from of two transformer toys and the stockings had gone unnoticed. Me and Scully pretended that Santa had been and told Je-Je and Jun-Jun to come and have a look. I must say they looked excited as they rummaged through their stockings and that brought a warm feeling. We put a snowglobe in the bottom of each stocking (making sure it was carefully wrapped, obviously) which they both really like.

Next we all went into the bedroom where we had already turned on all the Christmas lights and decorations, along with Christmas music to build the atmosphere. We made it just like Santa's grotto, except he was not in. The kids rushed in and Je-Je almost dived under the tree to see who the gifts were for. In a blink of an eye, Je-Je had unwrapped his remote control car and Jun-Jun was standing with his head tilted back, mouth wide open and making high pitched excitable noises at the tree. We opened his gift for him and he looked happy. We then shared out the other gifts to the rest of the family.

After opening the gifts, we went out into the living room to help them boys open their toys and put the batteries in. Je-Je didn't really seem interested though and later he said it was because he found remote control cars too difficult to drive. Jun-Jun seemed to be frightened of his too. I guess it was because it had bright flashing lights, was shaped like a dung-beetle, rolled around on the floor strangely and I was controlling it (chasing him around the house).

When the adults had finished playing with the toys (the batteries ran out), Scully's mum and dad had left to go to someone's wedding and me and Scully decided that we would go somewhere 'Christmassy' for dinner. Not long after that, in McDonald's, with a double quarter pounder and chocolate milkshake, I looked at Scully and we both smiled as the Christmas music was playing.

On the evening we didn't do anything, we just went home to relax and played some Chess. It went by really quickly as it always does. Scully's chess-playing is atrocious, but it's better than mine. All-in-all, looking back it was a good day so I thought I would share it with you :)

Hope you are all having a great time this Christmas and I can't wait until the next one when I'm back home with you!!

Life

I think it is time for a much-needed update. My wound has finally healed after having the 30 stitches removed a couple of weeks ago. It has been over a month now since the operation and so far I have only gained a few mm movement of my pinkie and thumb. Fingers crossed (lol) I will recover soon though with my electrotherapy and physio sessions.

My job is going well and I have a great team of friends to work with that really make my job worth doing. I am really into the swing of things now and am finding it a breeze.

The house is coming on slowly. I have finally decided that I can't tolerate using a cold chisel and hammer to remove the tiles any more so I have officially invested in a hammer drill which should be delivered before my next 5 day holiday so I can get in there and finally remove them all.

My documents for my visa finally arrived from Britain today but sadly my criminal record check is now older than three months, which means I may need to apply for another one and get my visitor visa extended before I can get my ARC and resident visa, which is a massive pain in the ass.

I hope everyone is doing well. Will be in touch soon! Merry Christmas!!!

Checkup

Went to the hospital today to have my wound dressing changed and thought I get a pic to show you all. I counted approximately 30 stitches. The wound is healing well but still no movement in my pinky and/or my thumb.

As you can see, it will become quite a 'gnarly' scar (as one of my colleagues 'Mike' put it) :-)

I am feeling hopeful for the future and look forward to possibly having a fully functional hand within a year!

I am sorry to hear my mother is in hospital with her M.E. I hope the doctor can get this sorted mom and they can figure out exactly what is wrong and fix it. Although I know 'fixing' M.E. and/or M.S. is something that is not currently possible as there is no cure at the moment.

Hope everything in Britain is running smoothly. Let me know your news by leaving me a comment on here please. Talk to you soon!

5 Days Off!!...I Wish :(

An amazing perk of my job is that I get five days off every other week. Although I do not get this without having to cram most of a normal working week into the three days I do work.

Sadly I will not really be having the days off I was hoping for because (a week after the accident) I am back in hospital because I can not move my thumb or my little finger.

I came here at 9:30 this morning and at 16:10 I was in the emergency surgery room under local anaesthetic while the surgeon tried to reattach the three ruptured tendons that were sliced by the broken glass in Luxy's nightclub.

The first picture is one of me before the surgery, worrying about what they were about to do to my arm. I ended up with a bigger cut, a semi-attached little-finger tendon, a 160 pound bill, 15 stitches and the news that tomorrow I will be under general anaesthetic while they try to find the tendons that shot up into my arm when they were cut at Luxy's.

The second picture is one of me now on the evening preparing to sleep. The nurse is coming to collect a blood sample before I sleep. Will post more news/pics when I have them.

I honestly did not expect to be posting such interesting news on my blog so lap it up while you can! :)

Will send you an update tomorrow if I'm not too stoned from the anaesthetic! Goodnight all!

Clubbing at Luxy's

I decided to go to a club last night after visiting shooters bar. I was having an amazing time to be honest and was quite happy dancing because I'd had a few.

The club has four levels (each with its own theme) so we had to go in the lift to change floors which was cool. One of the rooms we went in had lots of thick green laser beams so it felt like we were in mission impossible as we walked through there. It was ace.

Another room had poles at the front of the dance floor so me and my mate had a pole dancing competition which was quite funny. I actually thought I was quite good too ;). Scully said I looked quite sexy on there.

However, after having such an amazing time I had an accident. We were heading back to the ground floor, pushing through all the crowds and then the next thing I remember I was in an ambulance headed for the hospital.

I don't remember exactly what happened but Scully said I fell onto a table which had broken glasses on. Luckily, I put my arm out instinctively and the glass went deep into my arm. I didn't feel it at first, I just knew I had fallen down. I got up and then saw all the blood gushing out. I had severed one of the thick veins in my arm.

We rushed out of the club as quick as we could and in the lift one of my friends took off his shirt to give me a tourniquet. I could not believe what was happening as the ambulance came and I was being stretchered in and taken to the hospital. I was becoming really light-headed and I know it sounds dramatic but the pain and the heavy blood loss made me feel like I was going to pass out.

I arrived at the hospital and went straight into surgery where they x-rayed the bone and told me that it was not broken (thank god). They then proceeded to clean my wound and sew my arm back together. It took them a good hour and a half in total and I had three injections to help remove the bacteria and make the pain go away.

It was an experience and a half for me! I just hope the club is going to pay for it because the layout they have is not safe. The bouncer said I need to bring my receipts for my hospital fees and they will pay the money.

I won't be going clubbing again any time soon for a fact!

Animals in Taiwan

I saw on the news today that a monkey had come from the mountains to Taipei and decided it would be fun to play on the railway tracks. If I wanted to, I could have a pet monkey.

In Taiwan there are so many amazing animals and creatures. But funnily enough, I am mostly interested in all the cute puppies. You can see a few of the dogs I have taken pictures of since I have been here.

The photo below is my favourite! The owner said he is a full pedigree chihuahua but I beg to differ. I think he has a bit of 'pug' in his bloodline. Especially when you compare him to the dog in the image above! Don't get me wrong, he is still extremely cute and a lot of people would want him. Can you believe the tiny chihuahua above is only £200!! I want one!

I will keep my eye out for some more cute dogs and will post them when I find them!

Too Busy to Blog

Lately I have been spending most of my time in mine and my wife's apartment, trying to redecorate.

Redecoration often includes stripping walls of paint, tiles and mortar. Then don't forget we also need to fill in all the holes and cracks we find with dry wall to make sure it looks good when it has been painted.

This house is no exception. We have been doing this, but first have to clear out all of my wife's family's old possessions and trust me, there is a LOT of stuff.

So far, we (me and my wife) have partially removed the tiles from one wall, scraped the paint from one wall, cleared most of the possessions into the living room to get access to the other rooms and completely removed a wall of cupboards which separates the dining room from the kitchen. This included the removal of a door frame and door.

This is why I have been too tired to blog!

Here are some pictures of what we have been doing over the past few days. Having spent a few days working, we now have to begin work so will be hiring in some people to remove the remaining tiles (floor and wall) and to strip the paint as we have been unable to find a place to hire electric tools from to do these jobs.

If anyone knows of a place where we can hire a paint stripper and a tool to remove the floor tiles in Taiwan, please let us know!! Sadly there is a limit to the power of my hammer and chisel!

Happy 100th Birthday Taiwan!

I would like to start today's post by wishing Taiwan a very happy 100th birthday! I am honoured to be resident in this country at such an important time.

I woke up this morning to the sound of the celebration ceremony of Double Ten Day, from the television. All my wife's family were gathered around the television, enjoying the sights and sounds that were being shown from the main ceremony in Taipei Main City.

'Double Ten Day' marks the beginning of the Wuchang Uprising of 10th October 1911 which overthrew the Qing Dynasty in China and led to the establishment of the Republic of China on 1st January 1912. For this reason, the day has been marked a national celebration day and public holiday!

There was a speech from the president (in Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka), parachutists jumping from helicopters, marching bands and parades of some of the Taiwanese army's weapons systems and personnel. Despite not being able to understand most of what was being said, I found it very interesting to watch.

My favourite part was seeing the F-16 fighter jets flying in a V-formation on the television and then seeing them fly over my wife's mother's house, leaving a jet stream of red, white and blue as they soared through air. Here is a picture I found on the internet of the jets.

Although I did not attend today's ceremony, I still share in the pride of the Taiwanese for having experienced life in such a brilliant country.

Thanks for reading.

Only in Taiwan!

I don't know if this is sold all over the world because I have not found an appropriate time to type its name into Google yet. But if anyone else has seen 'Gash' for sale in their local mobile phone shop, please let me know!

After a heated discussion with one of the employees at the shop, I discovered that the creators intended to create a name that let people know it is cash for games. Hence the name, 'Gash'. I swiftly told her what this term meant in English and she went very red in the face and laughed.

I have found quite a few interesting names for products or shops in Taiwan. Another one I remember seeing was a shop called 'wanko' which again brought a tear to my eye. My wife thinks I am just childish and immature, but I guess she doesn't understand the way me and my English friends would!

If you have seen any funny shop names in Taiwan, please let me know because I think they are hilarious!

Over and out...

Poo!...Not Poo!

If you have ever attempted to learn Mandarin, you will know it is not easy. Especially for us Brits! I have been picking up Mandarin since around September 2009, but I had never understood how children learned all of the common Mandarin characters.

I thought, to learn the first 5000 or so, they would use drill exercises to remember them all. But I knew that somehow the characters could be broken down into sub-characters. I did not understand how the sub-characters represented the main characters when they were put together, as together, they did not resemble the final character at all. That is when I had a chat (in a fashion) with my wife's father and now it is all crystal clear.

Basically there are 37 symbols that represent the phonetics system of the Mandarin language and they do not work like English phonetics, as in, when they are put together, they will not create a character/word visually, only through pronunciation. The list on the left shows the Bopomofo.

It probably wont make a lot of sense to some, as it stands. But the character (the red and green symbol - normally all black) is sort of like the Mandarin alphabet. The black letter on the right of it, is the way it is pronounced (but is slightly different to how it would be read in English).


E.g. the first symbol is pronounced 'ber', the one below it, 'per'. They are some of the simple ones. But some sounds are so similar that it is very difficult for foreigners to distinguish between them. Hence the name of my blog title today. While trying to say a word last night with my wife, I was pronouncing the word 'poo' wrong. My wife lost her patience with me and raised her voice saying 'it's POO! not POO! I couldn't contain my laughter at this point.

The symbols are placed on the right of a Mandarin character on top of each other. They tell children how to pronounce the character they are reading. Remember though, they are only a tool for pronunciation, they do not look like the character they represent the punctuation of.

Here is an example of two Mandarin words, with the Bopomofo, to tell us how to pronounce them. Bear in mind, Bopomofo is usually only given for children to use, which is why I never saw it until I looked inside my nephew's magazine.

Taking the first character on the left, we can see on big character and three small characters on the right of it (down the side). The three small characters (not including the dash to the right of them) are the Bopomofo. From top to bottom, they are pronounced 'der', 'ee' and 'an'. If we say all those in succession, we have the character 'dian'.

The character on the top right, using the Bopomofo, is pronounced 'shi'. When we say the two characters in succession, we have dian shi, which means television.

You might be wondering at this point, well how do the children know what the words mean? Usually, the children are already fairly proficient in speaking and listening, which enables them to recognise and understand the semantics of what they are reading. If they do not know a word, they can either ask someone who does, or use a Mandarin dictionary. Which is not as scientifically laid out as the English dictionary (to say the least).

Now if you were wondering what the dash is for, on the right of the Bopomofo, it allows the reader to know which tone to use to pronounce the character. There is an image of the tone symbols below. The tone smbol used in the image above is the 4th tone, meaning you must say the word from high to low tone. The first tone is constant, the second from low to high and the third (the hardest) is from high to low and back up again.


For a demonstration of the tones, you can watch this short video, which I found on YouTube.

That concludes today's edition, hope it was insightful and interesting. Maybe you even learned something!

Earthquakes and Typhoons

When I were a lad (not so long ago) I used to think typhoons were like tornadoes in the sea that engulfed whole cities that were near the sea. I also used to think ALL earthquakes were deadly and they would (ALL) be so powerful that people would be thrown across the room.

Since I found Taiwan, I have learned otherwise. I was reminded of the earthquake fact at around 3am this morning when we had a small earthquake that gently shook our bed for approximately 30 seconds. It was so weak that it almost felt as if it wasn't really happening. Even though me and my wife could feel it and knew it was. In one word, I would describe it as eerie.

I am by no means hoping I will ever feel a 'real' earthquake. But like most people, I am very interested in them and other natural disasters. Here is a picture of the aftermath of an earthquake that shook Taiwan in 1999 and killed over 200 people.

Typhoons can be equally as deadly. In this next image, over 700 people were feared dead after a mudslide in Kaoh caused by typhoon Marakot.

Note to self: avoid playing with mother nature...

Thanks for reading!

Hot Dogs and Tax

I was amazed today when I went to a 7-Eleven (a popular shop in Taiwan - and America I believe) and bought a hot dog containing a sausage of my choice, with mustard, ketchup and a very nice cup of ice coffee for only $49 (Taiwan Dollars). To you and me, that is only £1.00 (GBP). I'm telling you now, it is the nicest hot dog I have ever bought for £1.00. In Britain, I would be lucky to even get a cone of chips for that price! Here is a picture of a genuine 7-Eleven hot dog! Absolutely lovely... (little things please little minds)

But do not be fooled into thinking Taiwan is a cheap place to live because Taiwan is not as cheap as people may believe. I have found that food and drink, when bought from convenience stores like 7-Eleven or from the night market can be extremely cheap. I bought a tray full of lovely roasted duck for only $100, which is £2.00 in Britain. I can buy a 500ml bottle of coca cola for $20 = 40 British pence.

However, when looking at house prices, you would be hard-pushed to find a decent sized flat for under £180,000! Unless you want to live alone in the mountains that is...

Since I came here last year in August, it seems the prices have shot up though, even in the small shops. I suppose this is because of the world's weakening economic situation, but most things (except for property, technology and vehicles) are usually cheaper here than in Britain.

Along with cheaper prices though, comes lower salaries. The average salary for a Taiwanese person in Taiwan would be around $30,000 TWD per month, which is around £600.00 GBP for full time work (perhaps with a bit of unpaid overtime thrown in). Even with the lowest tax bracket of 7% income tax, this is still much lower than the minimum wage in Britain. If they are 'lucky' enough to earn between $370,001 and $990,000 TWD per year, their new tax bracket almost doubles and they have to pay 13%. I feel sorry for the poor guy/girl who gets paid exactly $370,001 TWD!

As a foreigner, for the first 183 days of being and working in Taiwan, I will be expected to pay 20% on my earnings. But luckily I am allowed the claim 7% back after the tax year (and the 183 days) is over when my tax rate drops down to 13%. If only I could earn a British salary on this income tax rate - I reiterate, 'if only'.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this one insightful! Here is a beautiful picture of Taipei City. That large tower is called Taipei 101 - for those who don't already know!

Apple Nightmare!

Me and my wife bought an Apple IPhone 4 each (second hand) before we came to Taiwan in the hope that we would be able to use a Taiwanese carrier's sim card as long as it is unlocked through the UK carrier it is locked to. For this privilege I paid £20.00 to Vodafone and sure enough within a day or two, my phone was unlocked and I could use it with my Orange sim card. My wife's phone was already unlocked because it could be used on Orange, Three and Vodafone (or so we assumed).

Anyway, after we arrived in Taiwan we both bought a contract for a Taiwanese carrier called WeiBou which offered us quite a nice deal, albeit a bit more expensive than in England. When we put the sim cards into our phones mine worked instantly, but Scully's IPhone (my wife) said we had to connect to ITunes (which is the normal procedure when changing carrier).

When we got home, I connected her mobile to ITunes and was prompted by the 'rather lovely' error in the image below. Which I promptly laughed at and big-headedly thought to myself that I would be able to find a solution on the internet. 

I spent hours and hours trawling the internet for a solution and calling Apple, Orange and Three, trying to find out who the official carrier was for the phone. The problem being that when you put a new sim card in, the phone automatically updates Apple's carrier information for the IMEI, making them think it is locked to a specific network. 

After much arguing with Apple who claimed the phone belonged to Three and Three who claimed they did not have the IMEI in their database, I decided to contact the original owner who said he had purchased the phone from the Apple store on an Orange plan, but had since had the phone replaced due to a problem with the screen. This meant the IMEI number had been changed and not updated in Orange's IMEI database so they did not know the new IMEI is linked to the old one. Apple told me the original IMEI is unlocked, but only for Europe, which explains why all the UK sims were working, but not the Taiwanese one. 

I finally got the IMEI for the old mobile and then contacted Orange again who were able to find the old IMEI in their database and link it to the new one. They confirmed that the IPhone is unlocked, but only in EMEA (Europe). They then offered an international unlock for the old IMEI at a price of £20.00, which must be paid and authorised by the original owner and would automatically unlock the new IMEI too.

Luckily, the original owner seems like a really nice guy and is willing to help me to sort the problem out with a phone call to Orange to authorise the unlock for me. I am waiting to call him back now and hopefully this will be sorted out once and for all and Scully can start making calls with what is currently an expensive paperweight/IPod, along with a reimbursement through PayPal!

Don't you just love the way mobile phones are locked to networks?? And Apple of course...

What a Day!

Went for my interview for the software engineering job today and believe it or not, despite having to have Scully in the interview with me to be able to communicate with the Chinese staff, I still got offered the job! But I turned it down...

Why? I hear you asking...The reason is because I have been offered a better job teaching a creative English curriculum in a public school where the salary is better, it is more conveniently located and they will even buy my resident visa for me! I start on 15th October 2011!

Anyway, enough about me! Below is a picture of (some of) the school I will be working in come the 15th (it's a big place). The banners hanging down are the different houses the school has. Reminds me of Harry Potter's Hogwarts in some ways! It is called Guang Fu Elementary School. There is a link to the school below the picture.

Guang Fu Elementary School

In other news, Scully almost got eaten by a giant shark today. We were just walking around minding our own business and then suddenly...

Needless to say, we had a lucky escape!

Learn Something New

Couldn't sleep so decided to get up early and learn some C++ for my interview tomorrow, among other things. I also learned how to put a cool fish tank on my page so when you visit, don't forget to drop some food in there for me with a left click of your mouse.

Living with a baby in the house means I wake up early. There is a picture of Jun-Jun (my nephew) below for your viewing pleasure. I'm sure you will agree he is a cute little chap!

It has been raining for several hours now because we are currently experiencing a typhoon. It is cool though because it also brings a nice temperature decrease! Off to set up a bank account and get a mobile contract in a bit so won't rely on WiFi to bring an update for you guys.

Speak to you soon!

The Eagle Has Landed

Late on 29th September 2011, me and my wife Ya-Wen landed in Taoyuan airport ready to begin our new life together in her home country. The first thing I noticed was the rain and the sudden temperature increase as we alighted the plane and walked into the airport!

Having now been here for a couple of days, it is starting to really sink in that I have moved here and I need to do something, find a job and be someone. Although going through University and even my PGCE was demanding and complex, I think beginning real, full-time work is actually the most challenging thing to come to terms with.

I have a job interview on 4th October 2011, but I am not feeling too positive about it since I received an email asking me to complete a form that was in Chinese. Do they think I know Chinese?? I will find out soon enough. For now, all I can say is that the next few months are going to be no easy feat for me, but as always, I am ready to face the challenge...