Some stuff, perhaps about Haulein, some Kenting, the best taxi ride ever, top ten songs,

Well I've been lazy and not written for awhile. Maybe not lazy, more just procrastinating on this while I do more useful things like catch up on my readings. I also read the first 5 books of the Sword of Truth series in PDF form so that occupied about 24 hours total on those alone. Probably less. I've read them before multiple times so I can read faster than even my already fast speed in reading. Anyway there's been a couple of things going on that I'd like to talk about. A while back (March) I went on a trip to Haulien with Student Ambassadors which was a blast. Also it is why my sunburnt forearms are my profile pic on Facebook. Any who, the trip consisted of a god awful bus ride (but I did make a friend during it so not all bad) down to the coast. The bus was nice and we watched movies but the window was to far away from the seat to lean against so it automatically was a failure. Anyway we went to a couple of places (pics on facebook): Taroko National Park, Changchun Shrine, the beach, and rafting on the Xiuguluan River. The Park had some of the prettiest water I had ever seen, along with that awesome lion bridge. But the water looked so inviting, but you couldn't get in. The Shrine had much of the same type of scenery and water, but had the shrine. And rafting was amazing, but I don't think we did a very good job. We couldn't really get that coordinated but I don't think any of us cared enough to get super serious about it; more fun that way. But it was still a good time. It was a mix between Jurrasic Park and Lord of the Rings type scenery. Also cows. The city was fun too. The hotel was a little odd (4 people to a room, two beds; which didn't really bother me because sleep is sleep but some guys in other rooms seemed to have problems sleeping in a bed with another guy. Me, sharing a bed isn't a big deal; I guess the complainers thought they had to cuddle or something.) but I got to watch spongebob in chinese so it was completely worth it. I practically knew what they were saying because of how awesome Spongebob is. My biggest complaint about the trip was the food, there just didn't seem to be enough. Or, to put it another way, I wanted a heaping pile of meat all to myself; there were others who felt the same way. But overall a good trip, definitely worth it.

Top Fifteen (week and a half's worth) Songs of the Week
( I do not look over the previous list so repeat songs are a possibility, which means they are that good)

Stop by Jimmy Eat World

The Fight Song by Marilyn Manson

Closer to the Edge by 30 Seconds to Mars (BASTARDS COME TO CHAMPAIGN WHILE I'M IN TAIWAN)

Little Red Rodeo by Collin Raye

Believe by Yellowcard

Callin' Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks

Ain't No Grave by Johnny Cash (check out the Johnny Cash Project video if you haven't seen it)

Vox Populi by 30 Seconds to Mars (BASTARDS (breaks down into tears))

Without You by Keith Urban

a (had to figure out how to turn of italics)

Get Off on the Pain by Gary Allan

Work by Jimmy Eat World

Time to Waste by Alkiline Trio (because no burned cd can be made without this being on there (you know who you are who mocked me about this all the time, its a great song dammit)

Image of the Invisible by Thrice

a (stupid italics, stupid Blogger)

Red Sky by Thrice

I Hate My Life by Theory of a Deadman (music video helps understand the humor)


Back to less important things. Last weekend, even though I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get there, I went to Kenting to go to a party on the beach (pictured). I decided I was going to take the ridiculously expensive High Speed Rail (also picture, if you hadn't guessed) down to this one town and then find my way to Kenting from there. The train was so cool, probably the second best part of the trip. It goes around 120mph, I think, and is basically a plane with wheel with stuff on the top of it that makes it seem like a really long bumper car. It had amazing leg room. Plus it took me only 2 hours to basically travel the length of the island. But it was cool. I took a taxi van to Kenting and was dropped off at the party. The party itself was a little odd. I'm no the biggest person on rave type music so that was pretty much just noise to me. Had some Coronas and had a decent time though. Also when I left that party I ran into a group from I-House and hung out with them for an hour and a half or so. And then came the real fun...

I have a real problem communicating where I want to go to taxi drivers here (no clue why...) and so I usually have to show them something of where I am going. But a lot of them can speak broken English. This particular driver could not but I was ok with that. I showed him my HSR ticket and he said ok and waved at me to get in. I did not realize how tired this man was or that he was going to take me all the way there and not to the bus stop until later. So as we are driving (the 3rd time I have road in the back of a taxi, I rode shotgun when I got picked up from the airport because it seemed rude to sit in the back) I notice that he is swerving a bit and going fairly slow. The slowness didn't really bother me because we had already worked out a flat fee to take me there by the time (about ten minutes later once we got out of the city and I realized he was taking me to actual station) but the swerving was a little worrying. But I shrugged and just looked out the window. A little after this is when my head slammed into head rest in front of me because the driver had almost hit a couple on a moped. I couldn't believe he hadn't actually hit them because he was so close. By now I realized he was falling asleep at the wheel but again I shrugged because there was nothing I could do no; I had no clue where we were so I wasn't about to get out. After about ten more minutes of driving and me relaxing again, the guy literally falls asleep at the wheel. Good thing I wished for spider sense (pictured) before I left because I turn quickly when I felt that tingling in my head and shake the guy awake, cursing at him (he did deserve at that point even if he had no clue what I was saying). He wakes up but was fairly calm about it, he didn't jerk and crash so it was all good I guess. We then went to a 7-11 and got coffee and candy. He was fairly jovial after that and we listened to music from the 60's and 70's all the way to the station. He gave me a pretty good discount too. Some said I shouldn't have paid at all but he did drive me all the way the Station at 530am and it took until 700am to get there. It was amazing ridiculous and easily was the best part of the whole day trip. Even though a certain brother of mine who shall not be named (Percy) doesn't seem to believe me, this really did happen. Maybe he was just upset it didn't kill me. Probably that.

And that catches me up to now. It is 4:42 am here and I am still up doing this now so I can hopefully fall asleep at a decent hour tonight; get my internal schedule working right again. Also I go in to get my right bottom wisdom tooth taken out monday morning if you all wanted to know.

Levi

Post on Haulien coming soon!

For now some pics are on facebook.

Levi

Songs, upcoming events, and why I don't right that much...

This week in pictues:

My chinese character practicing

Pictures of the district from up on the mountain side

My Noodle cooking method

A massive triple cheeseburger that was just alright

Some food that I think was fish

And the Administration

Top Ten Songs of the Week

In no particular order:

Give Me a Sign by Breaking Benjamin

Ulysses by Franz Ferdinand

This River is Wild by The Killers

Waking Up with Wolves by The Black Maria

The Best I Ever Had by Gary Allan

Get Off on the Pain by Gary Allan

I'm Like a Lawyer by Fall Out Boy

The Unforgiven 2 by Metallica

What Goes Around Comes Around by Justin Timberlake (release another D@#N ALBUM!)

I Love this Bar by Toby Keith

(Gary Allan wins this week)

Now that is out of the way, this week I'm going white water rafting. Also I might attempt the zoo again, without forgetting my camera, yet that is likely going to happen next week. Pictures of rafting probably will be harder to take as I might just but a disposable and scan them at the library. Will also try to take pictures of my classes and buildings and stuff.

I do not write that much anymore because I have class almost everyday so I do not have that many opportunities to go sightseeing at the moment. Plus I forget to bring my camera, a lot. Also I did tai chi wednesday which was fun. And I'm losing fat and gaining muscle So I'm happy.

Levi

Music I have been listening to: Version 1

I'm going to make a top ten list of the songs I listen to each week just to amuse myself and hopefully inspire y'all to agree with my taste. Which you should, because I am awesome. Also I have nothing better to do at the moment.

In no particular order:

Wrong by Depeche Mode + music video

Long Hot Summer by Keith Urban + music video

Stricken by Disturbed + music video

When You Were Young by The Killers + music video

Tranquilize by The Killers + music video (classic)

You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift (I know I am cool like that with my music, which leads me to...) + music video (cracks me up)

Sexy Ladies by Justin Timberlake

Hey Little World by The Hives

Bruises by Chairlift + music video (kinda weird)

I Bet You Look Good on The Dance-floor by the Arctic Monkeys (video sucks)

Also the picture signifies how much warmer it is here. I took that 2 weeks ago.

Levi

Catching Up: The Big Post

o





This stuff is all from basically two weeks ago.

The people in the picture(the one with people) are Terry, Jenny, and Annie in clockwise order. They are my buddies assigned to me by the university and are pretty fun to hang around. That is at a restaurant they all took me to, which is where the food pictured came from. It is some kind of spicy stew like thing in which you add different meets and vegetables into. It also comes with tofu and blood pudding in it. It was duck blood and while it had the consistency of jello, it tasted delicious. The servers kept bringing out tons of food to keep adding to the bubbling pot in the middle. I don't remember if I already wrote about this but I really don't care either way; I do what I want. We also had ice cream, although it really wasn't ice cream in the American since. It was better.

The statue is just a cool statue in front of a building. I thought it was really funny that the big lion was killing the little one.

The other pictures of food are fried dumplings and bubble tea, which are everywhere in Taipei. The dumplings are supposed to be some of the best in Taipei and I find that a hard statement to argue.

The dogs on the lawn in front of the library are just dogs in front of the library. Dogs are everywhere in Taipei and I don't think there are leash laws. Some are strays, some are just like cats in the States that just get to wander about. It bugs me about the ones that are obviously just abandoned because that isn't right.

The other pictures are of the Taipei Game Show, as in Video Game Expo. It was interesting to go to but completely not worth it. It was crowded to the point that I started to midly freak out about not able to move. Literally you were shoulder to shoulder with people. It was strange and fascinating but I shouldn't have gone on a Saturday. The picture of the car is front of the Sony area and is a Grand Tourismo; just for Brad. There was tons of cool stuff like a proffesional Starcraft II tournament, and areas for each of the main systems; plus game girls advertising things which is always a plus. But again, it wasn't that great. Especially since I can't understand the language.

Now the Lantern Festival I went to which I will not be posting pictures about was at Taipei 101. Pictures are on my facebook page where I posted all of them. This is not the traditional one where the light the lanterns with the wishes on them and let them fly into the air. I didn't go to that one because, honestly, I just didn't want to have to go that far out of the city and get back in the morning. This one was plenty cool though, with awesome lantern sculptures and a more fair like atmosphere. Plus the giant bunny was awesome. I don't really know what to write about this besides link the pictures to this. It was more of a you had to be there thing. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=1332804344&aid=2111402 Thats were the pictures are, I guess.

And we're caught up. I haven't taken any pictures of school and class yet which will be my next endeavor for this blog.

Levi

Where I got my computer, a farmers' market, and a video store of Ill repute.

This is the long delayed (because of slacking) post about my trip to go get a new computer. My second long delayed post about the Lantern Festival will be posted shortly later. By shortly I of course mean within the next couple of days.

Let me start by start by saying that the picture of the cute little yellow guy is in front of Guang Hua Digital Plaza, which is where I purchased my computer. The building is a mixed assortment of computer, audio, and video tech for the professional and for average shoppers. The important thing here is to shop around to find your best price. Most of it is cheaper than back in the states but some of it is not. Getting a good deal could lead you to multiple shops. I myself got a good deal by buying mostly new computer tech and having the shop I bought my components at build my computer. With this I got the guy to give me a discount on the majority of it, and got a free keyboard, mouse, and monitor out of it. The place has six floors if I remember correctly. The computer was still expensive, especially since I paid for a lot of new tech but was still about 500 to 700 USD's cheaper than buying it in the states. I would describe more about it but I don't feel that the components of my computer are very interesting, and I don't remember what most of them were called.

The farmers market, I think it was a farmers market since it had the symptoms of a farmers market all over, was a pleasant surprise to me. By the way if you ever see me spell surprise wrong and I don't catch it let me know. I usually don't pronounce the first r in it so I forget to put it in when I am spelling it. Anyway it had your traditional fruits and vegetables all over with a few ones I had never seen so big before (sweet potatoes a yard long and amazing carrots). The carrot was the best thing besides the cheezy magic show. Better than the crappy folk music playing at the one back home.

And lastly we come to my short comment on the dvd store. Well it was defiantly not a dvd store, as there were only normal dvds in the very front of the store. Also the store was down a dark alley with completely covered windows which should have given away as to the stores true nature. Once I saw what it was really selling I started busting up laughing very loudly and left. What I found out online however was that these kind of stores are technically illegal in Taiwan (I guess) which made it that much funnier.

I cannot find the rest of my pictures of this day so I don't have more pictures of the place and its surroundings. The picture of the blurry building is of the Taipei Tech College which has an awesome metal tree with vines growing throughout the whole thing, creating an awesome mix of nature and steel. I want one.

Levi

Fruit

I have to say that there is probably something strange going on with American Fruit. Fruit as in oranges in particular. I bought a sack of oranges that I thought was going to last me for days until I find out 3 days later they had rotted. Maybe I just got a bad batch and the oranges were likely a different breed of oranges (they tasted and looked different on the inside, for the better) but I have oranges sit in a fridge for weeks without spoiling. So what is in our oranges?

Levi

Confusion over what I have and haven't wrote about...

First off, that carrot was the biggest, most symmetrical, tasty, and perfect carrot I have ever seen. It was bigger than my hand and looked cartoonish. BEST, CARROT, EVER.

I have a lot of things I need to catch up about in blogging but I am very confused as to what I need to blog about. My pictures are in tons of different folders and now on two different computers. By the way my laptop is bugging out ridiculously so I guess I chose the right time to buy my new one. Oh well.

Things I plan to write about after the hecticness (its a word now) of the first week of school here which; by the way, is insane and I am struggling to stay in classes because of conflicts, them no longer being taught in English, and other; are the Lantern festival, school things, the electronics plaza, food, and again other.

But right now I am busy with finding classes so...goodbye.

AND WE'RE BACK!!!

Well Google now accepts I am the guy who's name is on the account. So Blog entries will be a coming soon! But I bought a new computer that, by the way, is better than Percy's and was likely a ton cheaper. 1150 USD and it has the top of the line everything. Brand new quad core i7 processor was what hooked me. Had it custom built. So now I'm going to play on it.

Levi

Wufenpu Shopping and the MRT

So the MRT (Magnetic Rail Train?, Mass Rapid Transit? Metro Rail Train?) is a pretty cool way to travel. Of course, I have never ridden on a subway or an above ground city train so it was fascinating to me. I only road the Amtrak once when I was young so this was pretty much a new experience. It is really, really fast. Plus it gets crowded during the downtown segments in the subway. It took maybe 20-30 minutes to get to Housapani (probably not spelled right) Station and a 2 minute walk to the Wufenpu shopping district.


This place opens sometime after noon for the full shopping experiance. It is packed to the point where you could crawl faster than you could walk. There are many more shops with girl clothes than guy clothes, but there is likely over a hundred shops here. It is a maze, I am sure I didn't hit everything. There is also a lot of food places here, which is where I found a corndog (6 corndogs to be specific). I like corndogs. The clothes here are defiantly made with Taiwanese people in mind; they are skinny clothes. So if you plan on coming here and you are of the heavier persuasion like a certain blogger (me) then it will be difficult to find clothes in this district. But thankfully there is a gym and a pool here so maybe I can go back near the end and buy some skinnier clothes. I don't what else to say so I am going to end it here.

-Levi E

Thought this was cool...

Improvised barbed wire.

other pictures of the day

From top to bottom: My bus pass and NCCU ID,
Egg noodles with my cell phone in the corner, a parking sign for my parking people, view of the district I live in, NCCU campus entrance, Illinois State University on the international cooperation map, Breakfast

I-House: What I know so far...

*Note that pictures will be added later due to slow internet speed at the moment*
**Also everybody (even non-followers) should be able to comment now**

Let it first be noted that I-House is a very nice place, brand new and much better than any dorm you've been in. Very clean, you have your own bathroom, and much larger than an ISU dorm. Plus you have a balcony and a window you can actually open. The bed is a long twin (I think) and your supplied with a mattress pad, a sheet, a blanket, a comforter, and a pillow with case. Next to your bed you have a night stand and your own desk area with shelves; it is a fairly large space. You have your own cabinet with a convenient space for a lock to protect your valuables. Other things you are supplied with are a bathroom start up kit (no large body towel), an electronics start up for the internet and stuff, and a fridge. On electronics, there is an electricity limit you can use a month and it cost to go over. Not much and I'll tell you if it goes over this month. I-House, and about everything in Taipei so far, use magnetic cards to get into doors or even ride the bus. Your room card and student ID are very important as you need them for everything. It took me a while to realize you had to put the card in the slot to even turn on the lights. The staff at the front desk are extremely helpful with everything so there isn't much to worry about.

At the moment that is all I have to say about I-House, I am sure there will be more once more people get here and we get into the swing of things. At the moment I am pretty much left to my own devices. Of course, classes don't start until next next week.

Levi

PS: People here (Jenny so far) use next next when talking about 2 weeks from now so suck it people who make fun of me for saying it. And I know that English is my first language so I should say it the way everybody else does, but screw that.