Me, Ming and the National Palace Museum

Where in the World is D Today?

3 Guesses. The first clue is Star and the last is Bucks.

This is one of those times when you may have seen some of this on Facebook. But not everybody has Facebook. So I do a little bit of double effort. If you're interested, in seeing this blog, then it is totally worth it for me.

There's not much story to tell. Ming is a teacher at, and more importantly, a friend from Chung Li Elementary School. She is the first Taiwanese teacher to befriend me. She has been instrumental in helping me adapt to Taiwan. I haven't mentioned her much on my blog, which is a major error on my part. So World, Meet my Friend Minghui. (I hope I spelled that right.) And Oh yeah, the National Palace Museum was really cool too! (Taking photos was not allowed inside. Sorry folks.)


OK, before I have to stop and again sing the praises of 7-Eleven in Taiwan. I was running late as I am oft to, and did not eat breakfast before getting to Taipei. I love Strawberry jam. And there it was... as if calling to Strawberry Jam and bread. Add some Orange Juice, step back and say an ever so hearty Awesome! Everyone here thinks I'm goofy when it comes to 7-Eleven. I just say, "you guys REALLY have no idea how different this is from America." (Some day I will do a post on bread in Taiwan. Again a very different experience from America.)














I look fat in this picture :(













These pictures are from a Garden connected to the Palace Museum.



















It was a GOOD day!

My Birthday Part 3

Where in the World is D Today?

Reflecting on his Birthday.

As promised from the blog post my birthday part 2, Part 3 will be special. At least it is to ME.

It wasn't until I looked back that I realized what a COOL Birthday I really had. My Birthday was spread out over 2 days. Day 1 was the movie with Jane.
We went to see Wolverine: X-men Beginnings. But before I went to the movies I went to Starbucks. I thought I would just stop by and goof around on my computer for a little bit. The only person at Starbucks who know it was my birthday was Sylvie. We had chatted online the week before and I mentioned that it had been my observation that it often, not always, rains on May 5.



Once I got to Starbucks, what happened later made me cry when I got home. First I ran into Cindy. That's always cool. I hadn't seen her in maybe 2 1/2 weeks. I have slightly different relationship with Cindy than I do with Pie and Shaq. We talk about deep stuff; the future, the world and our place in it.















Then Pie rolls in. Say it with me people, AWESOME! Then Sylvie come over and says I told you it wouldn't rain! I am all smile then it happens. I get my gift.
A simple envelope with a birthday card, or so I thought. I'll let you read for yourself.













































































































































Me and Sylvie






















Me and Bryan






















Me and Eddie



















Me, Sylvie and Edison















And what is a birthday without CAKE!






















I got the cake from one of 6th grade Homeroom Teachers. Her name is (spelled phonetically - Yu Shun).We meet on Wednesdays after school and I help her with English and she teaches me some Chinese. But mostly we just talk about Family, our kids, you know.... LIFE. She is so kind. My life is richer here at Chung Li Elementary school because of her.

Re-thinking Taipei 101 and Teaching

Where in the World is D Today?

Re-thinking and revising a few things.

I have gone on the record on this blog and other places as saying, (The things I know, I am completely confident of. The things I don't know, I am totally neurotic. I know teaching. I am 99.9% completely confident when I go to teach a lesson. Women... hmmm.... well, put that in the neurotic category.)

Today I went in to teach what I thought was a pretty good lesson with kids I was confident would do well. While I think it was a good lesson in theory, me believing we could build from the two previous weeks. I felt like I was at the base of Mt.Vesuvius (look it up if you don't know the history) during the lesson. Translation: the lesson was AWFUL!!

After crawling out of the ash, I bounced some ideas of Will, my friend and mentor. Will would not actually say this, but his response was some akin to, "that's dumb". So going back to the drawing board a third time, I came up completely re-vamped lesson for my second class. (All in about 40 minutes time!) And you know what?! I was a lot better the second time around. There is still one adjustment to be made but I felt so much better.

I admit I am a recovering perfectionist. I know things can't always be perfect. But dang it, anything worth doing is worth doing well! My students had no idea what I had gone through with the previous class and whole exploding volcano thing, but did they get a better lesson. Frankly, yes. And I was happier too!

NOW, about Taipei 101. I would now like to retract my preious statement of "I thought it would be taller" and basically dismissing the excitement over it. Last weekend I was on my way north to see some really cool stuff north of Taipei. So as we're driving by I look out the window and OMG!, there is Taipei 101! From a distance, with other "tall" buildings in the picture, 101 is GIGANTIC. And yes, if I were a freakishly large gorilla I would want to climb it.

So people, sometimes we have to back and see things from a different perspective. And be gracious enough to say, "Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but gosh, I was wrong."

In the end, Everybody wins.

My Birthday Part 1

Where in the World is D?

In the Movie Theater.

(These pics are not from my Birthday. I didn't take any, I just didn't think of it. But I will try to get a better one and pretend it is my bday.)


For as long as I can remember, I have gone to see a movie on my birthday. It's one of the few traditions I adhere to somewhat religiously. I love going to the movies and my birthday is always around that first week of the beginning of the summer blockbuster season. And most importantly, I've always seen a movie WITH someone. That's important to note. It traditionally is Sean and or Tim or both. Well gosh, I'm in another country for for my birthday for the first time in my life. I've only been here a short time and don't know that many people And then there's the issue of people are busy (even my Starbucks buddies) and then there's the unfortunately timing of my birthday being in the middle of the week. Add to that I am just not the type to beg people to hang out with me because its my birthday. It is my nature to be much more low key about my birthday. The fact that I put happy birthday to me on my Facebook was major departure from my typical Modus Operandi. . So what am I to do? Take a chance and ask someone to go to the movies with me. Not going to the movies on my birthday is just unacceptable. So....

I asked Jane. I know Jane from Elementary School and from the gym. She has a tiny body and a huge wonderful laugh. To be perfectly honest, I think my invitation freaked her out a little bit. People here usually celebrate birthdays in groups. So here is this foreigner guy asking her to the movies for his birthday, ALONE. She graciously accepted and skipped going to the gym so I didn't have to spend my birthday alone.



So if you happen to run into Jane, give her a wink and nod, and tell her she did a good thing.

I have one more very important part of my birthday, but it is very late and I MUST go to sleep. Trust me, it is WORTH the Wait. (I will call it birthday Part 3)

My Birthday part 2 Or (My life as a Panda!)

Where in the World D?

Partying like a Rock Star and Startled at how similar he is to a Panda Bear?

I was just explaining to my friend Ming that my sense of humor is sometimes too odd for Taiwanese people. It's not them it's me. Who else would compare themselves to a Panda Bear, seriously. Just Bear with me. get it bear.....

Here's the deal. This is really an extension of the blog entry "Not exactly a celebrity.." Last week was my birthday. On Tuesday, my actual birthday, I went to the movies with Jane. I had my traditional movie with a nice person and had good conversation afterward. On day two, Wednesday the 6th, I went out with Ken, Ivor and Gary. The military guys from work. I also ran into Yama. Yama is the manager at the guy. He was there with a few people from the gym. Tommy is the one who's name I remember.





So while we're there, we upgrade to the VIP section next to the dance floor. (My ears were ring for two days afterward by the way.) So we are in the flow. So between my school friends and Yama, I am meeting a ton of people, many of which were women. Here's where the Panda part comes in. When I went to the Taipei Zoo a while back, the line of people trying to see the Panda's was pretty long. Similarly lots of people wanted to meet me. But at the end of the day, you don't really want to take a Panda home. They are cute and entertaining from a distance, but what do you really have in common with them. You feel really good when you see them, but you're really OK leaving them at the zoo. I sometimes feel like that Panda. (This really doesn't apply to Ken, Gary and Ivor. It was their idea to take me out in the first place. The were in the cage with me, not one of people coming by as a spectator.)



So here's how I approach this... If you're a Panda, do you appreciate the attention. Yeah. Every Panda can dig on a little extra attention, especially on it's birthday! I had a wonderful time! But the Panda can't really begrudge the zoo patrons for going home and leaving the Panda at the zoo. It's normal. Especially after only being at the zoo for three and a half months.






Over time I know I will be less Panda-like. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the moments of being the star attraction at the zoo, knowing that it is only for a very brief moment, excepting it for what it is and keep moving forward. Someday, I'll get up off all fours, speak understandable Chinese and people will say, "Wow, A talking Panda! He looks friendly and seems pretty tame. Let's take him home and get to know him better."

Oh, I haven't said it on my blog or Facebook, but as a not so casual observer, Taiwanese women seem to come from a VERY Good gene pool! But, that's just my opinion.

Not Exactly Celebrity, but I'll take it.

Where in the World is D Today?

Still marveling at the curiosity people have in him.

I am NOWHERE close to having any celebrity, but on average of about once a week. I will have a complete stranger come up and want to take a picture with me. They come up giggle, ask for a picture, take a picture, giggle and run off. It's kinda cute. Taiwanese people are wonderful kind but VERY shy.

So as this was happening to me I decided to get a few pictures as well. Unfortunately, I don't carry my camera like I used to so I don't have very many pictures I've taken of stranger wanting to take pics with me. But here's a few.


This one was at Mr. Puff's. (More about Mr. Puff and my friend Wong Wei later.)

















This one was at the Taipei Zoo. This lady was a trip! Funny and good natured; she was riding piggy back on her boyfriend about a minute before this picture. But didn't speak a word of English. We took a picture. Then she made her boyfriend get in the picture.

My First Trip to 101 (On April 4.2009)

Where in the World is D?

Today, I’m trying to catch up on his blog when he should be sleeping.

The next several posts with be stuff that I should have written about but either didn’t have the energy or the time.

My First Trip to Taipei was fun. It took mere 3 separate attempts to make it happen, but me and Jess finally managed to get together. (As an aside as I am prone to do, if you’re into cars and racing you seriously need to hangout with Jess; girlfriend has her own RACE CAR. How cool is that!)





Let’s begin with Taipei 101 and a question. Have you ever gotten a LOT of hype about something over an extended amount of time and then when it happened you were, well, a little disappointed. Such was the case with Taipei 101. It is a totally cool building. And only a few years ago was "The Tallest Building in the World." Interesting architecture, upscale shops that I knew existed in the world but have never ACTUALLY seen; Dolce and Gabana is real! Not just something in the movies and TV. But, ya know, there aren’t a lot of really tall buildings in Columbia, MO. There are several in KC and St. Louis. So the idea of this REALLY tall building was kind of exciting. Then I saw it. And as we got closer and closer, all I could think was, “I thought it would be taller.” It’s definitely a MUST SEE in Taiwan and Taipei specifically. The interior design and architecture ARE cool, But if I were King Kong, I don’t know if I would feel a special need to climb up. The next time I’ll go to the observatory at the top. Maybe then I’ll have a better sense of it height. But I didn’t have the extra $400NT to go up.













Speaking of monsters and big buildings, I could resisting doing some Godzilla poses outside of the Bose store. And yes, the people in the store were looking at me like, “What insane asylum did he escape from.” But I will admit to being full fledged Godzilla fan! I can’t explain it, but I love me some Godzilla!














I don’t know the name of the instrument this guy was playing, but he was, say it with me AWESOME!! And if you’re curious, yes, he is blind. I and just about everybody else standing around but some money in his can.










These young people were advertising some new TV show coming out. They totally stayed in character as everybody and their brother took pics.








































These guys …… well…… God bless ‘em…. They were trying really hard. Poppin’ and Lockin’ is BIG, HUGE here amongst young people. Let me throw a quick shout out to Nick Rodriguez in Columbia. These kids could learn a lot from you. They got the heart and passion, but no skill. I suspect that it’s is from the lack of cultural background.






































This is a status of Thomas Edison (yes, I think it looks like Colonel Sanders too.) and Dr. Yuan Tseh Lee. Sorry I don’t know who he is, but he must be important.

















































The monster eating the building was a promo for a online computer game, I think. Or maybe it was just a video game. Oh, Online gaming is also huge here, if you’re into that sort of thing.






















About a block away from 101 is a small piece of U.S. Lady Liberty, get down with your bad self! I have no idea why there is a statue of The Statute of Liberty, but I would be remiss if I didn’t take a picture with it.



























After going to 101 we went to a movie and hung out a bit. I liked Taipei, or at least this part of it. Taipei Country (Metropolitan Area) is huge. Try 10,000,000 people! (according to Wikepedia)

All in all, it was good day.