Weblog

Saturday, 07 November 2009

  • Currently
    Great Is Thy Faithfulness
    By Made Popular By: Selah
    Great Is Thy Faithfulness
    see related

    Internships...and other stuff

    Wow... Time is going by fast! (I know I sound like an old person) My final midterm is on Thursday, and I'm halfway through the first semester!

    Life has turned into a blur of pages - between marketing management, statistics, and financial accounting. In between that, I've been able to hang out with friends, and have some good conversations with people. No photography, though

    Last week, I got an email from a person who wanted to know if I wanted an internship...I went to the interview yesterday, and found out that I'll be doing voice-overs for training and presentation materials for a Taiwanese company that's releasing a new product, and are trying to switch from OEM (making products, then selling them to other companies who put their own names on them) to creating their own brand and marketing system for the product. It'll be weird hearing my own voice on all these different products - I've never done anything like this before.

    They really couldn't tell me how long the project would last, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep working with this company after this particular project is over, and especially for my internship next summer. We'll see what happens.

    Other than that, not much has been going on - I'm hoping to get out of Hsinchu next weekend, and might be going to Kaosiung, but I'll find out more about that next week.

    Nothing new on the moped issue...still looking...

    This is a song that's been going through my head this week.


Friday, 16 October 2009

  • Currently
    Jesus Messiah
    By Chris Tomlin
    Jesus Messiah
    see related

    Taipei Adventures

    Last weekend was rather unique - and insane. I decided to meet up with some friends, former TAs(teacher assistants) in Taipei, along with other former King Car teachers, and another friend I had met randomly. Since I was going to Danshui, I thought of inviting some classmates along - foreigners who had never been to Danshui before.

    Danshui is a fishing village outside of Taipei that has become a tourist attraction, lots of shops, food stands, and generally a fun place to just hang out. We got to Danshui around 1pm, walked around for a while, ate food, and hung out until 2:15, when I went back to meet the TAs and other teachers at the MRT station. We spent the rest of the afternoon in two different groups. The group from school went to the other side of the river while I was waiting for the TAs and other people I was supposed to meet. We didn't meet up for several hours, and spent a lot of time playing telephone tag, trying to find each other.

    It was neat to see friends I hadn't seen in a while, and catch up with what's been happening in their lives. I had a lot of fun just talking, though the whole telephone tag thing was a little frustrating.

    About 7, we all met up at Starbucks, and was finally able to see everyone at once. A little while later, everyone split up, and I went out to dinner with one of the friends who had come for the day. We walked around a bit, trying to find a decent place to eat that wasn't crazy expensive, and finally settled for the basement of SOGO, where they had decent food at decent prices. After that, we walked around a little more, and eventually found a tea shop where we talked a little more. By that time, I was supposed to meet up with someone who was supposed to give me a place to stay for the night.

    Julie, another TA that I met last year, invited me to her church on Sunday. However, she asked a friend of hers, Earvin, if he could let me stay at his apartment. It took a little while for Earvin to find me, as I'm not too familiar with Taipei, and wasn't sure exactly where I was. He finally found me about 11:30, and I went back to his place. We were able to talk a bit, and I found out that he went through the VOICE program, a Christian intercultural program that was run by IBLP, the group in America that I had worked with, and who was the catalyst for me coming to Taiwan in the first place.

    This being the case, he and I knew a lot of the same people - he pulled out a book, with names and pictures of all the VOICE students and staff, and I found a lot of names and faces of people I knew.

    We eventually got to bed, and went to church the next morning. I went to an English Sunday school class, with an American missionary from Indiana. After talking to him a little bit, I found out that he's lived in Taiwan for 15 years, 12 of them in Taichung, a city in southern Taiwan. I found out that he knows an American missionary that I know working in Taichung.

    The service was all in Chinese, which was ok - I followed along the best I could, but really couldn't get the gist of the message. After church, Earvin and I went to the Chen's house. They're the head of the IBLP staff in Taiwan. Earvin had told them that he was coming, and that he was bringing someone with him. When I walked in the door, they were quite surprised that we knew each other.

    It was really neat to see the Chens, other friends that I wasn't planning on seeing.

    Overall, it was a great weekend, and I was able to see a lot of friends that I hadn't seen for a while. On the other hand, I learned that it's not worth it to try to get 3 different groups together at the same time, especially if I'm the only one who knows all of them, and that I probably should have just done this in 2 or 3 different trips.

Sunday, 04 October 2009

  • Currently
    Jesus Messiah
    By Chris Tomlin
    see related

    A month

    I can't believe I've been here a month. In some ways, it seems like a long time, but other ways, it seems very short. Classes are going well, and are starting to get busy. Some classes, such as accounting and statistics, take up a ton of time, while others, such as Organizational Behavior and Information Management, don't take up too much time at all.

    I've been able to meet friends from all over the world. Yesterday was the "Moon Festival" holiday. I was going to go to a Taiwanese friend's house, but that didn't work out, so I did a bunch of homework and was going to the pool, when I met another GMBA student, who was going to a Vietnamese party. That was really neat - I was able to try new food and meet new people.

    Last week, I went to the other side of the island, to a student's home in Luodong, in Yilan county. It was really neat to see students I hadn't seen in a while. I spent Saturday evening at the night market, then went to a park, where they got me a cake and sang "Happy Birthday" It was such a blessing to have a birthday party with old friends when I'm living in a new place, new language, and new people.

    Sunday, we went to some sort of shoe factory/museum that made wooden sandals. While I wouldn't want to wear them, it was fun to try them on. They didn't sell anything that fit me, and would have had to make something custom, just because my feet are so big .

    This week was busy, full of class, studying, and generally trying to figure out how to balance everything. It's good to have friends, but it's hard to balance friends, studying, sleep and relaxing.

    I finally got outside w/ my camera, and took some pictures of the school. Nothing exciting, but it gives a general idea of what the school looks like. The architecture is definitely nothing to write home about, and the library is really the only building w/ any sort of creativity involved.     

    DSC_5288

    DSC_5291

    DSC_5285

    DSC_5280

    DSC_5278

    DSC_5276

    DSC_5270

    DSC_5254

    DSC_5244

    DSC_5241

    DSC_5237

    DSC_5232

    DSC_5231

Sunday, 13 September 2009

  • Taiwan at Last!!

    It's been a month since I've last blogged, but I've changed continents, languages, and cultures, which is kind of time consuming, if you think about it. I'm now at Chiao Tung University (交通大學) in Hsinchu, Taiwan. There are people from 15 different countries, with 4 Americans. I know it will be tough, but it will be good. After orientation yesterday, I felt like a guy in the middle of the ocean with no boat or land in sight. However, I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing, which means that God will pull me through.

    Last Saturday and Sunday, I visited a student's house an hour from the school in Yuan-li, Taiwan. It was neat to finally see Lucy, after I'd kept in touch with her while I was in the States. I did and saw a lot of unique things, such as oyster digging, reed weaving museum, and a tour of Yuan-li, the little town they live in. It was neat to be in a home, with a family, not in a dorm with a cafeteria.

    Since then, I've been getting registered, setting up the things I need, and finding out what I haven't done that I need to do still. I've made some friends, and met people that i think will be a lot of help this semester.

    Here are a few pictures from my trip to Yuan-li:


    soft-serve ice cream


    digging for clams


    her dress is made out of rush


    Mr. Lai's aunt is one of the rush weavers


    hats, and roses - all out of rush


    friends and relatives


    David(Mr. Lai), Brian, and I

Thursday, 13 August 2009

  • Vacation Time

    A few weeks ago, I headed North - I visited family that I haven't seen in a while, and won't see again for a while. It was so neat to be able to travel by myself - not have to compete for attention, or worry about other people's plans. I spent a whole week touring New Hampshire and Maine.

    I was able to do things I haven't done since the last time I lived in Maine - ride go-karts, bumper boats, and sailboats - see people I haven't seen since I last lived in Maine - the New Gloucester librarian (that used to be my second home ), and eat 2 lobsters at one sitting.

    I did things I've never done before - visit the relatives without other Newhooks around, go to Clark's Trading Post, and get a speeding ticket.

    I was blessed in many ways by all the people I saw - and had a lot of fun in the process. We had some great conversations, and I learned a lot about my family.

    Even though I don't see my extended family very often, I will miss them while I'm in Taiwan, and thank God for them.

    Here are some pics - not necessarily in time order