It was strange watching the local news. I haven't gotten a chance to really plop in front of the tube much yet but as the news was going on I realized something about Chinese TV; it is almost impossible to watch. The TV channels find a way of putting so much information on the screen that, characters are everywhere. You wont just find them on the bottom of the screen like a CNN new scroll, but in the middle of the screen and all over the top. I makes me wonder if Asians are statistically better at multitasking. They have to deal with so much information all the time. Things are much more fast paced here. The cabs speed, the moped drivers are insane, people stand on the MRT without holding on the anything and manage to still play there PSP. Yet somehow everything seems to flow together. I guess it is because I am Weiguo (foreign) that it all seems so chaotic.
So I was just thinking as I was writing this that I kind of feel like Malcom Renoylds from Firefly here in Taiwan. For those of you who have no idea who Mal is then please stand up from the computer head to the local video store at rent Firefly. I speak my English with a dash of Chinese, and somehow it feels totally normal. Maybe someday we will all speak like that.
Oh, I also heard a great joke last night. What do you call someone who speaks three languages... Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages... bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language... American.
Thats all for now. Here a few pics that I took from my apartment. Busy, Busy.
6 comments:
Yes, it is almost 2am here and as usual, I am awake. I thought I was tired, but then I sat down to take care of some emails and saw that you had posted 2 blogs that I hadn't seen yet.
Between the scary notion of the green egg and the idea the story you told here, enough to wake anyone up.
You know, if you think back to Ghost the the Shell SAC, the news footage was pretty much how you described, so it could be the, for lack of a better term, Asian Way for news. And yes, people I have met whether student or professor from any of the areas on that side of the world seem to be better at many things from visual observation to processing information. I guess it's something that one has to learn. Maybe that's one of the reason they tend to have such an edge compared to us in academics.
I liked the joke, even if it was... well, you know...
Do me one favor, try not to get into any fights over there. Mal's always getting himself into trouble. Jane's not much better either.
Okay, here's a question for you that you can answer in an email or here:
Since you've compared yourself to Mal, you've opened the proverbial door for the following question. To give us an idea of the personalities of the three ladies you spent Turkey Day with, which girl from Firefly are they most like?
What a great question, I would say that the girls were all kind of Kaylee's in a way.
From now on I will write to you on the comment site----I've enjoyed reading all you have received so far.
Thank you for sharing your experiences---interesting---funny---scarey!!! I just love the Internet and its ability to transend time and space.
Enjoyed the description of the Asian news and general out-of-comfort-zone feel...the pics, assumed taken at night, were a bit eerie as well adding to the overall, wow, you are a "stranger in a strange land" (a book by Robert A. Heinlein, something that you should read someday, then you can use the word "grok" in everyday speech. I'd imagine there will be more and more experiences which will surprise and entice you, and then seep in and blend with your American roots.
I second the Firefly comments, a fine series filled with entertainment, adventure and attitude... - Dad
lovin the night shots! try adjusting the f stop instead of the exposure its a good way to find that happy median between overexposed and just dark pictures. seeing as we have the same camera, i found that instead of f stop 2.8 i would turn it up to f stop 4 and turn up the exposure slightly it gave the image a little more real feel but with still preserving the good image quality, yet wasnt that bright "day at night" look. take more pictures i wanna see more!
So, does this mean you have an apartment now, or are you still in the hostel? You will have to tell us where in Taipei you find an apartment. That way, if we are ever in town, we will be able to stop by and surprise you.
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