A New Beginning
Moving in to my apartment has been both good and bad. It is good because it represents stability and a life which doesn't involve sharing a bathroom, but with stability comes stagnation. Now that I go to the same place every morning and come back at about the same time every evening, life is beginning to resemble the same pattern it does for every student in the world. That said, there are definitely perks to living in Taipei. There are millions of interesting restaurants and cafes (and bars) all over the city. There are lots of people who are more than interested in talking to you just because you're from the West, so it's easy to start conversations. And every day I do learn new things. Just observing daily life can be quite a fun experience when you're living in a foreign country, and I'm quite OK with just relaxing by myself in a web cafe or a little tea house (lately it's been more coffee houses, actually. I think that's alright, because they are good coffee places, but it seems strange that I'm starting to learn about coffee house culture in Taiwan). I am getting pretty comfortable with life here, and I plan on devoting a little more time to homework now that everything is pretty much worked out.
Speaking of learning new things, I was invited to come and learn pretty much anything about Chinese culture from the owner of an electronics shop near my house. It has a big Panasonic sign on the front, though I don't think I saw even one Panasonic product inside. I did buy some speakers and a DVD player from him, and they were perhaps a tad expensive (though I did bargain a bit). The thing about bargaining for me is, I don't know how hard to push. People here seem to be pretty mean when they bargain, but I don't even know the real prices of most products for so I can't tell if I'm being hardnosed or just dumb. Some things cost virtually the same here as in the United States, like genuine music CDs and movies. Others are quite clearly much cheaper, like household goods and food. But there is still a vast collection of items I haven't quite mastered yet, especially for brands like "Kinyo". How much are "Kinyo" speakers that sound and look good worth? Where the hell are "Kinyo" speakers from? For all I know, they could be OEM manufacturers for Bose or something. Probably not, but I'm just saying. In any case, the shop owner (Chen Xing1 lian2, in case you were wondering) invited me to go to tai chi with him tomorrow in the park. Considering that it's at 5am, I'm not sure how well that is going to work out but I really don't want to disappoint him so I will try as best I can to find our appointed meeting place in time. His tai chi "team", for lack of a better word, goes to national competitions and wears uniforms (red on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and blue on Tuesday and Thursday). I thought tai chi was more of a relaxed activity, but he takes great pride in the exercise, so it is clearly very serious here. My karate teacher at Swarthmore did say that you can kill someone with tai chi (maybe just really slowly, when they aren't looking?).
Last Wednesday, I went to a club called Mint in the basement of the Taipei 101 building. That night, I met several bankers from Merrill Lynch and a private investment company specializing in bonds, as well as many very interestingly dressed Japanese guys who were somehow in the music business in Taipei (and or modeling? they were all quite tall). (I didn't really like any of the girls there, so I spent most of my time making connections). To make a long story short, I was basically offered an internship in Hong Kong by the Merrill Lynch guys, or in New York or Philadelphia by the other people. The story has to be short, because my time is up at the internet cafe, but I will return with more details later. I hope you are still reading. There is always more to write than there is time to express it!
Have a good morning, folks and wish me luck. I have a yan jiang, or brief speech, to give tomorrow.
Till next time,
Andrew
Speaking of learning new things, I was invited to come and learn pretty much anything about Chinese culture from the owner of an electronics shop near my house. It has a big Panasonic sign on the front, though I don't think I saw even one Panasonic product inside. I did buy some speakers and a DVD player from him, and they were perhaps a tad expensive (though I did bargain a bit). The thing about bargaining for me is, I don't know how hard to push. People here seem to be pretty mean when they bargain, but I don't even know the real prices of most products for so I can't tell if I'm being hardnosed or just dumb. Some things cost virtually the same here as in the United States, like genuine music CDs and movies. Others are quite clearly much cheaper, like household goods and food. But there is still a vast collection of items I haven't quite mastered yet, especially for brands like "Kinyo". How much are "Kinyo" speakers that sound and look good worth? Where the hell are "Kinyo" speakers from? For all I know, they could be OEM manufacturers for Bose or something. Probably not, but I'm just saying. In any case, the shop owner (Chen Xing1 lian2, in case you were wondering) invited me to go to tai chi with him tomorrow in the park. Considering that it's at 5am, I'm not sure how well that is going to work out but I really don't want to disappoint him so I will try as best I can to find our appointed meeting place in time. His tai chi "team", for lack of a better word, goes to national competitions and wears uniforms (red on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and blue on Tuesday and Thursday). I thought tai chi was more of a relaxed activity, but he takes great pride in the exercise, so it is clearly very serious here. My karate teacher at Swarthmore did say that you can kill someone with tai chi (maybe just really slowly, when they aren't looking?).
Last Wednesday, I went to a club called Mint in the basement of the Taipei 101 building. That night, I met several bankers from Merrill Lynch and a private investment company specializing in bonds, as well as many very interestingly dressed Japanese guys who were somehow in the music business in Taipei (and or modeling? they were all quite tall). (I didn't really like any of the girls there, so I spent most of my time making connections). To make a long story short, I was basically offered an internship in Hong Kong by the Merrill Lynch guys, or in New York or Philadelphia by the other people. The story has to be short, because my time is up at the internet cafe, but I will return with more details later. I hope you are still reading. There is always more to write than there is time to express it!
Have a good morning, folks and wish me luck. I have a yan jiang, or brief speech, to give tomorrow.
Till next time,
Andrew
posted by Andrew at
7:13 PM
2 Comments:
Yeah, it was all in English. Most of them were American, but a couple were Korean (though they spoke perfect English). It was a weird series of code switches, now that I think of it, because I went from talking to Taiwanese, to Japanese, to Americans and Koreans ("internationals"). I spoke mostly Chinese to the Japanese, and it was interesting to see them be in a similar position to me.
By
Andrew, at 6:00 PM
the key to bargaining is to slash the price in half and let it creep up bit by bit from there. if the shopowner doesn't budge, you start walking away showing no sign of interest, then they usually succumb to a reasonably cheap price. this usually works for clothes and other less expensive goods! try it !
linda
By
Unknown, at 10:12 PM
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