LOLVELY Randomness

Nothing to do with taiwan I know... but since im getting homesick and was watching this I decided to share it!
Fe did this for me with her new mac.... its pretty stupid and embarrassing... cause we are stupid like that when we are together.... but its a lot of fun and makes me laugh...

im very tired and will go on sleeping till tmrw... its only 7 pm but i really need to rest!

Im also very uspet and fed up because we are not going to the islands anymore... bcause of the typhoon...because we are not allowed to skip class..... and because Manuel is an idiot.

remember the venezuelan boy.... yea, he went to Hong Kong with a single entry visa and can OBVIOUSLY not come back to Taiwan!

Hot as a mother fucker (Tim’s quote)

SHOPAHOLICS PARADISE

Venerdi !!! Acaba mais uma parte do curso... ja faz quase um mes q estamos aqui.... a jen ta ficando um pouco homesick... ai eu vou ficando tb.... tamos aproveitando muito... e somos grandinhas pra saber tirar o melhor das experiencias q estamos tendo aqui...

Gracas a Deus tambem somos educadas e temos respeito pelo povo que trouxe a gente pra ca... por isso, mesmo cansadas, esta tudo indo bem!

A meninada daqui adora a gente.... agora as meninas ja dao beijinho na gente quando nos veem.... eu estou sempre abracando elas e elas adoram! (nao faco igual com os meninos se nao eles desmaiam).

Sempre agradeco os professores quando acabam suas aulas e todas as vezes q nos dao presentinhos ( minha mala vai explodir de souvenirs daqui... tenho papel de carta, envelopes, sininhos, hellokittys....)

... mas obvio tambem nao perdi o meu jeito Marininha de ser...e sempre q tenho um tempinho, durante o volei ou entre aulas, com muito jeito, explico pro nosso querido Diretor David o q ele pode fazer pra melhorar esta “acampamento”... E’ a primeira vez q eles fazem este programa... entao temos que ser pacientes, assim como eles tem sido pacientes e flexiveis com agente..... Com um pouquinho de insistencia, e muuuuuito jogo de cintura (e o meu sorriso lindo e torto) consegui premissao para viajar e mais horas livres na parte da tarde... tambem consegui q chegasse Shoyo no almoco e jantar (ELES AQUI NAO COMEM SHOYO COMO NOS! NAO POEM EM NADA NA VERDADE.... SO O Q JA VEM MIXTURADO NOS MOLHOS), e consegui tambem q a comida chegasse quentinha para nos....

Ja que acabou mais uma etapa hje foi dia de apresentacao... e de prova!

Acabamos cedo e fomos pra Taipei!

Eu e a Jen dividimos uma das malas que compramos..... e fomos pro busa.

Chegamos em taipei por volta das 6 da tarde (2 hrs e meia de viagem) e depois de deixarmos as coisas no nosso hotel fomos pro “Night Market”......

OOOOBVIO que compramos (eu e a Jen somos as vencedores do premio: shopaholic de loooonge!) mill coisas que nao precisamos….. eh tudo barato demais…..

Uns quadros de seda lindos por tipo 10 dollares…. Como boas apreciadoras da arte compramos 5 entre nos duas J

Depois fomos prum outro “Night Market” um q chama Shilin... la foi a festa… eu e a jen compramos o mesmo tennis…. Um nike dunk lindeeeerrimo e muitas blusinhas.... O highlight da noite foi a meia hora q passamos babando na frente de um petshop... 3 “Japanese Spitz” bebes... quase quase compramos um! Depois ouvi dizer q hje em dia pra trazer cachorros no aviao custa 6 vezes mais q uma passagem de um humano! Mas da uma olhadaa nisso, vale a pena nao vale?! Quero esses ursinhos disfarcados de cachorro! Gia!!!!!!!!!!

Oggi e’ SABATO, scrivo in ITAAAALIAN per il mio bibi....Nel sabatone (hahaha tipo sabadao.... nem existe) eravamo troppo pigre.... Gli altri 6 che sono venuti con noi sono usicti verso le 11 del albergo per andare a pranzare tutti insieme agli TA’s (os alunos daqui.... nos os chamamos Teaching Assistants) Io e Jen peroooooo... siamo rimaste a letto guardando film carini sotto le coperte e con laria condizionata.... fino all 2 di pomeriggio J

Volevamo andare in un museo oggi.... uno che Kevin e’ stato e ci a fatto vedere le foto....

Abbiamo messo 2 ore per arrivare al Juming Museum... ma ne e’ valsa la pena.... Col autobus abbiamo passato di fianco alla costa di Taiwan... abbiamo visto delle spiaggie bellissime.... voglio nuotare GIAAA!!!!

mural at the Ju ming museum...there were so many designs.. and they change them frequently... very cool

Il museo era molto speciale.... Nel topo di una montagna, il 80 % delle opere sono all aperto. Ju Ming e’ un artista che fa delle sculture moderne e simpatiche.... sono figure de gente.... fatte di tante maniere diverse..... e’ bello vedere espressioni semplice di momenti reali dei nostri giorni su questi pezzo di metalo o legno giganti....

one of his more abstract sculptures... its a kissing couple!

Abbiamo visto anche una esposizione di un pazzo che faceva gli caleidoscopi.... li dento c’era una “roda de hamster” .... troooppo divertente.

GUDE STYLE!

Nel ritorno abbiamo preso un passagio con una famiglia molto simpatica.... Un signore tutto vestito di bianco con la sua figlia Sara e il suo ragazzo Jensen. Ci hanno detto... “ pero abbiamo un cane, se non e’ un problema per voi, venite pure.... stiamo andando anche noi a taipei...” ovviamente non era un problema... anche perche’ i cani qua sono piccoli visto che gli apartamenti sono piccoli.....

Non questo ragazzi! Era una mucca!!!

Il pappa diceva che ero “lovely” ogni volta che parlavo.... e che io lo ricordavo di una loro amica a Sidney.... (loro hanno vissuto a Sidney per tanti anni e adesso sono tornati a Taipei dove Sara sta imparando con pappa come si fa per manterene il loro business... un importer di starch gigante)

Quando siamo arrivati ancora una altra sorpresa... ci hanno invitati a cena.... bellissimo!

Jensen, Sara, Eu,Jen, Amiga do pai, David, Amigo do Pai...

Eravamo stanche e ovviamente abbiamo mollato il night club per andare in albergo e guardare ore di tivu....

Domingao: dia de voltar pra Asia U. Nada de muito cultural.... so’ shopping shopping shopping... comprei 6 pares de sapatos esse fim de semana... ta bom neh? A mala q veio vazia voltou bombando e a carteira quase vazia... OPS!

semana passada

(at Xaga... with random taiwanese girls)

I still have to write more about the HK trip... but for now lets focus on this past week…

Its weird, time here goes by really fast but really slowly…. We are always busy so days fly by… but at the same time it seems like I’ve been livin here “fo eva eva!”

OKKEIII....

Monday was a major bum day for these princesses! We were mega tired from HK and still got up for mandarin class… Prof. David is the shizoz and we enjoy learning the subject… plus, we have a test coming up on Friday!!!! Ok so we skipped the boring afternoon classes but we feel really bad about it! Attendance has been going dooownnn…. Not even the harvards go anymore…

Tuesday: Bum day number two! Not really… it was supposed to be a free day but since we skipped class to go to HK last week, we had to work on our video.

What for?

I don’t really know yet … we had no guidelines or reasons of why to do this except the fact that we are studying digital-tech and communications for this part of the course… I gonna try to upload the edited result here soon… its pretty bad and embarrassing….

On Wed we went out to Xaga (yes im totally skipping info about classes because it was totally booooring)…. The club was real nice ... it was ladies night and we got in for free…. Hip Hop played all night… the Asians dance and dress as if they were in a cheesy hiphop video… the girls spasm while wearing bikini tops and micro skirts… They are friendly too…. We were imitating/making fun of them… you know my style… and they loved it…..

garota bombandooo na pista....

There is absolutely no interaction between the boys and girls, they each dance with their same sexed group of friends… except for the American boys that came “with” us (they gave us no attention) who were harassing all the girls….

Thursday was the course related trip about wed’s class… bem sem graca…. Eu estava doente, mas como sabia que muitos nao iam querer ir faltar, eu fui neh…. Acho um absuuuuuurdo essa galerinha folgada de fica matando aula pra bundar no quarto…. Tabom, eu faltei algumas aulas... mas estava viajando, tava “experiencing” Taiwan e HK..... e’ um motivo justificado vaiii????

videozinhos de Hong Kong

Fogos e luzes

Coisa mais fofa do mundo comendo bamboo


Passeando em Lan Kwuai Fang

HONG KONG IS THE SHIIIIIIIIII!

(skyline de hong kong.... adoroo!!!)
Nao sei nem por onde comecar! Hong Kong e' irado! Como todos dizem, e' o lugar mais Ocidental do Oriente... Pra quem nao sabe, Hong Kong foi colonia Britanica ate 1997 (uns se'culos atras a China e a Inglaterra fizeram este acordo e decidiram que no ano de 97 acabaria o acordo). Enquanto Hong Kong comemora esta data eu dou gracas a Deus que um dia os Britanicos estiveram aqui!

Em Hong Kong, todo mundo fala ingles... nem todo mundo e' fluente mas em geral o ingles dos vendedores de loja e' melhor que o o dos profs. da facu aqui.... da pra falar susssaaa com os taxistas.... (em Taiwan sofremos toda vez.... ainda mais porque a maioria dos taxistas nao falam nem mandarim direito)

Da tambem pra comer so' o que voce quer.... Os restaurantes sempre tem a versao em ingles do menu!!!! Ahhhh, e e' taooo bonitinho ver os ching-ling falando ingles com sotaque britanico!!!

OUTRO LUXO Q SE TEM EM HONG KONG: PRIVADAS!

No sun moon lake

(at the hot pot: restaurant where you cook your food with a boiling soup pot)

Today (this is me pretending I wrote this entry on Tuesday the 17^th) we had a visit to Sun Moon Lake scheduled…. Its one of the top destinations in Taiwan… but because of the rain predictions the trip was cancelled!

I NEEED TO GO SWIMMING SOME TIME…. We have not seen any beach or lake yet… that’s sad…. I mean we are in an island… and islands are surrounded by water!!!

People here don’t like the idea of swimming though… they think its dirty or whatever and even say that there are “piranhas” in the lake for kids not to swim…. They also don’t really like the sun as we all know….

ME SINTO UM PEIXE FOR A D’AGUA…. LITERALMENTEEEE!!!

Quero nadarrrr! Quero tostar no sol ate arder!!! Quero praia! JA!!!!!

Poxa, fico to pouco em lugares quentes... tenho que aproveitar! Eu e a jen vamos dar um jeito de ir pra uma ilha aqui perto esse fim de semana!

BOMMMM.. instead we just chilled....

Woke up late.... ate at Hot Pot... SOOO GOOOD! (Hot Pot: voce pega as comidas que voce quer cruas e cozinha numa sopa fervente num pote na sua mesa.... vc pode por legumes, vegetais, carnes, pasteizinhos, miojo etc...)

Side note: I took Manuel to get his wisdom teeth removed on Tuesday.... It is sooo cheap here... like 60 dollars per tooth... I was pretty scared for him... but its turns out that the method was pretty similar to the one in Brazil... for all of you americans that dont know what that means: THEY DONT KNOCK YOU OUT....

HONG KONG tmrw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sooo exited!

JOGAMOS VOLLEY DE NOITE: minha camiseta (que comprei no mercado sem saber o q queria dizer) diz PI SUH.... quer dizer vencer/ determinacao para vencer... e' o q os kamikases tinham estampado nos seus capacetes

This city girl likes taipei's public transportation system!

Taipei was definitely fun.... and exhausting too.... here are more pics of some of the trip's highlights!

It was awesome to eat good food (best fried dumplings everrr in the metro station) and not be around too many bugs!
On the other hand, the insane amounts of ppl that appear in mass amounts any where you turn are overwhelming and a bit annoying.... specially when these ppl decide to stare at you.

Jen is definitely a goddess or something for them.... They are not scared to check her out from up close and do not hide their awe as they look up and down amazed with her height, her blondness, her sexy minishorts and tanktops, and her beautiful face

... a man almost ran her over as he biked very slowly with his face almost touching her.... WTF?!


(jen eating icy-cononut-thingy with jello and fruits!!!! BEST THING EVER)
(inside the sheck memorial museum.. the ceilings here are so intricate!)
(building in sheck memorial)
(walking past sunset amongst millions of taiwanese ppl)
(with sandy and the harvard kids.... part of the "normal crew")
(gardens of the sheck memorial)
(tallest building in the world... Taipei 101)
(walking around taipei: Jen and Kelly)
(building in Sheck memorial)
(yummy pancakes)

catching up....

( Sheck memorial)

Ok so… its been very long…

We have been everywhere…. And I feel like I have to update a little….

Its beeen sooooo long since Jen’s bday that I don’t even know what to write about it! Just that se got beautiful flowers and a cake… we were doing presentation stuff so it wasn’t that much of a party….

Bowling the day after for jen’s birthday was soo much fun… We played pretty well and made like 120 points…. But the most fun part was that Jen and I were “com a macaca” (“with the monkey”: an expression in portuguese for when a person is overly energetic and ends up being annoying by laughing, making noises, dancing etc.)

THE WEEEEKEND!

It was great to get out of the farm area and go see the big city….

Sandy, one of our mandarin teachers, was with us the whole time…. We ended up crashing at her place too after refusing Kevin’s very sweet ofer to stay at his grandma’s.

(Sandy and I at her apt)

Taipei is sweet. We found it more breezy that Taichung, but maybe it was just that Saturday… I was sooo nice out! (nice in Taiwan: gray sky, some rain, non significant presence of the sun, and preferably a lot of wind).

We walked around all day. Shopped a little… there is so much to see and buy that we didn’t really buy much at all….

We were also too tired to go to the night market or clubbing for that matter…. We def need to go back there….

We swung by the Chieng Kai Sheck memorial and the jade market on Sunday before catching the Bus to return to Asia U. GORGEOUS PLACE!

Monday was pretty interesting… We did calligraphy! I learned how to write my name in Chinese… and printed it out on a t-shirt… this was for the high-tech part of the course!

time to run to class.... ill be back later today!

ps: earthquakes come and go really fast!

LOOK AT THE ARTICLE!!!

too bad i have no clue what it really says...

BED TIME!

(in taipei with sandy, our awesome mandarin teacher.... ill tell you more about that later!)

Its past our bedtime on jul16th.... tmrw is a free day so i will find time to keep updating this thing! Its a Promise!

Next posts will cover:

- Jennys 'Surprise' (jul 12)
- BOWLING IS ALWAYS FUN (jul 13)
- We are soooo out of here: Weekend in Taipei (jul 14)
- "Chieng Kai Sheck was a cutie" (jul15)
- Calligraphy is cool! (jul 16)

THE NEW DIRECTOR IS THE SHIZ!

Classes all day... on globalization this time....

BLARGHH….

IM ABSOLUTELY SLEEP DEPRAVATED!

Skipped dinner!

Best thing of the day was that we got out of classes a couple of hrs early and played volley ball for like 3 hrs… it was awesome!!! Jen was the best one on the team of course…. And besides her skills, her height gave her the competitive advantage since the net was 3 meters high…. And we were playing against very short Taiwanese girls.

By the way… I received a call from Margie, Jen’s mom, in the middle of the game….

And after I yell “ HI MARGIE” she goes: don’t tell jen its me…. OOOOPS!

Someone turns 22 tmrw!

Oh, and Director David played with us too…. Hes the best… when we wre done he took us to Mc Donalds for “dinner” in his car!!!!

dia 10 de Julho, terca feira

(foto da biblioteca nova)


Tour da faculdade de Administracao!

E depois dia livre....

Assistimos palestras e filminhos dos departamentos da facu de ADM aqui.... eles sao muito fofos... querem e acreditam realmente q nos vamos voltar para estudar aqui....

A facu aqui e’ irada..... mas existem alguns motivos fundamentais q me fazem descartar essa possibilidade rapidinho:

- Meu cabelo fica black power nesse calor e humidade dos infernos

- Estamos na pqp.... uma hora e meia de busao de uma cidade grande (ok em 15 minutos chegamos na cidade... mas nao no centrao)

- Os profs, por mais legais e cheios de conhecimento que eles sejam, falam um ingles precario e muuuuuuuuito lerdo! Por uma mes ok.... mais q isso eu me mato!

- A facu nao tem privadas nos banheiros dos predios... e’ aquela coisa porca: furo no chao!

- Os quartos da facu na verdade sao pra 4 pessoas....

- A comida da facu e’ meio nojentinha....todo mundo fala... eh comida de refeitorio... mas me desculpe, a comida da Chapel e da BC eram de refeitorio e mesmo assim muuuuito boas....

Saindo da aula fomos pro cinema ver TRANSFORMERS.....

O cinema mais animal do mundo!

Deem uma olhada nessas cadeiras.... mil vezes mais confortavel do que qualquer cinema... e do q a minha cama tambem!

Ps: Um prof em uma das apresentacoes da facu comparando as salas deles com a sala da HBS (harvard business school).... quem conhece sabe.... TODAS AS FACUS TEM ESSAS SALAS NOS EUA... e as da BC SAO BEEEEEM MAIS BONITAS ;)

QUANTO TEMPO!

(Sorry guys, i need to write this one in portuguese... my parents are dying to know whats going on since ive disappeared for almost a week now… mejia family, keep practicing your Portuguese!)

UM DIA QUALQUER.... mas com mudancas e resultados fantasticos para os nossos proximos dias aqui

Ola galera….

Pois e’ faz um tempo que nao escrevo… O motivo e’ simples: passo o dia todo em aula etc... e quando tenho tempo livre a ultima coisa que quero e’ ficar mais tempo sentada em uma cadeira no ar condicionado... (ok, o ar nao me encomoda.... mas tenho que usar o pouco tempo “livre” que temos para VER tudo que der por aqui....

Por onde comeco?...

O dia depois da fazendinha foi bem normal... dentro da sala o dia todo aprendendo de pqnas a medias empresas... mais a parte de biologia, patentes, cooperacao dos humanos etc... nao vou gastar tempo falando disso....

Gracas a Deus o casal da Harvard, que nao esta muito interessado na materia das aulas.... pq sao compridas demais pra serem pouco informativas.... resolveram escrever uma carta pra Universidade pedindo uma pqna mudanca nos horarios e no metodo de ensinamento!!!!

Eu li a carta.... muito bem escrita com palavras e frases complexas....propria para alunos da Harvard J

E FUNCIONOU.... O Diretor novo, que e’ gente boa demaisssss, fez umas mudancas nos horarios... agora temos 4 horas de mandarim em vez de 2.... e os profs receberam ordem de deixar agente sair quando acabarem em vez d preencher o tempo com cancoes....

(portuguese version of last entry with different pictures) PASSEIO NUMERO UM: DOMINGO EM UMA FAZENDINHA TAIWANESA

Ontem nao tivemos aulas…. Esperado ja que e’ o fim de semana neh??

Em fez disso fomos em 3 “fieldtrips”...
6.00 BOM DIA

7.10 todos no onibus, café da manha durante a viagem….

8.30 chegada na fazenda

8.30-3.00 quer comer, tem que cozinhar

3.00 hora de ir embora ( na verdade as 3.30… o que and hank nao tinham acabado de comer)

3.30 passadinha em um templo

4.00 passadinha no museu do saxophone (mais ou menos 90% do sax do mundo sao feitos aqui)

5.30 quase acabamos…. Jantar na cidadezinha perto da facu

8.30 boa noite… quer dizer: BANHO URGENTE!!! Depois boa noite

A fazenda de girassois onde passamos o dia era uma gracinha…. Aprendemos a dar valor a comida la…. E a comer sem frescura meeeesmo!(eu e o miles com nosso forno)

A atividade principal do dia for preparar o nosso almoco usando meios bem de fazenda pqna mesmo.... sem faca, sem sabao, sem panela, sem fogao (sobre o sabao... ainda nao tinha comentado isso mas sabonete aqui eh um LUXOOO TOTAL!... a galera vai no banheiro e nao tme sabao e nem papel pra secar a mao... eh so passar uma aguinha mesmo. AH e por algum motivo eles usam PAPEL YES pra tudo... no lugar do guardanapo na mesa e no lugar de papel higienico ... doidera)

Voltando a comida… nao foi a refeicao mais higienica do mundo mas pelo menos fomos nos q preparamos e vimos o que estava sendo feito… acho que eles nao sao muito limpos na cozinha… foi a refeicao mais gostosa e saudavel q eu comi ate agora aqui ( menos o aperitivo, q era um tipo de panqueca feita de uma gosma estranha com uma mixtura de carnes podres com gosto de figado bizzzaaarrroooo

A Jen tava feliz em nao comer coisas fritas com molhos fortes….. comemos frango, milho, batata doce de 3 tipos (uma era roxa).... no descascamos alho com as maos, massageamos a galinha, enrolamos as batatas etc em jornal e molhamos, fizemos bola de terra em volta dos ovos a puzemos tudo no forno que construimos com pedras e terra… 2 hrs cozinhando

Obviamente algumas pessoas passaram o dia reclamando do calor, da comida, da atividade …. mas eu e a jen apreciamos a refeicao e toda a preparacao.... pena q nao tinha manteiga para o milho...

Caminhamos pela fazendinha, pegamos vongole em um laguinho…. Mas depois tivemos q devolver tdo...

Foi um dia quente e suado pra todos nos…. Eu e a Jen ( e com certeza todos os outros mas nao os vi sem camisa) estamos com ficamos com a marca da regata.

………………………………….

O tempo q visitamos era lindo mas nao ficamos mto tempo la…. Depois de um dia todo trabalhando no sol eu acho q nem consegui apreciar direito a beleza e espiritualidade do lugar.... tinha uma estatua la feita com 600 libras de ouro ( eu peso umas 140 libras.... pra vcs saberem quanto eh)... nao podia tirar foto mas oooobvio q eu tirei...

………………………………….

O museu do saxofone era uma casa pqna com um monte de sax de varios anos expostos e a venda…. Ouvimos umas pessoas tocando... O sem nocao do Prof Lu pediu pra uma pessoa q so tava passeando tocar pra gente..... e quando ele acabou o prof mandou ele continuar pq agente tinha mais 10 minutos la.... AQUI NADA ACABA ANTES... mesmo se acabou eles ficam enrolando... nao deixam agente sair....

………………………………….

Fomos jantar na cidade pq o jantar nao estava incluso… Achei q nunca falaria isso: mas estou cansando de comida chinesa! Eu achava q conseguiria comer chines todo dia mas a comida daqui nao eh igual a chinesa dos eua e da italia... como nao falamos mandarin e’ dificil pedir exatamente o que agente quer ai’ vem umas coisas com mta banha e uns molhos ruins.... muitas das carnes tem gosto de podre.... sei la... forte demais e cheio de nervos….

Eu e a Jen estamos viciadas nos sucos… manga, kiwi... as vezes baido com leite....(foto: eu jen e Miles, o leader do grupo da bc.... ele eh uma gracaaa!!! foi na moto dele comprar suco pra gente... tinha acabado o de kiwi entao ele foi ate o supermercado, comprou kiwi e levou na loja pra eles fazerem suco!)

Vai repor muitas das minhas refeicoes…. Ah e nao sei pq nao to perdendo peso…. To sempre com fome dpois das refeicoes pq nao da pra comer mto e jantamos as 5 da noite todo dia... fora a sauna natural q fazemos diariamente.... vai ver to inchada por causa da humidade e calor....

Beijinhos a todos!

E ate a proxima

FIELDTRIP NUMBER ONE: A SUNDAY AT A TAIWANESE FARM…

Yesterday we had no classes… expected since it’s the weekend right?!

We had fieldtrips (PLURAL) planned for us instead.

6.00am WAKE UP

7.10 at the bus, breakfast on the go

8.30 arrive at farm

8.30-3.00 you want to eat, you got to cook!

3.00 leave the farm (actually 3.30… que and hank weren’t done eating)

3.30 swing by a temple

4.00 swing by a saxophone museum

5.30 almost home… go have dinner in the town

8.30 bed time… I mean shower PLEASEEE, then bed time

The sunflower farm was nice and rewarding…

We prepared lunch from scratch using strictly farming methods…. No knives, no soap (I still haven’t mentioned this but soap in Taiwan is a MAJOR LUXURY!), no pans…. It wasn’t the cleanest way of cooking I’ve ever seen but on the other hand it was the tastiest and most delicious meal ive had so far…. (except for the appetizer!!! A sort of yucky pancake with rotten meat-shrimp-dog-port-chicken-liver topping (I don’t know what really was in it)….)

Jenny was relieved to be eating non greasy food… we worked hard to make it too… pealing garlic, marinating a whole chicken, building the oven in the ground with stones and dirt, wrapping the vegetables ( sweet potato, yam, corn) in newspaper and soaking them in water, wrapping eggs in mud, cooking all this stuff for 2 hrs….

While some people complained about the heat and lack of hygiene and everything else possible, Jen and I appreciated the meal and the whole preparation… Even though we were eating over newspapers and with our hands it was the best corn ive eaten in sooo long… too bad there was no butter L

We took a walk and caught clams in a warm pond…. Just for fun... we had to put them all back….

It was a hot and sweaty day for all of us…. Jen and I (and im sure everyone else, but I didn’t see them shirtless) have SUPER CUTE farmer tans.

………………………………….

The temple we went to was beautiful but we didn’t spend much time there… and after a whole day working under the sun I feel like I couldn’t even really appreciate all the beauty and spirituality of the place.

………………………………….

At the sax museum we just wandered around (its was just a small house) and got to listen to people playing…. The almighty Prof Lou (director of this program) also asked a boy (or should I say YALE STUDENT) who was just visiting the store to play for us… it was nice… he played Garota de Impanema and other stuff….

………………………………….

Dinner was ok… I never thought id say that, but im getting tired of Chinese food!

I thought I could eat that stuff everyday but the language barrier makes it hard to order exactly what we want and many of the sauces and meat here are just noooot for my palette…..

Jen and I are addicted to the juices… mango, kiwi…. Sometimes with milk…. Yummy, fresh, and cold J

EXAUSTA E COM FOME mas feliz ...

(foto de um dos predios da facu... com as plantas caindo...)

HELLO!!!!
hoje vou escrever em portugues! assim a familinha entende melhor....
Na verdade ta dificil escrever muito... to suuuper cansada...

Acordei as 6 da manha e ja sao meia noite!
O dia foi otimo... fizemos aula de mandarin....

Deem uma olhada no link pra voces darem uma olhada nos simbolos e sons que estamos aprendendo! BOPOMOFO

BoPoMoFo e' o sistema que eles usam pra fazer os sons... e tem simbolos bastante simples comparando com os carateres q existem pra cada palavra... esses sao diferentes pra cada palavra nao importa se o som e' igual... NAO FAZ SENTIDO MESMO.... eh dificil pra caraaaaaaaaaaca!

Cada palavra tem seu desenho... e as criancas so vao decorando esses desenhos todos... SEI LA COMO... algumas palavras usam 2 outras palavras... EXEMPLO: a desnho para a palavra casa junta o desenho de "cobertura" com "porcos" entao "cobertura de porcos" e' casa... ENTENDERAM?

Eu tirei 100% no meu quiz hje... mas foi mto engracado... a prof fazia os sons e agente dava risada... eram so 10 sons e parecia q ela tinha repetido o mesmo vaaaarias vezes... E' MUITO PARECIDO!!!

jhu, jee... chu, chee.... aiai... olha a galera praticando

depois das aulas de mandarin nos tivemos aulas sobre pequenas e medias empresas aqui... Um dos Profs q e' diretor de uma companhia q faz avioes de controle remoto... mas como tava meio BORING a aula dele (mesmo q eles sejam genios, porcausa do ingles fica meio lenta a coisa) ele resolveu contar piadas.... COMEDIA!


a Segunda prof foi devinitivamente a minha favorita ate agora (tivemos 3 profs hje cada um falando por 2 horas, mais as 2 horas de mandarin... e' mole?)

a mulher era meio louca! ESTUDA CONTABILIDADE A 16 ANOS (ELA SO TEM 31).... ELA TAVA FALANDO SOBRE PQNAS E MEDIAS EMPRESAS AQUI... com seu metodo de usar fotos para tudo q ela vai falar ela conseguir prender nossa atencao o tempo todo.... mas sempre q perguntavamos qual e' o gosto desse cha? ou se o arroz do restaurante famoso era bom vinha um curto e grosso" I DON'T SPEND MONEY!".... muito engracada... ela diz q gasta 1,000 NEW TAIWAN DOLLARS por dia ( 8 reais).... ela nao compra nada... NADA! vou ver se acho um filminho dela pra por aqui depois...

o terceiro cara eh um fofo... mas foi meio boring tb.... nada de informacao que tenha sido muito memoravel... so o sorriso dele MUITO FOFOOOO quando os alunos se interessaram pelo software q ele criou

Jantamos.... a comida aqui nao e' muito boa viu... aqui na universidade, pq eu adoro comida chinesa.... franguinho, arroz, chow mien( macarrao), os gyosas... mas aqui eles dao umas coisas mais exoticas .. uns peixes banhudos... uns frangos com pele, muscolo ecati!

depois fomos pra cidade!!! EEEEEEE... estamos a 30 mins de taxi OU 1.30 mins de busa... q foi o q decidimos usar... NIGHT MARKET... onde tem todas as comidas estranhas e roupas etc....

tivemos soh uma horinha la pq o diretor e' preocupado demais e nao deixou agente ficar mais... tipo escurcao de criancinha.... pois eh....

PONTO ALTO DO PASSEIO: quando estava olhando as barraquinhas de comida e senti alguem pisando no meu pe... olhei pra baixo e tinha UMA RATA GORDA PORCA NOJENTA ASQUEROSA SANGRANDO passando pelo meu pe'... gritei e quase vomitei!!!!

NEWS!

we were on the cover of a newspaper in taiwan!!!!

One of our taiwanese buddies here, Jennifer, brought to us the Monday newspaper where there was a huuuge color pic of all of BC's group on the recruiting day of this trip!!!! The article is about Asia University's program and stuff...

Ill see if I can scan it and put the page here....

About yesterday

Yesterday was our first day of classes...

SO MANY CLASSES!!!!

If you took the time to check out our schedule you might understand why we are all so tired...

Our Prof. Chiu Cheng is a genius... he got a scholarship to go to school in the us where he worked for 30 something years and today benefits from American retirement and social security....

Chiu Cheng knows everyone everywhere... he was world with the World Bank and some huge insurance companies all over the world... too bad that a human being's attention and concentration span is completely gone way before the 6 hrs we were sitting in the same chair with NO BREAKS!!!!

I mean... what if someone has to poop??!! Oh and if you do decide to go to the bathroom, even if just to pee... you have to deal with those holes they use as toilets.... gross

Jen speculates that the toilets stink because of the different foods that they eat... i think the pee is just all over the floor for so long that it rots.

um ok... back to the schedule of events (for some reason the word schedule does not get out of my head recently... TRAUMAAAAAAA)

In class we discussed the differences between east and west... We learned about how parents here have the "syndrome" of overprotecting their kids.... truly interesting stuff!

Pfsr Cheng's view of children here though is a little too aggressive for me. He thinks that the kids here are lazy bums and do nothing because their parents pay for their education and even for their dates!!! SINCE THE SUFFER NO HARDSHIP, THEY DO NOT WORK HARD...

In big part he is right.... but his emphasis on how students should go to AMEEEERICAAAA and never come back is not my favorite....

Its almost cute how he really believes that the US is open minded and creative...
I tried to comment on that but I dont think my thought were well received...

For me, these two characteristics (open mindedness and creativity) go hand in hand with curiosity and knowledge about what is different and foreign and experiencing these diverse things... (travelling being a major way to find this diversity and open your mind... ) Not enough Americans think like this for me to consider them open minded as a population in general .

Ill remember Prsr. Cheng as a super knowledgeable man in shorts with somewhat biased opinions... Ill also remember that some of the things he was saying were due to the very long time he was given to speak ....

We went to a reception dinner at Taichung city and I ate black skin chicken for the first time (tastes just like chicken)!!!
We were super tired but it was fun! We sat with Renee and Tina and Jennifer, the 3 secretaries of the Director of this program, who have some influence over "the schedule"....

I think I managed to convince them that some changes are necessary... AND I got them to take me to get my mattress/ memory foam... YAY!







Lesson learned: Professors here and EXTREMELY grade, ranking, and statistics oriented...

Pfsr. Chin-ing today was still bitter about here ONE B+ in college that ruined her 4.0.... SERIOUSLY!!!!!

ok nap time then ill tell you guys more about today....

Noble silence Please

ok... im gonna start off today with a clip of what we had the pleasure of watching/ listening today.

Our professor for the day, who was supposed to talk about Small and Medium Enterprises in Taiwan (tong shao chie) had a whooole new approach to that subject matter...

during the 6 hrs we had of class with her, she explained her "holistic model" of living....
a reformed yin and yang... where things compliment each other.... this can be applied to anything... but she really emphasized love and care... she told us how much she loves us all (but especially the HARVARD students) and wants us to think of her always...

Pfsr. Chin-ing Helen Chen is funny and kind of crazy.... besides feeling a little tortured because of the excessive long hours of class, we had several laughs with her...

She made us exercise/meditate/pray several times too...
check out this video where she does her meditation moves while she sings a song of love to her AMERICAN students (the professors love and fascination for America is endearing but also a little nauseating)

THE (very intense) SCHEDULE

Check out our schedule with this link: http://ciae.asia.edu.tw/
Its in the most recent "news" titled Course Schedule...

because of this tight schedule i am suuper tired right now.... tough 1st day of classes

Despite many things that happened today... i need to go to bed... jenny is sound asleep already... (sound being and operative word here for those who know her)

OYASUMI (goodnight in japanese.... i know ranndooommm)

ps: RULE #1: do not use your own chopsticks/silverware to get food from the serving dishes!!!

... hairy swollen legs

in the pic:
Jennifer, Me, Jen, and Sassa

HELLO MA FRIENDS,

this is the third posting... I know I seem a little too much into this thing... but we are here chilling in the airconditioned room... (thanks Auntie lulu) and i thought id comment on my legs now...

Im still super swollen from the flight and have major kankles ... bizarre! It should be better already... and it hurts a little too... my legs were hairy too (not anymore... thanks 7/11) suuuper attractive right?!.. (SORRY FOR THE DETAILS BOYS)

7/11 totally takes over.... they are everywhere...
Jen and I each spent 760 New Taiwan Dollars there.... thats like 25 dollars.... not bad for all the stuff we got...
hangers,soap, crackers, algae, razors, asian cup noodles (we dont have a kitchen or anthing but the water in the fountains are boiling ... for making tea... so we can make noodles too!) ,water, shampoo, plastic cups, mini towels, really good Sponge cake to replace for our gross hamburger breakfast etc



Since Im here might as well tell you more....

We went for a tour around the uni... damn its reallyyyy hot and the sun burnsss!
Most of the ppl here wear jeans and JACKETS out! They dont like being tan... weird right?
yeah, but i knew that from before

The gym is great and its architecture is inspired in the Coliseum as you can see (they are very proud of that)... but its around 150 F in there so you get to workout and do sauna at the same time.... we also have tenis, baseball, basketball courts here too

... too bad we are located in a country side place 30 far from civilization... Jen and I are planning to spend weekends in taipei... LI WE NEED TIPS!!!!! Is it worth it?

we got the airplane ticket reimbursement (for those of you who dont know, this trip is all paid for by them!) and now we are REALLY RICH!!!! like 50,000 new taiwan dollars

We met a Director and the President today.... they were very nice, attentive, interested, and even funny ( ill be impressed when i meet a not-nice person)... i want to squeeze their faces and bite their heads!

Right now, the boys are out playing basketball.. we are being lazy princesses...

at 5pm we need to go downstairs for dinner and Manuel's birthday.... Manuel is Venezuelan and you can tooootally tell even before he tells you....
slick hair with gel to the back, long sleeve buttondown white shirt jeans and dress shoes....
hes turning 24 today


note: We already asked the crew here to take us mattress shopping :)
so ill be in a better and healthier mood soon hopefully

ps. Your boobs will not get bigger with airplane pressure....
(Responding to Sassa's question if only my legs were swolen...
she would squeeze her A cup sayin"I WANT BIGGER"...
she is hysterical...
oh and Jennifer, the other girl in the pic, is the best... best english speaker, and very attentive and helpful...

bye now

TSAO AN

translates to Good MORNING!!!
(great morning for well rested JENNY!)


Yes its a beautiful morning in Taichung!
AND VERY VERY CALIENTEEEE!!!! Aunt LULU, who controls everything in the building apparently decided it was cool enough in here... POO POO ( no no)

After giving up on sleeping at 6 am and watching Jen peacefully in her bed (yes i was watching you and wanted to wake you up)....
we were greeted by the Asian crew with breakfast in bed!

HOW AWESOME IS THAT????

REALLY AWESOME RIGHT???

Hmmm not so much when you open the bag and get a pork/dog hamburger with lots of onions and spicy sauce! Oh and soy milk... the kind that you taste once and never forget! Now really in the good way... at least not for Jen and I. I dont know if the hamburgers were given to us because we are "american" or because thats just "normal" here.... YIKES


We chugged the milk anyway... ITS PART OF THE TAIWAN EXPERIENCE!



After breakfast we met up with the bc boys: who by the way are Hank, Cinque, and Tim... Ill add pics of them later...



CLICK ON THE PICS TO SEE THEM LARGE GUYS!!!

Mandarin lesson #2: tse chin... tattoo
(they like my butterfly)

gtg.... explore the UNI! Its beautiful here....

ps: About only 30% of the pop (being generous) have good teeth!