Last night in 대만 (Taiwan)

Well, I've finally come to my last night here in Taiwan.  I don't really have any mixed feelings about leaving, I'm really looking forward to going back to Korea.  Had I done more research, or planned a little better with finances, I might have had more fun here.  Unfortunately, I didn't do my homework, so I didn't know the weather patterns of Taipei.  All I can walk away with, as far as experiences go, is the fact that I have been in the observatory of 2 of the world's biggest buildings (Sear's Tower, and Taipei 101).

I was unable to control my finances, because I didn't factor in the possibility of long-term stay (3 weeks).  Had I done that, I would have done better with my finances, and I would have allocated a certain amount for"room and board" so to speak.

I found the better English bookstore today.  Too bad I found it TODAY and not....last week.  But oh well, the book I would have been willing to buy on the spot, they didn't have (Murakami's Norwegian Wood).  So That's OK.  My father deposited some money into my WaMu account because he was of course concerned.  So I was able, with that money, to buy a pair of shoes (for working out).  My normal K-Swiss shoes are on the out...they make running rather difficult.  And since I'm made a deal with my GF to work on losing 5-10 kg, I needed a new pair of shoes to do that.  I had to get them here, because Korea doesn't have anything bigger than a size 11 (290 by their system).  So whenever I get the chance to buy a pair of shoes, it's normally annually.  So yeah, I feel guilty about using the money he sent me to buy a pair of shoes, but this was the only place I could get a new pair, so I had no other choice (plus, the prices were much lower than in the states).  The downside is, I have to use basketball shoes (they only had basketball shoes in my size).  That means I need to get accustomed to high tops again.

I'm glad I have reading material for the flight back.  And I knew I'd finish all 5 books I bought the day I came to Taiwan.

I need to keep this short because I plan to wake up in 7 hrs.  Well, let me rephrase that... I plan to have my alarm go off in 7 hours, so I hope to be out of bed by 8am (it's 12:13 this instant, it won't be once this post is published though ㅋㅋㅋ)

With that, I'm off

P-CE

'bout time

Well, it's official, I'm going back "home" (Korea) this week.

I get a phone call around 11:30 telling me I got a confirmation number for my visa.  That means I can go back to Korea, and my whole Overstay thing will finally be over!!!

One downside to all of this is: It takes more than a day here.  I turned in my application and passport today, but won't get it back until Thursday.  Of course none of us knew this at work, and the Korean Immigration office in Taiwan has yet to make a website.  It's hard finding information about the "embassy" here in Taiwan.

But it doesn't matter because I can finally go home!!!  I'm pretty stoaked about the whole situation.  A little upset that it'll take more than a day, but that's a very small portion of me.  The rest is just thoroughly excited to be going home.

When I got to the embassy, it was closed.  2 hour lunch break...yay! >_>.  So I had lunch, then a java chip frappuccino then went back to the embassy and got everything squared away.  

Afterwards, I went to the Eslite bookstore (much bigger than any other branch I've seen in Taipei now), looked for another Murakami book, but only found 1 (and it was the same one at the other place I went to).  I have a specific title in mind (Norwegian Wood) but I have yet to find a store that has it.  I'm worried that when Friday comes, I will have no reading material for the flight back.  So that worries me a little.  Gotta find another bookstore and see if they have the book.  Otherwise, I'll just have to settle for Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.  Not that that's a bad thing, I'd just rather read Norwegian Wood first.

Let's hope I find it before leaving Taiwan eh?

I'm also in the process of not taking life too seriously anymore.  Wish me luck ^_^

P-CE!

Time spent in Taiwan for my Visa Run

I've been in Taiwan for 2 weeks now, and still no notification as to when I can get a new E-2 visa, and then go back to my life in Korea.  My luck so far has been pretty crappy since I've been here.  First there was a typhoon, then there was horrible weather which limited me on what I was going to do.  Course in retrospect, it's simply because I didn't research enough, nothing to do with "luck"

Sure I got to see my old roommate/friend from TCU, Michael, and we hung out a few times.  But every time we hung out, the weather's been crappy.  We were going to go to one mountain in Taipei last weekend, but couldn't because he was driving, and he doesn't know how to get around Taipei.  We'd follow the expressway towards the mountain, then find out it doesn't give us an exit.  So we're driving in circles for a while.  Then when I went down to his area in Hsinchu on Wednesday, I was planning to go to the "Lion's Head Mountain".  I get there, and things are fine.  But Michael and his friend didn't have lunch yet, so we spent a good deal of time trying to find a parking place and then get food (I had a second lunch that day -_-;;).  Then after dropping his friend off, we went to the mountain.  We get there and we're told "you came at a shitty time" I of course knew that but there was still some decent daylight left.  So we get up the mountain, and his car starts to give us a little problem.  The coolant leaked out.  So we waited for the engine to cool down before heading up.  By the time we get anywhere it's pretty damn dark.  But that's ok, as long as we can find our way down and back that should be ok.  We start going down these stairs, then we get to a soft patch.  Remnants of the typhoon it was!!!  The rest of the stairs were unstable due to the heavy rains, not to mention the landscape looked pretty ragged.  So we went back to his car, put spring water into the coolant tank (apparently none of the gas stations now what "coolant" is), and drive to get dinner.

So yeah, there's another mishap.

I did do a few things that didn't "suck" though.  I went to the observatory of Taipei 101 (currently the largest building in the world) before the typhoon came.  So I have pictures of blue sky, the only blue sky I've seen prior to the typhoon (it's been gray ever since).  And yesterday, I went on a gondola ride into a mountain.  There I had a nice bit of tea, then left.  The mountain is known for tea, so I did something worthwhile on the mountain.  It started to rain, which was my cue to leave cause I didn't bring an umbrella (I got tired of carrying my umbrella with me everywhere I went -_-, plus it's hard to take pictures while holding an umbrella).

After that, I needed to find a new book, because I was finishing the last of the 6 I brought with me to Taiwan.  I read Murakami Haruki's Dance Dance Dance, and the entire Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. The main bookstore chain here, Eslite Books, is nice, but their layout is confusing when compared with what I'm used to everywhere else in the world.  I was lucky to find any books that were interesting to me.  I lucked out and found Murakami Haruki's first book of short stories entitled: The Elephant Vanishes.  So that was pretty decent.

Other than that, the rest of the time is me walking around aimlessly in the rain or crappy weather looking for something that interests me. 

My sleep pattern has been shit too.  Going to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning (cause I'm always reading or going for a 30 minute to 1 hour walk) and getting my ass out of bed after 11:30 or 12:00pm.  I'm not too pleased with that.

I'm also not pleased with my cell phone bill which is over 400,000 won thanks to International Roaming charges.  Most of the calls are incoming, and I still have to pay a hefty sum for that.  I knew things would be expensive, and now I know roughly how expensive it is.  I'm running a little low on money because I've been here for 2 weeks, there's no sign as to when I'm leaving, and paying hostel stay, along with food and such takes it's toll.  Plus the exchange rate kinda screwed me over.  But I don't want to talk about that now.

All in all, this has been a very frustrating and trying experience for me because I'm basically stuck in Limbo with no signs as to when I can go back to my home in Korea.  At times I wonder if those in charge over at where I work actually care about me, like my supervisor says.

I'm hoping for some good news on Monday, whether I force it from them or not, I'm hoping to go home on Wednesday.  I miss my life in Korea, and most of all, I miss my girlfriend, 지현.  This has been a rather trying experience for both of us.  I just hope that when I'm back, things will be even better than they were prior to when I left.

That's about all, till next time......

P-CE

"외국돌+아이"가 뭐야?

You might be asking yourselves: what the hell does "외국돌+아이" mean?

Well, I guess I should give you some background...

You see, my girlfriend and I have a favorite show we always watch together every Saturday (at 6:45 pm) called: 무한도전 (Infinite Challenge).  It's basically a "reality tv" show with a few subtle differences.  First, and foremost, it doesn't SUCK like most/all reality television today, 2. it's nothing but comedy (since only 6 comedians comprise the cast), 3. they always have to do something hilarious.

For those of you who know anything about Korean pop culture/stars, here's the list of characters:

유재석 (유반장) Yoo Jae Suk (Leader Yoo)

박명수 (박거성/박사장) Park Myung Soo (Big Star Park/Ceo Park)

하하 (꼬마) HaHa (Shorty/little person)

정형돈 (뚱보) Jeong Hyung Don (Big Pig)

정준하 (뚱뚱보/괴물) Jeong Joon Ha (Bigger Pig/Monster)

노홍철 (돌+아이) No Hong Chul (Crazy "idol")

So there you have it.  Anyways, like I was saying, we watch this show every Saturday.  Her favorite character is 노홍철, and she's the one who gave me the nickname.  Cause I'm a little bit like the guy: I talk fast, I have "blonde" hair, I can be crazy, and I like doing his "famous" 저질댄스 (low quality/perverted dance) to make her laugh.  It's really quite funny.

외국 is Korean for "foreigner" and 돌+아이 is  "crazy/idol"...so "Crazy idol-Foreigner" ㅋㅋㅋ there you have it.

And that will be the end for this entry, just wanted to explain the Korean that's on the page ^_^

P-CE