Meanwhile, now in the second week of getting a PHD down south, I've compiled a few observations:1. My back hurts from riding scooters.
2. I have no trouble with the Chinese in human resource management or international marketing management. But put in me in statistics and I'm the dog in the Far Side cartoon: yak yak yak Rover yak yak yak. In my case it's yak yak yak lambda yak yak lagrange yak yak covariance yak yak.........
3. My back hurts from sitting on the train.
4. Is there a woman in Tainan who is not a babe? If so, inform me, I wish to photograph that rara avis.
5. My back hurts from sitting all day.
6. I used to love train rides, until I had to take them three times a week, two hours one-way.
7. My back hurts because I'm too old for this.
8. After sitting on scooters morning, noon, and night, I can confidently report that Taiwan's fertility slide is due to the large number of people who ride scooters. It's fortunate that I already have children...
9. Telepathy is necessary to function at a Taiwan university. Mystery seminar: should I be there? Nobody knows. The signs don't have any useful information. The office doesn't know. Where has that class been moved? Siberia, apparently.
10. Great to be a Green in a Green city.
11. Tainan has a wonderful old Taiwan feel. Not just the history, but the large number of temples, the cramped streets with the three story buildings, the crowds, the vast number of small businesses....
12. Is the men's bathroom behind the train station there the rankest on the island? If the Chinese ever take Tainan they'll give it back immediately when they smell that.
13. My fellow students have been completely wonderful. I can't wait to get to know them better.
[Taiwan]
7 comments:
Hi Mike,
Age does not lead to bad back. Just need to do morning stretches and be more active with physical activities.
And yes, South Taiwan girls are the whole package, looks and personality, not like those Taipei girls, getting too westernized.
i like your no. 10..hehe
i can't wait to go back to Kaohsiung at the end of the year as well.
I'm so jealous of your getting a PhD in Taiwan. I can consider it when my youngest is 18- in 9 years!!!! Oh well, that will give me a chance to work on my academic Chinese. As someone who helped a semi-suicidal husband through excruciating back pain (herniated disc) you need to do the following: 1) warm up your muscles with a short walk 2) do gentle stretching of the hamstrings by laying on the floor and gently extending your leg up (use a belt to grip it if you have to and don't lock your knees). Don't bounce, hold for 30 seconds 3) strengthen your core muscles with crunches 4) Do the exercises and stretching morning and night 5) get up an stretch out during the train ride 6) lose weight if you need to since it puts added stress on your back. Also, you don't have to worry too much about getting old as apparently your 'drive' is still good based on your rara avis comment!! As for the yakkedty yak class- if your professor is willing, see if he can give you a graphic organizer the class before so you can look up the terms and be familiar with the pronunciation. You can also tape the class if he is willing. If the professor is totally inflexible, as you stay in the class longer, you will keep picking out words the prof uses over and over again- write down the pronunication in pinyin/zhuyin (whichever you prefer) so that you can ask someone about the word later, or look it up in the dictionary or text book. Keep blogging about this- it's very interesting. PS I went over to check out Levitator and he hasn't posted in a while- I hope everything is OK with him- I love his writing. -
I'm glad you can still find some time to blog. I am most interested in this quote:
4. Is there a woman in Tainan who is not a babe? If so, inform me, I wish to photograph that rara avis.
Some photos of the not so rare beauties will happily suffice in the meantime :)
David on Formosa, I almost never photograph pretty girls. Don't want to get a rep! Otherwise this might be "Beautiful Women of Taiwan" blog
Michael
I'd like to know what the person who left the first comment means when he (and I presume the writer is male) writes "South Taiwan girls are the whole package", and what exactly is his definition of Taipei girls "getting too westernized". I'd hate to think his comments are just another example of the mindless sexism common among so many Western males in Asia.
I'd like to know what the person who left the first comment means when he (and I presume the writer is male) writes "South Taiwan girls are the whole package", and what exactly is his definition of Taipei girls "getting too westernized". I'd hate to think his comments are just another example of the mindless sexism common among so many Western males in Asia.
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