I LIVE

I've been a naughty blog owner, neglecting it and all. I do have some fun news to share, though.

So, 36 hours from right now, I will be sitting on a plane on its way to Singapore. I will spend the weekend there, after which I will head to Malaysia and spend the rest of the week there. I return the following Sunday.

Pretty huge, huh?

Here's how it came about. Early in the month, I saw a post by one of my kickboxing classmates, Diana, that her and her friends were planning a trip to Singapore and Malaysia and wanted to know if anyone wanted to come along. I really want to see a lot of Asia while I'm over here, so I was interested, but decided not to since I didn't know them very well.

Fast forward to the following weekend. We have our monthly (or to be more accurate now, every-so-oftenly) kickboxing night out. We spend some time at an Irish pub, but decide it's too expensive so we head off to another smaller bar with live music and cheaper beer. While there, I chat with Diana and Janine, Diana's friend who's also going on the trip. Anyways, while chatting, Janine asks me if I want to go with her and her friends to Singapore and Malaysia. I say sure. (I'm a firm believer that the best decisions in your life are made on the spot [see: Why I Started Studying Chinese].)

So starting the next day, Diana starts organizing. (She's an accountant, so she loves organizing things, which works for me.) She drafts the itinerary, books the flights, and makes sure everything's good to go. I'd say as of right now I'm pretty set to go. Except for the entire packing thing; still gotta do that.

As for other things, class is going quite well. We're quickly finishing up this quarter. I'm pretty sure a lot of my classmates will be back with me, but I'm not sure about my teacher. That worries me a little bit, since I know Shida has many teachers, some of whom are not very experienced/good. Let's roll the dice again!

Kickboxing keeps getting more and more fun. I've been told that I've progressed a lot since I first got there. All I know for certain is that I have a great time going. We're starting to do light-contact sparring, which I enjoy greatly. Having experience sparring at my old martial arts school is a double-edged sword: while I have experience and quickness in sparring situations, I also have habits that while they may work well in my old system don't work as well in kickboxing. Better keep it up!

Also, I got my visa renewed. I'm legal in Taiwan until 3/10. I'll probably have to go back sometime in February to get a Resident Visa.

I usually post pictures with my updates so...here are a few! These are of the Xindian River which runs very close to my apartment. Every time I walk to or from the MRT station I walk right by it.



That's my apartment building on the right side there.



I took one of the pictured swan boats with May (yes, the girl I went to Danshui with last post). Here are some closeups of the river scenery:





To finish up, one more picture, from the "Is this ridiculous enough to be true?" department (taken in the bathroom at Shida, the school I'm attending):