I'm pretty huge in Taiwan. Not just from a height perspective (I find myself frequently ducking in stairways and I can't find clothes that fit me), but I guess I'm shooting up on the popularity scale too. I was sitting in my room doing my usual evening thing when I decided to Google my Chinese name (葛思遠). I got 49 hits, and most of them are referring to me! I was interviewed quite a few times for the Chinese Speech Contest I talked about last post, so it seems they wrote an article or two about me. Here's the articles with some English summaries for you laowais out there (with some tasty tidbits from my speech):
Article #1
Quote: "『如果發生衝突的時候，我用一種又快又正確的解決方法，剪刀石頭布，用這個遊戲，解決委員的衝突，不但能讓立法院很和諧，而且不會浪費時間打架。』來自美國的葛思遠，對於如果能成為台灣總統，第一想解決的是立法院「藍綠對立」問題，當然除了國內政治，對於台灣拓展外交，也有自己一套獨特的想法。葛思遠：『他們雖然要為了吃臭豆腐，而用鼻夾把鼻子夾住，但是會發現，天下最客氣，最友好的是台灣人，他們肯定會再度光臨。』"
Translation: "'If I get into a fight, I use a quick and definite method: paper rock scissors. Using this game to solve legislator's fights not only will pacify the legislature but also won't waste time fighting." American Ted Glomski, speaking on if he became Taiwan's President, the first thing he'd want to solve is the legislature's "blue/green fighting" [blue and green refer to the opposing political parties] problem; of course other than domestic policies, speaking on improving foreign relations, he also has a unique idea. Ted: "Although they'll have to use a clothespin on their nose to eat Stinky Tofu, (foreign leaders) will realize that the world's most polite and friendly people are Taiwanese. They will surely come again.'"
Article #2
Quote: "也有美國參賽者葛思遠說：「我希望成為台灣的柯林頓，但是我答應，絕不發生外遇。」"
Translation: "Also [in the speech contest] is the contestant from America Ted Glomski, who said, 'I hope to become Taiwan's [Bill] Clinton, but I promise I won't have any affairs.'"
I'm in some other articles posted online, but most of them seem copy-pasted from the first one. I guess other than the experience and Chinese practice I got from practicing the speech, I also got a taste of glory to momentarily sate my ever-thirsting desire for fame.
Or something like that.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Hey there
Hey everyone. It's Friday night and I'm probably not going to do anything exciting. This time I have a good reason though, I swear!
Anyways, here's what I've been up to over the past two weeks:
SPEECH CONTEST:
The Sunday before last was the preliminary round for the speech contest. I came on low sleep and while running late but despite that I ended up qualifying for the final round.
I worked really hard for the final round and told a lot of my friends to come and cheer me on (the speech was at 9:00 in the morning so I told a lot of people in hopes that two or three would come). Surprisingly, eleven people total came to cheer me on. I think I did very well on my speech, despite not winning the giant cash prize. The two people who got first and second had fantastic Mandarin and the third place prize wasn't really "third place" per se; there were three separate categories and since my speech was pretty middle-of-the-road I didn't win any of those. No big; I think overall it was a good experience and was a help to my Chinese.
TUTORING JOB:
I think the phrase "too good to be true" applies here: After going to my third time tutoring, the mother of the kid I'm tutoring said that they'd like to reschedule the time since the kid is "really tired after school". She said she'd give me a call soon to reschedule the time. I still haven't received that call. I think that was pretty much a polite firing. To this I say, whatever. Sure, the lady has questionable tactics but I don't think it'll be easy for her to find a tutor who can bring to the table what I can bring.
Well, since all that's wrapped up, I've been looking to other things to keep myself busy. I've been focusing extra attention on my school work and recently got a membership to the Shida gym, so I can lift weights there after class.
I also have some trips coming up in the near future. Tomorrow I was planning on going to Xinzhu (Hsinchu or 新竹) with May and some of her friends, but that got kiboshed because of weather. (I was staying in because I had to get up early for that. Darn!) That has been rescheduled for a later date. Chinese New Year is coming up, and while I'm not leaving the country, I'm planning on going to Sun Moon Lake near the tail end of it and I might be going to Zhunan (May's hometown) somewhere in there too. At the end of February my friend Kyle wants to go to Green Island to SCUBA dive and I just may tag along. And in late April or early May I'll have a friend from home coming and we'll be hopping around the island.
So, that's what's going on. Class and kickboxing are going very well, too. Thanks for checking in.
Anyways, here's what I've been up to over the past two weeks:
SPEECH CONTEST:
The Sunday before last was the preliminary round for the speech contest. I came on low sleep and while running late but despite that I ended up qualifying for the final round.
I worked really hard for the final round and told a lot of my friends to come and cheer me on (the speech was at 9:00 in the morning so I told a lot of people in hopes that two or three would come). Surprisingly, eleven people total came to cheer me on. I think I did very well on my speech, despite not winning the giant cash prize. The two people who got first and second had fantastic Mandarin and the third place prize wasn't really "third place" per se; there were three separate categories and since my speech was pretty middle-of-the-road I didn't win any of those. No big; I think overall it was a good experience and was a help to my Chinese.
TUTORING JOB:
I think the phrase "too good to be true" applies here: After going to my third time tutoring, the mother of the kid I'm tutoring said that they'd like to reschedule the time since the kid is "really tired after school". She said she'd give me a call soon to reschedule the time. I still haven't received that call. I think that was pretty much a polite firing. To this I say, whatever. Sure, the lady has questionable tactics but I don't think it'll be easy for her to find a tutor who can bring to the table what I can bring.
Well, since all that's wrapped up, I've been looking to other things to keep myself busy. I've been focusing extra attention on my school work and recently got a membership to the Shida gym, so I can lift weights there after class.
I also have some trips coming up in the near future. Tomorrow I was planning on going to Xinzhu (Hsinchu or 新竹) with May and some of her friends, but that got kiboshed because of weather. (I was staying in because I had to get up early for that. Darn!) That has been rescheduled for a later date. Chinese New Year is coming up, and while I'm not leaving the country, I'm planning on going to Sun Moon Lake near the tail end of it and I might be going to Zhunan (May's hometown) somewhere in there too. At the end of February my friend Kyle wants to go to Green Island to SCUBA dive and I just may tag along. And in late April or early May I'll have a friend from home coming and we'll be hopping around the island.
So, that's what's going on. Class and kickboxing are going very well, too. Thanks for checking in.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A lot of stuff!
Yeah, I haven't updated in a while. Suddenly, things got a lot busier then they have been! For example:
NEW YEARS:
Ooh. Aah.
I saw the Taipei 101 fireworks from about 2 city blocks away. It was ridiculously crowded (人山人海). It only lasted 5 minutes, but considering that fireworks shot off 8 different places on all 4 sides of Taipei 101, it was a spectacular show.
After the fireworks we started flooding out of the place. I got upset that no one sang Auld Lang Syne so I took out my harmonica and played it. I was with a bunch of kickboxing friends at the time; they didn't know the lyrics but they were loaded so they hummed along.
We found our way out and decided on a club rather far away. It was near impossible to find a cab; it ended up taking until 2:30 and we had to share with a guy. We ended up at a club and they wanted $1000 NT (about $32 US) for the door, and seeing as I hadn't had much to drink yet and I needed to think about cab fare as well, I decided not to go in. Luckily I checked down in an MRT station and the trains run 24 hours on New Year's, so that saved me a bit of money!
SPEECH CONTEST:
I decided to participate in a speech contest. The speech must be 3 minutes long and on the topic "If I was president of Taiwan...". The first prize is $50,000 NT (about $1600 US), so I want to win. Instead of trying to talk about real things I'm just going for a really lighthearted "I love Taiwan" style speech. I might have to perform this Sunday (if there are enough performers), and the finals are the following Sunday. Wish me luck!
Also, a friend of mine is having issues with the people running the speech contest. While I by no means condone what they're doing, I am still going to do the contest and if I win I'll dedicate my victory to Kyle.
TUTORING JOB:
I picked up a tutoring gig. My kickboxing teacher gave me a call, saying he got offered a tutoring job but he didn't have the time for it. He gave them my number and called me on Tuesday. Wednesday I met with them and had my first tutoring session. I am tutoring a 17 year old high school student in mathematics. He's a smart kid but has a few issues that I think I should be able to iron out with him. The family used to live in Canada and the kid goes to a Christian school so the entire family speaks fluent English, which makes things a bit easier. It pays well, too.
Being truly busy has been a little strange for me, since I've been coasting by with ten hours of class a week since I got here. It's taken me a few days to adjust, but I think I should be in good shape. Catch you guys later!
NEW YEARS:
Ooh. Aah.
I saw the Taipei 101 fireworks from about 2 city blocks away. It was ridiculously crowded (人山人海). It only lasted 5 minutes, but considering that fireworks shot off 8 different places on all 4 sides of Taipei 101, it was a spectacular show.
After the fireworks we started flooding out of the place. I got upset that no one sang Auld Lang Syne so I took out my harmonica and played it. I was with a bunch of kickboxing friends at the time; they didn't know the lyrics but they were loaded so they hummed along.
We found our way out and decided on a club rather far away. It was near impossible to find a cab; it ended up taking until 2:30 and we had to share with a guy. We ended up at a club and they wanted $1000 NT (about $32 US) for the door, and seeing as I hadn't had much to drink yet and I needed to think about cab fare as well, I decided not to go in. Luckily I checked down in an MRT station and the trains run 24 hours on New Year's, so that saved me a bit of money!
SPEECH CONTEST:
I decided to participate in a speech contest. The speech must be 3 minutes long and on the topic "If I was president of Taiwan...". The first prize is $50,000 NT (about $1600 US), so I want to win. Instead of trying to talk about real things I'm just going for a really lighthearted "I love Taiwan" style speech. I might have to perform this Sunday (if there are enough performers), and the finals are the following Sunday. Wish me luck!
Also, a friend of mine is having issues with the people running the speech contest. While I by no means condone what they're doing, I am still going to do the contest and if I win I'll dedicate my victory to Kyle.
TUTORING JOB:
I picked up a tutoring gig. My kickboxing teacher gave me a call, saying he got offered a tutoring job but he didn't have the time for it. He gave them my number and called me on Tuesday. Wednesday I met with them and had my first tutoring session. I am tutoring a 17 year old high school student in mathematics. He's a smart kid but has a few issues that I think I should be able to iron out with him. The family used to live in Canada and the kid goes to a Christian school so the entire family speaks fluent English, which makes things a bit easier. It pays well, too.
Being truly busy has been a little strange for me, since I've been coasting by with ten hours of class a week since I got here. It's taken me a few days to adjust, but I think I should be in good shape. Catch you guys later!
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