Saturday, October 4, 2008

Something to Help You Visualize

This is my Dough Figurine. It's a panda bear eating a fish and some strawberry jam. The dough was extemely hard to work with because it would dry almost instantly, which made it hard to attach things like legs and ears. My other creation was a sort of alien snot blob with toothpicks sticking out all over him. He was a sidekick to Adam's awesome Super Penguin.

These are two of my classmates, Sean and William are their English names. In the second picture everyone is taking a test. I get a lot of drawing done at school, which I think is a good thing. Next Tuesday, I'm going to begin learning the art of Chinese Ink Painting from an art teacher named Cohenko.

I'm studying my Chinese very hard. I want to be a master. I understand more and more every day. That's all I can really ask for. The second picture I took because I had no idea why every one in school would be out of their classrooms. It turned out to be some one's birthday.
The MRT can really weird one out at times, especially because one can see from one end to the other and one realizes one is in a giant metal tube traveling very fast.
Have you ever wondered what the Mona Lisa would look like if it were made out of ASUS motherboards? I never did, but this is Adam standing in front of it. That was an interesting visit. I thought we would see all the machines makig more machines and we'd all be freaked out by it, but all that happened was a "sales representative" showed us a bunch of ASUS stuff, talked about some "red ocean, blue ocean" strategy, and had a number of technical difficulties with equipment that supposed to be the best stuff ever. Then there are these next pictures.

We got a look at where the workers (who apparently work twelve hour shifts) chill out and play games. At some point, the salesman said the workers basically live at the factory, so that's why they have a swimming pool and a hot tub and a basketball court (instead of a bigger paycheck?).

After the visit, a group of us went to a restaurant where I ordered a huge bowl of seafood soup and ate the whole thing. Here's the photographic evidence.

I took the first picture because I think they spelled "Hershey's" wrong. These two are from the shopping trip before the Class 218 Barbecue. Couldn't find any graham crackers.
Some classmates trying to light charcoal.

This girl was one of the first to try my S'moresenstein's monster. I wanted to get a picture of her overstuffed mouth (she was making a mess), but she insisted on covering her face with a napkin.

The first picture was taken right before (I mean not even a minute went by) the policeman showed up on his motor scooter complete with the red and blue lights flashing. The second is Taipei 101 with the words "WE ARE" illuminated in white lights. I couldn't stop thinking, "We are what?" Never did get an answer.
This is the ShiLin Night Market with about a brazilian people. Prom all over again. I don't know if I'll go back there.

Leo's church. First is a picture of the band practicing their song, second is the group talking about fashion things. I couldn't stop thinking about how much the cross looks like a lower-case "t" sans serif. That made me think of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

Here's Adam with a Diabolo. Only a few of us really got the hang of it this first time (not me though). Next Wednesday I get to try again, but I think it takes daily practice to get better (like everything else).
Here's some random people that wanted a picture with us, not the first or the last time this will happen I'm sure.

I've figured out how to get all my pictures uploaded so that shouldn't be so much af a problem anymore. One last thing, you see in the last picture I'm wearing my bandana and my beard is grown out a bit, well the Student Affairs Director at school asked me if I wear a beard in America. "Yes," I replied. He told me that boys in Taiwanese schools don't wear beards, so my assumption is that I should shave (even though my Rotary Club seems to like it)(they're mostly well-to-do, middle-aged women, if that explains anything). Then he asked, "Are you a cowboy?" To which I promptly responded, "Yes," as though it was obvious. Actually, I wear my red bandana because it makes me feel intrepid, but I don't tell anyone around here that.

3 comments:

Vince said...

Dude keep the beard, by the end of the year everyone else will be joining in on the trend. Looks like your having a great time and I'm glad to hear it, I was just checking out what diabolo was on youtube, sweet. My computer has an Asus motherboard in it I think, it's not that great either, and doesn't look anything like the Mona Lisa. darn the luck.

P.S. I'm pretty sure that building was only half done installing their lights,

http://picasaweb.google.com/vincent.p.smith/DropBox?authkey=jyj9HncIN7c#5253350517278426978

Sam said...

As an expert on beards (I recently defended my dissertation and was awarded a Ph.D. and tenure...), I would say do whatever makes you feel comfortable. It doesn't seem as if you are having trouble interacting with other people due to some face whiskers, and I'm sure they're glad to have a real American cowboy on their hands.

Anonymous said...

This is chayneta'~ :3

Nigel!!! I'm so happy to see that you're having so much fun! Ashley linked me to your blog, so I'll be sure to keep up with it as you update! :D

I want to tell you to grow out your beard, but at the same time, I also realize that you need to conform to their customs. :/ So, you'll just have to take your pick of the two.

I really liked all the pictures that you've taken in the classroom! Their schools look so plain to ours, but it's an enjoyable contrast, nonetheless.

Study your hardest! I'm sure you'll be able to master Taiwanese soon enough! :3

/lame