I used to hate drawing because I was bad at it. I just started learning and finished these.
I miss sports games. I used to go to a lot of baseball and basketball games.
Playing video games is a good thing to pass time.
Do you like cars or motorcycles? I used to be in a car club for BMW enthusiasts and we’d have a meet up and drive. There’s usually many clubs to join in the US where as I find Taiwan limited.
No wonder my US pals are busy now doing Christmas wreathes, canning veggies, fixing and refixing and tearing up and fixing again parts of their home.
One of my elementary school classmates, who lives in Colorado, is raising some chickens. I have never seen chickens in the snow. And goats, too. She and her hubby built their coop and stable themselves.
One of my fellow scholarship students moved to NZ after Taiwan. he nearly went bonkers. He said all you have to do at night is read.
The biker scene here is…weird. Either old dudes, nazis, old nazis, or super rich people (I’m a measely postdoc) with ducatis and BMWs.
There are a lot of meetups and I’ve tried some of those, for drinking, sight seeing, board games (board games are like SUPER popular here now). Those have been fun.
Back in the days we used to go to the mall. Now all the malls are closing down. Bloody liberals…
Kind of corny but I volunteered pretty often in the US. Big brothers big sisters, soup kitchens, after-school homework help and all that. I thought it was a worthwhile way to spend some time.
Part of the problem, or at least something that exacerbates it, is my job. I essentially work from home and kinda do wtf ever I want to do and get a small paycheck for it. Only teach one class each Spring semester. All of the other postdocs are depressed or full of anxiety, since most of them aren’t Americans and theres only like a 25% chance of any of us getting a stable job after this post if we stay in academia, and they can’t stay in the coutry. All a bunch of boring people too (hey, they’re academics), so not really the best atmosphere, so I don’t really kick it at campus. All of the ‘visiting scholar and postdoc’ events are super lame (tried them, repeatedly), with socially awkward people fighting over a free single slice of pizza and soda.
Not corny at all, that’s really great!
Thats true, I forgot how boring it is to live in the states. Each time I go back to LA and eat the good food I cant get in Taiwan, see my friends I look forward to going back to Taiwan.
I like to do that plans trips. I’m in a football team and we travel to other cities to play their teams.
Board games are fun.
I find making friends easier in the US and there’s more variety of people. If you don’t jive with the people in Taiwan, not much you can do.
Especially since they’re already out to get you for openly flaunting your unmentionables on the balcony!
You could set some longterm fitness goals and hit the gym. I’ve been getting really into weightlifting. I want to be able to do an unassisted pull-up one day.
There’s tons of options, really. You could train for a marathon, or pick up cycling. Maybe try to get big and buff or something.
There are clubs for absolutely every car available here!
Yes, I did some 4 wheeling with the land rover club in Taiwan.
I was saying clubs in general.
I was like 30lbs lighter when I was in Taiwan. I was ALL into my fitness. The American food and my loss of “oopmh” has turned me into a jelly roll this year. I am trying to get back into it actually. Cycling and weight lifting are really the only things that give me much enjoyment anymore. I recently did a round of tenure track job applications, which are typically 60-90 pages each between all the crap you gotto submit (I probably won’t get any of those jobs, but that’s what you do…). I stressed ate a lot and put on even more weight during that 2 month period. Guess getting my pre-USA body back is really what I should focus on.
As someone who lived on Vancouver Island for almost a decade, it is great if you like nearly million dollar homes (we bought and sold one), nature, and more nature.
My Taiwanese wife joked people are waiting to die (which is true–it is the newly wed and nearly dead). We much prefer Europe (France and the UK) to Canada. Vancouver is hugely overrated with a smugness the locals seem to promote.
It has one thing going for it --Richmond for good Chinese.
Yeah, I don’t know about other clubs. But for cars/bikes/motorcycles and scooters there are tons of clubs! Casual to enthusiasts to racing.
Speaking of which, cooking is a fun and practical skill to pick up or refine.
And enjoy!
Which I don`t understand. It is ok, but it rains too much, it is expensive, and the people other than the Asians are provincial to the extreme. I would take Paris, London, Prague, Madrid, Barcelona, etc. any day of the week. But if you like trendy progressive politics, veganism, yoga, hockey, pot and Trudeau worship, it is your place.
Which state are you in?
I remember I thought Texas was boring, and it is. But idk why I miss it.
Probably the BBQ, Chick-fil-A, whatabuger, Texmex