So..what did you do today?

I find that living in a fantasy helps. Or heroin.

However, I am one of the lucky few who shits AT LEAST once daily.

This thread is going places!

Namahottie, I feel for you… Hope you have a network of good friends to support you…

Buttercup I enjoyed your daily routine write up - very well written and I was chuckling away here while reading it :slight_smile:

Dragonbones - My link to Taiwan is my best friend of the last 5 years. We met at Uni and I joined him on his yearly trip back to Taiwan in Jan-March 2003.

Fell in love with Taiwan (yes, despite the fact I spent most of my time in Wu Qi, Taichung!) and didnt want to go back to Australia…!

Fast forward 3 years and Im tired of my dead end, Mc Job. All of my friends have got married and joined the ‘boring club’, or moved overseas or interstate… The rest of them are content to smoke pot all day, watch TV and talk drivel about their big ‘plans’ for life…

So Im going to jump in the deep end, have applied for a 60 day visitor visa and will check out employment/study options when I arrive next month

Hope to catch up with a lot of you guys and gals. The community on this forum has helped me see that there is a real sense of camarderie amongst expats in Taiwan. Something that I didnt expect after the cold reception I was met with by most foreigners when I was there in 2003 (see other whiney posts from me about this topic all over this forum) :smiley:

Miltownkid - I hope we can meet up and check out the gaming scene in Taipei bro :wink: Would also like to check out where you guys work, perhaps sit in on a class if that was ok? Jdsmith - Im looking at you, boss :slight_smile:

Anyhow - keep the daily routines coming, this is fascinating stuff for me

Got up at 7:45, turned off cell-phone alarm at 8:00.
Watched the continuing episodes of 24, always in my DVD player.
Checked mail, returned one, checked out my e-Mule downloads (mostly porn).
Had a shower, went to the breakfast lady, shouted nicely, she made me breaky!
Went to my adult intermediate class, luckily the hottest student in my class was looking smashing (got a smile and a wink!).
Went outside the school, sat on my scooter, smoked, stared at the world walking by and fantasized about the hottest gal in my class (married).
Went home and almost fell asleep, hopped on my motorcycle for a quick burn around the city.
Came home, looked at Forumosa and wrote this list.
Still lots to do! Only 3:00.

Went to bed 4 or 5 and got back up at 9.

Surfed the internet.
Went out to buy some stuff from the bakery suplystore and ended up folowing a fucking, ignorant bitch wearing a helmet while 1kid on the footbead and no helmet and one sitting on the back with no helmet planing to tell hear what a cunt she is and decerved to rotten in hell for ignoring hear kids safety. She jumped 2 red’s and I found out I was in greater danger by folowing hear then the risk for is for the kids.

I’m back indors and I plan to stay here isolating myself from the fucking dumb. Atleast until I go out later to drown my sorrows in beer with some countryman if I can find beer that can be consumed without fighting my bodys nead for trowing up.

Woke up.
Ma cooked some breakfast with no pork products.
Turned right on a red.
Got a call from casual sex partner.
Played some ball.
Drove home and hit the showers.
Played some craps.
Then played some dominoes.
Picked up said girl whereupon I felt on the fanny, pulled out my jammy, and killed the punnany.
She didn’t hesitate to call alidarbac the top gun.
Drank as I was driving home.
Saw a message on a blimp extolling my sexual prowess.
Continued to received a lot of pages on my pager.

Hey, I didn’t even have to use my AK.
It truly was a good day.

[quote=“alidarbac”]Woke up.
Ma cooked some breakfast with no pork products.
Turned right on a red.
Got a call from casual sex partner.
Played some ball.
Drove home and hit the showers.
Played some craps.
Then played some dominoes.
Picked up said girl whereupon I felt on the fanny, pulled out my jammy, and killed the punnany.
She didn’t hesitate to call alidarbac the top gun.
Drank as I was driving home.
Saw a message on a blimp extolling my sexual prowess.
Continued to received a lot of pages on my pager.

Hey, I didn’t even have to use my AK.
It truly was a good day.[/quote]

Thanks for the laugh that made it a good day, Ice cube :rainbow:

Slept in until 9:30…Nice.

breakfast.

cleaned up.

Called the Ironman and asked him if he wanted to hit some twisties.

Spent next 3 hours on said twisities.

Almost got taken out by bus on blind corner.

and again by recent puppy roadkill.

And once more by Nissan March on 180 degree tight corner on the wrong side of the road.

Cruised home.

Turned on some old Stones.

Ate dinner.

Forumosa.

Easy day with a bit of adrenaline thrown in…Pretty much exactly what I needed.

Maybe a few games of pool later down in Chungli. :sunglasses:

You guys have my utmost admiration for braving the Taiwan roads in anything less than an armoured car :notworthy:

Im hoping that my lifestyle will be pretty identical to the one that ‘wonder’ posted :slight_smile:

For the people that dont teach - how many hours do you work per week?

Are we talking working days, or weekends?
I can’t really give you the daily routine, as with two kids and all the rest,
It’s like we’re really on the scene, but trying all our best… :beatnik: :note:

basically, living in taiwan is a matter of maximizing one’s priorities.
To the extent that one is comfortable enough where everything else falls into place.
That’s the ideal, anyway. Reaching it, or not,is a matter of degree.
And, more often that not, it involves a matter of personal choice.
The subjective viewpoint. Remember it, for it is your friend.

Amen. :grandpa:

Woke

Let twelve of the dogs out into the exercise area

Greeted some of the volunteers who had come to walk dogs and clean up

Took some of the dogs to an adoption event at TAS

Took a lovely young dog, Yang Mei Mei, to the vet to have a leg amputated

Danced through the streets of Taipei’s Xinyi district dressed as a chimpanzee and accompanied by Dr Jane Goodall

Attended a moving speech by Dr Jane and shook hands with Mayor Ma while still dressed as a chimpanzee

Lost my shorts and had to go out to dinner still wearing my chimp-leg trousers

Bought trousers and went with my lovely girlfriend to watch the open-air circus performance at CKS Memorial Park

Came home and let all 35 dogs out for exercise

Found a note from a volunteer who had bought me some rum and raisin Haagen Dazs and left it in the freezer for me!

Not an entirely typical day, but an interesting and mostly enjoyable one :sunglasses:

09:00 Got up, turned on the tunes, had a shower, breakfast, got dressed.

10:00 Headed to the local junior high school’s sports day…

10:30 Met the three students of mine who invited me (Barbie, Ruby, and John) at the school’s front gate.

10:30 - 12:00 There was a fair in the morning with sports in the afternoon. My students introduced to me to their home-room teacher, friends, and classmates. It was rather hot, so after walking around the grounds we sat in the shade, where they told me their Chinese names, and thoroughly tested me to ensure I remember. Took some photos.

12:00 - 13:00 The fair ended and the kids went to work cleaning up the school grounds. I went home for lunch.

13:00 - 16:00 An afternoon of sporting events. Spent the afternoon cheering on my three students. Barbie came in second in one of the running events. Became really pissed off when I noticed how very few of the three thousand students’ parents were there.

16:00 Went home. As I exited the front gate I had to push my way through the throng of parents waiting for their kids to come out.

Geez people, would it have killed you to come in and cheer them on? Show a little interest in them, their your freakin’ kids after all. If you did they wouldn’t be looking to me for the attention they need. Don’t get me wrong, I love those kids and had a great time. I’m grateful they invited me, and I’m happy to show I have an interest in them that isn’t just monetary. But parental attention and guidance is something that should be coming from parents, not from someone who’s almost a complete stranger. You’re the one they should have been showing off with pride, not their freakin’ cram school teacher!

I forgot to add to mine:
Failed to get a return phone call from StrayDog… 亨!!

So sorry! I was in the thick of it all, and trapped inside a chimp costume!

Well. Then. 亨!
You can make it up to me by coming out on Tuesday. Read Events under “Fob’s an effin groupy” … Er. Maybe under “Halloween night! Da Bones, Coach, and Cherry Bomb”…

Wouldn’t be the first time :wink:

So far:

Got up. Looked outside my windows at the mountains.
Played with cat.
Ate cereal.
Read this thread.

Hope the day gets a little better. :slight_smile:

I think we need some pictures of this chimp costume :laughing:

Gingerman - very well written post and I agree totally. I figure that once I sort out what I am actually DOING in Taiwan, then the rest will fall into place (eventually)

Taichungsocialclub - what is a ‘cram school’ - is it like a Bushiban for older students? Forgive my ignorance here but Im trying to learn as much as I can before I arrive :slight_smile:

I dont want to start a whole new thread for this… But for the Taichung posters, is Wu Qi really as bad as people suggest? When I lived there in 2003 it seemed to be a friendly place, if not a little dreary looking… I spent a lot of time in Ching Shwei (?) as well which seemed a whole lot more metropolitan (ha!)

Also - Do any of you live close to Wu Qi?

Good thread, Pubba.

A typical day at this time of year goes more or less as follows:
Up nice and early, by 6 o’clock (summer’s better because I can usually be up around 5).
Brew nice cuppa and log on to Beeb for the latest football and cricket scores and check out major news stories. Also a quick look at email and maybe Forumosa.
Practice writing Chinese while listening to news in Chinese on radio (writing useful words, phrases and sentences from the broadcast). I’m very strict about doing that for at least an hour every day.
Grab a quick bite (such as a couple of biscuits and a banana), jump on scooter, head up to nearest swimmable mountain stream, trace up to good swimming spot, have an invigorating half-hour swim (in the raw if there’s no one around, as there almost never is on weekdays), then back home at around 9ish for a good breakfast of toasted, thickly buttered multigrain bread and eggs with some combination of cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, mushrooms, and the like, washed down with a freshly brewed latte.
Back into study and get stuck into work translating. Skip lunch, and in early afternoon pop into gym downstairs to use treadmill and rowing machines (usually a minimum of 6 km, ideally 10, sometimes substantially more if time and energy permit, divided between running, fast walking and rowing). Also swim in pool if I haven’t been able to get up to the mountain stream in the morning.
Back upstairs to flat, work out a bit with a couple of weights while lying on bed listening to music or Chinese radio programs, then back into the study to carry on with translation work.
Late afternoon often drive out to hypermarket, bakery, etc. with wife, or do other errands downtown.
Early evening, either go out for dinner with wife or eat something cooked by her at home – wholesome vegetarian fare.
After dinner, some more translation work if urgent, or else reading, surfing websites, maybe watching a bit of TV, pottering around the home, and stuff like that.
Usually off to bed between 9:30 and 10.

Today. Got up. Did nothing. Realized I had been doing nothing for hours. Took a shower. Did nothing. Met up with a friend. Did nothing with my friend. Watched some TV. Walked my friend home. Came home. Did nothing.

Jet lag still.

[quote=“wonder”]Got up at 7:45, turned off cell-phone alarm at 8:00.
Watched the continuing episodes of 24, always in my DVD player.
Checked mail, returned one, checked out my e-Mule downloads (mostly porn).
Had a shower, went to the breakfast lady, shouted nicely, she made me breaky!
Went to my adult intermediate class, luckily the hottest student in my class was looking smashing (got a smile and a wink!).
Went outside the school, sat on my scooter, smoked, stared at the world walking by and fantasized about the hottest gal in my class (married).
Went home and almost fell asleep, hopped on my motorcycle for a quick burn around the city.
Came home, looked at Forumosa and wrote this list.
Still lots to do! Only 3:00.[/quote]

Got a special mention from Pubba so thought I would carry on where I left off, just for him/her.

3:00, rushed off to work because I was late after adding to this thread, almost got taken out by a little blue truck driver doing a U-turn at the intersection, even though we looked right at each other and could see the whites of our eyes.
Arrived late but nobody cares, it was an adult chat class and very laid back. Did that and got paid 90 minutes for chatting with three nice gals and a couple of guys.

Came home and napped till my next class at 7, also a loosely structured class covering weekly news events, again adult chatting. Paid for 120 minutes of telling Taiwanese adults what is really going on in the world.

Went for dinner at 9:30, grabbed a beer from the guy on the corner and listened to the female owner rant and rave about whatever to whomever would listen, not me.

Went home 10:30, considered doing the Halloween things with my friends, one of whom dressed as a turtle, but no cash flow because of the mega dollars I spent on my recent trip to the some tropical Islands and Canada. Not much for Halloween anyway.

Got high, watched 24, got a call from the gal I’m sleeping with, chatted, watched 24, surfed, checked e-Mule downloads (lotsa porn!), off to bed. Dreamed I was in Japan and all my friends (and me), were in their equivalent of the paddy wagon for various misdemenors. Really strange.

Omniloquacious, you got the life! :notworthy: