Gathering at Hongkong restaurant.
They had alot of dishes, and it was very sweet food. almost like international chinese food.
The bear was tapped into long plastic cylinders...which was placed on the table. The flavour was soft and not bitter at all. We were invited to the brewery later in october...I hope that I can join. The owner later joined us at the table...he also drove us home to campus, since it was 20-30 minutes walk...
first presentation
The info was really bad from my teacher, first she said that we should present a case, which we also prepared for. then during class, she said that we were suppose to present a chapter in the course book that we did not have yet...
well, we improvised a little...
My strong indonesian friend Ronny actually manage to pull down the screen. so the podium was partly covered and the ceiling collapsed, just before the presentation.
Girl or Ghost?
My friends says I look l ike a girl, or a Ghost...
I was kind of pale when i took the pic. eyes, nose, mouth, hear and some thing that looks like a neckless...is all there is.
Foreign students behaviour
Sweden, Spain, Bolivia, South africa, Belize, Chile, France, Germany and later on Japan and 1 Taiwanese (who lived in US for a long time), ended the monday outside campus. It is so far from our european culture, here in taiwan, so it is easy to get people to join for some social event.
And Taiwan beer, which i tried before, taste and looks like Heineken.
looking for a bike
I have 2 more stores to look at.
Today me and my spanish friend Pablo went to a near by Giant Store...
He thinks that I am a "rebel", always questionise the taiwanese, and try to figure out the bahaviours......perhaps I am. I will try to stop doing it, since they might be annoyed.
Leftover party
It was me and alot of Vietnamese students.
They made a dish called "mien", I never tried before but it was from their capital.
I felt like an alien sitting there, but they are very friendly.
Since I have quiz tomorrow I needed to study. So I sat in the kitchen for a while. Then the next group of people sat down for a meal.
They made some indian food (chicken curry) and mongoilan/polish food, which i never seen before.
It is amazing how many dishes that gets cooked in my dorm. so many cultures and so many kinds of food.
I have not made any european food yet...
The GMBA lab
We even got a locker each, where we can store stuff that we dont want to carry around. So far I only have food in my locker. IT is just some minutes walk to my dorm, where I keep my books etc.
Tea or Coffee?
Well that problem is solved here. "Coffe Black Tea" gives you both (or neither) of them. I thought about this idea for some time...since there are so many Tea flavours in the world (why there are no coffee tea)....the Taiwanese took that step, and I will take it for breakfast tomorrow, hope it taste well.
Tomato Sauce war
Instead I decided to particiapate in a Tomato Sauce War at the beach near Hsinchu. Me and my friends planned to buy white clothes, which we did at the local supermarket.
It was hard to find white clothes...but we bought the whitest they had.
Then we took of to the beach.
It was further away than i thought, it took like 20 mins with scooter.
I needed to wear a helmet when driving the scooter. Togetter with my new wafers it maked me feel like one of the members in Village people. But it is nice to be in Taiwan, here i never feel embarrased...
This is out warrior outfit at the tomato sauce war. Everyone got some ketchup bottles before the fight (I also bought some from the supermarket). Then we entered a "war zone", and the fight began...
Almost 50 people participated in the war. and it lasted 10-20 minutes i think. and afterwards I had ketchup in my eye, ears and nose...
We took a swim in the ocean afterwards, but I could not get rid of all the sauce...
Later on some people had BarBQ on the beach. Many foreingers participated in the event (most of them from South Africa). We brought extra clothes...so that we didnt need to drive back totally red.
After this we went back to the campus, since it was BarBQ party there for international students.
There were alot of food at this barBQ, where we spent the rest of the night.
I also tried a new "Kinin" beer (japanese). IT was very bitter, and also a limited edition, like the other one from the same brand i tried last week. And it was strong (6%).
I finished the day by taking a shower at my dorm, finally getting rid of the last ketchup...
Teppanyaki
Instead students go out for restaurants almost every day...either on campus or right outside campus at one of the night markets.
It is very popular to go to a Teppanyaki restaurant...you sit in front of the cheif, and they fry the food in directly after ordering it. it is originally japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook.
School in taiwan
It is a little different here compare to sweden. First of all, they are checking attendance in class, more or less in every subject you take.
U also have a lot of homework (one teacher told me that the students here wont study if they dont have homework). This homework affects your final grade. On the other hand the teachers often copy the homework exercise right of, and uses it in the final exam.
We will have a quiz next monday. So some students spent some time in our GMBA lab. doing some of the exercises that might come on the quiz. The lab is nice, there each student has a locker, there is a fridge and coffee machine there as well...
Today we got an email that we must clean the lab, each student is responsible for 4 days this semester...
Some of my friends was amazed that it is only half of the class who needs to clean (that is the international students). Perhaps the taiwanese just wanted us here (in the GMBA) for cheap cleaning labour... :S
Tai logic (part 2)
But at the same time, they offer me free tea and water from the water containers at their bar. And some times they also have snax.
The first thing you see when entering the ISC at NCTU.
Tai logic (part 1)
well at the second floor they were playing tennis, and the tennis player said that the basement is the badminton floor... (this is taiwan in a nutshell) (the first guy could just have said "I dont know", instead he gave us a random floor, same reason why i needed to spend 2 hours finding the ChineseLanguageCenter in the NTHU campus last week)
Another thing is that tai people do things for no reason. It is forbidden to weigh yourself with shoes at the gym at campus, but no one who i asked, could tell me why.
At the elevators on campus they have buttons with arrows showing: "going up" or "going down". 8 cm below they have the same buttons for handicapped people. Are handicapped people in Taiwan 8 cm shorter?
No belt in da back
Some taxis does not even have safety belts in the back, making some passengers feel unsafe. Yesterday me and some friends inspected some taxis before we decided that it was seafe enough for us. (But the taxi driver became very nervous when we started to dig inbeetween the seats after straps and connector.
This is a rare view in taiwan.
Mid-Autumn Festival
We got invited to join moutain climbing with a church near our campus. So we went by car, east of Hsinchu, where the moutains are.
It was called "Lions Head", I think, and we walked on a path taking us up on a moutain and back again...
It was partly kind of steep. We where like 30 people walking on a line up hill.
Mostly taiwanese students from NCTU joined us on the path.
When arriving back to the cars again, we sang some christian songs in chinese...I bought a milk tea at some local store.
Before returning home we went to get taiwanese food, at a near by villlage.
Here we also sang christan songs in chinese, people prayed and we listened to people talking about their experience in church. It was interesting.
After eating some japanese food with friends we headed to Carnegie's in Taipei. It is a bar where middle-aged men hang out while they visit Taiwan...
There were many tai girls there dancing around. It was hard to know if they really worked there or not.
It felt like they did not really have a dance floor...some started to dance on the bar...
It was nice to hang out in taipei, i had not been there for atleast one week...
and we where celebrating our friends birthday., so it was a good reason to go there...
17 in an elevator...
I did not get a pic in the elevator...my cam is to slow :( But I will buy a new one...some time..)
Being more than 5-6 people can be tricky during rush hours at the food courts...
But we managed to get a table, trying some taiwanese hamburger
after school my classmates had an event, down town.
Due to that it is some chinese holliday this wednesday, we dont have class. We visited an "all u can eat - KTV"
I ended the day with a "meeting" eating korean food.
It reminded me of the Kimchi I made back in sweden this spring.
democracy
seems according to the media that it is chaos in the government and parliament.
the upcoming time might be interesting to observe...
There is also a free bus from my school in to taipei...
the problem is that it is hard to interpret the time table (even the tai who i got it from did not know...)
But it seems that the bus leaves from my university 3 times per day
Hsinchu(nctu) to Taipei
7.30 10.10*
15.30 17.40*
20.00 22.00 (taipei main station)
Taipei to Hsinchu(nctu)
10.20* 13.10
12.40* 14.50
* - (some campus)
Now I just need to take it some times...to confirm that it is true...
I ended the school day with Marketing Management class (18.30 to 21.20)
After this we went for a beer....(and some milk cake)
Switzerland, Spain, Chile, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Japan (not in pic), sitting outside campus at the nearest 7-11.
Later on a German guy joined, who we did not know...but he turned out to be my room mate for the night (an old friend with my french room mate)
The beer of the evening was a japanese (limited edition) Autumn beer (6%), kind of strong bitter taste...
It is some festival on wednesday, meaning that there is no school. So there is alot of activites going on...
How about that.....
waiting for the rain...
I got the Happy Go Card, which is often used here...in taiwan...
Happy Go card....or "black fured dog card" (黑皮狗 "hei pi gou") as the taiwanese people say, since they just copy the pronunciation to the most closes chinese words...
i also found some new wines that i never tried before (taiwanese wine), so i bought one bottle...
it is sometimes confusing here in taiwan, since the taiwanese people often use the word "wine" instead of the word Alcohol...so some times they say they dont want wine...when meaning they dont want beer... etc
Later in the evening I went to hotpot at a restaurant near school. Hotpot means that you put slices of meat and fish togetter with vegetables and mushrooms and other tai-things in boiling water (with some initial spices)... the pot is on the table (each person usually gets his/her own pot), then you eat it with rice or noodles... This one was an "all you can eat" for only 198NT (50sek). So it was cheap.
GMBA students to the left and their room mates to the right, was the ones who joined up.
After this we went to a supermarket, to check for some items...but did not find what we were looking for. So we went for beer.
They dont sell beer at campus...so we dropped by a 7-11 near by...
since i dont like beer that much i tried a new one i never seen before (i think).
"Taiwan Long Chuan Beer" (perhaps produced in china) was a draft beer, tasted like Budweiser.
Then we went back to campus. Tomorrow it is school again...
Flo Rida in Taipei
we left Hsinchu already about 17,
Just buying a beer at 7-11. Then taking the bus right before (or during) rush hour...
It was not that hard to get the tickets after all..., we found ourselves getting there to early...but using the extra time to eat some local food. Usually we do not know what we order...we just point at some random dish on the menu...
We where hoping that David Guetta would come as well, since the posters mentioned his name as well. But Guetta did never show up. And it took some hour before Mr Rida showed up. We stayed at the trance dance floor while waiting, (most tai people stay at the RnB floor)
Finally he he came...and a bunch of other rappers...
Throwing T-shirts, squirting champange and riding tha back of his guards around on the dance floor.
There is a typhoon approaching taiwan...which is interesting, perhaps there is no school on monday.
The day after i went to the movie with some friends...
they show "the girl who played with fire" (a swedish movie by Stieg Larsson) here in Taiwan.
But we saw a very funny film called "piranha"...
It was in 3D...
We also went for restaurant (japanese) where they had swedish garlic pressers...
* - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLwvc5Qywzk&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re2FQZK54oA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DsyZdeFjug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7y_lBeA5Wo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgM3r8xKfGE
Little Saturday
I was invited by some Swedish exchange students to join them to Taipei. I invited people from my class, but perhaps they dont have the concept of Little Saturday in their home country (Little Saturday=Wednesday, since saturday invited you to stay up late, u tend to go out for clubbing, the same events happends on the wednesdays aswell).
We did not take the same bus company as I use to do, so we waited for the bus for atleast 20 minutes...
In Taipei we where heading for Roxy 99.
Finally there we needed to take taxi to reach the final destination...
well at the club area we met Fredrik and Lars who was members of the Chalmers Asia Office some years before my year. We mingeled around outside a 7-11 store, before entering Roxy.
At the club there were mostly foreingers...
they played mostly indie pop and some other rock...(instead of the R&B + hiphop that they always play on all the other clubs).
as a coincidence they played The knifes - Silent Shout (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxqeRMoYA5g) ...which is a swedish song...and a very good song...at the club.
Later on we went out to eat dumplings...and after that some people wanted to go home...(rumors has it that they cancelled all the bus trips during night time from taipei to Hsinchu, so we needed to take taxi)
Since four of the guys suddenly took of in a cab, we found ourselves being five people left...which often is trouble, since 4 people is the limit in the cabs, but it was a friendly taxi driver... but it became crowded in tha back...
we sqeezed in tight...and the others in the back fell asleep...
The driver was kind of worried to get a fine, if the police found out that we where to many people in the car...
But we agreed with the driver that one of us would hide in case of a pull over...
Martin sacrificed himself to laying down, hiding from people seeing him...after some hours taxi ride..we came back to hsinchu... tomorrow it is school again.
when waking up, the day after....and after taking class, I helped my Swedish friend finding sport shoes in swedish sizes...but it is hard...
just some 46... but not the same kind that my friend wanted...
first week of school
i also found out that they chnages the chinese class again...(like the fifth time in one week), so no i can take some course at my school atleast, even if it is the same level as i took last time i was here...
I also got my passport back from school...so I can sson get a cellphone number...hopefully my old one (if the incompetent person at the shop just had a more service oriented mind)...
I will soon try to waive some class...I hope it will work..., since last time i was here as an exchange student
I just got a new cell phone, my new number is 0976 16 15 70
thus from outside taiwan thas is: +886 976 16 15 70
I had some extra time to check bikes as well, but i just passed by 2 stores...
After night class, me and some class mates went to a nightmarket near buy to eat som beef noodels...
Some times I go out for a short drink with friends...
U usually go to a tea shop, where they also offer fresh juice
Some days ago, we met many friends near our campus...some swedes who work in Hsinchu who was out for buying late dinner.
I live in a dorm where there are 4 beds in each room. but usually there are 1-3 student living in the rooms. I share my rooms with a french guy, (and also a Vietnamese who i never met)
This is my french room mate...
There are may funny signs and names of stores in this country...
I passed by a barbershop last night and my friend said that "since you go to the gmba now you must have a prefessional haircut"
Here they offer "Professional hair".
soft sunday
From the kitchen in my dorm there is a great view...u can also c the ocean from the roof
this is Tsin Hua University...just near by my own university...I might take som courses there, (it is like Gothenburg University and Chalmers....one univ is for engineerings and the other for other educations...but Tsin Hua dont educate doctors.. (medicine)
There is a Baseball field out side our dorm... and many engineering buildings...
You can also see the chinese language center...and further away some other science buildings, one with than reflector antenna, that the swedish navy ships has, and also the star cruisers in Starwars, which if u shoot, the space craft will crash...(looking like a white ball on the top of the roof).
Today the indian guys made "pickles", some bitter lemon tasting thing...that is kind of spicy...
They also made som curry paste in a blender...
later on a pigeon flew in to the pentry...
perhaps escaping the upcoming storm...
I saw a bird...The indian guys saw dinner...(joke)
It was banded with some kind of ID ring...and a stamp on its wing...
We let it out....the same way it entered...
It was probably in shock...it did nor fly away, just sat still outside the window...
I ended the evening by going with my friends to a hotpot...
It was all you can eat, where u but a alot of dishes into a pot full of boiling water...and some spices, i had been there before...and also dessert was included...
it was hard to find the place and the friends when going there...I feel that i really need a cellphone right now...
Orientation day and Welcome party
some speech was held and info was given about the program...
then we went to a bar near school.
Students from my year, and former year participated in the event, where food was served...
then we took the bus back to the campus.
Later on that day i was thinking about going out for a run, since i was high on caffein...(to much ice coffee at the party).
I asked some friends to join me, but they had other plans. Fortunately Anders my swedish friend just arrived to taiwan...so i ran to his place...(running in full speed in 30 degs makes u kind of sweaty).But i am getting use to the high temp...
Anders and his gf Yini at their hoods in Hsinchu...
We went to "Donutes" a place where you can buy tea and strange cakes...
One cake had an Ice Lolly stick in it...for no use...(even the staff couldnt explain why...)
Of course we needed to buy that strange cake...
We stayed there until 2 am, then anders went to bed and i ran back to campus...
first friday...
I have 1-2 weeks to decide...
I ate lunch with my indian friends Sami and Raja (MahaRaja means empirer), Raja means king.
The dish was kind of spicy, and it was called "VegBriYani" meaning "Vegeterian Rice"...
I guess you simply mix rice and whatever...and the dish becomes..."WhateverBriyani".
After this i spent some time with Martina and Hannes 2 swedish allies
I continued my day by eating dinner, first it was ment to eat at an italian restaurant...but it seemed to be closed...so we went to japanese BarBQ.
Me, Hannes and Vannena went eating dinner at Hsinchu downtown...
I think I ate the most...(It was an "all you can eat" restaurant...), I did not finish with a dessert btw...(for the first time, when eating there...)
2nd day in Taiwan
Hurried my way to the International Service Center to check how to apply for courses at other universities (such as NTHU). Unforunetly they did not know, but did not hesitate to give me an answer...
After 2 hours of walking and asking myself around at the NTHU campus i finally found the right place).
They gave me a website and a description about how to check schedules...but unfortunetly it did not work, when i checked it myself...hm, i will return there tomorrow...
Later on Mr Duck contacted me, asking if i wanted dinner...so we went for hamburger...
then we took the scooter down town.
It is hot, it smells like a mix between food and fumes...
The chaotic traffic makes every single second exiting...
But it still just feels like a game...even if it some times gets dangerous
We went to buy some snax...
In taiwan that means things like dried squid...
"do you want a soft or a hard one", they asked me, i said one of each...kindly enough they heated it up with some sauce, before we ate it...
This is nice...
It is called slized- or shaved ice...
It often comes with fruit and some times with beans and other taiwanese specialities...But i think it was alot of ice cream in this mango/water melon bowl...
It was a nice restaurant...with wooden interior design...
Mr Duck, the local guide.
After this we went to check if I could get my cellphone number back..but the girl at the cell phone store said that the number was cancelled, and it was impossible to get it back... perhaps i will check with another store...before changing my number...
else I also need 2 identifications, like passport and something else?!, lucky me who has a european driving license...
I ended the night by buying "north European chocolate cake"?! which i never seen before, especially not in northern europe. A honey spunge cake, plus to milk packets.
I did not fall asleep until 2-3 am
on friday many offices close at 12, so i better get up early...(like 10)...
Stockholmsvistelsen och forsta dagen i Taiwan
i stockholm bodde jag hos Sara. hon bor tillfalligt i en liten lagenhet pa kungsholmen. Dar bjods d pa mat direkt vid ankomst (med FH AH o CH, a.k.a syskonen Herrlin)
Mina aranden i Stockholm var att vaccinera mig och att rosta..
Jag han med bada tva.
Jag och Sara lunchade strax innann jag bar mig mot Arlanda... jag propsade pa att vi skulle ata kebabpizza...
Eller iallafall at jag kebabpizza...
Sista kebabpizzan (skulle man kunna saga, jag hade dock sparat fragment att Bjorns pizza i en kylbox som jag at strax for in-checkning pa arlanda), visas pa bilden...bra att ha som minne om nagraq manader da man kommer att sakna den...
"Hej hej", sa har ser man ut efter 23 timmars vantande i peking (pa flygplatsen). Jag sov bara lite grann...laste dock bok under vantandet...
Kineser har typ samma mentalitet som taiwaneser, d ger ofta ett intryck om att ha noll koll...och forsoker hanvisa en nan annan stans for att bli av med en...
Jag kunde inte checka in direkt vid ankomst, kille sa att jag skulle dra "down town","hmm" tankte jag, och vantade fore ut-checkningsrummet pa att tiden skulle ga. tills nan kines sa at jag inte fick vanta dar inne...
sa jag tankte dra till ett narbelaget hostel, men behovde pengar...
Jag som hade ryska kontanter (ryssland=grannland till kina) tankte vaxla dess till kineiska. forsta exchangekontoret sa att d inte gick hos dem ,men att d gick utanfor ut-checkning. andra exchange kontoret (utanfor ut-chekning) sa att d bara gick pa vaning 4 hos :"bank of china", pa vaning 4 hos "bank of china" sa d att d bara gick hos "bank of china"...
Da jag fragade om de inte var "bank of china" jag kommit till sa ha "yes", sen mumlade han nanting...
sa jag tankte att jag kan lika garna stanna pa terminalen. och om nan sager att jag inte kan vanta dar, sa mumlar jag nanting...
jag satt vid ett par bankar med en massa andra vantandes kineser...tills d va dax for in-checkning, da vantade jag vid gaten (dar ovanstaende bild togs), istallet.
Val framme i taiwan sa var d dag, aven om jag i min dygnsrytm precis skulle ga o lagga mig...
D var dax for "pappersarbete", nar jag kom till "office of international affairs". Senn var d schemakrockar som gjorde att ajg inte kunde lasa de kinesiska kurser jag tankt mig. sa jag haller pa att kolla pa alternativ for tillfallet.
sakert 50 ark, som alla skulle ha 2 kopior...
"behover du dethar pappret?" "nej", for att efter 2 minuter saga "hade du ett santhar pappret?" (samma ark som jag just visat upp).
Precis som jag befarade sa maste jag gora den satans lakarundersopkningen igen...eftersom taiwaneserna har noll koll. D havdade pa Taipei mission att man inte behover gora lakarundersokning har om man redan gjort d hemma... men har ar d for fega for att lite pa annan sjukvard..
aja, far c vad som hander... jag gav dem kopior pa mitt lakarundersokningsresultat iallafall...
Forsta maltiden i taiwan, nan fagel med nudlar o agg..
jag passade pa att kopa madrass till mitt ostadade rum. i taiwan e d ofta tanken att man stadar nar man flyttar in, istallet for nar man flyttar ut, som i sverige...
D var 35 grader nar jag kom...jag jag kopte mjolk, juice, reservnudlar och en madrass...
Sen drog jag tebax for att stada rummet och sova...typ 14 timmar...(sakert rekord, jag brukar ligga runt 7-8 timmar annars, 12 timmar var mitt tidigare topnoterade)
Har i Taiwan har jag hittills valt att ga barfota, eftersom d e sa varmt...vilket taiwaneserna tycker e konstigt...
men eftersom man ser ut som en utlanning, sa verkar d inte vara nann fara. Nar jag skulle in pa biblan, sa sa vakten att jag inte hade skor pa mig (som om d skule vara ett hinder att ga in). Jag sa att jag inte har nagra skor i mina agor...da blev jag inslappt iallfall..
puh
Sista Dagarna i Alingsas
Efter att ha atit kebabpizza med Tess, gett henne min cykel fixat o donat mm, sa bar d av mot Alingsas. Dar hade jag en dag pa mig att packa och stada ur mitt rum. Jag passade aven pa att delvis klippa men aven kratta grasmattan och dra in badflotten.
Oscar fixar med platekan. han var skeptisk over min tillaggning, men jag havdade nan teori som jag hoppades skulle overtyga...
Jag rodde baten medan oscar holl i flotten...
Pa bilden syns pappas badbrygga, bastun, snickarboden och en glimt av huset...
Nar vi val var klara med bestyren, akte vi och hamtade Bjorn, som var pa nan tillstallning pa andra sidan sjon...
Medan vi akte sa bjod oscar in sina kompisar pa BBQ hemma pa skar. d va 2 som kom.
"Johan du har ingen koll", sa Erik RF till mig, gallande marinad eller natt annat som man har pa kottet.
Jag holl mig till att laga klyftpotatis i ugn...
Dagen efter va d dimma pa Skar. Varlden tog slut vid sjokanten...
Inga radjur syntes dock...over de nykrattade grasmattorna.
Innan jag drog till Stockholm sa at jag Bjorn och NG kebabpizza.
Bjorn inventerade aven rummen, for att sakerstalla att allt lamnades i sin ordning.
Verandalampan e pa under dagljus?!
D va har "sista maltide" ats, utomhus... :)
Sista dagarna i Gbg
Jag passade även på att mingla runt bland vänner och hjälpa Ag med en flytt.
Radarparet Johan och Christopher minglade runt i Findwise lokaler i Göteborg...som en uppladdning inför te i kaka-kväll samt pubrunda.
Anders Johan Robert och Karl syns på bild, Kai o Chrisopher sitter på soffan till vänster om bilden. Maggan tog fotot..
D va 3 sorters kakor (äpple- och banan- och kladdkaka), antal te-sorter va säkert d 3 dubbla...
Senare bar d av på pubrunda @ Chalmers...
D va långsamma köer...
KajsaBaren, Zaloonen, Gasquen samt I-puben besöktes...med ett jämt drop off...
Dagen efter besökte jag lite olika folk, samt körde hem cyklar...och lyckades få medicin utskrivet av Farbror NG, samt se den första timmen på Avatar med Bluray-kvalitet @ Ville. Hans vibratorsoffa gick på högvarv så han var tvungen att sänka effekten.
