My Taiwan Adventure

The good news is they want me in Keelung. The bad news is due to some unforseen challenges they can not hire me at this particular moment in time. Which leaves me in the situtation where I've been around most of the island and am not entirely certain what to do next. I'm glad that I made new friends in Keelung. They have certainly been very kind and are anxious to see that I get myself settled even if it isn't to be at their particular school.

Found out the earthquake I reported on was actually 2 seperate quakes only 3 minutes apart. Have felt some minor tremors since then but nothing quite as big. Being ever inquisitive I also found out that if you're inside in a quake you're suppossed to stay inside. Two people ran out of their house in ILan the other night only to get injured by something falling. The general rule appears to be stay where you are and get under a desk if you're at home. Interesting to find out that door-jambs are not the recommended course of action.

Yesterday I went to MOCA, the museum of contemporary art. It's just down the road from my hotel.
Link to the museum http://www.mocataipei.org.tw/_english/
It was a mixed medium show of 12 different artists entitled "Pseudo Hackers Art in Parallel Zones." What a mouthful that is! None-the-less they also defined what the title means and it sounds like a whole jumble of dictionary terms thrown loosly together. My definition is roughly - 12 people did something completely different and are exhibiting in the same building because they want their art to be seen. *grins* The outside of the museum has been decorated in a mosaic made completely out of old bank and visa cards. It's really quite fantastic to see that much plastic. They also had enough to completely tile and wallpaper a room in the gallery! Wow.

There were a few other exhibits that were fun. Interactive art at it's best was the "Happy Taiwan" room.
The artist put together a replica of a betel nut stand and then populated a room with actresses to play the part of karaoke hostess/betel nut girl. You get to drink tea, sing karaoke and even dance with the girls if you're brave enough to do so. The girls coaxed me into singing "500 miles." *chuckles* Karaoke is a big thing here. I bought one of the boxes of betel nut tea that was made especially for the exhibit. It had a slightly spicy taste and didn't seem to have any bad affects on my system. They say it is good for circulation.

I made friends with one of the girls and hope to be able to stay intouch with her via e-mail. She is actually an English Teacher herself for the younger children. She speaks english exceptionally well. She was dressed as a play-boy bunny for her role in the "art." And she explained that while Taiwan's culture is very "sexy" it isn't "sexual." My basic understanding of that is the men can look but not touch? I'm not sure I'm reading this correctly. I'm sure I'll learn more as I go along.

My favorite Teaching in Taiwan Site: http://users2.ev1.net/~turton/teach_index.html
Run by this man: http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/

Not much more time to write at the moment. Still trying to decide if I should just hop on a bus to ChangHua or go to Hualien. Laundry continues to plague me! Can't I just buy new stuff every day? Not very practical I know.

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