A Long Needed Update

It's been a while since my last post.  A lot has happened but it's hard to differentiate between specific events.  It has all sort of blended into one wonderful experience.  I will try and recount some of the memorable ones since the last time I updated.

I have been riding bikes around a lot.  I also visited the Brass Monkey last night and had a great time.  It is finally the weekend.  I plan to ride bike tomorrow up to a park that Joann showed me on Google Maps.  It goes along the river and it is quite larger than Ronxing where I have been doing my usual riding.  I look forward to exploring that place tomorrow.

I have been having a great experience with Joann at work.  She is like a mentor to me and is teaching me a lot about video production, but especially the work that goes into each process, and not just telling me and assigning me things to do as a boss.  We are going to visit a temple after lunch on Monday and she is going to show me how the locals pray with prayer stones.  She explained it to me briefly but I would much rather go and experience it for myself.

Next Friday is also George's last day at the company.  I have developed a friendship with him and will be sad to see him go, but we have decided to stay in touch.  I especially would like to see more of Taipei with him as my guide.  I wish him all the best working for Firefox-- what an exciting opportunity!!

Aside from that stuff, I have just really been enjoying working.  Since this is my first real work experience, I am learning a lot just by simply going to the office and interacting with my co-workers.  Ever since I switched over to video production, I have been loving every minute of it.  I also have some more tasks that I might do with the digbil staff when Jeff decides to assign me some things.  Joann also taught me how to use the pen in photoshop and create paths.  I created a very simple taxi cab drawing which she said turned out great, which I am happy about.  The 3D animator is a guy named Adrian.  He is very talented and also has a very interesting and artistic outlook on life.  I enjoy listening to him and what he has to say.  He showed me a 4 second animation clip that he had set to render.. amazingly it takes over 4 hours to render 4 seconds of animation!!  So much time that he is unable to work and must wait for the animation to render... it's quite a difficult waiting period I'd imagine.

Anyway, I am going out the door to find some dinner.  After that I don't know how I'll spend my evening.  I always enjoy walking around looking at people on the street while listening to Phish, it's nice to have some music to accompany my walks.  So I might do that again tonight.  We will see I suppose.  For now I have to depart.  Farewell !!

Week 1: Reflection

After a very eventful first week I thought I would reflect back on my experiences.  The city of Taipei has a lot to offer and I am beginning to dip my toes into its waters.  First of all, the food is very good.  There are a lot of places to get very good food for very cheap, and all of it is delicious.  Yesterday we went to Din Tai Fung, a legendary dumpling place, for Mother's Day.  I would say it lived up to its reputation, as the food and atmosphere were very good.  They had a clear glass window where you can see the chefs in action, working hard at rolling, pressing and creating the dumplings at a breakneck speed and almost non-stop.

At work, things have been progressing normally.  I learned that George, one of my co-workers that has been teaching me a lot, is leaving the company to work for Firefox.  He will be gone in 2 weeks.

In addition to eating at Din Tai Fung for Mother's Day, we visited Taipei 101, currently the world's second tallest building.  The elevator to the top is also one of the fastest, and we traversed over 80 stories in mere seconds.  The view from the top is spectacular although it was rainy and cloudy most of the day so you couldn't see as far as you normally could.  The entrance to the outdoor viewing area was also closed.

This past Friday I visited a local night market with George and Leonard.  The one they took me to was one of the less touristy ones and therefore offered more local flavor.  I was able to soak in the sights, sounds and smells and experience some of their culture and how they live.  It was very much like a street carnival come to life.

So far I am enjoying the city life.  My parents are leaving tomorrow so it will be sad to not be able to explore more of Taiwan with them.  However my father will be back in a few weeks on business so I will be able to see him.  Today I may rent a bike or spend some time in the park and draw or read.  It is almost time to go to work so I will update this again when I get the chance!

Day 3

Today was a mostly uneventful day.  I went to lunch with some of my co-workers- Renaud, Jeff and Greg.  I learned a little bit about my co-workers and where they are from.  Renaud is from Switzerland and grew up around snow his whole life.  He was even a part-time snowboarding instructor when he lived there.  Jeff is originally from Illinois and I learned the surprising fact that 20% of the town's population (where he is from) is employed by State Farm!  Greg is originally from Taiwan but he has also lived in Seattle and San Francisco.  We chatted a little bit about the constant rain in Seattle and how the locals don't even carry umbrellas, and instead pull hoodies over their heads and walk in the rain.  In addition to my co-workers, Jeff's friend Mike joined us.  We went to a place that offered a lot of food for very cheap.  It only cost about 180 TWD for an entire plate of food.  I had fried pork that was very good.

After lunch, Jeff and Mike took me to have my very first "bubble tea" as it is called.  It is chilled iced tea with little black balls that are very chewy.  You can chew the "bubbles" for a very long time.  Apparently they are made of tapioca.  You can also get varying levels of sugar in them.  I decided to get 30% sugar and Jeff did the same.  I didn't want to be on a sugar high and have an upset stomach later.

At work, George said that a popular destination was the various night markets around town and a good place to visit.  We decided that we would go on Friday after work.  I am looking forward to it.

Day 2

Today was my second day in Taipei, and my first official day at AMI.

I met some of my co-workers including George and Leonard.  They had me working on some stuff that I didn't quite understand but tried my best to learn.  George also showed me the digbil website where you can manage electronic billboards across Taiwan.  Pretty cool.

Leonard got me started working on some stuff that involves testing via Selenium.  It is quite difficult to understand.

I asked Clas how many hours he expects me to put in each day and he said 16.  I wasn't quite sure if he was joking or being serious, but he insisted that he wasn't joking.  I don't know how it is humanly possible for someone to work 16 hours a day, let alone an unpaid intern, but I decided to just chalk it up to his weird personality my dad insisted he has.  On second thought, this makes a lot of sense.

After work, I decided I would spend the evening biking around.  I was very excited about the news that Taiwan's public transportation system involved public bikes that could be rented from kiosks.  Clas told me that there was a place I could rent from at the corner of the park across the street from the building where I work.  I went there and noticed three little Taiwanese boys who looked like they had just gotten off school.  They were by the bikes and I approached them and asked if they spoke English.  They said no but they were very enthusiastic and helped me figure out the kiosk.  One of them even took me to a 7-11 so I could buy an EZ Pass, a necessity if you want to rent a bike.  After purchasing my pass and grabbing a bike, I thanked them and went on my way.

The public bikes are bright orange and have a basket in front, as well as a little bell you can ring.  It almost looks a little girly but I was just happy to be able to ride one.

I rode down to my hotel and back to the park, just killing some time riding around enjoying the city.  There are so many motorcyclists and you have to be careful when crossing the street because one may come out of nowhere.

The bike ride really soothed my soul and I'm glad I have it.  I'm not sure how long I am allowed to keep the bike before returning it, but this seems like a trivial issue.  It seems that the bikes are on a timer basis, and if I go past my allotted time I will just use my entire EZ Card to pay for it, and that will be that.

Now I am back at the hotel, resting a bit from my ride and getting ready to go out to get some dinner.  There are a lot of places to eat and I am a little overwhelmed by the nightlife here but I am sure I will get used to it. All in all it has been a pretty eventful day 2, and I have no idea what to expect in the coming days, but I hope you'll stay tuned.

Day 1

Today was my first official full day in Taiwan.  We landed late last night, and after catching some sleep, woke at 9:30 to eat breakfast and meet my new boss Clas. I had heard a lot of stories about him from my dad so I was excited to finally meet him.

He shows up very casually wearing purple high tops. Needless to say he is a very laid back guy and I like him.  After taking us on a tour of the AMI Taiwan facility, he took us to lunch at a place that serves fresh seafood.  We feasted on crab legs, fish, and prawns, all served fresh on a bed of hot coals.  It was delicious and very filling.

After that we decided to do some sight seeing.  We went to a place called Geo Park that is farther away from the city and out in a smaller town.  After a 30 minute bus ride we arrived at Geo Park which is at a coast.  It is known for its strange and unique rock formations, one of which looked like a Princess and another like a Leopard!

Unfortunately it started raining during our exploration of the park so we decided to return early to Taipei.  After getting back I check back into my extended stay suite where I'll be staying for the next three months.  Tomorrow is my first official day of work and I am excited but slightly nervous.  I'm not sure what these next few months will entail but I hope it will be a valuable experience.