Alec's birthday

Today is Alec's second birthday. So, before I continue, let's all sing "Happy Birthday" together. "Happy Birth....." Hey, you at the back!! I don't hear you sing!!
Anyway, I can't believe it, it's that long ago. The nights that shook the world. Well.....MY world at least. And yes,...I did say nights, plural. I remember it, as if it was 2 years ago. I went to bed quite late, as always on Saturday evening...actually it was Sunday morning at 3 a.m. Got caught up in a game, as usual and had a few drinks. I went to bed, and as usual, when I went to bed, YuMei woke up and went to the toilet. I fell asleep while she was in the toilet, but I heard her coming in again. And I still remember, the moment she climbed up the bed, I heard her say:"shit!". Since this has become an international word, you can guess what happened. But, it was late, and the true meaning of the word, didn't enter my brain yet, when I asked "what?". "I think my water broke". And that sentence always make me think of that movie with Hugh Grant, Nine Months, "My water broke!!", "Don't worry, we'll get you some new!"

Anyway, I was awake and all sobered up immediately, and somehow managed to not get into a panic, which isn't really like me. I don't know how things are done in other countries, but here we have a midwife, who checks the whole pregnancy and helps the delivery, unless there are reasons to go to the hospital. So I called the midwife, and explained the situation. but since there were no real contractions yet, we just had to ride it out, till she would come in the morning.
Meanwhile we still hadn't prepared the "emergency-bag", the bag you have to have ready in case the delivery starts and which should contain clothes for the lady, toothbrush, soap, clothes for the baby, well, everything necessary for a short stay in the hospital. So I was preparing this, while YuMei was trying to get some sleep as the midwife suggested. And now I was happy to be one of those people that "steals" the free shampoo, the free toothbrush etc. from every hotel we stayed in. This kind of stuff, really comes in handy in a situation like this.

When the midwife arrived on Sunday morning, still nothing had happened. The midwife made an appointment at the hospital for that evening for a check-up, so we went to the hospital. YuMei was hooked up to all sorts of machines, and we had to wait. After about 1 hour, the doctors came, and we had a choice to wait in the hospital or come back the next morning, since there was no direct emergency. We decided to come back the next day, and had one more sleepless night at home.

The next morning we were at the hospital at 9 am, all packed and surprisingly awake and sharp, or at least that's what I thought, since I left everything in the car. YuMei was hooked up to the machinery again, and we had to wait. When the gynecologist arrived she wanted to do some checks. With the first check, things were already started to work out a bit strange. The lady discovered that the baby was lying in breech presentation. So, we were immediately asked the question if we would still have a natural birth (which apparently is still possible in that situation to my surprise) or a caesarean.
Meanwhile the gynecologists were getting even more equipment, while we were discussing what the next step would be. They came and wanted to have one more check, while we were still deciding. Well, once the gynecologist was ready with her check, the decision was made for us. It turned out that junior was not only the wrong way up, the umbilical cord was also around his neck, and something needed to be done immediately.
The speed with which everything happened from that moment on still leaves me speechless. From the moment the decision was made to get the baby themselves till the moment YuMei was in the operation room took less than 15 minutes! And I haven't even got all the stuff needed from the car. Once I got back, I immediately was rushed to the operation room where YuMei was already prepared, and the show started.
At 11:31 am we could welcome our little devil into this world.
It was so unreal to have Alec in my arms. "So, you are the little devil that's gonna mess up my life?" JUST KIDDING!!! I can't even remember what I thought at that moment. I think I was just enjoying the moment. I do remember that I was happy to have a healthy kid with all bits and pieces attached.

Things I would miss about Holland

As some of you already know, I am looking for a job, and as I already wrote before (in my post "Homesick") I have been sending out some open applications to companies in Taiwan. To my surprise 2 companies responded positively to my letter. Well.....I'll tell you all about this in another post. The thing is, that this has made me think about, what I would miss when I would be living away from Holland. I will just start and see how long this list will become. Maybe there will be additional posts afterwards.

Things I'd miss about Holland:

1) First of all my family and friends
2) Real middle eastern Shoarma
3) Dutch liquorice (drop), especially the "harlekijntjes" van Kruidvat
4) The butcher (or greengrocer, or whatever) around the corner, the one that knows you by name, and is always quick with a joke. I guess everyone has one of those here.
5) The wednesday morning market
6) Uithoorn (the town we live in)
7) Dutch and/or English tv-programs
8) Feeding ducks with Alec
9) The endless discussions in the politics over nothing (here, miss should be with big "")
10) Cheese
11) The "brown" cafe's
12) Meat rolls (kroketten) and the MacKroket from McDonalds
13) The spontaneous trips to Belgium and Germany
14) Amsterdam
15) The western music on the radio especially City FM (and I don't mean Country & Western)

This is the list so far, and except for the first one, they are in random order. I have the idea that there are still a few missing, but I will post them once I remember them.

Street names and signs in Taiwan

Sometimes you can go completely crazy there with all those street names and streetsigns. At the beginning, I had so much trouble finding my way around at the beginning. All streetsigns are in Chinese. So you need to memorize and recognize some buildings, and combine them with certain routes and areas. Later you learn to combine the building with the name of the street. And when that happens you are as happy as a kid....You think! After all, we are talking about Taiwan. And Taiwan wouldn't be Taiwan, if there wouldn't be something that can turn any tourist into a mental nutcase. All streetnames can be written in more than 1 way, which would make living in Taiwan more complicated then necessary.

An example would be in place:
One day, I was looking for WenShin Road*. This shouldn't be difficult, I had a map, I had the "Lonely Planet", and I had the faith. In short, all the ingredients were there to end this daring task. Or at least, if it was any country other than Taiwan, it would be all that was needed to get you from A to B successfully. I had looked at the map in advance, so I knew a bit in what area I needed to be, and so I went on my way. After a while I had the idea that I should have been in the area by that time. So I checked the map, a different one this time, and couldn't find WenShin Road anywhere on the map. Also the streetsigns weren't very helpful. So, into another street then, hoping to find a helpful sign. And another street, and again, no useful info. Finally I found the spot (unfortunately not marked with an X). Upto this day I still don't know how I get there, but I guess luck had a lot to do with it.

Afterwards, while I was reconstructing the route, I found out what went wrong. It turned out that WenShin Road, was spelled in 3 (!) different ways. In the "Lonely Planet" it was written as WenShin Road, on the map I looked when I was on the street it was written as WenXin Road, and the streetsign read UenShin Road. It all look almost the same, but if you are there, and driving around, and not sure where to go, and in a complete strange world, then it can be very confusing. Also, consider, that nothing is what it looks like in Taiwan.
So, if you ever have this problem, try to pronounce the streetname, in english. Often you can find your way by the sound of the name.

The Lonely Planet writes the following about this:

"Perverted Romanisation
One traveller wrote to LP to complain about the use of the 'perverted' Wade-Giles Romanisation system in the Taiwan guide. Perverted? A Romanisation system may not be entirely adequate, but can it be described as 'perverted'?
Perhaps. The Wade-Giles system has everyone confused. Even the government officials who enforce its use don't have the foggiest notion of how to Romanise their own names. Street signs in Taipei are inconsistent - one side of the street has on eRomanised name while the opposite side has another. Maps and brochures produced by the Tourism Bureau consistently give different spellings for the same place - 'Hsuehpa' National Park or 'Shei-Pa' National Park?
Let's forget for the moment that Taiwan's capital is really spelled as T'aipei , not Taipei or Taibei. Is it Changrong Rd or Changjung Rd? Keelung or Chilung? Tamsui, Tanshui or Danshuei? Nanking Rd or Nanching Rd? Chiuju Rd, Jeoru Rd or Jiuru Rd? These fun questions ans more await unwary travellers trying to make sense of Taiwanese maps and street signs. Pity the poor postal clerks who have to sort out this mess and make sure that the mail gets delivered to the right place.
Things really start to get interesting when the Taiwanese newspapers take a stab at Romanising the names of people abd places in mainland China. Is the capital of China called Beijing, Peking, Peiching or Peiping? Tourists can visit the ancient city of Xi'an, Hsian or Sian, depending on what mood the editor is in that day.
Did Deng Xiaoping die or was it Teng Hsiaoping? Mao Zedong or Mao Tsetung?
Every now and then someone has the brilliant idea of trying to pursuade the government to drop Wade-Giles in favour of the more accurate Pinyin system. So they seek whichever officials are available, imploring them to make the change. Unfortunately they will soon discover that: (1) no government officials have ever heard of Wade-Giles; (2) they don't know what Pinyin is either, but if mainland China is using it, they definately don't want it; (3) no one is willing to take responsibility for making such change; and finally; no one cares anyway." (source: Lonely Planet, Taiwan issue, 4th edition)

*Can anyone who live in the Taichung area or is visiting that area, please send me a picture of that street sign?

Rockin' all over the world!

Well, guys, today I got confirmed what I already knew. You guys can say anything about Alec: he got his mother's eyes, his mother's smile, his mother's good looks, I don't care! Because the most important thing he got from me: his love for good old fashioned Rock 'n' Roll!! So, honey, you can trow away those cd-s from Mozart and Beethoven, because from now on it'll be Guns 'n' Roses, Status Quo, Iron Maiden, Toto. I will teach him all about REAL culture!

Today, I heard a song of Status Quo on the radio, and I wanted to hear it again. And as you know, that isn't really possible when you are listening to the radio. But it so happens that I had this song right here on the comp. So, I started it up, and guess what? Alec was rockin' even harder than his old man! And with every song I played he was dancing along with the music. So, now I know......he is definitely MY kid !! :)

Alec's recipe

earlier I posted the recipe of butter cake I made. Now I want to post a recipe Alec made: Baked Lego Muffins.

All you need is some Lego blocks, and a muffin tray.

1) Take the Lego blocks and put them in the tray, one stone per hole.
2) Set the oven at room temperature and let your kid put the tray anywhere in the oven. make sure he wears his oven glove!
3) Leave it in the oven for 1 minute.
4) Let your kid take it out of the oven again.

Enjoy your Lego!

thought the iphone was cool? check this touch screen out!

YuMei showed me this video earlier. I thought it was really cool, so I wanted to share it with you guys. This is what I call touch screen!

thought the iphone was cool? check this touch screen out!

Just an empty blog

So annoying today.....I have so many things in mind to write about, but I just can't get any of them on the screen. I had the idea of writing about movies, about my job-hunt, about Alec, etc. But if I write now, I'd probably end up mixing things, and will write about Alec going on a job-hunt while watching movies or something. And why is that, you might wonder? Well.....maybe because I went to bed at 1:30 after getting caught in a game I have been playing for some time already. On top of that, Junior woke up at 5:30, and YuMei had brought him to our bed to sleep. Unfortunately, he had other plans. So, at 7:30 we were already up and running. And at 9:00 we were already on our way to do the weekly groceries.
But as you probably can guess already, all three of us are a bit edgy and cranky.

Having kids is wonderful, I love Alec more than life itself. But the above is the downside of having kids. Luckily for us, this happens only once every 2 or 3 months. I think that apart from the above we are quite lucky with Alec. He is quite easy, smart, and sweet.
So, we shouldn't complain (and we don't) when once in a while he decides to give us a hard time, like today.
Next time I will write something more interesting (I hope).

Chinese and kids

When we decided to go to China, we didn't know what to expect, since it is so completely different from Taiwan. We went to see some friends who have been there. They also have a kid a bit older then Alec, so they could tell us the things we needed to think about. They told us that Chinese are crazy about small kids, and then in particular the western and/or the mixed kids.

However, they also told me that sometimes kids are being kidnapped and being sold on the black market, and especially mixed kids are popular. Well, for me, I love Alec more then life itself, and I am scared to death anything big happening to him. So, when we were there, I was looking everywhere for potential kidnappers, and thugs planning to hurt Alec. In every Chinese who was watching Alec a little bit longer then normal, I was seeing someone who was calculating Alec's market value. So, it was a bit nerve-wrecking.
Especially since all Chinese are crazy about kids, and they have the tendency to stop for and pick up western kids. And especially mixed kids are very popular. Where ever we walked, heads turned our way, especially for Alec. And when we stopped at a popular touristic attraction, we BECAME the touristic attraction. In the Forbidden City we draw a crowd. A whole group of schoolgirls went crazy and wanted to take picture of Alec.



One time we were standing in a cd-shop, late in the evening, and Alec was quite tired. He was sitting on my arm, head a bit leaning on my shoulder. YuMei had walked inside and I was standing a the doorway. All of a sudden, there were three girls coming in the shop, looked at Alec, and started to go MENTAL! "Hao ke-ai!, Hao ke-ai" ("So cute"). And before I got the chance to say anything, Alec was pulled from my arm, and went from one girl to the other (every man's dream). He himself didn't mind, he liked the attention, but I was a bit afraid he might start to cry, and never stop crying.


And even though only girls/ladies pick him up, guys are also very interested. When we were in the Summer Palace, there were some guys looking at Alec, giving me lots of good advice, like to tuck him in warm, since it was quite cold.....DUH!!! Like I didn't know that already.



Well, it's not only mixed kids that are the lucky ones. Also blonde western girls have all the atttention. There was this American lady with a blond girl about 7 years old sitting in JinShan Park, with 3 or 4 Chinese ladies around the girl.

So, here's a bit of advice: You can't stop them, so just go with the flow, but try to tell them when they go to far. If that doesn't work........GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE! Well....that's my advice. If some else has a better advice, please share it with us.

boterkoek

For the first time in quite a while I have been baking again. We didn't have anything at home for just eating in between meals (snaaien), like cookies, chips etc. We had a busy weekend so we forgot to buy. There is this recipe for a real oldfashioned Dutch treat, called "boterkoek" or in English "buttercake", with which I have had quite some success already in the past. I must tell you in advance that it is VERY fat, since, as the name already reveals, there is a lot of butter used.
But I just thought I wanted to share this with you.

Here's what you need:

baking tin of 24 cm diameter
250 gr. (8 oz) flour
200 gr. (6 3/4 oz) white caster sugar (fine grain)
pinch of salt
225 gr. (7 1/2 oz) cold butter
1 table spoon coffee cream (optional)

1) preheat the oven at 250 degrees celsius (480 degrees fahrenheit)
2) Sieve the flour with the sugar and the salt in a mixing bowl
3) Cut the butter with 2 knives through the flour-sugar mixture in very small pieces.
Knead all ingredients quickly into a ball
4) Put the ball into the baking tin and press it into the tin, till you have a layer which has about the same thickness everywhere.
You can make a pattern with a fork or a knife at the surface, and spread the top with the coffee cream (optional).
5) Put the tinin the middle of the oven, and bake it till golden brown in approximately 15 - 20 minutes.
6) Let the cake cool down in the tin and cut it right before serving.

One tip, when you get it out of the oven, don't be discouraged if you see the the cake still be liquid or soft or anything. It will harden when it cools down.
And I used grained sugar, and didn't use the coffee cream, so yours could look better (less grainy) than mine. But it's the taste that matters, not the looks.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think, ok? And send some pictures of the result if you want.
Maybe I will post some more recipes in the future. Keep checking regularly.

Eet smakelijk (Enjoy your cake).

The english language in music and movies

The things I wrote in "The Taiwanese and the English language" matches perfectly with the following. The English language is used on every occasion possible in music. You might say, that this is nothing special. Well....it is, considering I am talking about Chinese songs. When I was there, there were 3 lovely ladies called S.H.E. and they had a hit with a song called "Superstar". A very lovely song, but the title was about the only English that was used in that song. The song was completely in Chinese, except for that sentence. And that is a very strange thing to hear. You hear a lot of Chinese mambo-jambo, woven together to form a nice song, and all of a sudden you hear something that sounded like English. Until you hear it more often, and then you hear the title.

This isn't really an exception. I have heard quite some songs, where there is English used, to "spice it up a bit". Somehow I have the feeling, that they think that if there is some English in the song, it automatically becomes a hit.
And it's not only Taiwanese and/or Chinese who do this, but the other day, YuMei was watching a Korean serie, and she loved the music. So she downloaded it. And there are also a few songs that has only one English sentence in it.

And when you consider the way they are trying to put English in their songs, they must use the English names of American and English artists. But no.....all English names are being translated into Chinese form. And not only in music, but also in films. And even more strange is that they might never heard of the English names. Like the time I asked YuMei something about the Beatles. She never heard of them before. Until I named a song of them, and played it to her. Then she knew who I was talking about. So, you can ask someone who is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and they will be looking at you, like you are asking about the devil himself (well, some might say you are). Until you mention a movie (in Chinese).

This might be a nice game to play on those cold winter evenings, in front of the fireplace. One of you mention an artist in your mother language, and the other one must guess who you are talking about.

Photocameras and Photography in Taiwan

As I already mentioned in my blog yesterday, in Taiwan they are crazy about photography and everything involved. This phenomenon is not only seen in Taiwan, but everywhere in Asia. Just think of those Japanese tourist that are walking around with a camera bigger than themselves, and only seeing Europe through the lense of a camera. Asians are (like I mentioned earlier) crazy about photography, video, etc. The difference is already visible between YuMei and me. While I walk into the shop, looking for the cheapest camera with for that price the best features, is she really studying on which camera is the best, which one has the most pixels, which one is more worth for the money and so on. And not only YuMei, but all her friends. On parties cameras are being compared in the same way as the western girls compare shoes, handbags or whatever. It really looks like they are the ones who are the experts.
Also a few years ago, YuMei persuaded me that we should buy a videocamera, so that we could film all the tricks and funny stuff of our new born (yeah, this is more than 2 years ago). I don't really like videocameras, I rather stand behind them, but after a while I just gave in, although I have to admit, that she didn't needed to persuade very hard. The "Steven Spielberg" in me took over on that one. But normally, it is the guy who comes up with the idea of buying a videocamera and the woman just need to give in.

Another funny thing is taking pictures of Asians. You can't just take a picture spontaneously. There always have to be a pose. When you are lucky they just stand still with a modest smile. But don't be surprised if Churchill's famous V-sign is being showed.


I had a classmate from the Philipines from who it was impossible to take a picture without him posing for it. Even just an impression shot was impossible without him on it, with some kind of silly pose, and again with the ever present "fingers". I don't even know if I have a picture of him without the "fingers".
The same goes for 2 sisters from Indonesia, who almost freaked out, when you pointing the camera towards them without notice. They then either face away, or took on such a silly pose that taking the picture wasn't fun anymore.

Our Japanese friend also was a master in striking poses, just like the philipino. He was posing in all kind of poses and in all kind of ways, varying from the every present fingers to poses I can't show here, since there maybe children reading and watching.
Once we had a guest staying in our house, who I had to show our lovely Holland. This lovely lady had a camera (the latest model) with her, where ever she went. With this camera every opportunity was taken to take a picture of her with.....you guessed it, the ever present "fingers". And you could not take just a scenery shot, since in each photo there had to be a person in it, either me or her.

And when you think only adults are showing this behaviour, think again. The posing is already being thought at a very early age. Including the "fingers". On the following pictures you can see my 2 nephews (2 and 4 at the time). The oldest properly with the fingers, and the youngest, who couldn't count yet, so therefore putting all of them in the air.

One of the main things in Taiwan is the making of a real photoshoot. And I DO mean the real deal, with an official photographer in an official studio. My earlier mentioned nephew already had his first photo shoot at the age of four, and I think the youngest should have had his baptism of fire by now. Also graduation is usually rewarded with a session, where no trouble will be too big to make the model the best looking one in the world. My wife, who can be called a beauty by nature, has been changed into consecutively a sexy “femme fatal”, an innocent looking schoolgirl, and a sweet looking lady after a nice bath (no…no nudity :-)).

And, just like all guys married to a Taiwanese, I also had to have a go at it. In Holland, you hire a photographer DURING the wedding, in order to get an impression of the party afterwards as well.
Over there it is normal to make an album BEFORE the wedding. That way you can show (off with) your photo album during the wedding. The funny thing is that, at the beginning of our marriage, when my wife started to get to know some more Taiwanese girls living in the area (and then I mean Holland, Germany and Belgium), our album had to be dragged along with us whenever we went to visit others. So, we often sat in a restaurant with a whole group, and then there were like 4 or 5 of those books flying around the table for everyone to see.
I am already not the picture type by nature, I rather stand behind the camera than in front of it. But since YuMei was in turns twisting my arm and using her charm, I had to give in. Also it is tradition, and I am usually not the type to break traditions. (FYI, the charm worked better than the arm-twisting.)

Since YuMei had arranged everything, and everything was done in speedy Chinese, I had no idea what was going on. We arrived on a Saturday in Taichung after a long and exhausting trip. And it felt like we went straight from the bus stop to the photoshop. Everything was being talked through and arranged, and in between we also rented a dress, so I heard on the way to my sister-in-laws house.

So, on Monday morning I was dragged along bright and early to the studio by my lovely wife (well…..more early than bright). The moment we came in she was dropped in a chair to be tortured with hairspray and make-up. This whole process took about 2 hours, and in that amount of time she was turned into a lovely, elegant princess. Unfortunately I also couldn’t be rescued from my torture, and I too had to spend half an hour in the chair. And then there I was, standing in front of the firing squad, well…the photographer and his right-hand that is.
At the beginning I hated it, since as I wrote earlier, I hate being in front of a camera. Besides, everything was done in Chinese, because, as always, neither of them spoke any English. Luckily I had YuMei to translate it for me. And I must say, eventually I started to enjoy it, and I started to feel what the photographer wanted. He even told me I was a natural, can you believe that? Well…I am not gonna give up my day-job, that’s for sure.

We also did a shoot on location. This is part of the deal. The annoying part was that as good as I started to feel IN the studio, the worst I felt outside it. You go out, still in costume and wearing the make-up and all. And, yeah, being a foreigner you already are in the spot lights, and then also while doing a photoshoot, hmmm…yeah, Taichung had a temporary landmark. Luckily we went to places where there wasn’t much of a crowd.

That these shoots are common good in Taiwan, is proven by the fact that you can see photographers and their whole circus, follwed by newly (soon-to-be) weds, walking to the best spots in town, to take some nice photos. In Taichung you are most likely to see this circus in Folklore Park (where we went) or on campus of Chung Shin University. In Taipei, Damshui Harbour and Taipei WaterPark are most popular amongst photographers.

There goes my pension

Alec never stop to amaze me. He somehow is ahead with all technical stuff, and no vcr is safe anymore (right, Steve?). Just recently he has figured out how to put a dvd in the player, and is taking every opportunity to practise this. He puts the disk in the player, presses the "close" button, and presses the "play".
Also the computer has no borders anymore. He just loves the Cbeebies site with all their programs, especially the Teletubbies. And where he at first just pointed at the screen on the things he wanted to have pressed, he now just pushes my hand from the mouse and does it himself. His favorite games on the Teletubbies site are the Magic coloring game and Spot Noonoo. The first one is a game where he needs to brush in a picture, and the second game is where you have to find that vacuum cleaner that is driving around in that house. And if you think that the movements are going clumsy, you got it wrong. It still goes a bit uncontrolled, but he already knows what to do, and where to click.

And now, just when I finally had stopped worrying about my pension, since Alec will become a famous soccer player, he starts to develop an interest in digital cameras. And being a kid, only the newest, smallest, and most expensive one will do, since that one is the most fun to break. So, in this house that means YuMei's cam is the most interesting. Luckily we have managed to keep that one away from his tiny little tentacles.
We had an old one, which we had given him, and away he went, with a big smile only a 2 year old can produce. He has been "photographing" everything and nothing ever since.
Wonder who he got it from. Well, wait.....don't answer, because I know the answer already myself:
While I tend to see camera's as just something you bring along on vacation to shoot that famous sunset, or that cool swimming pool, YuMei is really into checking the latest models, checking out the amount of pixels, and bla bla bla, etc, etc. I think it is something Asian, since all her friends are into the latest gadgets, especially when it comes to digital cameras. Also posing is something special. Well, I will save that for my next update, once I have translated my article about this subject.
I feel I am drifting away here. I was writing about Alec, and his new toy, the digital camera.
For those curious about his pictures, here are some from the master himself:



Well, it looks like I have to start worrying about my pension again, since there isn't much money to be made in the photography business. My only hope is that he might end up working for "Playboy magazine". A man can hope, can he?

homesick

Well, today was just one of those days. I just had the feeling of ... yeah ... of what? It's hard to describe. Maybe the question of "Is this all there is in life?" is the closest thing I can think of. And I just don't know exactly what triggered this feeling. And this just comes up every once in a while. Those who know me personally already know my history. For those who don't know me (yet), here's the situation in a nutshell. The past years haven't been easy for us, and just recently things are going uphill again, slowly but surely.
Anyway, back to today. I just had the same idea again, that keeps on coming back. The idea of not knowing what I am still doing here, why I am still here in Holland? Every now and then I have the feeling of missing Taiwan. And I don't know why. And I just had the urge to go hunting for jobs in Taiwan (or in other parts of Asia for that matter).
When I think about me and my job hunting here in Holland, I sometimes just get a bit depressed. I still not sure what I want, what I can do. I have made the decision to go back to the airfreight again, since this line of work is still in my heart. But I feel I need to do this part time, since I have been without a job for so long, that I have to get used to it again. However, finding a part time job in this line of work is very hard. Also, night shifts and late shifts are more and more introduced. And, not that I am lazy, it's just I feel that this is such a waste of money, time and resources. There are companies, that are open 24/7. But why? During night time, you can't call any customers, since they all close at 6 pm. Making documents at night time is also a bit useless, if you just hire 1 person extra during daytime, and let him/her only make documents, is much cheaper. Apart from that, these things are hell for your biological clock, not to mention your social life.

I have send out several application letters, with the naive hope that someone will be interested.
The strange thing is, that I know that in, for example, Taiwan they are more demanding in this line of work. And still I am trying to apply for a job there, with all the things that I don't like over here.
Well, it may be not that strange though. Working there, is different kind of challenge. Life is so completely different there, that you take those things on the side, because you are enjoying the challenge of living there, enjoying the pleasure of exploring the city, exploring the life.

Recently I found a new website, TravelBlog, which is a website filled with blogs of people telling stories of their travels, or of their life living in another country.
I found 2 blogs on here, both from American girls, who moved to Taiwan to teach English there (MaryBrooks & Rachel Mathews). And reading that just made me feel homesick. everything they write is so recognisable. And reading about trips to HongKong makes it even worse.
Also reading back my articles about my life there makes me think about my time in Taiwan. And of course, living there is completely different then being there on vacation. But, I think that, as long as I have my own little private space, where I can hide in, when I want to be alone, I can make it anywhere. Even in Taiwan.

Taiwanese hospitality

Like I said earlier, the Taiwanese are very friendly people, sometimes TOO friendly. I frequently visit a McDonald's nearby where I lived. As soon as someone entered the building, immediately each staffmember shouted "wan ing guang lin", which means something like "welcome to my humble adobe". This is standard procedure in about every restaurant and shop. The fun part is, that it is a bit like hospitality, which has become more like a habit. The staffmembers of the 7-eleven for example are trained (or better brainwashed) in a way, that whenever the door opens (a nice music will sound), they will greet the customer in above mentioned way, without even looking up from their work. Therefore this is also mentioned to customers LEAVING the place, because that music is playing. And since they don't see if someone is entering or leaving, they just say it whenever the music sounds. This means that those well-meant and friendly words dissappear without any effect.

Same story in the Starbucks nearby. Greeting of the customer entering the store is so much of a policy, that EVERY staffmember, even the ones all the way at the back, is welcoming you into their fine establishment. Also they know the needs of their regulars. I have been a regular for a little while now here, but already after 4 or 5 times they already knew I was going to order a "Grande Cappucino". So after a while they didn't ask what I wanted to order, but comfirming what I wanted to order. Same goes for my favorite dining place.

Also department stores are excellent in providing this kind of service. The other day I went into a department store right after opening. And at the top of each escalator, believe it or not, there were 4 employees, who as soon as I reached the top, greeted me with a humble bow. And on each department there was an employee standing in front of it, doing the same thing. And this is standard procedure. Everywhere you walk, on each department, you will hear the same words. AND...if you are lucky they even trow in a bow. When you leave they will trow a friendly "bye bye".

What also is worth mentioning in the department stores is the presence of "elevator girls". In the old days (and even now in some expensive hotels) you had those famous "bell-boys", those young boys opreating the elevator. In Taiwan, these are 20+ year old girls (and an occasional boy), who in colorfull but stiff uniform, operate the elevators. They ask you while you are waiting, which floor you need to go to, and when you enter, the lady outside will tell the lady inside. The girl inside welcomes you, and presses the button for the desired floor. This is done with white velvet gloves, so no fingerprints are left on the panel. All this with a smile that would make a man's heart run faster.

As soon as the elevator hits the floor you need to be, the lady anounces which floor you are on, and everyone who wants to go out, can go out. And while you walk out, the lady friendly thanks you for your patience (“and thank you for flying Sogo Elevator Airlines” or something like that).



As you can read, they all are very service-minded, which is quite admirable. When you ask for something in a store, they will do anything for you. That is, when they understand you. If they do, and they know, or suspect, that they have what you asked for, no stone is left unturned, untill they find it. Sometimes they are searching so hard, and so long that you almost feel obligated to buy it.

Like in the Carrefour the other day. I was looking for some items, but couldn't find them. So, I stepped to one of the employees, who went searching high and low, all around, got his boss, who in his turn did the same. After turning the whole place upside down, they reluctantly admitted, that they didn’t had that article in stock (no wonder, I went with the wrong brochure into the wrong store…oops)

Still, shopping in a department store can be annoying. The sales staff is working partially on provision basis. This means in general that relaxed shopping is impossible, since there will be an employee hunting you down like a shark. He is hoping to make the deal of the century, so pointing to something, will result in the person breathing in your neck while explaining how good that product is.

For example, I wanted to buy some earplugs the other day, since it can be quite noisy where I stayed. I was served by 2 (!) employees, who told me (crossed their heart and hope to die) that those where the best earplugs they had in stock. They even threw in a second pair for good measure. All this, the earplugs AND the excellent service had cost me no more than NTD 20,- which is about USD 0,30. I was stunned by this kind of service.

However, no matter how long you live in Taiwan, you will NEVER be completely accepted by the Taiwanese. You are and always will be a “wai gwo ren”. The president of the language center I was attending classes lived there for 15 years, and still his Chinese wasn’t “understood”. And they didn’t ask him to repeat, but they asked his wife what he just had said.

Confession :)

Today I haven't been much of a daddy to Alec. I just left him a bit on his own, while I tried to keep and stay awake. And following is not an excuse, but just a reason. I have slept on the couch for the last few days, since I have a cold, and been coughing quite hard, especially during night. And to prevent Alec and YuMei from waking up, I decided to sleep on the couch. The problem with sleeping on the couch is that, when you are just watching tv, it is sooooo easy to fall asleep, but when you actually are trying to sleep on the couch, it is so hard. Anyway, I hope that I will be able to sleep in our own bed again.
I have promised Alec that tomorrow we are going to do all kind of fun things. I need to go out anyway, and need to bring him along. So, we can go to Toys 'r'Us or go to watch the planes take off.

The Taiwanese and the English language

The Taiwanese people are very friendly (just look at my wife YuMei). However, they are also very hard to understand. They can be very friendly and interested, but at the same time very distant and reserved (although this might be more a part of the Chinese character in general, then of the Taiwanese in particular, in my opinion).
Whether that reservation is because of shyness, the language, or a real characteristic I don't know. Quite often, when I walk on the street, people are smiling very friendly, and some of them even say hello. But as soon as you stop and talk to them (in English), they become very shy. Even the ones with the loudest mouth, will confess very softly, that he/she don't speak english. Maybe they are ashamed because of their lack of knowledge in the English language, something which of course is absolutely not necessary.

The other day in the Geant, I wanted to ask one of the employees where I could find something. The poor guy started to panic a bit, because his English was very poor. In the only English words he knew, he told me to wait and follow him. I followed him to one of her colleagues, to whom I repeated my question. She (a girl this time) also panicked a bit, and she also asked me to follow her, this time to the service desk, where I asked my question for the third time. And once again, they hadn't the slightest idea of what I was talking about. Then one of the employees had a brilliant idea. His face lit up, he grabbed the telephone, spoke a few words, and pushed the telephone in my hands. So, there I was, in the Geant in Taichung, surrounded by no less then 5 employees, with the telephone in my hand, where I was talking to the big man upstairs (no, not God), who apparently was the only one who spoke English. So, as you can see, shopping can be an adventure where even Indiana Jones would run away from. (For your info, I never found what I was looking for.)

Still you will be able to see more English in the daily life. Also the streetnames appear in English on the streetsigns, and in MRT in Taipei, the stations are also being broadcasted in English. And nowadays more Taiwanese are studying English. And I must admit, that those who speak English (and aren't shy or unsecure about their English) will grab every opportunity to practise. Sometimes you are being stopped on the street by someone, who is hoping for a short free private lesson.

So, the will to learn English is there with most Taiwanese, and then mainly the younger generation, who start to realise that without English Taiwan will be getting a lot of trouble in the future, in this international world. Everywhere you will see ads where they look for people with English as motherlanguage, to teach English on elementary schools, and also young students from university are looking for private tutoring. Here on campus you can join a "language exchange program", you teach English to a Taiwanese, and he/she teaches you Chinese. A classmate was asked by a guy who wanted to patch up his conversation English. I also was asked by 2 guys who wanted to improve their English. And the other day, a lovely lady working in the Starbucks came up to me, and asked me with a little voice, whether I was an English teacher and what private tutoring would cost.
What unfortunately is the issue in Taiwan is the fact, that a lot of children do learn English, but hardly have any opportunity to practise. Therefore they try in every way possible to practise anyway, and stop you on the street and talk to you.
Most of the parents hardly speak English, or not at all, so the kids only use English only once a week during class.
Brant was teaching English, and he found out how hard it was to teach them. Usually they didn't have any idea what he was talking about, and just nodded their heads, if he asked if they understood. One time he wanted to do "show-and-tell", which is always quite fun for the kids. So he instructed them to bring something from home the next week. That week only 2 or 3 kids actually had brought something, the rest just hadn't understood what he had said.

The strange thing is that there is a national obsession not to learn English but American. Everywhere in Taiwan, Americans are the preferred choice for both teaching English in elementary schools as well as for private tutoring. Probably they have this strange idea, that American is the proper and the only way to speak English, almost like language is an exact science. Al this because of the many American movies and sit-coms on tv.
A funny example is the experience of a classmate of mine from New Zealand. His English was almost the same English as they spoke in the streets of London. Nothing wrong with that, you might say. Still he was frequently corrected by his students (!), because he pronounced a word incorrectly. In an American movie they saw the other day, they pronounced it completely different.
Also have I heard stories about an Italian guy who was fired, because the parents of the kids he was teaching were afraid he would teach them an Italian accent. His English was perfect, by the way.

About teaching English at elementary school, it is true that a lot of children are already been tought English, and also at even younger age. My oldest nephew is being send to an American school for English lessons. And yes, kids at the age of 8 already speak a little bit of English. Here is one example from the real life. I wanted to go to have something to eat at one of the foodstands of which what they offered looked nice. I wanted to order, but the lady had no idea what I was talking about. With expectation she looked at her husband, hoping he was able to help her out. He too didn't have a clue what I was talking about. After that their son was pulled away from his dinner, and put in front of me. He welcomed me in his best English, and asked what I would like to have. After I placed my order, he started enthousiastically to practise his English. He asked me my name, where I was from, how old I was....well, the usual. Of course I asked him the same things, after all, he had to practise. So, there I was, in the busy foodstreet, having a "conversation" with the 9 year old Jerry. And the longer I was talking to him, the taller he became. Ever since that day, whenever I passed by, I said hello to my new friend Jerry. And sometimes you could see his friends looking surprised, jealous that a "wai gou ren" said hi to their friend, and even knew his name. Life can be so satisfying sometimes :)

The other day I was reading an article in a dutch magazine about travelling to Asian countries. It was an interview with the highest diplomatic representative of Taiwan here in Holland, Mrs. Katherina Chang (they don't have an ambassador).
She said the following about the English language in Taiwan: "it already was a obligatory subject in highschool, now also children at the age of 7 are being thought English. The government desks are already bilangual, and even the government is speaking english during meetings sometimes. There are already English speaking taxi drivers drving around in Taipei, recognisable by a special sticker on the window screen. We have a national 24-hour English hotline, and there are numerous English brochures and flyers available about our country. in 2008 English will be our official second language. (She made this comment concerning the return of tourists after the SARS epidemic) (Source: Azie Magazine no. 96, September/ October 2003)*
To be honest Mrs. Chang, I find that a little optimistic. There aren't many people here that speak english, and I don't think that'll change in 2 years. However, I do find it a very good objective, and I really hope I am wrong. I really embrace these developments, and think it would be an excellent impulse for the reclining economy.

* The meaning of this quote might have been slightly changed due to the translation from dutch to english.

Dancing with the media

The last few days I have seen previews of yet another series of "Stars dancing on ice". Yet another downfall in the quality of Dutch television. First we had "Idols", a program where idiots with a complete lack of talent were able to humiliate themselves in front of the entire nation, all in the name of entertainment. If it only would have stayed with one series, that would have been fine, BUT, it was such a success, that they decided to do another series, and yet another. And to make matters worse, they have sold the rights to other countries, so the entire world was able to enjoy the ear-ringing qualities of the girl next door. However, here in Holland, the winner of the first "Idols" is hardly in the picture anymore, and I wonder if anyone knows who the second and the third "Idols" have won, or who was first runner up.
And now they have the same kind of program, the X-factor, but this time you can also humiliate yourself when you can do another trick, other then singing in the bathroom without breaking the mirror.
Another program that has been broadcasted throughout the world is "Dancing with the stars". I think in England it's called "Strictly come dancing" or something like that. This time local celebrities had their chance to embarrass themselves on national tv. And yet again, with sequel after sequel.

The one of the lowest point here was reached when RTL4 came up with the idea of putting those celebs in thin ice this time. It wasn't really a bad idea to take things up a notch, when you like this sort of thing. But how things happened I don't know, but someone, a few days before RTL4 announced their bright idea, SBS6 proudly presented this as their idea, and broadcasted this along with RTL4, since neither obviously could trow their idea in the trashcan. So, at this point there were 2 versions on air. HELP!!! What's next? "Dining with the stars"? "Fucking with the stars"? "Torturing with the stars"? Well, for all of these versions I have a list of perfect candidates already, but feel free to come up with more suggestions. But wait, since the media is willing to show just about anything these days, how about "Hanging with the stars"? We already had one shown just a few days ago. So, why not another one? I already have a good candidate: how about President George W. Bush?

And just as I thought I had seen everything, I've just seen a preview of a program where they show a real autopsy with a real audience on tv. How low can you go?

Well, with all this said, I also have to say, that it's not so much those show I don't like. I don't mind having these shows around. After all, people like to watch, and even though it's not my kind of show, there ARE people who find pleasure watching this, and who am I to judge this?
For me, it's more the way they are being hyped in the media. Weeks ahead, they are already shouting that you must see it, days before they swear they have THE ultimate show for you, and the night before, they order you to watch, punishable by becoming an outcast, spitted out by the rest of the society, for being the only one who isn't watching it.
And you can't escape it. In every talkshow, you'll see someone who JUST didn't make it to the finals, in every game show you see one of the finalist doing their trick, On the news you will hear who won.
I feel that freedom of press has been taken a little to far. Of course, there must be a freedom of press, BUT please let there also be a freedom to watch!

The Great Wall

Remember I was writing about how I write my blogs? And that YuMei mentioned about the Great Wall? Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is it! That moment has arrived!
By coincidence I was reading an article about the Great Wall, and all the pieces fell into place.
It was in a Dutch science magazine and it was talking about the fact that China is now going to measure precisely how long the Wall actually is. At this moment they are talking about 7300 km, without any precise idea.
They know that it would take 3 years to walk from one end to another. But then you do have to get off the Wall occasionally, since it is not one single wall, but several walls considered to BE one wall.

And we had the opportunity to visit it last year. I had never really thought about going to China or anything. Not that I wasn't interested or anything. It just simply never crossed my mind. But last year, when we planned to go to Taiwan, we decided to have a small vacation afterwards, and Beijing was our choice. And who ever says Beijing, automatically says Great Wall. So, off we went, to Huairou, which is close to Mutianyu Great Wall. It is not the closest place from Beijing, though. From Beijing you could easier go to BaDaLing, but that place is always packed with tourists, and since we don't really like to be seen as tourists (even though we are), we wanted to go to Mutianyu. Another reason for us to choose Mutianyu is the fact that usually the trips to BaDaLing are combined with a visit to "thirteen- tomb-something" (I couldn't find the Lonely Planet when I wrote this). And since we were with Alec, and YuMei don't want to take Alec anywhere close to a grave or tomb or anything involving dead people, Mutianyu was the best alternative. About YuMei, Alec and dead people, it has got to do with at first thought superstition, but I will write about this some other time, because there is a lot more then superstition.

It was a hour drive, well, at least that's what we thought. However, we spend 2 1/2 hours in the bus. And once we got there, it was still about 30 minutes to the actual place. And especially that last part was quite interesting. Once we got out of the bus, the usual pulling and pushing of the local taxi drivers started. And since we were a bit too lazy to actually haggle about prices or anything, we just more or less took the first driver, and got ourselves a deal of 120 yen, and for that money he even waited at the drop-off point. He told us to follow him, and we past some luxurious and new looking minivans. So, it was a bit disappointing to see the bus we stopped at. Words can not describe......well, no, that's a bit TOO dramatic. Let me just put it this way: I'd probably never seen a van like this before. I think I'd even seen some cellotape or velcro, but that could also have been my imagination. Well, on one of the pictures you can see the interior of this fine limo. At least the driver was my kind of driver. Come to think of it, they ALL are in both China and Taiwan. Once we got there, we had to wrestle ourselves through the stalls with all the stuff nobody wants to buy, but end up buying anyway, because it is so cheap. And now I think back about it, I always wondered the following: When you walk past the first and second stall, and you reject every item they push in your face, what makes seller number three, four, five......... up to hundred think that you will buy that exact same item from them, when you just rejected it from the previous sellers?

Anyway, Alec also did exactly what I had expected him to do. You see, we brought a babycarrier along with us, which we borrowed from friends. It's like a backpack, but then for kids. We dragged the darn thing all the way along with us for junior to sit in, and guess what???? The moment his butt touched the seat, hell broke loose. No matter what we did, and what we promised, he wasn't planning to stop crying. I think they could even hear him cry in Beijing. So, picture me, walking around with a babycarrier on my back, and the baby on my shoulders! Luckily, he also have walked by himself, otherwise I'd probably ended up with a hernia.
I must say, I was impressed with the size of it all. It really is a magnificent piece of work, and I can't find much words to describe it (feel free to help me out here).
All in all, we spent one hour on it, because Alec started to get tired. So, basically we have spend more time travelling to the site, than that we were actually there. But, would I do it again? And would I do it the same way? YES! All of the above is for me basically the thing that makes trips like this special. Even the occasional set-backs and nuisances are all part of the experiences.