of rice and noodles...

so i had this big post about my weekend with a 'special' reflection of my last month and my computer froze:( stupid pics wouldn't load so just go to my windows live spaces and check them out...there from hiking, temples, friends and halloween party.

in summary i still love being here and no major culture shock yet...learning a couple of words and cant wait to start my classes in december...

i've realized i can't go one day without rice or noodles:( i don't know what it is, but man, sooo addicting, hahaha...later...

KTV anyone...?

you never really know your co-workers until you go to karaoki together, or ktv as its called here. so on friday after work our boss invites us for dinner. (another hotpot!) and it was awesome n all. then we decide to go to karaoki and was i ever shocked, lol! they went nuts!!!! singing, dancing, drinking, laughing, man, you would never know they were this much fun at the office, it was such an awesome time, i couldn't believe how fun it was, hahaha. so here you have your private room with food and drinks and party the night away. the two biggest ktv places are called partyworld and holiday, hahaha, sounds appropiate no? now i dont know what i would say to them at the office on monday, probaly business as usual;)

anyways the rest of the weekend was good too, did a little shopping at the night market, went to another aiesec newie seminar where i met other interns. checked out this place called TU (another all you can drink place, lol) and went for some sheesa. you can do it all here taipei, its amazing! i will try to download some more pics for you guys but i always forget so hopefully next time. so back to work tomorrow, its gonna be a busy week;)

VIP, hiking and potatoes..........!?!

man, i think i better slow down on the nightlife scene here in taipei or else it's gonna kill me, though it is AMAZING! we went to this place called WAX! and it was awesome. one of my co-workers invited me cause it was his friend's bday. another all you can drink place and we got a vip booth. music was all hip-hop and they played a lot of good oldies, hahaha. tons of stuff on our table including rounds of tequila (which the bday girl took to much of and had to be sent home:(, lol! she was really cool though) anyways it was an awesome night, and i finished it off with a spicy chicken burger from 7-11, which was EXCELLENT (way better food that our 7-11's, lol)

the next day we were only supposed to go out for a couple of drinks on a patio but ended up at this wig party with other foreigners. but the best part was eating at this after hours food market around 3am. man, was it ever good. we had some dumplings and chinese pancakes (i think?) with omeletes and rice cake, oh i don't remember the rest but way better than a pizza (cause i was craving one, hahaha)

sunday was quite good too except the early morning rise. marta and i (another intern) headed to one of the Aiesec newie seminars on one of the mountains. it was beautiful with fresh mountain air (not like our mountain air which is much better) but still better than city air. i did my canada presentation and gave out some pens:) then we had a session called "challenge your world view" but my group never discussed our topic because we were too busy talking about other things. they were really curious about my life and stuff so thats what we mostly talked about, lol. later, we hiked down the mountain which was so sweet! it was such a nice cool day with lots of sun so it felt good to excersize again (though my legs were shaking from all those stairs, hahaha i need to start running again:) so we finished our hike at another night market (shilin, which is the biggest) and we had some kabob, which again, was awesome, lol....when i got home i passed out at 7pm, hahaha

but i've said enough for now and will try to keep it shorter for next time....later!

whoops! forgot to mention the potatoes, well today i finally had one!!! they have no potatoes here and i really really wanted one. i found a potatoe place and had one with cheese and mushrooms, not as good as back home but it did the trick! next i want to find a place with MASHED potatoes, (am i spelling potatoes right?)

i'm gonna be an uncle!!!!!

shit dudes, i can't believe this, i was just about to go to sleep coming home from a party when my brother calls me on my cell and tells me i'm gonna be an UNCLE!!!!! man, im so excited!!!! the baby is due in June which sucks cuz i'll still be in Taiwan but man, i'm so happy for my brother and sister in law, wow! UNCLE ABNER, HAHAHA!

my first EARTHQUAKE!

I'M OK!!! but it still feels like the room is moving, hahaha, it just happened right now and my friend from Taiwan, who i was talking to on msn, said it is common. please nobody tell my mom cause then she will freak ok.....lol....thanks...:)

finally got a chance to go and eat some hot pot. man, it was really good but a lot of work. i even got a bib! so it was an all you can place where you put your uncooked food into this big boiling pot in the centre of your table. i also tried some apple pop, which was really good, actually, lol.


so i'll be doing to aiesec conferences these next two weekends so i'll update yo guys on how those went...

oh and i've killed two roaches in my room so far....hahaha

My pictures

CHECK OUT MY PICS AT...

http://abnergadiel.spaces.live.com/

oh the horror...

man, where to start, this is gonna be a long one. first of all, my internet explorer and msn somehow stopped working and i havent been able to log on for a couple of days at home and its been driving me insane, i swear i almost threw myself off my window. but i am ok now, lol. right now im just at my local starbucks after having woken up at 5pm, its 7 now hahaha. I went out with a couple of other interns to this all you can drink latin bar, lol, it was a lot of fun, but very dangerous cuz of all the drinks, so i think i'll lay off places like that for a bit.

it's the holiday weekend where people have been celebrating the moon festival. its been awesome cuz everyone bbqs and the food is sooo good, lol. i've been to two already and they're filled with tons of food, fruits and moon cakes. the first was put on by my local Aiesec (NTU) and we had it near the river, good times. and the other was put on by the Taiwan Aiesec president and again stuffed my face. that is where i met other interns, and i found out that Marta (from Poland) actually works in the building across from mine. so yea, i had my first day of work which was good. im very excited to be in the marketing department and start planning some tradeshows. they were renovating the offices so it was quite dirty and we had to help move some of their stuff. and on tuesday we gotta set up so i dont think i actually start working until wed. but i have been assigned some books to read this weekend which makes me feel like im in uni again, lol.

finally went to taipei 101 (the world's tallest building, for now) and it was so awesome. you could see all of taipei and the mountains. i was a bit nervous being so high but i got used to it quickly, yall know im scared of heights, lol. and have still been trying to see all of taipei. here is a pic....


still trying a lot of different food, its so good and my chopstick skills are kick ass! i even get complimented on how proper i hold them, lol. people love to give compliments here and i think my head is getting so big, lol. the best one ive heard so far is that i have very charming eyes;) man, they really know how to make me blush, lol.

my first chore...

so i just came back from dumping my garbage. it's the weirdest thing, the garbage truck comes by twice everyday to the same location, and you have to go and throw your garbage into the truck. if its not there you have to wait because you are not allowed to leave your garbage on the street. plus, you can only use government regulated garbage bags that you buy at 7-11, hahaha. i guess its a good way to know your neighbours! lol...

anyways here is a picture of some of the people of picked me up at the airport!
(Silvia, me, Bob and Grace)


and here is a pic of the sun yat-sen memorial i passed by on sunday...


everyone in taiwan does two things, eat and shop! hahaha...