New Beginnings!

Things have been much better lately. I actually LOVE teaching and have found it to be really rewarding. I just posted grades last night. I got my schedule for next semester and it kind of sucks because I will have to work during my Paper Tiger meetings and I have to wake up at 6:30 twice a week.

I have been getting a bit of seasonal depression, but I leave for St. Martin in 2 days and then I am going to Miami with some friends in January.

Winters are too long in NY. I keep telling myself that I am going to move to California for school. I applied to 4 schools there, but I have a feeling I will wind up going to Steinhardt at NYU instead. It is the perfect program for me, I just wish it were located on the west coast.

OH! I am so excited. I made prospective travel plans for the summer. I will be visiting my friend Elsa in France for a couple of weeks and then I am going to meet up with my friend Melissa and probably go to Berlin and maybe Amsterdam. Then in August, I am going to go back to Taiwan, and hopefully Thailand/Bangkok or Hong Kong.

I hope that 2010 will be better than 2009. As for my reflecting on the good times of 2009. I have a few positive notes to make.
-Graduating Columbia
-Going to Taiwan
-Starting Teaching
-Applying to schools
-Writing Music

Freaking Out.

OK. So i have been having a really stressful few weeks. I feel like conflicts have been coming up more than enough and I miss the carefree, funny me. I feel like I am all work and no play. I really enjoy teaching sometimes, but a lot of the times I just feel inadequate. I have never questioned that this is what I want to do. I realize that I need to put a lot more time into it in order to make it perfect. It's just that I am such a perfectionist, and it hurts me when things don't happen as planned. I try and i try. The other day, I got made a fool of in front of my peers and superiors and it was video taped. I don't even know what to say. I have a lot of classroom management to learn and I know I have to change who I am to become who I want to be. But honestly, I don't know if I am ready to give up being fun and having a good time. I miss being a student. I know that I am still a student, because I keep learning new things from people and places in my life, I just miss knowing that I am good at something.
I am so lonely that it hurts. I mean, I have amazing friends and family, but I feel like something is missing and I know I don't have time for it right now, so its like I am forced to deny it.
I had the most terrible dream last night. A huge metallic ball that looked like Grimace (from McDonalds) came down from the sky and landed in Manhattan/Brooklyn area. It opened up and out crawled military men and tanks, and there was a Huge (cherry-picker-like) giraffe (like the guy from Toys R' Us) machine gun thing, that made a horrible sound. There were all these other types of demolition type machine/motor vehicles. Everyone was shooting and forcing people to eat McDonalds. My friends and I didn't want to eat McDonalds, so we had to run. They even blew up the Statue of Liberty! There was this one point where they were making a speech and the statue of liberty's hand kept going up and down, almost like it was playing a joke on us. Then it fell and the roaring war continued. Me and my bff in the dream went to visit the demolished statue of liberty and it felt dangerous. For most of the dream, I was just trying to escape all the gun shots/explosions.
It all felt so real. I felt SO angry and disgusted and I went back to long island in my dream, I actually went to Syosset to see if my family was still there, and everyone had died. So I came back to the city, to find it to be a fighting zone.
My friends and I kept returning to this diner/bar to find refuge. It was still dangerous, because the military men kept doing raids every so often. I remember going into the diner/bar in my dream and talking to Elton from clueless in a photobooth. I thought he was on our side, but at one point, in the photo booth in my dream, he turned on me and started shooting. I ran up the stairs and up more and more stairs and finally found myself cowering in the corner of the attic. In my dream, I remember feeling like Ann Frank and relating all this to the Holocaust.
Yeah. I probably sound psycho, but this really freaked me out. I awoke in a panic and spent the day questioning everything.
Also, some random person, I don't know who it is keeps iming me and threatening and harassing me. That has been adding to my stress, amongst a slough of other things.

The 9 of Pentacles.

Tomorrow is my first day of teaching, so I decided to do my tarot. It was weird. My deck was very well shuffled and I managed to get the pope, popess, emperor and empress all in one shot. That is really, really, really rare. Especially since they are right next to each other in a deck that is in order (which mine werent). Anyway, the strangest and most meaningful part of my reading was the 5th card that I laid out, which was the 9 of disks or pentacles. That symbolized something that I will sill be confronted with. This is what one of my books read...

Your presence in the world makes a difference. You have brought something into the world that enriches it. Therefore, don't hide your light and your beauty! Be generous and show the people around you the kind of treasures you have to give and remember that you yourself are a treasure.
If you want people to notice your inner treasures you must express them in both the large and small things in life. First, however, you will discover that some habits exist without any thought on your part, and some of these are not to your liking. You must, therefore, take charge of your own life and give it form and your personal stamp. This work is similar to the hard work that has to be accomplished in the vineyards. But the result of your troubles is like a superior wine In wine there is truth, and you must make your own truth fruitful.

The Haunted Pod Village of San-Zhi

This is really cool. I wanna go here next time I am in Taiwan.
http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/4622

Halloween

I have been protesting Halloween a lot this year. This is partly due to the fact that I dressed up as something 3 times in the past month ( a pirate, minnie mouse, and a hippie). I feel like I have been pretending not to be myself too much and am losing myself in the process. I know its a lame excuse. I am going to a Halloween party tonight and was originally going to go as a Marilyn Monroe Vampire, then just a Vampire. I will be neither of these things. Yesterday, I went to Brooklyn to paint over the rainbow doorways (san, I know) and I inherited an afro wig and an electric guitar. I was going to be Jimi Hendrix, but then I started getting dressed and realized I don't have any facial hair (silly, i know). So it kind of looks like I am going as my old roomate Kristen. It's cool. I feel good. I just really, really want to stay home tomorrow. I am such a crotchety old woman when it comes to Halloween. Everyone I know (and their mothers) are going t othe city/bk tomorrrow. I just want to stay home and sleep or something. Ugh sometimes I drive myself crazy. I am pretty sure I will wind up going out, but it will be a last minute thing. I wish I could just make up my mind before hand so i wouldn't have to deal with this unnerving bullshit!!! Anyway, here is what I look like with an afro.

The Dear Hunter

I went to see The Dear Hunter with Jodette and Sara on Wednesday night. I must say that I haven't been to such a great show in a while. They were awesome. They are one of my favorite bands at the moment. I mean, the song/story writing is just brilliant. I talked to Casey (the musical genius behind it all) after the show. I felt like I was 16 all over again. I even bought a hoodie! (I know what a lame-o, but I had fun).

Bad Dream

I just had a bad dream about teaching again. It is really coming down to the wire, and I know that no matter how much preparation i do, I will never be fully prepared for what is going to happen on Tuesday. I had the worst dream last night that all my students kept standing up and disrespecting me, and I kept having to tell them to shut their mouths. At a certain point, I went to go notify the authorities, and at another I threw a shoe at one of my students cause he hit me first. My powerpoint slides got lost and I was speechless. It was a really scary dream. The epitome of everything I don't want to happen on the first day of class. Well, no matter what, nothing could be as bad as my dream...I suppose that's the bright side.

Maybe (my mantra)

Nico Anders Lives for the Summer

I think if you have a positive outlook in life, everything seems to happen for a reason. I met two wonderful people today when I missed my train. Its strange how similar people seem to connect when in the same mindset. I feel like the world network really is strong and if you seem to believe the world makes sense, it makes sense.

On my train ride home tonight, I started watching videos from Taiwan. I realize that I live for the summer. Don't get me wrong, I love the profession that I have chosen, but what I love more is the opportunity it gives me to travel and make sense of travel. I love to be able o assign deeper meaning to the things I enjoy most. One of the most gratifying things to me is going somewhere that was once foreign and trying to understand the construction of social norms. I know, I am a total dork. Anyway, from viewing and reviewing my videos from Taiwan, I realized something. That time and place was great, amazing, incredible...however, it was only temporary and was only supposed to last for that long. If I went back there today, it would not feel the same, but would almost feel like a corpse of what once was. I would have too high expectations and would undoubtedly be disappointed. If you travel to distant lands, you never know what to expect, therefore you cannot be disappointed, because there is a void in your foresight. This is why travel is so great. This is why I live for the summer.

Professor Andersen

I just love it when people call me that. I went to a final meeting before teaching yesterday and now I have to make my syllabi and start prepping for the first day of class. I am so very excited. I should probably watch The Freedom Writers once more, before I begin. I just know that I am too idealistic. I am going to want everyone to love the class and have fun in it, but I know that most of my students are going to be aching to get out of the classroom. I have to maintain my current mantra and expect less. That seems to work, keeping my expectations low and then always being pleasantly surprised.

Sleepyhead.

I have become slightly obsessed with this song.

I am going this summer!!!

Healthcare Crisis!

Ugh today I woke up with a pretty bad hang over in Brooklyn and a 10am suggested phone call time to talk to Nathalia about my applications. She laughed about the paper a wrote yesterday for about 10 minutes. That didn't feel too good, but in my defense, I didn't know what I was doing.

After that I had a dermatologist appointment at 5:15. I got lost for about 45 minutes on my way there. All the google maps sites were confusing the streets, so I couldn't be right no matter what. Then I finally get to the doctor and she is in the room for about 60 seconds to diagnose me and then leaves her medical assistant to write the prescription. I felt completely slighted. This was a fine demonstration of how the use of separate doctors visits suck, and we should all just go to a family physician for everything. America's doctors are becoming hyper-specialized and turned into machines without compassion or the ability to give quality care! I am sitting in my psychs office waiting to get my meds. I wonder how late she will be tonight.

Tarot

So I have been stressin' over switching from vacation, clear-headed Nico to work-oriented, stressed-out Nico. I have remained calm on the inside, but I have noticed that my interactions have shifted, in a way. I did my Tarot cards last night. I don't know how much I believe that Tarot works for everyone, I just find it to be a good way to channel my energy and produce something positive. It gives me a chance to focus and interpret and hopefully make positive changes. Last night, I did a really good reading. It described where I am, where I am headed, what is difficult for me, what i understand and what my ultimate goal. is. The first card I drew, symbolizing my past, was 'Death'. This is actually not meant to represent death in the morbid sense, but a death which leads to a new beginning. In my case, it symbolized the end of my summer, and the beginning of my heightened awareness of my self, and of course the birth of my new work schedule. This card also implies a heightened consciousness, because in ancient tarot beliefs, death was a new start into a more spiritual life. The second card, symbolizing where I am headed was the Queen of Swords. This card symbolizes a heightened awareness of situations occurring around the individual. It may represent solitude and loneliness, but only as a result of a renewed consciousness. I have noticed that things do not affect me like they once have. Like I float above and perceive happenings as temporal and quotidian, only lasting a short time and not concerning me. These two cards really helped me to see where I am headed and to accept these changes as a part of my intellectual and wanderlust-prone life.

American Idol

This is how my version of No one should have sounded like. Ugh. I love him.

RIP Jamie Barden

I just found out last night that my friend Jamie fell asleep Monday night and didn't wake up Tuesday morning. He always said he would never make it to 30. I am really glad that he came to NY before he passed. I feel really bad for his best friend/girlfriend Trish. I think they were going to get married.

Since I am in Florida and broke, there is no way I could go to Ireland for the wake/funeral. I went to Epcot and drank a Guinness for him between the English pub and the Irish food stand. When I was about to leave Ireland after our wonderful 2 weeks together, Jay and I realized that I hadn't had one Guinness. So he said "I suppose we should have a guinness to send you off the right way". So I had a guinness to send him off. RIP. You will be missed.

Change of Plans

Dear Beloved Blog Followers,

I have had this blog for approximately 1 year and have recently found my journalistic writing style to be more of an obligation than a joy. I started this journal in an attempt to document my whereabouts, and to prove to myself that I could commit to something. I am not ending it all together, however I will be greatly reducing the amount of posts I produce. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Stay posted for random new posts from things I think are cool...or a new blog entirely focused on something not so personal.

The Bohemian Heretic,

Rogue

The Lost Week.

Due to jetlag and a busy schedule, I have decided that I am/was too tired to blog for an entire week. I apologize for the inconvenience. I was taking a vacation from life, a vacation from blogging was well needed.

I am about to leave for Florida with Boppy, Derek and Patti. I am pretty freakin excited, but mostly tired. Pictures and events soon to follow.

Taroko Gorge!

Yesterday Cres, Max, Jer and I went to Taroko Gorge. It was an absolutely beautiful and amazing experience. We took a train to Hualien an rented scooters. I have never driven a scooter before. It was totally scary at first, but it was SO amazing once I got the hang of it. We drove for about an hour from Hualien to Taroko on this highway. I ran a bunch of red lights because Jer/Max were going so fast. I made the boys let me ride in the middle so that I wouldn't get left in the dust. Once we got to Taroko it was the most beautiful ride ever. We were on the coast, riding around swervy roads, it was SO beautiful. One of those things that you feel so fortunate to be able to do in life. Ugh I can't even describe how amazing it felt. We stopped a bunch along the way to look at he beautiful scenery and take pictures. I had a really hard time turning my bike sometimes, so that was a bit scary. There were a ton of tour busses rushing past us that made it a bit scarier.

After taking in the beautiful sights and sounds we headed back to Hualien. We got a little lost on our way and had to turn around a bunch while riding in the city. One time when I was turning around I almost fell off, it was a bit scary, but I was going slow and I picked my bike up fast enough that I didn't get hurt. I can't believe how many distractions there were driving in the city; dogs running across the street, some lady got hit by a car and was sprawled out in the middle of the road, weird left turn rules, I really got to ride in all sorts of places on my first day of scootering. I think I might have hit 80mph at some points. Very scary but very liberating. Usually I rode at 60, which is the speed limit in most places (not around the cliffs). After we made it back to Hualien, we stopped at 711 and I burned my leg on my bike. So many people I know have a scar from that, but luckily I only grazed the burning metal briefly so that I won't have a scar. Wow. What an amazing and exhilirating day! I really don't want to go home :(.

Getting Saved From Juifen!

After finding out that there was no way for Amanda and I to get home from Juifen, a big black SUV appeared and a guy got out(he was picking up his friend). Amanda was stating that she might just ask him for a ride back to Taipei. He didn't overhear this conversation and within 5 minutes asked us if we were going to Taipei. We were like 'YES"! So we got in the car. Under any other circumstances, I would not have hitchhiked, however, since I read that hitchhiking is a popular way to get around here, and since I was with Amanda, I figured it would be OK. There was a huge language barrier, however we got some basic information across. We stopped on the way because they guys wanted to get some Beetlema. This is a popular asian pseudo-drug, kind of like chewing tobacco. It is these green nuts that you chew on and spit out the juice from. Amanda and I both tried it. It was disgusting. After we got back to Taipei, we met up with two of these guys friends (So all in all there was Tai, Lim, Ooh and I forget the fourth guys name).

We all went to this restaurant called Indian. There were all these cool dinosaur skeletons all over the place. I felt like I was in a Jurassic park graveyard!! We got a mini keg which we all shared. We played this 'game' called Gambin. This is what you say before you drink and it signifies that everyone drinking has to finish their cup. I ate FROG! I figured it would be appropriate because I was in a reptilian restaurant.

After singing blue moon for the guys at the table, because they asked me to, they all said that we should go to KTV Partyworld! So we went there and got a room and sang our hearts out! We got 3 more mini kegs and we had a lot of fun! YAY!

Jiufen!

Saturday night Amanda and I went to Jiufen. We hopped on a train from Taipei main and arrived at 6. From there we had to take a taxi to get to this adorable maze of local treasures lined with beautiful red chinese lanterns. I had another moment where I could cry. We went and drank high mountain Oolong tea on this quaint balcony and had an amazing conversation. We talked and talked till about midnight. Then found out we missed all the trains and there were no cabs to get us back home. Oops!

Good morning...good night.

Last night, after a delicious indian dinner I came home and started chatting with Bruce online. Later on, Cres, Bernie, Britt and I hung out with Kelly and started ichatting all together. It was a very interesting night. I guess you can say I kinda miss NY.

The Ting Tings in 711

Pirate Shrimping!

Last night we went shrimping dressed as pirates. I really wish shrimping was a leisure activity on LI, like bowling or something. It was actually really fun. When we first got there we all sat down and two minutes later I had caught the first shrimp! Those little creatures are so bratty. About a half hour into our shrimping adventure, some really nice man who had probably been shrimping for hours, handed me a huge bag of shrimp that he had caught. That was really nice. After catching, and de-hooking the shrimps we have to wash them and skewer them, cover them in salt and put them on the grill. They were absolutely delicious.

Is This Serious?!

Ximen and KTV.

Last night, Cres and I went and got Thai food and then went to KTV for Karaoke. Karaoke is a REALLY big deal here. The name of the place we went to was PARTYWORLD. It is kind of like a hotel complex. People were really dressed up and there was room service. The area that its in, Ximen is really cool too. It is modeled after a place in Japan.

A 22 Page Rough Draft.

Since my mind has been so clear, I have been working very well. I think it has something to do with not understanding the language here. Normally, when I overhear people's conversations it allows me to put them in a box, in one way or another and things get boring because of that, because you are able to assume what other people are thinking. I guess that's why reading minds would be a boring superpower because after a while you would be able to predict everything people were about to say. At first, I have to say, I was scared because I can barely read or understand the world around me, but now I have come to find peace in it.

Anyway, this fresh state of mind has allowed me to work on my article what I want to try to get published. I am writing about pharmaceutical direct to consumer ads on the internet. I am looking at the direct and indirect ways of marketing and comparing internet ads to the previous forms of television and print. I will also be looking at these advertisements with regards to gender, age and race and who is most commonly targeted. I will also be looking at the medicalization, or recent surge of made up illness, and the designer drugs that are allowing this pill-popping craze to take over America and New Zealand. So far I have a 22 pg rough draft. It is nowhere near done, but it is nice to know that I am on the path.

First Date?

Anja called me and we met in the park. We smoked a cigg and talked and then went back to her house. We listened to music and talked a lot. It is really great talking to her. She studied sociology and mass media like me, and makes art and has a really beautiful accent. She is from South Africa. She is one of the burlesque girls in that show I went to on Friday night. We talked about our artistic needs, the peaceful mindset in Taiwan, traveling, music..you know..things like that. She is a really beautiful person. We started getting hungry later on and decided to go for a walk and grab some grub. We went to this famous dumpling place with a billion floors and a line to get in. I must say they were the best dumplings I have ever had in my life. They were like, soupy in the middle and had the freshest ingredients. UGh SO good. After filling up on yummy dumplings, we walked around the area and stepped into a few second hand shops, jewelry shops and places with aromatic incense. We then stopped into this place for these shaved ice/ice cream/syrup/fruit things that they have here. I got bannana and she got mango. They were SO good and since its nearly only shaved ice it doesn't fill you up. I totally want to make them at home. So good and So refreshing. After that we parted ways and I met up with Jeremy and Max in Shilin to pick up some souvenirs. I caught the last train home and went to bed.

A Pleasant Change of Plans.

Tuesday I woke up with the intention of getting together with Max to write a song. He didn't pick up my calls or call me back, which I thought was weird, so I bided my time and met up with Amanda and Sway at KGB. I was telling Amanda about meeting this girl Anja at the burlesque night. Anja and I seemed to have hit it off, in a more than friends sort of way. I was explaining to Amanda how she told me she may be able to hang out Tues night, but hadn't returned my text or call. I was actually rather loud in describing her this situation, when I get a tap on the shoulder, and who is it?!?! Anja! I was SOOO embarrassed I couldn't even deal. Out of the 10 people I know in Taipei, it just so happened that the one girl that I had a crush on heard me venting about her. OMG. Anyway, she explained to me that she was busy but would call me later on in the day and that we could possibly get together. I sat in KGB with Amanda and Sway for a few more hours. I rocked out on guitar and gave a sort of performance for them because there were very few people in the restaurant. It felt really good to play for people who appreciate my music. It was like I was a paid performer in there. I have grown to be much more comfortable in playing my music because of this new sense of being I have collected from being here. I look forward to going home and playing at Tula Kitchen (where Kristen works) because they said they would like to have me come and play shows once a week or so. I have to get together a semi-good recording first which may cost a bit of money but I think will benefit me in the long run. I can't wait to go home and get a new guitar that I can plug into amps and start playing real shows!! Anyway, Sway said that listening to my music/sappy love songs helped her out and calmed her down about her current relationship situation. I am glad that my music can help people with that. :)

Pixar.

Monday morning Amanda, Max, Cres and I met up for brunch at this really great burger place called Forkers. Afterward, Max, Cres and I went to the Pixar exhibit. It was really interesting to see the processes of animation and how characters and storylines come to life. There was this one part that had a zoetrope which spun really fast with strobe lights to give the optical illusion that the characters were moving, when in fact they were just being spun at rapid speeds. After the exhibit, the three of us were pretty tired and Cres and I went home to watch Coraline. It was an interesting movie, but I don't think it was very cohesive. It was like a stop-animation version of Pan's Labyrinth. I understood what they were trying to do, but I guess I just didn't appreciate it as much as I thought I would. After watching Coraline, we met up with Esteban for Indian food in ShiDa. Esteban is one of those people you just meet and feel an instant love for. We got to talking and I found SO many different ways in which our lives have crossed paths. He used to go to my beach, he grew up off the road I live off now, AND he used to live off the same stop I lived off of in Brooklyn. After some delicious Indian food, Jeremy met up and the 4 of us got some drinks and hung out in the park. Sway and Max met up and we all chilled and talked for a bit. I really, really like all my friends here. It will be hard to leave them. I know I have really wonderful friends back home, and that if I lived here maybe I would see the people here differently, I just have to express that I am really happy and have been really benefiting emotionally from this trip.

Productivity.

After my awesome day to myself, I woke up the next morning with a vigorous start. I went to KGB and got a delicious burger and started on my assignment. I am trying to get published an article about pharmaceutical direct to consumer ads on the internet. I e-mailed my advisor and am on my way to being published in either ASA, SASE or ESS. I spent hours at my computer, wrote about 10 pages and did ethnographic research. It felt really really good to get this assignment underway. I came home to a sleeping Cresensio and talked to Boppy for an hour. We then got food and chilled for the rest of the night. I did yoga! For one of the first times here. I need to start doing it everyday again. I will when I get home, its just hard here because I do not have my own space. I just learned though that strength comes from within. I am capable of anything if I use my strength from within.

Playing Solitaire

Saturday I didn't quite feel the same. I had a great night and really enjoyed meeting a bunch of people. I just had to have this really introspective moment, where I stayed at home while everyone went to this really awesome all-night jungle, drum and bass party. I know I totally would have enjoyed it. I wrote and I watched the L word. I recharged my batteries, I gained a new way to look at the world, I did my tarot, I found a new way to approach life. I am less certain than I once was, I am learning to reconstruct myself by way of avoiding my demons. I am in a good place. I am happy, really happy.

Burlesque!

Friday night we went to a burlesque show. Cres, Max and I wore out our best wigs, extensions or moustaches and watched some girlies and one guy dance in pantyhose around a stage. Great times! I got a little too silly though and felt like poop the day after. My extensions are a hit! I really want to get real ones now.

2/28 park and Chang Kai Chek

This morning Cres and I went for a delicious Vietnamese lunch and then headed out to 2/28 park. We wound up going to the museum there because they had a Darwin exhibit that I wanted to see. After the museum, Max met up and we walked around the park and then to Chang Kai Chek. Standing in front of the memorial I had one of those moments when you feel immortal or infinite or an 'aha' moment. I sat in the middle of the square and meditated for a couple of minutes. It was absolutely beautiful. A bunch of Korean girls asked to take a picture with me and I let them. They were so cute. After seeing the memorial, we went to do some DIY/Pirate costume shopping. Tonight we are going to a burlesque show. I am pretty stoked! :)

Hufanpu.

Last night, Sway and I got a late start on our days. I watched 4 episodes of The L Word (GOD I love that show) and we met up at the train station around 7. We went to this crazy huge market to get really cheap clothes. I got SO many great finds, including a shirt with boobs all over it, a black leather fanny pack, and a couple more shirts. We were very indecisive because there were SO many great options. Everything was so cheap and amazing. I wish there were more places like that in America. After snacking and shopping, we went to another area to get snacks and then called it a night. Life here is so simple. I can totally understand how people move here and never move back home.

Swan Boats and Hot Pot.

Yesterday at around 3, Sway and I met up at the end of the green line and took out some paddle boats. There were so many gorgeous views. Sway and I did psychological tests on each other and had a really good time getting to know each other better. After the boats, we walked across the bridge to this cute little area with some artsy shops, farm stands and carnival games. We played this fun little pinballish game and won bubbles and face glittery stickers. We then got some Hot Pot which was amazing. I tried pigs blood! They mix it with rice, into a cube. It actually tasted really gross. As I am sure you can imagine, blood is salty and irony tasting. Afterward, I met sway's parents. They were so cute and saw their apartment. They live on the top two floors of one of the tallest buildings in the area, pretty cool. After hanging out there and playing a little piano, we headed back to Cresensio's where him and Jenna were covering their macbooks with DIY metallic squares. I played some guitar hero 4 with Bernie and we all hung out on the balcony and then I called it a night. I keep having these great days and nights here. This is a truly awesome adventure.

Brooklyn Farmer Video Shoot

After coming home from our fun fun fun night, Cres and I took a photo shoot on the balcony. Yes, we took sleeping pills. Yes we are amazing. I fucking love it here and don't ever want to leave. I have two weeks left. I wish it were two months...or years.

Shilin

Last night Cres and I went to Shilin, which is probably the most well known night market of Taipei, or Taiwan alltogether. I can't even describe how amazing this place was. So much good food and cheap fun shit. Just look at the pics and you will understand. I got a bag, sunglasses, a watch and hair extensions for well under $100. I mean, of course everything isn't the best quality, but that's the fun of souvenirs. I must go back to get everyone fun shit from there.

Hot Springs

Yesterday Amanda and I met up at the bus station at 10:30 to go to a hot spring/hike. We got a delicious breakfast kind of food with fried egg and sweet delicious sauce and waited for bus 260. Bus 260 came and went without us, so we decided to take an alternate route to the Beitou stop. We got some directions from a guide and started walking toward where we thought the spring was. It was an uphill climb and we got thirsty so we stopped for a few beers at this adorable little shack next to a bubbling brook in the hillside. We had an amazing heart to heart and found out that our love lives are very similar. After enjoying cold beers in the sweltering heat she climbed a tree and I took pictured. We then found what we believed to be the public hot spring. We dipped our toesies in and could barely take it. The water was approximately 250 degrees. We were severely disappointed. We walked around a bit and found a hot spring museum and took a quick tour. After the tour, we started walking to get food and some guy stopped me to take a picture with me! It was really funny. I totally stick out lie a sore thumb, especially in the suburban area we were at. At that point, we found a Sushi Express, which has delicious sushi on a conveyor belt. After eating we went to the REAL hot spring and soaked in acidic sulfuric water. It was a really interesting, cultural experience. There were a lot of old people soaking their aching muscles and arthritis ridden limbs. It was a lot like public hot tubs, with tiers indicating the level of hotness. I could barely dip my toe in the top tier. I suppose it is good for people with joint and muscle aches, however I couldn't really handle the heat. After soaking, we went to Shadaa to visit Sway at work. She works at a Kiwi burger place. The spaghetti gang came and met up and then Cres and I went to Shilin, the most amazing night market in Taiwan.