I went with Benicio, Mei, Hubie, Grace, Annie, and Yukie to KTV for the first time last night. KTV is how people sing karaoke in Taiwan: you rent a small room, complete with vinyl couches and your own karaoke system. This way, you can sing with friends, people who already harbor good feelings towards you regardless of your singing ability. You can also order set meals, snacks, and drinks. Our room was even equipped with its own private restroom! It's a complete entertainment option.

I'm now inspired to learn some Taiwanese and Chinese songs. Benicio and Mei have promised to help me. This is so the next time we go to KTV, we do not have to resort to Benicio shouting out the lyrics in Taiwanese as soon as they appear on the screen (I can't read the characters) so that I can sing along to the melody.

Oh, and TC took a photo of my housewarming party.

Continuing on the subject of making friends, another factor is not letting language hold you back. My lack of proficiency in a any language has never prevented me from trying to yap. I really hate the excuse, "Oh, I thought people here couldn't speak Chinese, and I didn't know what to say in English, so I didn't bother trying to talk to anyone." Just try, darn it, in any language. How else does one's language skills improve?

Speaking of which, I took a yoga class Sunday night--the first one in quite awhile--and I was surprised to discover how much my Chinese comprehension had improved. However, I began to suspect the teacher, who is definitely a local, received her yoga training in the U.S., because she would interject an incongruous "tuck in your ass" in English among the gentle intonations of "breathe in, breathe out, turn to the right, turn to the left" in Chinese. Not an aid in reaching nirvana, but my body did let me know how happy it was to get reaquainted with some poses.

Last night I threw a housewarming party. Guests munched on fruit and veggies with homemade pan-friend onion dip, brie and sausage on crackers, smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel sandwiches--ingredients obtained while sprinting through Costco--and pies obtained from the back of a van near the Shihlin MRT station. I was pleased that so many people came over, and that there were no mishaps.

My cousin Jay commented that he was surprised at how many people I've met in such a short time in Taiwan. He said he came because he was afraid no one would show up. I don't think it's hard to meet people in Taiwan: both the locals and the international community are friendly. Part of it is also that as a foriegner, I don't have the luxury of a group of childhood and school friends. I do actually have to go out occasionally and engage in small talk to meet people, and eventually, friends are made, who then introduce friends and acquaintances, and relationships and connections just snowball from there. It helps that I find most people interesting, and that I will talk to anyone I find interesting.

This week has just been a Maoman and Vanessa week. Yesterday, I had lunch with TC and them at United Mix. At lunch, Maoman announced he was going to join the blogging world. Speaking of which, some formal link love to Andy! Maybe this will motivate Andy to update his always engaging sports and life commentary. :)

After lunch, TC and I went over to Computex to check out the latest in electronica offerings. Too much renao for me, and definitely hen luan. I was mildly annoyed that the girl at the Information Desk "hadn't ever heard" of AMD, much less where their booth was. "AMD is short for Advanced Micro Devices," I told her. "Look, practically everyone in this area has green AMD bags slung over their shoulder."

In the end, my time spent away from work at Computex was justified, given that I got a few ideas about what others in my industry are doing for their marketing and corporate communications.

I was thinking about myself--who I am, what I've discovered about myself, and my personal growth since arriving in Taiwan...hi Maoman. I hope I didn't scare you there. However, I think what I am going to write about today has great "synergy" with my intro. *laugh!* I cannot believe that I actually read that word in print today. Although I shouldn't tease people for using buzzwords. At work, we have been using the word "solutions" far too often. At least I'm glad the press has stopped using "the Pokemon set"--just say "children," for heaven's sake!

But I am disgressing. What I have found is that more and more, I like Taiwanese night markets. I used to find the renao (liveliness) of night markets too luan (messy) for me. All that sensory overload just gave me a headache, and night markets were places that my relatives dragged me to and were to borne until a sufficiently courteous amount of time had passed so that I could ask to return home.

However, I really like night markets now, even when I am achy all over and have a headache. I'm sure my newfound affection towards night markets is attributable to the pricing there. Where else can on eat relatively well for only US$3? In the two trips I've made to my local night market this week, I've picked up a 33 cent wire soap dish, and US$1.30 laundry basket. Wayne picked up plastic slippers--perfect for wearing on his balcony--for about a dollar a pair. I've eaten ba-oan, a filling of meatballs and bamboo shoots in a glutinous casing made from rice and shaped like a saucer, and thick rice noodle soup, sipped a fresh mango shake, and crunched on juicy and refreshing wax apples.

Only at a night market, my friends.

I really wanted to write yesterday, but extenuating circumstances prevented me from doing so. Saturday night, when I met Vanessa, we talked about our jobs:

"I work in video post-production, doing special effects," she said. "I just got off work at 10 p.m. because the director we're working with is such a pain, and so demanding."

"It's funny that you mentioned that," I replied. "Because our company has been making our corporate video, and my co-workers have complained about how the director we hired is a challenge to work with. By the way, I work for UMC."

"Oh my gosh, that's the project I was working on!"

So just as work was ending on Monday night, my co-worker Carol asked if I would mind going out to Neihu with her to review our video "one last time" to catch any last-minute mistakes. Our other co-worker, Jenny, was leaving for the States the next day for our Technology Forum, where we present our latest technology advancements to our customers and to analysts, and she had to bring the finished video with her. I wondered if I'd see Vanessa there, but I didn't see her while Carol and I met with the director and producer. We were finished by 8:30 p.m., and the production house promised to have things ready so that we could go over at 10:00 a.m. the next day for one last final review.

However, they later called Carol saying that having us present while the final changes were made would be better, to ensure the video would get done in time. They weren't sure what time they would be finished-maybe 3 a.m., maybe 6 a.m. I told Carol to give me a call whenever they called.

Carol called me around midnight, right after I had finished showering, and we then headed over to Neihu. Once there, we ended up waiting another 2-3 hours before we could supervise the final editing process. I was pleased to see Vanessa there, and she and the rest of the production staff were very good about accommodating our requests.

I didn't get home till 5 a.m., and thus decided to go into work in the afternoon. I felt awful--achy all over and with a headache--when I woke up, but I had to go to work. Of course, in my state, I forgot that Taipei was having an air raid drill from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m., so I was stuck in Starbucks for half an hour before being able to make my way to work. While at Starbucks, who would I bump into but Maoman? Taipei is such a small city!

In any case, I was relieved to go to bed early last night and get a good night's sleep.

Saturday was spent doing a medley of activities. I woke up pretty early, despite having gone to bed quite late the night before because I was arranging my room, and ran some errands. I then went off for a long-desired facial, full-body exfoliation, and pedicure, interspersed with a quick two mile run at the gym. I felt so good about myself--clean on the outside and the inside. All of this glamourous pampering was followed by the not so glamourous task of hauling out 10 bags of recycling to the trash pick-up at 9 p.m.

My Saturday evening was not all about my date with the to-be-recycled materials. Because the trash pick-up was late, I had to execute a quick transformation for a night on the town. Hardly as impressive as a Peter Parker to Spiderman transformation, but still an admirable change from a sweaty person in smelly gym clothes hauling a ridiculous amount of garbage to a la mei in strappy heels and skirt in only twenty minutes.

However, I (and Maoman and Vanessa, though I take no responsibility for their lateness) still left poor TC waiting for half an hour at Watersheds. I spent an enjoyable hour at Watersheds with TC, Maoman, and his lovely girlfriend, Vanessa trying to chat over the quite loud music. The Trainspotting sountrack was playing as I left to go to Ginny's birthday party at Plush, this club on the 12th floor of the Core Pacific Mall.

My day of pampering had been timed and my outfit chosen because Ginny, Judy, Bolai, Vicky, and other ladies who would be in attendance are always sleek and poshly attired. In any case, I felt less self-conscious about my attire once I arrived at Plush, as much of their clientele was similarly dressed. In the end, I had an unexpectedly good time dancing the night away.

The greatest discovery of my Saturday, though, came from a book that I borrowed from Mike, Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean. The ring of mildew around my sink came off with an application of a paste made with baking soda and bleach. You just apply the paste and when it has dried, you simply wipe off the gunk and voila! sparkling white grout with no scrubbing at all! Of course, please be sure to not inhale too many chlorine fumes when you try this at home, folks.