March 28, 2006 - The library really isn't interesting enough to warrant three shots, but it's three shots have I. This one has a human element. I was unlocking my bike and the person was right there, so I couldn't resist.
iTunes soundtrack:
1. Dead Sleep (Rebecca)
2. Low Red Moon (Belly)
3. Latin Simone (Gorillaz)
4. Elvis Presley and America (U2)
5. Black & White (Sarah McLachlan)
6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen)
7. Seven Day Weekend (with Jimmy Cliff) (Elvis Costello & the Attractions)
8. Armagideon Time (The Clash)
9. So Glad To See You Here (Wings)
10. Pretty Deep (Tanya Donelly)
2 comments:
Hi,
I stumbled across your blog when I was googling ShiDa and Taipei. I like your pictures, they make me nostalgic! I'm hoping to move to Taipei in July and go to Mandarin class at ShiDa. So I was wondering if I could ask you some questions and maybe you could put the answers in your next post... like what do you think of it, how are your classes, if you work part-time or anything, and what district you live in (I'm trying to find housing =P). I know what a strange post to find on your blog, I hope you don't mind!! If you feel magnanimous enough to answer this, that would be so awesome =) Thanks!!!
Evelyn
Hi there!
I think Shida is as good as it gets. There's also a comparable language program at Tai Da, but I doubt one program is really better than the other. They both use the same textbook which I think was poorly edited, but I'm trying not to be negative, so I won't go into details ;)
That said, Taiwan is Taiwan. Culturally it's still Chinese and expectations should be kept low regarding getting accurate information or service compared to the U.S. or Japan. Despite what anyone says, Taipei is still not as cosmopolitan as Tokyo, and there still is a relatively provincial mindset by locals.
If you're starting in July, will you be here just for the Summer, ie the 2 month course? If so, then just try to get as much out of it as possible and make sure you have as much fun as possible. I doubt that will be a problem :)
I'm taking the 3 month intensive course, but I'm really bad at learning languages, so I'm thinking of switching to non-intensive courses after this quarter. The reason is that intensive courses focus on language exposure, and, reasonably, not so much on absorption. Knowing myself, I think I need to focus more on absorption, even if it means going slower (which I hear is not really the case anyway, go figure).
As for housing, you can look for or ask for short term housing on tealit.com, eslisland.com, or forumosa.com. When I landed, I stayed at the Fortuna Hostel not far from Shida until I found an apartment. It can be found on hostelsweb.com.
Feel free to ask any questions, I will try to answer them as clearly as possible or point you in a better direction to get an answer. The ex-pat community here is really friendly and willing to help.
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