Some quick updates...

Some quick updates before I leave for Hua Lian later today!

As I mentioned, school has already started for about 2 weeks, so there are less opportunities to go out and explore now. The cold weather isn't really helping either. Anyway, we went to kaypoh at this mini-concert held by Avex Taiwan for their upcoming local artistes.

There were a total of 2 artistes and 1 group singing at the concert, but it was raining quite heavily, so all the umbrellas were out in full force. Here are some picture I managed to take:

This performer here is called "Mon-mon". Can go Avex Taiwan website to look up for more info.

There other 2 performers were:

"Xiao Yu" （小宇）(http://www.avex.com.tw/3rd/artist.asp?aid=904308&aname=xiaoyu&cateid=1 and

"deepwhite" （深白色二人組）(http://www.avex.com.tw/3rd/artist.asp?aid=722125&aname=deepwhite&cateid=1#AVCCD90104/A).

The songs they sang... not bad actually... can considering buying their CDs...if you can find them in Singapore lol. They actually held a autograph session after the concert, pity we didn't stay around long enough to get a close-up look. Blame the COLD weather...

In Taiwan, at this present moment, it's either COLD or COLDER... 春風（寒風）啊。。。吻上了我--的臉。。。為什麽現在還是像冬天！？！？

Good thing I'm headed for Hua Lian in a few hours time. The weather there is warmer, but weather reports claim that it'll rain tomorrow and the day after -_-'"

Major updates coming soon!

A sight to behold

Finally! One of the "must-do" things while you're in Taiwan during the Chinese New Year period.

放天燈 (releasing sky-lanterns) during the 15th day of the Lunar New Year.

Location: 平溪 （十份）[ Pingxi, Shi Fen]

As usual, less words means more pictures!

Btw, I took a video when they released the last wave of lanterns into the sky (There were about 12 "waves" of lanterns last night. Each wave released about 200 lanterns into the sky at one go.)

Enjoy!

For more pics: Visit my flickr or facebook account

Wishing for peace

Preparing for lift-off

Peace and Prosperity!

First Day of School......

Today was the first day of school! No pictures to show, but I'll try to describe in detail how classes are conducted here.

It's actually pretty much like SMU-style, just that some classes (like my first class - "Public administration ) contain up to 80+ students in a single room haha......so I can just lie in a corner of the classroom/just beside a wall. This kind of classroom...you can remain low profile and just be a bit more slack haha......

But unfortunately I can't find my textbook for this module, cos this is the "Part 2" of Public Administration, and all the other students got their textbooks during the 1st semester. Nvm...... I'll either be a pirate and zap or just be thick-skinned and try to borrow from the prof or classmates......

The other class I went for was a Post-graduate (Master's) class on television production. The module is pretty interesting in the sense we get to role-play as reporters and do mock TV-reporting footages as our assignments. However, the workload is terribly heavy... and considering that I have another Master's module to take... I think I may just drop this mod even though it's really interesting... I heard that the other module has a 6-week internship with a local Taiwanese english newspaper agency...We shall see haha......

Accidental Cosplay

We were about to leave for 九份 on Saturday when we saw a group of cosplayers bumming around the school campus. We approached them to ask if we could take their pictures, but they told us that they were heading for a much bigger Cosplay gathering that was taking place at NTU's equivalent of the Sports and Recreation Complex.

Here's what we saw:

It's L! wahaha... I'm trying to set up a flickr.com site or multiply.com site where I can upload all my photos. If not I'll just put them up on my Facebook account hahaha......

Touchdown in Taiwan

Ok... I've finally gotten my Internet connection in my NTU dorm! It's been quite a hectic past few days... Unpacking, getting the administrative work done, shopping for household items and opening a local bank account.

I'll let the pictures do the talking for this post!

My 2 fellow NUS mates going to NTU

My humble (but messy) abode

Very old-school feeling...Like in Cambridge or Oxford haha

The temperature is hovering around 10 degrees celsius now haha......so almost every other day you can expect wind and rain...can't see much of the sun. The IYC (International Youth Centre) is where I stay haha... Anyone wants to mail stuff to me can ask me for my address hahaha......

The Taiwanese student volunteers helping us out are really helpful. 比綠巨人還“好客”. I'll see if I can upload any of their pictures later. The dorm room is quite small, but cosy enough for 2 persons.

We tried walking around the campus these past few days, and I think the campus covers the same area as NUS, just that it has A LOT more vegetation.

This is the Royal Palm Boulevard (don't know if I spelt this correctly). It's 2 rows of Palm trees running down the entire stretch of road till the main entrance of NTU. Nice. hahaha

Overall the school gives me a really old-school feeling, very rustic and 古色古香. I'm still not used to the toilet culture here though. They don't allow people to flush toilet paper down the pipes, because the width of the pipe is damn narrow and the paper will clog up the toilets. So whatever is used for cleaning is thrown into a bin placed just beside you haha......

Taiwan is a nice place. Minus the bad weather. And the school toilets.

More updates to come! Watch this space.

The time has come......

Alas, the time has come for me to embark on a new journey in my life. Attending the Student Exchange Programme at the National Taiwan University.




Look out for more posts when I reach Taiwan!
Who knows what I may find there during my stay wahaha......

The journey starts tomorrow!

The pill

Back from a somewhat long hiatus. Life was pretty routine while I was at work. There wasn't really time to think about interesting issues or events to talk about. Almost everyday it was all about waking up, travelling to the work place, working, eating and sleeping hahaha......

Presenting today's topic: The Red Pill or The Blue Pill

I used to think that "The Matrix" (the very first in the trilogy) was a cool movie because of the CG effects and the "cool" portrayal of the protagonists. It was only a few days ago when I realised that its quite a "sociology" movie too haha...

Morpheus tells Neo that if the blue pill is consumed: "You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe." "You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."

Neo, of course, takes the red pill, and goes on a journey to discover the real deal behind the "Matrix". Then there's the bald guy who betrays Morpheus and wishes he could take the blue pill instead.

I liken the red pill to certain modules from FASS, especially Sociology haha.... because they make you realise that the world is not what it seems, and it makes you ponder about certain social issues (eg: income gap, social strata mobility etc.) I'm not a soci major, but I highly encourage everyone to take SC1101E if you have the chance. You'll want to throw your rose-tinted glasses away after attending the lectures hahaha.... but no obligations, you can take the blue pill if you want lol......

However, there are just some notions that too socialised and instilled upon you, which makes it hard for you to change your viewpoints with regards to certain issues. One can only say that he/she recognises and understands from both sides of the camp, but he/she would prefer the blue pill in some instances haha......

One such issue for me is with regards to members of the opposite sex (i.e: female in this case). I understand that the common notion that women should be "demure, gentle, soft-spoken blah blah blah" is just a socialised view which is propagated by mass media or pass down through tradition.

I seriously think this notion is very much deeply entrenched in the back of my mine wahaha... not so much the characteristic, but more of the appearance part. Not that I expect all women to wear skirts and have long, shiny hair, but I just feel that women should possess certain characteristics which sets them apart from the men. One doesn't need to be all girly and feminine, but looking like singer K.D Lang (http://www.cbc.ca/cp/entertainment/080131/e013172A.html) sure confuses the mind haha...

But of course some women must also be thinking about the same thing about men. Muscular/bulky? Tanned and tall?

Are women somewhat more open to the notion of what constitutes a "man"? Especially when uou look at the situation in Japan, with all its visual-kei rockers and bishonens. They certainly don't fit the notion of "man" as portrayed in mainstream mass media outside of Japan.

Well......at the end of the day, I think I can label myself as someone who has "taken the red pill" but who still lives for long periods in the "Matrix" wahaha...


Endnote:
Alright! Received the DL letter today. It's a nice feeling when you sorta know that you are studying and understanding what the lecturers are teaching, not just memorising/mugging.