Fugue in C# minor (Because I Forgot...)

So first off I would like to apologize for not keeping up with the blog like I should be doing. This applies to my friends, family, associates however. Random blog readers surely have other things to do. But there really hasn't been a whole lot to blog about recently. You see winter time is the rainy season here in Taiwan. While this is preferable to snow and cold weather, rain and cold weather doesn't really make you want to go and conquer the world. But I forced myself out the door yesterday to try and find some sort of adventure. Well, I more or less locked myself out of my apartment while my two roommates were at school but the ends are the same. But this time around I have the whole day to dedicate to this blog. I also don't really have any cool pictures. So I am going to focus on the dialog and go in chronological order with the stories. So here we go.

I'm going out on a limb, but I'm going to say the interesting stuff really didn't happen until last Saturday. You see, pioneering in Taiwan can either be remarkably easy, or remarkably hard. The reason for this is because of how everyone does their service schedule. If you are the average publisher you go out during the morning and then go home and either relax or go to work, there is no afternoon service. If you  auxiliary pioneer you have more mornings for service and you go out in the evenings once and a while, but no afternoons. And if you  pioneer you do pretty much the same thing as an auxiliary pioneer but once in a while you go out in the afternoon to do a return visits (because most people are home relaxing). So for me, a new guy who doesn't really have any calls or studies, getting my time is slightly tricky. I have a few cards up my sleeve, however, and I will get my time for this month. But when you do go out in service you just about  always have a monster of a day. This brings me to my first story. Last Saturday was a rainy day but we still managed to get a pretty good group out with us. Terry, the brother who has been helping us out  since we have got here, was leading the group out. He purposed that we go to the local farmers market to witness. This sounded cool but I still had to ask if this was a good way to place magazines. Terry replied by telling me to bring a lot of magazines. So I brought 12 sets because, to an American, I couldn't possibly place that many (epic foreshadowing). On our trip we somehow lost half of our group that was walking with us. Now, I typically don't like to poke fun at the friends (epic fallacy) but this is kind of funny. You see we basically stick out like sore thumbs here in Taiwan. We stick out even more when we all walk in a big group. I really didn't know where we were going and I didn't need to. All I needed to know was that Terry did in fact know where to go and I should follow him. I wasn't alone in following him either; we made a group of about ten strong. But still, half of the group at some point just disappeared. Seriously, we rounded a corner and they were just gone. The thing was they did show up at the  farmers market with us. I think they just went to some random bus stop and rode the bus there. Anyway, weird. But when  we got there I was truly supprised by how easy it was to place magazines. In a personal record setting day I placed 26 magazines! Please don't see this as bragging (or do) because it really goes to show just how awesome this place is for preaching. I thought it was funny that I had to ask other people for magazines when I brought what I thought was more than enough.

Part of the Saturday morning group. Plus two epic photo bombs.

One extra face from the group.

So after that awesome morning Dylan and Harry told me that some friends of theirs from back in Sacramento were coming in to Taiwan and they were going to meet them. I decided to tag along because we were going to meet them at the famous Taipei 101 tower. It was a rainy day unfortunately so there was really no way I was going to get a decent picture with my phone. However, I was able to get some pretty good pictures from where we ate at inside. Taipei 101 is really famous for two reasons; it used to be the tallest building in the world, and because it has the bet Xiao Long Bao ever. No seriously, you don't get it. The Xiao Long Bao were monstrously good.

These are Dylan Harry's friends.

And these are the Xiao Long Bao. Wait a second, that waitress isn't Taiwanese!
Refund!

We spent just about the rest of the afternoon at Taipei 101. It was nice to see a new area and meet some of Dylan and Harry's old friends. But that day I was really tired. I have been having some problems sleeping recently. I have been going to bed at anywhere from 1:30 am to 3:30 am. I force myself to get up early but if I don't set my alarm clock or pop right out of bed I will sleep until 11:00 am or 12:00 pm. But last Friday I just didn't go to bed. So that Saturday was a true 24 hour day and I was tired. 

Due to the weather no one has really wanted to do anything. But as I said before I was able to do something yesterday on Christmas Eve in Taiwan. By the way did you know that Christmas isn't a national holiday in Taiwan? personally I think that is awesome but Dylan and Harry are a little upset that they have to go to school today. I asked around and apparently Christmas used to be a national holiday here but they stopped because people don't like spending tons of money when they really don't need to. I like Taiwan. Anyway, Dylan and I went out to get lunch before he had to go to school. As he was  asking we what I was going to do the  rest of the day I made it evident that I had no real plans and that I probably was going to just do nothing but try and catch up on my blog (sorry). So after I went back to the house I figured I would just step outside for a little bit and walk around. As soon as I shut my front door I realized I didn't grab my key. I really just had to laugh at this point because it really was kind of funny. I also realized that I wasn't that bad off. I was going to meet Dylan and two of our friends Cameron (featured in the second picture from the top) and his wife Michelle at a Starbucks around 6:00 pm. So it was (run theme music) Adventure Time!

I discovered a few weeks back that there is a really nice Italian bakery really close to my house. I know right, Italian bakery in Taiwan? But seriously this place is legit. I stocked up on amazing treats (because bread in Taiwan doesn't have hardly any painful Gluten like the United States does) and just started walking. I did the math later, but I walked a good 5 miles to a subway station called Longshuan Temple Station. Along the way I remembered that you can totally drink alcohol in public and enjoyed a crappy beer in public. This subway station was amazing because it totally was advertising this temple really, really hardcore. I mean there were stone dragons and stuff lining the outside of this place. But when you  go inside the station and check the place out you see that the entrance into the temple is like some sort of homeless squat house. It might as well have had giant signs that read, "White People, Enter Here To Get Mugged." So needless to say I did not explore the temple. Maybe next time when I equip myself with a whip and a revolver. 

So I found myself in a subway station with a few hours to burn through and not an idea of where to go. So I just looked on a map and picked an edge to go to. The one that caught my eye was Taipei Zoo. So I headed off for there. Now I was somewhere in the middle of Taipei and the subway system in Taipei only really covers Taipei. But it still took me an hour to get to the south eastern edge of Taipei. But when I got there I was flabbergasted. I really wished my phone hadn't died because I really wanted to take pictures. The area I was in was called Maokong. Maokong is a city built in the mountains. But these are not snow caped mountains, these are mountains covered in trees and foliage. It looked like Hawaii. To make it even better I saw that there was a Gondola ride for only 1.50 USD. So of course I went for it. I really, really wish that my phone hadn't died when I got inside the Gondola. I was a rainy day but it was still spectacular to see the mountains and trees underneath you. Unfortunately for me I didn't get to ride the full ride. I noticed that it was five and I had to meet Dylan, Cameron and Michelle at six. So I got off half way and made the hour long trip back home.

When I caught back up with them we all decided to go shopping. They needed some bed stuff and I wanted to find some more alcohol. We succeeded on both accounts as they got there bedding stuff and me and Dylan bought a bottle (with three samples) of Scotch. I'm treating myself to a bit as I write this and let me tell you, it is sophistication in a glass. Mmm, mmm, classy. All in all it was a pretty good day. Once again I apologize to my family and friends who like to keep up on what it is I am doing. So I think tomorrow I will try to make a little supplementary post with some extra pictures I haven't put out yet. And for you Chinese learners I might even make a post on somethings I have learned since I have been hear. But I think I will leave on a high note of the story. In the mean time, stay classy. I'll see you next time, same Bat-Time, same Bat-Place.

Oh and for you Doctor Who fans out there, long live Matt Smith!