Graduation and Finishing up the THESIS!!!

Well the semester is winding down and the sadness of leaving friends after being together for 2 years is starting to set in. Since the last Blog, I had a soccer tournament with my Tainan Phoenix team where we placed 2nd out of 12 teams and really hoped to be repeat Champions from last years tourny. It was a long hard fought match against a Nigerian team, which seemed to have the energy and speed in the second half to take home the Championship. I was sadly unable to finish with 4 good shots that were all on target and somehow could not find the back of the net.

My thesis has been a pain as I said it would be, I originally had to collect 280 questionnaires from Taiwanese respondents who have experience working in project teams. As there is a large language barrier, I had to depend on local Taiwanese friends to help pass around my questionnaire to their companies they worked for and other friends until I had to hit the streets on my own. The weather is hotter than anyone wants to be in not to mention the humidity is suffocating. So one can imagine that dressing up with business dress pants, long sleeve shirt and tie was not a comfortable outfit. So being dressed up and riding off on my scooter to companies hoping they had someone to speak english and willing to help pass around my questionnaire. The long process of asking people to fill out questionnaires (we all hate filling out questionnaires, but its worse having to ask people over and over to do it) got even better when quick rain storms would come up so the wonderful humid scooter ride, just got a little wetter. After having a lunch with my Advisor and some classmates, I found out I really only needed 180 questionnaires since I am doing 2 EFA's (exploratory factor analysis) and I only need to use the one with the most attributes instead of combining them when determining the number of respondents (# of attributes X 5) This was crucial as I was already running behind on my schedule so I was able to finish up collecting 208 usable questionnaires and start my data analysis. Because I did not take the class on learning how to use SPSS data analysis software program I ended up paying my co-advisor to run my data and create my tables where I then filled in the names and wrote my analysis on. Chapter 4 and 5 consisted of more than one 5am night in the research room, but was finally able to finish where I am now waiting on feedback from my Advisor and most likely have to make revisions before I can print off get ready for my Final Defense on July 4th (my own personal independence day from my thesis).

Its has been a struggle getting the school work done for this semester since I think everyone has had a birthday everyday or weekend the past two months which its rude turn down a celebration so the late nights don't make it easier to wake up, but a nice cold beer is relaxing when sitting with close friends. I think I have mentioned the place "Chicken Hill Academy" which is the oldest local bar in Tainan owned and run by two brothers ( I think the older brother owns and runs while the younger one drinks the whole time, but both are in their 60's or 70's I think) It's a great relaxing place with comfortable couches and good music from classical piano to local Taiwanese favorites. But the best thing by far about the place is the free "Dogan" which is a tofu dish boiled in soy sauce and sesame oil and served with sliced spring onions on top. The old man brings plate after plate even after we all said we are full and can not eat anymore, another one would come out (which we ate). Nina's bday was April 29th and she finally turned 21 which will be a good thing when she comes to the states this summer even though she doesn't drink. At least she can get into bars and not have to worry. I got a big group of friends to meet up at a bar owned by a guy I play soccer with. The pizza was great and the drinks were perfect, everyone seemed to have a good time, but I do need to teach Nina how to take a shot which was probably the funniest thing I have seen in a long time and we have a small video of it haha. She tried her best and I helped her finish the complimentary shots from the owner. We have been trying to make some short day trips spend some more time together, but our busy schedules and my thesis always seem to get in the way. We did make a quick 20min trip to the beach for a cloudy sunset which overall was a great date.

So moving forward in time, We (Nina and I) were able to get our plane flights booked to fly to the States this summer. I am coming Aug 3 and Nina is coming Sept 5th a day after finishing her 2 month summer internship at Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan County. I am not sure who is more excited between us b/c I can't wait for my family to meet her and I know she can't wait to see where I grew up and experience the same huge culture shock I felt when I came to Taiwan ;) (not the same childhoods) It is going to be Nina's first time on a plane and leaving Taiwan so this is a big experience for her. I am trying to prepare her with things to know and how to get around the airports and what to pack.

We just had our Graduation ceremony last weekend June 6th and had our Farewell dinner the night before at the same hotel as last years Shang ri La. It was a delicious dinner and we had a good party afterwards with a big group of seniors and some Juniors. I was asked to give a brief speech for the graduation ceremony so the night before I just tried to write something from the heart that I didn't feel I would forget on stage and I might as well post it here below so everyone back home can get a chance to read it:

Good Afternoon everyone, it’s a pleasure to be here today. When I graduated two years ago from undergrad, I never thought I would literally be living on the other side of the world, driving scooters everyday to class, drinking Lu Cha ban tang xiao bing, and falling in love with the most beautiful woman Hsu Chia-Chien. These past two years have been the greatest adventure and most valuable experience of my life. I created a family of friends from all over the world with a bond that I feel could never be broken. I think every international student can view Taiwan as their second home and hope we can all try to give back and show the same kindness and respect as everyone has shown to us. I wish everyone the best of luck and health in the future. Thank you all very much!

So my journey continues here and I am trying to make every opportunity to spend with my friends happen because thats what it is really all about, the friendships and relationships. I know it may seem like its been 2 years for my family and friends back home that I have been away from, but the 2 years flew by just like my 4 years of undergrad and 4 years of high school and so on. Life is definitely not slowing down so its important to focus on the important things and strengthen any relationships we may have before we leave each other. The internet has done amazing things and allowed me to keep in touch with multiple friends and family, but in the end a sincere hand written letter/card means more than any number of emails or facebook posts once could send.

Thanks again for reading my blogs and I look forward to reading through all of them again sometime in the future. I will be working on my final defense and group presentation as well as making any last trips around Taiwan with my friends before we all go back to our own countries.

Love Always,

Logan

Chinese New Year 2010 "Year of the Tiger"

Once again, I am sorry for not writing a new blog in quite some time, but if you have my picasa website, then you would have noticed all the pictures I have posted from my recent trips.

So since my last blog, A small group of friends and I celebrated the New Year with a cookout on Marcin and Ola's apt rooftop. We had steaks, chicken, salad, my baked honey with honey mustard salmon, and for desert we had banana's split in half with chocolate in the middle to melt. The banana's and chocolate were amazing, as well as everything else, but eating the banana's with a spoon really topped off the night.

After New Years, I found out I had a few key fixes to make on my Thesis before printing off the copies for my professors and then had to prepare my powerpoint presentation for my proposal on January 22nd. January 20th, my lease had finally run out and I moved in with Kyle and his dog Taco who he adopted from the humane society last year. Long story short,I successfully completed and passed my Thesis proposal.

Now my proposal was over with, we had our first trip planned for the 2010 Chinese New Year. Nina and I planned a week long trip to travel around Taiwan, but the first 2 days would be spent with (clark, kyle, marcin, ola, sander, maria, judy, isy,daying, nina and me) a group of great friends at Lisong hot springs which was an 1.5hr drive through the mountains from Taitung which is on the east coast of Taiwan (4hrs car drive from Tainan). Marcin's crazy self drove his scooter from Tainan to the hot springs which is about 6.5hrs each way. We finally made it to the place to park our scooters before the 1.5hr hike down to the river, but first we had to pay 50NT ($1.50) for each scooter parking. The guy collecting the money is about 235 years old, but can still make it down the small hill where his shack is. The pictures don't show it, but one of his legs are twisted out sideways and he walks with a stick and only says "wu shi" which means 50NT. Nina tried talking to him in Taiwanese and Chinese, but he only replies "wu shi" and then began to write it in the dirt with his stick.

Well we were all really excited for this trip, especially me since this was me and Nina's first camping trip together and she has never been camping or hiking, so this was a big step to take since this was no easy hike. Half way down, the narrow trail steepens and has guide ropes for the rest of the trail down do the rocky river bank. We were in no rush to get down and we all had heavy bags with tents, clothes, and food, so we took our time and slowly crept down the mountainside with Nina's confidence growing every step and obstacle she past. That is until the last 60-70ft of the trail which was not quite vertical, but it took a lot of strength and patience to work ourselves down the slippery, rocky terrain. Well we all finally made it and were very exhausted after setting up camp and it was time to hike a little further up river to get to the natural hot springs pouring from the mountain walls. I am not sure the exact temperature, but we could have boiled an egg in some sections. The key was to dig pools lined with larger rocks and let the ice cold river water mix to set the temperature the way you like it. It was fun laying down in the pool of scolding hot water and then jumping into the freezing (not really freezing like with ice) river and then quickly running back out to warm back up. The scenery was like something out of Jurassic Park with the huge river valley and steam rising up with the lush green trees and plants I never knew existed in Taiwan since spending most of my time in Tainan. To sum that it, it was very very beautiful and relaxing. The pictures will speak for themselves.

We had to get back to camp to start the fire so we could have dinner. Marcin is always the man for this job, and by the time i made it back to camp, he had the fire trying to start which is a difficult task since most of the wood was damp. For dinner (for 11 people) we had two bags of potatoes sliced, 5 or 6 ramen noodle packs, a couple packs of sausages and some bread. We mixed everyones food together and it turned out really tasty and everyone was full. We had as much water as we needed straight from the river, but of course we boiled it first before using. I will admit, i did not sleep to great that night as the ground was hard and it was pretty chilly. I was glad to see the day light the next morning and slowly got out of bed to make my way with the others to the hot spring pools. It was a perfect beginning to a day and my skin felt so soft and smooth after laying in the pools for over an hour. We finally left the hot springs and made breakfast with whatever leftover food we could find and packed up to head back up the mountain.

It took just as long to make it back up the mountain, but we finally made it back to Taitung where Nina and I stayed one night before catching a train to Hualien to stay with her friend Jiu Jiao and his family. They had a nice home which had just been cut in almost 1/2 since the government was putting a highway in front of there home and need more space. Their family was very economical and had an outside wood stove to heat there home and water. They made a nice dinner with shrimp, corn, fish, and a few other snacks, but it was delicious and got us ready for our day trip the next morning. We woke up early and Jiu Jiao took us to rent a scooter to take to Taroko gorge which was about a 45-1hr scooter ride. Its weird to say, but the scooter we rented was really cool. It was a red yamaha 125cc sports scooter which made my poor ORY look terrible. It was nice to have a good dependable and fast scooter for the mountain roads we encountered driving through Taroko national park. There were many stopping points to check out the beautiful scenery, but it really is a must see place to really grasp its marble gorge natural beauty.

We made it back to Jiu Jiaos place before night fall after hiking some of the trails around the park and taking lots of pictures. The next morning Jiu Jiao took us around Hualien and to a beach beside an airforce base to take some pictures and then took us to a huge farm where they had just about any animal you can think of from camels to zebras. Since the farm was so big, we rented bikes which ended up being much more work than we expected since the bikes did not seem to be well maintained. After a few hours and Nina getting to bottle feed a baby calf (so funny and another first for her) we were ready to go so Jiu Jiao picked us up and it was time to head farther north to Yilan where we would meet and stay with Nina's friend Ashiang (the spelling is probably not correct.

Ashiang was also very nice and welcoming to us and his father was high up in the police ranks so just mentioning his name would have probably got us a discount or something if we really needed it. They had a nice place and since it was night time we just relaxed the first night and went to bed early. The next morning Ashiang took us to rent a scooter to take a day trip, since he had to go to Taipei for the day for work and to meet his g/f. So Nina wanted to visit a National Traditional Art center which turned out to be a lot of fun and we saw some really cool things like a store that specializes in cardboard (hats, bags, statues, etc..), a charcoal carving museum, and even an old ink stamp store where we made our own envelope stamp (which we lost later that day :(. After the art museum we went to a "water park" which was just a river to do rowing activities or ride around the river on a doubles bike which we did :)

Skipping on to the next day Ashiang took us to another hot spring which is not even possible to compare to the Lisong hot springs we were just at. These hot springs were located where tourist can easily get to hence all the garbage littered across the river bed. We boiled eggs to eat, but I was happy to leave that area especially after seeing some nude hot spring bathers a hundred yards away. The next stop was a good one. It was the Kavalan Whiskey distillery which is owned by a very wealthy group called the King Car Club. The Kavalan whiskey is Taiwans first whiskey ever (made in 2008), but they built a beautiful factory near the mountains and hired a whiskey specialist from scotland to help them get started. At the end of 2009, Kavalan has already won awards from the International taste competition in California so be on the look out for this whiskey near you.

We finished the night off with some karaoke at Asiangs place and the next day took our rental scooter back and caught a bus to Taipei and then back to Tainan to end our week long trip. It felt nice to get back to my apt (1am) and take the next week to unpack and move things around in my new apartment before I left on my other vacation trip to the Philippines.

My Philippines trip was set to take place over Valentines so Nina and I had to celebrate a couple days early. Since last year she made me a delicious candle lit dinner, I felt it was my turn to spice things up. So I made chicken quesadillas. We prepared and cooked everything together, which saved me a lot of time and was also a lot of fun and good bonding experience. I had bought some tortillas (before i found a store that sold them) from TGI Fridays so they started the day off on a good note. To make them a little different, I sautéed some onions and mushrooms to add inside the quesadillas. They turned out amazing and I would recommend trying them with the onions and mushrooms as we did. I bought her a big brown teddy bear which was another first for her, so now she has a cuddle buddy when im not able to be around.

So finally off to the Philippines with a few upper classmates of mine (Sarah and Tim) and a couple they knew as well as a friend already in the Philippines waiting for us. We found some great tickets from a new airline which just opened called Spirit of Manila and got our round trip tickets for around $220 US. I was really looking forward to going to the Philippines again since this time would be at the beaches which they are world famous for since last year I went up north to the rice terraces in Batad. After spending one night in the capital (manila) and seeing some old friends who just had graduated, the next day we flew to Busuanga, Philippines which is a remote airport where we took another 45min shuttle ride in to Coron where we would stay at a hostel. To get to the beaches we would have to rent a boat man to take us island hopping which is exactly what we did the second day after a long night of tasting the Filipino rum called Tanduay which left me with a bruise and scrape on my arm the next morning which will come into play a little later in the story.

My stomach was trying to recover from the night before so we went to a beach to relax for the day and the boat guys cooked us fresh fish, rice, and veggies. Before heading back to our hostel we did a quick snorkeling ship wreck that ended up being just a hollowed out ship that looked like a big canoe. Back at the hostel I talked with the owner "patrick" a real nice swedish guy who moved there with his Filipino wife (3years ago who grew up in Sweden and opened up a nice homestay for backpackers. The next day we planned an all day scuba trip to dive 3 WWII Japanese ship wrecks.

After a 2hr boat ride we were ready to make our first dive. I felt great and was real excited to dive 34metes or about 115ft into a Japanese warship and actually swim inside using flash lights to navigate our way around. There were some really tight squeezes to fit into and since I have not dived in over a year, it took some time to get my buoyancy back to normal. I got the hang of it again and Its really hard to describe the feeling so I would suggest getting an open water dive license and dive a ship wreck. After the first dive I felt some pain in my shoulder, but didn't think waited around until we were told to get ready for the 2nd dive an hour later. It was another ship wreck dive, this time an oil tanker which they said burned for 22 days before finally sinking to the bottom around 60-70ft down. It was another beautiful dive going in and out of old doors and wholes in the ship which haven't been used in over 50 years.

After finishing the 2nd dive they made a big lunch (our dive master was also the cook) which consisted of chicken, fish, rice, and of course fresh vegetables. My shoulder pain was still there and it had moved down to my elbow and within an hour my whole arm was aching as if someone had been standing on it for a long time. I knew this wasn't normal so I told some of the dive masters and they quickly put me on oxygen since I showed signs of having the "BENDS". It did not feel like it was getting much better so I went to the local doctor to see if I need to do the decompression chamber or not. The doctor said I showed some signs, but not the major ones, but could still get into the decompression chamber for a couple hours. I found out the price was 30,000 peso's which is about $700 USD which I did not have so I talked with the dive master and asked if he really thought it was necessary and he said no since I did not have the dizzy symptoms and the blue skin rashes, so i decided to do an hour of oxygen treatment and wait it out until the morning. The pain got worse so I called home to get the insurance information and since it was around 11:30pm the dive store with the only decompression chamber on the island was closed so I had to wait until the morning. A friend had some 600mg Tylenol pills, so i took one and went to bed. Amazingly I woke up the next morning with no pain and looked forward to the over night safari trip we were planning. I didn't have a chance to use a computer to call home and tell everyone I was ok which I found out 2 days later I had given everyone back home a big scare and I am really sorry to upset everyone and really want to thank all of you for caring and praying for me. My own conclusion was the bruise in my arm from the night before had so much pressure when diving that it just caused some type of painful reaction to the deep levels.

The over night trip was really nice. I have never seen so many stars in my life and the milky way was so bright, it looked like white band was wrapped around the earth. Our boat man June was really nice and made some delicious meals through out the day and for dinner. The over night trip consisted of island hopping where we went to two lakes, one called Barracuda lake which was some of the prettiest water I have ever seen and the other lake called twin lagoon where the water had fresh and salt water mix which created an oily look to the water. It was really cool to see the water clear and if you waved your hand across your face, then it was blurry from disturbing the water.

For that trip we met up with Tim's g/f and her brother and a friend of theirs, who are all from South Africa. It was great getting to meet and learn a bit about them and enjoyed listening to their accents. So we all enjoyed the trip so much and our boat man June, we planned another over night stay and June promised to take us to a very excluded island far away from anywhere. That is exactly what we got, our own private island 2hr boat ride away (slow boat ride). We stopped on the way to snorkel another ship wreck we could swim down to which was exciting and I impressed myself with my ability to dive down around 20ft without fins. We finally came to our private island which had one small family living on it who were there to maintain the island and sweep the beach every morning. I probably saw 20 shooting stars on another beautiful star filled sky. It seemed like every place we went, there could not be any place better than the last. But sure enough as we continued on, it only got better from the snorkeling, to the food, and to the scenery.

It was a very memorable experience, especially since we woke up every morning around 5am due to there being a rooster every where we stayed, even on the private islands that crowed at 4am well before the sun was coming up and even the sounds of pigs being slaughtered every morning outside our hostels. The trip was from Feb 12-22nd where I made it back just in time for my first class of the semester.

Its now April 03 and Easter Sunday is tomorrow morning. Nina and I plan to wake up and ride to a temple called Madong I think and its theme is heaven and hell. I have seen pictures from friends who have gone before and it really looks like a must see place. I will post pics as soon as I can.

So now, I have class mon-wed, chinese class wed-fri, and teaching tues-fri. I have a lot to do on my thesis so it is crunch time now.

I hope everyone is doing great back home and I miss ya and love ya. Don't forget to look at my pictures from the trip on my picasa web albums.

Luv always,

Logan

PS: sorry its another long blog ;)

My new address!!

5F #55-5 Lane 141
Datong Rd. Section 1
Tainan City 701, Taiwan (ROC)

Wrapping up 2009

Well I did it again!!!!!!!! I have not updated my blog with stories for a few months. I have wanted to write, but ever since Alex left Taiwan I have been working on my thesis. The first month and a half after I had been back, was spent on reading articles day and night trying to build a background to start my thesis. After more than a month of researching hiring practices and attributes in Taiwan, I ended up ditching the whole idea and switched to "Determining the impact success factors have on project performance in Taiwan". So once I switched my research topic it took another month of reading, reading, and more reading just trying to create an outline for my thesis.

Well before the thesis stuff gets to boring I will mention the first big party I had which happened to be Halloween. What I have realized over the past few years is my best ideas for costumes come to me at the last minute. This year I took my left over blue face paint I still had from last year, and with my blue swim cap, I became a BLUE MAN. It ended up being a big hit for the night and Nina wore her belly dancing outfit and looked so beautiful. We had a good group of people stick together and went to the Armory to party for the night.

In between Halloween and Thanksgiving was more long days and nights in the research room (RR) working on the thesis and slowly getting the outline created. I wanted to have another Thanksgiving party this year and a perfect place to host it ended up being Clarks new place with his two ASU alumni roommates (Jimmy from Charlotte and Bryan from Northeast Guilford area). I created a facebook group to have it planned out and it soon spread like a wild fire. As it was originally planned to be around 10-12 people, there was easily 30 people who came by during the night. It could not have turned out better as it became a large pot-luck where everyone brought a dish or drink and each person only had to end up paying 150NT which is just over $4US for an all you can eat dinner with great friends for company. I tried to count up the different nationalities at one point and stopped at 13 because my food was getting cold and everyone was moving around a lot.

Well December 2009 is definitely a month I will never forget. As the thesis was digging in to every patient bone in my body with the nights becoming the early mornings in the RR and with only a few hours of sleep was back to work again. I call home to check in and Dad tells me nanny has been put in the hospital and has a blood clot in her leg and growing weaker every hour. The next day I call to check back in and dad tells me things have gotten much worse and they didn't think she had a whole lot of time left. With the stress from school, the little sleep, and knowing im 9000 miles away from home every daily task was becoming difficult and I could see my personality completely slipping away. Dad gave me the hospital room # and said they were going to move her to another floor soon and I should try to call. I said a quick goodbye to dad and dialed the # to have Uncle Keith pick up and try to fill me in on the latest news which was she had about a day left. He handed the phone to mom and she was able to put the phone by nanny's ear and with the little energy she had left, told me she loved me so much over and over and then that was it. That was the last time I was able to speak to my nanny and feel so blessed that I was given that chance to hear her voice one last time. Nina was here to comfort me as it hit me hard when I hung up the phone. The next day I just felt numb and had to still prepare for a final presentation for a class without knowing whether or not she had passed away. I had to wait until it was morning time (NC time) to call back to check in and the message came later from clint saying nanny didnt make it (Dec 18th 12:01am my time or Dec 17th 11am NC time when I found out). I know she is in a much better place and she will always be in my heart with so many great memories.

Christmas was less than a week away and I still had some shopping to do for Nina and also the two xmas parties (xmas eve and xmas night) for secret santa presents. I wish I could be home with the family as everyone is going through a tough time, but the best part was being able to watch my nanny's service on skype that was held at home. Randy did an great job setting up the camera and singing. It had been a long day for me and it was difficult to stay up until 2am, but it was great to be able to see the family and talk with everyone together.

Christmas eve was spent at sander and maria's house with marcin, ola, kyle, zen, zen, nina, clark, and two other friends of marcin and ola. We all made a dish to bring. I was able to put together a quick crockpot chicken, cream of mushroom soup, potatoes, and carrots while marcin made his famous polish dish called Bigos which is sauerkraut, four types of meat, allspice, and 4 days of cooking and cooling until it was ready. I will have to learn how to make it his way because it was delicious and i still have some sitting in my fridge. So Nina and I got to have our first real xmas together because last year we had just began dating. So yes, you guessed it, we just had our one year anniversary December 27th. I bought nina an MP4 player (similar to an Ipod) and she got me exactly what i was asking for, a cooking stone to go on my stove :) I will be testing it out shortly and im sure the steaks will turn out great.

So I have finally finished my thesis chapters 1-3 and currently working on my questions and will be having my thesis proposal January 20th. For new years we are planning on grilling out on top of Marcin and Ola's apt roof which has a nice open area to put their charcoal grill. Im really looking forward to cooking some steaks and lighting some cheap fireworks. I want to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year.


In Loving Memory of Nanny (December 17th 2009)

Back in Taiwan for Year 2

Well its amazing that so much time has past by since I wrote my last blog before i left June 23rd. My fun filled summer flew by quicker than I could have expected, but I was able to do a lot of things with friends and family. The first big experience i had back home besides seeing my family which was amazing, but it was also getting to drive my truck. After driving a scooter for almost 10 months i forgot how much i took it for granted of the peacefulness of driving and listening to music without scooters or people trying to run you over the whole time. I loved driving to see friends and my nanny and gramma or just to run errands like getting milk and ice cream from the dairy.

After hanging around and visiting old friends for a month, my friend Toni from Italy who i have mentioned many times before came to visit me for a month. It was his first trip to the States so I felt i had to show him an awesome time. I picked him up in Charlotte where we went straight to meet Alex's family at his dads restaurant 131 Main. I have to say Toni's first meal in the US was amazing. After two days in charlotte we drove to Mrytle Beach, SC to meet up with Brant who I grew up with. We stayed the weekend in Ocean Lakes taking Toni around to some great spots. Then it was back to NC to take him to my home to finally meet my family. He got a big warm welcome and a nice country style dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy having Toni around and he came to visit just in time for my 23rd Bday. I gathered some friends up and went out to a bar for the night where it was dollar beers and that pretty much explains that night ;). After showing Toni around my home for a few days, the family took a trip up to Delaware to meet up with Barb and Frank and the kids for 5 days at the beach house. With jet skis, crabs almost everyday, and the beach, it made for a great visit which i hope to do again next year. From Delaware, the family made it up to Maryland to visit with Nick, Kim, and the rest of the gang. Toni still felt that Conner was the funniest one out of everyone he met here with his wild random stories and hyper personality. We all enjoyed the trip downtown to the Harbor and the Bar where we played some games and enjoyed a nice dinner. Toni and I also got to see O.A.R. in concert with Amanda, little Nick, and amanda's b/f peter. I loved it, but not sure if that was Toni's taste of music.

From Maryland, Toni and I split up from the family and took a bus to NYC for a 6 night stay in a hostel which turned out very nice and only $50 a night where most hotels are around 1-200+$. We never went to any plays or fancy dinners since i was on a budget and we really didn't care for those things anyways. I am not sure how many miles we ended up walking, but we so most of the major scenic or tourist spots around taking pictures, but never entering in since they were all around $20 or more.

By the 4th and 5th day, we could both tell we were ready to leave NY, but before we did I was able to meet my friend Sander (from estonia) sister who was working in NY for the summer. She was really nice and fun to hang out with. Toni was also able to meet with a friend from his region in Italy who was working there this summer and I think it was good for him to hang out with her since he could speak his on language and dialect with her to feel a bit closer to home.

So from NYC we took a bus to Maryland to meet back up with Brant and his friend Samatha who he goes to school with. She lives just outside Washington D.C. which was our next day's destination. Unfortunately Sam had the flu bad and had to go to the hospital the next day, but her mom and dad were extremely nice to us and took us to dinner and made breakfast while letting us stay in their home. We took the metro into DC and walked around the Smithsonian, to the white house, washington monument, Lincoln memorial, and my favorite was arlington, but was not able to find my Grampa Al's grave. It was really amazing to see our nations capitol since last time i was there I was in 8th grade and did not really understand the meaning of everything. Im glad we made the trip and the next day we had a long drive back to NC where we hit some bad traffic, but made it eventually. Toni's trip was up and I drove him back to Charlotte and stayed with Alex a night and then drove to Greenville, SC to see my cousin Nicole and her husband Brandon and two beautiful baby girls Ella (2) and Allie (4months at that time) It was the first time i met allie and I fell in love quick and also loved watching movies with Ella and helping babysit to give Nic and Brandon a little break. It was a great weekend, but I was ready to get back home and spend my last week and a half back home working around the house cutting up trees and having a big bonfire. The weekend before I left for Taiwan I made one more trip to ECU to watch App state play them in football and spend time with my lil sis jessica cole and then getting to see Brant and Sam again. App lost 29-24 but it was a great game and a fun last weekend.

So coming back here was yet again a long trip like always, but this time my friend Alex came back with me to spend 2 weeks in Taiwan to see how I live here and what its like on the other side of the world. I tried to show him as much as i could and what he wanted to do. We went to a baseball game and a few different cities, but I think his favorite part was the food. The Jet lag stuck with us for a week or so which kept us from wanting to go to far, but overall it was great and I had fun hosting him around here and letting him meet my sweet heart Nina ;).

Well I started school back and I have a lot of catching up to do on my thesis. So far I know its going to be something about internal services, but thats about it for now. I have a lot of reading to do and more and more research. It feels great to get back here and see my friends I made over the last year who i grew so close with. I hope this year doesn't go by to fast, but im sure like always time fly's by. Thanks again for whoever reads my blogs. Leave any comments or questions you may have or something you want to hear more of.

Love Always,

Logan

The end to a great year of school

So i have just over 2 weeks of school left and then my junior year is complete and I'm coming home for the summer. To recap up until this point ill just list off the things i have done. I played in the soccer game mentioned in kaosiung where i scored a goal and also bruised my ribs in the process of knocking down their biggest player (not taiwanese, but much larger and heavier than me). I was a hit in the Vietnamese fashion show where i wore a traditional Vietnamese outfit and strutted my stuff. I met with the ASU study abroad trip students and my professors in Taipei which was lovely and a nice getaway from Tainan. Competed in a Triathlon relay race May 17th where i swam 1.5k (or more like 2k with all the zig zagging)in 33 minutes which im happy to survived. I competed in an annual Dragon Boat race with my IMBA students where 18 people/boat race down a river. Just before the race i was hit by a car (but did not crash and I'm ok) and the guy blamed me for his mirror being knocked forward while not asking if i was even ok. The cops were not called and nothing was broken so i did not have to pay him. I wish i would have punched him since he valued his plastic mirror more than my well being. I have also been writing papers and powerpoints and giving presentations the past few weeks.

So that brings us back to now or just a few days ago when we had our big farewell party for the Seniors. Clark was the MC with over 200+ people in the audience and believe it or not, he did a great job and even called me on stage to help waste time between acts. We introduced a mummy game where two professors came on stage and 3 of their advisee's wrapped them in toilet paper in a photo finish race. haha not really but it was all in good fun. Nina was able to come with me to the party and she looked so beautiful. The food was amazing and I think we had about 3 plates each. Since i had a class the next day (my saturday SOM) from 9-4:30pm, I did not drink to much and did not go to the after party at the club like a responsible student :). I made it home by 2:30am and made it to class on time. Last night was Kyle's bday, he just turned 24. He did not want a big party so we just went to a lounge bar and had some drinks with some friends from school and his girlfriend zen zen was able to make it in from Taipei and Nina was able to stop by after work. I put money in for a gift Jay and Zilvia bought kyle which was a nice set of wine glasses and a nike sports backpack for his training and everything else needs. I had the honor to pick kyle up for his bday on my way to the bar which zen zen was going to ride with me and when kyles key broke off in his lock for his bicycle, kyle climbed on the scooter and the 3 of us were off the the bar. I wish we had a picture of it.

All of my classes are coming down to the wire again. I have a presentation and final paper due tomorrow morning and I pick up my new ARC (alien resident card) tuesday after my class. Soon I will be done with my HRM paper on a company in Indonesia where my section is talking about family-like culture and issues which can arise. My SOM still needs to write our final paper and have our presentation. My MIS paper is done, but we need more sources to meet the 30minimum requirement and I have already finished and presented my Int'l trade final project :)

I an anxious to pack up and come home, but there are still lots of things to do around here before i leave. Clark is going to be staying in my apartment for the summer while im home (as well as looking for an apartment so he is out when i get back, haha). My old App State roommate Alex has booked his ticket to fly back to Taiwan with me September 8th and stay 2 weeks. I cant wait to show him around here and see how he reacts to the culture. I will be home before i write another blog so this is a farewell to my first year of school and 9 months of being away from home (on the other side of the world). It as been a great adventure so far and it is still only the beginning.

Can't wait to see my family and the newest member Allie Berry :) as well as all my friends back home. Love you guys and see you all soon.


Luv Always,

Logan

Spring Scream, Soccer, and Midterms :)

So I ended the last blog saying I would mention something about the Spring scream trip, so as promised here is a brief story of it or at least the bit i can remember haha jk. Well I was able to catch a ride to Kenting with some soccer buddies here Ollie (from England) and Leigh (from Canada). They picked me up after they finished teaching Thursday April 3rd around 9:30pm to drive down to Kenting (thankfully they had a car and not a 100cc scooter). It took about 2 1/2 hours or maybe a bit more since leigh made a few wrong turns but we got settled in and looked forward for a nice day on the beach before the Spring scream crowd came in that friday night. Well it wasn't as nice as we planned since it was cloudy and raining pretty much the whole time, but we still sat underneath an umbrella drinking some beers and watching all the taiwanese people run around taking pictures wearing full clothing on the beach. So for us, it was quite funny to see people with really no idea of what to do on a beach except take pictures and dare each other to go in the water (the majority of taiwanese people can not swim, not sure why). They even have a ghost month in august or september where people are not allowed to swim because they are scared ghosts will pull them under the water. That means that all the pools are closed and no one goes in the oceans, except foreigners. Anyways after the beach we had dinner and met up with some more soccer guys at the hotel to get ready to go out for the night. So we all got home around 7am after the sun was rising from walking down the strip where there are lots of food stands and partying on the beach where Ollie burned himself or (someone burnt him he says) with a large candle they sell at 711 that sticks in the sand to give the since of a mini bon fire. I forgot to mention what Spring Scream actually is. Spring scream is a huge spring break party that is once a year where around 3000 bands play over the weekend at different venues. The next day was spend on the beach again, but with much nicer weather and the same dinner routine and then this night we planned to go to a concert to actually take part in what the whole Spring scream was about.

So I split up from Ollie and Leigh since they went to a Techno type venue and i went with Ollies brother Anton and another soccer buddy Dave to the Rock Show venue since that is much more my style. A friend of mine in the IMBA program plays in a band and was playing that night so I kept a close eye on my watch to make sure we didn't miss it. The venue was awesome, it was a large park type lay out just near the ocean at the Southern most point of Taiwan and the Light house. The only thing I would complain about was they did not serve beer inside the park so each beer run we made (about 4) we had to walk all the way back to the very front (my friend andrew played on the last stage furthest away) well just before Andrews band was about to play we wanted one more beer run so we could each have about 2 beers to watch his show. It was Anton's time to buy and note there was only 3 of us, we asked Anton to get 2 beers a piece (3x2=6) and he comes back with 12 beers in a bag. Just dumbfounded we laughed and didn't mind drinking the extras and made our way to the stage.

Back at the stage I saw some more friends from my IMBA program and they road their bikes from Tainan to Kenting. Yes, that is correct, the trip i made on a scooter that took 4 hours and destroyed our butts, they biked on bicycles for 15hrs, it showed on their faces b/c they were all pissed off from the ride and complaining from most of them so i felt the need to give a couple of beers to them to sooth their pains. All in all the bands were great, well some really good and some really terrible, but it was a fun event even though the price to get in was quite high.

I was back home the next night by 10pm with a bad hangover and looking forward to get ready for class the next morning.

The next section of the blog talks about the Big soccer tournament our team hosted April 11th where 16 teams from all over Taiwan met to battle for a championship cup and the right to be called the Champions of Taiwan. The first round of games was on Saturday April 11th which fell on my SOM class day so i was not able to play the first 3 games of the tournament where we finished with 2W and 1L. The next day i was there bright and early to warm up and get ready for our first match against the Black Star. It was a evenly matched game with us missing 3 great chances to score by Ken (from Japan) headers which none of them found the back of the net and we ended with a Tie 0-0. Our 2nd game was on the rugby pitch which was a terrible field to play which looked more like a cow pasture. It was hard to control the ball and to get a good shot off, but our opportunities came when i would throw the ball in. The first time i through the ball in, I was able to hear the fans in the stans all "gasp" with aww's as i was able to throw the ball about as far as a corner kick towards the back post. The first throw did not give us a goal, but with less than 5 minutes left from the other side of the field this time, my throw was knocked around in front of the goal until our player was able to finish it giving us the win.

To get to the finals we needed to win our next game by more than 1 goal and pray the other teams lost or tied making our chances quite slim to move to the championship round. Well once our team buckled down and started finishing our shots, I had another long throw in that was headed in by our player giving us a 3-0 win and could only wait to see what results came about after the other teams played. Sure enough the team keeping us from going to the championship did not win or score enough goals so we squeaked by and were in the Finals. This was going to be our 4th game of the day so everyone was tired (especially since everyone played 3 games the day before) but they were 25min games and the final was two 20min halves.

It was a back and forth game with neither team able to capitalize and finish a goal, so it came down to the 1 10 minute over time they still left the score 0-0 and went to a PK shootout. Their team shot first and our keeper Eric (who i bought my scooter from) had an amazing first save which boosted our teams energy as our guys went on making all of our shots and won the Championship cup with beers being sprayed over everyone and lots of hugs and hand shakes to go around. It was a great day to celebrate with the team and our fans with a few beers and a after party at the Armory bar (where i met Nina on Halloween :) ). The next day after the excitement wore off i realized i had 4 midterm exams all in one week just 10 days away. So it was a boring week and 1/2 studying and trying to stay sane, but in all the midterms went over better than i expected.

Now with the midterms behind me, I actually had another soccer game yesterday sunday April 26th that we won 5-0 and i finally scored a goal from a header. Its now April 27th and Nina's Bday is only 2 days away. Since i have a night class we decided we would go out to dinner tonight since it would be to late wednesday night. She wanted an English dictionary for her bday so that was the first thing i got her and i just went down the street to a 85deg coffee shop that sells cakes and picked up a cute bday cake to have for desert before or after our dinner which ever she wants to do. I will try to find another gift for her soon as well as a card, but hopefully i can get that to her Wednesday on her actual bday when she will be turning 20yrs old.

I have another soccer game next saturday in Kaoshiung which is just a 40min train ride south of Tainan, and May 10th i am going up to Taipei to visit the App State study abroad group and spend the day with them. It is the same study abroad trip i went on 2 years ago and look at me now, im living here and going to school :). So it goes to show that you never know what the future will hold, since for me, i ended up on the other side of the world meeting amazing new friends from all different countries and trying to grow up and be a better person every day.

I will be home in just under two months and i know the time will fly by for me and i hope it does for everyone back home too. I can't wait to see everyone and here about all of your stories as well as share some more of mine. If you have Skype and you want to stay in touch, just look me up as Logan.Reittinger


Love Always, and thanks for reading my Blogs,


Logan Reittinger

Spring semester and Kenting Trip with Nina

So my semester is now underway an I am taking 5 classes which we are only allowed to take 4, so i had to write a letter to the dean telling him why i need to take 5 classes and all that other stuff. The reason why i need to take 5 classes is because as you all know i am coming home this summer :) so i will not be able to take the 3 prerequisite classes which i am exempting but now i have to make up 9 hours. So, to make it easy on me for my last semester or next spring when i am writing my thesis and trying to finish. Next fall i will take 4 classes leaving my final semester with only 2 classes remaining. I have to have 15 classes or 45 credit hours for my program. Well i am in the 5 classes i signed up for and my schedule is as follows: Monday 9am High-Tech Marketing, Tuesdays 9am International Trade, Wednesday 6pm Business Ethics and Information Securities, Thursday 6:30pm Human Resource Management HRM, and Every other Saturday i have a 6hr class 9-4or4:30pm called Service Operations Management SOM. I know the 6hr class sounds terrible and its really not fun being at school all day in one class, but the teacher is really good and very interesting while keeping the whole class focused for the majority of the time. We do get an hour lunch break midway through so that helps break up the feeling of being trapped. My favorite class would have to be either HRM or SOM because they are the most challenging and interesting classes to attend.

The past few weeks have definitely had their ups and downs. I guess it started when i was at soccer practice one wednesday night and went to pass the ball and felt my knee shake side to side and immediately felt some pain and came off the field. It continued to hurt the rest of the week and i tried to play again sunday during a scrimmage and came off when it started aching before i caused any serious damage. The next day i asked my friend Michael (who has lived her for 10yrs and married a taiwanese girl) if he knew any places to have my knee looked at and sure enough after class he had an appointment already set up for me. After my examination the doctor told me it was a light knee sprain around my acl, told me to take 3 weeks off from playing, and gave me some pain meds for 1 week. With my national health insurance or my NHI card it cost me only 160NT or $5USD and the lady even waived the charge since i did not have a job when she asked and just wanted to help a student out. They were very nice and if i do have further problems i will report back to them.

Well my good buddy Clark had is 23rd bday party March 13th so i wanted to do something special for him since i have known him the longest out of everyone here. I spent the whole class period in High-Tech mkting looking through all his facebook pictures, my pictures i had of him, all his picasa web albums and picked out every picture i could find with his face smile (when he does finally smile). So i had 89 pictures and i got with our friend Tiffany and she took the pictures to a place after creating them into a collage and printed them out of his party. We all met out at a new bar called the Red Wolf Tavern (our soccer team is working on getting them to sponsor us) and hung up clarks banners and waited for him to stumble in since he had been drinking with other friends before they drove him to the bar. His face was lit up like a 5yr old walking in on xmas morning and seeing his first brand new bike. Well that look on his face stayed on him the whole night as well as a very loud voice and aggressive hugs. Everyone had a great time and was able to get clark very drunk and walking on air (until i heard the next day by him that he got sick) but its all in good fun and its a very rare time for clark to ever drink.

My good friend Marcin from Poland parents have come to visit and travel around Taiwan for 3 weeks. He and Ola had been really excited and nervous at the same time since his dad had never flown on a plane and that was his first trip and his parents only speak polish so it was their job to translate everything all the time. They were even able to sneak some sausages, bread, and some other foods past the airport security and running away from the dogs. Just hearing marcin tell this story and picturing his parents running through the airports still has me laughing just thinking about it. Hopefully i can convince my Mom and dad to come visit me for a couple weeks and open their eyes to a whole different world ;)

Well Sander and Maria were planning a trip to Kenting and I had no plans so I asked if Nina and I could follow them down. I was going to rent a 125cc scooter for around 600NT/day ($18) but i knew Nina had a nice scooter so i thought we could just save some money since we still had to rent a hotel room. Well bright and early i was up and waited for Nina to arrive as well as Sander and Maria as i packed up the last remaining things in my bag. It was time to leave so we walked outside to her scooter and when i sat down i realized it was much smaller than my 125cc. So i asked and she told me no, no, no it is only a 100cc. So my jaw dropped just thinking about the 4hr ride ahead on a scooter where i could scratch my knees while my hands were sitting on the bars. Well it was still saver to drive than my old ORY so we filled up the tank and started off. Yes it was a 4hr ride down there on a small scooter and it got to a point where we were happy to get stopped at a red light to stand up and move around while punching our butts trying to make the numbness go away. Finally we saw the beach but still had 30mins to go, but at least the view was nice for the rest of the drive. When we arrived, Nina and i checked into a hotel that was around $21 a night and grabbed some brunch to take to the beach since it was already 1:30pm. Once we finally got their and laid down on the beach i just kept thinking about the dreadful ride back the next day since Nina had to work at 5pm on Saturday. Well i tried my best not to think about it and learned that this was her first time actually playing on a beach (not just sitting around) and her first time ever in the ocean. It was priceless to see her face as the waves crashed at her feet while she struggled to keep her balance. While standing on the beach at the waters edge and the waves being sucked back out to sea, it always feels funny when the sand under your feet are stripped away making it hard to stand in one place. well it was a feeling she had never experienced before and fear mixed with excitement screamed out to me with her quickly grabbing to hang on. Since i have gone to the beach for as long as i can remember it was really amazing to see someone especially someone i care so much for get so much enjoyment out of the little things most of us have forgotten about at the beach. Nina's swimming is not very good so i didn't want to be to far away and she didn't want me to either. The depth of the water drops off quickly from ankle deep to chest high so i didnt want her to step to far and panic, so i mainly stayed close by unless she was climbing on top of me scared to touch the ground.

The weather ended up being very cloudy and a few raindrops drove us away from the beach, but we continued with Sander and Maria to drive further down south where we eventually came to some beautiful view points and a marker for the southern most point of Taiwan. There was also a pile of poop at the marker so i couldn't help but laugh and take a picture of the southern most pile of crap in Taiwan. Sander and Maria were camping in a tent they had so Nina and I went to get ready and met up with them at a place called Amy's Pizza which is in the "Lonely Planet" tour guide book as a must eat place. The pizzas were the size of the mini tostino's pizzas we have back home in the grocery store. The taste was ok and we split some salmon pasta, but overall i wouldn't recommended it, especially not in a tour guide book for must eat restaurants.

If just so happened that Marcin and Ola and his parents were in Kenting then for the next few days so I finally had a chance to meet his parents even though our conversation was limited, we all had warm smiles and marcin translated when he needed to.

The next morning we woke up early, grabbed breakfast and some how it was already 10:30am when we got to the beach. We had to leave by 12n to grab a light lunch and make the long drive back to Tainan so Nina could make it back to work. The weather was beautiful and the sun hot so 1 1/2hrs on the beach was fine with me. We were able to hang out with everyone on the beach for a bit before we had to say our goodbyes and head home. We stopped and filled up her scooter tank which only cost about $2 when it was empty and had a quick bite of McD's. We took a different way back where the roads were much nicer and smooth compared to the bumpy road we came in on. We were able to get back in 3 1/2 hours this time and yes the butt's were killing us and i could not wait to just take a nap in my bed and felt sorry for Nina because she had to go straight to work. So thats my newest experience here, driving a scooter 4hrs there and 3 1/2hrs back the next day.

Well this next part is not going to be fun to read, but anyways I woke up sunday morning vomiting multiple times and also the nasty D word on the toilet. I felt terrible and had just talked to Toni on skype a few days before and he was getting tested for Malaria because he was really sick back home as well. So since i was in the Philippines and Malaysia for Chinese New year it was possible that i had it and after reading up on it on the internet, i drove myself to the NCKU hospital where i had a shot to ease my stomach pain and blood drawn to be tested for Malaria. It was not very fun checking in since they did not speak really much english except the doctor who did my actual testing. So i sat in a wheel chair in the emergency room for 3hrs and did not know how long they wanted me to stay so i got up and found the doctor who treated me and was allowed to pay and leave with my follow up appointment to get my test results the next morning. They gave me some medicine for my symptoms, but did not think i had malaria since i was not running a high fever. Nina also was not feeling well, but she came over and made me soup that her mom always makes for her when she is sick. The next morning i had a presentation in my High-Tech mkting class then left class early to get to my appointment. I sat their as my time for the appointment passed waiting for my # when an hour had gone by and they took the names and signs off the door as if they were packing up to leave. So i walked up and showed them my form and was led straight in. Good news is the test came back positive and i was feeling much better so it was less than two minutes and i was gone.

Our spring break is coming up and it looks like everyone is going to kenting for a huge party called Spring Scream, so i guess i will be making another trip down there April 1-4th. But i will not be driving a scooter again, haha i plan to either take a bus or catch a ride with some of the soccer guys going. I look forward to getting a nice tan and pray i do not get food poisoning again.

Ill try to make a quick write up about the Spring Scream when i get back. So hopefully it will be fun to read, if not then ill just have to wait for more adventures and stories to write about :)

Love Always,

Logan

Chinese New Year Trip Pt. 2

So after that eventful night, the next day we went to another part of the island where we took a boat ride to an Eagle spotting site, a fish farm, Bat Caves, and just a scenic river ride. It took a few hours and cost about $30 each, but was worth it. Especially since we had our on boat and guide. We took it easy that night and just hung out at Raffi's then went back to the hotel to wake up and run about 1.5miles and also book our ferry ride to Pulau Penang which is another island off the west coast of Malaysia. At the ferry port we met a Taiwanese guy named Danny and got to talking about Taiwan and a little bit of school. He said he was meeting with a Swedish friend of his and i just randomly asked if it was Olaf or Christof in a joking way, but it happened to be Olaf who he was meeting. So we randomly met Olaf and Christof in the Philippines and then met a guy in Malaysia who happened to be meeting with Olaf in Penang. So that pretty much started the friendship between us and we traveled and split a room in a hostel which happened to be extremely cheap (good to save money since 2 other hotels later were quite expensive). We arrived at night and Olaf was coming on a bus the next morning so we got some sleep, had breakfast then went on a Heritage Trail hike (Danny had a Lonely Planet guide book). Danny is not the typical taiwanese guy since he loves to travel alone and has even visited more countries in Europe than Toni. Penang was not that fun until the second night Toni and I found a cool restaurant/bar and began to drink off the aches/pains of the bus and ferry rides. Since Toni and I were going to Johor next to visit Anthony and his family, we did not want to take the bus which would have been about 11 or more hours so we found a flight to get us to KL and had another 4.5hr bus ride to Johor. Before our flight left we had about 6 hrs to waste so we thought we would find a beach on the southern part of Penang (closer to the airport) to try and get some more color before we left. Well we did it, we found "the beach" no, i dont mean the best beach, but more like the worst beach in Malaysia. It was dirty, maybe 50yrds long and out in the middle of nowhere 25mins from the airport. The cab driver told us "yes no problem, taxis come all the time here" well that was not true. we only stayed about 25mins, never got in the nasty water, and headed to the road to look for a ride back. So we started walking and waiting and finally a bus came by and stopped in the middle of a sharp curve and picked us up. we made it back but still had 4 hrs to waste. Im not sure why we didnt check in and go to the terminal where there were much nicer places to sit than outside the gates, but we didnt think of it and went in just before our flight left.
We had to stay one night in KL and it happened to be downtown near the twin towers. It was 1am by the time we had been dropped off by the bus and cabs so we didn't care where we stayed as long as it was safe. It was a nice and only $64US a night which we split the price. We had our bus ticket for Johor at 3:30pm the next day and had time to walk around the city and the mall again. Anthony picked us up at the bus station and took us to his house where he had about 20 relatives also staying. There house was larger than the asian norm and really utilized the living space by having 11 bed rooms. He took us to dinner where we had their famous chili crab which was amazing. Its hard to explain the taste, but just google it and read about it haha. well his family was extremely nice and the next day was his niece's 1st bday (there were lots of kids and babys in his family) and they had everyone over for a big cookout.
I ended up having a long conversation with Anothony's older brother who's english was good and just talked about many different things like the differences in our cultures. In Malaysia and many other Asian countries, when a man and woman get married, the woman moves in with the husband and his family and they raise their family there. His grandmother was also still alive and living with them as well so that made it 4 generations living in the same household. I asked how it was living having to live with his parents and all the In-Law drama that tends to happen in back home (not that i know from personal experience but just from listening to others), but he basically said if you can keep a good relationship with the mother then things can be fairly easy. So even on the other side of the world, the family issues can be the same meaning we are not much different. All of Anthony's little cousins and nieces are really cute and some extremely shy (because they have never seen a white guy/foreigner in person or up close). One little girl really liked me and was always peeking around corners and even let me give her a hug :) Anthony's dad was extremely nice and very welcoming. He was also very funny and loved to chat. We told Toni and I that we were the first Foreigners to stay at their house or even have dinner, so it was truly an honor to have visited them and shared such an important holiday celebration with their family.
We went out with a couple of anthonys cousins to a club where we ended up having a great time. It was later in the night and after a few drinks when a guy came up to me, asked me where i was from and said "I hate Americans". I stood there for a sec, sipped my drink while thinking whether or not i should knock him out and said "really, and why do you hate americans?" and he said he hated George Bush. So i told him that was an ignorant statement to make by saying he hates approximately 330million people because of one person. He stood there and realized what he said was stupid and apologized. I asked where he was from which was Libya and we talked a little longer about random things and then said our goodbyes. I thought about the incident and how different things could have went. I am glad i kept my composure and went from "i hate americans" to "it was great meeting you".
The next day we left for Singapore and was the last destination of our trip. Singapore is not far at all from Malaysia and it would not have been a hard swim if i really had to get there since you could see it easily from the shore. Anthony drove us across the boarder which now meant i have been to another country by car, plane, and ship (cruise ship) so i thought that was interesting. So Singapore was very clean and pretty. We checked into our hotel and then went walking around the town. Some of the famous night areas are Clark Quay (pronounced like "key") and Riverside. It must have been the dinner i ate (which was good) but anyways i got sick that night and no i was not drinking, but i had to make myself puke in the middle of the night and had a bad stomach ache. I didnt get much sleep so the next day i looked like a zombie, but at least felt a little better. Once again though we met with Danny our 2nd day when he arrived and he told us about a hostel that was really cool, laid back and nice. We went all over town, mainly by MRT and went to an artificial beach called Sentonas beach. All the sand and rocks were brought in from other countries and when looking out at see from the beach all you see is a shipping yard haha so it was not what i would call paradise, but unique. That night Olaf came to Singapore, so we met him in 3 different countries which is strange, but funny at the same time. He is a real nice guy, as well as Danny so it was fun hanging out with them.
The next morning it was our last day so Toni and I left for the airport for our flight at 1pm, then arrived at 5:40 in Taoyuan Airport, then caught the highspeed rail to tainan and made it to my place by 12midnight. The next day i cleaned and Toni packed because we had to take the highspeed rail back up to Taipei so we could spend one night there to party and his flight to London was at 6:40pm the 5th and I picked up Amanda (a friend from ASU you was accepted to the IMBA program here, so i brought her here and showed her around town.
So to sum everything up, we spent 5 days in the Philippines, 9 days in Malaysia, and 3 days in Singapore so it was from January 17th we left Kaosiung, Taiwan and arrived back in Taiwan February 3rd. It was a lot of traveling and im glad to be back in Tainan. It was really sad to say goodbye to my good friend Toni, but it was great to spend 2.5 weeks with him before he left. He plans to visit me this summer back in the States so i look forwarding to seeing him again soon.

Hope this blog was readable and if you have any questions about any part of the trip just email me at Logan.Reittinger@gmail.com

Love Always,

Logan

PS: I did not shave the whole trip, haha just thought i would try it out and yes it looked as ugly as i thought i would.

Chinese New Year Trip Pt. 1

So the highlight of this blog is my First Chinese New Year here where Toni, Anthony, and I (along with a couple other friends for part of the trip) went to the Philippines, Malaysia, and then finally Singapore. Before you all begin to envy me haha (just kidding)all this traveling really takes a lot out of you and is not all fun and games meaning i spent about 50 or more hrs just traveling either in a plane, on a bus (even on top of one in Batad), taxi's, subways or MRT's, and more planes.

I dont want to hold out on this big trips story, but i will up date the last couple weeks of classes. Well the Ford competition my group and whole class was working on came to the finally day where we had to present in front of the Ford CEO Jeff Nemeth, the Ford CFO, HRM, and a few of our professors. Our group was able to put together a report over 100pgs in just under 3 weeks and create a presentation we literally worked on mins before walking up in front to present. It was extremely stressful feeling that all the work we had put into this project would not be complete, but with a little magic we came through, presented and one the competition including 20000NT. We each received 3000NT or $100 (which i had to turn over the next day for student fees) and had 2000NT left over and went out to a local bar to celebrate with the remaining cash. I was really proud of our group to put so much work into this project and even if we did not win it was a great learning experience (dont finish a project 3 mins before you walk up to present :).

So my other classes went well and even had a few similar instances where we finished a project during the class we had to present. For example, Clark and I believed we were presenting the next week and had not finished our project or prepared to present. Luckily we were the last group to go because we came together during class through email and instant messaging and finished our project while Clark put together a power point and we presented 30mins after class should had been let out, but the teacher insisted on us presenting.

So about the trip, we took a train to Kaosiung (40mins south of Tainan) airport where we left for Manila, Philippines. Manila was very dirty and pretty scary walking around at night while we looked for a hotel for the night and to relax with a beer. Manila was pretty poverty stricken with kids holding babies running up to you begging for money and even the older people as well. If you give money to one of them, the rest run and follow you holding their hands in your face wanting money. Clark Philippines (a city, not a person) was the same way with the kids begging and never saying thank you after you gave them money. Well we walked around Manila the next day carrying all of our bags since we checked out of the hotel and we did not feel safe leaving our luggage there while we toured the city. Anthony had a tour planned out where we visited an old fort (Santiago) and some old churches (one where a wedding just took place). While in Manila Toni was talking on the phone with 2 Swedish friends of his Olaf and Christof, but never really planned on meeting up with them until strangely we happened to bump into them at the Fort Santiago and have them join our group on the rest of our tour in Manila. At the church where the couple just married there were about 100 kids and they all wanted us to take pictures of them and always asked in the high pitched kid voices (one more picture). It became very old very quickly and they seem to never stop coming and coming and the smarts always asked to see the picture after you took one (they were getting smarter). Im not sure why they wanted to see them as if i would be emailing them with all the pictures haha. i had to delete a lot of them towards the end of the trip to be able to take pictures in Singapore.
So we planned to take a bus to Banaue overnight (8hrs) to the rice terraces that are over 2000yrs old. That bus ride sucked. The driver had the A/C on high, and I only had a t-shirt and shorts so 1 hr into it i was shaking uncontrollably and only had about 30mins of actual sleep. We finally arrived at 6:30am with it raining and everyone sniffling with a small cold. We checked into a hostel and went straight to sleep till 12 and then went on a tour driven around on a motorcycle with the side carrier thing. Toni and i was crammed in the side part while our friend Charles (malaysian) was on the back seat of the bike with the guy. Anthony and the other girls (2 Filipino girls and 1 malaysian) were sitting the same on another bike. The views were amazing and I even met an old villager guy where just 20ft away were human skulls on a shelf (I have pics of both). So we finished that tour and planned the next day to wake up at 6:30am for our all day trip to Batad where there are more rice terraces and the originals considered the 8th wonder of the world aka "the stairway to heaven". Well it felt like we hiked the stairway to heaven b/c we were all extremely sore the next few days. The bus ride to Batad was 2hrs each way and i sat on top of the bus for the ride back with about 6 other people and it was just metal racks. The safety standards do not seem to be at par with ours back home (US) or anywhere else in the world. It was really beautiful and hard to imagine how people could carve these mountains into steps for rice terraces. I'm not sure the exact distance we hiked, but it was from the top of a mountain to the bottom (where there was a beautiful waterfall) and all the way back up to the top and by looking at the pictures you will see the mountains are not that small.
So after the huge hike, we caught a bus that night for another 8hr ride back to Manila where we caught another 2hr bus to Clark (the city) and stayed a day and night (most of it spent in the hotel) and left for Kuala Lumpur aka KL, Malaysia the next day. Oh i almost forgot to mention we had to change currency's in each country from the Philippino Peso (1 US = about 47peso), the Malaysian Ringit (1US = about 3.5ringit), and then the Singapore dollar (1US = 1.4sing dollars). We arrived in KL where charles had his parents waiting to pick up Toni, Anthony, and I so us 4 went back to his parents place to stay one night. We went to meet with Charles brother and some friends for dinner near his university where Toni and I had our first Malaysian meal. They ordered a bunch of different dishes and everyone was delicious. The stingray was my favorite and the other dishes i can not explain or know the correct names were also good and all the malaysian food has a little spice to it and some much hotter than others.
The next day, Charles drove us downtown where we visited the Petronas Twin Towers and walked around the mall for awhile to waste time until Toni and I left for Langkawi (another 8hr bus ride) which is an island off the west coast of Malaysia. It was an overnight bus where i was prepared with long pants, a jacket and towel to cover up with. We made it there to the port to catch a ferry to the island (1 1/2hr). They crammed us like sardines in a boat and took us to the island where we figured out our phones (sim cards) that anthony gave us were not working because they had not been activated. Since it was chinese new year all the hotels were being filled left in right and caused us to be left with a pretty crappy one but it was cheap. The worst thing about the hotel is it was 30mins cab ride from the beaches so the price added up well over the cost of our hotel for the 3 nights we stayed there. The first night there happened to be the most exciting one. We spent the day at a bar on the beach we found called "Raffi's" (not drinking till later in the evening) but had brought our clothes for the night with us to save a hr worth of back and forth cab rides. We had dinner and started drinking and after a few hours 3 girls sat down to have dinner and a few drinks. I told Toni i was his wingman and it was up to him to go talk to them (since i have a g/f) and i would just chat here and there. Well he kept saying he didnt have enough drinks in him to just walk up and say hello so after about 10mins of standing there talking about it, i walked up and introduced myself and then Toni followed. They asked us to pull up a chair and have a drink. One girl was from Australia and the other 2 were from Botswana. One of the Botswana girls (Rachel) father was American from Ohio and the girls both grew up attending an english school in Botswana since it was colonized by the British. The 3 girls went to graduate school together and met up once a year for a girls trip to some country. They are all physiotherapist and seemed to be very intelligent.
So they wanted to go dancing (i wasn't breaking any rules by dancing guys) so we went to a hotel where they had a club and hung out for a couple hours when Toni wasn't having much fun and wanted to leave. I told him to wait while i said bye to the girls and i would be there in a second but he insisted i stay as he left and i remained outside looking for him and a ride home. So a taxi van was leaving with 4 Iranian guys and one of them asked if i would like a ride where i agreed and told them my hotel. No one, not even the cab driver knew of my hotel or how i was pronouncing it so it was an 1 hr 1/2 ride in a van full of Iranians. I thought to myself what am i doing, but then knew i could not judge them from the country they come from just as they should not judge me from being from the States. I dont remember the whole conversation but they enjoyed my company, were very nice, and we said our goodbyes as the cab driver kept searching for my hotel. We finally found it after he stopped for directions and i looked forward to sleeping on a bed and not a bus. Well i had not heard from Toni and knocked on the door with no answer. After awhile the knocks turned into bangs and yelling for him to open the door. I walked back outside and wondered if he had even made it home and was worried about him. I tried again to bang on the door but still no answer so i slept in the nasty lobby on a couch where i was awoken at 7am by the manager asking me what was i doing sleeping there. Well he opened the door for me and Toni was curled up on his bed. I said thank you to the manager and just about punched Toni, but decided i would just talk to him after we both woke up.
Well long story short he did not hear a sound and i found out he had also locked 2 other friends out b/c he passed out and had the room key. So i took over the key, laughed a little about it, but still mad and we continued our trip there......... (I'll continue the second part of the trip on the next blog)

New Apartment Address

6F #3-3 LiDe 10th rd.
Tainan City 701, Taiwan (ROC)

One Amazing Decemeber 2008

To start this blog off, i am going to quickly tell you about the last thing that has just happened or the most recent event in my life. I just paid 300NT or $9 for the best hair cut ever (sorry Lorrie). The actual hair cut looks ok, but the lady was fast and precise, which also included a shampoo with a long head rub/massage and finished by rinsing my hair and giving me a shoulder, arm, and hand massage. she has some magic little fingers. haha

So back on track with the main story. December started as any other month with lots of school work and group projects coming closer to their deadlines. A friend of mine has asked me to substitute for 3 weeks while he went back to Canada for the holiday's so it he showed me the two school where i would be teaching which are both about 20mins scooter ride from campus. Tuesdays and Thursdays i would teach at a new elementary school from 4:30-6 then have to rush back for class at 6:30 on my tuesdays and wednesdays i would teach a soccer class for kids about 4-6yrs old who are all really cute and just funny to watch as they try to kick the ball that is almost at there knee's. I started December 16th substituting and it has been easy money so far (well once i get paid the last day). The kids at the school where i teach english are not motivated what so ever to try to learn, but i can not blame them because they go to school from 7:50am - 6pm and even 8 or 9pm for some students taking extra classes. They are also the typical lil brats since they are from rich families and allowed to do whatever, and they only want to play a game called "Big Two's" which is a card game and pretty boring if you ask me. so its pretty much a joke everytime i go and the soccer classes i just have to entertain 12 kids for 1 hr a week which is a lot harder than i thought it would be since they have the attention span of about 3 minutes so its always hard to come up with another drill that they could possibly try to do since they are so young and just want to run in circles or pick their noses. haha

My MOM class has the FORD project we are working on and have the chance to win our group of 6 $20,000NT which is almost $500 and from the looks of our groups rough draft, we seem to be the favorite pick by the Ford Manager Jesse who is helping us create an Automotive industry plan the Taiwan Government can put into place which is based a lot off of the Australian Auto Industry plan their government has put in place. My group is looking at new technologies and alternative fuels which would best fit Taiwan. I am researching Bioethanol fuel made from sugarcane which Taiwan was one of the Largest sugarcane producers in the 50's and 60's so the possibilities of becoming a mass producer to support a new biofuel economy seems reachable to me.

A big highlight of this month was our IMBA Kenting and Taitung trip where we only stayed in Kenting for one night and left in the early morning, but ended up being a very wild and late night/early morning from having a few drinks at a bar/dancers (not naked ones, sorry guys) and then a fire on the beach and late night dip in the pacific ocean. It was one of those nights where you have to just cut yourself off and head to bed which was around 3:30am and wake up at 7:30am to leave for Taitung. We visited Taitung University and the head professors gave a speech and just introduced their school. Kenting is the Southern most point or close to it of Taiwan and Taitung is on the East coast which is very beautiful and they do not allow commercial developers so its very clean and just beautiful views every where you look. The school their over looks the ocean which is a pretty site to see. After the school we went to visit a farm that had some horses and cows and even a sled ride down a large hill where some people were rolling round hay bails just for fun which their hands. haha it was a hot tourist spot their surrounded by mountains and their main selling product was milk, milk ice cream, and other healthy snacks. The pictures that will be loaded from this trip will back up my story so far of all the natural beauty. So that night we stayed at another hotel that had some natural hot springs (not as cool or nice as in Green Island) but still relaxing. I did not drink this night given the fact i was pretty hammered as you could put it the night before. After our dinner was a very interesting show put on by two russian girls our professors hired at a KTV or karaoke bar. Well the owner was creepy enough and i dont have pictures of this place, but the girls ended up being strippers, but kept their small outfits on due to the presence of a few young children of parents in our program. I was very shocked to see our entertainment provided and later found out it was acceptable and very common to have strippers at weddings, parties, and even funerals. So you can see the reason i was so shocked because this would NEVER be allowed or happen especially at a wedding or a funeral. But a fun fact to know.

The next day we left early again and i was able to get a good nights sleep with no drinking and prepare myself for the bike ride which was 11K or just over 6 miles. This was for me the best part of the trip because it was exercising and i had a plane ride in a mini plane for about 20mins and $30 dollors or 1000NT. I was very very hesitant at first, but did not want to pass up the chance to see a birds eye view of such a beautiful place and for such a cheap price. There was not need for any documents to sign or waviers, just got a helmet and jacket and took flight. I finally relaxed about halfway through the flight and then became scared again when he was coming in low and fast (to fast to land) until i realized it was just a fly by and the landing came later. It was such a rush and great experience and i am glad i got up the nerve to take a ride. At the end of the big loop was a go-cart track where 8 of us battled for for glory. I did really well and would have had 2nd, but Pablo from Bolivia spun me out towards the end giving me no time to try and catch him. I dont blame him for wrecking me because there were no rules about bumping so i was trying to wreck everyone when i had the chance. haha rubbins racing....well that was the main points of the trip and was a great getaway from a busy month of work.

So xmas eve, i had sander and maria come over to my new apartment i moved into Dec. 17th and we cooked a big relaxing dinner and watched Fred Clause, a movie my mom sent me for xmas. I was able to skype the family on xmas eve and it was great to see everyones face since this is the first time i have been away from home for any holiday really, especially xmas and soon new years. Its really sad to be away from home, but its just one of the things i have to deal with for having this amazing trip so far in Taiwan. I woke up early the day after xmas to call home and chat with everyone again and i even got to call Amber who was at Uncle Jims with everyone and see that whole side of the family and share some laughs and quick stories. Also on Xmas i asked Nina to be my g/f and i am now in my first relationship over seas and i think things will be great with us. There is a language barrier, but it motivates me to learn more chinese and it gives me the chance to better her english so its a good tradeoff. She is very beautiful and nice and ill try to get some pictures of us soon.

Well this sums up my December and my head is still tingling from my hair cut earlier haha. I love all of you and want to wish everyone happy holidays again and ill be in touch.

Love Always,

Logan

Ford trip/3 midterms/2 group presentations/Thanksgiving and Taipei

Ok, so from the title of this blog, you can see that I have been really busy the past 3 weeks. 11/7 our MOM class took a trip to the Ford Motor Co. in Taiyuan. We had to meet our group at 6am at the Kuang Fu Gate across from the Country Club and was told not to be late and yet we did not leave until 6:30am b/c the teachers were not on time nor the majority of the group so I could have had another 30mins sleep which did not matter because the 3hr bus ride was perfect for it. At the Ford Co. We started with the Upper Management introducing themselves then started our plant tour to the assembly line and the Engine manufacturing. It’s absolutely stunning how precise the assembly line is. They manufacture I think 5 different cars(I did not take notes) that are all mixed in together throughout the line up (meaning, they do not just make the focus car one day and the ford escape another day) Their software program is great. It has every part from the bolts to the exact doors to come in at the perfect time the car gets to the specific spot on the assembly line. It’s easier to explain if you are looking at it. haha. Anyways the plant was very clean and professional with the workers working hard (no slackers). They fed us lunch in their cafe on site for all their workers and then we headed back to the conference room for the managers presentations. It was a long day at the Ford plant and we said our good byes and headed back to Tainan. They happen to stop for dinner about 45 mins off our course home and it was a place with more interesting foods. I ate pig fat, some kind of intestines, a whole fish cooked in front of us with scales in all on it, some chicken, a mini squid or maybe it was a crawdad thing which was really good, and of course we had rice. I did not enjoy too much of the food so I was still very hungry by the time we arrived back at school.

So I have had 3 midterms which ended up being 1 each week for the past three weeks. I hated my BDM midterm which consisted of 5 Statistical questions which was poorly written out and took me 3 hours to complete. I got a 74, but should have done much better, but the teacher said anything over a 60 you’re in good shape, I just have to do well on my group project in the class and I can probably have an A in the class or a high B. So my second exam was IT PM which was open book and I feel I depended too much on the book and not my own personal knowledge which caused me to second guess everything and ended up with an 88. My 3rd midterm was in MIS and I will find out this coming Wednesday what I scored. In the past 3 weeks I had two group presentations in my IT PM class which I am glad to have gotten over with and the group project is on schedule.

Thanksgiving was just around the corner and I could not wait to eat all the bad memories of studying for hours over the past 3 midterms, but soon realized I did not have any plans nor heard of anyone planning a Thanksgiving dinner party. It was last Wednesday before thanksgiving when I was studying for my MIS midterm that was later that day at 6:30pm. My friend Kyle Webb from Texas who is American/Taiwanese helped me plan our last minute TG party where we had found a restaurant which prepared a full TG meal (16-20lb turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing, gravy, pumpkin pie, and they couldn’t leave out the green tea) all for just 3000NT or $100US. After I got off work Thursday at 12N Kyle took me to "AJ's Burgers" to try for the first time and I had a double bacon/cheese burger and fries that was actually really good and the closest thing to a burger from home. I was really tired from not having much sleep the past couple nights from studying so after the big burger, I went back to the room to grab a nap and also a movie before I met back up with Kyle at the track to run off the burger and get ready for the huge meal we had planned at 8pm. I went back to shower before I met back up with Kyle to pick up the turkey and after I left the track with my bag and Kyle continued to run a couple more, Kyle called and said someone had stolen his bag which had his wallet and cell phone in it. So a bad beginning to a great night and Kyle is calm person and was able to keep it from ruining his night even though he had to make a lot of calls to cancel his credit cards and all the other information. We had a later start than we planned, but we got to the restaurant to pick up the Turkey that I was so surprised to see as it lay in a nice big basket. After we picked up the food we had to find some more plates and forks and a few drinks. We got lucky and found place that was closing its doors, but allowed us to buy some paper plates at the last minute. It’s great that Kyle speaks Chinese or else this Thanksgiving dinner would not have been possible for me to plan and put together alone. It was hard to resist not jumping into the back seat and eating everything b/c the smell was amazing. We got back and Kyle got his perfect parking spot and everything was set up in his apt when we realized we had forgot the "GRAVY" and you cannot eat turkey, mash potatoes, or stuffing without gravy. So I had to make a bunch of calls to ask for 30 more mines while we drove all the way back across town to get the big bag of gravy we sadly forgot the first time.

Well our friends started showing up and we were all starving so I had the privilege to cut the turkey and it was just a great experience to finally share a part of my culture with all my friends. At the party we had friends from Pakistan, Italy, Estonia, Taiwan, Canada, US (me), and I think the Philippines. We had about 16 show up total so we were able to split the price at only 200NT a person or $6. To top off the night one of my favorite movies "The Count of Monte Cristo" was on TV :). My friends all came together and gave me a great thanksgiving dinner while I shall remember forever as my first Thanksgiving away from home.

It was even better when I was able to Skype my family at home around 1:30am my time to see all of them before they had their big thanksgiving feast. Saturday morning I was also able to wake up early and Skype home again to talk to my Maryland cousins and my gramma. It really put a huge smile on my face to see everyone and talk to them as they came in town to visit the family and gramma "90th" Birthday. Happy bday gramma or Sheng ri Kuai le in Chinese :)and sorry to wake up my roommate Clark when I had to call them at 9:30am here, I couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to everyone.

So Toni and I left for Taipei Saturday on the 1:50pm bus and I was able to watch a couple movies and get a good nap on the 4 1/2hr bus ride. We arrived at the Taipei Main Station where I stayed just around the corner may 2007 in Hotel Flowers with my Study abroad trip with ASU. It was great to go back and have the quick memories and even more amazing that I was able to find my way to my favorite restaurant which was a few blocks away and delicious. I am really glad I did not get Toni and I lost as I tried to recall my steps from over a year ago. Sander and Maria also made the trip to Taipei and we were able to meet up with them before Toni and I went to our hostel to luckily get the last room available and it was only 500NT a night or $15US. We had a fun time that night and got back to the hostel at 5am to sleep a few hours and catch a bus back home to Tainan at 1:40pm. It’s fun to just get up and go somewhere for a quick weekend and I recommend my friends and family back home to just get up and go on a quick trip to get away and just have fun.

I finally made it home and looking ready for a movie and bed. I love all you here and back home and I am always praying for all my family and friends’ health and safety.

Love yall,

Logan