DADDY'S GOTTA WORK SOMEDAY

NOTES FROM TAIWAN #4

June 2nd, 2008

DADDY'S GOTTA WORK SOMEDAY

The alarm went off at 6:45 am, and I rolled out of bed and into the shower. I wouldn't exactly consider myself tall, but I did on this day as I had to crouch down in the shower, as the shower head only reached my shoulders. I dressed myself in the smartest clothes I had brought, grabbed some breakfast, and boarded the bus for work.

Up to this point, I had only ridden the bus on the weekends. Not only was today a workday, but it was currently rush hour. This meant alotmore mopeds, and a hell of a lot more people on the bus. It was a bit difficult to imagine cramming onto one of these buses, seeing as there was not actually any room left when it arrived at my stop. Being skinny has its advantages, though, and I was able to find a few inches by an old Taiwanese couple to sandwich myself into. I again felt like a giant, towering over most everyone on the bus, despite my meager 5 feet, 10 inch height. It was a good feeling, one that I am not much accustomed to with the giants in the States.

This bus trip was considerably longer than the test runs on the weekend, but it gave me some time to further appreciate the city I would be calling home for the next two months. The best way I could describe Taipei would be to say it looks like a cross between New York and London. The buildings are not quite what I could call skyscrapers, but they are tall nonetheless. I wouldn't say its a particularly beautiful city, but it's charm lies in the life and energy it has. The streets absolutely just teem with people. Taiwanese men and women on their way to work stop at street vendors to grab some breakfast. Modern buildings and services share the blocks with small eateries. Mopeds fill the streets and buzz through intersections, despite what the light color is. Every sidewalk looks like a moped parking lot, and every now and then one will ride up on the sidewalk and park outside a store. One definitely has to be careful crossing a street or even walking on the sidewalk to avoid being turned into a pancake on the immaculately clean sidewalks. The term "pedestrians have the right of way" doesn't really apply here.

Another interesting thing about the city at this current time is the massive overall the public transportation system is undergoing. The city is adding a bunch of new lines to the MRT subway system, and thus much of the cities biggest streets are being torn up. But despite this, it is still incredibly easy and quick to get where you want to go. The buses arrive regularly and on-time, and there are a variety of different ones going to the same destination. And the MRT runs to every corner of the city for those destinations that are further away. This dream of a public transportation system, coupled with the plethora of clean, robust 7-11s that are open 24 hours a day, makes Taipei the most convenient city I have every been in. Getting what or where you want is easy, no matter what time of day it is. It will be very difficult to come back to life in LA.

The bus arrived at the Taipei World Trade Center, which lies under the shadow of Taipei 101. This was not my workplace, but I needed to get a visa letter from the Pennsylvania state office to authorize me to work at my actual company. The interior of the Trade Center is an incredibly impressive sight. The 7 floors are designed in a square shape, with the middle of the square left open (think of a square donut). On the ground floor, preparations were being made for the Computex Trade Show that would commence tomorrow.

I accompanied the four USC ladies, all of whom would be working in state offices for the coming to months, to the Pennsylvania office, where we met Irene, head of the Pennsylvania office, and Sean, head of the Washington office (ironically, I don't believe either has been to their respective states), and several interns.

After grabbing lunch at a Thai restaurant with all of the office employees, and Pei and Jeanie, who's USC Taipei office lies on the same floor as the state offices, I recieved my visa letter and made my way to Infine. On my way out, I was surprised to find my home state of Montana represented in one of the only 17 state offices represented in the Trade Center (I wouldn't be surprised if more Taiwanese than Americans knew where/what Montana is). Suck it, California.

I arrived at Infine Art & Culture Center, where I was greeted by Ya-Yi and Ya-Yun "Melody", the two very nice Project Managers at Infine. We exchanged business cards. In Taiwan, you take a business card with both hands while bowing slightly, and then read it very carefully, as the business card is an extension of the person, and thus deserves respect. They spoke English well enough so they could explain to me some ofInfine's past projects. I got excited to see all of the art, dance, music, film, and other culture events my company had been involved in, and was glad to be at an internship where I would actually have responsibility.

I killed time by reviewing these events until Ya-Ting and Cedric, the directors at Infine, arrived. Cedric, unlike the rest of the office, is French. A magical Frenchmen at that. He speaks in a very thick French accent (he calls me "Jeffray"), and is a really nice guy. He met with me for about an hour and discussed how I would be involved in the company. He tasked me with:

    1) editing the footage from Infine's most recent event, held by Alliance Francaise and National Taiwan University to celebrate the opening of a French language center on NTU's campus, into a 90-minute film

    2) creating a video-editing tutorial that the two ladies in the office to use after I have left at the end of summer

    3) preparing English lessons for the girls, which I am to give three times a week.

    4) assisting in the coordination of the 4th annual Taiwan European Film Festival, held in December

Needless to say, I was incredibly happy by the above news, considering I love editing, teaching, and project development. I became even happier when I saw my work station: a roomy cubicle with plenty of desk space, and the crown jewel of modern technology: a 3.06 GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo processor-powered, 24-inch screen iMac, fully loaded with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, InDesign and Flash. I immediately started drooling. My giddiness was soon hampered, though, when I learned of the video-editing software I had at my disposal:iMovie 08. For those of you who aren't familiar with editing, let me explain what using iMovie is like. Imaging trying to make, say... a scrapbook. Now with editing software like FinalCut or Avid, you'd be able to make this scrapbook the most beautiful scrapbook in the world, a scrapbook all the other kids would be jealous of. You have a plethora of tools and materials easily accesible and at your disposal. Plus, if you wanted, you could easily make this scrapbook into a five-story transforming robot that talks in a Jamaican accent and has the power make it rain Skittles. 

Now imaging trying to make that same simple scrapbook, except now you are blind and have cerebral paulsy. Your scrapbookingmaterials are covered in Vaseline, you are locked in an antigravity chamber, and your hands are covered in bubble wrap. Actually, scratch that. You don't have arms and legs, and have to do this all with your teeth. That represents a small fraction of the difficulty and frustration of using iMovie to edit anything, let alone a 90-minute event video. I had one of the most powerful personal computers on the market to make my movie, and one of the crappiest programs on the planet to do it in. *sigh*

The day was pretty much over at this point, so I said goodbye to my new friends and made the long bus ride back to the hotel. I was feeling very good about my job for the next two months, grateful that I would be spending my summer being an integral part of an art and culture company instead of reading crappy screenplays (my internship last summer).Rush hour at this time was just as bad as in the morning, but again made for plenty of time to take in and appreciate the city. As I stepped of the bus, I ran into the rest of the USC interns, on their way to grab dinner at a nearby sushi place. There we proceeded to swap stories about our first day of work (it seemed like everybody had a nervous anticipation for their next two months of work), and inhale plateful after plateful of sushi. Food in Taiwan, even sushi, is VERY cheap. Being able to make an actual meal out of the delicious dish, as opposed to a appetite-whetting snack, was a dream. I have never before gotten full off of sushi. It was a good feeling. I believe the final kill-count was over 50 empty plates between the seven of us.Booyah.

The night was capped off with the third installment of Beer in the Park.  Sleep came incredibly easy, since going a day here without becoming completely exhausted is an impossibility.

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