The night scene from the Beitou Incinerator Observatory. I’ve been there two times now. It’s worth a visit at night time.

“It’s hard to be a philosopher and ponder on the meaning of life. It can be complex and it can be simple. It does not make sense to me that there is so much bad and so much good in the world. And it is a waste of time to try to figure life out because I don’t think the answer is out there. Everyone has a different answer. And it can be different at different times. I can say that change is definitely a fact of life and it’s up to you to do the best you can at any given time and place. And i think that’s all we can do. However, it’s good to have a positive outlook. It’s good for your health, as well as having people like you. Plus, it’s not helpful to be negative.”

This good advice is came from my moms. I got some other good advice yesterday from my old landlord. It costs me an afternoon of drinking red wine (紅酒), Kaoliang (高粱酒) and Shaoxing Wine (紹興酒) to get it. We had some barbecue foods (燒烤) to go with that we bought at the Wanhua night market (each stick was only 10NT). He said to do things that you have interests in. Like work, if you’re have interest in what you do, success will come easier. I like this piece of advice. It’s why I left where I was two years ago. I always appreciate some good advice.

我正在從寫家庭作業休息一下. 我寫字寫的比老烏龜走路還慢. [不要放棄, 不要放棄]
我知道我的問題, 不夠練習寫, 因該每天寫字. [自己要加油, 自己要加油]
回去寫家庭作業了…

I’m taking a break from writing my Chinese homework. I write characters slower than an old tortoise walking along the road. [Don’t give up, don’t give up] I know my problem. I don’t practice writing enough. I should write everyday. [Try harder, try harder] Back to work…

第一屆滙豐銀行外國人中文說故事比賽
(1st HSBC Foreigner Chinese Story Telling Competition)

It happened last Saturday afternoon. The Friday night before I was really nervous. I was at 宗庭’s shop and practiced for everybody there. The first time was standing on the edge of the raised floor (for fixing motorcycles) with my head almost touching the ceiling and lights shining on me. I didn’t do so well. I had it memorized but wasn’t comfortable speaking it. I was scared after that. I went for a ride on my bike to release some tension. My bike isn’t riding smoothly these days. When I came back I felt tired and not so confident. I kept on reading my speech. 阿丁哥 said he was going to take me to the night market with a stool to stand on and perform for a bunch people I didn’t know.

I gave it another go. Inside this time, standing on a stool in front of everyone. This time was better but was still not good enough. 小張 said the first time you have trouble remembering it, the second and third time it gets better. After that you don’t know what you’re saying anymore. The next day, I practiced once in the morning. I felt I couldn’t practice anymore because it was coming out crazy, mixing words up that shouldn’t be mixed up. I think I had it down like 小張 said. And if I didn’t have it down by then it was too late.

Before making it home Friday night I got the smooth side of this thin particle board (I found in the hallway) stuck with this white sticker. It’s like the sticker’s they use for storefront signs and make letters out of it. I taped a copy of the final draft on it, wrote at the top 四季林道 (Siji Forest Trail) and stamped it with my seal. Then Saturday I had six pictures printed. I remember cutting it close on a project like this when I was in middle school. I made this caveman scene. I remember I used azaleas for the bushes. I did it the night before it was due. It came out nice. I think I got an A on it. I know it’s not good to wait to the last minute. Anyways, the photos were ready at 1pm on Sat in Wanhua. The contest started at 2pm in Tianmu. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to get to work in Tianmu.

12 participants. Not the 30 some I thought there were. There were only two people older than me. Half of the participants were in middle school, one in high school and the other half were in elementary school. The one I was scared of wasn’t even in elementary school yet. He was a five year old boy from Holland (五歲荷蘭的男孩). I saw him preparing his laptop for his presentation and then I saw his paper. Oh, it was longer than mine and he was reading characters. At that point I hadn’t heard him speak yet but I knew was going to be good (那時候我還沒聼到他講話, 但是就知道她很利害).

His name was Nathan. He spoke fluently and his pronuciation was good. I was sitting in the front row next to his parents and baby sister. I had to whisper to him to speak louder soon after he started. I think he could’ve have done the presentation without looking. When he was finished he gave a description about each picture and wasn’t using any notes. Too bad he didn’t have any help navigating through the pictures. He got docked points for that. He had to keep stepping down to press next on the laptop and then he would turn around and hop back up on the platform. He did this like 6 or 7 times. It was kind of funny. He did a great job.

The next participant that stood out was a young man from Vietnam. He seemed to be about my age or a little older. When he spoke it sounded as if he was Chinese. If you closed your eyes it would be hard to tell he was a foreigner. His composure was excellent. His story was about his middle school graduation day and how he had to give some speech. That day before he had to go on, his speech paper fell on the ground. He bent over to pick it up and his glasses fell off. Then he stepped on his glasses. He still had to go on he said and that day he did it successfully. But on this day…after he acted all of this out so well, at the end he forgot what he was going to say. Nervousness hit him or he didn’t prepare well enough. He would’ve won for sure if he had finished well.

I was number 9. I was nervous but they didn’t see it. I made one mistake in my first paragraph but it wasn’t a big one. After that I said everything I wanted to. I made eye contact and had some gestures. My delivery could’ve been more natural. I was just happy I was able to keep my composure and finish. There were three people that didn’t read their speeches. I was one of them. Below is my speech in Chinese. It’s about my most interesting day. (我們的題目為最有趣的一天.) A translation is coming soon. To wrap this long story up…I got first place! Doing this speech contest gave me some confidence in my Chinese. I’m looking up!

大家好. 我是從美國來的班傑明. 我來台灣已經一年半了, 在這裡一邊教英文一邊學中文. 來台灣以前我的夢想是騎者重型機車環島旅行. 去年夏天我的夢想終於實現了. 我花了十九天去環島, 看到了很美麗的風景. 雖然我看過了很多台灣的風景, 但是還有很多沒看過. 自從我認識一位愛騎越野車的朋友後, 就開始征服那些我想看的風景.

這位朋友是台灣人, 他叫謝宗庭. 宗庭常常跟一隊車友到山上很隱密很難找到的地方去騎越野車. 我第一次跟他們去玩也是我第一次騎越野車. 那天非常有趣. 我不知道騎越野車會那麽困難, 只知道它會很好玩, 所以讓我印象深刻.

我們的行程是宜蘭縣的四季林道. 那天我一開始騎就摔倒了, 而且一直不斷的發生. 因爲他們都很有經驗, 騎的速度都很快. 我很辛苦的在後面一直追. 他們去年來過一次, 所以覺得這條路不難走. 沒想到今年的情況不一樣了. 草也長高了, 泥巴也變多了, 我真的很討厭泥巴帶給我的麻煩.

上坡的時候很驚險, 我的車突然摔到山下去, 還好, 我抱著一棵樹轉了一圈跳回來, 沒有跟著掉下去, 等到我朋友過來跟我說 [你沒事吧?], 我還聽得到我的車 [king-ying-kuang-lang] 的滾下山. 我們花了很久的時間才把車子拉上來.

當我們到達目的地時, 看到的景色真的很美麗. 我們沒有太多的時間去欣賞, 因爲快要天黑了. 下山的時候就覺得比上山容易多了, 因爲那天我摔過十幾次, 所以已經不怕了. 雖然回家後發現全身是傷, 我還是覺得這趟旅程非常值得, 而且是我來台灣最有趣的一天 . 謝謝各位!