Yesterday was a relatively light day in terms of the conference. We met in the morning, briefly and had some discussion about the overall themes for the week. It was a nice wrap-up. We then quickly ate lunch and boarded a bus to visit the Palace Museum in Taipei. That was quite amazing. The museum houses artifacts from the various dynasties in Chinese history, dating back 8000 years. There was a ton to see, and we only saw a small fraction of it. Still, it was quite amazing.
We then bussed over to a restaurant in downtown Taipei that was at one point named one of the “Top 10 Restaurants in the World” by a NY Times writer. It wasn’t a particularly high-class restaurant (that’s not intended to be a put down, I had just expected a very formal place, and I was actually happy to find it was not that), but instead, a very well run restaurant with delicious food. Their specialty was dumplings, and we ate a lot. A LOT. Pork, crab, vegetable, with soup, spinach, and the list goes on. It was all very tasty. Again, it was a great way to end the week.
We then boarded the bus and drove back to Hsinchu through a pretty amazing thunderstorm. The rain was coming down very hard and there were quite a number of nice lightning strikes to see. As we approached our hotel, I started falling asleep even though it was barely 9:30…I never fully let myself adjust to the time difference.
This morning, I’ve been getting my stuff together, doing some reading, and anxiously am waiting for the car to pick us up and take us to the airport. It’s been a nice week, though I am definitely ready to be back home. It’ll be about 25 hours between when I take off from Taiwan and when I land in DC, so it’s still a ways off. However, it’s good to think about that return trip being in progress.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
I’m going to hell anyway….
We were out for dinner tonight at a teppenyaki restaurant here in Taiwan. We’ve eaten well all week, though this place was more of a “above the food court in the mall” kind of place…definitely not on par with what we’ve had earlier this week.
So we’re sitting in this crowded room (because the teppenyaki in this place was brought to the table rather than having us sit at the grill). As we’re eating, from behind the wall next to us, we hear some noises. We all look up and just stare. We hear the noises again…the sounds of a dog barking. And we just freeze for a few moments—all 8 of us.
I know it’s wrong, but it’s what happened. I’m sorry.
Not too much exciting to report today. It was the longest day, I think of the workshop—not in terms of hours but in terms of just getting through the day. I think knowing that it’s near the end plays a big part in it…we’re all thinking about getting home.
I, personally, cannot wait to be home. I miss being there, I feel guilty for not being there, and I just like the comfort of being in my own place. I’m very excited to get back there.
So we’re sitting in this crowded room (because the teppenyaki in this place was brought to the table rather than having us sit at the grill). As we’re eating, from behind the wall next to us, we hear some noises. We all look up and just stare. We hear the noises again…the sounds of a dog barking. And we just freeze for a few moments—all 8 of us.
I know it’s wrong, but it’s what happened. I’m sorry.
Not too much exciting to report today. It was the longest day, I think of the workshop—not in terms of hours but in terms of just getting through the day. I think knowing that it’s near the end plays a big part in it…we’re all thinking about getting home.
I, personally, cannot wait to be home. I miss being there, I feel guilty for not being there, and I just like the comfort of being in my own place. I’m very excited to get back there.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Hey, let’s go out for Chinese!
After my last post, a bunch of went out for dinner at a restaurant on campus here. Our hosts for the workshop were unable to join us, though they recommended this place. Fortunately, one of the members of our group was a Taiwanese grad student from UCLA, and he was able to order and translate for us. I don’t know where we would’ve been without him.
There were 12 of us there, and we ordered 12 different dishes that we all passed around, as well as 6 beers that we shared (they come in big bottles here and they give you 2 or 3 oz glasses to drink them). It was a good meal. At the end of it, the bill came and the grad student did the math and told us that everyone owed 120 Taiwanese dollars…which is $4 in the US. FOUR DOLLARS! That has been the story for this week…dining out is relatively cheap.
We then went back to the hotel and I went to sleep. I got up early yesterday morning to go over my talk, which was in the afternoon. I hadn’t prepared for the talk as much as I usually do, so I wanted to remind myself of what I wanted to say. I then had breakfast and went up to the workshop.
It was another good day at the workshop. Good talks and good discussions. My talk was in the afternoon. Other than some technical issues with the projector, I think it went fine. Not my greatest presentation, but not my worst either. I knew I was in trouble, though, when I started talking about chondrule formation in shock waves (which is what my thesis was about). One of the organizers for this workshop really dislikes that model, and he wasn’t afraid to let me know. For the most part it was fine, though, whereas I’m willing to let people make their points in an argument, he is a bit more inclined to interrupt. To be honest, it seems I’m in the minority when it comes to that issue in scientific meetings, so it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. Other than that, I think things went well.
Last night we went to a Japanese restaurant just on the edge of campus. Again it was quite good, and this time it cost $6 US. We came back to the hotel, and I read the Sports Illustrated I brought with me before turning out the lights and passing out.
One nice thing about yesterday was that I got my arrangements made for getting to the airport on Saturday to head home. It’s nice to start thinking about that. While it’ll be a monster of a trip, it’s nice thinking about being home, sitting with Nina and Emma, and having some sense of normalcy return. While there will be another trip 6 days after I get back, it’s one we’re doing together, so it’ll be much better….
There were 12 of us there, and we ordered 12 different dishes that we all passed around, as well as 6 beers that we shared (they come in big bottles here and they give you 2 or 3 oz glasses to drink them). It was a good meal. At the end of it, the bill came and the grad student did the math and told us that everyone owed 120 Taiwanese dollars…which is $4 in the US. FOUR DOLLARS! That has been the story for this week…dining out is relatively cheap.
We then went back to the hotel and I went to sleep. I got up early yesterday morning to go over my talk, which was in the afternoon. I hadn’t prepared for the talk as much as I usually do, so I wanted to remind myself of what I wanted to say. I then had breakfast and went up to the workshop.
It was another good day at the workshop. Good talks and good discussions. My talk was in the afternoon. Other than some technical issues with the projector, I think it went fine. Not my greatest presentation, but not my worst either. I knew I was in trouble, though, when I started talking about chondrule formation in shock waves (which is what my thesis was about). One of the organizers for this workshop really dislikes that model, and he wasn’t afraid to let me know. For the most part it was fine, though, whereas I’m willing to let people make their points in an argument, he is a bit more inclined to interrupt. To be honest, it seems I’m in the minority when it comes to that issue in scientific meetings, so it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. Other than that, I think things went well.
Last night we went to a Japanese restaurant just on the edge of campus. Again it was quite good, and this time it cost $6 US. We came back to the hotel, and I read the Sports Illustrated I brought with me before turning out the lights and passing out.
One nice thing about yesterday was that I got my arrangements made for getting to the airport on Saturday to head home. It’s nice to start thinking about that. While it’ll be a monster of a trip, it’s nice thinking about being home, sitting with Nina and Emma, and having some sense of normalcy return. While there will be another trip 6 days after I get back, it’s one we’re doing together, so it’ll be much better….
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