Japan? Cell phones? What?

So I'm leaving for Japan on Friday, and I'll need a cell phone once I get there. There are two main companies that I'm considering: SoftBank and NTT DoCoMo

DoCoMo offers a myriad of delicious cell phones. I have pictures of a few of them below... almost all of them have credit card, SMS, long and short email, and television capabilities, so there's no use in going into specifics... since they're all pretty sick when compared to my shitty Motorola Razor.
















































The other option would be SoftBank... which has equally crazy phones. The big difference is probably the price. And since my time in Japan is only 8 weeks long.. the prepaid phone appears to be a great option. NTT DoCoMo hasn't offered this service for about two years... but the only indication of this is on the Japanese page:

「ぷりコール」については、2005年3月31日をもちまして新規お申込み受付を終了させていただきました。

As of March 31st, 2005, we no longer accept applications for the "Pre-call" programs.

There is no indication of this on the English part of the site... even though more English speakers would use this service... but whatever.

Anyway, here are the two phones I could get:


This one here sports Voice Call, S! Mail, Long Mail, Long Email, Sky Mail, Email, Sky Melody, and Data Communication... I don't know what these are... but they sound happy and fun!





While this one has QVGA LCD, miniSD™ Memory Card, QR Code Reader, and IrDA/Simple Mode. I have no idea what these functions are either... but they sound technological and sexy.





So this begs the question: Fun or Sexy? Flip phone or no flip? Sky Melody and Data Communication or QVGA LCD and miniSD Memory Card?

I guess I'll just figure it out when I get there...

為什縻那縻大啊！？

Not even sure if that makes any sense in Chinese, but that's what i'm going through right now!

Whew, I just got back from a very very intense experience. So my mother just had a reunion with all of her college friends. Me, 12 chinese women around 50 years old... and food. It was pretty freakin intense, mainly because they were all forcing me to keep on eating, and though I love to eat, there's really only so far my small, 130-pound body can do. Also--oh you'll love this--they were all trying to set me up with their daughters. Ridiculous! "Do you have girlfriend??" "You'd like to meet my daughter?? She very smart. Study biochemistry!" Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. Biochem major... girl... oh man. One woman mentioned that her son also went to Columbia, and was studying at the film school. I was so tempted to ask if she could set me up with him. I mean, film majors are pretty hot.

Also, for some reason, I got extremely nervous and antsy the entire time. For no good reason. I had to calm myself down in the middle of the meal by going outside and breathing slowly. I'm not sure what that was about. My mom said all the people yelling in Chinese--which I don't speak--probably caused me a bit of anxiety and I had a mild attack. It's probably no big deal.

But on a better note, I did have a very entertaining day. I bought a Chinese text book, and am going to try to place myself into second semester Chinese--exciting! I love learning languages, so this should be fun. I'm hearing so much of it, so some must be sticking, right?

That's all for now really. I'll let you know how the past few days have been a little later. I'm 真tired, as they say.

-Dave

PS 煜穎 <-- This is my Chinese name (Yu-ying). I was thinking about using these kanji for when I go to Japan... Good idea? bad idea? I'm not sure how to pronounce it in Japanese--I think its イクエイ or something, which is not too attractive sounding... so I was thinking of just calling myself ユイン, though it doesn't sound very Japanese... Suggestions?

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year, everyone!!

It's 1:30pm here in Taipei, but I think it just turned midnight in New York (my homebase), so HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

etc. etc.

Enjoy the holiday!

-Dave

Oops!!

So I clearly don't know how this works yet... but I think I got the hang of it by the end of the post... though i posted it twice for some reason... That's spotty internet for you.

Sorry!

Dave

Wanna See Some Pictures???

...yeah ya do!!

So I can't really figure out how to separate them from each other... But there are only four pictures... so It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one I'm talking about.
This one is of my mom and myself (guess which one's which... no guess!!) We're standing in the middle of the big national plaza. In the background is the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial building. There were guards, tourists, and cute chinese school children! That building is also impressively tall, more so thann it looks in this picture.










In my last post I wrote about a place called Din Tai Fung--delicious dumplings. dumpling dumpling dumpling. This is a picture of people making the dumplings that I consumed so readily.


















The next picture.. in my edit window its too the left of the text, but god knows where it will be when I publish this thing... is a picture of the guards at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. They're pretty intense, right?












Last is the picture of my family--I met all of these people moments before the picture was taken... with the exception of my mom. So in this picture, from the left, is my mom's cousin, Holly, my mom, my great aunt, and myself. My great aunt is somewhat amazing. She's about 90 years old, and is still... well, conscious. When I'm 90, I'll probably be hooked up to a computer the size of a small asteroid or something. She also loves to talk. To me. I have no idea what she's saying, because I don't speak Chinese. And she has no idea that I don't understand, because the poor woman can't hear a darn thing--shame! That being said, she is still the cutest old woman on the face of the Earth. No bias or anything. Oh, she also makes Chinese knots, and small sculptures out of paper.

Here's a picture of her rendition of Hello Kitty (and Hello Kitty's friend, not yet seen in stores):

Here's a picture of a Chinese tower that she made (it stands about 3 feet tall... about her height):








So that's all the pictures I have for you now. I think it's time I got something to eat...

Until my next post~!

--Dave :)

Wanna See Some Pictures???

...yeah ya do!!

So I can't really figure out how to separate them from each other... But there are only four pictures... so It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one I'm talking about.
This one is of my mom and myself (guess which one's which... no guess!!) We're standing in the middle of the big national plaza. In the background is the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial building. There were guards, tourists, and cute chinese school children! That building is also impressively tall, more so thann it looks in this picture.







In my last post I wrote about a place called Din Tai Fung--delicious dumplings. dumpling dumpling dumpling. This is a picture of people making the dumplings that I consumed so readily.

The next picture.. in my edit window its too the left of the text, but god knows where it will be when I publish this thing... is a picture of the guards at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. They're pretty intense right




Last is the picture of my family--I met all of these people moments before the picture was taken... with the exception of my mom. So in this picture, from the left, is my mom's cousin, Holly, my mom, my great aunt, and myself. My great aunt is somewhat amazing. She's about 90 years old, and is still... well, conscious. When I'm 90, I'll probably be hooked up to a computer the size of a small asteroid or something. She also loves to talk. To me. I have no idea what she's saying, because I don't speak Chinese. And she has no idea that I don't understand, because the poor woman can't hear a darn thing--shame! That being said, she is still the cutest old woman on the face of the Earth. No bias or anything. Oh, she also makes Chinese knots, and small sculptures out of paper.

Here's a picture of her rendition of Hello Kitty (and Hello Kitty's friend, not yet seen in stores):

Here's a picture of a Chinese tower that she made (it stands about 3 feet tall... about her height):








So that's all the pictures I have for you now. I think it's time I got something to eat...

Until my next post~!

--Dave :)

Let's Start a Blog!

Hey everyone~!

So I titled this blog "Don't Feed the Models" because I was lying awake thinking of America's Next Top Model. I admit it. Don't judge.

I’m starting a blog today because I can’t sleep. My mom is snoring next to me. We’re in Taipei right now, my mom and I, on a quest to reconnect with our roots, so-to-speak—more a quest to stuff our faces with amazing food… but the former sounds a little better.

So far, the trip has been interesting, but interesting in the way that stained glass, or interior design is interesting—you look at it and you look at it, but its not ground breaking… maybe I haven’t mastered my feng shui yet.

What’s amazing is that it doesn’t even feel like a foreign country here. The atmosphere reminds me of home. The weather; it has been a constant overcast. The consistent east-coast grey of New York, mixed with that not-too-cold not-too-hot temperature of the bay area of San Francisco.

The culture is somewhat different, I guess. But I’m not feeling the “intense culture shock” that every study abroad office of a university warns you of when you’re traveling to Asia. “The concepts of politeness are completely different” “Don’t be surprised if you’re completely overwhelmed when you get there.” What the fuck are they talking about? It’s like going to Chinatown. I hate to simplify a culture like that (especially my own), but seriously. Chinatown. With clean subways. And better food.

I know it’s boring to read about someone’s reactions to food, but honestly, kind of important here.

So we—my mother, my neighbor’s brother, and myself—went to this AMAZING restaurant on our first day. It’s called Din Tai Fung if anyone knows it. We feasted on dumplings: shrimp, pork, sticky-rice—stuffed dumplings, the works. And might I say, this was probably the best dumpling experience I’ve ever had. I was somewhat pissed off before—mainly at my inability to understand any of the Chinese language—but these dumplings made me step up, and I was in an incredible mood afterwards. If anyone is having a problem of any kind, the answer is dumplings. Felling hungry? Dumplings. Bored? Dumplings. Stubbed your toe on your dresser? Dumplings. Stressed out over a paper that’s due? Dumplings. Boyfriend broke up with you? Dumplings. I’m surprised they don’t teach you this in church.

I’ve started to mess around with facebook and other entertaining, but somewhat mind-numbing websites, so I will spurt out several seemingly random but entirely appropriate sentences.

I’m from Philly bitch, where you from???!?!?
I’m a fermata, hold me
I miss my Henry

Happy New Year!

Until my next post!

--Dave :)