I am realising more and more that I have a bit of a football (soccer for any uncouth charlatan out there) obsession. This morning I woke up at 3am to watch the first leg of Chelsea's UEFA Champion's League semi-final tie against Liverpool. I have spent most of the day in zombie mode as a result and the little kids can smell weakness and predictably have acted up. Anyway, it was all worth it, with Chelsea snatching a late away goal, five minutes into injury time.
Also football related, I have just started playing Pro-Evolution Soccer with a mate of mine, Adam. It's a pretty cool computer game. However, our obsession is such that we went out to buy a gamepad controller for the sole purpose of playing the game. Funny thing is, we have grown so accustomed to cheap technology prices that we were analysing which controller to buy for some time until we realised that it was either R40 or R20 for a controller. Once perspective had been restored, we bought the cheaper one and began our gaming. Gen won't play against me and refused to wake up for the game at 3am this morning. I just can't understand why!
On the left are two albums I've been listening to a lot lately. Torche is some sludgy stoner grunge which I am really enjoying, but Gen is not. She hates some of the music I listen to. The other album has been out for a while and is Damon Albarn or Blur and Gorillaz fame's latest project. Some good stuff.
On another note, given that I will be back in South Africa in less than a month now, I've decided to compile a list of food that I have been craving while in Taiwan and which I want to gorge myself on when I return:
1. Boerewors
2. Pork sausages
3. Marmite
4. Roast lamb
5. Good gouda cheese
6. A mixed veg roti from Sunrise Chip 'n Ranch (Johnnies)
7. An El Greco pizza (spinach, feta and garlic) from Papparazzi's Pizza
8. Lamb Chops
9. Wholewheat bread
10. Olives
11. Slap chips
12. Doritos Sweet Chili
13. Fish and Chips
14. A hot Durban curry
15. Biltong
This is by no means and exhaustive list. You will note that rice is glaringly absent from this list. I have eaten too much rice here in Asia.
Well, it's been six or so days since my last post, and since then things have been pretty topsy-turvy. I've been piled with more teaching hours and I've had some sort of food poisoning. Oh, and I've also started taking Fish Oil capsules. Those Omega-3 Fatty Acids are supposed to help arthritis, which, at the tender age of 25, I am sad to say I have.
On another note, Taiwan is an awesome place to get figurines and toys. On a recent trip to Taichung (situated in the middle of the island, for those who are in interested) we stumbled across a pretty awesome toy store. Although we were tempted to buy vintage light sabers and storm trooper masks, we settled for two characters from the Simpsons, "Ragin' Willie" and "Sideshow Bob". The cool thing about these figurines is that if you connect them to a base, they say designated lines. They are currently standing with pride above our Simpsons poster, alongside various other plastic oddities we have picked up while in Taiwan. Orders, anyone?
This past weekend, Gen and I went with 
some friends down to the Kenting National Park in the South of Taiwan. We caught the high speed rail most of the way. The train travels in excess of 300km/h. Anyway, we ended up camping and spent a lot of time in the sun, snorkeling 
in the blue Pacific ocean, rock-jumping into the clear water and watching bands at night. There was a music festival on while we were there and amidst a lot of clone-pop and bad Taiwanese bands, there were some gems...and they happened to be Japanese.
After The War, were Rancid style punks, and were really energetic while Mimie-Chan, who dressed in strange costumes (see belly-costume spandex suit, ladybird costume, chicken suit and red wig above) played ska, with very few vocals. It was a lot of fun.
