Well I'm headed back to Taipei tomorrow after spending a week in Cambodia. I came here by myself not quite knowing what to expect, but this place is a real eye opener. Traveling around a country where the average person makes 25 US dollars a month, (most of the time less than that), and has been so wrought with war really puts life in perspective. I think it's impossible to travel to a place like this and not be affected, not be moved and feel a need to improve some of these conditions.
It's deplorable how those with so much can sit by and watch those with so little live in such harsh conditions. This trip has reaffirmed what career path I need to take and solidified my reasons for wanting to work in the human rights/ development field. It's just a matter of figuring out how to go about it....the most effective way seems to be working at the community level, as donations to the governent seems to get siphered away...
A little goes along way to helping so many people here...it's hard not to realize how privileged we all are when you see how most of the world really lives. I'm very thankful and appreciative for sure.
It's been an eyeopening....yet still fun trip with some beautiful scenery and tasty dollar beers. I'll write more when I get back to Taipei....but a great experience for sure!
-b

Off to Cambodia!!!

Well my excursion into South East Asia is finally here...I'm nervous, excited and well mostly excited. I'm leaving on January 24th and getting back to Taipei on January 31st....I've been so busy lately this will be a good break for me.

I don't really know what to expect in Cambodia, but from talking to other people it will be an amazing and eye-opening experience. I'm flying in and out of the capital Phomn Phen and gonna try and spend most of my time in Siem Reap and Ankor Watt exploring the amazing temples in that area. I hear if I'm very cheap I can survive on 10 US dollars a day, but maybe I'll yearn for the finer comforts liek hot water....so that might raise my cost to 20 US dollars a day, which for 7 days, really won't be that bad. I think the cab to and from the airport will be more than my hotels in Cambodia for the week. I heard internet is spotty there (among other things) So I'll be sure to update if I can find a connection....

It will be interesting to see a part of the world that maybe most people do not get to see and will be a harrowing, eye-opening experience for sure. I just hope I don't get sick ...
SO EXCITED FOR CAMBODIA!!!

Happy Chinese New Year !!!!! (It's the year of the Ox here, not sure what that means but has a nicer ring to it than 2009)


See you when I get back.....
-Brian

Thankful for my Family!!!

Sorry for the lack of updates...its been an amazing few weeks...first my Dad visited for Christmas, then there was New Year's then my sister and brother came for a week. We went to Kenting on the southern tip of Taiwan, rented scooters, went go karting, went swimming in the ocean, for free beer from locals, you know standard stuff really. It was an incredible trip! I'm so thankful to have an amazing, supportive and loving family. Their visit around a time when I was feeling pretty homesick gave me the shot in the arm that I needed and reminded me how special they all are. My Dad, much to the surprise of my immediate family adapted well to Taiwan. We were able to head down to Taroko Gorge, managed to get lost on the train and ended up in some little town. But also got treated like celebrities. It meant a lot to be able to show my family all the things I've done here and to welcome them into my life here.
I could not make the move out here, could not take the biggest yet most rewarding risk of my life, could not have been half the person I am today were it not for my incredible, loud, outgoing, fun and really loving family. Sorry if this rant is a little too mushy but it's been a while.......it can't all be booze and marathons. I do have some emotions....

I'll write more details about the trips but I've been so busy with Chinese classes and teaching I haven't had time to do anything as of late....but I do want to say THANK YOU to Dad Caitlin and Kevin for coming out. I hope you guys all realize how much it meant to me.
Driving around the southern tip of Taiwan on rented scooters with Kev and Caitlin is by far my best memory so far of Taiwan. Christmas Eve dinner in Taiwan with my father is a very very very close second. All the shit I've seen and done here I owe to my family's support and love....but family is the most important thing....let's not forget that...

ANyway will update more ASAP...but check out picasaweb for a little taste of my life this last month I added three new albums....enjoy, I sure as hell enjoyed taking the pictures!!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/brian.viani

-b

Dad's in town and learning Chinese

Been pretty busy the last few weeks, but busy in a good/ productive way. First off I started Chinese classes about 2 weeks ago. I go from 12 till 2 everyday then continue my regular routine of teaching from 4 until 10. The place where my classes are is called the Mandarin Training Center and if you can imagine what a factory of language learning looks like..that's the best way to describe it. There are about 4 floors all overlooking a central rotunda and so looking up from the bottom you can see all the windows of the classes and all the hard-working Chinese langauge students. It's like a bee hive...kind of. Anyway it's great because there are tons of "foreigners" there from all over the place. I was so shocked to hear someone speaking in Spanish next to me (I was excited also so I started a conversation with myreally awful Spanish)
The learning itself is difficult but I'm getting better. Today for instance I was able to read and translate an entire sentence from just the character. Not only that but I was able to switch the characters and put them in the correct grammactical order. Satisfying feeling.
But it's a lot of work, between memorizing character, I have to memorize about ten new ones everyday, and writing and working on my pronounciation I spend about 2.5 hours a day working on it. BUT I can now recognize some basic characters, and instead of ignoring every Chinese sign that I see (as I've done for the past 6 months.....yes it's true I've been here for a full 6 months! I actually look at every sign to try and decipher some of the words.
Usually though, when you study a language you just see the word, then know what the word means in English and that's all. But with Chinese I see the character, then I have to remember the sound the charcter makes, then I have to translate that into the sound, then remember what that sound means.........so it's an extra step in the process. The key as I see it is memorizing as many characters as I can...easier said then done though.

Writing is fun though and it's easy to gauge progress. I like a good challenge (obviously ) and wether it's a marathon, living abroad or anything else I want to challenge myself at every oppurtunity. Learning Chinese from srcatch is right up my alley. It' s rewarding when you can see an entirely new alphabet and be able to even read a simple sentence. So I'm really excited, even though I'm crazy busy...

There's no way to smoothly segway, but my Dad is coming here tomorrow. He'll be here until the 26th and we're gonna hit up Haulien this weekend and tour around Taipei doing touristy stuff. I think saying it'll be good to see him is a tremendous understatment. It's bee so long since I've seen any familly and especially around Christmas when I'm already feeling a bit homesick, having him here will be great. PLus it'll be cool to show him all the things I experienced and also interesting to see his perspective on Taipei (I've gotten so used to it here that listening to things he sees as weird or different will make me remember how strange it was for me when I first gt here...
It's safe to say I'm very lucky...always have been in pretty much every aspect of my life...family especially. I just hope I can keep my Dad from getting lost or in any kind of trouble...

Then it's time to get ready for my brotehr and sister's visit in January. I'm sure it'll be just like my Dad's but with more parties and clubs...

Brian