Last night

Hello boys and girls,

The moment has come, my internship here in Taiwan has almost come to an end. Last two day’s were amazing. Mr. Lee, his wife and a friend took me along for a trip along the north east to north west coast of Taiwan. The weather was amazing, the places we visited were fabulous and the company of my fellow travelers was more than comfortable to say the least. We traveled by car over 500 km I estimate, enjoying the view of Taiwan’s different faces all the way. Can’t name all the places I have been but it surely was an experience like no other. Perfect way to finish this journey! More photo’s should follow, these will do for now:

So when I got back home tonight, I quickly checked all my mail, did the usual internet addiction routine and started packing some stuff. After that I went to the training center to say goodbye to the people there. They were in the middle of rehearsing a performance for tomorrow but when I suggested I say goodbye they stopped and immediately opened a few pizza boxes! They had ordered pizza to eat together on this last moment! Perfect since I haven’t had any pizza here until now! So we ate the pizza’s and talked about my adventures of the last 2 day’s. Then it was time to say goodbye. The boy’s had arranged some super kewl souvenirs for me including chopsticks and some ceramic coasters with their names on it. We hugged goodbye and I walked home with a big smile on my face. More then happy to have spend some amazing times with these very kind people.

Now I’m home and about to go to bed, tomorrow pack, clean, say goodbye to others and then take a plane back home. I’ll definitely post about how the flight was and the whole aftermath. For now, goodnight world!

*edit* Ow on a side note, I got the 36th spot in the top 40 jugglers of 2009! Means nothing to most people but I’m very happy with it! This is the first time I’m on the list, together with only 3 other diabolists. Congrats to Etienne, Crackers, Jacob and all the other jugglers of course! The voting took place at Youtube, hosted by Luke Burrage. Look at the results video here!

Barba-truc!

Sorry I can’t help it but I find this so funny! I just accidentally saw an episode of Barbapapa on Youtube. In which they make wine from grapes. Remember, they can turn themselves into anything! But they are still stupid enough to construct a grape press! In the end they even turn into giant foots and do it the old fashioned way. I wonder where the creativity from the writers went when they wrote this episode! Just look for yourself and be amazed by the outstanding capabilities of these creatures and the many ways they don’t use them. Enjoy!

Barbapapa – De wijnoogst

There is an episode with them in the circus, I was expecting to see some crazy stuff but they disappointed me strongly!

Rainy day’s

Dear people,

Sorry to leave you so long without any reports. Past week hasn’t been so interesting for you I think. Just getting over the Chinese New year blues. Getting some decent training at the center, doing some filming of hard tricks, getting through the rain back home again and going for some food. Watching some Dutch television over the net, so glad I can see DWDD every evening, a Dutch show about actualities. Feels just like home!

Much rain lately, since Chinese New Year the weather has been very rainy and gray. Tomorrow might be better, wouldn’t mind to see some sun. The last week of my stay has come and on the 23rd and 24th I have planned a two day trip along the coast line of Taiwan. Looking forward very much to spend the last days here in beautiful nature! Before that there is some more lovely training.

Yesterday I did for my first time a full diabolo head roll from on side of the head to the other side! I have been practicing this stuff a little bit for a longer time now and it feels so good eventually getting it. I don’t think anyone else have done that before and I’m pretty proud of it! I’m motivated to work on it very hard and make it solid. Today I did more than one hour of 3 diabolo behind the back (high), just another trick far away from solid. Damn that is such a hard pattern but I love it when it works! Just the amount of work goes into it is incredible. I think Tony does them with ease, that guy is such a hard worker!

This morning I woke up crazy early, something like 5 am. Couldn’t sleep anymore, I went to bed very early so I guess that was all the rest I needed. So I got up, had some breakfast and just did some diabolo! I love that freedom, just getting up and do whatever you like whenever. Created a nice little experimental sequence! After that I went to take a shower and got some breakfast again, this time a hamburger in the breakfast store nearby. Fast food at 9 AM? Owww yeahhh! After that I went for training. Had a pretty decent session from 10 until 1, almost landed my first clean 4 up 360! Was able to flash after but then something hit something else. Then we got some lunch, Angela had prepared some very nice food for us. And after I didn’t really train anymore. Just shooting some video material of the boys, goofing around and taking a break.

That last week has come, the rain went and it’s looking to be a promising last week! Good weather, nice things to do and eventually finally back home again. I’m going to miss this little paradise! Stay tuned for my last adventures in Taiwan.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hello you,

So I have  the luck and pleasure to experience what Chinese New Year is all about here Taiwan! Of course there is fireworks involved, lot’s of traditional food, some religious ceremony’s and much more. It’s very much a family thing and usually the whole family comes together from all over the country to celebrate. It is a very important happening in this culture! I was invited for several end of the year party’s. It’s very common for a company to organize such an event. All employees get together for an evening diner and some music or other entertainment. People also give each other red envelops with some money inside as a wish of health and fortune for the coming year. I already received some, lucky me!!

So last night I had dinner with Janice’s family. She is the woman you might have read about in one of my earlier blogs. Her son picked me up and we walked to her apartment a few blocks from here. Her mother had prepared all the food and put in on the table in front of the altar to offer to the ancestors first. After that we could start having dinner. All sorts of food, all good. They do eat some dishes cold which I’m not used to so that is a bit strange sometimes. Also they eat fast! I mean, for me it’s normal, especially with such an important meal, to take your time. But not here, before you realize it the dinner is gone. On the other hand, after dinner they usually drink tea and eat some fruit and cookies for which they take all the time in the world. In this case it was lotus tea (very special) and some jelly-cake-thingy. So we sat down and talked a bit, then I got a bit tired and Janice asked if her son should let me out. The rest of the evening I enjoyed some laying down on the bed listing music and falling asleep eventually, even though the sound of fireworks kept going nonstop.

This morning Stephens aunt picked me up in front of the schools gate to go to a swimming pool, but we couldn’t go because it was closed, instead of that we did a trip to various tourist places around. Visited a place about the political history of Taiwan, a flower market and later an old style street and a very impressive temple. The weather was unexpectedly good so it was a nice day to get around. Witnessed a change of the guards, ate tons of good food and had much fun with Stephens relatives. After all that we went to Stephens grandparent’s house, Stephen and me showed some diabolo tricks shortly and then sat down for dinner.

Almost always people are concerned if I can use chopsticks to eat, but this pictures proves I’m using them! No problemo! After the dinner we went outside, had some tea, fruits and traditional candy’s and enjoyed the fireworks. The kid’s were very happy and energetic, they did some dancing and of course I had to join in sharing some moves. That was fun! Overall a very nice day with very kind people. Now time for sleepy sleepy.

Last pictures, Stephens niece covering hear ears for the fireworks, cute! And the whole family together.

Yet another mountain to climb

Hallo lieve kijkbuiskinderen,

Today was the 2nd day to film some sequences of big importance to me. It will be a main part for the video I’m shooting here. And with anything, you always have to work with what you have. So I’m very very curious of how the material will turn out in the final editing. It’s looking good so far! Big thanks to the MHD boy’s who are wiling to help me film even though the communication is sometimes a bit difficult for this delicate job, they are patience and motivated!

After filming was done for the day we just spend some time wondering around, having lunch and trying to come up with a plan for the rest of the day. Definitely training was no option, far to hot and since they also have holiday now they like to spend time not only training. And Chinese new year is on it’s way so diabolo is no priority for them at the moment. I suggested to go up the nearby mountain, something I have been wanting to do since I got here but never had the time really. After some deep thoughts about this activity during this warm afternoon they decided to go for it. So we went to get the bikes, got some drinks in the nearby supermarket and went for the mountain.

The way leading to the mountain was passed by several temple’s and other religious buildings to honor the god’s. That is very common here and all around the world as you might know. The mountains do have some special quality to them and I find myself strongly attracted to that. As a kid I was with the boy scouts and hiking along mountains I always enjoyed the most. So to continue, we could bike our way up very far actually and eventually reached a stairway to the top. Some of the boy’s were a bit tired but determined after a small break to finish the climb. It was a beautiful path with dense trees and plants all the way to the top. At the top there was the usual observation point, the reward for the hard work and a moment to rest whilst enjoying the good view over Yingge township and the surrounding area. So yes, we took some pictures there!

Eventually it got a bit colder and it was time to go down. That went a lot faster then up I can tell you! Just such a pleasure to just coast you bike downhill along the curves of the mountain passing various small pedestrian bridges and hairpin curves. I’m going back tomorrow as soon as I wake up and experience the whole thing again! Once back in urban life we went towards the train station to grab some drinks there before everyone going back home. Made appointments for tomorrow eve to have some training time. Really need to keep that going!

Taipei 101!

So today Jim and I left together at 10.30 to catch a train towards Taipei City. We went to the train station and got some breakfast and bread to go before barely making it in time for the train to depart. It took about 25 minutes to arrive in Taipei and there we took the metro. The stations here are so freaking crowded! It’s easy to loose each other. We took the metro to the square of freedom where I planned to film my kickass 3 diabolo routine. But unfortunately the combination of wind and sun made it impossible to do it there. On top of that a security guard came to us immediately to tell us it was not allowed to do diabolo there. So we went to find a different spot to do the filming for the day. Just wandering around hot Taipei center takes a lot of energy from you but eventually we found a very good spot to do it. So we started filming and I almost landed the full sequence on the 2nd attempt. Shame I had to try for another 45 minutes after. But it’s on tape now, I’m happy with how it turned out. We hung around the spot a bit more before rendezvous with the other guy’s at the train station.

I was in a very good mood after getting what I wanted and I was free to enjoy the rest of the day! So walking around the streets taking video of everything and acting like a total Japanese tourist! From the station we took the metro towards the city hall, which apparently functions as a shopping center as well. We went through the whole building passing by beautiful stores from western brands like D&G, Armani and many other designer labels. Then we went for the Taipei 101 tower. Just standing at the base of it is very impressive. So we went inside, surprisingly passed by more lovely decorated fashion label stores and eventually arrived at the entrance for going up to the observation decks. This tower has the fastest elevator in the world, 1010 meters a minute! That is almost an attraction itself! Really nice to actually feel an elevator accelerate.

When we got to the top we first enjoyed the audio tour accompanying the magnificent view over all of Taipei city. It was a slight clouded day by then and we couldn’t see more then 20 kilometers or so I estimate. But still incredible to walk around at such a hight to enjoy the view around. After that we took pictures of almost everything including a beautiful sun-behind-a-could. And we got a photo taken in front of the blue screen they had there. So they chop you digitally in front of the tower, leaning or holding onto it, you know like the usual tourist at any tower. After that we went to the outside observation deck which is at the 91st floor of the tower. You might expect to be blown away there but we were very very lucky, there was not even a slight breeze of wind so it was actually comfortable to be out there. I joked to Jim to maybe do a 3 diabolo pattern up there, so we went to ask the guard and surprisingly it was okay! Hahaha I didn’t believe what I heard but then quickly went for it! And the boy’s also wanted to do some diabolo up there, until the next guard came who didn’t quite agree with playing diabolo upon a tower, fair enough. So then we went back inside, took a last peek at the view and decided to go downstairs again. Not before we passed through many tourist shops selling all sorts of crap in my opinion. Who needs decorated coral anyway? Come on!

Once we got our way out of the tower and surrounding buildings it was already 6 pm or something and everyone was hungry. We went first back to the metro station and then to the train station to get food over there. I got a smoked chicken tomato pasta with a side soup and piece of pesto bread (what happend to the f*cking pesto!?). It was okay, but I was still hungry and thirsty so I went to get a small burger menu at Burger King. After we finished our food we got onto our train back to Yingge. A bit tired but very satisfied from a long exciting day Jim and I had nice conversations about random things like studies and what not. After arriving home we took some drinks and went to play some pool together at the house. Tomorrow training and hopefully more video shoots. Stay tuned!

Got Hair Cut!

Hey folks!

So my last blog was already some time ago, and you might wonder what happened in between. Well nothing really interesting I believe, at least for you. I just woke up every day, ate something, drank something and did some other stuff to kill the time and went to bed again. Okay life’s a little bit more interesting but thats basically all I need. Someone asked me today if I was home sick. I have never been home sick, so I don’t know what it feels like. But I do miss the people back home, yes. But in a way, throughout this blog, email and skype it is actually not that bad, knowing I’ll go back home in 3 weeks time. And don’t worry, it has been raining here all week basically, so it feels just like home only about 15-20 degrees warmer. Sometimes I do wonder off and think “what the f*ck am I doing here!?” but that’s probably always a good question to ask yourself no matter where you are.

Today more training! Just like yesterday and the days before. I focused on a 3 diabolo routine mainly which I really want to get on camera soon to share it with you. I think it’s a very very cool routine so far and I’m more than happy to work on it. But shit man, hard stuff can piss me off sometimes! Especially when “the conditions” are not optimal. Stuff like sweaty sticky body, hands, diabolo and string doesn’t really help me pull it of. As well as people getting into my “space” whilst I’m working on it. There is this one move where I have the string in my neck and it’s usually pretty sweaty from working hard, so my string lasts about a day now! That I find shocking since I’m on that limited roll of the old MB good stuff which is so hard to find these days. There will be a day when I run out of that good old stuff and I have to switch to some crappy stiff henry’s or some un-smooth new MB. So Mr. Langerz, please save me a roll or 2! I want my diabolo’s to slide through the string perfectly, not to much friction because that for some reason is not my preferred method. Diabolo’s will loose speed faster with old string, it’s heavier for the arms and just doesn’t feel right. I’m a uptight ass when it comes to gear, I know. Have I mentioned jet I’m going to leave this country with 10 diabolo’s more then when I arrived? Why? Well, they are really cheap here for one reason!

Tonight we (some of the MHD boys and me) went to the neighbor city. I wanted to get my hair cut. So we met at 6 and went to the train station. Took the train there, took about 8 minutes before we arrived. Then we went for some food first, I got a hamburger and some fries! That was nice! Ow and a strawberry milkshake for desert! Delicious! Then we went to the hairdresser’s place. I had asked Tim where I should go to get my hair cut and he advised me to go to this shop. It was a good choice! The lady who cut my hair was very nice and did a good job. Mostly only youngsters there with trendy hairstyles so I felt sort of at the right place. You can judge, I took some photo’s. Before and after shot, and me and my milkshake.

So after getting that awesome haircut we went around the city center just for checking out the stores filled with awesome sneakers and clothing. I might buy one pair at least but my suitcase was already to heavy when I went here so whether it will all fit is another question. I’m seriously scared of packing! So after drooling at all the nice shoes we went to visit an arcade hall. I always knew it is fun but with 5 boys of around 16 it’s just much more fun! Hitting something with a hammer, throwing a ball into a bucket, shooting at guy’s on a huge screen or sitting on a race horse which you have to move  back and forth like an idiot? My kind of games! We stayed in the arcades until it actually closed and then went back for the train station through the crowed rainy streets of Taoyuan city. One thing is for sure, this country knows wealth and consumption just like any other western country, which has it’s good and bad sides unfortunately. Youngsters go about dressed like movie stars in the big cities, people in the country side work their asses of.

Spot the flyer on the pillar in the last photo with the fixed gear bikes! It’s an add for popular fakenger bags. Man I need to get one bike like that when I get back home! And act like a total fakenger just cruising around.

Tomorrow is Sunday, Sunny-Lee will take me along to go visit a top-spin meeting! I’m curious what it will be like! Also will do some laundry, cleaning and groceries. Monday my feet will be 800 meters above sea level upon the almighty Taipei 101 tower! Hopefully it will be a clear day with a good view over Taipei city.

One last fact before I leave you, I have broken my 4 diabolo high record today!!! 70 throws in total. I’m happy! Ciao!

Everyday life

Hey there,

So this week is all about normal training, just like home in some way. Not exactly but close enough. Monday and Tuesday I worked hard on my diabolo skills. The 4 high is back at a normal level again, really unbelievable how much time you need to invest in it before this will ever get solid, at least for me. I’m already happy when I have a run of 20 throws. Nowhere near still to my old record of about 60 throws. So I don’t even think about tricks, just not stable enough for that. One day it will happen! Perhaps a 4 up pirouette, 5551,  53 or even 552 maybe. Who knows, but its my aim to eventually be able to run some of that stuff. Especially 534 would be such a satisfaction!  For anyone who has no clue about these numbers, find explanation here: Siteswap Theory Be warned, diabolo nerd talk inside!

Next to my numbers of course I’m working on some other routines for my video, my stage routine and some other fun stuff. Yesterday just out of nowhere I showed the boy’s here some tumbling tricks, not that I can do anything really impressive but they surely are enthusiastic about it! Some tried to learn stuff, like the worm. It’s really fun to try to teach a couple of tricks!

It’s very funny how fast you get used to such a different environment! Already I have a regular thing for breakfast, egg roll with some spicy sauce. The lunch here we always order something together and eat it outside when it’s nice weather outside. And my view is already considered “normal” in my head. Nothing new, just another day. Very very strange. The walk from the training center home is no longer a dangerous journey worrying not to get lost or hit by cars but just a walk, including getting annoyed about red traffic lights taking hours to switch green. Perhaps this world is not so different from mine except everything is in Chinese and all food is or rice or noodles. The rain is the same.

This afternoon I went for a massage. My shoulders and arms were really cramped and sore from training Monday and Tuesday. So I left the training center a bit early today, and on my way home I had fun taking some more pictures of just random stuff. When I got home I took a shower and Angela picked me up to go to the massage place. The massage was pretty okay, my back is red and a bit blue now, nothing to worry about. It was nice! On my way home I got some oranges and strawberry’s. Which I’m eating now. I need to drink loads of water said the woman from the massage, so I’m doing that, so my back will recover quickly.

The random pictures:

See you soon!

Sun-days

Goodmorning!

I just woke up and have some spare time before going to training. Yesterday I had a day of, which I productively used for all sorts of things. In the morning I woke up at 10, took a shower and some breakfast. Then I went shopping for fruits, bread and other kinds of groceries. Took my bike for that, it totally awesome to ride around on a bike here. The streets are just alive! Then I went for lunch before trying to film some stuff for my video. I went onto the schools area and found a very good spot away from to much wind, with no ceiling limits and a fairly good surface. Plus it was in the full sun so I worked on my tan aswell! You people home will hate me when I come back It was a small amphitheater with a nice little stage with stairs and seats around. Great fun collecting your diabolo’s after every drop! Got some decent stuff on film, for example a 6222 which I’m proud of. Eat that!

Then I went for a shower, did some laundry right after and cleaned the bathroom floor. After that I went to the local park to hang around and listen some music and loose myself in my own little world playing with the diabolo. It was totally awesome! Played around with just one diabolo, no sticks and string. You’ll see After the park I went to find my favorite sushi bar around, cheap and quality sushi which makes a good meal! Enjoyed that when I was home. Then I got on skype with my girlfriend. Best invention since email I’d say! She had visited Cirque De Demain, an international circus festival for young and new talent. Talked a bit about that, she gave me a link to one of the shows which I watched later that evening. After that I basically went to bed. And now I woke up, with a full week of training in front of me!

Sorry, no pictures, better luck next time!

Hot! Spring!

Hey there!

For the past two day’s I have been training. Just the everyday usual business for me, I won’t bother you with it that much. But I’m very happy to have created a 3 diabolo sequence I’m really happy about. Not just throwing siteswaps, but actually breaking the patterns and finding the “flow” into the next one. I can assure you I will put it in my video.

Thursday after training Angela borrowed me her bike so I could ride my way home instead of always acting like a lazy person sitting in a car for just a 5 minutes drive. The boy’s accompanied me to make sure I got home safely. Just when we got around the first corner the axle of my back wheel gotten a loose bolt and my back wheel wasn’t true in line with the frame. So Martin suggested to go to his dad’s workshop and tighten it. The tires were a bit soft so we also took it to a friend on the other side of the block and got them well inflated. So we could continue our way home. Whoohoo, I have a bike now! Complete with flashy valve covers and working gears!

That evening Jim, Peter, Louis and Gary came to my place and we hung out, played some pool, watched some youtube and I learned a card trick or 2! Very nice times together!

Friday morning Jim and I went to get a traditional Taiwanese breakfast before going towards the trainings space. Trained until 3 and went back home, took a shower and prepared myself to spend a night in a village in the east of Taiwan together with Janice and her husband. So we took  the car, spend 1,5 hours on the highway, spoke about earthquakes and typhoons, I got a bit nervous about that and eventually arrived at the holiday apartment she owns over there. It was a very nicely decorated place. The village has hot spring water from the tap everywhere, and she had 3 bathtubs in her house to take the full advantage of it. After putting my stuff in my room we went for dinner, I had some delicious noodles and soup on the side.  Then we met her son who studies web scripting. We walked through a hot spring park and then went to visited the university. It was located in the hills near the village, and had a beautiful overview of the city by night. After that we went home and spend some time in Janice’s “Japanese” style room. Basically a wooden box type of thing where you can sit with 4 people around a small table. I think most of you know this type of style multi functional room. We had some tea, fruit and conversations about various things concerning our lives.

Next morning her husband and I went for a morning swim, so I woke up at 7 and was swimming at 7.30. By then already the temperature was at least 15 to 20 degrees, which is pretty hot for Taiwan winters. It felt like a hot spring day taking an early dive at the outdoor hot spring swimming pool Enough with the word jokes. Then we went back to the house and made ourselves ready for a breakfast followed by a bike tour around some sights. We first went up the mountain to see a waterfall and then went back through the village straight for the beach (I have seen the Pacific Ocean!!) and later a flower garden where you could by some plants and various other gardening products. After all of that we were pretty tired and hungry and had some lunch. I had a good spaghetti which was not disappointing at all. Nice spicy chicken cream sauce. Didn’t expect that. Then we went back to the house to relax a bit before me going back home with Janice’s husband. She stayed there to have friends over the next day. I arrived home well after a long busy day, took some time to relax. Will sleep early tonight!

That’s all for now. Loads more I have seen, heard and experienced but I just don’t want to mount a video cam on my head all day long. I’m very happy to be here!