Toastmasters conference in Taipei

Needing desperately to find people to speak English with, I found and joined the local Toastmasters club here in Hualien a couple of months ago. Immediately, I was asked to help improve the quality of English, and I am glad to be of help. This weekend, our club president and I and a few others attended the spring conference in Taipei.

The quality of the speeches were excellent, and even for some non native English speakers, the contents and delivery were amazing.

There was a show after dinner and it was also very good. Most of them featured members of different clubs in Taiwan.

This is the first time that I have the opportunity to visit Taipei since moving to Taiwan. Most other times I was passing thru on the way to the airport, catching a plane to HK. It is not too different than what I experienced twenty years ago, but Taipei is definitely cleaner and more civilized.

Taipei 101 is certainly impressive, and the area it is in is not crowded as I would have expected. Nothing like HK of course. In fact, Taipei resembles an American city in some ways.....

It was a beautiful day with sunny sky, and temperature around 30C. One thing I did noticed is the women. Generally speaking, Taiwanese women are prettier than HK women, much easier on the eyes IMHO. Why is that? I cannot tell you. That just the way it is.

Women in Taipei are more cosmopolitan, nicely dressed and stylish. Women in Hualien are more down to earth, with slightly darker and healthier complexion. That is the difference between city and country living I guess.

It was an eye opener for me, and I am inspired and motivated to return to our home club, to help the club members to become more proficient in the English language. Toastmasters International has just reached mainland China recently, and clubs are springing up like bamboos everywhere. However, the clubs are underground as the Chinese government has not given permits for such clubs yet. There is a conference in Xiamen in May, and I'm thinking of going......