Video Updates

Hello everyone! For months, I've been trying to add videos I have of my experiences here in Taiwan with little success. Well, I finally figured out a work around last night and have added videos to some old posts. There's a second grade dance performance you can watch on the "English Village" post. You can also see my advanced fifth grade students performing Taiwanese Opera in the post "Visitors and Taiwanese Opera". I'll continue to add video to my posts as I record them now that I have figured out how to get around the whole Taiwan ISP address thing. It's all about copyright protections but these are my own videos so it's all legal. Re-visit those old posts for your viewing pleasure and look for new videos to come.

A Taste of Taiwan Pop

Once upon a time there was an American living in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan who didn't have anything to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon. This American girl decided to walk over to the nearby Hanshin's Department store for some Starbucks and people watching. Boy, did she get a surprise.

Hanshin's has a permanent stage set up in front of the main entrance. They have performances there all the time. I've seen dance competitions and local choir performances. Today, I noticed a crowd forming but didn't think much of it. I went into the food court and enjoyed some lunch. After an hour or so (including a bookstore visit of course), I came back outside to see a crowd forming around the stage. I decided to stick around and see what was up. After about 20 minutes, some dancers from the nearby gym, Fitness Factory, came out and gave an impressive performance.



Then I decided to sit down and read my book in the park area next to the stage. After about the MC had some bantering with the crowd and the dancers I heard screams that were reminiscent of my first New Kids on the Block concert. That's when I knew I had to check this out. Thank goodness I recently bought a compact camera. I always have it with me when moments like this crop up.

Turns out it was a band called Mayday and, apparently, they're a pretty big deal in Taiwan. All the members are my age but all the girls screaming and taking pictures were about 16. I imagine it was probably like if the Jonas Brothers were at the mall in the U.S. (I decided to stop dating myself with the NKOTB references).

The band wasn't performing. Instead, they were handing out prizes and to what I imagine were winners of some kind of contest or drawing. They also decorated cakes. I'm not sure what's going to happen to those cakes and they gave someone a giant check. If you want to see them perform, here's their music video.

I thought it was funny because all the photo opportunities for these things were done onstage with the media right there onstage as well. They basically stopped the show so all the media could get their shots and interviews. In the U.S., all the stuff would usually be done in a holding area off-stage either while a lesser performance is going on or after the show but not here. It was like it was part of the show.

Then some people in pink shirts pulled out a table and the MC introduced a young kid who came out wearing what was obviously a brand-spanking new outfit. I realized I was watching a Kaohsiung version of American Idol and Mayday were the celebrity judges. I didn't stick around for long after that. The first boy was decent. The next performance was pretty bad. The excitement had worn off for me. Besides, I couldn't wait to get home and get on Google. I wanted to find out who these guys were. This is what I love about living in Taiwan. You never know what your going to run into when you go out.

To learn more about Mayday click here.

Below are some pictures from the "show". Enjoy!