UNDERGROUND MUSIC IN TAIPEI
台北的地下音乐

为了我的第二的vlog，我跟我的台湾朋友Jimmy一起去音乐会！来台湾以前，Jimmy认识我的家人，所以在台北我们可以再见面。音乐会是在The Wall的地方，Jimmy知道很多的资讯 (zi1 xun4 - information)所以他给我介绍一下。我觉得The Wall是很特别也是很重要的地方，是因为那个地方棒很多艺术家 (yi4 shu4 jia1 - artists)会更好。在The Wall, 台湾的乐队 (yue4 dui - bands) 和外国的乐队都有机会(ji1 hui4 - opportunities），我觉得那个文化很重要。音乐会的时候，我听音乐很高兴地跳起来。无觉的风气很好。我去这个音乐会以后我能更认识台北的另类音乐。我希望这些文化对台湾年轻人重要下去。

我已经录我的第三的vlog，可是还没做完。第二的vlog帮我练习跟台湾人一起聊天，我可以跟别人访谈 (fang3 tan2 - interview)。跟不知道的人访谈让我很紧张，可是为了帮我做我的第三的vlog，张老师跟我一起去看跳舞比赛。下一个vlog我想用中文多一点！ 

My second vlog helped me get a more intimate experience of the Taiwanese underground music scene, because I was lucky enough to have my friend Jimmy come with me to Yaeji’s live concert at The Wall. Jimmy told me more about the history of The Wall, what the culture for up and coming music is like in Taiwan, and helped me better understand why The Wall is so important to the music culture in Taipei. I learned that The Wall originally had a rough start, and had to take inspiration from various other venues, both foreign and domestic, to gain success. Its main showrunner, Orbis, invested a lot of money to improve the venue’s equipment and make the performance experience truly high quality, and I believe it paid off well. Nowadays, The Wall can boast a history of helping rising artists gain popularity; it functions like a major stepping stone in some artists’ careers, while also inspiring Taiwanese youth. The most important thing about The Wall is its diversity of artists: both foreign and domestic bands are welcome to play at The Wall, and this has created a very productive and booming exchange of creativity, ideas, and originality, which I think is extremely important to Taiwanese youth. People can go to The Wall to experience art, get inspiration, and be themselves, and I hope that places like this continue to thrive in Taipei. 

Filming this vlog helped give me courage to prepare for my next vlog, in which I planned to interview Taiwanese people at the Metro Street Dance Competition. With each vlog I have been getting more and more confident in my spontaneous Chinese speaking abilities, and have also been able to slowly overcome my anxiety toward approaching strangers. I am not only learning more about Taiwanese culture, but I am also becoming more comfortable interacting with people here, and I think that is really great. I hope to use increasingly more Chinese in my vlogs and practice my conversational Chinese, so that I can sound more and more natural and be less nervous about my skills!