The Perfect City - Aug 13 (Sat)

[Misha]

Hi! I am Misha, nice to meet you!
It's so surprising that I am the host of next week, oops, I can not skip the meeting next week.


During last two months, there were lots of overseas visitors from regional offices, numerous presentations and frequent meetings drove me crazy, but to tell the truth, the biggest challenge was to be a good host to please these top managements, because these bosses have traveled more then 50 countries and hundreds of cities in their lives, they may easily get confused where they are now. And we have to impress them within a really short time…and this suffering now becomes my inspiration for the topic!

Blah blah blah…. here comes the topic: Taipei and the perfect city we hope.

Session I. The City We Are Living In.
Question1.
Think of New York, you'll think of Wall Street, big apple icon and the classic song ”New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra, maybe also the TV program "Sex and the city"; Think of Kyoto, ancient temples, geisha girls and cherry trees blossom in your mind, there are a lot of famous cities with features. What about Taipei? Does it have anything unique to attract and impress the visitors? Please tell us "Think of Taipei, what pops up in your mind? "
Question2:
Do you like Taipei? If yes, please name three reasons of it; if not, please also name three reasons of it.
Question 3.
Picture that you're working in a foreign company, and un-invited, overseas guests always come to Taiwan for market visit every two months. They not only ask for half-day city tour but also like to stay over weekend. Please discuss to set up a route to demonstrate them the classic Taipei lifestyle within one whole day. (8:00a.m. -8:00p.m.)
I will be the boss and give you a overall judgement, winners get a special bonus, ha ha.

Session II. The Perfect City
Question 4.
Have you traveled aboard? Which cities have you been? Pick one of your favorites and explain the reason why you're addicted to it.
Question 5.
If you were the mayor of a city running for next election, what kind of city vision you want to create in your campaign? Please make a presentation and we’ll run a poll to vote for the perfect city.
(Hints to go: Weather/Lifestyle/ Education/Healthcare/Safety/ City Service/ Transportation/ Cost of Living/ Job Outlook/ Entertainment)


Data to read:
1. Article “Finding the Perfect City”: the article is an advertorial of DCI, it shows how a city can be re-positioned and designed to attract business people. It's fun that in conclusion, there is no perfect city!!
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4 ... 27,00.html
2.Website: “Best Place to Live”, you can find what are most peoples' dreams about the best place. Even “most golf courses” becomes top 10 reason!
http://money.cnn.com/best/bplive/

Reference to have fun:
1.Taipei City Hall Website http://www.taipei.gov.tw/
2.Preface for “100 reasons to live in Taipei“ http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/books ... 0010029018
3.Website of some cities: you can compare with Taipei city's website.
Tokyo http://www.tcvb.or.jp/
Seoul http://www.visitseoul.net/
London 2012 http://www.london2012.org/en/ (tailormade for olympic)
New York 2012 http://www.nyc2012.com/home/ (tailormade for olympic)



不能免俗地.....
給新朋友的話：

聚會時間:星期六 請準時2:00 pm 到 ~ 約4:00 pm 左右結束
聚會地點：加州陽光2F 台北市大安路一段84巷4號 02-27512955
捷運忠孝復興站（木柵線板南線樞紐，十分方便）
忠孝東路 SOGO 附近之永福樓對面Bistro 98大樓-->大安路-->大眾銀行-->第一條巷子右轉
最低消費約＄80。

1. 請事先準備2~3分鐘的英語自我介紹；討論完畢後可能會請你發表1~2分鐘的感想(feedback)。
2. 請事先閱討論主題相關內容以及host所提的問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 來之前請先讀一下在討論主題，思考一下如何回答及討論。
4. 在正式加入之前（繳交可退還之押金NT$1,000），可以先來觀摩三次

[Misha]

Finding That Perfect City

Entrepreneurs 企業家
Municipalities市
Kaleidoscope萬花筒
Prominent 卓越的/突出的
Amenities 便利設施
Stereotypes刻版模式
Clusters 群集
Pulp紙漿
Paper mill 造紙廠
Proposition 論述/主張
Encapsulates概括
fiber-optic cables光纖電纜
Nirvana 涅盤/極樂世界 (也是一個很棒的grunge 樂團唷!)

[technobabel]

Guess what? I just happen to know a song for this particular occasion.
Here are the lyric:

The sun goes down, the night rolls in
You can feel it starting all over again
The moon comes up and the music calls
You're gettin' tired of starin' at the same four walls

You're out of your room and down on the street
Movin' through the crowd and the midnight heat
The traffic crawls, the sirens scream
You look at the faces, it's just like a dream
Nobody knows where you're goin'
Nobody cares where you've been

'Cause you belong to the city
You belong to the night
Livin' in a river of darkness
Beneath the neon lights

You were born in the city
Concrete under your feet
It's in your moves, it's in your blood
You're a man of the streets

When you said goodbye, you were on the run
Tryin' to get away from the things you've done
Now you're back again, and you're feeling strange
So much has happened, but nothing has changed
You still don't know where you're goin'
You're still just a face in the crowd

You belong to the city
You belong to the night
Livin' in a river of darkness
Beneath the neon lights

You were born in the city
Concrete under your feet
It's in your blood, it's in your moves
You're a man of the street

You can feel it, you can taste it
You can see it, you can face it
You can hear it, hey, you're getting near it, hey
You wanna make it, cause you can take it
You belong to the city, you belong to the night
You belong to the city, you belong to the night
You belong, You belong

[Wayne]

By a former member of the Eagles: Glen Frey.
The song title is "You BelongTo The City"

[Alisha]

To ending with the "SHA" no Misha:
After visiting several cities oversea such as Rome , NYC or some in Mainland China, I still love Taipei city in Taiwan because we have a homesome mayor.
May your first time in host be perfect and wonderful.
A za A za fighting
>>>>>Alisha

[Wayne]

忠孝東路 SOGO 附近之永福樓對面Bistro 98大樓-->大安路-->大眾銀行-->第一條巷子右轉

大眾銀行-->寶夫人極品養生館

[henson9630]

In my opinion, I have 3 good reasons as well as 3 bad reasons with regard to Taipei City!

First, Taipei City is good to visit because of a variety of cultures and people you can meet. Second, the level of Taipei life is highest in Taiwan; you could go shopping, visit ruins, go anywhere by traffic such as MRT, suttle buses, get the fist informations around the world, and do almost anything in convenient way, of course. In other words, it is a city at liberty! Third, when you step in Taipei, you must love it and be impressed on the spot!

Well, there are 3 bad reasons to live in Taipei. (But I think it's not that bad!)
Taipei is humid on occasion because of its geographic environment. So sometimes you could feel hot and get bad feeling. In relation to air, it's always polluted, especially in heavy traffic time. Ultimately, the surronding will be better, if every citizen has a good public virtue.

This is Tapiei.

[henson9630]

In my opinion, I have 3 good reasons as well as 3 bad reasons with regard to Taipei City!

First, Taipei City is good to visit because of a variety of cultures and people you can meet. Second, the level of Taipei life is highest in Taiwan; you could go shopping, visit ruins, go anywhere by traffic such as MRT, suttle buses, get the fist informations around the world, and do almost anything in convenient way, of course. In other words, it is a city at liberty! Third, when you step in Taipei, you must love it and be impressed on the spot!

Well, there are 3 bad reasons to live in Taipei. (But I think it's not that bad!)
Taipei is humid on occasion because of its geographic environment. So sometimes you could feel hot and get bad feeling. In relation to air, it's always polluted, especially in heavy traffic time. Ultimately, the surronding will be better, if every citizen has a good public virtue.

This is Tapiei.

[technobabel]

Taipei needs to build a network of elevated walkways so to separate pedestrian traffic from the rest of motorized traffic.

[alex^^]

push~~