Bliss English Club

Comimng soon: "The Witcher" by Archer on 4/11

Review of Last Meeting

Participants: Kurt, Iris, Clark, Angel, Janice, Ellen Huang, Kevin, Daniel Yang, Annie, Vivian, Allen, Michael, Stephanie, Jeff

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100599086110098594636/albums/613589832243797182

 

 

Comimng soon: "Matchmaking for marriage" by Vicky on 3/21

Mayor of Taipei recently said that if over 30% of women over age 30 remain unmarried,it will be a threat to national security. After the public backlash against his comment, he added that unmarried “men and women” are equally threatening to national security.

In the upcoming meeting, I am not going to discuss whether unmarried guys can destroy Taiwan or not; instead,I would like to talk about “matchmaking”. Why do people who want to get married stay single? Do soulmates really exist? If yes, why can’t they find each other? Is there any innovative matchmaking business model can solve the problems effectively and efficiently? Let’s have brainstorming this Saturday. Please bring a pen to the meeting place and don’t be late or you may miss the interesting part in the beginning.

Agenda

14:00~14:30  Warm-up

14:30~15:10  Discussion—who’s “the one”?

15:10~15:45  Introduction of matchmaking industry

15:45~16:00  Break 

16:00~17:00  Discussion — “profiles” and “matchmaking algorithms”

17:00~17:30  Experiment--36 questions by Arthur Aron

“Drink wine. This is life eternal. This is all that youth will give you.It is the season for wine, roses and drunken friends.
Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” ― Omar Khayyam,

Like to know something about wine?
Attending wine courses will cost you more than you expect.
Why don’t join our wine session and enjoy a pleasant afternoon?
Bring your own glass and be on time!
Let’s have a walk in the clouds!

Outlines:

1. What is wine? Types of wine.
2. Wine making process
3. How to store/serve /taste wine?
4. Open a bottle of wine/sparkling wine  /pouring/clinking
5. New World and Old World wine
6. Wine classifications of France/Germany/Italy
7. Food and Wine Pairing
8. Chianti / Chablis / Sauternes/ (Beaujolais)
9. Quotes
10.Comments

Agenda
14:00 ~ 14:30   Register dinner (max12)  

Review of Last Meeting

Host Monika shared lots of black & white photo with us, and also illustrated the different kind of pictures which made different sense to determine exposure and contrast. Monika explained that black-and-white images are not usually starkly contrasted black and white. They combine black and white in a continuum producing a range of grayscale. Based on the above saying, Monika shared us some tips for street photography as below:

Comimng soon: 1/31 host by Monika Chang

Review of Last Meeting

The host Mengta shared “Specifically Selected Goods and Services Tax” (SSGS tax 奢侈稅), and “Income Tax on Securities Transaction” (證券交易所得稅) with us. In the first part, he introduced the related tax terminology, such as withholding tax is 扣繳稅款, IPO shares is 初次上市股票.

What we called SSGS tax includes three main items: Real Estate or land, High expensive(price) consuming goods, and High expensive(price) consuming services. In this meeting, Mengta particularly explained the imposing regulation of SSGS tax for real estate. For example, if you have residential property for non-residential use within 2 years, when you sell it out during first year, you will be imposed 15% SSGS tax based on selling price. If exceed 1 year, you will be imposed 10% SSGX tax. However, there are several important exceptions for SSGS tax, we also have practiced scenario A, B, C to help to have a better understanding on SSGS tax.

In the second part, Mengta described the securities transaction, about the regulation, how to calculate the transaction tax, and what are the benefits for holding the stock over 1 year and 3 years respectively. In the end, we have group discussion and share the opinions to everyone.

We appreciate Mengta would share the precious PPT as attached to everyone, you can review it get more useful information.

Participants: Allen, 乃欣, Kurt, Leah, Wisely, Vicky, Daniel Yang, Patrick, Joe, Angel, Jeff, Cherry

Meeting Photos (Picasa): https://plus.google.com/photos/100599086110098594636/albums/6107188009690458673

Comimng soon: "Black and White Photography" by Monika Chang on 1/31

Agenda
14:00~14:30 Warm up – Self introduction
14:30~15:00 How to see black & white pictures 1
15:00~15:40 How to see black & white pictures 2
–Discussion on sample photos
15:40~16:00 Break time
16:00~16:20 Photographer - Taiwan
16:20~17:10 Photographer - Foreign
17:10~17:30 Discussion and sharing

Location: 伯朗咖啡(南京一店)3樓，每人店家低消$130，無其他費用

Address: 台北市中山區南京東路2段218號 (建國北路交叉口，近捷運松江南京站3分鐘)

Review of Last Meeting

In Last meeting, Daniel Ou shared the oral presentation skills that we can use not only in English but also in other languages. The host Daniel prepared a video in which , the content was the U.S. president Obama's speech with some comments by political critics. The blissers tried to learn the oral presentation skills from the video. The key to make a successful speech is to let the audience agree with your goals. The first step, you should give a the heading to deliver your ideas, then use examples or Summaries summarizes to explain the subject of the presentation.

In the last part of the presentation , the host had people do a group exercise by telling a story to express the main idea behind this story.

At the end of the meeting, Jeff mentioned the terrible terror attack in Paris on Jan. 7th and , we can't imagine what would it be if the same situation happened in Taipei. How lucky we are able to live in peace!

Participants: Allen, Vicky, Annie, Angel, Vivian, Serina, Janice, Ellen Huang, Lia, Kevien, Jeff, Cherry, Sophia, Daniel Yang and Kurt

New Member: David

Meeting Photos (Picasa): https://plus.google.com/photos/100599086110098594636/albums/6103864831476053601/6103864856337864066?pid=6103864856337864066&oid=100599086110098594636

Comimng soon: "TAX UPDATE for 2015” by Mengta on 1/17

Hi Blissers,

Last Saturday, Stephanie Hong introduced some adventures and exciting sports to us.

1.   New Zealand

In Queenstown, New ZeaLand, adventure sports are usually fast, fun and sometimes dangerous. People come from around the world to do adventure sports in Queenstown –especially bungee jumping.

Kawarau Bridge was the first full-time bungee jump site in the world and is the place where adventure tourism began in New Zealand.

There’s more than just bungee jumping to do in New Zealand. Visitors can also go for a jetboat ride. The jetboat is another one of New Zealand’s adventure inventions. Jetboats were especially designed to get around New Zealand ‘s shallow rivers, but they’re also really good at giving customers a thrill.

In New Zealand, it seems that nearly every day someone creates another adventure sport. David Kennedy , who is from a company called “Destination Queenstown, talks about just how many adventure sports there are to do. You know, we quite proudly call ourselves The adventure Capital of the world. He says.

2.   Alaska Ice Climbing

This story starts in Talkeetna in Alaska. In the united States . It ends in an area called Matanuska. Near Denali National Park.

Colby Coombs and Caitlin Palmer are both experienced mountain guides. They run a climbing school. They teach beginner climbers and help experienced climbers to reach the top of Denali. Denali is a mountain that is also known as Mount Mckinley. It’s the highest mountain in North America.

Matanuska is a very big glacier – it ‘s 27 miles long and two miles wide. The name : “Matanuska ‘ comes from an old Russian word for the Athabascan Indians who in the area. The glacier is in a low area that has many trees around it. It formed 2,000 years ago, but it’s always moving and changing. It’s also always difficult to climb.

A group gets ready to climb one of the Matanuska Glacier’s formations – a 30 foot wall of ice. At the base of the wall, Caitlin explains how to climb it, and it’s not going to be easy. The most stable you are going to be is when you have all the points of your crampons sticking on the ice, says Caitlin.
The hike across Matanuska is beautiful, but it can also be very dangerous. One summer, a young man fell into an opening in the ice called a cirque, and died.

3.   Water Sports Adventure

This story is set in the United States. It happens in the Columbia River Gorge, in the states of Oregon and Washington.

A gorge is an area between two mountains, so there is usually a lot of wind there. Cory Roeseler lives in the area, and he loves new things and adventure.

Roeseler was one of the first people to really experience the sport of kiteboarding. He uses a kite to catch the power of the wind. This wind power has helped Roeseler to do new and interesting things. It’s been especially helpful in developing new adventure sports, like kiteboarding. But what is kiteboarding like ?How does it feel ? According to Roeseler, It’s sort of a rolly, wavy, free feeling ….

Wind power is something that’s easily found in the gorge which divides Washington and Oregon. That makes the Columbia River Gorge one of the best places in the world to kiteboard. However, for inventor Cory Roeseler the gorge is more than just a place to have fun, it’s a place where he can test his new inventions. Now, Roeseler is ready to test his newest invention for playing with the wind. It’s a new kind of wakeboarding (花式滑水)boat that has a sail on the back.

There are 2 new members joined the meeting.

They are Michelle Lin and Seraya Ling.

Other participants are Kathy, Ting Chen, Joe Kao, Frank Chong, Kevin, Selina, Natalie, Cara, Angela, Millie, Barkley and Daniel.

Here is the meeting pictures.

Notice: No meeting in September 22th because it is our 3^rd outing date.