American in Taiwan

2006-11-03T13:27:00.000+08:00

1104-Climate Chage, Taiwan cares

Students from National Taiwan University Nature Protection Society demonstrate the impact of global warming on their lives

2006-11-03T13:10:00.000+08:00

Check out this video made by NTU students about our Climate Campaign in Taiwan...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTzUuW0CpOQ

So tell me anything else is new?

Leader of evangelical group resigns amid allegations

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/15914360.htm

2006-10-27T17:13:00.000+08:00

Got my first "speaker's fee" ever today. Spoke to a group of students from National Political University(Chengchi University) Model UN club. Yes, the irony of a bunch of Taiwanese students doing Model UN doesn't escape me....

Made about 20 dollars US($800 NT) for one of the crappiest speeches I've ever made in my life. Turns out I am no Al Gore when it comes to talking about Global Warming. :) I even had the whole slide show and everything....

Hopefully this public speaking gig turns more profitable....FYI, speaker's fee for Al Gore is 125k+two first class plane tickets.

I am definitely no Al Gore.

2006-10-15T03:07:00.000+08:00

Found out today that my landlord bans overnight guests of the opposite sex....

I can honestly say that I have never felt so discriminated against in my life as a straight man.

Yes it's a hard life.

M!

2006-10-10T17:02:00.000+08:00

Is it called Global Warming or Climate Change?

The last translatioin pickle of my life. Intense eh?

M!

2006-10-03T16:24:00.000+08:00

Preparations are in full swing these days as the UN Climate Change Talks in Nairobi are happening. I would say that I recently find myself among strange bedfellows. (not literally, dirty ass bastards)

An Inconvienient Truth in Taiwan
http://www.uip.com.tw/ait/

Al Gore recently hit up Hong Kong. My girlfriend's comment on the interview, "Al Gore is so handsome, why did he lose in 2000?"

handsome?

2006-09-28T21:09:00.001+08:00

Been following the Dodgers like crazy recently....I can't wait for hockey season to start as well...

For all you pro-China people, honest to god, you have more faith in Chinese than the Chinese do themselves.

10,000 years of glorious history, also means that we have 10,000 years to overcome. How do you think that my family flew that damn place, 400 years ago, because being a Pirate on an island full of only Chinese men and Aboriginees who constantly attack you, is better than home.

You know, if things were that good, we probably would have never left that place in the first place.

shizzz...

M!

2006-09-28T21:09:00.000+08:00

2006-09-27T19:59:00.000+08:00

I could write you a long and painful storya bout I have moved twice(once voluntarily, the other time not so voluntarily) and am on my third job in 2 months, but I'll spare you the post. E-mail me and I'll rant about it.

What I really want to talk about is how unhealthy Climate Change campaigns are for your mental health. It's so negative, it makes you think well we're so doomed anyways so why am I spending my life putting together this lousy campaign? The Global campaign that Taiwan is participating in, and that I am a coordinator at is http://www.globalclimatecampaign.org/ . Taiwan's campaign is here http://blog.yam.com/climatechange/

All I can think about is how a gigantic iceberg is going to come toppling over me, as I'm going through 15 rejection letters from law school.

BLLLLEEEH!

M!

2006-08-12T16:30:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong may have already wiped the blood, sweat, vomit, and tears that Alex Cree and Mitchell Tsai inflicted upon it's bars and clubs, but the scars still remain.

Best of luck Hong Kong....I wish you the best, and I hope that you eagerly await my return when I have to go back and retrieve my new shiny Taiwan passport.

Peace.

M!

2006-07-30T22:29:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong. Once a great city. Now simply a dump for cheap manufacturing products. But they are cheap.

2006-07-02T12:22:00.000+08:00

Good riddance Doug Pall(former head of American Institute in Taiwan, State Department office) you fucking lush. You are an embarrassment to America. As an American citizen, I am glad to see that I am no longer represented by you...

Welcome Steve Young, who so far appears quite a good fit for the job. But whose predecesor lowered the standards so far that all he would have to do is not partake too much of the free alcohol at diplomatic receptions to be quite exceptional.

2006-06-22T23:17:00.000+08:00

With my recent return to Taiwan and my entrace into Taiwan's pool of foreign laborers(my profession could be described as environmentalist for hire...) , it has been a host of new beginnings for me as of recently.

My career as a professional hockey extra in Taiwan got off the auspicious beginnings this Monday. Apparently a Japanese soap opera featuring a hockey player films at the Ice rink that I play at in Taiwan. Having just got off the plane on Sunday, I was eager to break in my new pair of Graf 735s.(Which by the way...are the best skates ever, except for pissibly the Graf G35s) After freeskating for an hour from 8-9 and skating clinic from 10-12, I was asked to skate for the film crew as well. They gave me a free jersey and apair of socks so I oblidged.

There's nothing much to say about it, I was there till 330 in the morning. Most of it was sitting around taking slapshots while waiting for them to set up. Ib betweeb taking slapshots, I spetn the toher half of my time flrting with the soap opera girls. I can say that I was offended enough by the crew's lack of knowledge about Ice Hockey that the clothing and the girls is probably not enough to warrant my time. Peace

2006-06-18T12:47:00.000+08:00

My apologies for the dearth of posts recently. I have had some technical difficulties posting pictures onto this blog recently, and in between that, finding a job, finishing up chinese school, and a new internship I've been overwhelmed.

The one thing that I've discovered about cultural differences is that while there are substantive differences, very few impinge upon human nature. Most bipeds have the same desires and needs, we simply express ourselves in varying ways.

One of the things that have been on my mind is an incident involving my Grandpa. he is in poor health, and our family vacation has been changed into a rescue mission on his behalf. Now, while many of us are willing to set aside the vast majority of our time towards him, at times we have individually allocated time to other issues. Unfortunately when caregiving runs over into our appointments, (some with very old friends who we haven't seen in a long time) it is not simply enough to escuse ourselves for a few hours. I

2006-04-15T20:18:00.000+08:00

Went Tomb-sweeping today...Had to go visit the relatives(and I do mean old fricking relatives..four generations back) in Hsinchu today. Burned some paper money, prayed alot, ate alot, slept alot in the car. Too bad I can't do it online..

Was at the Urban Nomad film festival the night before. Saw a film about a Singaporean human rights activist. But before that, we accidentally walked into a Paul Simon fashion show. They had free wine, cheese, and other goodies and got lured in. Have to say that the crowd was quite different. It was extremely strange, people posing as objects wearing clothing probably worth more than my apartment....

2006-04-15T19:23:00.000+08:00

Being American-Born Taiwanese, it can be easy to come down with serious identity crisis. After all, you don't even know whether to call yourself Taiwanese or Chinese. I remember when I was in first-grade and I asked my mother whether I looked "Asian." To which my mother responded, "No you don't look Asian...you are."

This set off a crisis of gigantic proportions that included my mother giving me a book called "10 famous Asian-Americans." Of those 10, 9 were doctors or lawyers...the other one was a TV anchor(Connie Chung)...Which has so far led me to the conclusion that all Asian Americans are doctors or lawyers, although if you are lucky enough to be the odd one, you have the priviledge of getting your ass fired by Dan Rather....

In this news story about the debate between traditional characters and simplfied characters, a shot of me skateboarding out of class got on the daily newscasts. If I can figure out to stream it for y'all I'll send it. Otherwise peace out...

2006-04-03T23:29:00.000+08:00

It is unfortunate that when the US government on face claims that it wants to "spread democracy in the Middle East" that we seem to be adverse to actually accepting the chosen candidates if they happen to fly against our interests.

In a recent article on Time.com titled "Rice Plays Favorites in Baghdad"

During her surprise trip to Baghdad Sunday to help jump start the faltering formation of a credible Iraqi "national unity" government, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made little secret of Washington's preference for the position of prime minister. When Rice and her traveling partner, British foreign minister Jack Straw, met with acting Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, whom the U.S. and Great Britain have quietly been lobbying against, the tone was undeniably frosty. At one point during the day, Rice took a thinly veiled swipe at Jaafari, remarking that a future prime minister “has to be able to form a government of national unity. And thus far, Jaafari has not been able to do that.” Many have argued that the U.S. pressure against Jaafari and his current chief political ally, firebrand cleric Moqtada al Sadr, could actually backfire and bolster their position with a wave of anti-U.S. sentiment....(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1179437,00.html)

2006-03-16T18:36:00.000+08:00

I will be visiting Singapore next week(I am on Spring Break in school). I'll be there visiting a friend who is doing her field work there(Anthropology major) and a friend of mine who is doing an internship in a Think Tank.(I can't say which one he is at...after all that is what elite think tanks are all about...after all, if they wanted you to know about them...then it wouldn't be a think tank right?

I'll put up some pictures when I get back...

In the meantime, here's some stuff to make you think about Hong Kong. The other key battleground for freedom of speech, democracy and human rights for the people of East Asia.

Ho says the Hong Kong Democratic Party wants the U.N. Human Rights
Committee to denounce the city's government for making the request and to ask it
to abstain from further attempts at interpreting the Basic Law.
Ho says the Democrats are also concerned Beijing's interpretations of the constitution have delayed the implementation of universal suffrage in the territory. The Basic Law guarantees eventual full democracy, but does not say when that would come.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-03-14-voa33.cfm

Hu Jintao makes some stunning admissions about China's internal problems. For a government that rarely if ever admits it's internal problems publicly..it is stunning.

Wen`s press conference, extraordinary in its range and detail, was an impressive personal performance. For foreigners, it was interesting mainly for the clear implication that China`s promises of friendly relations to all would be very much on China`s own terms. But for observers of China`s internal development, it was striking for Wen`s clear note of alarm at the political implications of the government`s failures in key areas like welfare, the environment and the rural sector.

Most telling was the warning note Wen sounded about the future, and the care the Communist Party leadership would take to ensure stability and its own survival.

'We need to realize that the achievements we have scored so far are only the very first step in our modernization drive,' Wen said. 'The road ahead will be even longer and more arduous. We need to be cautious and prudent, especially when things are improving. To think about where danger looms will ensure our security; to think about why chaos occurs will ensure our peace; and to think about why a country falls will ensure our survival.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/article_1137295.php/China`s_fears_and_alarms

2006-03-13T01:53:00.000+08:00

Taiwanese displaying exactly how much love they have for their international moniker Chinese Taiepi...

Comical mispellings placed aside, I recently started playing Ice Hockey again in Taipei. There are not many people who could imagine playing Ice Hockey in Taiwan...but then again, there aren't many people who can imagine learning how to play Ice Hockey in Southern California either, which is where I got started in the first place...

When I arrived at the rink, I began talking to the person in charge of managing their ice hockey league. He was happy to inform me that while there was currently a extremely wide disparity between the native Taiwanese and ex-pat Canadians who played, they were hoping to solve that problem through the establishment of the Asian League, where "Only one white guy per team would be allowed..."

Even stranger is perhaps professional Ice Hockey in Japan. Check out http://www.jihf.or.jp/

Or Canadian Expats playing hockey tournaments in Singapore...http://www.tokyocanadians.com/

2006-03-06T17:55:00.000+08:00

Recently, many friends of mine have been asking me about the significance about the "freezing" of the National Reunification Council.

Considering that the Council had a budget of approximately 32 US dollars at the time and hadn't met for over five years, the council could be nothing more than symbolic.

That being said...exactly what does this symbolize? The NUC is a remnant of an era when Taiwan was merely a military base from which the KMT was to take back the mainland. An idea so clear in Chiang Kai-Shek(KMT President at the time), that when the Republic of China(KMT) was derecognized by the United States, he refused offers to be recognized as Taiwan, simply because of his insistence upon "One China."

So how do Taiwanese view Chiang Kai-Shek and Taiwan's martial law era. I don't know much, but I can't say that posters like these would be posted with George Washington in the United States. Or that they would allow a snowboarding exibition at the Washington Monument.
(http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2005/07/22/2003264587)

2006-03-05T21:26:00.000+08:00

A poll conducted by a private think tank showed that more than two-thirds of Taiwanese support discussing the necessity of the National Unification Guidelines...
While Chen's proposal to scrap the guidelines and the dormant council has alarmed Washington over a possible change to the cross-strait "status quo," the survey showed that Chen's proposal to assess their necessity has the support of most Taiwanese.

The survey said that 67.5 percent of respondents agreed that the existence of the guidelines was in need of discussion, while 10.6 percent disagreed.

On the guidelines' ultimate goal of unification, 24.2 percent of respondents said they were in favor of proceeding with this course of action, while 51.3 percent said they were not.

In addition, 78 percent said they agreed with the contention that Taiwan's future should be decided by Taiwanese people, while 7 percent disagreed.

"The result showed that as time has gone on, most people haven't been treating the guidelines as an inviolable doctrine. They are a legacy of the former authoritarian regime and do not fit in with democratic values," Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman David Huang (黃偉峰) said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/02/13/2003292807

Above a little note on the ongoing date over the "freezing" of the National Unification Council....

Over here is something completely irrelevant to the National Unification Council Debate, but rather amusing considering the problems that we ahve talking about sex back in the United States.

The following pictures were posted as part of a monthly rotating poster campaign in Taipei City. Obviously this one is about sex....

2006-02-28T20:44:00.000+08:00

Why is Taiwan worth fighting for?

To anyone who looks at a map of the region, the reasons are obvious. Taiwan's strategic location makes it extremely valuable. The Taiwan Strait is a critical sea lane, and taking Taiwan would allow China to choke off international commercial shipping, especially oil, to Japan and South Korea, should it ever decide to do so. In addition, Taiwan serves as a vital window for US intelligence collection. Taiwan's National Security Bureau and the US National Security Agency jointly run a Signal Intelligence facility on Yangmingshan Mountain just north of Taipei (see Spook Mountain: How US spies on China, March 6, 2003). Taiwan's inclusion into China's military power structure would be unthinkable for Japan. (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FD10Ad02.html)

Check out this article for a perfectly edifying doomsday scenario about how China would invade Taiwan... For those of you interested in the National Reunification Council debate...here's a few facts

The budget of the NUC previous to its freeze: ($1000 NT...approximately $30 US dollars)...That amount wouldn't even cover the paper needed to print the long, unwieldy, and irrelevant National Unification Guidelines....

Times that the NUC has met since 2000: 0

NUC...not worth enough to wipe your ass with.

PS: On another note, today Taiwan "celebrated" 2-28, Taiwan's rough equivalent of Tiannamen Square where over 30,000 political dissidents were slaughtered stemming from an incident regarding the beating of an illegal vendor. The difference between Taiwan and China is that Taiwan has since become democratic. For more check out (http://jujuflop.yule.org/2006/02/28/2-28)

2006-02-26T20:11:00.000+08:00

So after being questioned about my nationality probably hundreds of times over these past few months I have come to the following conclusion....

When I am speaking Chinese regularily...people think that I am Japanese...

When I speak Chinese with a sore throat...then people think I am Mongolian...

That's the story for now.

M!

2006-02-25T00:04:00.000+08:00

It's not that I am one of those granola-eating hippies that you saw in the movie Forest Gump, but this globalization thing have gone a bit too far.

Disregarding the arguments about human rights, labor conditions, and outsourcing, I just want to say one thing...it's annoying.

A Story....

A few days ago, a friend of mine gave me a call and asked me to join her at the Starbucks at Taipei Main Station. When I arrived, I first exited the station to check out the Starbucks closest to the Station. No luck...I wander two blocks down the street to discover another Starbucks. Searching frantically through the crowded hall filled with Coffee-flavored Frappacinos and Frappacino-flavored coffee...no luck as well...

And that point, I get on the phone with my friend where she tells me that she is in the Starbucks that is inside Taipei Main Station. I go back inside the station only to discover that by the time I get there., it's already closed....

3 Starbucks, all within 5 minutes of each oher and directly situated in and around a train station....

Globalization is a misnomer. It's Localization. There is no such thing as a neighborhood Starbucks. Your neighborhood is Starbucks....And that is just annoying...

2006-02-16T23:13:00.000+08:00

Interesting developments today in Taiwan. Opposition leader Ma Ying-Jiu, in a move towards staking out his position on the cross-straight issue(an area that he has been rather unclear on until recently took out an ad declaring his strong support for maintenance of the status quo, affirmation of his willingness to negotiate under the "One-China" principle, and suprisingly possible support for Taiwanese Independence.

The KMT published a print ad titled "Taiwan's Pragmatic Path" on the cover of the Chinese-language Liberty Times, the Taipei Times sister newspaper, on Tuesday.
The ad stressed the importance of maintaining the "status quo" in the cross-strait relationship, listing the other choices for the country's future as unification or independence. The listing of "independence" as an option in the ad was interpreted by many to mean that the KMT now considered "independence" one of the possibilities for Taiwan's future...

The KMT said that Taiwan's future should be decided by the Taiwanese people. While independence might be one of the many choices for the country, that option does not tally with the KMT's policy and stance, party officials said.

"Neither reunification nor independence is likely for Taiwan in the foreseeable future, nor can either of those two options preserve the people's interests. The KMT firmly believes that Taiwan should maintain the status quo," KMT communication and culture committee deputy chairman Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) said yesterday at a press conference at party headquarters....

"Recently Ma has vacillated and come out with a number of conflicting statements when talking about cross-strait relations. Therefore, the DPP has decided to keep an eye on his words and actions and react to Ma's latest version of cross-strait relations," Lin said.

DPP spokesman Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said that the DPP was happy to see the KMT move its cross-strait policies closer to the mainstream of Taiwanese public opinion, but that the party was uncertain whether Ma's words were aimed at cheating the people in the 2008 presidential election.

Even as the KMT endeavored to clarify the message contained in the ad, it was apparent that the issue had already caused conflict between the party and its pan-blue ally, the People First Party (PFP), who yesterday said the listing of independence as an option for Taiwan's future by the KMT could have "more serious consequences than the president's statement of intent to abolish the unification guidelines."

(http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/02/16/2003293195)

Ma Ying-Jiu now finds himself in a difficult position as leaders from both sides are calling for him to clarify his position on the cross-straight issue. Ironically his efforts to push his stances on the issue have only isolated himself from both sides of the Taiwanese political spectrum.

Many of the Taiwanese that I have spoken to have expressed dismay with Ma Ying-Jiu's weak stances on the issue. Many KMT friends of mine have expressed their desire to see Ma Ying-Jiu clarify his stance on the ultimate destiny of the Taiwanese people. Taiwanese are already tiring of his double-speak on the issue. His opposition to constitutional reforms that would allow for referendums while at the same time asserting his support for Taiwanese having a choice on nationhood.

His weakness on the issue has only strenghened his opponents within his own party, including the more pro-independence Wang Jin-Pyng.(Speaker of the Legislative Yuan, and pro-unification Lian Chang.

The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) acceptance of independence as a possible choice for the nation was yesterday lauded by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who said that he was gratified by the development.
Wang, who competed with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for the KMT chairmanship last July, had in the past claimed that Taiwanese independence should not be ruled out. Some pro-unification elements within the party had used the comments to criticize Wang during the chairmanship campaign.

"I am happy to see the inclusion [of de jure independence] as one of the choices," Wang said.

"The inclusion at least shows that [Ma] has recognized the facts. In a country that has democracy and freedom, the people have the right to decide the nation's future, even though now is not the right time to decide on our ultimate goal, be it independence or unification," he said.

However, Wang questioned the decision-making process, saying that Ma should have discussed the matter within the party before making his policy known to the public through a newspaper advertisement. The ad in question was run on the front page of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) on Tuesday.

It said that, "the KMT firmly believes that, in keeping with the spirit of democracy, there are many options for Taiwan's future, be it reunification, independence or the status quo. It is necessary that the choice be made by the people."

"I was not involved in making the decision. If this really is the KMT's policy, Ma should put the issue on the agenda of the party's decision-making mechanism," Wang said.

But not every KMT heavyweight was pleased with the implication that the KMT accepted independence as an option.

Former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said that he has been against including the option of independence in KMT policy from the beginning.

It was absurd that Ma would include this position among the KMT's policies, Lien said.

(http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/02/16/2003293222)

If there is anything to take from this incident, it is that the vast majority of Taiwanese people do not support immediate independence or unificiation. Rather all they simply wish is to be afforded the choice to make this choice without coercion or the threat of invasion.

2006-02-13T21:26:00.000+08:00

Happy Valentines Day...Happy Happy Happy.

But if you want to really do something nice for the people we love...come and check out http://www.shanwomen.org/

At a conference thing that I helped organize called Taiwan Youth for Democracy in Asia (http://www.tfd.org.tw/english/TYDA/index.htm) I met a lady who happened to work for this NGO. She was just 23 years old and had been through and seen far more than most of us will ever experience in a lifetime.

Imagine being a stateless person(non-citizen) who was forced to flee from a genocidal military dictatorship at the age of 17 supported by nearly all the developed countries in the world. Imagine working everyday documenting the systemic elimination of your ethnicity. And still being a sweet, nice, funny, optimistic person after all that.

Give a gift to the people we love. Support the Shan women of Burma.

Happy Valentines Day.

2006-01-29T01:20:00.000+08:00

With Doug Pall leaving the American Institute in Taiwan(unofficial US. embassy), now is a good oppourtunity for the United States to seriously re-evaluate its policy on Taiwan. Unfortunately what has followed since the announcement is simply more of the same misguided policies that have become the U.S. State Department's trademark in Asia.

President George Bush announced â€œstrongly support Vietnam to joint WTO earlyâ€ during the visit the US of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in June 2006. (http://english.vietnamnet.vn/reports/2006/02/537806/)

A 34-year-old Vietnamese doctor and businessman, Pham Hong Son, was arrested in Vietnam in 2002 for a cyber offense. His crime? He had translated an article from the Web site of the American Embassy in Hanoi titled 'What is Democracy?'....Pham Hong Son was charged with espionage, accused of 'collecting and dispatching news and documents for a foreign country to be used against the Socialist State of Vietnam.'
(http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/06/24/vietna11221.htm)

How can people in Asia not get the message when President Bush is seen shaking hands with the Head of State for the dictatorial, exploitative regime of Vietnam, while at the same time he berates Taiwan's President Chen Shui-Bian for simply announcing plans to pursue UN membership and Constitutional reform? Taiwan is an economically prosperous, democratic nation with free press and human rights. Vietnam's government..like China, is using WTO accession and free trade to give an economic boost to its elites by exploiting its common people for cheap labor.

In response to Chen's speech, the U.S. State Department reiterated that Washington is opposed to any unilateral move by either Taiwan or China to change the cross-Taiwan Strait status quo. Acting U.S. State Department Spokesman Adam Ereli pointed out, however, that Taiwan's participation in the U.N. under the name of Taiwan would be a "unilateral change to the status quo."

President Chen Shui-bian (é™³æ°´æ‰), under fire from Washington for his recent Lunar New Year remarks regarded by the US as a move to change the cross-strait status-quo, said yesterday that he will keep on doing the `right thing' without fear.
(http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/02/04/2003291486)

Chen Shui-Bian wants to push ahead constitutional reforms that will make elections more democratic, reduce corruption, increase efficiency, and improve Taiwan's growing democratic institutions. He has voiced his willingness to shelve the independence issue in favor of being able to push forward his domestic agenda.

Taiwan, as a small country, must choose its good friends. The US has made it absolutely clear in the past few years that it does not support democracy in Asia. It's continuing support for the KMT(a former US puppet government), Vietnam and China show to Taiwan and the US other allies such as Japan that the US is not willing to help support democracy and human rights in Asia if it means crossing commercial interests.

Apparently the US supports child labor, human trafficking, prostitution, political repression, and cheap labor more than it supports its own values. Apparently America cares more about it's wallet than its ideas. Even if this is not the intention, this is certainly what the State Department is communicating to Asia.

As the US and China continue to square off on more issues, the US needs to remember who its good friends are and what it stands for. Bush's recent forgetfullness is quite unfortunate and will come back to hurt U.S. interests in Asia in the future.

2006-01-27T15:01:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Years is coming right up around the corner. For my first actual real Chinese New Years experience(yah yah...I know...my name is American Born Taiwanese..not Chinese, but hey we get two New Years up in this place...) I'll be having dinner with my Dad's extended family(a virtual conflagration of Ai-yehs, Su-sus, A-Gongs, and Pois of every kind) Then I'll be heading down to Tainan to do the exact same thing with my mother's side of the family. The funny part is that I'm headed down the exact same day that mother's are supposed to return home to their parents home. My mother has not been back for Chinese New Years in over 20 years, because she lives in Los Angeles, but she will return this year in a way, represented by me. It's a running family joke now that I am my mother's elected representative for Chinese New Years.

It's finally hitting me. I am firmly in 2006 these days and I've come to these revelations....

1)I've got to lose these 5 pounds that I've gained since college.

2)I'm probably going to gain another 10 after this New Years.

3) I'm starting to bald...which means I must get married or become extremely wealthy within the next 10 years or I'm royally screwed.

This probably will be my last post until after next week. Peace until then.

M!

2006-01-23T21:29:00.000+08:00

Check Out the Poem......

2006-01-17T16:11:00.000+08:00

The morning of January 5th was an extremely painful day for me as well as a coupel friends off mine that had come to visit Taiwan. We arrived at the Brass Monkey, a sports bar here in Taipei, at 8 am sharp in the morning. We were drunk at 9:00 in the morning just in time for kickoff.

The collection of characters at the bar was a rather funny bunch. about 70 USC fans, and about 10 Texas fans were at the bar, the vast majority Taiwanese who had studied abroad at those respective institutions. The front of the room consisted of mostly older Alumni working and living in Taiwan, the back was far more rowdy, mostly young Taiwanese and ABT/ABCs USC undergrads who had come back to visit family. The back section consumed significantly more alcohol appropriately.

A small minority of us were people like me, young ABTs/ABCs who had come back to Taiwan to live, study and work.

It is always better to be disapointed by the pursuit of the impossible rather than simply bee satisfied with the accomplishment of the mediocre.

Congratulations to the 2005 University of Texas Longhorns for an excellent game. That being said, Vince Young, Mack Brown and the rest of Texas didn't even deserve to walk on the hollowed grounds of Pasadena, California. I'm glad that Texas fans were able to celebrate their first championship in the past 30 years, but that's exactly what Texas is, a state that's best days are far over. USC was going for our 3RD consecutive national championship, which would have made 12. A total only topped by Notre Dame. Sorry Texas, mediocrity and the law of averages made you #1 this year....Congratulations.

Oh yah, did I mention that USC did manage to win 2 consecutive National Championships without 1)Our quarterback crying on national television because he didn't win the Heisman 2)Having rape and robbery allegations lowered against members of our squad with them suddenly being lifted days before a national championship game?

2006-01-12T20:39:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. Since arriving in Taipei in July, nearly 6 months of my life has blown by. College seems like almost a million years ago. I can't necessarily say that I am wiser for the experience.

This Christmas I took a two-week trip back home to the States. I managed to catch quite a few of my friends back home in Orange County and at school in Los Angeles. I like to say that I am always sad to leave, but excited to go to wherever I am headed next.

2005-11-16T01:23:00.000+08:00

Sometimes, when I get a bit homesick it's nice to access the ample American-style offerings in Taiwan such as McDonald's, TGIF's, and Price Club.(I'm serious, they sell "family-sized" packages on ramen noodles in these places, enough to feed a whole dorm full of college freshmen for a year)

But it really doesn't replace friends who have been with you for years. At the age of 22, the idea that I won't see some of my friends in person for the next two years is really scary! It hit me now, having graduated college last year, since alot of my friends are really starting their new lives, having moved out of L.A. to various parts of the world. While Seattle, New York, and San Francisco are no farther than I was before, the fact that when I get back to L.A. that many of my friends won't be there is just sinking in.

So as you can see...I went and got drunk. Problem solved.

Peace,

ABT

2005-11-11T19:17:00.000+08:00

Off topic a bit...it appears that Condoleeza Rice is America's version of Mother Teresa. Today our Secretary of State dropped into Iraq for a puppet show by Iraqi Children. At the puppet show, America's ultimate puppet urged Iraqis to vote like Americans, based upon questions of religion, race, and sexuality. She asked that terrorists disarm themselves and engage in the politics of indifference just like America. She proclaimed that voter participation in Iraq would soon rival such as that seen in the United States during an off-year election.

While welcoming Rice to the "United States of Saudi Arabia", a number of Iraqi children who were near death from alcohol poisoning were arrested for underage drinking

Rice Urges Iraqis to Bridge Differences: Rice makes Unannounced Visit to Iraq, Appeals to Sunni Cooperation in Coming Election.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1302572

2005-11-05T23:23:00.000+08:00

I apologize for the dearth of posts this week, but unexpected events made me a bit busier than I expected. Last Sunday, my landlord was kind enough to inform me that I had 3 days to move out because my rooftop apartment had been declared illegal.(information-building codes specify that all rooftop apartments built since 1996 are illegal) The other two apartments on my level had been legally permitted and built before 1996, but mine happened not to be. In less than 3 days, my apartment is the worthless pile of bricks that you see here in the pictures. Atleast they have so far left the bathroom.

My life as a nomad continues. It is the 5th time that I've moved in the past 5 months since graduation. I have now officially not managed to stay in the same place of residents for more than a month and a half for the last half of 2005. My landlord was nice enough to give me an empty apartment downstairs so that I wasn't thrown out onto the street.Between Los Angeles, Orange County, Salt Lake City, Taipei, and Washington D.C., my life as a post-college ABT/ABC nomad seeks no end. Home is in the past, and one can never seek to return to it. This is the life of the 20-something global traveler, where all you have is your scantily clad resume and a couple bags of clothing...

Till next time,

ABT

2005-10-26T18:48:00.000+08:00

"Stay Away from Birds!"

This was a warning uttered to me by a friend of mine recently. The Avian flu scare, started in Taiwan by infected birds that had been illegally smuggled from China. A large amount of resentment and fear of China in Taiwan results from the fact that the poor sanitary conditions of China's food production facilities, as well as the lack of transparency in China's medical system has resulted in SARS and the most recent Avian Flu. While there have not been any cases of bird to human transmission, Taiwanese have avoided bird markets(despite the fact that the birds smuggled in were wild birds, not poultry) in doves hurting local farmers.

Flu fears hit exotic bird markets in HK, Taiwan
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/TP297145.htm

Warning issued after bird-smuggling reports surface
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/10/24/2003277115

The high-density in which people live in Taiwan makes the island especially vulnerable in the case of contagious epidemics. While the Taiwanese government was very effective in controlling the SARS outbreak, implementing mandatory temperature checks in public buildings and requiring medical masks to be work in public, China's irresponsible behavior on these matters(denying Taiwan WHO membership, creating the strain contaigous to humans by injecting chickens with human vaccine for the virus) hurts everyone.

2005-10-23T02:12:00.000+08:00

Watched a MTV Asia concert. You would think that with the popularity of Karaoke in Taiwan, as well as in Asia in general, that Tiawanese Pop stars would be the extremely talented. I was wrong...their fans may be able to sing along quite well, but as for the actual quality of Taiwanese Pop music, lets just say that there's not much differennce between Taiwan and America as far as musical or visual quality in their pop music.

http://www.mtvchinese.com/Channel/Event/MusicBattle/Index.html

Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-Hui has been rocking the US for the past week, letting America know about the massive human rights abuses and poor labor conditions in China. How quality of life, and living standards can be decreasing in a country that also claims massive rates of economic growth is a travesty.

Victim Describes Beating in China's Closely Watched Village

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/politics/2005/10/10/china_taishi/

Lee denounces China as `slave state'

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/10/23/2003276957

2005-10-20T01:02:00.000+08:00

I'll tell you something about growing up...it sucks, big time.

Having just finished the LSATS, working in NGOs here in Taiwan while taking four hours of chinese classes a day makes me wonder about whatever has happened to me just a few months since I graduated college.

We never are the same person that we were just a second before...but as much as I change, certain things don't change at all.

Sincerely happy to say that we're back.

ABT

2005-10-02T15:36:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the recent dearth of material. Rjizzle and ABT have been preparing for the LSATS and for the career time. Not that we haven't been compiling lots of material for the AIT(which is also the name for the unofficial US embassy)

Will be back soon,

ABT

2005-08-28T22:07:00.000+08:00

Looking for Friends....

A couple weeks ago, RJIZZLE and I wound up serving as volunteers at the Democratic Pacific Union conference. It was an international conference that featured among others, representatives from the United States(Governor of Missouri and others), Latin American Countries(fortunately ), Southeast Asia, Japan, etc etc etc... Basically all the countries touched by the Pacific except for China and North Korea(which should let you know which club China is in....)

While I was there, my job was essentially to usher people, wait on high-ranking diplomats, and arrange flags in the correct order . In fact, me and a group of people wound up having to rearrange the Phillipines flag because it was listed with the red side up, indicating that it was in a state of war.(hint-it isn't)

The Democratic Pacific Union is a Non-Governmental Organization dedicated to building cooperation among Pacific Rim democratic countries. The organization provides Taiwanese assistance on issues such as digital divide, women in development(Taiwan is actually one of the most liberal, progressive countries in terms of its gender policies and women's socio-economic status), and democratic institutional reform. Taiwan is actually already one of the biggest contributers to Latin American economic development, providing consultation and technology, but the DPU provides another way for Taiwan to build its diplomatic status by bringing in people from all over the world for this conference. Taiwan needs more friends, and so we essentially threw a really nice house party to get people to come hang out...

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/special/200508/kt2005082820531745250.htm

One of the things you will notice in this picture is how the American flag and other countries who do not grant the R.O.C. diplomatic recognition cannot be flown outside due to official protocol. (R.O.C. flag cannot be flown alongside the U.S. flag because of the "One China" policy") In the picture is a couple of my fellow American friends who decided to come as well. It is a shame that a country of 23 million people which was in the top-10 in terms of donating to Tsunami relief has to tiptoe around diplomatically as if it doesn't exist...

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/01/06/2003218195

2005-08-24T12:00:00.000+08:00

Today was a great day in Taiwan and my own personal history. Today(August 23) was my 22nd birthday. Known as the "Taiwan Straight Crisis" On that day the Kinmen islands, a gateway island to Taiwan, was the place for a massive battle between the R.O.C.(a government in exile from China at the time) and the Chinese Communist Party. The R.O.C. was at the time in retreat from the mainland after its defeat by the Communist. 758 R.O.C. soldiers dies that day....

The Kinmen Islands are an interesting relic from the time of the Civil War between the R.O.C. and the Communist. Still today, R.O.C. troops are stationed there. Anti-Communist propaghanda is aired from loudspeakers towards the mainland, as the island is extremely close. Taiwan, like the Kinmen Islands, is in a state of transition. Having only had its first popular election in 1996, Taiwan still bears many relics from its days as the occupied islands of Chiang Kai-Shek and its government in exile.

Here are some comments from Republic of China(Taiwan) President Chen Shui Bian:

http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/4-oa/20020510/2002051001.html

On August 23, 1958, the Chinese Communists began shelling Kinmen in a battle known to the world as the ¡§Taiwan Strait Crisis.¡¨ Kinmen thus became the focus of attention of the international community and a part of Cold War history. During this battle, mainland China pounded Kinmen with 470,000 shells. For the next 20 years, Kinmen was bombarded on alternate days with artillery shells loaded with propaganda leaflets. Before the Emergency Decree [often referred to as ¡§martial law¡¨] was lifted, Kinmen served as the frontline from which our forces could watch the Chinese Communits' every move and guard Taiwan whenever a threat from mainland China arose.

With the end of the Cold War and of military administration on Kinmen, the island's role changed. Like Taiwan, Kinmen today enjoys complete democracy and freedom as a ¡§lighthouse of democracy.¡¨ Now Kinmen has taken on another, even more important historic role¡Xas the frontline for peace between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in the 21st century.

Funny story from today....I have been volunteering around Taiwan, doing political activities and meeting people. I was invited to a Thank you luncheon with the staff of the Vice-President of Taiwan Annette Lu for volunteering at the Democratic Progressive Union(A new NGO that Taiwan founded...more on this later) A friend of mine let everyone know that it was my birthday, so the staff of the Vice-President of Taiwan sang me Happy Birthday. My friend turned around to me to say "Now you can say that the Vice-President of Taiwan wished you a happy birthday!"

Till next tiime,

ABT

2005-08-23T00:39:00.000+08:00

The Soggy Truth about Globalization.

Normally, Taiwan is not known for its large Indian population. The closest things to Indians are the Indonesian brides whom along with their other Southeast Asian sisters now outnumber Taiwanese aboriginal people. Yet somehow we are able to find one another.

While I was at Taipei Main Station, a random Indian man from a rural township in the Punjab province in Northern India appeared out of nowhere seeking to go to Taizhong's commercial sector. It took me a few seconds to understand that he had no computer skills whatsoever and he was there actually looking for manual labor and should probably stay in Taipei. How and why he would end up in Taiwan when he could at least go to Dubai was beyond me.

But anyways, I did what I thought was the most logical thing to help him out. Near Zhongxiao Dunhua station, an Indian guy passes out flyers for a restaurant he works at, and if anything, he and his South Asian co-workers could better tell this guy what to do. It seemed like a simple plan. It was on my MRT stop.

As soon as we got out of the MRT, of course torrential rains also had to appear seemingly out of nowhere. And although I had a flyer for the restaurant it was in some alley somewhere and locating it would not have been as big of a deal had I not been stuck outside without and umbrella. When we get there it's closed, but they let us in and give us a glass of water. I then leave him there and go off to a coffee shop with my friend to dry off and talk about how weird the last one hour was.

But there were more rain soaked Punjabis in Taiwan in store for me that week. At the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy camp in Taizhong, a woman who studied Southeast Asian art in Cornell gave a mini-presentation on Indian religion and culture. Soon Taiwanese students from all over the island knew what exactly a lingam was and that when it's put into the yoni a baby will pop out nine months later. She also demonstrated her excellent proficiency in Odissi, a classical dance from India. But naturally, being a real live Indian who happened to be attending the conference I was compelled to teach the Bhangara...

I told the group just to dance to the music and pretend to unscrew a light bulb.

The clincher was her presentation of "Monsoon Wedding," the Mira Nair film that depicts a new Indian middle-class and diaspora; people who can fix your computer as well as they can sing and dance. (Though some like me do none of the above) And at the end, they all have a rain soaked wedding and lived happily ever after.

I am an American who speaks French and Chinese of Indian descent leading a rural Indian man to a restaurant not in the New Delhi monsoons but in perpetually rainy Taiwan. I'm watching Monsoon Wedding with Chinese subtitles with a group of Taiwanese International Relations majors somewhere in Taizhong county.

That is the soggy truth of globalization.

2005-08-22T22:10:00.000+08:00

Breaking News: Japanese/Chinese symbols as Tattoos are lame!! Confirmed from actual Taiwanese people.

I was having dinner with some friends that I had met at a Conference called "Taiwanese Youth for Democratization in Asia" hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. Then this girl asked me "So can you explain to me why so many Americans get hanzi tattoos...because us Taiwanese would never consider getting it written on us...Would it be cool if I just wrote the word 'love' on my shoulder in English?..then why do you Americans do it in Chinese"

Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese, etc are just like any other people around the world. They will laugh and snicker at you if you write stupid shit on your body. "Orientals" are not some sort of exotic people with exotic ideas reveling in their exotic language. They are just like anybody else....except they happen to be from Taiwan rather than Crawford, Texas.

I remember one time I was hanging out in a tatoo shop with a friend of mine who worked there when suddenly these two drunk yuppies busted in. One demanded something that looked "tribal" and the other one showed me a Japanese Hanzi book and said "I want the symbol for strengh, can you tell me whether this is actually it?"

1) I am not Japanese. Not all Asians happen to read the same language. I don't expect Spaniards to speak English just because they're from the same continent as the English.

2) Not all Asian-looking people are gifted enough to read and write Chinese fluently. We don't pop out of the womb and magically say NI HAO and begin painting classical Chinese manuscripts on our mother's belly.

2005-08-12T00:37:00.000+08:00

Ugly Nationalism, whether it is in America or China, is a terrible thing. Free thought and dissent is a gift to humankind. It makes us who we are as human beings. The curse and pleasure of being human arise from the fact that we are allowed to think for ourselves. When repressive governments deny people the right to dissent, they are doing a disservice to their people. As somebody who doesn't completely agree with American policy, I can't say that everything is perfect currently in the States. However, even as our democracy suffers from corporate media and a very limited two-party system, it still is better than much of the world

From the People's Daily: http://english1.peopledaily.com.cn/200403/22/eng20040322_138168.shtml

"China says it faces serious challenges in raising the ideological and moral standards of its 367 million people under 18 years old, such as the negative effects of dishonesty, cheating, superstition, evil cults, pornography, drug addiction, money worship and corruption in the world of some grown-ups."

The Chinese Communist Party denies its people the right to think for itself. The right to basic human dignities such as free speech. The right to choose your own leaders and determine your own destiny.

Racist, nationalist ideologies mistake politics for culture. Politics is about power and money, it has nothing to do with people's livelihoods. Just because somebody considers themself "Chinese' or "Taiwanese" culturally, doesn't mean that they support the CCP. KMT supporters(i.e. the party that supports reunification) see Taiwan's reunification as necessary for the rise of China to a world superpower. But why should Taiwan be forcibly reunited with the mainland? Why can't Taiwanese have the choice over whether and when they would become part of China? Many of the KMT supporters came from the families that fled the Communist during the Civil War.

Does Taiwan really want to be ruled by people who do this?

2005-08-10T13:44:00.002+08:00

As an American-Born Taiwanese..or Chinese depending on your political leanings, you would think that coming to Taiwan would be natural or normal to me. I mean obviously people here look more similar to me than they do in America much of the time. They speak the same language that my parents spoke to me at home. And I am now free of "model minority" stereotypes.

Instead I have come to Taiwan, and found myself identified as the stereotypical "ABC/ABT." Or oftentimes people here ask me whether I am Japanese. I dress differently, and I certainly don't speak chinese or taiwanese in any way that resembles a semblance of a proper Taiwanese. Culturally I am American, the small details still shock me....the lack of separation between the shower and the bathroom....recycling....food...etc..It feels very strange to be an alien in a country where you actually look less like one

One of the things that have struck me while here is the intersection between west and east, tradition and modernity. As an ABT from Orange County, I couldn't be more stereotypical of the Taiwanese Immigrant population.

American cultural exports are very popular here, occupying a place of priviledge here in Taiwan. The wealthy are the ones who can frequent places like McDonalds and Starbucks, pruducts that back in the States cannot in any way demand the premium that they do here....

2005-08-07T15:39:00.000+08:00

I am an American in Taiwan.
I am a New Mexican in Taiwan.
I am an Indian-American in Taiwan.
I am also a graduate of a Southern California university in Taiwan.
And finally, I am a complete post-undergad bufoon in Taiwan.

Yet in the two weeks that I have been here, I have experienced new things on all fronts, whether it is pushing my way through crowded night markets, learning how to peel shrimp, and watching South Park dubbed in Mandarin. I came here to become better skilled in Mandarin and in doing so, be able to see and understand what I have already come to view as a vibrant democracy that rests in an amibiguous existance.

The first weekend here I was able to go down to Nantou with some friends and get a pleasant refuge from the modern and clogged city of Taipei. There, we traversed the circumfrence of Sun Moon Lake which was dotted with temples and a market showcasing local aboriginal crafts, including statues with extremely large penises.

One of temples was dedicated to Xuan Zang, immortalized in the Chinese classic "Journey to the West." Xuan Zang was a Buddhist monk who left his native China to make the long and arduous journey to India to collect Buddhist sutras. He walked through what is today Xinjiang, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and eventually northern and southern India to learn Sanskrit and study at the best Buddhist institutions of the day. Eventually he returned to his country and began the long process of translation.

Seeing this temple made me realize that in reality there is no real excuse for culture shock. Xuan Zang, with enough motivation and curiosity defied the Emporer of China to go by foot through desserts and mountain passes littered with bandits and war in order to travel more extensively through South Asia than I probably ever will in my lifetime.

I on the other hand went to the TECRO (Taiwans unofficial consulate) office in LA and got a visa within two hours. Then I boarded a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747 "Megatop" and was waited on by the famed "Singapore Girls." I finally was picked up at Chiang Kai Shek International airport and driven in an air-conditioned car to my new apartment complete with cable, broadband, and air-conditioning. There is even a freaking McDonald's next door. Yes, I am a foreigner here, and yes I don't speak the language too well, and yes my diet has changed. But honestly, it doesn't matter one bit.

--Rjizzle.

2005-08-04T01:40:00.000+08:00

Taiwan