Tim's Blog

台灣與美國交通跟Risk Homeostasis的關係

2011-11-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

介紹一下RiskHomeostasis的現象

我最近看了一本書，Malcom Gladwell 的 What the Dog Saw.裏面有一短篇講RiskHomeostasis的現象。RiskHomeostasis很有趣，它的意思就是説當你找到一個調整的方式來改變某一項活動的風險性, 那麼人們就會再用另一種方式改變其他的因素（潛意識的增加便利性）,而這將會使風險性回到原先程度。

不太清楚嗎？Malcome Gladwell 有講如下的例子：

之前研究者看過車禍的統計。原來車子安裝ABS（防止煞車鎖死系統）之後，出車禍的可能性沒什麽改變。其實重點是這些ABS系統比傳統煞車好多了。爲什麽會有這樣的結果呢？當然是因爲Risk Homeostasis的現象。這種情況跟人類的心理有關。多半的人都覺得因爲他們的煞車那麽好，所以他們就能開的比較快。結果他們自己把原本的安全性降低到他們習慣的程度。

很特別吧？這樣的現象對設計非常重要吧！

但是，Risk Homeostasis不是對每一件事情都有影響。比如説繫安全帶，按Gladwell說的，繫安全帶真的有效。雖然繫安全帶就會讓人開車的時候比較安全，但是人不會因此就開始開車開地比較不保險。[我自己覺得這是因爲繫安全帶並不表示你比較不會出車禍而且人關心的不是出車禍的嚴重性，而是他們出車禍的可能性-但是這也不是重點]。其實Risk Homeostasis就是一種心理的現象，也沒有那麽容易百分之百了解。

所以，你覺得在台灣騎車很危險嗎？跟美國比起來呢？

“是很危險”是我原本的第一個反應。但是有一天我的台灣同事吃午餐時跟我討論得比較深一點。我先跟他解釋一些台灣交通的問題：

在大的十字路口人常常從最左邊的車道就右轉，來不及的話，那也沒有關係，就停著等害後面的車子都塞住了。
車子換車道時寧願超級慢慢地走害兩兩個車道中的車子卡主了，也不要轉眼看旁邊死角的情況或打燈再快點地換車道。
機車用一個非常快的速度換車道和轉車而且很少打燈。
沒有人開到“停”號誌的時候真的會停一下。
在十字路口，人不會讓別人先走，他們就會看別人的速度再調整自己的速度爲了剛好過在對方的前面或後面。
公車不會爲了讓別人知道他們他想去哪裏就打燈，可是他們還是會打燈．．．是爲了騙你！

解釋完之後，我的同事就問我，“所以你覺得在美國開車比較安全嗎？”

問得好。

我想了一下再解釋說因爲美國的交通規定比較好，所以人能開得比較快。結果我想我們出車禍的比率應該比台灣少，可是我們車禍的嚴重性應該是比較高。

雖然我的同事覺得我所有講的問題是正確的，但是他覺得台灣還是比較安全。他說因爲在台灣開車時一直要注意到別人也不能走得太快。結果，因爲大家一直都在注意，所以在台灣開車就是比較安全。他還繼續說在美國開車，開很久都沒有發生什麽問題就會開始做夢，結果問題跑出來的時候開車者就完了。

他一說我就認清了。其實我所有說過的批評還是對的，但是不是跟一些瘋狂的美國人快快的開車那麽危險。再加上台灣交通的這些問題讓比較多人注意到路上的風險。這就是Risk Homeostasis，可是在這裡他覺得一些風險會讓人開的保險到每一個人的安全性都變好。

原來因爲像Risk Homeostasis的現象，很多好的法律與規定會讓人更不安全。真有趣吧！

我自己在美國的紐約和馬薩諸塞洲開國車好幾年。我也有一些經驗在加州。在台灣我騎車騎了兩年多了，半年在台中。我也沒有在台灣開車過。

台北藝術展覽

2011-09-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

其實我喜歡藝術，但是我並不是很了解藝術。看藝術品時，我常常看不懂本藝術家的觀念。我幾個禮拜之前陪我的女朋友和她媽媽去看臺北展覽。那邊有很多日本藝術家的藝術品。不少的都很不錯。

讓我最印象深刻是一幅畫。裏面有兩位音樂家在一個爛房間的裏面。這兩個人很模糊所以感覺是他們已經不再那個爛的房間了。説不定他們搬走了，死掉了，很難説。重點就是他們已經不在。我自己覺得他們成功了，搬到一個很大的房子。現在我們看到這兩位很成功的音樂家的過去。我們不只看到他們來自的爛房間，還看得到他們在這裡頭訓練他們的能力。

以前的音樂老家不會知道未來是怎麽樣，他們只好在這爛爛的地方過他們的日子，好好地學音樂。

我知道原本畫家或藝術家的想法不會是跟我的一樣，但是我完全都不在乎。因爲我有自己的想法，所以這幅畫我才會受到這麽大的影響。

Zen of the Zone

2011-07-14T08:02:00.001-07:00

I ran like mad when I was younger. I started training long-distance running at 14. At the time I made the decision to see how fast I could become. I didn’t stop until after my first year of college, when I was 20. People used to ask me why I trained so hard.

To be great.

I’ve always had the desire to be great at something.

But that wasn’t all. There was that zen-like state: the zone. Any runner can tell you about the zone. You’re not thinking, but you’re fully focused. You know when to push harder and when to ease off. You have a plan that evolves as you see and react to everything around you, but you do all of this with an empty mind. The zone, that peculiar contradiction, that is why I ran.

Of course, the zone isn’t just for running…

On Kung Fu

2011-07-12T09:16:00.001-07:00

Studying Chinese kung fu and martial arts may be the most important decision someone makes in their life if they end up needing those fighting skills just once.

Studying Chinese kung fu and martial arts can add a deeper meaning and sense of purpose to one’s life. Those who can find that meaning may find the ability to fight to be rather insignificant in comparison, especially if they have a peaceful life free of violent confrontations.

What is Kung Fu, really?

2011-04-04T03:11:00.000-07:00

A disappointing discovery

I came across a Kung Fu instructor's YouTube account while browsing the Internet. He had sparring and form videos posted. But what caught my attention wasn't the videos, it was his comments:
Few people in traditional kong-fu willing to recognize the truth that they don't know how to fight and that is why real kong fu is lost and be humiliated by other styles. If you do practice kong fu, then you have to do sparring, you have to use all your strength and exhaust yourself to learn the limits of your system and your own body and mind. There is no way around if you do want be a real master.
and
I am so tired of watching WuShu, it's okay if a dancing style wants to adopt some martial art moves but it is ridiculous for a dancing style to call itself a martial art. Not even mention those crazy shouting and meaningless hand waving moves.
As a passionate student of martial arts, I read this and was disappointed. It suggests the true meaning of martial arts (specifically referred to as kung fu here) is fighting. This is the origin of martial arts, hence the name, but it is far from the 'true' meaning.

Strictly speaking, kung fu…

If you look up kung fu (功夫) from Chinese to English, you'll find something consistent with the Wikipedia article on Chinese Martial Arts:
In Chinese, kung fu can also be used in contexts completely unrelated to martial arts, and refers colloquially to any individual accomplishment or skill cultivated through long and hard work.[1] Wushu is a more precise term for general martial activities.
Kung fu generally refers to a skill that takes a long time to develop. So, a chef could have excellent kung fu. He'd be a fantastic chef, and perhaps a terrible fighter. Likewise, a dancer could have great kung fu.

The term wushu (武術) means martial arts, literally. However, if you hear someone say they practice Wushu today, it typically means Modern Wushu from China. Modern Wushu evolved from traditional martial arts and is designed for competitions where participants are judged on their ability to do a form. The forms can be extremely gymnastic as well as impractical when it comes to fighting. Essentially, Modern Wushu is a martial arts style that has adopted more gymnastic movements. Not a dancing style that has adopted moves from the martial arts, as the YouTube teacher claims. That doesn't change the fact that Modern Wushu masters train with all their strength and exhaust themselves to the limits of their body and mind, year in and year out. They, without a doubt, train kung fu.

Aside from the technicalities

If I stumbled upon a few silly errors with naming nuances in this teacher's comments, I wouldn't be writing this. These things are trivial, although I would've expected a native speaker of Chinese and a student of martial arts to be familiar with them. The problem lies in the point, what is the real meaning behind martial arts? Forget about what you call it, Karate, Kung Fu, Wushu, Taekwon Do, and so on. They are all different paths to a similar goal.
Asking the 'true' meaning of martial arts is like asking the true meaning of life: the answer is decided by the artist. It could be to fight, or to dance. It could be to keep yourself in shape so that it's easier to meet girls. It could be anything and it wouldn't be wrong. But, I argue there is a deeper meaning that those who train long and hard realize.
When someone speaks the words kung fu, one of the first images that comes to mind is a Shaolin Monk. Despite sparse instances in Chinese history where Shaolin Monks were involved in battles, why else would they devote themselves to martial arts? Why would their training include anything but practical self defense techniques? The quoted teacher above is training and teaching martial arts heavily influenced by Shaolin (including Hung Gar – 洪家拳).

What are our masters teaching us?

The most respected masters I've trained under taught martial arts as a way of life. Self defense was included in some schools more than others, but it was never the primary focus. The truth is, physical self defense is a tiny part of what martial arts really has to offer.
I had a strict Karate instructor and I was fond of him for that reason. He wasn't afraid to use some power when sparring with me, even when I was inexperienced. When asked if he had ever used Karate for self defense, he replied that he had. Two times. And he instantly regretted it afterwards both times.

Imagine if he had trained for no other reason than to develop those skills. He would've had nothing but regret for so much time spent training. That wasn't the case, he continued training after these events. He developed and rose above his former self.
Gichin Funakoshi is known as the "Father of Modern Karate." He wrote his autobiography, Karate-Do: My Way of Life. In it (perhaps in the prologue, I'm not sure) it mentions how he also used Karate for self defense just two times in his life. Just like my aforementioned Karate instructor, he deeply regretted it immediately afterwards.
The list goes on. I would argue one of the major themes behind Jet Li's Fearless is that martial arts are not about fighting.

If you still don't believe me

Traditional martial arts are ambiguous. I trained with a Karate student preparing for a black belt promotional that never thought the basic blocking drills in Karate were anything more than blocks. The entire moves, when executed in full, are actually terrible blocks. But they work great for breaking someone's grip on your arms or body. Now he learned those moves as a white belt and trained for over 4 years, and at a good school. It's not his fault. Martial arts are ambiguous for a reason.
As a teacher, you may have strong morals and principals. The last thing you'd want is for your students to go out and get into fights everywhere. But you want them to learn martial arts and you believe it has something to offer them. By teaching them more ambiguous techniques, you're able to pass on the truly valuable aspects of martial arts while omitting a large portion of the deadly parts.

The point is

The true meaning behind martial arts is not fighting. So what is it?

As silly and cliché as this is, especially when talking about martial arts, it's a fantastic way to represent the true meaning of martial arts. The yin-yang symbol represents balance. Mind and body. Harmony. Training martial arts exercises your body, but not without making you think. Working hard and training kung fu of any kind develops character. It helps us to learn more about ourselves and others. It teaches you discipline and confidence; the very skills you need to be a better member of society. It helps you be more balanced. Balance is the key to a better life, as well as a better society.

The problem is

The world of kung fu and martial arts has too many people who get distracted by other things like fighting and sparring. Sparring is nothing like fighting, for starters. Fighting is a life and death situation, sparring is a game. It can be helpful in training kung fu, but it is not necessary. The world of martial arts needs more teachers that realize this. The alternative would be a loss.

Taiwan, the Cool Place Where an Adult Can be a Kid

2010-12-09T08:03:00.001-08:00

I enjoy Taiwan. You rarely see men walking with a swagger, swaying side to side as they lift their head up and puff out their chest. Taiwanese tend not to have this false sense of masculinity.

The locals also seem to lack a few cultural misconceptions about maturity. Men and women show a genuine affection for cute things. Americans get to a certain age where the idea of being cute is seen as childish. But, why? What does it mean to be childish? Does it mean you have to hide what you like so you can fall into the norm? I would think the more childish person is the one afraid to express themselves truthfully.

Cute is an aesthetic. We acknowledge the pretty, bold, beautiful, and sexy. For some reason, however, cute is associated with immaturity. It's for children or irresponsible adults. It's also an insult to most men. You can't be taken seriously if you come off as cute, whereas any other aesthetic is perfectly acceptable.

In Taiwan, a thirty year-old woman may be an avid collector of Hello Kitty. At the same time, she can also be a successful manager at a respectable company. Cute does not equal stupid or immature. Likewise, men might dress in a cute and fashionable way on their way to the office or to head out at night. It doesn't suggest their gay or especially effeminate.

A culture without a false sense of maturity is a culture that encourages people to express themselves more freely. Taiwanese are more able to set their inner child free.

Great! Glad I'm here.

Sadly, Taiwanese children have no chance to let their inner child loose. Children don't just have to go to school during the day; they have to go to cram schools in the evening.

The competition is stiff. Children have to take entrance exams for high school. The quality of a middle school is determined by how many of their students get into good high schools. Kids who get into better high schools are better prepared for the next test they have to take – the college entrance exam. This exam is the sole factor in determining which college students can go to. The kid with the top score get first pick, followed by second and so on. I was surprised to hear a junior high student tell me that he would take a practice entrance exam for high school every single day he went to school.

It's true that the best way to prepare for a test is to practice. If other students are practicing at cram schools in the evening, the only way to keep up is to have yours do the same. Compared to the average US student, Taiwanese have less time to explore social and extracurricular activities. They have less time to think about what they're interested in and what's important to them. They have less time to have fun and be a child.

Now, are Taiwanese more mature because they are more in touch with their inner child? Or are they simply making up for the fact that they didn't have a real chance at a childhood when they deserved it?

Falling into the Forest

2010-09-23T02:59:00.000-07:00

I wrote about how it is easier to study a culture through foreign eyes. I also read about this concept in Warren Bennis’s On Becoming a Leader. There is an interesting caveat I forgot to mention. If you truly immerse yourself in a foreign culture, you will find you are not observing anything anymore.

I have spent so much time improving my Chinese and jumping into the culture that I stopped noticing anything about it. I had no foreign friends, outside of work. My day-to-day activities became local; there were no thoughts about why things were different. I stopped analyzing the world I was living in and just lived.

I could no longer see the forest for the trees. I may as well have been living in my old home of upstate New York.

Having some old friends and family visit was helpful. Their culture shock brought me back into perspective, thankfully. It is important to look at the whole picture and examine your life. You do not have to be in a foreign place, it simply forces you to think about things because they are so different.

If you fail to take yourself out of your current perspective and look at the entire forest, you don’t actively live. Instead, you just respond to the stimulus of your environment. You live more like a machine than a person.

好方便！- Perhaps too convenient…

2010-04-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

I was in college when I learned the term “方便.” It means convenient. I don’t often use this expression in English so I never paid much attention to it, and wondered if knowing it would even be worth while. It wasn’t until I came to Taiwan that I realized this is a very commonly used phrase. In fact, I heard it every day and began using it more and more. Had my perception changed, did I start to care more about what was convenient to the point where it entered my daily vocabulary?

Convenience is always on the mind of Taiwanese. They have built Taiwan to be a very convenient place. Modernization and innovation have been directed by convenience and, I have to admit, Taiwan is a very easy place to live. So convenient that Taiwan’s East coast feels like one large city. The cities, large and small, are all connected by standard rail lines as well as a high-speed train. You can travel through the major Eastern Taiwanese cities, spread out over a couple hundred miles, more conveniently than you can traverse the two miles from Harvard Business School to Boston University’s West campus. It’s truly convenient, but is there a downside to this?

When things are too convenient and life becomes too easy, we never have to work hard to get what we want. Always having what things at arm’s reach means we never learn to work hard to achieve our goals, or how to deal with things that are not immediately given to us. We become spoiled. Grown adults end up with a lack of appreciation; grown adults start to seem a whole lot more like spoiled children. Too many people expect instant gratification.

Perhaps this is another reason for the rise of the Strawberry Generation in Taiwan?

There are very real consequences to having a more spoiled culture. Taiwan has the lowest birth rates in the world: people do not want to sacrifice their personal freedom and money to raise a family. The majority of Chinese parents I’ve questioned have all said their lives changed for the better, and had much more meaning, after having a child. The selfish desire for freedom and money thus inhibits most people’s chance to experience this kind of true and fulfilling happiness. It’s sad to see wealthy and otherwise successful people sit around and wonder why they “just aren’t happy.”

But the move to modernization and the rising quality of life is not unique to Taiwan. It’s a worldwide thing; it’s what we all work for. I’m an engineer and I’m wondering what the most beneficial thing I can contribute to this world is. Wouldn’t innovation, new designs, things to make our lives easier and at least more enjoyable seem like a good idea? But, if that just spoils future generations, that means I’d be working to cause more harm than good.

Growing Strawberries in Taiwan

2010-04-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

A majority of Taiwanese children are spoiled. They audaciously address their parents, in public. Their behavior is unrestricted, running in the street, the supermarket, the mall, and yelling. Taiwanese, from their 20’s through their 80’s have criticized this piece of their culture. “Strawberry Generation,” is how they address the younger generations: they look and taste delicious, but spoil easily.

But why?

Children are spoiled by their parents. We have to rewind time, and look at what Taiwan was like when today’s parents were growing up (post World War II Taiwan).

Following the war, Taiwan was recovering from a taxing Japanese rule. As if the national idea wasn’t already vague, there was a large migration of mainland Chinese with the KMT party and Chiang Kai-Shek. Taiwan was not a developed country and they were not a well established Democratic-Republic. Taiwan would only get around to abolishing martial law in 1987. Its economy was just starting out and, although it would become the successful capitalist economy and tech island that it is today, this seemed far off. People were not able to live the kinds of lives they are able to now.

Children raised at this time had parents who experienced rough times – the Japanese occupation and the World War that brought it to an end. They didn’t have much to give their children. Families had to work hard to get by, most parents had no means of spoiling their children.

These children are the parents of today. They view their children as precious treasures and do for their children what their parents had done for them: give them everything they could. These parents also transformed Taiwan from a cheap labor island in Asia, to a “tech island” and an economic leader on the world stage. They have worked very hard to make all this happen and want to enjoy the fruits of their labor – and share them with their children.

But raising children in a prosperous economy is nothing like raising them during hardship. The parenting practices they learned from their parents were not applicable in this new age. This is parallel with the concept of “New Money.” The result is the “Strawberry Generation.”

What can be done? Even those self-aware parents are spoiling their children. Knowing is not enough.

Small Town, Big Success

2010-03-14T00:43:00.000-08:00

I'm reading a great new book, one I recommend to everyone: On Becoming a Leader, by Warren Bennis. I don't recommend this book because we need a world full of leaders, but we should at least be able to recognize the characteristics that distinguish real leaders and true talent.

The book references a survey Victor and Mildred Goertzel conducted on successful people from a wide range of backgrounds. They found out a lot of interesting things, among them were that most successful men and women came from small towns or villages.

This reminded me of an interesting thought I came up with after moving to the city for college. I had made several friends, specifically a couple who had grown up in cities. We talked at great length about the differences in our upbringings.

Children who grow up in small towns or villages, like myself, have to create ways to amuse themselves. We are not faced with the pleasant distractions of city life. My childhood friends and I would often spend hours discussing what few things we could do. We were forced to be creative, and often weren't able to think of anything. We cursed our boredom, but many of us overcame this and found passions worth pursuing.

Bored? Why not make a gigantic snowman?

Conversely, some city friends were "blessed" with many more options. They didn't have the problem of boredom, being let down, or not having anything fun to do. In contrast, they were quite spoiled. They were less likely to use their imaginations, they didn't need to since there was already so much for them.

How does this relate to success? As a "small town boy," I was used to not getting what I wanted. I was also taught, that if I wanted something, like a good time, or a fun day out with my friends, that would require some effort or even creativity on my part. Even with effort, I might fail. So I learned two lessons: how to work hard to get what I want, and how to cope with failure despite earnest efforts.

Conversely, I was surprised to see city friends who, after working hard and coming up short on something would be emotionally devastated, then quit altogether. They had grown up where things they wanted had always been easier to reach. The idea of working hard for something and then failing was not something they were used to. Experiencing failure in college was devastating for them.

Previously, I had thought that the boredom of my small town childhood was a blessing because it enabled me to better enjoy life later on. It helped me deal with the stresses associated with college life at a competitive university. After reading the book, I realize this might actually end up doing more for me in the future. My vision, my determination to be great, and my will power are all things that I can credit to my childhood. They are all things that I will rely on to take me farther in life.

我有話説 - That's right, I've got something to say

2010-03-11T04:04:00.000-08:00

I hate silly alarmists. That pretty much means I hate all forms of news. I'm in Taiwan right now. There's always talk of Chinese Vs. Taiwanese politics. A while back I read about a book stating that China was planning on taking over Taiwan by 2012, or something ridiculous like that.

My first comment is, if you're going to make such a bold statement, be careful about dates you put on it. This book, will become a serious joke in 2012 when history proves all predictions wrong. Now, I had a discussion with a few friends about why this would never happen. We're not politicians, we are not even well informed, but we were able to put aside our emotions and look at the situation objectively.

First, take a look at the plan, described by the author of this silly book (I'm not putting the name in this blog, I don't want publicize). China will move to make Taiwan more and more economically dependent on them, and then use this influence to control Taiwanese politics.

My first thought: not a bad plan, but what will happen to my residency status here... I better not get kicked out! I mean China has blocked Taiwan on the world stage several times, and it's basically been an issue of economics. Think about it, if China says to some small African country that you can only do business with us if you don't work with Taiwan... what will that African country say? "No thanks! Taiwan is a tech island, we need them to supply high tech products." I'm leaning more towards, "Well we want all of the cheap food, clothings, and manufactured products that China is producing anyway and we're not so concerned with advanced technology."

So at first glance, this seems like a reasonable idea. But hold on, what about motivation? Why does China want to re-assume full control of Taiwan? Because they're Chinese? Is it like why The US didn't want the South to break off? I mean, we were economically reliant on the South, and they hadn't split apart yet. But China and Taiwan have been ruled under separate law for a long time now. What about that economic desire? Well, if they can already make Taiwan economically dependent on them, to the point where they have enough influence to control their politics, then what do they actually have to gain? The only thing left is pride.

Now, let's take a quick look at the consequences of assimilating Taiwan. On the world stage, there is a delicate balance of power. No one wants to see the US, China... any of the major super powers, no one wants to see them continue to grow. We have a balance right now. China taking over Taiwan, a small democratic island, would not sit well with the other major countries of the world. And why in 2012!? Because of Chinas triumphant return to the world stage, they've been under an immense amount of criticism lately. US reporters are going crazy over in China, making more news than actually reporting.

I hate to read an article and feel the immediate sense of urgency that comes out of it. Feelings of intense anger are stirred up inside of me. Then I take a closer look at the article and realize, more often than not, 90% of the article is speculation pretending to be fact, and dressed in bright red screaming at you, trying to scare you. Why? Well, would you read an article otherwise. We live in a capitalist society, a capitalist world, even. Truth doesn't sell articles, fear does.

This is what China has to deal with. They're an easy target, and will continue to be for the next few years. If they make a move to take over Taiwan now, even if it is through a political strategy, they won't be gaining anything. They'll be giving the world actual news to report. They'll hinder their own reputation and important relations with the other superpowers of the world.

There could only be one reason for doing something like this: world domination. Yea that's right, China wants to take over the entire world - and they'll start with Taiwan. The US and European countries will be upset, but China doesn't care... soon they'll be a part of the Middle Kingdom, too!

--I'm disappointed with the news I read, to a point that it angers me. Not because I see only bad news and think the world is a bad place, but because I'm afraid other people are actually reading and believing these things.

A Little Red Book

2010-02-23T05:55:00.000-08:00

Aren't you supposed to place a nice novel beside your bed? Something nice to read before you drift off into your own dream world? I think a nice fantasy could encourage better sleep and more interesting dreams.

Business Leadership in China, this is my current bedside book. It's written by a successful businessman, Frank T. Gallo, who moved to China late in his career. Very late in his career: he was considering retirement when given the chance to live and work in China. So he continued his career and faced an array of new challenges in the new culture.

He had previously worked and lived in Japan, so he had prior experience learning about foreign cultures. But he had only first moved to China in 2004 and this book was published in 2008. I don't know how long it took him to get this book written and published, when you consider that, he may have only worked in China for a very short time before starting work on the book. There's no way you can consider him an expert on China, or even the specified regions in China, after living there for such a short time. But he does compensate for this by first having over 30 years of business and management experience to bring to the table and then include a lot of outside sources. It's obvious that he consulted many Chinese-business professionals while writing this book.

Gallo is a business expert and is knowledgeable about Chinese business. He's also interviewed a lot of other experts and is quoting them throughout the book. It's full of examples and is really a fun read if you're into cross cultural business or even just psychology. I've learned some interesting things.

Leadership is really about psychology, after all. Why do leadership strategies that work well in the US fail in China? He describes exactly this and suggests workarounds. What does it come down to, basically human transduction - how and why different cultures interpret things differently.

I recommend the book for those interested in understanding Chinese culture and psychology, especially if you have an interest in taking on a leadership role on the continent. But it's nothing profound. I've also never lived in China - no need to get into politics, but from a business perspective Taiwan is a different country and has a very different business culture. This is true regardless of your political standing.

Why Study a Foreign Culture?

2010-02-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

Transduction is the process of transforming one signal type into another. Take a car’s speedometer; the speed is the output of a transduction system. The input, or source, is the wheels’ number of revolutions per minute. This is linearly correlated with the rotation angle (the position) of the dial on your speedometer. It is then tuned and this is how you get a reading in miles per hour. This is a simple example taking one reading of revolutions per minute and converting it into miles per hour. Complex systems are made up of several layers of transduction between a variety of inputs and outputs.

Transduction plays a large role in making measurements, such as the speed of your car. Therefore, it’s important to note that when taking any measurement there’s an associated uncertainty. For example, you can use a ruler to determine a bar is 5.25 inches long. Using a set of calipers you find the bar is 5.2445 inches long. Which number is correct? The calipers, they have a higher degree of accuracy? No, both measurements are wrong. Using the ruler, with divisions at every 1/16th of an inch, the measurement is 5.25 +/- .06 inches. Likewise the micrometer’s measurement is 5.2445 +/- .005 inches. These measurements do not contradict each other like the previous set: they are both correct. Any number, especially statistical data, is meaningless unless it has an attached uncertainty. This uncertainty is affected by the transduction methods and thus the transducer.

Forgive me, I majored in mechanical engineering. But wait, I’m not lying to you with my title: this is surprisingly relevant to culture and the role it plays in all our lives. Transduction isn’t limited to the scientific world. It is involved in any instance where an input of one kind is converted. Replace that speedometer in my first example with the words that I’m typing, now. They started out as thoughts in my head: a combination of things I’ve learned from different sources. They’ve gotten mixed up, rearranged and combined. That is the first level of transduction. They were combined into a new thought that I contemplated for some time. They were written on paper, another level of transduction: the transformation of thoughts into handwritten words. Then they were read over and critiqued for accuracy as I thought, “Are these words clearly expressing my thoughts?” They were edited accordingly, transduction again. I typed them into my computer and again ran through the editing process. Finally, you are reading and converting my words into information, thoughts, opinions, and ideas inside of your own head: the final layer of transduction.

Your thoughts are not identical to my original thoughts. This is what is lost in the transduction process; this is the associated uncertainty. I can only hope that you get a “good enough” impression of what I’m trying to explain. There was an element of uncertainty in the words I originally wrote down; each layer of transduction affected the uncertainty. The more you know about my writing style and me in general (the transducers at work here), the better you will understand my thoughts and the lesser the uncertainty. The more I know about my readers, the more I can anticipate their reaction to my words; the more I can control the thoughts that enter their head while reading. Knowing your audience is the first step when writing: it enables you to adjust your transduction methods and reduce uncertainty.

Communication is a transduction process. Our words, verbal and written alike, are transducers – transferring my ideas to yours. Culture is a transducer: it filters everything we interpret. Behaviors seen as polite in some cultures are seen as rude in others. Despite the same input our cultural transduction systems output opposite responses.
This extends much farther than culture. This is the key to understanding what people feel, why they feel that way, and how they communicate.

Human transduction is specific to each individual, but an understanding at the cultural level is the first step to being able to understand individuals, and more importantly yourself.

“So why study foreign culture?” is a naïve question. You may as well ask: “Why would you learn how to speak?” or “Why would you learn how to read?”

Why Taiwan?

2010-01-17T00:20:00.000-08:00

It's not what you think

I grew up in a Catholic family, not a terribly serious one. My father was a regular church goer. My mother was hit-or-miss, more often miss than hit. I had religious education classes and was confirmed. In high school I attended church religiously. I also prayed nightly – confessing my sins and counting my blessings.

I was a pretty good Catholic! Maybe that was why I started to doubt my religion. There were a lot of people in church, and I was a teenager. I felt like I was judged by some of the fellow church goers. Few and far between, but I lead a more honest and Catholic life than almost everyone I knew. But the feeling in Church, the atmosphere, it led me to some doubts. No one’s perfect all the time, but it often felt like people let that be an excuse. It wasn’t the last straw, but it was a start.

Then I went to college – Boston University (BU). What a great place! I found myself studying mechanical engineering and meeting people from all over the world: Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, China, Taiwan, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Massachusetts. It was great to explore other cultures. I loved learning about different lifestyles (did you know its common practice for German men to pee sitting down – not just common practice, but good manners!). Now, fully removed from my Church, I began to think more and more about flying independent. I continued to pray, although probably not every night. I didn’t feel like I needed to hear the moral lectures and the stories anymore. I didn’t feel the need to profess my faith or go to Church. I found myself more interested in culture.

I began exploring Japanese culture. I had studied Karate and the ideas of discipline and martial arts were really attractive. I talked with my Japanese friends more and more. By studying culture I thought I could figure what parts of the way we live are cultural and learned, and which parts are more naturally human. Comparing and contrasting how different cultures perceive different things and express the same emotions is a great way to get started.

As I dove more into cultural study I found myself farther and farther away from the Church. Then, I thought about history more than before and found myself upset. The idea that when the savior came to Earth, came to us, he came to one spot. Okay, in the Middle East. At that time a central location, but, the most advanced civilization was China. Couldn’t more people have been saved; couldn’t the word have been spread faster and farther? Certain people were chosen to receive salvation? Others were damned, despite ignorance. That’s not cool. The forgiving and understanding God, a father figure, he would not select only a few of his children for salvation. Especially not when he’s omnipotent and all powerful. He could easily spread the world to all civilizations.

A serious lapse in faith.

Not reason to denounce God, or the chance of a higher power. But reason for me to leave my Church (it’s easy when you’re Catholic; we have a great policy on forgiveness). Is there a god? I don’t know, but I’m comfortable not knowing. At this point in my life I asked myself: “What do I really know?” Seriously, ask yourself, “What do I really know?” Now anything that’s second hand experience – you don’t actually know (ever seen Jim Carrey inThe Truman Show?). The only things you can be sure of are first hand experiences. Do a little research; I encourage you to look up the Rashomon effect. Soon you’ll realize that you can’t even trust your own first-hand experiences. There’s a bias. Fortunately, once you’re aware of a bias, you can take corrective measures and get a good estimation on the truth. There’s always a degree of uncertainty (I’m a big critic), But some things are more certainty than others. Knowing this I began my venture – my quest for knowledge, for truth that I could be sure of based on my own experiences.

Suddenly foreign cultures were more than interesting: they were a way to learn about myself. What things: actions, behaviors, even thoughts and feelings – how much is taught through culture? How much is natural? Language is a key part of culture; to study the culture you’ve got to study the language and vice versa (blogged on this).

So, why Taiwan?

Well, I was initially steered in the direction of Japan, even started practicing with Pimsleurs Japanese. Then I met a Chinese girl from Taiwan studying at BU. After a while I decided to change to Chinese, her parents couldn’t speak English and if I were to travel internationally it seemed like I’d go to Taiwan with her before I went to Japan. I also made a promise to myself to not change languages again, and to continue studying Chinese until it was good. Regardless of my personal life, I was committed to the language.

After graduation (BSME Class of 2009) my Chinese was not fluent. Job hunting, well I blogged about that. It was time for me to move to Taiwan or China and continue studying. The best opportunity came in Fengyuan City, Taichung County, Taiwan.

Now my original goal remains very much the same. But another goal has come up. I’m not here studying the language and culture just for self realization anymore; I’m doing it to build a career. My goal is to combine my technical strengths and knowledge with the cultural expertise I’m developing: to serve as the technical expert on Asia – specifically Taiwan and China. It’s early now, but so far so good.

US Vs Taiwan Job Hunting - New Job - New City

2010-01-03T05:22:00.001-08:00

I've done my fair share of job hunting, now inside and outside of the US. I mean I pretty much started searching for an engineering job at the start of last year. Sending out application and updating my resume. I had a phone interview last Fall, and that was about it. A phone call here or there. Let me take this moment to familiarize you with my background: BSME from Boston University, Class of 2009, 3.04 GPA and an impressive list of work experiences for any college student including: IT support at Harvard Business School, a summer internship at Quantum Engineering (HVAC), one full year (part/ full time) at Fraunhofer CMI - an international R&D company where I worked as an Engineering assistant on some impressive design projects. This can look pretty good for someone who is about to graduate.... and only one phone interview - are you joking?

Sure we're in a recession. In fact, every hiring manager knows we are in a recession. This keeps us in a recession. Their motivation towards work, their jobs, and hiring is lacking. I continued to job hunt while in Taiwan, after deciding I needed to not teach English (several months ago) and I interviewed with both US and Taiwanese companies. The biggest difference is in attitude. In Taiwan I was interviewed by people with motivation - and in the US by people who seemed less sure of what they needed and relatively dull and unmotivated. How do you expect these people to pull us out of the recession?

Taipei 101 as seen from company apartment with "Taiwan UP" written near the top.

Not everyone in the US is like this, but it's a general feeling. What I think the US needs is this younger generation. Sorry to you older guys, but you've messed up. You've accomplished a lot, but you're old now and you're not as sharp as you used to be. It's time for the younger generation to take over, but we can't take over - we aren't being offered jobs. Boston University is a fantastic school - it's college of engineering is respectable to say the least - mechanical engineering is a broad and versatile field. How can I, not only a well educated and experienced engineering graduate, but also a well spoken candidate, have so much trouble finding even a low paying job? Boston University, according to more than once source, is one of the top 100 schools in the world - not the US, the world. The most recent time I checked, it was 77th.

I'm sure if I stayed at home in the US and job hunted for six months straight (like many of my former classmates did) I would be thrown a bone. But why? To be stuck in what I'm assuming will be a stale work environment. Meanwhile people on this side of the world (Taiwan), are not only alive and motivated, but prepared to make an impressive offer for a fresh graduate.

I'm bitter about the job hunting experience, to say the least. But I'll use that motivation to succeed in my new job. I'm working now as a technical writer in Taipei. This new job opens a lot of doors for me to explore the culture as well. For starters Taipei has a greater concentration of more recent Chinese immigrants into Taiwan, where in the South people have been in Taiwan for a much longer time. Their cultures and attitudes are distinctly different. I'm also now living and working in the heart of a major international city. The new job, at an international company, give me the chance to learn about Taiwanese professional business practices and study how they differ from their customers - in Japan, mainland China and the US.

Henceforth my cultural experiences will focus around Taipei, as opposed to previously living in the small city of Fengyuan, outside of Taichung. It should be fun.

Taipei Marathon - Post Report

2009-12-21T06:06:00.000-08:00

Well as you all know I had some things going against me pre race. I didn't sleep all that well and for sure didn't get 8 hours. But that doesn't actually matter. I had a head cold - that didn't matter. Seriously, I don't think either of these affected me. Why? I didn't let them.

I woke up on race day and thought, aw my head cold, I feel like crap. Should I bail out -- "FUCK THAT, IT'S RACE TIME." Yes, that is how I talk to myself when no one is around. You have to be your own biggest critic if you want to be great at anything. It's not that I spent so much time preparing for this race (5 weeks is nothing to prepare for a marathon), it is that I decided to do it and unless running it was really going to hurt me, I was not bailing out. My pre-race photo:

Well it was cold, the temperature fluctuated in between 11 and 12 degrees Celsius. Not bad for a marathon, a couple degrees colder than I wanted. I wore a long sleeve black shirt under the racing jersey, then some nice racing shorts with long black spandex for bottoms. It was probably the best choice of clothing to have gone with. Then I ran, I was frustrated at first because I had a hard time finding the staring line and which way to run out. So I was actually at the very back, behind all the old people. Oh man and they wouldn't let me push my way forward too far, so the start was painfully slow. Fortunately it thinned out quickly, a lot quicker than the Boston Marathon does (there were much fewer people here). After maybe 10 minutes I was able to run comfortably, it was crowded, but I could maneuver around people and move at my own pace. I was really slow at the first split I recognized. Maybe it was the 10k mark and thought that was weird because I felt I had been going fast. Then I remembered the initial hold up and decided to keep pace.

Marathons are boring. By the way, I just wanted to race. But in a marathon you have to pace yourself. So it's boring, it takes forever, even the good runners. Anyway, I hit the halfway mark a bit fast. The race was boring and my competitive nature could no longer be restrained. I changed to a specialized, pre-made playlist on my i-pod. The "Resurrection" playlist. I made this to bring me back, if I hit a wall in the marathon. I had not hit a wall at this point, I merely decided that my initial goal of 3:30 was too slow, this race was boring, I should finish faster, and all those people in front of me, well I'm better than them and should beat them. That's my competitive nature.

Then I remembered the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon, for my age group, was something like a 3:10. Okay, lets pick up the pace and try to hit that. The music was good, I passed many people. Even when I was running slower and recovering I was constantly moving forward in place. I couldn't go any slower, I couldn't pace off of anyone else, I just needed to keep passing and moving forward. There were plenty of people to run by. It was great. Of course there were still many more in front of me, I'm not an elite marathon runner.

So I kicked it in. It was painful at the end, there were some downhills. I know what you're thinking, "running downhill is great!" NO, not after you've run over 20 miles. Your legs soar and every time they flex it hurts. When you run downhill your legs hit the ground harder and your muscles -those soar and aching muscles - they absorb the impact. In other words, each step hurts so much more when you have to run downhill.

I crossed the finish, running strong, in a time of 3:14 (unofficial). I didn't check the posted results, I figured I'd wait for them to post them online. So I don't know my place, although I'm eager to see my official place as well as the times that those elite runners crossed in. They were really good. After the race I was fine. I mean I was aching and in pain but it was nothing like when I ran the Boston Marathon in 2007. Back then I could hardly walk, going downstairs was torture. I feel that way now, but back then I couldn't walk down stairs - I had to fall down them. This year I could walk up and down all I wanted, it just hurt. That's what happens when you actually prepare for a marathon - it won't kill you.

All in all I'd say the marathon was good. The course wasn't great but whatever. They gave you a towel and medal after finishing. The racing jersey was sweet and the registration fee wasn't that steep.

This is how I looked after returning home:

Pre race report

2009-12-19T06:08:00.000-08:00

The marathon is tomorrow. How do I feel, not really excited. I'm a bit sick and even though I haven't run since last Monday I had a weird spasm in my left calf around 6am this morning. I started moving to Taipei today and Taiwan just got hit with a wave of cold weather.

The jersey is nice, I love Taipei. I'm exhausted, though. At check in I was pumped, I remembered what it felt like to see the guys your going to race against. My instincts and desire for victory momentarily took over. But I'm not that excited now, I've been in a lot of races before. I'm just hoping to get through things with killing myself, really.

I mean when I'm out there the opinion will change. My racing instincts will kick in and I'll have to do my best to control my pace. Hopefully the weather's good and the race goes well. Hopefully I'll have something nice to share with you after the race tomorrow.

A weekend of weird encounters

2009-12-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

I live a pretty ordinary life. My interests are running, Tennis, Kung Fu and culture. I don't spend lots of time out at night. Perhaps that's what makes this weekend so interesting.

On Saturday I went to Taichung to buy some clothes. I went to this shop in the night market, near the Taichung boys high school. The guy working was very helpful, although he came off as super gay. So when he was friendly and telling me what looked good on me, well it was a little uncomfortable, but not too bad. I found a great jacket, hand made in Japan and everything. But I had already bought a couple shirts and another jacket so I was out of $$. I resigned to come back the next day.

On my way home I decided to take a cab to get me the one mile back to the train station. I had a date to get to at 6 and did not want to be late. The cab driver asked me where I was going and volunteered to take me the whole way for $500NT. No way man too expensive. I got the price down to $420, and by that time he had already changed his route. More expensive than the train, but worth it if I wasn't going to be late.

So we talked, obviously in Chinese. The conversation came to women and he spent some time telling me how the women here, Taiwanese girls, really, really like US guys, especially the ones like me: so young and able to speak Chinese. He tells me about how he overheard his daughter talking with her friends about exactly this.

Later on he asks for my number, saying he'll introduce me to some girls and then I can give him a red envelope. Red envelopes are traditional Chinese gifts given out at New Year's time: they contain money. Sometimes a lot of money. He says yea, I'll introduce you to some pretty girls and if you get married you can send me a red envelope, you know what I mean? Of course, yea, I know what a red envelope is.

I get out of the cab, after he gives me his phone number, I go to meet my friend. I tell her about my weird encounter - she reveals the cab drivers true identity: a pimp. OH MAN! I did not see that coming. Maybe you did, but come on, this is my second language and Chinese always ask strangers questions about girlfriends and marriage, so the conversation was quite natural. Then the hints he was dropping, I mistook them for questions testing my knowledge of the culture. Incredibly naive, I admit, but now wiser for the experience.

The weekend was not over yet. I returned to Taichung to pick up my jacket the next day. On the way in two guys approached me asking about who I was and if I liked to go out to bars and clubs in Taichung. Then asking for my contact info, hoping to take me out sometime. They didn't look gay, but I have two guesses: they are either into me, or they want to take me to a club and use me to attract women. Why else would two random dudes come up and try to make friends like that? Seems odd to me.

Back at the store the same guy was working, "帥哥" (Shuai Ge) - Handsome Brother, he announced with enthusiasm. He was busy helping out three Taiwanese guys shopping around. He engaged me in friendly conversation, a bit on the over friendly/ enthusiastic side. The Taiwanese guys all laugh.. "like look at the gay dude hit on the foreigner, oh man." ~Awkward~ It gets better, kind of. I pick up the coat and try it on again, nice fit. Okay, lets buy it. But the guy wants to get my photo taken first to post it on the website, oh man. He says he's going to put it on the home page if I don't mind. I'm flattered, but feeling a bit awkward.

I guess I should be flattered, right. But it's awkward to be hit on, or just think you're being hit on by guys. I mean, it'd be nice if women were just coming up to me and asking for my MSN/ phone number all the time. I guess that does happen on occasion, but this weekend was somehow off.

The Outsiders

2009-12-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

Ethnicity cannot be changed. To study a foreign culture one must assume a role in the community and fully submerge. However, one can never become a true member of that culture, despite being able to put on a different skin, they cannot change their blood, their ethnicity and their own personal past. Despite these physical barriers, these outsiders are the most qualified to study the local culture, more so than those that make up and live the culture themselves.

Once immersed in a foreign culture the outsider learns not about his new environment, but about his original culture. “One cannot see the forest for the trees,” and this is the first time he has been taken out of the forest that is his culture. From this new perspective he is able to see and understand his way of life for the first time, not just bits and pieces, but the whole picture. At the same time he is immersed in a new culture giving him a comparison, but also forcing him to question the meanings behind various cultural differences. Experiencing a new culture enables the outsider to view how different cultures use different methods for interpreting the basics of human nature that we all feel. He is no longer just learning about the two cultures, but also about the underlying nature of humanity as a whole.

After immersion the outsider realizes the truths of their own culture they were previously blind to. They have learned how to learn about cultures in general and are qualified to study their new environment. They are able to see from a far enough perspective that they can get the whole picture. At the same time they can immerse themselves in it and dive in to analyze it firsthand. So the outsider has the unique ability to view the forest from afar, but also dive in and take a close look at the trees. Conversely the locals are limited to their “tree perspective.” The same people who believe a foreigner is incapable of understanding or fully appreciating their culture. Blinded by their own sense of pride, they are unable to understand their own culture and thus their own individual identities.

The outsider has to face many obstacles in the study of a foreign culture. Immersion is not enough. The frustrations associated with cultural differences must be conquered, the language must be learned and every aspect of the culture must be lived. May things are impossible to experience: I can never be a high school student in Taiwan. I can, however, teach English to children in Taiwan and study their experiences second hand. For many aspects of culture and life, second hand experiences are the best one can hope for. Full knowledge and understanding will require years of experience and immersion in the culture, approaching the learning process with an open mind and learning from the full range of people and classes in the culture. The culture needs to be studied on the personal and intimate level as well as the general and impersonal level: looking at the specifics of relationships and how they change with each generation, but also looking at the social norms and public behavior.

The outsider has to face many disadvantages when studying a new culture but by being an outsider they are in the ideal position for learning. After overcoming the initial obstacles they are able to learn not only about their new culture but also about their native one. Most importantly they gain an understanding for human nature common to all cultures of the world.

Ignorance equals bliss: Education equals isolation

2009-12-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Isn't it true that the more ignorant of the world we are the happier we are in it? It's easy to just go with the flow and live a care free life.

Conversely education, some of the things I value learning most in my life, have led to isolation from my peers.

The first time I had this experience was after I decided to become a runner. I put more energy and passion into running than I saw anyone else put in towards their endeavors. What it taught me was the values of hard work and long term commitment: the meaning of living for the purpose of achieving your goal. I made it my life for over four years. I also failed; I lost races I should have won. I know what it feels like to work for four years, pouring you heart and soul into something, and then fail. I also know how to stand back up and win the next time around.

Conversely I would see other runners. Perhaps they would set a goal halfway through one season, and after a month of focusing on this goal, with wavering ambition, fail. They'd be heartbroken. Are you kidding me? After putting in so little effort, how can you be so emotional? If your goals meant so much to you then you should have worked harder.

In the end I was left with a strong sense of dedication and ambition. The majority of people lack this much resolve, and so I am left, even to this day, feeling a bit segregated from them, as if they can't really understand or fully appreciate these values.

Going to college furthered my education and thus my isolation. Not only did I learn about the technical world of mechanical engineering, but I was exposed to city life in a bright and culturally diverse setting - Boston University. It was hard to return home. There was no good Chinese food, people were oblivious to some my new interests. They seemed to move around and think slower. My unique education had again led to segregation.

Now I'm fully immersed in a foreign culture. I've learned so much here to the point where I don't really feel like an American anymore. At the same time, I'm not a Chinese or Taiwanese. I'm not unlike an orphan. It's not that I wouldn't be welcome back in the US, or not that I'm not welcome in Taiwan, but my education of both cultures has brought me to a new level of isolation.

It's always been my personal belief that one should choose an unhappy truth over an ignorant bliss. I may be less happy, in some ways, but I'm certainly more satisfied living this way.

小虎燕 - Small Tiger Sparrow Form

2009-11-10T05:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of me performing the small tiger form. This was back in October so I am late in getting it up. You can tell the form still needs some cleaning up but it's nothing I'm embarrassed about.

Announcement

2009-11-08T00:04:00.000-08:00

I've made an official decision to run the Taipei Marathon. I'm going to be living in Taiwan for a year, as a former runner it would not be right to neglect this opportunity. I'll also have to soon stop referring to myself as a "former" runner.

Me running the Northeast Regionals for BU (the only Varsity Cross Race I ran) 10k through Van Cortland State Park in about 34:08

I've enjoyed two Kung Fu performances (for some mediocre pictures and videos please check my picasa account - link of the left) so far so it is time for me to train my body in a different way for a little while. That's not to say I will not be studying Kung Fu in the park anymore, it's just to say that while I do this my legs will pretty much be spent and it just won't be my primary focus for a short time.

The date is December 20. Given my current fitness level this should be enough time. For sure I have more time to devote to training than when I ran the Boston Marathon in 2003. That being said I intend to beat my time.

The Gauntlet has been thrown, now to work through the Chinese registration website.

Life’s about the Journey

2009-11-04T23:18:00.000-08:00

Life is about the Journey. I was a runner. I won several high school races including some big invitationals and even our sectional championship. I set my high school track record for the 3.2km (2 mile). As a freshmen and sophomore I was not only the track team’s lead distance runner but also our number one Tennis player.

I feel sorry for someone who lists their high school accomplishments out like this and speaks with a great deal of pride. This short list of sports victories has little meaning. But my time in high school was not a waste, I can tell you what did have meaning: an intense and diligent training schedule that lasted the entire four years of high school, running 45 weeks out of the year, waking up at 5 am to run through the cold rain and snow, running through windy snowstorms, running down unknown trails, running on my own, desperately working to bring a greater sense of meaning to my life. This is what meant something. I’m not that tall and only have so much natural talent so I had to work that much harder to win those races. Winning those races, creating that list above meant I had to struggle through the training. The struggle that created the list, that is what has meaning.

Winning those races was nothing more than superficial compared to the training, but it also gave the training direction and a purpose. Without the goals I set for myself I would not have had any need for the training. Life is about the journey, but a worthwhile journey requires a worthwhile goal.

Fast-forward to today and the time I am spending in Taiwan. I have a very real and meaningful goal: the pursuit of fluency in Mandarin and to study as much modern culture as I can. These goals are leading me on a new journey. I am meeting friends and getting thrown into awkward situations. I am able to view this culture and the world in a new way.

In contrast with most of the other foreigners I meet, my goals are very different. Typically their reason for leaving their own country is an escape. Life wasn’t great back in their respective country, family troubles, girl problems, and crappy jobs without a clear or bright future... so they came to Taiwan for a change. They have come here for an escape.

Escape is an end. Escape is the goal. Once you have arrived in the foreign country you have already satisfied your goal. They no longer have an objective; they no longer have a direction or a compass. Instead they are left drifting; they are controlled by the external forces that they encounter.

Typically these people don’t learn the language, not past the most basic and childish level. They are exposed to only one side of the culture and are never actually able to immerse themselves to a point learning. They end up forming a community with other foreigners and isolate themselves. Their interaction with the locals is limited to English speakers. They are severely limited. Most men end up indulging in women and never really accomplishing anything significant. The journey that is their life has no depth; they are just being guided by the waves that are their most basic desires.

By resisting the superficial pleasures I’ve been able to develop a lot of real friendships with a variety of people. I meet very few people my own age but through my job (teaching English) I’m able to study how children behave and grow up in modern Taiwan. I get to study Taiwanese parenting culture.

By studying Shaolin Kung Fu I’m able to associate with the older generation. The only way this is even possible is with my Chinese since they can’t speak English. My interaction with them grants me a view into a piece of Taiwan that very few foreigners would have a chance to experience. I am daily acquiring invaluable knowledge, knowledge much more valuable than the superficial fun and games that most foreigners enjoy.

Life is about the journey, no, life is a journey. If your journey lacks a goal then it lacks direction. You are as good as a person drifting in a small boat out at sea with no paddle. A goal, a compass, a direction – this is your oar. You don’t necessarily have to reach your goal, but you now have the ability to take control of your life for yourself, you have the ability to add meaning to your life and truly live well. The meaning of life is to live.

What it means to be an American

2009-10-31T03:20:00.000-07:00

Before I came to Taiwan

America is a sad country full of people who have an undeserved sense of entitlement. The result is our economic recession. How can we have unions in the auto industry "protecting" our uneducated factory workers and their $70K+ a year salaries while a fresh engineering graduate in Japan may make $30k. How can Ford afford to pay so much more and expect to produce the same quality product when our employees will be gone right at 40 hours a week while 40 hrs a week to those same Japanese workers sounds like a holiday. How can the CEO of a company claim a 7 figure salary while the company is not able to earn a profit? I had heard about people working to death in Taiwan and Japan fairly often, but not so much in the US. Why? Too lazy to work to death?

What's more we are far too dependent on credit, especially empty credit. I know plenty of personal examples. What happens when bills come due? Despite learning about the roaring 20's and America's entrance into the great depression, we never really learn.

America thinks they're on top. Wrong. European and Asian fashions are far more trendy. We've been looking up to Japanese technology for the past several years. What do we have? A better economy, well how long can that last with the above mentioned comments? Population power? Not with China and India. If America is number one, they are too fat and dumb to stay there for long and I'm thinking we're not actually number one at all.

After living in Taiwan for four months

I'm proud to be an American. I am proud to be an American. Yes the above comments remain true, but our own arrogance is double sided. We have an over-sized ego and an undeserved sense of entitlement. This drives us to only accept the best, to push ourselves and demand high quality. Even our cheap merchandise is high quality. I'm in Taiwan and when you buy something cheap here... well you better not be attached to it. If you want something good, you can definitely get it, but be prepared to pay as much as, or perhaps more than you would have if you were still in the US (with exceptions of course).

Even as I'm visiting friends and examining lifestyles of some of the more wealthy here in Taiwan, I'm left with a great sense of American pride. Looking at things like how buildings had been built, yea those uneducated workers in the US are doing a much better job than the ones here. Our final products (I'm specifically talking about buildings here) have a different style and, while I prefer the Asian one, it's obvious which has a higher quality.

What about the working conditions? Well, I have Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese friends and I have been exposed to a lot of different opinions towards work. Americans are among the hardest workers in the world. That doesn't mean they spend 100 hours a week working. But perhaps in 40 hours they used more effort than others did in twice that time.

In the West we're more focused on outcomes. Here they are focused on "how hard did you work." Well the most common measure of effort is time. We don't usually say, I burned 10,000 calories working on that report. No, we say I spent all night from 8pm till 7am this morning. We use time, even in the US. But I don't care how long you spent on your report. I care about the content. In the US the focus is on the end product and this is how our hard work is judged. In Asia the focus is more along the duration of work spent and this determines whether or not you are a hard worker.

I want the world to know that I was, and continue to be, a big critic of the US. Despite that I am proud to say that I am an American and I have faith in the future of the US. Can we be number 1 forever, of course not. Maybe we aren't even number 1 right now, but that's not to say we don't have potential.

Studying Chinese Language and learning the culture -- studying the culture to learn the language

2009-09-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

Studying a foreign language is a gateway into a new culture. Thoughts and ideas are expressed, and phrases are structured to directly reflect the culture. Learning the language is the gateway to understanding the people.

Chinese, however, requires more than just the study of the language. Often times proverbs consisting of only 4 or 8 characters (words) entail a great deal of meaning. They are the profound morals of ancient tales. If you were just to hear or read the proverb without knowing the story, you'd be missing meaning. To understand the language and be fluent, you have to study the culture. Now the language is insufficient for communication and studying the culture becomes equally important.

For example if I were to translate one proverb I just studied: Towards oneself spear shield. 自相矛盾。 The meaning is that someone is being a hypocrite or is contradicting themselves. The story behind this phrase is that a salesman was boasting about his spears and shields. He said there's no shield in the world that his spears couldn't penetrate. Naturally his shields were also the strongest in the world and he boasted there were no spears able to penetrate them. When asked what would happen if one of his spears were used against one of his shields, the man had no answer. A foolish and blatant hypocrite, the moral and meaning of the story is summed up in those four character above, literally: self, towards, spear, shield.

This is a relatively simple example of the entanglement of culture and language. Often times only the first 4 characters of an 8 character proverb are written somewhere. If you know the proverb and the culture behind it, this is all you need to grasp the meaning. Take someone like me, however, who is proud to recognize these characters but can't decipher the meaning: People before earlier come. Well it ends up meaning, after you know the rest of the proverb and the culture behind it: "Greater than all who have come before him."

Now Chinese love to quote and reference these proverbs. They've been learning them for years and it's totally common for them to bring them up when talking about business. So if you truly want to master the Chinese language and communicate without hindrance... studying Chinese culture and history is a requirement. As if studying the language itself wasn't a daunting task, now we've all got more work to do. The good news is that the study is quite rewarding.

New Shaolin form

2009-09-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today it has been 9 full weeks of learning Shaolin Kung Fu in the park. I've just now begun to learn a new form. My teacher says I'll learn it quickly: in three days. I spent over two months on the last form and now I'll begin learning a second one. This is fitting. I believe there will also be a performance on the 26th of this month. Look for a relevant update around that time.

Ghost Month in Taiwan: A silly superstition -- a sensible faith

2009-09-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

Early last month I was surprised on a morning run. I had retreated, from running against traffic on the road, to the sidewalk. I expected a haven. I found a woman burning what I thought to be garbage outside of her front door and in the middle of the sidewalk. I was frightfully forced back to the road where I decided the oncoming traffic was less of a threat than random sidewalk fires. On later runs I noticed people setting up tents in the streets. They put tables out and filled them with food. I paid little attention to them, assuming that this must be a season of graduations and weddings and the tents were for hosting celebrations.

My coworker was later advised not to buy a new scooter as it was Ghost Month. Ghost Month is a time when the deceased ancestors of the past are released and run through the world of the living. It is a time for the living to pay respect to those who have come before and ease their suffering. The woman I saw outside burning had been burning ghost money on the street as an offering and I would later see many more people doing this. The tents were not for family celebrations: they were offerings to the ghosts. These offerings included a lot of Chinese foods, but also Coca Cola, Heineken and many other fairly common things we eat all the time.

If you are thinking the same thing I was when I learned about these offerings then you are no doubt wondering: “So what happens to the food?” I asked my friend exactly this. The ghosts don’t eat it… so how long is it left there? After a couple hours the living will then eat the food, but that’s not the point. The food serves as an offering for the ghosts and so later eating it yourself can bring good luck. My initial impression of Ghost Month: utterly superstitious. But this holiday is celebrated widely across Taiwan and China, so are all Chinese really superstitious?

Our first impressions need always be reconsidered from a different perspective. I imagined the life of a traditional Chinese raised here and then moved to the US to see the holidays I experienced growing up Catholic.

The first thing that came to mind was the weekly receiving of the sacrament. Imagine explaining how, after undergoing a service and prayer it is time to drink the blood and eat the body of your savior? Your savior died almost 2000 years ago. Of course even non-Christian Americans are familiar with the meaning behind the body and blood of Christ and its well know that it is a symbol. But taken out of context it seems as if we are cannibals that believe eating our savior will lead us to salvation: a glorious life after death. It would be foolish not to ask: “Are you some cult of want-to-be vampires?” (This is not meant as an insult to the Catholic faith; I’m demonstrating the profound meaning surrounding relativity)

Now contrast the existence of ghosts with the existence of an omnipotent god. Americans are primarily monotheistic. It is commonplace among Western faiths to think of only one god and anything else is old fashioned. In general this god’s beginning coincides with the beginning of time itself – his origin is unexplainable. Conversely the gods that are worshipped, or the ghosts here in Asia have a distinct origin. They are the spirits of our ancestors. They came before us and have an easily defined, dare I say, easier to believe origin.

My first impression was that these ghost-fearing Chinese are silly and superstitious. After a bit of thought I realized these superstitions are less surprising then those I’ve grown desensitized in the West. Ghost Month is not superstitious in the least, it is religious. I am not of this faith, yet it seems more logical than my own estranged faith.

---These are just the opinions of an Engineer working abroad as a foreign teacher. Don’t be offended but I invite you to offer me any criticism; be it constructive or otherwise.

2 months -- Foreigners in Taiwan

2009-08-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

I've now been in Taiwan for two months. It's been great and I've been treated very well. I've learned a lot and my Chinese has certainly improved, although I'm still quite the novice.

Although I may have experienced a slight racist experience today, I want everyone to know that I have been treated well here: in many ways better than I deserve.

My coworker and I went out to lunch at a local steak house. This is a nice looking place, although it is affordable (for steak, keeping in mind that there are no cows in Taiwan). It had just opened about a month ago. My coworker and I were led around by the hostess, she first brought us to the left and, despite seeing an open table quickly turned around and led us to a larger table in the back. We were the only ones there.

Later a large group came in and sat next to us... but got up before settling and presumed to change their seat. I was baffled: did they just request not to be seated next to the foreigners? Was there another explanation? I wondered and conversed with my colleague. Later, an older man and his wife sat, briefly on the other side of the room and then had the same reaction. No way! I must have been a coincidence or something we were overlooking. But the feeling was that we had been stuck in the back of this restaurant and no one wanted to sit next to us.

As a white male I've been exposed to very few racist comments. A black girl called me "White boy," with a snear once or twice. I distinctly recall hearing this once with her friends reply saying, "Leave him alone." Regardless, any kind of racism can really make your blood boil. Just thinking that we may have been segregated to the back room and that people didn't want to sit next to us... the idea infuriated me. Of course my ignorance of the situation was more than enough to calm me down, but...

Let me remind you, we were in a steak house. We ordered NEW YORK STYLE STEAKS! I am a New Yorker!

I encourage everyone to rid their lives of racist actions, to the best of your abilities and within reason. I also thought the steak was okay, at best. If you plan on traveling to Taiwan, get your fill of steaks before your trip.

Taiwan Vs China

2009-08-19T05:15:00.000-07:00

There are many differences between Taiwan and China. There are also a lot of interesting similarities. Whatever your opinion on Taiwan's independence is, you cannot argue that Taiwan is a Chinese place. I've heard mainland Chinese people say that Taiwanese were more traditionally Chinese than those in the mainland. I've also heard from a rather educated tourist, that people in the mainland will see a foreigner and try to put up a front... basically they want you to think they are very traditional. Likewise the people in Taiwan had no need to put up a front, they simply lived and breathed traditionally.

This is interesting because Taiwan is more modernized, and has developed faster than China.

But the difference I want to focus on is one my friend often received in her emails. She is Taiwanese and would often receive chain letters comparing Taiwan and China. They always depicted China as a crazy backwards country that new no manners. For example, pictures of kids peeing on a tree in the newly built Disney Land. Or photos of the most disgusting toilets you could ever imagine, with captions like, "Do you really want to go to the bathroom in mainland China?"

Today, as I was walking home from a main street I passed by a toy shop for children. I heard a woman's voice behind a car parked right in front of the shop. She muttered something and then... "right here" (I'm translating of course). I looked over and in plain sight I saw her son with his pants down around his but as he was aiming his pistol. What the hell!? This was two feet from the stores front door and on the side of the road. They didn't even take the couple steps to get all the way behind the car. I was tempted to take out my camera and take a shot right there, but, well, that would have been hard to explain.

In any event, I'm a bit critic of how childish and absurd politics and national judgements are made these days. Think twice before you make a racist or nationalistic statement looking down on another place; and take a better look at the people around you first. This is a valuable lesson for everyone, not just Taiwan.

All things aside, Taiwan may not be the most sophisticated place, especially since I'm living out of a major city, but it is still a great place to live. The people here have all been great.

功夫 -- update

2009-08-13T06:47:00.001-07:00

I try to keep this blog more meaningful than a simple list of updates on my life... but there may be some people interested in my Kung Fu training and if not, well I'd love to talk about it anyway.

I've continued to practice Kung Fu on weekday mornings before class. I finished learning the general movements of the first form some time ago, maybe 3 weeks ago by now, but I've only been working on that thus far. I have no complaints whatsoever: I'm being taught really well about the movements and their meanings. I also get two points of view to learn from: my teacher who teaches me a more traditional style, and his grandson who practices a more elegant and modern style. I'm thinking the difference is primarily that the older style is more focused on actual use and the modern style is more focused on competition. Either way it has been great to learn so far. Here is a video clip of Huang Po Sheng practicing the entire form in a performance:

Too bad this video isn't better quality. Po Sheng actually gave me a few vidoes from differnet performances. Here he is doing a different form:

This was the form that they originally started teaching me. After one day Huang Grandfather said this was for children and that Po Sheng would finish teaching it to me, but that he would teach me the above form. Keep in mind my Chinese is still limitted so the message your getting from me is a weakly translated one.

Here is one more video of some guy I don't even know, but he looks good throwing down this open hand form:

I don't know if I'll learn any weapons myself, although they did mention it. As for now, I prefer just to learn the open hand forms, but if anything develops I'll post it. Of course I'll post a video of me doing the form once I have learned it well enough, and then can find someone to video tape.

Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan

2009-08-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

The end of last week was full of rainy days as Typhoon Morakot approached the island of Taiwan. A typhoon is basically nothing more than a hurricane, just located on the Eastern Hemisphere... same thing, different location and therefore a different name. Morakot ended up hitting the island on Thursday night and schools were shut down all across the island, for both Friday and Saturday. Now the storm, as I experienced it, in Taichung (on the western side of the island and near the middle in terms of latitude) was not impressive at all. There has been a lot of rain and there were some strong winds on Friday. However, this is nothing out of the ordinary, we didn't lose power and while I stayed inside all day, there were some people out and about, not many, but a few.

It was a serious storm, but nothing I haven't seen before from living in New York or Boston. Based on the wind speed, it would have been classified as a level 1 hurricane back home. Nothing to shake a finger at, but nothing to get too worked up about either... not in Taichung any way.

The Typhoon was actually quite devastating. It was larger than the entire island of Taiwan and came from the South East -- heading North West. The East side of Taiwan was devastated as well as some places in the South. Since the center of Taiwan is so mountainous, that provided a great deal of protection for the East and the location I am in as well. With that said, most of the damage was due to flooding from intense rains. In one particular case some flooding rose up from a low level drainage path... and then eroded away the foundation of a building on one side. The building ended up collapsing on it's side.

The flooding was really serious in many places and caused a great deal of trouble. Some people did die, too. If you're interested in reading more about the typhoon just do a google search for Typhoon Morakot and you'll be sure to get the updates. Photos are available through the following link:

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/photostory/morakot.html?p=63

Two sides to every story

2009-08-09T04:32:00.000-07:00

It's important to remember, when you're reading anything at all, that there are two sides to every story. When you come across an emotional article, or an emotional person, and you start to get caught up in the content of their story... perhaps it seems too outlandish to be true... take a step back, it probably is.

In fact, I've found myself reading serious articles in well known newspapers and then said wait, this is crazy, it can't be true. You're left with a "the sky is falling" sense of the world. So my habit is to go back into the article and find the sources, what in this article is solid truth that they have evidence of and how much is speculation.

I'll give you a brief example of an article I only read briefly and am by no means an expert on. It was in the Taipei times last week and had a headline that really caught my eye: "US says Taiwan should be prepared to stand alone in case of an invasion," I am certain this was not the actual title of the article, but it had this sort of feeling, at least when I read it.

So my first impression was holy crap, why... who is invading... mainland China? Now? Shouldn't the world be more focused on North Korea? Wait is North Korea attacking Taiwan... why? So I started to read and I got to the statement from the US. It said something along the lines of Taiwan should be prepared militarily to stand on it's own for at least a little while in the face of an invasion.

This doesn't mean the US is abandoning Taiwan, it means be prepared, just in case. Of course what would happen if Taiwan was invaded by mainland China? I asked my boss, he's a hard core Taiwanese patriot.... that would never happen. That wasn't my question.. you can't just make up answers for stuff like that (my girlfriend does the same thing when she's upset ;)). But what would happen?

Well, my point is if you read this article and take it as it is written you may find yourself extremely paranoid, not only of an upcoming invasion, but also of a lack of support from the US. What the hell? But in reality there's a lot more gentle politics going on behind the scenes and this was a comment that was blown out of proportion and made into a real spectacle, for what purpose? To sell magazines. Such is the power of the almighty $.

It's not that you shouldn't read the news, or the opinions of others, in fact you can read them and learn a lot from them. You just need to learn how to separate truth from reality with everything you are exposed to, especially if money is involved.

Once again, as a disclaimer, I only read the article in passing and really only skimmed over it, before realizing that this was probably a comment that got blown out of proportion and then dismissed the rest of the article. My statements on the actual subject matter are therefore subject to be completely erroneous, but my purpose here was not to critique the article, I was merely using it as an example.

Henceforth I will try my best to clearly distinguish between fact and opinion in my posts so that you all have a clear idea on what I am actually observing here, but do remember that I still have my biases.

Solar Eclipse

2009-08-06T00:22:00.000-07:00

I never posted photos from the partial solar eclipse in town the other day:

Actually I took oversized photos and the moon was rather small so when it's this size, actually seeing the moon is quite hard.

Here is a photo from Kaohsiung, courtesy of Sandra's family:

For more photos check out my galleries: http://picasaweb.google.com/TMDurk

This is where all the good shots go.

Kaohsiung (高雄)

2009-07-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

I spent the past weekend in Kaohsiung: Taiwan's second largest city and Sandra's home town. I stayed with her parents after arriving late on Friday night. On Saturday morning we woke up early and they dropped me off at chung hsing lake and let me take a look around while riding along on one of their bicycles. It was great, I ended up taking loads and loads of photos. That doesn't mean I took a lot of good ones, but it was really a nice park. It was actually a rainy day and I was attacked by mosquitoes craving "white meat," despite this it was a great morning to walk around.

Here is the side entrance to the park where I went in.

The first path I went down, before wondering off and being eaten by mosquitoes.

The 7-story pagoda I had to fight my way to the top of. Bruce Lee had it easy, only 5 stories for him.

The view from the top.

My version of Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, he may not look it, but he was no push-over. He was actually very talkative. He told me he had been practicing qi gong here and had just finished. Then he presumed to show me videos of qi gong and tai chi on his i-touch and then talk to me about why it's important to practice Tai Chi slowly and how most people don't know how to use it... then he continued to tell me how people who are around teaching martial arts are usually bad and not needed. In order to learn properly you should watch videos on the Internet, those experts are much better than anyone in Taiwan... so Asia has these types as well: the type who learns martial arts from the Internet and then swears by it . He sure was nice though.

After spending more time at the lake I went out to eat lunch with Sandra's parents, in an apartment owned by her uncle (father's older brother). Currently no one is renting the place but it is amazing, overlooking the entire lake from I don't know how many stories up, but the place was incredible! I will upload all of my photos to a different website later, this blog isn't suited for these kinds of photos.

Afterwards we went back home and relaxed before eating a family dinner with the grandparents. Sandra's grandmother insisted on telling me time and time again that my Chinese was great. No matter what I just said or how well I said it, instead of answering my questions or continuing on the conversation I would get a big thumbs up, a large smile, and a serious compliment on my spoken Chinese. She was so funny.

After dinner it was time to go home and go for a nice walk on "Love River," just outside of Sandra's home. I went with her mom and got some great photos.

The view on Love River at night - this is near the top of Love River so it's only natural that the river is tiny here, but it is much larger downstream.

The view of Kaohsiung from Love River, I'm still learning how to use the camera at night but some of these shots come out great!

Bear pretending to be a Panda, in Eric's room (Sandra's brother). This is where I slept :).

The next day we went to Lotus Lake, here are Sandra's parents leading the charge. Chinese walk so fast...

The Dragon Tiger Pagoda!

View of the tiger side, from the dragon side.

Just showing him who the boss is...

Inside of the mouth's of both creatures was some portraits telling a traditional Chinese story. I will upload them to a picture sharing site later on.

The view from atop the dragon side

Looking down on the tiger

It is a big tiger.

Sandra's Mom with the Tiger.

One of the many Taoist temples across the street.

A different pagoda with a huge dragon, just a bit farther down the lake.

This guy is big

It's big too.

Just chillin' out on the mushroom thingy.

The Confucius temple at Kaohsiung-entrance.

One of the gates on the way in.

A park just outside of the main attraction.

Me knocking on the gate to the Confucius temple... let the white guy in all ready, the front gate had English.

The temple, unfortunately they were preparing for a performance at night so there is all kinds of scaffolding and other stuff hanging around.

Taiwanese Bakeries

2009-07-19T04:20:00.000-07:00

On a side note I think I received my first racist comment today. It sounded like something in Taiwanese and I probably wouldn't have know what it meant had I heard the man clearly, but one thing is for sure: he was fat and so was his wife. It's no wonder he was so upset.

Okay so about these bakeries, you should know that Taiwanese culture has an infatuation with cute things: men and women alike. In the US if a girl calls a man cute it's a backwards compliment and the thought is: "What the hell, I'm not cute, I'm a man. Men are not freakin' cute!" Here that is clearly not the case, cute actually has a bit of a sexy connotation, but there is more to it then just that. Anyway, the influences of cute extend far beyond clothing, they are seen in ads, on TV, all around public places, all standard appliances and accessories and food. Taiwanese bakeries, thus, are very unique. The ones I have visited in this small city are not too overboard but the cakes can get very extravagant. Here are a few photos:

Can you believe these are actually cakes? A porcupine and a turkey... lol it's hilarious.

That cake above just looks so delicious.

Sponge Bob is popular here, one of the more fashionable students was wearing a Sponge Bob shirt in class the other day... I think that student is 12-14 years old or so, I'm telling you: it's a different world over here; it's about cute.

Taipei

2009-07-18T07:03:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I was lucky enough to meet up with Sandra's cousin Wei and explore Taipei. It was so hot... I didn't want to move unless I was in an AC'd van or home. But anyway I've got to say Taipei is a cool place. I was expecting something kind of like NYC but as I got more used to it I didn't feel like it was anywhere near as big, it is, however, a totally different style city.

Take the traffic, for example. It is nothing like US city traffic. Why? Scooters. They take up so much less room and provide pretty efficient transportation around cities. Virtually everyone drives a scooter so there are a lot less cars on the road.

Likewise, with significantly less cars around the roads in the more residential areas have no need to be so wide. The main roads are the same but you wouldn't believe that those sketchy alleyways you come across in US cities, are really commonplace and not sketchy at all here. Of course it feels weird, cruising up and down these allies on a scooter, but it's totally done here. Not only that, there are markets selling food and all kinds of other things all around in these allies, just imagine you're walking down set alley, wondering if you will get mugged because you're someplace you shouldn't be, and then you find yourself in a bustling market. Now you are an out of place foreigner so you should probably keep even better tabs on your wallet, although I will say this about crime in Taiwan: it's much much less common than in the US. Well I should say, muggins are less common, other crimes I hear are more common. Things like extortion from organized crime groups, but this is only what I've heard. I've read a bit about Yakuza in Japan being accepted as commonplace by residents and also more-or-less the police forces themselves. It's kind of nice that way, for a tourist of course: you are much less likely to actually be a victim of a crime.

Anyway those are the key differences, of course Taipei has different districts, like the financial district where they have their version of the White House, and the Chang Kai Shek memorial:

For those of you who are more architectually and artistically inclined then myself you would notice that there are several distinctly different influences affecting the building's design styles here. I was told that the building above is a more Japanese style, as it was built during Japan's occupation of Taiwan. I've also heard about Dutch influences and of course the Chinese influence is undeniable and the most overbearing one around.

We continued on to the Chang Kai Shek memorial:

As I said before, it was hot as hell so took most of my pictures from the car, but this memorial is outstanding! When I saw the huge area inside all I could think of was a gigantic square filled with people practicing Kung Fu in sync, it would've been perfect in this spot. I doubt that actually ever happens here, but it was a ncie thought. On one side is a theatrical area and I completely forgot what goes on at the oppositte side (out of view in this photo) but it was something that you would expect from this type of area. In the back is a statue of the man, not unlike the Lincoln memorial:

Again, I didn't want to get out of the car, but the statue is way in the back there.

Next we continued on to make our way to see Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world:

It may have been wicked hot, but it was a nice day for photos

Here you see both Wei and I just across the street from this mammoth of a skyscraper.

After visitting Taipei 101, Wei's father took us out to Keelong. A truly beautiful port north-east of Taipei. There we ate a lot of food and visitted some scenic spots. I got a couple good shots of the view of the harbour, and the military turrents/ fortifications that were set up to protect the port in times of war (they don't look anything like they would be used today, it was more of a visit to a historic park that Wei's father was well informed about after having served in the Taiwanese Navy for several years. He had worked in the area years prior.).

This reminded me of CA, US influence is pretty strong in Taiwan as well... I mean those are English characters too.

This port is really a great site to see, although I am not a photographer and cannot capture it's true beauty.

As a final stop for the day, Wei's father took us to a rather interesting Buddhist temple. It was set inside of a cave:

Here I am outside of the steps to the temple.

I'm not Buddhist, I don't know how these things are set up. But when you walk in and you see this my reaction is, "oh that's nice a little shrine, can I take a picture? Okay? Cool, lets go." My friend and tour guide Wei was kind enough to show me that there was much more to this place:

We continued behind the altar and there was a great deal more to be seen. A whole lot of artwork and a tunnel that lead deeper into the cave, in the essence of time I will refrain from posting too many pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it when I say there was a lot going on in this cave and it was pretty impressive. I guess most religions have a tendancy to be extravagant, Buddhism isn't any different.

At the end of the cave we cam across this more impressive altar.

But that wasn't all:

What's that Wei, another crevice? Are we supposed to go through there? It looks kind of tight.

Okay it's really tight but it keeps going so...

The tiny tunnel opened up and there was one more altar to be seen. It wasn't as impressive as the previous one, but it was really nice and a thick and slightly mysterious mist filled the room. It was nice and cool in the cave. I noticed some Chinese carvings on the wall:

I thought they might be important. My tour guide again corrected my ignorant assumption and informed me that they were a bunch of signitures from people that were not too fat to squeeze through the tiny corridor we just snuck through. Of course to me, who has even studied a bit of Chinese for a couple years, it looked cool, perhaps super important and mysterious. Nope, not at all, Wei then starting picking at the wall and showed me that it was soft enough to be carved into by your finger nail. Hehe, we then left and got some Chinese style ice cream outside.

Form

2009-07-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hey this is a quick post because I am busy with work now. But I received this video of my friend: Po Sheng, performing the form in a martial arts competition, so I decided I would upload it for everyone to see it as it is meant to be pracgticed:

2009-07-10T05:13:00.001-07:00

Today I asked my new friend and the teacher's grandson to practice for me: he went through the form as far as I know it. I thought I would share it with everyone:

He was kind enough to do it slowly so that I can use this video as a study guide.

Kung Fu found

2009-07-09T06:51:00.001-07:00

Here is the government building mentioned earlier.

As you can see off to the side many people are practicing different forms of Tai Qi. They have staves, swords, spears, and of course practice open hand as well.

But this is just the facade... it is behind the building that I go. To a small and secluded park. This is where I have found a place to study Kung Fu.

The park as you approach from the road is actually set back from the road.

This is the arena:

A nearby playground provides a soft surface for practicing jump kicks without such a tough penalty for failure:

The majestic canopy provides adequate shade from the intense Taiwan sun

It is a nice place

This is Mr. Huang, he is the one who has started to teach me. Today he poked me in the eye and mouth. He threw me by my chin too! He's not actually overdoing anything, I mean he has yet to hurt me, although it is my first week, but he is teaching me very thoroughly.

And this is us together after over an hour of training... notice the dark shade of my shirt near my chest and how it isn't lighter until below my waist.... I was soaked, but today is the birthday of Wong Fei Hong so everybody work out harder!

Taiwanese - - Super friendly to foreigners

2009-07-05T01:42:00.000-07:00

Today I had more experiences with friendly Chinese, after my Kung Fu quest. I decided to take a quest for Tennis.

My boss had showed me where some Tennis courts were on my first day, I don't know where they were, or even where they are now, but the were close. I figured the best thing to do would be to pack my bag and ask people. I asked the first girl I saw, not sure. Walked to the end of the street, here were two older woman and a man working at a meat stand or something. They had me come in and the man offered me tea! Incredibly nice.

Then as they were explaining where it was said it was too far and practically forced me to get in their truck and go with them. Remember what your parents said about not accepting rides from strangers, I considered it but if I can't defend myself against an old man and two old women (the women weren't even coming) then I have greater problems to deal with than whatever they want.

So yea he drove me to the spot, but I didn't realize it. I needed to continue walking down a small street and I would have been there, instead I saw a huge school and thought inside maybe there would be something so I circled the huge block and noted all the doors were closed. I was back where I started and saw a street vendor selling awesome sculptures. I recognized one as the famous Guan Yu and verified it was him. Then just thought, lets speak some Chinese yea! So we engaged in conversation and I found out this mighty Guan Yu would cost about $1000 in USD. No way, this is the type of place you can haggle. I said it was expensive but of course, he had made it himself by hand. What a great wooden carving, he tried to get me interested in a smaller version which was also quite impressive. I liked it and talked to him about it and the price. It was selling for $6000 NT, that's about $183 USD. Haha, did I mention this is not the original price, he actually lowered it after talking to me for 5 minutes or so. He knew I didn't have the money on me today but I asked when he'd be back and told him I may come back another time. He was nice and had no idea where Tennis courts were.

I left and went back towards my school, I knew there were courts not far away, where were they? I actually passed by the people who had previously been giving me a ride. I walked to parks I knew but everyone I asked didn't know, this was getting tiring and I was starting to feel the sun's heat.

I found a new park and saw a man on a bench, as I approached him he began to whistle, weird. He had just been shouting to two men farther into the park on a plateau. I didn't realize it right away but I think he was signalling to them. I asked him about the Tennis courts. He didn't know but then invited me over to talk with the other two.

They all disagreed on the the instructions to give me, it was hilarious and awesome. Then one of them, who seemed a little off, but was still really nice, turned his scooter around and told me to get on. I didn't want to, I suspect there were up to something, maybe selling drugs... but they were so insistent and actually really nice. After refusing two or three times I gratefully mounted the scooter and we were on our way. The man smelt like he may have been a pot head, I never smoked pot so I don't know if this is even remotely true, it could've been some Buddhist incense, but the three guys all looked like the shady type, really tan, this one was really skinny, and the way they spoke, I have my suspicions. In any event, he took me right back to where we were and I got off saying thanks, thinking he had just intended to bring me to the same school, but he was like, we haven't arrive yet, get back on. He was right and I'm glad he said that.

He took a right and then a quick left, down a narrow street and then I shouted with joy when I saw some clay courts! He was a really nice guy, I got off, thanked him, and went through a gate, to enter what was like a sort of above ground dugout where a lot of younger middle aged men were hanging out with rackets. Then my escort, now turned around and ready to take off, shouted to verify that I was in the right spot, where I wanted to be. That's a courteous guy.

The Tennis guys were great, one of them spoke some English. It was at least as good as my Chinese, perhaps better. There were some teens playing Soft Tennis there, a sport popular in Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam... I think those were the three countries they told me. They verified that I could play on this court with the US style Tennis. In fact one of them invited me to play. We played, he asked to play a match, we did. I played horrifically, but won the first game. Sadly I lost the next three. The man played with form that was lacking, but consistent. I haven't played in at least a month, so a consistent player is the worst type for me to play against right now, even so I am disappointed that I lost. Then we talked a little while and they were all really nice and friendly. They were also hilarious, like teenage guys hanging out with a foreigner. There was usually at least one person calling shots in and out and then some people making jokes on the sideline.

After playing they asked how I was, another guy wanted to play with me! Great, I threw away all emotions and let myself hit the ball. This time I would not let my rust skills be defeated.

We played on game and I believe I lost on a shot where my strings broke and I could no longer play, but here is the big news: the guy said he works for a company that creates molds for Tennis rackets and he would take care of the racket with new strings for free.

I thought, leave my racket with this guy I don't know. No way. I did. He seems 100% honest and totally reputable, he asked for my name and number and all ready knew I was living at the school because we had talked about it earlier. He volunteered to drop the racket off for me on Wednesday and told me he used to live across the street. I said I could meet him at the courts to pick it up, but he said him dropping it off would be more convenient. Great! I told him I was going to pay him regardless, he reluctantly agreed to $100 -- that's about $3 US. In the US that will not even pay for cheap strings, much less the cost for stringing the racket. I will try to give him $200 after I inspect the stringing job.

As I was leaving they explained to me the membership fees associated with the court, it sucks that I have to pay but it's not surprising, this is a clay court that requires maintenance. Of course it should be paid for. It is relatively cheap but it's a yearly membership so it's a decent financial commitment, I may try to look for different places to play. I also don't know how frequently I want to play. It is farther down on the list than Kung Fu (because I am so close to China) and Triathlons (because I think I can really compete here while getting into great shape). Who knows, one thing is for sure, in Taiwan my interests and hobbies may not be as popular but it doesn't seem like they are limited.

One big apprehension about playing at these courts is that as my skills return these men won't pose much of match for me.... so I don't know if there are many other good players. Fortunately I'll be meeting my friend's friend in a couple weeks, I was told he was one of the top ten players in Taiwan. He should be able to romp me, but for sure he will know about the skill level and such in Taiwan.

The main thing here is that people here are incredibly welcoming. Taiwan is by no means perfect, but they are incredibly hospitable whenever I ask them anything. It's refreshing, although I feel a bit spoiled. Sure I try to help out foreigners in the US but I wouldn't say I've ever gone so far, and certainly never expected anything in return... of course they were always more appreciative than anything as well.

The Quest for Kung Fu

2009-07-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

Guan Yu: Inside the government building. A famous Chinese hero from the Three Kingdoms period and I believe he is here as a symbol of strength and protection of the building. Also notice the flag of Taiwan (don't tell China lol, they don't realize Taiwan's independance, even if they cannot declare it so).

For those of you who do not know I have studied Karate at my home in Albany, NY; and I have studied a bit of Kung Fu in Boston. I would say that when I practice these martial arts I do so with a strong attention to detail and I believe I hold myself to a higher standard than most who practice them around me. Especially when it comes to practicing perfect form and deep stances. That being said I am not particuarly skilfull. My strength is my form, and I am relatively week when it comes to sparring.

Anyway I am here in Taiwan to study Chinese but if I can study Kung Fu all the better! Especially if the teacher is speaking Chinese: DOUBLE BONUS. So my quest for Kung Fu started out by searching for nunchucks, a seperate but related hobby. I did not want to bring mine from America, just because they are illegal in NY and I mean airport security and everything....

In order to find nunchucks I sought out the help of the foreign teacher I am replacing. He was great, had no idea where to find anything Kung Fu, but helped me search around at the night market here in Fengyuan. Then, after no luck, we went to the night market area in Taichung. Taichung is Taiwan's third largest city so perhaps we would have more luck there. Here I asked some people about where to find them, the most informative answer I got was they were available somewhere in the city, he didn't know where, but not at the nightmarket. Oh I should note, all these conversations are in Chinese, and I do not typically understand 100% of a conversation... actually if it is long enough to be called a conversation then I have yet to understand 100% of the words, but after some struggle and some patience on the behalf of the Chinese person I believe I typically get their meaning.

Shortly thereafter my white tourguide (he speaks less Chinese then me but has lived here for a year so knows his way around and was extremely helpful) thought of a couple stores that sell military gear. We drove, rather he drove in a rather scary manner, with me on the back of his scooter, and took me to the place. They had nunchucks! They kind of sucked. I mean some wicked light metal ones, I prefer heavier chucks for the balance. Then some extendable/ collapsable nunchucks!!! Exciting to see, but not very good for practice, the balance on them is too weird. That was all... and the chains on these chucks were crappy so I was dissapointed. I asked the girl if they had any wooden ones, I prefer wooden chucks with a chain, but no luck. My tour guide was browsing the store so I looked around with him. They actually have tons of stuff I woudln't expect to find in the states, since they are so much farther removed from things like the war. You were able to find a lot of German WW II paraphanalia that has so much animosity and hate attached to it in the US that... if you did find it for sale... it would be in a totally sketchy place and you'd probably start to fear the creepy man running the shop. The people in this shop, two cute and really young girls, then one older one.

After just a couple minutes the older girl (who had apparently left for a moment) came in with three pairs of nunchucks... wooden! They were all fitting, although one pair was too light, I took the heaviest pair... not particularly great but still decent. I asked how much, $300 she said. This amounts to $9USD but for some reason I was thinking it's only like $3... idiot. So I said it was cheap! Then I bought them and asked if they knew of any Kung Fu schools nearby here or in Fengyuan. They had no idea but the older girl had some interesting questions:

"Did you come to Taiwan to study some Kung Fu?" Noooo I came here to study Chinese but if I can study kung fu as well than that's good.

Of course they let me try the chucks earlier so they had asked about my experiences and now knew that I had studied martial arts in the US. They then asked if I found a ShiFu (Master) in Fengyuan to teach me. I laughed and said no, I hope I can find a good school.

Now why these questions, I have two speculations:

1. They thought my opinion as a foreigner was that all Chinese know Kung Fu so Taiwan is like Mainland and I could study Kung Fu here; ignorantly unaware of the fact that Kung Fu is really not that popular in Taiwan, especially in Taichung where I am. Note: I do not know how popular Kung Fu is here, I know Taekwondo is popular and so it Tai Chi, but neither of these are really Kung Fu... well Tai Chi is but it is very different.

2. Kung Fu actually is popular in Taiwan and they were just wondering if I was an ambitious individual who came here to study.

I still don't know the answer to this.

After leaving the shop my guide said wait a minute I want to check this other store, just one shop over. It's the same type of thing, he explained to me, although he did not know why in Taiwan, it seems that the same types of shops (be it food, t-shirts shops, shoe stores, camo stores or what have you) seem to all set up in the same general area. He was saying it tends to be set up into these types of districts and there was probably one more for Kung Fu, that perhaps I would eventually be able to find.

Anyway we went into the store, they had more chucks. I almost bought two more that matched, to have a pair. But they were a bit weird and seemed like the chain may brake on them, so I decided to save my cash. Then I noticed one just like the one I bought next door.... $390... I instantly thought this was the place the other girl brought the chucks from. This would later be confirmed when the girl working this shop would restock, the two chucks I chose not to buy in the other store. I felt like I had been ripped off but I noticed the stickers on them were $390, I paid $300. So the girl brought the chucks from this store and gave me a discount? I doubt it, more likely my Chinese was not bad, not great but certainly at the level of someone who had lived here fore a while. I mean it's much better than some who have lived here for a year, for sure, so I think perhaps she gave me the chucks for $300 hoping that I would think it was okay and not say it was too much and then start haggling on the price!!!!

Taiwan is weird, night market you should definately haggle on prices. But other stores, should you? Department stores, Nike stores, Adidas and Puma, they are all sold here and these types of legitamate business type, or chain stores... here I don't think you are allowed to haggle. But other stores I guess sometimes you can.... some are obvious but other places I wonder, should I haggle? It's a store but for example, when I bought the chucks, and this is how stores tend to keep records, the girl took out a clipboard and marked down the sale and the price all in pencil or pen, it's not like it gets rung up on the cash register and she has no say on the price... or is it?

I guess, in my ignorance I should be happy, I didn't pay the sticker price.

We returned home that evening and my guide showed me a place where people would practice Tai Chi in the morning. I resolved to run there the following morning and ask them about Kung Fu in this city myself. It turns out this park was on a road that encircles the entire city. The next morning I accidently ran past the park and saw a different place people were practicing while playing traditional Chinese tunes... it cracked me up because they were mostly older women and the music was.... perfect! I continued to run though, because, while there were a few, I was expecting more at the park I didn't realize I had all ready run past.

I ran around the entire city, on my second time around I found the park. Too late, people like to practice Tai Chi early in the morning, this is when sometihing about the air is very good for their Qi. I read that they believe this is give off by the trees and plants very early in the morning. Needless to say they were all gone, since it took me a long time, I had been running for at least 40 minutes by this time, so it was after 8. I returned to the government building I previously saw and found people there practicing Tai Qi, still. Only now there were only two people: one teacher and someone practicing:

Here we have the teacher, getting ready to leave and a middle aged woman wielding a sword outside of a government building. Imagine this in the US!? Of course here it's obvious what she's doing and it's totally cool. Man but back in the US I used to want to ask my friend Henry to be able to carry his weapons: spears, halbred, sword and staff after he trained, just because walking around Boston carrying these things is so absurd... people look, yea they do. I mean it's still okay walking from the gym to the apartment, or for him I guess he takes them on the train to get to and from his school in Chinatown, but it's rare to say the least and it's not like he's marching up capitol hill and whipping out his sword right next to the front steps! I wonder how that would be received? Perhaps it's not that big of a deal at all, I'm not sure. One things for sure, I am not afraind to bring my nunchucks the next time I go! Okay have a closer look:

I mean I feel as if this platform is for Kung Fu. That's so cool, even if it is Tai Qi.

It was awkward so I did not ask any questions about learning Kung Fu today, it was Friday. I thought the weekend would hold more promise.

I went for my run Saturday morning, through the rain. The Tai Chi people had either not come out or finished early because of the rain, I returned home determined to wake up earlier and try again on Sunday.

Today is Sunday, I woke up and went for the run. There was no one at the park!? Suprise, it only took me ten minutes to run there so I continued to the government building. Bam! One woman was there, not the same person as you see above, a different woman with a sack containing a spear, staff, short staff, and sword. She was middle aged and I quietly sat off to the side of the stage waiting for good time to interupt her.

She took a break and was sitting while waving herself with her fan, my chance. I got up and went to talk to her, I asked her if she knew where I could study? Here of course! But I don't like this type of Kung Fu... she figured out what I meant and was telling me there was a school just down the road that alot of men go to. Great, my hopes are up! I don't want to bore you all with the full details of our conversation but it was quite detailed where I told her why I was in Taiwan and so on and where I came from and actually she thought I was an "aaaa men" guy, or a missionary. NO WAY! I am not trying to impose my beliefs on anyone here. But I assume she thought this because of the way I approached her with English that, I believe, is better than most English teachers. I heard one missionary speaking Chinese, I was impressed and to be honest, jealous. I will make a post about my thoughts on Western missionaries in foreign countries later, for now I don't know that much about them and this is Kung Fu focused!

Okay so she was going to take me to the school, although I have to teach English on the weekday evenings and that was when they have class. But we would go check.... but then she was saying it's something... I wasn't getting it... then I noticed her repeated kicks and I said ooooh nooo not "Korean Kung Fu" she said yea.... I said Taekwondo? She confirmed. "I don't want to go." If any of you like Taekwondo, I'm not looking down on the sport here, it's just not what I want to study, especially not in Taiwan. Although it is immensly popular here after Taiwan's impressive showings in the Olympics 5 and 9 years ago, I don't think last year they did too poorly just not as good as before.

So we continued on, she was asking about the Kung Fu I knew. The best Kung Fu I know is what my friend, the previously mentioned Henry, had taught me... with assistance from his student Alan and our friend Sophie, many thanks to all of them. So the name for it I know I believe is Cantonese, meaning even if I pronounced it perfectly she still wouldn't know what it was.... so in full running atire I demonstrated. She was pretty impressed! I'm happy to say, although a bit embarassed, I can not do this form anything near as well as Henry and Sophie.

As time passed we continued to talk, she had almost no English so it was excelent practice for me. Her friend came by and she told me to practice again, I insisted it wasn't that good. They all liked it though, as did an older gentleman passing by with his grandchild. It was a bit embarassing, but in a good way if anything.

Later the security guard to the government building came out and I again performed the form I had been taught a year earlier. It went great, and he stuck around and added to the conversation about Kung Fu in general. He actually showed the woman some wrist locks, I had the priveladge of having a Sensei that loved wrist locks at my old dojo so I was happy to partake in this exercise!

Well I'll no longer bore you with the details of the conversation and I'll get to the point, the woman left and told me that many people come to this place from Monday through Friday and practice Tai Qi. The teachers are usually old, like 70 and they could teach me Tai Chi, but this is not the kind of Kung Fu I am looking for. Although I feel like I could ask them about a good place to go. She also mentioned something about there being some masters who know this type of stronger kung fu but they do not like to, rather they will not teach it. Interesting! Meaning they only practice? Meaning they don't take students, like in a Kung Fu movie!? Meaning they won't teach a foreigner? I don't know and I tired to inquire further but it seemed like I only got an answer saying they don't teach. My curiousity is peaked.

Okay so she left and I was going to say good bye to the security guard but he had gone inside. I found him and talked to him. He told me that there was a park in back of the building, there is a teacher that comes there, Huang Laoshi, who not only teaches TaiQi but also Shaolin fist... Shaolin Kung Fu... that sounds appealing to me. He also said he'd come by tomorrow so I will see him again when I search for this instructor.

That's all for now, tomorrow will be a big day, I will search for this new instructor and see if he is willing to teach me and if so what his teaching will actually entail. This will be at 7AM. I will need to get to bed early. Also, tomorrow I will need to start teaching classes! For sure it will be a big day.

Feng Yuan Photos

2009-07-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today I got in a nice run and searched for the early morning Tai Chi old people to ask about Kung Fu in the city... it was raining so of course they were not out. I also didn't start my run until 7AM, that's pretty late for them. I will have to try to wake up earlier tomorrow morning and catch them.

Afterwards the sky cleared up and it was rather nice out. I went downtown to buy some necities, including the most ridiculous and amazingly cool Engrish shirt I've ever seen with alcoholic pandas decorating it:

I wish you could read this more clearly. It says random things like "PADAHER" and do you want to have a drink withme sometime? then "JOYEN LIFE YOUR" but the good English comes here: "Quit drinking around" "it makes me happy.... HAHAHA" "Alcohol is my soulmate it makes me happy." Then I got the monkey boxers and some pig socks too. I love Taiwan!

I mean an alcoholic Panda... it's so funny I had to buy it. There was more, but the blog can't hold so many Engrish pictures.

Moving on I got some photos of how madly the people drive scooters around here. Keep in mind this is all during a Sunday from like 10:30 to 3:30 around the night market area.... in other words this is a calm time. Most of these photos aren't even on the main road.

Night Market above. Although it's hardly even started... but at night this place comes to life.

There is also a pretty huge and impressive Daoist temple in downtown:

These pictures cannot do the temple justice... I'm really no photographer.

Overall this was a productive drip downtown, I got my underwear, sneakers for Tennis, a lot more food at the bakers and some Tennis balls, which took forever to get. I had to keep asking people only to find out that the store I was being directed to was closed... probably for renovations.

I was overjoyed when I found the Tennis balls. They were $160 for a nice can... that's about $5 US... I guess that's what they cost back home. I also got some trainers for $35 / ball ... that's just over $1USD for each ball for trainers... that's kind of pricy. Tennis isn't super popular here so I guess it's like paying US prices in Taiwan... but since my salary is relatively low that means they are actually quite expensive here.

Hopefully you all enjoy the pictures, I will have more to share later on.

Dogs in Taiwan -- Part 2

2009-07-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

I went on a morning run and didn't see anything too terrible, but I took some photos to share:

This is a typical stray, he was just lying around. I took his photo and the flash scared him to get up and limp away. This isn't the worst that I've seen and this dog didn't have any kind of agression problems, it was just sad to see him in such a dirty state.

This dog looks well kept. He was probably just chained to his owners truck for a couple hours. But I hate to see a dog chained near their own shit. Last time I saw this it was outside of a house and it was obvious the dog had been left there for several hours. This guy doesn't look anything like that and I don't think he drives around with the dog running alongside the car.

I was trailing this white dog for about a block. He's healther and got a collar, there's only one problem. Where the hell was his owner throughout this entire ordeal, you can't tell but that is a heavy traffic street off to the right there.

This stray walked over and laid down moments after I was checking out the other dog. Look how unhealthy and just exhausted this dog looks...

Okay I think this is cool. There's no doubt that it's wrong and Sandra told me of someone killing their dog this way, either by pushing it past exhaustion or by getting into an accident, but in this case, although it's a somewhat busy road, the dog is getting excersice and the guy is being relatively... relatively safe.

Dogs in Taiwan

2009-07-01T05:33:00.001-07:00

If you are a dog lover I'm sure your heart would be broken if you saw how most dogs live here in Taiwan.

On my first venture out into Fengyuan city I was surprised by the little dogs I was seeing, looking at them and wondering: "Is that dog a stray? Does it have an owner or what?" I really couldn't tell.

Later my boss took me on a scooter ride and we went up into the nearby mountains, literally just outside of the city. There were many stray dogs along the road. They would never be able to servive like that in the US, they'd be hit by cars. But because most people here are driving scooters, the dogs seem to survive just fine. This is true despite how they wonder into and out of the roads. These dogs I saw in the mountain though, they were certainly just thrown away by their owners. I saw several dogs running around with swollen and saggy utters and grotesquely swollen, I'm guessing in heat and infected vaginas as well. Apparently getting dogs neutered and spaded is not common practice here so I also saw a really cute puppy running in the woods, of course he has no hopes of any kind of future... he will grow up in the mountains and become infected with all kinds of diseases while eating trash to stay alive.

After returning to the city I took more notice of the dogs. Most of them are nervously aggressive and will run out and bark at people, however none of these dogs are oversized and are all more or less nervous. People here have no idea how to deal with them but if you just stand, face them and hiss with your hand up, telling them to stop, they will. No dog has attacked me or continued to chase me withing more than a six foot radius. I've probably had five or maybe less, but about five dogs run towards me barking so far. Of course there aren't many pedestrians like myself, most people are on scooters, so the dogs behaving this way is easily overlooked.

On the route that I've been running with my boss, though, there is much sadder story. I see a couple dogs tied up next to the road, continuously. I can only assume they are left there almost all day. Dogs cannot live this way. One of them, on the side of this road, was tied throughout the duration of the 1.5 hour run today and yesterday. Today there happened to be a pile of his own droppings, which he ran laps around on his 6 foot leesh tied to a wall. He didn't even bark at us, he just needed to exercise. Meanwhile a smaller dog a bit farther down the road was on a shorter leash and seemed to jump out at anything. His owner, or someone had dropped him a couple slices of white bread. I would not be surprised if that was all the dog got to eat each day.

As I was shopping in a crowded downtown today (a street with insane traffic) I spotted a dog in the shop. Very surprising, because of the way dogs are raised here they behave terribly. Because of this they have a bad reputation and people are afraid of them. But this dog was well off and well groomed, not unlike his attractive female owner shopping in the store. I was walking outside and there was a female stray. This bitch was a total slut, and she was in heat. The male dog smelt her inside and came running out as his owner yelled for him to come back. She didn't realize what he had found. The slutty stray saw him approach, sniffed for all of a half second, then stiffened up and put out for the big guy. He just thought, whoah, that was easy, and jumped on.

Noooooo! the last thing we need is more puppies. I should have intervened but I was in a state of shock, I've never seen such a slutty dog and she really assumed the position to be mounted for the male dog. I think when dogs hit the wild their minds must become even more perverted.

After a few humps the male dog was distracted by his owner calling and the stray wanted to play hard to get so nipped at him and took off the street. The owner came running out a moment later and began searching up and down the street wondering where her dog was. I pointed her in the right direction saying nothing more than the chinese word for dog. She was shocked by my use of Chinese but also in a hurry and said thank you then did a double take because I was a foreigner, but not while running after her dog.

In hind sight I'm a bit ashamed I didn't break the dogs up. The probable outcome here is that she will get her dog back but he will also be the proud new father of a litter of puppies that will all be strays. And he may even get an STD if dogs have those. I mean that's bad enough but there's also the potential that he could have gotten hit by a car or scooter while running after the stray, sadly I was not prepared to react and the little assistance I could provide was to direct the woman in the right direction.

Hopefully I be prepared to intervene if I see this type of situation occuring again. Taiwan needs a lot of help when it comes to raising their dogs, and there are quite a few of them here so it is a big problem.

July 1, 2009 - Downtown

2009-07-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

Today I was more motivated to go out and speak some serious Chinese. First I went to the store to buy some toilet paper, underwear, and trash bags. I saw some tasty Mochi balls along at the store and picked them up as well. Speaking Chinese in this situation wasn't any problem at all, in fact, there isn't much Chinese involved in this type of transaction. I mean all I did was pay for the items. It would've been tricky if I couldn't find the toilet paper or the trash bags because I don't know how to say either of those things in Chinese. Perhaps I should've learned that as vocabulary before I went, and then just asked a worker for help finding them as a form of practice. In hind sight, this would've been a good plan.

After this morning trip out I settled in and worked on my lesson plans for the rest of the morning. It did take some time, I have quite a few classes and since it's my first time teaching anything it's only natural that the planning will take some time. After a couple weeks I think this will hardly take any time at all, though.

My next move was to hit downtown, find the big department store and then find the bookstore inside of it and search for a Chinese textbook. On the way I would look to cross a few more things off my list: clothes, underwear, a hamper, and food.

First I went into a clothing store, NET. It looked like a J Crew shop, perhaps for a bit younger audience but of the same quality none-the-less. I got some Polo's, 2 for 500NT. That's $15.25 USD for two nice Polo's. I saw some shorts on sale and grabbed those as well. Micky Mouse is really popular here, not only was he in this store but so many other ones as well. That dude is on tons of different T-shirts, I almost bought one but sided against it.

Then I found my way to the department store. When I walked in three teen boys were sitting on the steps and greeted me in pretty reasonable English, "Hello!" This was of course followed by laughter from some of the friends there. I followed with a "Hi, ni hao, ni de yingwen hen hao" Then he spoke in Chinese saying something I couldn't understand at all. But I was on my way anyway and they were saying good bye.

It's interesting being a foreigner here. It's kind of like being mildly famous, you know famous enough where people will look at you for a while and wonder whether or not they know you. Of course there isn't anyone I know here, but that's how quite a few people look at me. I don't mind, honestly I feel a bit popular. Although sometimes I do feel a bit uneasy, I'm certainly not used to that type of attention.

The department store was not a department store as I would call it. It was a huge, 9 story mall. And it had like 2 or 3 basement floors. I mean I am not even located in one of the biggest cities in Taiwan, I am about 15 minutes outside of the third largest city but this place was pretty big, regardless. The Chinese textbooks were hard to find but when I did find them I could only find one book that I liked, it was too expensive so I left to shop for underwear.

I bought a pair of Schiesser German underwear. They were way overpriced but I had sort of been practicing my Chinese with the staff so I felt a bit compelled to buy something. Eventually I just said the underwear was too expensive, my attention was directed to the cheaper underwear. Still quite expensive, but the Asian underwear I bought earlier was not comfortable so I figured, eh try the German pair. It was about $20 USD, so they better be ultra comfortable. My exchange with the staff here was pretty decent too.

Finally I went to look for food at the bakery. I was able to find and buy so many delicious breads. The bakeries here really outdo themselves, I should've been taking pictures that I could post. It's way better than the Asian bakeries in Boston, of course. Oh and it's so cheap! I spent less than $7 I think, and got what would've cost at least $20 in the US. To make things better as I was checking out the cashier woman asked me if I was an English teacher and gave me a bonus Taro cake for free! Then she said I was speaking Chinese _____. The blank I'm sure was a synonym for good or excellent. It was biao___. Maybe a Chinese person can help me out and fill in the blank for me. Anyway I told her I actually spoke quite poorly, thanked her and left.

People are really nice here. Later on I just went for another jog with my boss. I haven't had any luck finding any thing even remotely related to Kung Fu lately... it's sad. I will try to go to the park later and find those old people studying Tai Qi, hopefully they can direct me to a gung fu district. If not then I will probably buy a triathlon bike and start training for that. I hear there is a triathlon at a famous spot here: Sun Moon Lake. Perhaps I'll look more into that.

Kindergarten Graduation

2009-06-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

The second day I was here was the day that the Kindergarten students had their graduation ceremony. They wore some ridiculous outfits, I have no idea who chose these things, and sang a long a to a couple of songs.

Here is my boss, Jeff speaking with the school's other teacher, Eric. Eric has been here for four years now and will continue on with me.

Can you believe these clothes?

I was pretty surprised with their English. They are only Kindergarten students afterall.

There were more songs, of course, but I think you get the idea.

My new school

2009-06-29T05:43:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Taiwan last Friday morning and it is now Tuesday night. So it has not yet been a full week.

My initial impressions were that Taiwan doesn't feel totally different. The vegetation around the highway looked a lot like upstate New York. To tell the truth I was a bit disappointed. This was as I was being driven from the airport in Taipei to my new school in Fengyuan, Taichung. We soon passed by a place selling gigantic Buddha statues. I mean like house sized Buddhas and not just one or two, a bunch of them. Okay, so I'm in Asia and it's different, I felt a bit better.

The driver and his girlfriend both spoke very little English, which was nice for me. I really feel like I will need to work on my Chinese a lot while I'm here and so I want to sort of avoid English speakers for a while. Although I could understand almost nothing of what the driver was saying, I understood his girlfriend fairly well and we had a nice couple of conversations on the 1.5 hour ride.

As we entered Fengyuan, my new home city, we drove by a Betel nut girl. I thought this girl looked like a 12 year old and was actually turned off by what should've been a "betel nut beauty," but this was when the driver pointed her out to me and showed me that he had a box of betel nuts bought from a similar location. I had suspected that he had been eating these things and that's why I couldn't understand anything he was saying. For those of you that don't know I would liken betel nuts to chewing tobacco.

Upon my first arrival at the school I now live at I was brought to my room, on the third floor of the school... not what I had expected. I was taken back, thinking, "this is really not what I had expected, although I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but... I kept an open mind and wasn't expecting anything so how is this not what I was expecting and then it's hot in here and it's only 8 am...." Then my boss came by and introduced himself explaining all the details of the room, the air conditioner. He told me to unpack for a while and then we'd be going out to breakfast, the first step in a rather long list of things he had planned for me. His goal, which thankfully coincided with mine, was to keep me busy the entire day so that I could fight the 12 hour time difference I would be experiencing. Lucky for me I had mentally prepared for this and even tried to adjust myself before coming here on my own.

He took me out on his scooter. This has to be the most outrageous thing about this city, no sidewalks, less pedestrians and cars, and tons and tons of scooters driving like mad throughout the city. I've been told there are laws, but they are not followed. We spend the majority of the time driving on the right side of the road but, even in the presence of a double yellow line, I often find us riding on the left side, racing in and out of traffic, while my boss says something like, this is technically illegal, driving here takes some getting used to.

Not only that, there are no sidewalks, with few exceptions. So the few pedestrians, namely me, have to walk on the road filled with these lunatic scooter drivers. It's insane, and it's pretty stupid. The lack of traffic laws here is ridiculous, they need to enforce some things and reform this system. I mean it is a city after all, there is a lot of traffic downtown.

Another thing, at the red light, there will be a pile of scooters. We will drive to the front! Scooters get in front of the stop line, way in front, and then tend to jockey for position for when the light turns green. This is absolutely insane.

It gets worse, there are typically two or three scooters that actually go through the intersection before the light turns green, you hear them rev up there engines and they are long gone when the light changes colors. but in some ways this is encouraged because some of the red lights actually have a countdown to let you know they will be changing. To make this even more dangerous people don't actually stop when the light first turns red. It's more like a yellow light that means, "stop soon" or "pretty soon you will have to stop." There's a rather large delay between the time the light ticks red and the last scooter drives through it. Meanwhile the other scooters may have all ready started driving by.

Now I can understand why there are stereotypes in the US saying that Asians can't drive.

What else to say? I keep finding my opinion on life here fluctuating, from loving it to wondering why I'm here. The traffic is crazy but for some reason it has a type of appeal to me. The people are so nice to me, as a foreigner. If I speak Chinese or show the slightest bit of understanding they are surprised and complement me on my Chinese. Compared to the US where foreigners are more expected to speak English.

But then I think, I'm going to work as a teacher, I am an engineer... I should be doing a more serious job, something more mentally challenging. Of course my goal here isn't simply to teach or start a teaching career, I need to develop my Chinese and really take advantage of life here. Then more valuable opportunities will present themselves.

I've gotten myself lost in the city as well. I'm also finding it really hard to go out, it's embarrassing to not understand the language and I'm currently a bit timid about going to a restaurant and not knowing what to order. I'll need to overcome these fears pretty quickly. It's easy with a guide, but I need to do these things myself, after all, being immersed in the language is a huge motivation for my coming here.

I wonder if I'll find a good place to study Kung Fu, or if it will be hard to find a good place to run around here?

I have some preparatory work and some training for teaching that have kept me busy so far. I wont' actually start teaching until next week so I have some more time to get settled.