Letter to the Editor

As it appeared in Taipei Times:

‘Idle-free’ is catching on

Two months ago I wrote a letter to this newspaper calling out for people to “support an idle-free Taipei” (Letter, May 17, page 8). I ended the letter with a plea to people out there that not only care, but also are proactive. Fortunately, some people contacted me and helped Idle-Free Taipei grow.

Swim Rage!

[Disclaimer: I swam competitively for almost 15 years, which means I'm used to swimming in a lane with maybe only 5 or 6 other people that swim around the same speed as me. Taiwan is the FIRST place I've ever swum by myself in a public pool during open swim hours.]

Here are some things I've learned about swimming in Taipei, mostly at Daan Sports Center. (Note that these observations have taken place at only 2 pools in Taipei, so please don't misconstrue this as a rant against any group of people.)

Clean Air Promotion

Saturday, July 2
9:00 AM- 2:00 PM
Please join Idle-Free Taipei in this educational promotion event!

Many people are unaware that idling engines cost money! In fact, in the Taipei City area alone, almost $900,000 worth of fuel

Clean Air: You Deserve It!

Imagine this:

You are walking down the street with a friend, and he falls down. Somehow he manages to cut his leg open on a piece of glass, and he is bleeding profusely. You immediately realize he needs to be rushed to a hospital, as the wound can only be closed with stitches. You have three options:

Idling scooters are nutritious??

This is in response to a blog post written by one Michael Fagan (his words in green), who apparently wasn’t a fan of my letter to the editor in the Taipei Times. Although his blog post was peppered with positive feedback about the cause, “The proposition itself is as sensible as it is simple,” he wasn’t satisfied with the language I used in the letter.

I used to word “campaign” to describe the actions I’m taking (which largely consist of a website, Facebook fan page and a Facebook event) towards reaching an Idle-Free Taipei.

Fagan’s interpretation of the word “campaign” stirred up thoughts of a “military metaphor,” as he went on to say that “that’s distinctly uncivil.”

Idle-Free Taipei

If you are a scooter driver, this is a rare opportunity. With the simple turn of a key, you are not only saving yourself money, but you are also taking a step towards a cleaner Taipei.


The next time you are stopped at a traffic light for more than 15 seconds,

Soccer vs. Football vs. Rugby

This post is in reference to some particular games that involve people playing in a field, on foot, with a goal of somehow getting a ball to the opponent's side of the field. These sports go by any of these names:

• Football
• Soccer
• Rugby
• (American) Football

Here is the history-

Yellow Fever and 白人看不懂

Here's a funny take on the mystery of Asian (female) and Caucasian (male) couples.

A Wong Fu Productions film.

Day 6: A washout

5/30
I think I keep losing focus on my goal for this trip... I was thinking I could stick it out in the rain... I would have missed some great scenery along the way.

Animal Cruelty in Taiwan

I just recently went to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Taipei. While I, among thousands of others, have already witnessed a fair amount of animal cruelty in Taiwan, it appears that artist Chang Li-shang has decided to take an alternative form of action:

Day 5: Taroko Gorge

5/29
I can't imagine being at Taroko without a scooter. It was so easy for me to zip around the bus traffic and pull over whenever I felt a picturesque moment. On that note, there is no justice in pictures of this place.

Day 4: Backtracking

6:00 AM. No rain. Lots of roosters (or other animals with loud noises). OK sleep. Spent the night being paranoid about sounds and a truck that parked near my scooter. Not sure what to do today after I return from Wai'ao. Maybe head straight for Taroko.

The Ultimate Map

10 days of scootering down the east coast of Taiwan.

Here's what I wrote about it.

Here's how I did it:

He said "gao wan!"

If you know for a fact that nobody around you can hear/understand what you're saying, that's basically a free pass to talk about whatever you want. This applies to people who go hiking by themselves, adults who talk about "grown up things" in front of the kids, friends who have code words for other people, and people in the U.S. who speak any language other then English. This also applies for Taiwanese students in the presence of their English teacher who doesn't know any Chinese. The difference is, recently I am able to understand a lot of what they are saying, and they don't know!!

"The History and Evolution of the Peace Sign"

I just found this video, thought you'd like to see it:

Baby, it's cold inside!

This month marks my completion of 2 years in Taiwan. I was going through my blog archives, starting from the beginning, and got a little nostalgic. In particular, I found my expectations of the weather prior to my arrival pretty interesting:

Forgive me...

for I have sinned. This post is to confess my disrespect towards Taiwanese culture and the Chinese-English language. It's shameful to say that there are too many instances to list, but nothing is more shameful than the reason for this is because I disrespect the Taiwanese for a living.

One of my 3 year old students: "Teacher John, my home has blue cock."

My response: "You can say: I have a blue clock at home."

In retrospect, I wish I had asked my student whether or not he believes his house can have possessions, asked him what he believed a "cock"is, and then respected his choice to call a mechanism used for keeping time a "cock."

4 Reasons Why You aren't an ESL Teacher

Here is the latest addition to the debate between a white middle class male English teacher, a 6 year old Taiwanese ESL student, and a white middle class female teacher (the comments keep getting deleted, but I received them in pieces, so I'm not sure if they are 100% accurate in terms of the intended order of paragraphs):

Tomato or Tomato?

(3 episodes)

Episode 1:

Step 1: Know the Rules, Step 2: Break 'em

A comment in response to this post

"You probably should have taken some classes in understanding different cultures before you went over there.

more supporting evidence

click here to see posts leading up to this

In Chinese-English intercultural communication, kinship terms often present problems because satisfactory equivalents are not always available... The Chinese practice is generally , but not always, to use 公，母 to show whether a creature is male or female. In English, more specific terms are often used, including terms for the young.