Sonja and I had an explosive time at the Lantern Festival celebration that the big temple in our neighborhood put on last night. The Lantern Festival or yuanxiaojie 元宵節 is the day that marks the official end of the lunar new year holiday. “After today,” a Taiwanese friend cautioned me, “it would sound weird to keep saying ‘Happy… Continue reading Having a blast at the Lantern Festival
Geeking out on language
The thing that hooked me on studying China was the language. When I started taking Chinese in my first year of college, it blew my mind—tones, characters, the whole package was such a marvelously different way to convey meaning than anything I’d encountered before. I still love the challenge of Chinese; the more I learn,… Continue reading Geeking out on language
Movin’ on up, part 2
In my last post I explained how Sonja and I ended up in an overpriced apartment that wasn’t as good as it originally looked, but I didn’t get to the main problem with the apartment, the thing that we just couldn’t quite get used to. The main problem with the apartment is how far from… Continue reading Movin’ on up, part 2
Movin’ on up (or down, depending on how you look at it)
In retrospect, the fake books should have tipped me off. When we moved into our first apartment in Taipei, Sonja discovered to his delight that it came with fake books. There were a couple of white hardbound volumes, one that purported to be something called The Revolution by Ernesto Guevara and featured the classic image of Che in his… Continue reading Movin’ on up (or down, depending on how you look at it)
It’s official: we’re aliens!
This week Sonja and I got our ARCs, our Alien Resident Certificates, which allow us to re-enter Taiwan if we leave, open a bank account, and enroll in the national health insurance program–for the next six months, anyway. Or as a colleague put it, “Now you are a real person!” Getting the ARC is a… Continue reading It’s official: we’re aliens!