Happy Father’s Day

A couple weeks ago in Chinese class we learned the word 肉麻 (ròumá). Literally, this word refers to the bumpy skin on a bird after its feathers are pulled off, or as defined in our trusty textbook, “goose pimples, goose skin.” However, the more common usage of this word is to refer to something that is “disgusting, […]

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Found in Translation

When I was a child, my mother and I had this routine pretty much every day after I got home from school. Tired of wearing shoes all day at school, many times I would start taking them off even before I walked in through the front door. As soon as I walked in, my mother […]

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Keeping it Clean

Taking out the trash in Taipei is madness. Let’s start with the trash bags. You have to use special trash bags sold by the city, pretty blue bags like this one. These bags come in different sizes and have different prices. Now, I do think this is a pretty good idea since not every household generates the same […]

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Lost in Gesture

I’ve heard the phrase “lost in translation” in the past, but I always thought that it referred to spoken or written language, actual words rather than gestures. The other day I went to this buffet-like restaurant with a friend of mine. I say “buffet-like” because they did have a table where you pick whatever you […]

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Not All Vogons are Created Equal

Since I’m staying in Taiwan for a year as a student, I am supposed to go to the Immigration Office and get an Alien Resident Card (ARC), that would work as my official ID in Taiwan for the upcoming year. I went to get that paperwork done today. I had the chance to experience first […]

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