By Anne Lo
It was ten o’clock in the morning, and I had just finished teaching my Oral Training class at the DFLL English Camp. I was waiting outside room 305 of the AV Center, where Assistant Professor Christoph Merkelbach (known to most students as Chris) was to teach German the next period. I looked around me and saw several other people waiting excitedly—one of them was Betty, who was also just done with EOT and is actually taking German as a second foreign language. So what was she doing here? “I’ve never seen him before!” she exclaimed. Well, that’s understandable. In fact, while the World Cup was going on, some people actually thought he was Oliver Khan (Look at the picture. Do you see a resemblance?) On that day Chris was to teach our campers very basic German, and I thought I might as well stick around and see for myself what he’s like as a teacher and learn some German, too. I’ll be fine. After all, he won’t be too hard on me, knowing I’m just “sticking around,” right? Wrong! It turned out that Chris did not give me VIP treatment and I was also expected to answer questions when called on, just like all the other kids in the class. When Chris asked me what I thought of the class (“Be honest, no politeness,” he said), I told him that I did not expect I’d be busted twice, and that I almost died. He laughed and said that’s just what he does. “Even if I have a really big class with seventy students, I’d ‘bust’ them every one!” Hmm…maybe that’s what I should’ve done in my EOT class. It was noon already, so Chris and I decided to have lunch at the outdoor-cafe beside the Kung-tung Building. A few minutes after ordering, they announced that my meal was ready at the counter; but before I could stand up and go get it, Chris had already gotten it for me. This gentlemanly gesture had me awe-struck, when asked why he did that he answered, “My mother taught me to be polite.” When we started chatting, naturally the first thing I asked about was what I had noticed first about him—his great clothes. My friends and I regard Chris as a fashion icon: Chris’s style is always simple and timeless—just the way he likes it. Once upon a time, back in Germany, all his clothes were black, which made washing very easy. “But someone told me it’s warmer in Taiwan and it’s not suitable to wear black all the time, so now I wear more colors.” This proved to be true. On that day he was wearing an army green sweater, blue and white pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, and sporting a small bright orange bag. However, Chris was very modest when it came to this subject, and said he didn’t think he’s a very good person to give advice on that. Still, he has a favorite brand—“On Sale.” But surely he has a secret to looking great at all times! To this he just smiled and said, “It takes practice.” At this point we’d finished lunch and Chris asked me if I wanted milk. I said yes, and he was gone for a while, then came back with two little bottles of milk and two cupcakes. “A little dessert for you,” he said. Sweet! Then he went on to talk more about himself. He had been a choirboy, a nurse, a cook, a waiter, and a doorman at a bar in Berlin where he wore black leather pants and a black tank top. He had also been to mainland China, where he had taken Chinese Studies (漢學) and taught German at Tongji University in Shanghai. Now, aside from school, he spends his days reading a lot. He sings in the Taipei Philharmonic Choir, and uses the TV only to watch opera videos. As for that Eminem-y kinda “spunk” of his, it came from his days at university. “We were radical! We had lots of demonstrations and even made the Minister of the Educational Board of Berlin retire!”
0 Comments
by Jean Lin
The library is one of my favorite places. No, I’m not one of those students with the ten-ton backpacks and oily hair and five thousand pimples because I don’t have time to bathe between study sessions. I’m just somebody who enjoys all the commotion in places where there are lots of people. The library is just the place for people-watching. When needing to cram or when craving for peace and quiet, I head to the library (and people-watch when I get tired of cramming). But what irritates me is that I can never find a table or a desk to sit at. There are many empty seats with ONE book on the desk, left by the inconsiderate people to save their place. Instead, I settle down on a sofa (better than nothing), and keep an eye out for the inconsiderate ones when they return. An hour or two later, they come sauntering back, sit comfortably in their pre-saved seats…and SLEEP! Meanwhile, I get a stiff neck from reading on the sofa and silently curse them for being so selfish. Having a stiff neck, I sink into the sofa more comfortably, snuggling into the cushions, when, Surprise! A stain right next to my face on the sofa. What can that be? Drool? Dried-up gum? And if there’s a stain even lower down? I don’t even want to think about that. So much for sitting on the sofa. The library is full of useful resources, such as the multimedia center on the fourth floor. There’s cable TV and good radio stations to listen to. Unfortunately, people sleep there as well. Once one of them snored so loud that I couldn’t hear through my headphones. He stopped approximately an hour later. Sometimes listening to headphones for too long hurts my ears, so I take them off and just study. Out of nowhere, the lady in charge of the center was at my side in a flash and told me to put my headphones back on. I guess I would be wasting the resources of the library if I took a petite pause. A friend of mine, thinking he was being smart, put his headphones back on without turning on the radio again. Mistake! The lady returned to turn it on for him. I swear she must have been a hawk in her past life! Another pleasant thing about the library are the top-of-the-line bathrooms. They are cleaned regularly and toilet paper rolls are offered. I have a friend who only goes to the bathrooms in the library, and nowhere else on campus. If he’s in the middle of a class in the Putong building, it doesn’t stop him from riding his bike to the library. If it’s pouring out and he’s at MOS Burger (satisfactory bathrooms), that doesn’t stop him from going either. I admire that persistence though. But just to give everyone a cheerful reminder, his favorite magazines in the library, Sports Illustrated and Baseball Weekly, are often his bathroom companions. So make a note to yourself the next time you choose a magazine to read. Lots of my friends have also remarked on the annoying PDA (public display of affection) of couples in the library. But I’d rather not go into that here. The library is truly a wonderful place where everything happens at once. Just think of it, different people drooling, snoring, kissing, and going to the bathroom at the same time, same place. I find that amazing. Watch for these things the next time you step into the library. Something for you to do if you ever get tired of studying. By Audrey Hsiao
I’ll bet the name Starbucks must be familiar to you. Starbucks has become so hot in Taiwan that even people who used to sit at McDonald’s have moved there and taken it over as their new turf. Everyone loves to hang out here. But why do people love Starbucks so much? Have you ever thought about why it’s so appealing? First, the location is always good. It is often sits at the corner of an intersection, or places near schools or companies, not in some out-of-the-way alley. It’s faster and more convenient for busy city people. Second, it has good interior design. The tables and chairs are made of wood, and there are also sofas and armchairs to sit in more comfortably, to feel more at home. The light and music are soft, helping you to feel relaxed. You can study or chat, not like in the library or other coffee where you have to remain very quiet. Starbucks are also air-conditioned and have clean restrooms. Maybe it doesn’t seem important, but a clean bathroom is a sign of a high quality store. And of course there’s the food and drink, which is always good, not to mention the occasional discount. The workers all well trained. Their professional skills and friendly attitude make you feel you are respected. Starbucks has attained the highest position in the coffee business by succeeding magnificently in terms of its marketing strategy: to create a “Starbucks style,” which is one of taste, fashion, intelligence, success, and confidence. By Ellen Cheng
Job seekers: are you still flipping through the newspaper and magazines in search of a job? Believe it or not, you can do better than that: by attending job fairs that are held inside the school campus. A job fair is a gathering of companies who set up booths to interview people in order to recruit new employees. It can save you time and energy from running around the city having interviews. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about the integrity of these companies since they have to contact the school before they can set up a booth on campus. It is the school’s responsibility to ensure the company’s reputation. In this way it’s unlikely you’ll find any of what we call “job traps” at a job fair, in which some recruiters actually try to cheat job seekers. First, you might want to visit the following website to find out the date of job fairs in different universities: http://www.104.com.tw/jobfair/invite/invite_pre.htm. On this webpage you’ll find a list of universities including the name of the companies that will be attending the fairs. It also gives a brief description of each company and a link to their websites. Of course there’s a negative side to job fairs, too, since they have a limited selection of companies. If you’d like your job fair experience to be worth it, follow this advice from recruiters on how to land a follow-up interview: Do research on the company. Recruiters are more likely to grant follow-up interviews to job seekers who demonstrate knowledge about their company and the jobs they have to offer. Interviews are short; therefore you should use the time to give your recruiter a quick summary of your qualifications and tell him/her the reason that you should be hired. Practice your presentation. Weak communication skills can give recruiters a poor impression. So you should prepare a speech that tells what you know about an employer and how you qualify for the position you’re seeking. Most important of all, practice speaking clearly and with a smile on your face! Dress professionally from head to toe. There won’t be a coat check at the fair, but it would be better to dress nicely. First impressions are always important in an interview. So be sure not to dress in a T-shirt and jeans. Believe me, you won’t want the recruiter to put you in the sloppy category. Behave as if you’re on a real interview. Your candidacy may be jeopardized if you ask questions that aren’t appropriate for an initial conversation with a recruiter. For instance, do not ask how much a job pays or what benefits it offers because most recruiters would consider that rude and unprofessional. You should be using the same judgment as you would for any other type of professional interview. Keep your hands dry and clean. Before you shake a recruiter’s hand, make sure yours is clean and dry. Nobody wants to touch a sweaty hand so keeping a handkerchief in hand for the occasion would be useful. By Lily Liu
Glasses and contacts provide people with vision problems a new life, but they also come with great limitations. There are often times when it is very inconvenient to wear glasses, such as while doing sports or while simply having an intimate evening with a loved one. It is possible to wear contacts, of course, but wearing them costs more than one may think. They require a lot of time, maintenance, and money. Furthermore, contact lens wearers may develop an intolerance and this can produce long-term damage. But thanks to advanced technology, opticians can now modify the shape of the cornea to improve patients’ vision. The cornea is the clear dome on the front of the eye. Reshaping this can produce a great impact on the improvement of vision problems. Radical keratotomy (RK), a surgical operation that flattens out the central cornea to correct nearsightedness, otherwise known as myopia, is where surgeons make several deep incisions in the cornea to change the curve of it over the pupil. However, RK can be very risky. When performing RK, the cornea is seriously weakened and could thereafter change shape over time. Lately, RK has been out of fashion and PRK is now in place. A more recent development, photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), is similar to RK. However, rather than making cuts into the cornea, PRK uses lasers to sculpt an area (5~9 millimeters) in the diameter on the surface of the eye, producing an effect better than RK because the integrity and the strength of the corneal dome are retained. Needless to say however, no outcome can be 100% guaranteed. Patients are now offered a third type of surgery, LASIK, known for its rapid vision recovery and minimal postoperative care. LASIK is done by re-sculpting the cornea. A portion of the corneal flap remains on your eyes, but is only lifted up in the surgery and put back afterwards. For this kind of operation, no stitches are required, but one needs to use eye drop medication for about a week. The disadvantage with LASIK is the difficulty of replacing and lifting the flap. The LASIK operation takes less than a minute to complete; however, it does incur a greater risk than PRK. On the other hand, PRK takes more time to heal and patients usually need to pain relief medication for one to two days. Neither of the two surgeries is more advantageous, and neither causes pain during the operation, but the benefits can only measured by the improvement of your vision. Not everyone should undergo this kind of corrective surgery. It is not recommended for people who are pregnant, have unstable refractive error, have collagen/vascular/active ocular disease, are under twenty years old, or use pacemakers. Until now no one has lost their sight during or after performing the surgery, and the success rate is 99%. Even if during the operation something goes wrong with the laser machine, the procedure can always be stopped and the patient can still have surgery again after three months. Overall, the side-effects are minimal, like the feeling of dizziness and blurred vision. Once the surgery is completed, after several months of total recovery, most patients can continue to drive, exercise, read, and use the computer without the use of any glasses or contacts. For more information, visit: http://www.prk.com/whatisPRK.html#Introduction http://www.lasik1.com/index.html by Kay-Christian Karstadt
Hey foreigner! Yeah, You! Having trouble with your compulsory Chinese (國文) class? You are not alone. When I got into NTU and realized that Chinese was on the list of compulsory courses, I was really happy. Great! A special course for foreigners – so, I thought, this must be a good chance to improve my Chinese. How nice, I told myself. People really care about the needs of foreign students studying for a degree here. I was impressed – but not for long. The disillusionment came after I entered the classroom. As we were mixed with overseas Chinese students, the teacher told us clearly that she would adjust the course level to those who grew up speaking Chinese because they would be bored otherwise. That meant she would be teaching ancient Chinese poems and literature. Sure, my teacher made her point but I was in trouble. With my 10-month background in learning Chinese, I was all but unable to understand even a bit of what was happening in those ancient poems that the whole course seemed to be about. To make matters even worse, my teacher asked me continuously why my Chinese was so much worse than that of my overseas Chinese classmates. After I tried to explain it to her twice, she still wasn’t very sympathetic, and so I decided to do whatever it took to get the course over and done with. I hired a private tutor and spent my weekends cramming Chinese. But all my effort fell short of its purpose – I failed. No matter how hard I worked, there was obviously no way to fulfill my teacher’s expectations. Why, I asked myself, was I even accepted by the university if my level of Chinese was not appropriate to commence with my studies? But then, my major only requires that I can understand Chinese and express myself in the language. Of course it would be nice to improve my reading and writing skills (that is my reason for studying in Taiwan anyway), but honestly, a two-semester compulsory Chinese course does little if the level is too high for you. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to classify students according to their level in Chinese instead of teaching seven similar “foreigner/overseas Chinese courses” at the same time? I think this is the only way for all students to appreciate the depth of Chinese literature. And shouldn’t this be the aim of this kind of course? But for now, it seems that all you can do is hope to have good luck and end up with an understanding teacher, who realizes the fact that you didn’t grow up speaking the language and who assists you in improving your Chinese. Good luck, pal. By Allison Peng
It’s early in the morning. Everything is still asleep, and here I am in a seemingly endless line of people waiting excitedly for 10:00 a.m. Don’t get me wrong: this is not the lottery or a superstar’s concert. A few hours later, I got what I came for – a ticket to the opening game of the CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League) in its new season, which was to begin the following day. 10,500 tickets were sold out by 3:00 p.m. After the CPBL merged with the TML (Taiwan Major League), Taiwan baseball would never be the same. No one would deny the important position that baseball has among other sports in Taiwan. After being professionalized, it became rooted in everyone’s daily life and flourished everywhere. People were crazy about baseball. Baseball players became celebrities, idolized by teenagers. We even won a silver medal in the Olympics in 1992. However, baseball in Taiwan later stumbled. Scandals involving cheating and gambling cast a shadow on the credibility of the sport, disappointing many of its fans. Most of my favorite players were accused of cheating and they were expelled from the CPBL. The team had no choice but to break up. From then on I stopped watching baseball completely, as did many fans. Taiwan baseball was on the decline. But a turning point came in 2001, since the Baseball World Cup was held in Taiwan. The screams and yells for our team in the basement of my dorm could be heard on the fourth floor whenever there was a live game on TV. The nation’s passion for baseball revived and soared high than ever. We also won third place, surely bringing back many fans for the 2002 season. Furthermore, this year the CPBL and the TML decided to merge. Erasing past hostility between them, they sat down and talked, doing their best to improve the sport as much as possible. A brand new league was born, and fans chose to support it. It’s not that hard, actually, for us to believe in it again, because baseball is not just a sport but for many of us part of our daily life. We get nervous, excited, happy, and upset about a game, whether a team plays well or not, and this won’t die out easily. Now we’re ready to rock the stadium again on opening day. Will a new era of baseball begin? Just wait and see. By Jolene Tien
Usually when you spend an afternoon in the library you expect a certain amount of silence. However, this was not the case on the second Monday of the semester. You would have been astonished to see so many people standing in line to get into the conference hall located in the basement of the library. What could have happened? They were there to see Pai Hsien-Yung (白先勇), a famous contemporary novelist and alumnus of NTU, who came for a symposium about his early work, “Crystal Boys (孽子),” a novel recently adapted into a TV series about homosexuals in Taiwan during the 1970s. Pai was born on July 11, 1937 in 桂林. His father was a well-known KMT general. He spent part of his childhood living with his family in Chongqing, Shanghai, and Nanjing, and moved to Hong Kong in 1948 and then Taiwan in 1952. Pai started his studies at Cheng Kung University, where he studied hydraulic engineering for two semesters. But inside himself he knew that his real interest was in literature and writing. Pai’s former high school Chinese teacher, aware of his literary capabilities, suggested to him that if he really wanted to be a writer, he should study foreign literature at NTU. Pai decided to follow her advice and in 1958 he enrolled at NTU, and in that same year, his first short story, “Madam Jin,” appeared in the magazine Literature. Many of his early works were published in the following years. “Crystal Boys” was published in 1985, and was dedicated to the “castaway children wandering lonely in the streets in the darkness of the night.” The novel vividly portrays the 70s gay hustlers who gathered in Taipei’s New Park. The story focuses as well on an eighteen-year old teenager called A-Ching, who after being caught in an immoral act in school, was kicked out of the house by his father. Away from home, he discovered the underground world of Taiwanese gay subculture in and around the New Park. Through A-Ching and the spaces where the story develops, we can visualize the feelings and experiences of the gay community of the time. Through this novel, Pai illustrates the adventures and struggles of gay Taiwanese boys, who where judged severely by a conservative society which considered homosexuality an unforgivable sin. The novel not only describes homosexuals’ dark corner in the New Park but also depicts the values, beliefs, and everyday life of Taiwanese society in the 1970s. Through his novel, Pai wanted to express the conflicts, drama, and love between fathers and sons, and the mental scars in gay men caused by a judgmental society. “Crystal Boys” has been translated into many languages. The English version was translated by Howard Goldblatt in 1990. For your information: In 1997, the 228 Memorial park (the New Park), the space where most of Pai’s novel takes place, was the site of the first Gay Pride Festival in Taiwan, celebrated by many people and gay organizations. By Kikuyo Yamada
There’s a peculiar phenomenon going on in Japan today. The department store across the street from my Taiwanese friend’s house in Tokyo closed abruptly last month, and the construction workers dismantling it seemed relieved not to be in the position of the salarymen they hear about who get up every morning and go to the park in coat and tie, returning home at 7 p.m. to a family that doesn’t know daddy has already been laid off. Unemployment recently hit a postwar high of approximately 5%. A pretty bleak situation. And yet, what may be the most striking thing about Japan’s current economic depression is not how visible it is, but just the opposite. The stores appear as jammed with shoppers as ever, with customers dropping unfathomable sums on big-name handbags; and flights to Hawaii and California are still booked up 3 months in advance. Japan is not a country with broken windows, shuttered stores, and slums. In recessionary Japan, on the contrary, most people seem to be well-dressed, on their way somewhere expensive and exulting in Ichiro’s success in American Big Leagues. “Seem” is the important word here, of course, and many visitors will tell you Japanese people have mastered the art of not appearing to be worried by burying their heads in the sand. In 2000, the Nikkei index lost a quarter of its value, and now it’s getting even worse. In the late 1980’s, when my Taiwanese friend went to live in Japan, an English teacher told her that when he asked his students to choose an adjective to describe themselves, he had to forbid them to use the word “cheerful,” or else everyone in the class would have selected it. Accentuating the positive is an article of faith in Japan. But its regulated optimism may not be so pragmatic. Some Japanese people I know see happiness not as something to be pursued, but rather as something to be found wherever they happen to find themselves. The first rule of Buddhism, which lies at the heart of Japan’s ancient rites and culture, is the reality of suffering, which implies that anything other than suffering is supposed to be an unexpected luxury. The second is impermanence, which, to Japanese people, means taking a longer view of things. The economic forecast calls for overcast skies, my Taiwanese friend heard her neighbor say, but that can only change at some point; in the meantime Japan has the second largest economy in the world and unparalleled private savings. Besides, a rainy day allows you to do things you would never think of when the sun is out. To live in a culture not your own is to learn a different language–not so much in the sense of mastering foreign words but of rethinking the language you thought you knew. In Japan, denial seems to mean denying despair, while depression means repressing the impulse to put your own circumstances before everyone else’s. Fatalism is just a less happy word for faith. When a country is drawn together by adversity, learning to putting a brave face on things might be the best way of passing hopefulness around, and the first step toward making the hopefulness come true. The department store across the street from my Taiwanese friend’s house closed last month, and the people around her said, “Who knows what will come into its place? Perhaps it will be something better!” That might be called wishful thinking. But living in Japan, perhaps it’s just realism. By Ann Chen
Try to recall the many summer vacations you’ve had. How did you spend your time? Did you make good use of it? Or did you just wake up everyday in the afternoon and tell yourself that “tomorrow is going to be different,” but the next day you just ended up doing nothing again and lying in bed all day? I’m sure many of us have this experience. This summer, you can make it different, and chances are you may turn a new page in your life. Join the “ALC.” With “American Language & Culture” as its full name, the ALC is an English-learning program at Stanford University. But don’t jump to the conclusion that this is just another ESL program. The ALC is a program designed by VIA (Volunteers in Asia), a private, non-profit organization dedicated to increasing understanding between the United States and Asia since 1963. Its Stanford projects offer a wide range of short-term, international study programs. These programs enhance cross-cultural understanding through the exchange of people. The ALC program is jointly offered by the Stanford University Linguistics Department and VIA. It was first established in 1977 at the request of some Japanese universities, and in 1990 NTU began to participate as well. Each year its founder Dr. Clark Dwight comes and introduces the program to students. During the program, you’re enrolled as an official Stanford student. You live in the dorm, and your roommate is from another country, which means you’ll be using English almost all day. You get an ID card, and you have access to a wide range of facilities: the library, the computer centers, or the athletic facilities, such as the gym or the tennis court. And this is why the program is 10 to 15 percent more expensive than other summer programs, because you are a Stanford Student. One of the most significant differences of this program is its design of the courses. Usually if you join a summer program, you don’t really have to study; on the contrary, you get to have fun from the first day. However, in the ALC, having fun may be a luxury. Daily morning classes start at nine; two courses are offered, Effective Communication and Current Issues. The classes are tiny, usually no more than 12 students; you’re asked to be interactive and responsive, and don’t think about skipping class! During class, you are not only asked to speak a lot, but also you have to come up with a topic for a research paper. In fact, the most important part of this program is that each student will be required to write an 8-page research paper on one aspect of American culture; otherwise, you may not get the credits. There’s homework every day, and it’s normal to spend more than four hours on it. Speaking of credits, the Stanford summer program is a credit program; by the end you get three credits and our school accepts them. However, the premise is that you have to work hard on the paper, and you should perform well in class. In addition to writing a research project, students will have to make three presentations on specific issues; that means each week you’ll have to think of something to say for 5-10 minutes. The teachers will show you the techniques needed in a formal presentation. Some teachers ask students to make visual aids, and some even videotape your presentation, which is really scary. Think you can just relax after the morning classes finish? Wrong! Unlike other summer programs that allow students to waste their time after class, in the ALC there’s no way you can fool around. Afternoons and evenings are built around various activities. Each week there’s a lecture by the sociology department. You get to explore contemporary issues in American society, such as social stratification and the digital divide. In the evenings, there will be panel discussions; students are assigned to give feedback, either to interview people or to go to the library and do some research. Field trips are another interesting and probably the most relaxing part of the ALC. In addition to students from Japan and Taiwan, each year eight Stanford students volunteer to be the hosts, and they live with the Asian students in the dormitory. They arrange various out-of-class activities for members, such as visiting Silicon Valley companies, going to ethnic areas, and doing voluntary work at community shelters. In short, you have the opportunity to explore many aspects of American society. On weekends, the hosts might take you to some of the places they usually go, and you get to know more about the daily lives of American students. Overall, the assignments are tough and intense, and the library is probably where you’re going to spend most of your time. This is not an easy program. For some people, this might be a perfect way to spend a vacation, but if your purpose is to fool around and shop, perhaps you should consider something else. For more information, go to the Center for International Academic Exchanges on campus, or you can visit www.VIAprograms.org. |
Authors
The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
|