By Ellen Cheng
What is Liposuction? Liposuction, a kind of cosmetic plastic surgery, is the removal of unwanted lumps, bulges, and areas of fat using thin suction tubes (cannula) that are placed into body fat through small incisions. A vacuum is applied through a hose attached to the cannula to draw fat out of the body. The number of fat cells in the human body won’t increase after a certain age; only the size of the cells grows. Therefore, liposuction is not a substitute for weight loss and dieting. It is, rather, intended for individuals who have areas of fat that do not respond to regular diet and exercise. Safest Type of Liposuction There are many types of liposuction, among them the tumescent technique is unquestionably the safest. When tumescent liposuction is done correctly it is a very safe procedure. It is performed by injecting a large amount of anesthetic liquid that causes the compartments of fat to become firm and swollen. This injection can allow the liposuction to remove the fat beneath the skin more smoothly. This technique also minimizes bleeding. Benefits of Liposuction Liposuction can have very aesthetically pleasing results. With newer techniques and better educated liposuction surgeons the results can provide patients with lasting results in a relatively short period of time. Risks of Liposuction Primary risks of liposuction include: infection, long healing time, adverse reaction to anesthesia or medicine, blood clots, fat clots, friction burns, fluid accumulation, skin or nerve damage, damage to vital organs, decreased skin elasticity, numbness, and pigmentation changes. Tips to Avoid Possible Risks 1. Do not do too much liposuction (an excessive volume of aspirated fat or an excessive number of areas treated). Excessive surgical trauma is dangerous and is an important cause of serious complications. 2. Do not do unrelated surgical procedures on the same day as liposuction. Prolonged exposure to anesthesia is dangerous. 3. Disfiguring skin irregularities and depressions are frequently the result of a surgeon’s inattention to detail. For example, if a liposuction surgeon attempts to do too much on a single day and becomes fatigued, the result may have undesirable cosmetic effects.
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By Audrey Hsiao
He’s a wisecracking, nap-loving, coffee-gulping, lasagna-devouring, Monday-hating, dog-kicking, spider-whacking, mailman-mauling fat cat. He’s Garfield…the world’s funniest feline! Born in the kitchen of Mama Leone’s Italian restaurant on June 19, 1978, Garfield has grown into a worldwide (and in fact he is really wide) celebrity. His antics with his funny pals bring laughter to millions of people every day. Other humorous characters include Garfield’s feckless owner, Jon Arbuckle (first appearance: June 19, 1978), his drooling doggy pal, Odie (first appearance: August 8, 1978), his beloved teddy bear, Pooky (first appearance: October 23, 1978), the gap-toothed female cat, Arlene (first appearance: December 17, 1980), the self-proclaimed “World’s Cutest Kitten,” Nermal, the always mauled mailman (first appearance: January 28, 1984), the veterinarian Liz (first appearance: June 26, 1979), Mom (first appearance: February 13, 1980), Dad (first appearance: February 13, 1980), and Jon’s sibling, Doc Boy (first appearance: May 17, 1983). Garfield began syndication in only 41 newspapers. However, day by day, this fat tubby tabby has won hundreds of thousands of cat-loving and pasta-addicted fans, and beyond his creator’s imagination, now Garfield appears in over 2600 newspapers all around the world! But how can such a rude cat be so appealing? What makes Garfield so lovable? The reason is very simple— we all love Garfield because he is us. Just as his creator, Jim Davis, likes to say, “He’s a human in cat’s suit.” Everyone can relate to Garfield. What could be more human? He hates Mondays and loves TV. He prefers to pig out than work out. He is addicted to sleep and food (especially pasta), hates dieting and exercise. He’d like mornings if they started later; coffee, which is “strong enough to sit up and bark,” is the only way to start the day. Along with his human characteristics, Garfield is also very humorous, and quick-witted. He’s sassy, “tastefully outrageous!” His spicy-tongued talk makes people love him more. As Jim often says, “Number one, there are a lot of cat lovers who can relate to Garfield because their cats are big fat slobs, too. Number two, Garfield is an anti-hero. He defends our right to pig out, sleep in, and be selfish. He says and does the stuff we’d all like to say and do if we thought we could get away with it.” Jim Davis was born on July 28, 1945, in Marion, Indiana. He grew up on a small farm with his dad, Jim, Sr., who raised Black Angus cows, his brother Dave, and 25 cats who relied on the hospitality of Jim’s mother, Betty. When he was still a little boy, asthma forced him to be in bed a lot of the time, so his mom shoved a pencil and paper into his hands and told him to entertain himself. At first he drew so badly that he had to label each drawing to identify it. Young Jim spent plenty of time drawing pictures and characters, which he soon found were more interesting if accompanied with words and captions. Garfield is not Jim Davis’s first creation. His first comic strip was based on a bug, Gnorm Gnat. The strip ran in one Indiana newspaper, but when Davis tried to sell it to a national comic strip syndicate, he was told, “It’s funny. But bugs? Who can relate to a bug?” After five years of drawing Gnorm, Davis drew a giant foot that fell out of the sky, crushing Gnorm in his last comic appearance. After contemplating a long time, he noticed there were abundant comic strips about dogs, Snoopy, Belvedere, Marmaduke—but no cats! So he recalled all the cats in his own memories—including Betty’s 25 cats—and combined their traits with his grandfather, James Garfield Davis. And Voila! Garfield was born. Today, Garfield has become the world most famous feline, and won Jim numerous awards and fame. Nowadays Garfield is the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world with an estimated 263 million readers each day. He has been popular for twenty-five years. In fact, this year is Garfield 25th birthday, and Jim Davis is going to hold a party to celebrate his birthday. “Garfield’s the quintessential pleasure-seeker and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate his birthday than to give him a week in paradise on a luxurious cruise ship where the kitchen is open 24 hours a day.” If you are interested, surf it and have fun! http://www.garfield.com/25/bdaybash.html By Jean Lin
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Doesn’t the zoo bring back wonderful childhood memories? The smell of elephant manure, the sound of screeching monkeys, and of course, memories of yourself secretly feeding potato chips to the animals in the petting zoo. The only zoo in Taipei is the one in Mucha. It wasn’t always popular, but in the past few years, new attractions such as the koalas and the penguins were added, and also, with the convenience of the MRT, tourists have been pouring in non-stop. The biggest setback of visiting the zoo is that you get dead-tired squeezing in and out of the crowds. The benches seem to be perpetually implanted with people. There is no way for you take a breath. But now that problem has been solved, too. Introducing the Zoo Mall, your haven after a long day at the zoo. The Zoo Mall looks like it came out of nowhere amidst the empty streets of Mucha. It’s big and green with tacky fluorescent lights so you can’t miss it. Indoor food courts can be found, and they are basically your typical department-store-basement food courts. The food is okay, but being a tourist spot, the prices can be really unreasonable–70NT for a plate of stinky tofu? If you want better food, try the outdoor restaurants. You can find Ranch 1 with its fairly healthy grilled chicken sandwiches and salad, but the people who work there are somewhat untrained and dim so it’s good food if you’re willing to wait a long time. Napoli’s Pizza is yummy and cheap if you’re not on a diet (reminder: one slice of pizza is approximately 700 calories), and the waiting time is reasonable for fresh-baked pizza. If you want dessert, TCBY Yogurt is a good choice. The have sherbet in rainbow colors and hand-made waffle cones. Larger indoor restaurants include Ponderosa (an American-style steak house) and a dim-sum place, which is fancier. So after packing yourself with food, head to the other part of the mall for some exercise. On the second floor, there is an arcade. Generic games like “hit the groundhog” and air hockey never go out of date, but if you prefer newer games, try the virtual tambourine machine from Japan. Games are cheap, unlike most tourist spots; 10NT for most of them. You can also go to an indoor amusement park, Chien-hu shan (劍湖山) with plenty of kiddie rides like the carousel. While kids play away, we mustn’t forget the bored parents. They can go downstairs and shop in the gift shops or the Discovery Channel Shop. The Zoo Mall is for everybody. Living in Mucha, going to the Zoo Mall Arcade is my Sunday night activity. But for those who live far away, the mall is a good place to go after visiting the zoo. It is a place for parents to relax and eat something else besides hot dogs and tea eggs from the zoo. For the kids, the Zoo Mall is a bonus activity; more fun after the zoo trip. Whether you live near or far, whether you’re a kid or a grown-up, give the new Zoo Mall a try. After standing in line for the penguins for an hour, you’ll need it. By Anne Lo
The study of handwriting has been around for a long time. According to Aristotle, “Spoken words are the symbols of mental experience, and written words the symbol of spoken words. Just as all men have not the same speech sounds, so all men have not the same writing.” Our handwriting can tell surprisingly much about us, because a person’s handwriting is said to be totally original and deeply connected to the mind and the subconscious. It is for this reason that we can come to understand a person more by studying the graphic structures of his or her handwriting. The practice of analyzing handwriting is called graphology. Even though we cannot find out the reason for our mental states by studying our handwriting, we are able to see some of our characteristic traits (e.g. aggressiveness, open-mindedness, forgetfulness), our physical state (e.g. health, the influence of drugs), our mental state (e.g. traumatic experiences), and our emotional state at the time of the analysis. To find out all of these things, a graphologist looks at handwriting very carefully, often with a magnifying glass. Every little detail, such as the loops and strokes you make, the spaces and sizes, how you dot your i’s and cross your t’s, and how hard you press on the paper when writing are clues the graphologist uses to put together your profile. It is not easy to do. It not only requires a lot of knowledge, but also a lot of patience and carefulness. Being a graphologist is a proper job, and you can make up to US$100 an hour! While graphology has helped a lot in fields such as psychiatry and forensics, it has to be understood that graphologists are not fortune tellers or psychics, and that graphology has its limits. It cannot tell how or why (let alone the future), nor can it give information regarding physical appearance, gender, or race. Also, oriental writing such as Chinese characters cannot be analyzed by means of graphology because it is considered drawing, not writing. When you draw, your mind is consciously controlling your hand, making it impossible to find out anything beneath the conscious mind. There is another field of handwriting analysis called paleography. While graphology concentrates more on the person’s writing than the writing itself, paleography is more about the form of writing, and what it tells about the background of the manuscript. No one in Taiwan has ever studied it. No one, that is, except DFLL’s very own Professor Chou Shu-hua (周樹華), who studied it for a year while she was working on her Ph.D. in Manchester. Now here’s her story: “I’ve always been fascinated by Chinese calligraphy. All forms of writing, I find them amazing. With paleography, that’s what we do. We pay attention to form. We look at all sorts of manuscripts of old texts very carefully with a magnifying glass. We study the fonts, the format, the material on which the text was written (in many cases it’s sheep skin, and we also have to look at whether it’s the furry side of the skin or the other side since it makes a difference), even the binding. These things tell us about the scribes who were responsible for writing the things down, and also much about the social and cultural background of the time. I concentrated mainly on old Anglo-Saxon texts. The kind many DFLL sophomores are familiar with in English Literature I.” Studying paleography means having to look at many, many, many manuscripts. Having seen so many forms of handwriting, Professor Chou claims that she can read anyone’s handwriting. “My instructor at the time had the most unintelligible handwriting I have ever seen in my life. But I made an effort to read it. I read it with a magnifying glass, like I do when I read old manuscripts. After that, no handwriting is unintelligible to me. If I have a hard time making out the words, I just get out my magnifying glass.” Whether in graphology or paleography, handwriting is considered to be a key for unlocking secrets. Now that you know just how much handwriting can tell, do you want to have the power to unlock its secrets, too? If so, get a sample of someone’s handwriting (make sure the person doesn’t know he or she’s being tested), get out a magnifying glass, and start studying. * To find out more about graphology, visit www.handwritingpro.com. * To find out how you can become a graphologist, visit www.myhandwriting.com. * To find out more about paleography or what your instructor has written on your paper, visit Professor Chou Shu-hua. By Jolene Tien
Situation one: you turn on the TV and watch ESPN’s Sports Center, trying to check out the latest sports news around the world, but you feel frustrated with the all-English broadcasting. Situation two: you want to find out the latest results in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, but the only thing you get is information about the NHL playoffs or some rugby games that took place in another part of the world. If you have had this kind of experience, don’t worry! You have another option: the Videoland (VL) sports channel. VL sports channel is part of the Videoland TV network, which includes a Chinese movie channel, Hallmark movie channel, a Japanese channel, and a variety channel. On an ordinary TV station, sports news forms only an small part of news shows, but VL sports channel provides a daily half-hour sports news program mainly focusing on sports events in Taiwan. They also broadcast important foreign programs in Chinese, bringing the hottest games to the Taiwan audience. For example, they are now doing post-season NBA matches, which are extremely popular in Taiwan. VL sports channel not only broadcasts NBA games live but reports the latest game results in real time. Ordinary TV stations broadcast live sports games only when there’s a special event such as the Baseball World Cup or the Olympic Games, but on VL sports channel you have the world of sports around the clock. But not just sports: they also have travel programs, and even a traditional Chinese medicine program, which gives tips of how to prevent or avoid SARS. One of the most important advantages from VL sports channel is that the programs are more focused on local news and local issues. But if you are curious about other international sports details, maybe it would be easier to find them on an international sports channel such as ESPN or Star Sports. As far as I’m concerned, I’m happy to have both of them, giving us both local and international points of view. People in Taiwan are showing more and more interest in sports – not only playing sports but also watching them during our leisure time. Long live our sports channels! For the Videoland Sports Channel Website, visit http://sport.videoland.com.tw By Lily Liu
Are you the kind of person who hates summer just because your face gets all oily and it shines when you take a picture? Having a greasy look on your face not only looks disgusting but will cause further skin problems like acne or pimples. Thus it is very important to do a good job of oil control to keep your face clean and fresh. There are two ways to improve oily skin problems: be conscious about what you eat and about what you put on your face. If you hate to have shiny and oily skin, especially during the summer, first you have to know what causes it. Usually coarse pores, pimples, blackheads, and other embarrassing blemishes go together with an oily face. The reason why these nasty things grow on our skin is because the oil-producing sebaceous glands are overactive, producing more oil than is needed. Thus the oil will ooze out and give the skin a greasy look. Furthermore, when our pores are enlarged, skin is left with a coarse look. There are several causes of oily skin: diet, hormone levels, pregnancy, birth control pills, the cosmetics you use, humidity, and hot weather. Most of these causes can be counteracted by using the right facial cleanser and eating the right food; however if your skin is in really bad condition you might consider visiting a dermatologist. Because of hormonal effects, oily skin is more common in teenagers but can exist at any age. More often the flow of oil increases during adolescence and starts decreasing with age. To clean oily skin properly, you need to cleanse with plenty of hot water and special soap to prevent your pores from clogging. Try to avoid using harsh products that make your face over-dry because then your oil glands will start to work even harder to compensate for the loss of the natural oil. Also, don’t use skincare products that leave your skin feeling taut and dehydrated because they tend to cause the upper layers of the skin to shrink, which will then restrict oil flow through the pores leading to blockages and breakouts. To clean oily skin thoroughly, use oil-based products that dissolve oil effectively; limit your face-washing activity to two to three times per day. When choosing facial cleansers, be sure to choose the ones that have no artificial additives. Use hot water because it dissolves oil better than cold water. When you are cleaning your face, massage your face well with your fingertips, using an upward and outward motion. Do not just rub soap into the skin because it can clog pores. After total cleansing, it is better to put on some natural oil-free moisturizer to keep your skin supple. To keep your face healthy-clean, try to drink an abundant amount of water every day. Eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits as well as proteins, but remember to refrain from sugar, fluids, and salt. Keep your hands off junk foods and any kind of sweet beverage. Give yourself at least two beauty days per week. Enjoy your life, get plenty of sleep, exercise, and laugh!! Here is a little cleansing tip for oily faces: Mix one egg white and half a lemon’s juice. Spread onto face for 15 min. Effective in getting rid of pimples and oil, as well as in reducing pores. Oily face toners: Swipe cotton ball over face first with lemon juice (cleanses), then with witch hazel, and afterwards with isopropyl alcohol. By Allie Lin
Alex sprung up in bed, drenched in sweat and out of breath, greatly disturbed by a nightmare he has just had about being chased by a bloodthirsty vampire. Turning on a bedside lamp for comfort, he started thinking about all the weird dreams that he has been having lately and wondered why he has been having them. What exactly is a dream, and why do we dream? Dreams are a communication of body and mind in a symbolic environmental state of being. Okay, now that I have you completely confused and staring blankly at the page and wondering what on earth I’m talking about, let me try to explain this in plain human language. While you sleep, your brain doesn’t just turn off. Quite the contrary, it keeps itself pretty busy going through cycles of several sleep stages. About every 90 minutes, your brain switches between REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM sleep. The term REM is pretty much self-explanatory. The REM stage is a period in which your eyes start to move in a rapid, jerky movement under closed lids during sleep. So why do we need to know this? Well, because it is also the period in which we drift off to Never-never land! The length of REM increases with each sleep cycle throughout the night, the longest one being toward the hours of morning. The average person goes through 4 to 5 REM stages during the course of sleep. This means, more significantly, we all have an average of 4 to 5 dreams a night. If you happen to wake during the REM period, the dream would appear to be more vivid and easier to recall. According to Sigmund Freud, dreams are products of various forms of stimulation. This stimulation can be either external, including events that happen during the day; or it can be internal, including physical and/or mental desires. Sometimes, the stimulation can even be a mixture of both external and internal factors. Freud’s notion of the function of a dream is wish-fulfillment. We may dream about winning the lottery or having sweet revenge on a cheating boyfriend. Another type of wish-fulfillment is “the wish to sleep.” Stimuli such as hunger, a full bladder, or noisy footsteps can intrude on our sleep; and against these intruders, dreams act as the guardians of our sleep. For instance, to keep from waking from hunger, the mind might create a dream of a big juicy hamburger. If we can succeed in appeasing our hunger by dreaming, then we would have no need of waking up to satisfy it. Noisy footsteps on the other hand, might turn into a dream of hammering nails, for the same reason of preserving sleep when encountering external disturbances. Putting aside Freud’s theories, many dream analysts believe that generally, certain dreams can be matched to certain symbolic meanings. For example, it is said that dreams concerning animals symbolize our own traits, good and bad. If you dream about being on a farm, watching a sow slurping away at its slop, this might say something about your own eating habits. Dreams about automobiles or vehicles usually symbolize two things: the direction you’re heading in life, and the condition of your body. For example, dreaming about driving in a beat-up old car going down a muddy road would be considered a pretty bad sign! However, if you dream about flying in a silvery white jet plane through clear skies, you should congratulate yourself when you wake up. Death dreams or dreams that have to do with death (e.g. attending a funeral) are symbolic of change, be it a physical change or emotional change. It might also be symbolic of itself, since most of us would agree that death is the ultimate change in life. Whether these speculations are correct or only entertaining assumptions awaits the test of time. Meanwhile, the essence of dreams has captured the imagination of poets and playwrights throughout time and space, not only providing us with glimpses of our creativity at work, but also an insight into its mysterious, wondrous realm. By Daniar Sancho
Music is a way to express oneself culturally, a way to express different aspects of man by means of sound. That is how Professor Ricardo Canzio, a professor of musicology here at NTU, defines music. He added, though, that defining music in so few words is a difficult thing to do. It was seven years ago when Prof. Canzio first came to Taiwan to join the Musicology department. Before coming here he worked in Paris as a musicologist. After spending several years there he was ready for a change in life, ready to move forward and welcome something new and different and exciting. And an opportunity to come to Taiwan came at just the right time. So he decided to return to Asia, a continent in which he spent many years of his youth and had brought him such good memories. This time his new home was Taiwan; it represented a new experience, new learning, and new cultural contact. After all these years of living and working in Taiwan, Ricardo says that he feels happy and comfortable in this part of the world; he says he has enjoyed Taiwan a lot, and considers Taiwanese people as very friendly and kind. Being in Taiwan is a great experience for him. He considers that living in Asia has allowed him to grow up a bit more as a person, and to become more understanding and tolerant toward other people and cultures. Prof. Canzio says that he feels more comfortable and at home in Asian and Latin American countries. He finds people from these places very friendly, sincere, and kind. That’s how for example he remembers Brazil, where he has also worked. He describes Brazilians as friendly, warm and easy-going people, and notes that Brazil is such an interesting country because of its great racial and cultural mixture – Africans, Aborigines, Europeans, and Asians. In the study of musicology, Prof. Canzio has always stressed critical thinking, self-initiative, research, questioning, and curiosity among his students. He has developed a good relationship with them, and they not only seem to like his classes but they also like him very much as a person. Ricardo has a very interesting background. He has worked all over the world: Brazil, India, France, and now Taiwan. He began his study of music in Argentina, his motherland, the country that gave birth to the tango. Later on, he did a master’s degree in India, where he carried out research on Indian music, religion, and philosophy, and did some music teaching as well. When he first went to India he was a youngster who hadn’t seen much of the world, and his mind was hungry for knowledge and new experiences. India was his first direct cultural contact with Asia, and according to Ricardo, India is probably the place and culture that has impacted him most. Besides being very different from his own culture, Indian culture embraces a very deep and interesting vision of the world, a vision that goes beyond what the eye can see. In a later stage of his life, he did a Ph.D. in London, in the renowned School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where he did a research in Tibetology and expanded his knowledge of music. At the end of this program, he translated an ancient Tibetan manuscript about music into English: certainly not an easy task. Ricardo has enjoyed all the places where he has lived and worked. He has made friends all over the world. In general he cherishes qualities such as friendship, loyalty, and honesty very much. He respects friends that are not only with you in good times, but who will also stand beside you and stretch out their hands in support during times of trouble. Ricardo says that if he wouldn’t have chosen musicology as a profession, he’d probably have studied linguistics, a field for which he has a lot of interest (no wonder, since he speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Hindi and so on!). But he maintains that he would have studied some music anyway, since music is something that is always been, is, and will continue to be in his heart. In his spare time he also enjoys reading books related to evolution and the natural sciences. Asking Ricardo about what kind of music he enjoys most, he answered that he doesn’t really have a preference. He believes that different kinds of music satisfy different aspects of his personality, and that context, time, and place, are factors that can make certain kinds of music more attractive and enjoyable. For him, music is an element that reinforces our cultural identity. However he appreciates Tango (a sweet reminder of his native country) Jazz and India music. Musical forms that as an interpreter allow him to express himself through them. Ricardo’s life has been dedicated to music, as well as its historical and cultural roots. He is a person with impressive international experience; he has been in direct cultural contact with the West and the East and he’s certainly a person from whom we can learn a lot. Music has always been with us, since the beginning of our civilization; it is a way in which we express our happiness, our madness, our sadness, and ourselves. And thanks to people like Ricardo, we can have a better understanding of its role and its importance in our cultures, our histories, and our everyday lives. By Jessie Chen
What is a “green building?” Does this mean that the color of the building has to be green? No. Since the 1970s, when serious environmental problems began to emerge, two worldwide energy crises in the early 80s and 90s prompted many countries to dedicate themselves to worldwide environmental protection, and especially to sustainable development. In December 1992 the United Nations created a division called “The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)” to monitor and ensure the follow-up and implementation of former agreements at all levels. As a widely-used international definition of sustainable development suggests, it must “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainable development can be viewed as a development pattern that takes economic efficiency, environmental protection, and social justice into consideration and tries to strike a balance among them. Under such an environment-friendly stream of thought, there also rose up the concept of “green buildings,” which has been adopted by many governments in their construction-related laws. Many countries have been focusing on different issues relating to green building for years and have passed legislation to demand that the design and construction of certain buildings satisfy the criteria of green building. For example, in the 1990s the German government started to require that 30% of the thermal energy of residences in some areas had to come from solar energy. Moreover, the government also made use of financial tools to encourage investors to develop more energy-saving designs into their buildings. In Taiwan, the Executive Yuan has used green building concepts for sustainable development projects since 1996. According to Taiwan’s green building evaluation system, there are seven main indicators: 1. the building site, 2. water conservation, 3. energy savings, 4. water resources, 5. carbon dioxide emissions, 6. waste disposal, and 7. sewage and garbage disposal. By means of this system, the Ministry of the Interior hopes to motivate nongovernmental architects and builders to devote themselves to green building standards, to lower the impact of the construction on the environment, to create a healthy indoor environment for the occupants, to utilize energy efficiently and save resources, and to maintain and even elevate the sustainability of the environment. Up to now, however, only a few model buildings which follow green building criteria have been completed in Taiwan, and some are open to visitors, such as NTU’s model green house near Jilung Rd. The design of the house, the choice of materials, and the construction of the garden all satisfy the prerequisites of a green building. For example, in order to save electricity, its walls and roof were made of different layers like a sandwich with energy-saving materials. Though the idea of green building has been promoted for some time, many people still seem unaware of it. In other words, there is still much room for both the government and the people to strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection, thus making Taiwan a truly green island. For more information: 1. Green Building Information Centre < http://greenbuilding.ca/GBIC.htm> 2. United Nations Division for Sustainable Development < http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/> 3. International Institute for Sustainable Development <<a href=“http://www.iisd.org/”>http://www.iisd.org/> By Andrea Yao
In the summer of 2002, I had a chance to join the UMAP (University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific) Leaders Program in Fukuoka, Japan. I knew I was going to meet many new friends, experience new things and learn Japanese, but it never occurred to me that I would also find another home. The UMAP Leaders Program, launched by Kyushu University International Student Center, was six weeks long, with Japanese language courses in the morning and Asian studies courses in the afternoon. Participants included twenty-five college students from America, Hong Kong, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. We stayed in a dorm for the first four weeks and then with host families for the last two weeks. We met our host families during the first weekend of the program. I had been nervous long before that because I didn’t speak much Japanese at all, and the host family application form mentioned that they didn’t speak English. When I met my host parents, I wanted to talk to them, but not much Japanese was willing to come out of my mouth. The only response I could give to their questions was “hai, hai,” which means yes in Japanese, but I was never sure what they had really asked me. After we arrived at their house we began to write in Chinese and Japanese Kanji, trying to communicate. However, this wasn’t very successful either and all we could do was smile at each other. Even though there was not much verbal communication, I still felt their great hospitality from the way they talked to me, the room they prepared for me, and the smiles they wore all the time. Our first meeting motivated me to learn as much Japanese as possible so that I could talk to my host family when I returned. All the hard work proved worthwhile when I met them for the second time. I was able to greet them and carry on a short conversation. I began to feel more like part of the family. We talked about my days in school, Japanese and Taiwanese cultural differences, and whatever else occurred to us. With my basic Japanese, I had to use body language to make my meaning clear, which could be very funny. I also used the new words and sentences I learnt in class. They were the best teachers to check my pronunciation and language usage, and when I needed help with my homework they would always try to answer all my questions. During my stay a precious relationship developed. At first they treated me more like a guest than as part of the family. I guess it was because they wanted to be polite. However, things changed as I began to do the dishes after dinner and my host parents taught me Japanese manners. I felt a love between us and not just politeness. For example, at first my host father was very quiet and I thought he wasn’t very excited about my presence. But one day my host sister told me that every day he asked my host mother what time I would come home from school and what I did there. I realized that he really did care about me. My host family gave me a kimono as a gift before I came back to Taiwan, and my host mother showed me how to wear it. It was like a mother helping her daughter to put on her wedding dress. I was moved deeply when I saw the serious expression on her face. My host sister, who was only a few years older than me, could always understand my feelings and we shared many secrets. This was just like having another family. The host family experience was certainly one of the best parts of the UMAP Leaders Program. I will cherish the memory all my life. I recommend anyone who wants to travel abroad to have a homestay, and now I’m also anxious to host foreigners who want to come to Taiwan. I would like to return the love and care that my host family in Japan taught me. |
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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
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