By Allie Lin
Have you ever been to a place for the very first time and gotten an eerie sensation that you’ve been there before? Have you ever met somebody for the first time, and yet, felt that you’ve known them forever? We’ve all had this oddly familiar feeling of déjà vu at one time or another in our lives, but have you ever wondered if maybe you have been there and you have met that person before—in a past life? The word “reincarnation” means the rebirth of the soul into another body after death. This constitutes the concept of the eternal existence of the soul, the non material mind that survives after the physical body is deceased. We were all created at a point in time, which is timeless, and shall always exist. The consistent journeys of souls back to earth form a cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Experiences in past lives, though forgotten, may become part of your intuition. The feeling of familiarity with something you have never encountered before, what we call déjà vu, does not come from actual remembrance of a past life; but rather, from a gut instinct. When you get the feeling that you’ve met a person whom you couldn’t possibly have met before; it is instinct that convinces you that you have met that person, rather than the actual memory of having met. However, it is known that actual memories can be recalled through hypnosis. There are many examples of people, especially children, who are able to give surprisingly detailed information regarding the past and speak in languages they have never learned, under hypnotic trance. One such compelling case reported by Dr. Morris Netherton, is of a blond, blue-eyed eleven year old boy who, under hypnosis, was taped for eleven minutes as he spoke in an ancient Chinese dialect. The tape recording was then sent to be deciphered at the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of California, and discovered to be a recitation about a forbidden religion of Ancient China. The concept of reincarnation may also help shed some light in many areas such as inexplicable fears or irrational obsessions and compulsions. I remember a certain friend of mine from high school who would always go into a stage of panic whenever she went near a large pool of water (e.g. swimming pools, lakes, the ocean). Later, she was told that she had died a very tragic death, being pushed into a well in her last life; thus resulting in her fear of water in her present life. Just about every culture has had its share of belief in reincarnation. Even though in the West, Christian churches shy away from the concept of a cycle of rebirth, it is known that early Celtic Christianity also had strong beliefs in reincarnation of the soul. To this day, reincarnation still has a strong role in Buddhism and Judaism. Many people also believe that fortune tellers and psychics may help us gain insight into our past lives. So the next time you have déjà vu, or think that you’ve fallen in love at first sight; the truth might just be that you have already loved that person for a very long time—in a past life.
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By Eleanore Lin
There are two kinds of tutoring jobs: pleasant and unpleasant. Unfortunately, mine is a perfect example of the unpleasant kind. Betty, one of the students I’m tutoring, has a family which is so special that I can hardly stand it. There are five people and a crazy dog. For me, all of them are, more or less, weird. Betty is in her third year of junior high and she’s neither smart nor diligent, which makes her poor grades at school understandable. She always eats during our class time and even listens to music. She also takes lots of breaks. The only thing she cares about is whether she can watch her favorite TV series on time. Betty’s big sister, who shares the same bedroom, comes in from time to time and distracts Betty easily. Both of them often change their clothes in my presence. Betty’s brother, who is a year younger, is always fighting with his mother over the same issue: whether he should study a little bit instead of playing computer games all day long. He’s the kind of spoiled child who gets his own way all the time. For example, last summer he convinced his mom to let him go to the U.S., but he changed his mind after spending a semester there. He came back home for Christmas and was then unwilling to leave. Now he refuses to go to any kind of school. As for the father, he never interferes in the arguments but always loves to tell me how much he loved literature and history but was forced to study medicine. But if you ask me, the weirdest of all is Lucky, the crazy dog. Although he looks cute he’s not. He’s extremely neurotic and always freaks out when visitors come. So the family has to keep him away from me, but since they don’t do their job well I get to see Lucky quite often. I can hear him barking while I’m still on the street. Then I have to wait outside their door while they catch the dog to keep him away. After I finally enter Betty’s room, Lucky rushes to the bedroom door, barking, sniffing, hitting the door, and scratching at it with his claws. When we finish our class, Betty shouts, “Hide the dog!” and Lucky starts barking and screaming all over again. I wonder why he’s called Lucky. This is really tutoring hell. By AndreaYao
Every year around thirty thousand Taiwanese students want to study abroad. How do they decide where to pursue further studies? Many browse the internet for two hours everyday, go to the library, talk to agents, and ask people who have studied abroad. They often find this information of little use, even after spending so much time to get it. Is there a better way to help students make a decision? In fact, visiting foreign education fairs is beneficial to students who want to study abroad because they can get answers to most of their questions, gather materials for applications, and compare schools. Foreign education fairs usually take place weekends during March and October. Pay attention to TV and radio commercials, posters on buses or on educational organization websites. School representatives who come to the fairs are usually directors or senior staff of their international office or professors from popular departments. There may be local agents present as well. I have worked as an assistant to help these school representatives for three years, and here are some tips to help you get as much as possible out of attending a fair. Before your visit: 1. Think about what program(s) you are interested in (be as specific as possible). 2. Think about what rank of school is suitable for your ability and academic performance. 3. Search the internet to find schools that have the program(s) you want and check if these schools are joining the fair. 4. Make a list of priorities when choosing a school, such as tuition fees, location, climate, language requirements or other entrance requirements. 5. Prepare your statement of purpose, transcript, resume, and English proficiency results if possible. During your visit: 1. Look through the fair index to see which schools to start with. 2. Be there as early as possible on the first day (when there aren’t so many people) to take every prospectus and talk to school reps. 3. Ask the school reps/alumni questions you have prepared (your priorities, the learning atmosphere on campus, what contacts they have, deadlines for application, scholarships, etc.). 4. Show your documents to the school reps for evaluation if they have time to do so. 5. Be aware of whom you talk to. The questions you ask a school rep may differ from what you ask alumni or a local agent. After your visit: 1. Look through the materials you take and make a schedule for applications. 2. Contact school reps, professors, program coordinators if you have further questions about the programs/schools. Students who want to study abroad need to take many things into consideration, so it takes a lot of preparation and research to find a suitable school. We also need to take language tests, wait for the results, ask people to write reference letters, send applications, wait for the school’s decision, apply for a student visa, and so on. That’s why one needs to start as early as possible, at least six months in advance. Visiting foreign education fairs can be the first step to help you make intelligent decisions. Why not come to a fair and see what is right for you? Come prepared and school reps will be delighted to help you; as the Director of the International Office at Leicester University told me, “we love to make sure you get the right information. So come along and talk to us, we look forward to seeing you!” 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 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. Click herBy 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 Ho Lin
Deep in southwest China, there is a mysterious and beautiful place called Lu Gu Lake—or, to use its much more famous and attractive title, “The Land of Women.” Lu Gu Lake is located on a remote highland with an elevation of 2690 meters, isolating the local culture from the touch of commerce and tourism. Here resides what may be the last matriarchal society in the world, the Mo Suo Tribe. Allow me to be your guide as we journey deep into their matriarchal world. The Mo Suo people have never conceptualized or needed the rigid code we call marriage. To their thinking, it is not necessary to have husbands and fathers. The rule and tradition of free love make women very important players in their social structure. There is a “Tribe Mother,” who has the most power in each Mo Suo family. The Mo Suo people deliberately blur the difference between mother and aunt in the family, so every elder female member treats each child in their family like their own. Besides, as there is no marriage, children regard uncles in the family as their fathers. The Mo Suo people don’t care about having a baby boy or girl, so there is certainly no sexual discrimination here. The most special tradition of the Mo Suo Tribe is their “Visiting Marriage.” The Mo Suo people are totally liberal when it comes to love: even mothers can’t interfere. Because there is no marriage, factors like social status and economic advantage have no place here, and the love between men and women seems purer than that dreamed of by people outside their world. The love affairs of young people often start while singing and dancing at evening parties. If a girl likes a boy, she will scratch his hand softly with her fingers while dancing. This is the hint for him to follow her home secretly after the party. However, it’s interesting that only girls have the right to choose boys and drop hints. After receiving the hint from a girl, the lucky fellow will hurry off to prepare a sealed, hard shell with savory meat inside. Because the Mo Suo people often keep fierce dogs, the boy will have to throw this special missile over the short wall of the girl’s house to draw the dogs’ attention. Smelling the aroma of meat, the dogs will start to bite it; but as the shell is sealed, they will have quite a mouthful trying to get it open. The boy will take this chance to sneak into the girl’s room. Yes, that is what “Visiting Marriage” means—a nicer phrase than any euphemism or swear word. The fellow will have to be fast, however, and leave before dawn, so that no one else will know about their relationship. And of course, he also has dogs to worry about! Visiting marriage is totally different from the sad little tradition we civilized people call one-night-stands. It contains love and loyalty. A Mo Suo girl chooses only one boy to be her partner in visiting marriage. However, Mo Suo lovers do break up. There is another interesting custom: if a girl doesn’t love her lover anymore, she will hang a jade collar on the doorknob or put another boy’s shoe outside the door to her room. So if the boyfriend sneaks into her house and sees these things, he will know what has happened, and quietly takes his leave forever. No harsh words, no lawyers. It makes us look like barbarians. Having heard all these intriguing stories, along with detailed descriptions of the beautiful scenery of Lu Gu Lake, I recently visited the place. Lying in a little boat, feeling each stroke as the cute Mo Suo girls paddled, with a soft breeze over my face and seagulls over our boat, I enjoyed the Arcadian atmosphere and forgot all my worries under the blue sky. After nightfall, I joined the Mo Suo people’s singing and dancing evening party. Banishing my reservations to the wind that blew me hence, I began tentatively to learn their verses and steps, until I was singing the traditional Mo Suo songs and dancing with them. The night was absolutely heavenly. The only one regret that followed me from that little slice of Eden, and haunts me to this day, is that no Mo Suo girl scratched my hand all that night. |
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May 2024
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