International Discord at an Internationalizing University
My status as an international student has lumped me into a brewing university controversy. Apparently there's a bunch of local students angry at 'we' foreigners for our various transgressions. These include: "cigarette-butt littering, late night alcohol drinking and boisterous gatherings in the dormitories." Evidently the authorities will not be taking any more of this crap from us foreigners. Future transgressions will be met with letters home to Mom and Dad, official reprimands, or complaints to diplomatic authorities (?!).
I'm obviously not involved in any boisterousness. I'm a keener. I just study. However I find the way the issue is being handled interesting. It'd be almost inconceivably politically incorrect for a North American educational institution to react to such complaints by lumping all international students together and then communicating with them en masse. Can you imagine MIT issuing emails to all foreign students warning them about potential expulsion because there had been some complaints about Chinese students partying? On a slow news day that kind of thing could make national news.
There was to be an official meeting this evening to hash everything out. Unfortunately I didn't learn about it until it was too late. I'd like to have gone along to see if I could stir the pot a bit.
The Lunar New Year is just about here, and the grocery stores are full of gift boxes of whiskey and other liquors. I'm a sucker for fancy packaging and big boxes I don't need, so I was checking out the selection this evening. Most of the more popular brands were represented (ie. Johnny Walker, Glenfiddich, Suntori, etc). This one in particular caught my eye and distinguished itself from the rest as a "Product of World." I reckon that's a very globalized way of looking at product origin. It's quite fair to everyone really. I imagine the residents of Burundi are oftentimes pissed at never seeing "Product of Burundi" on bottles of whiskey. Well the marketers of "Special Reserve Deluxe" have solved that problem and created a product which they can happily market everywhere without angering anyone (besides those customers who actually want to know which country their whiskey was made in). They needn't worry about potential nationalistic antagonism determining customer buying patterns. Everyone (excluding aliens who may prefer the extra-terrestrial stuff) can proudly buy and display bottles of "Special Reserve Deluxe" knowing it comes from the best damned liquor producing planet in the solar system.
I'm soliciting rat killing tips. I was recently up all night chasing one of the bastards around my bedroom. For quite a while we've known that we've got a friendly rat who visits our kitchen in search of snacks. I don't mind provided he doesn't eat my stuff. But I do mind him monkeying around in my room. It's noisy, obnoxious, and I can't keep my inner hypochondriac from worrying about bubonic plague and the like. I bought these sticky rat traps, but they're crap. Either that or I'm crap at strategically placing them. I think he comes in through the window, so today I put one on the outside window sill. I envision him stepping on it, getting stuck, and then disloding the trap from the sill sending it plummeting four floors to land rat and all on one of my neighbour's head's. That'd be sweet.
Nobody else seems to find it bizarre that there is a statue outside Taipei Main Station which, when viewed from the right angles, appears to be a tribute to pederasty. The inscription below reads: Loving Father. I suspect the artist might mean 'Loving Priest' or possibly 'My Time as an Altar Boy'. 
I’m always tentative to walk through the crowds as I envision every individual has a dermatological ailment of some sort which I might catch if I get too close to them. If I do have to walk through the crowds I hold my breath so as not to inhale any potential rash causing germs. God forbid I should get a rash on my oh-so-pretty lungs. I don’t know what the incredible popularity of this clinic has to say about the Taiwanese, apart from the fact that many of them have dermatological ailments and stay out late. What I do know is that the place has the outward appearance of a nightclub. All they need is a red velvet rope, and some big-necked male nurse checking people at the door. Come to think of it, I reckon a medical themed night club would go down like gangbusters in some cities. Patrons would wear med-fetish wear, or adopt ailments for the evening. A whole slew of thematically named drinks are made possible, as is intimate booth style seating in 'examination' rooms. I give free reign to any enterprising entrepreneur to pursue this further. I just want complimentary entry when you open for business.
The Chinese acts were slightly better in regards to both their choreography and actual skills. That said, I’d guess they were circus school students as the acts didn’t come off like the high level blow my mind technical skills acts I’m used to seeing from Chinese circus companies. They had nice costumes, good choreography, and the individual performers’ skill sets were well-rounded. Their best bit was the foot-juggling act which ended with a finale involving two kids from the audience suspended from a pole, and juggled by the antipodist. 
As a foreigner one is often stopped in the street by school-aged children. All kids here study English in school. These kids are given “homework” in the form of instructions to go out, find a foreigner, and have a conversation. I find it humorous as these instructions are exactly the opposite of what North American kids are told time and again, “don’t talk with strangers.” Here kids are not only encouraged to talk to strangers, they have to have the stranger sign a piece of paper to prove that they have done so. Usually the kids just want your signature. The exchange goes thus:
which, when choked, squawks, clucks, and flails like mad. Apparently the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) feels it sets a bad example for Australian youth, and a bad precedent for toy makers. I think the RSPCA’s sarcastic examples of dreadful toys to come “Burn a Cat” or “Shoot a Dog” sound pretty entertaining. Besides, the example the toys set isn’t necessarily a bad one. In the event of a large scale disaster the ability to choke-a-chicken may come in very handy. Furthermore, with the current avian flu threat choking all of one’s chickens could be a prescient safeguard. 
When the woman handed me the Bible I started thinking about the history of missionaries and both the harm and good they have caused around the world. Their effects were global in scale, but highly differentiated by locality. It seems that in areas without strong recorded mythologies (I include all religions under this term) the missionaries exerted a force for rapid change. The Bible subsumed traditional religion. In areas with recorded religious texts the challenge was much greater, and thus the lasting effect not as great. Resultantly the world’s unwritten religions have either largely disappeared, or been written as obituaries. What we’re left with are a few religions, each with their own canonical texts. These texts must thus act as the ultimate arbiters of moral or faith based questions for those who ascribe to these religions. The problem with this is that these texts do not evolve. They are static, having been written from a certain historical frame of reference their applicability and pertinence decrease with time. Updated translations can help to keep them relevant, but they are not nearly as fluid as a pre-literate religion would have been. A pre-literate religion was largely arbitrated by local wise men or women. It was up to them to interpret beliefs for their parishioners. This allowed for more tailor made spiritual solutions to the problems of the day. 
