October 8, 2009

A somber way to start the day...

At least I'm going home for the weekend...first time going home with mixed feelings.

A cold San Francisco weekend...

A goodbye to a friend.

Attitude

Attitude is one of the integral topics in the discussion of culture and identity. If one is open to cultures of foreign countries, he or she may identify with those countries better. With the current stage of global culture and media, we are constantly bombarded with information about all facets of life and cultures of the world. One tipping point between those who are able to obtain their identity and those who are fickle about it is their attitudes toward those information.

From participating Taiwan Tech Trek (internship) for two summers, I have realized that a lot of second generation overseas Taiwanese are very reluctant in accepting Taiwanese culture, especially second generation Taiwanese Americans! Sometimes they would critique the differences between the two countries. I heard a group of people complaining about the differences in direction of travel between railroads and normal roads in Taiwan. Others would act in ways that may seem appropriate to America but less so in Taiwan, such as the dormitory incident in Taipei. But of course if they had been paying attention to Taiwan history, they would have known that most rail roads were built by the Japanese, and to preserve that section of history the government maintained the left-hand traffic system for railroads. If they pay more attention to the culture, they would have known that most Taiwanese school systems are more conservative. But after all, one can only learn so much about another country right? Maybe it’s the pride of the American people, or maybe it’s the parents who did not promote their Asian culture to their children. Taiwanese Americans need to learn more about their background! And for those who are eager to learn about other cultures, I congratulate you.

I like to think that I am very台. I don’t think that’s anything wrong. But I’m not biased against American cultures either (though it's hard to say what exactly is American culture)…well sometimes I’m not biased…However, when I go back to Taiwan, a lot of people said I look ABT (Amerian-born Taiwanese). Now how does that work? I don’t pretend to have accents or purposely get American style haircuts. I just do whatever I think suits me...like Khaki pants and polo shirt... And whatever others think, it is their business; I do not stress to blend-in. People also do not need to blend in to where they are living (though they still need to obey the laws of course). They don't need to hide behind their masks. Once they come to terms with who they are, the paths they choose will not be determined by materialistic views but by optimistic attitudes.

I think to truly be a well educated and globalized individual, we have to appreciate other cultures as well as our own. What is our own culture? Well it’s up to all of us to decide.

水調歌頭

By: 蘇東坡

明月幾時有，把酒問青天。
不知天上宮闕，今夕是何年。
我欲乘風歸去，又恐瓊樓玉宇，高處不勝寒。
起舞弄清影，何似在人間。
轉朱閣，低綺戶，照無眠。
不應有恨，何事長向別時圓。
人有悲歡離合，月有陰晴圓缺，此事古難全。
但願人長久，千里共嬋娟。

很多人說當我們孤單思家時會望月亮尋找安撫, 古代的詩人也經常以月亮當成思念的主題. 在這首詩裡含義很豐富, 尤其是最後兩行: 人都會有悲哀、歡樂、離別、聚合, 月亮也有陰、晴、圓、缺, 而這些事從以前就難以達到完美. 只是希望大家能長壽平安, 雖然相聚千里, 也能共同欣賞那輪明月.

這首詩是蘇東坡在中秋夜喝酒後懷念他弟弟時所寫的, 可是內容大家一定曾經感受到. 下次賞月時念一下這首詩吧 啊哈!

(10/3/2009 10:21pm 中秋)

吃月餅喝杯茶

坐在陽台上賞月
好享受~
少了烤肉看煙火...
不過聽說台灣有颱風芭瑪來襲,
如果在那裡什麼也做不到, 真可惜

爸爸寄給我三顆月餅, 一下填進肚子裡.


中秋節快樂!

以下是去年中秋節的照片, 在美國的家過的.

舉頭望明月, 低頭吃月餅 哈哈!

Here We Go

First day of school for my senior year in college...
I hope everything goes well, and I'll study as hard as ever. This quarter I'll be taking five classes so I will be extra busy. With graduate school application and tests, I might not be posting as much entries...but anyways it's a good way for me to practice writing skills.

Wish all the best to my family, especially to dear Reynold (brother-in-law). I know you will get past this hard stage. 加油!!早日康復!!

蠟筆小新 (クレヨンしんちゃん)

第一次看到這本漫畫是國小一年級時 (1995年), 好像是看了第四集. 當時一看完就愛上了這個爆笑漫畫, 決定把一到三集也買下. 之後我也會時時到書店裡看有沒有新出書. 2000年到美國之後, 我也繼續收集, 每當一回台灣時一定去我常去的台南的展華書局報到, 問有沒有新的一集「蠟筆小新」.這本漫畫伴我一起成長, 也是我唯一有在收集的漫畫.

「蠟筆小新」把日常生活中遇到的事都描述了出來, 並以帶點諷刺的角度來解釋, 加一些搞笑的故事, 帶來給我們無比的歡喜. 小新愛搞笑又有點黃, 可是他也有懂事貼心的一面.小時候只是覺得小新舉動有趣, 說話又獨特無理, 可是最近一再回味前幾集, 發現在表面笑笑當中藏著一些諷刺: 社會對小孩的觀點, 小孩對社會的觀點, 上班族的生活, 婦女的形象, 以及各國文化的差別等等.

作者臼井儀人把這些觀念以及人物的情緒, 一個一個的畫到那些簡單的方形格子裡. 然而我們讀者所學的不是如何學壞, 而是如何在任何情況下以樂觀堅強的態度像小新一樣度過難關, 以客觀的方法面向社會.

臼井老師不幸身亡, 讓我們少了一個成長當中的夥伴. 今年八月底買的「蠟筆小新」49集也是他完成的最後一集. 以後如果有人持續下去, 應該也會感覺不一樣啦. 謝謝小新給我一個有趣又溫馨的童年回憶.

May you rest in peace!

Number 4

One more year of college to go! I went down to UCLA with my parents yesterday, and brought a whole bedframe down, but luckily we are going to throw that heavy bed frame away when I'm done next year.

Every year my dad drove from San Francisco to LA to move my living equipments into the dorm, and drove again to pick those stuff up back to SF. The plan is: we rent the minivan at 11pm the previous day, woke up at 3am for a 7 hour drive to LA, move my stuff in, leave at around 3pm, and arrive at 10pm in time to return the car within a day. This schedule happens at September (beginning of school) and June (end of school)

Mom usually makes some sort of snack so we could have something to eat during the drive. While dad is driving she kept on stuffing food into dad's mouth...it was hilarious. She made sushi rolls this time. Yummy~
Hopefully I gather the courage to drive next time...14 hour drive is really stressful.

感謝爸爸媽媽!!