Don't call me Laowai, bitch!

Are you a little tired at being called Laowai? Don't like to be lumped in that category? It seems to be a tad too negative for my liking. Kind of like lumping foreigners in a 'can't be like us Chinese category'.

But what else can we be called? WaiGuoRen (foreign person) is ok although still implies outsider (not like us). YangGuiZi (foreign ghost or devil) is a bit much.

[More about those terms here]

Or should we really be thinking about what to call ourselves? I think it's about time we had an endonym to call ourselves, the foreigners living in Taiwan. Enough of these antiquated and loaded names (exonyms) that locals have for us. Anyone have any ideas?

Foreign friend? Foreign guest? Foreign slave? Something else?

Alternatively we could just start calling each other LaoWai and make the word our own much like some Taiwanese have twisted the term TaiKe.

When I see you on the street and you hear me say, "What's up LaoWai?" you could reply "Laowai, long time no see". It might worth the trouble to say how locals react.

On a final note, a friend of mine once drunkenly blurted out, "Caucasian is just Asian with a 'Cauc' ". He was a 'Cauc' alright for saying that. But at least he took a shot at claiming a stake to the name.

Take your best shot whether it be serious or idiotic. What name should we, the foreigners of Taiwan, lay claim to?

Saw a funny thing at the gym the other day...

Going to the gym in Taipei is good for the obvious reasons. You can burn off that stress by throwing some weights around and make new friends while you are at it.

However, there is another reason to go: people watching. I get a kick out of watching people use machines and weights the wrong way.

I take delight in watching young ladies lift their flimsy weight dumbells or step erratically on the elliptical machine because they are more interested in watching their TV shows on the overhead monitors than to concentrate on their workout. Or how about the guy who uses the lateral pull down bar and either pulls the bar to the back of his neck or uses it like a rowing machine!

One of the funniest things that have seen are bunches of university age guys using the Smith Machine, a type of bench press consists of a barbell that is constrained to move only vertically upwards and downwards on steel runners. Behind each runner is a series of slots on which the barbell can be hooked. Even though there are these extra safety measures, it is advisable to have a spotter to make sure you the barbell doesn't pin you or just drop on your chest when lifting the heavy stuff. What had me laughing is that, instead of standing behind the lifter (as in the picture), the lifter's spotter had actually straddled his buddy facing his head. Man, talk about gay!

Anyone have any other pet peeves or funny experiences at a Taiwan gym?

Anti Shark Fin Soup Campaign Will Fall on Deaf Ears

And there seems to be no end for it in sight.

There's an ad campaign on CNN these days with a swimmer named Li Ting who pleads with people to give up shark fin soup. You can see the ad in the 'World Champions for Wildlife' Campaign video section (scroll down for her contribution):

wildaid

It's a thoughtful attempt to use the Chinese themselves to get people to stop their age old soup making practice. I doubt, however, Chinese will give up their fins easily.

The fact is that the ad was on CNN which I doubt many Chinese get to watch. Even in Taiwan where we have CNN (although I have no idea if Taiwanese really watch it or just whiz over it in their channel surfing), the practice of selling shark fin is still quite alive and well. Most expensive and lavish Taipei weddings I have been to have had it on the menu (yes, I have eaten it and it is delicious).

Talk a walk through the DiHua Street Market during Chinese New Year and take a look at the prices of the shark fin hanging on the wall.



Wikipedia has an interesting account of spokespeople against shark fin soup. Even Yao Ming, a 'supposed' wildlife advocate (his video is also on the website above):
"pledged to stop eating shark fin soup at a news conference on August 2, 2006. [HOWEVER] Yao's comments were largely unreported in the Chinese media and drew a reproach from Chinese seafood industry associations. Ironically, one of the items on Yao Ming's wedding dinner menu was shark fin soup."

wiki

Exotic animals of all types are been prepared in restaurants all over Asia. The Chinese speaking world is pretty well immune from conservation wildlife eating taboos be it China, Hong Kong, Singapore or even Taiwan.

Specifically with shark fin soup, governments everywhere lack the will to do anything about the problem in the face of a public that demands its shark fin soup. Doing anything in Taiwan would be political suicide without a thorough public education campaign, which so far has been absent.

If anything, I only see the strong handed governments of China and maybe even Singapore being able to implement such a ban effectively and perhaps become role models. It is ironic that these governments have the power to implement a policy while the democracies, mostly bending to public will, do not. However, so far, as far as these countries being leaders against shark fin soup, it remains to be seen.

This campaign really has an uphill battle worldwide. Just like Yao Ming's wedding blunder, or like the Chinese government, at times, itself, sharks have a serious public image problem and there doesn't seem to be a good way to spin it any better in the media. And you can thank Steven Spielberg's JAWS for that!

Pet Peeve: Foot Dragging

Slipper culture in Taiwan is great! They come in all varieties and colors and a fundamental part of the TaiKe look.

People wear them around the house after having taken off their shoes. People wear them outside the house when taking out the trash.

One annoying thing that has resulted, however, is a foot dragging phenomena. Lots of Taiwanese drag their feet, even in regular shoes. When you're walking down the sidewalk, listen for that dragging sound.

I guess it really is no use explaining that our parents didn't want us to drag our feet as it gives people around you the wrong signal. That is, the weight of the world is on your shoulders. Oh what a burden!

Come on Taiwan! Stand up straight, take big strides and be proud!

Pet Peeve: "Of course!"

I'm starting to hate it when I ask my students a question and they answer "Of course!" In fact it's one of my pet peeves.

Here's an example of a typical conversation:

A: Did you see Spiderman 3 on the weekend?
B: Yes I did.
A: Did you like it?
B: Of course!

This obviously is an error seeing that there was no real way for me to know their response in advance (I feel like an idiot for not knowing now).

The mistake arises from translation. "Of course" in English has the feeling that the speaker should already know the answer. 當然 (dang ran) as it is written in Chinese has become a cliche among young Taiwanese, along with the regulars like "strange" 奇怪 and "cute" 可愛.

All these expressions are overused in Chinese. Beware!