Today, during a break in between classes, the following exchange took place between one of my female Taiwanese classmates and me. She had this little booklet listing all the universities that MCU students can do exchange programs with and was trying to get my input on the American ones before she made her application.

Classmate: “Are these places cold?” (pointing to a listing for a university in Minnesota and a university in Ohio)
Me: “What do mean cold?”
Classmate: “Colder than Taiwan?”
Me: “Yeah of course. Every place will be colder than Taiwan. Out of the two the one in Minnesota will be colder than the one in Ohio though.”
Classmate: “How about this one?” (pointing to a listing for a university in South Carolina)
Me: “That one will be warmer but still colder than Taiwan.”
Classmate: “But does it have a lot of black people?”
Me: “What does that matter?”
Classmate: “Black people are dangerous.”
Me: “Why do you say that? White people are dangerous too. Why are you only afraid of black people?”
Classmate: “The movies. All the gangs and guns are dangerous.”

This isn’t completely verbatim but I tried to get it as close as I could. The ending of the conversation was said with hints of humor and blitheness but one could tell these were real thoughts going through my classmates head and were real concerns she wanted addressed before choosing a university to spend time at as an exchange student.

I also had a similar conversation with a Taiwanese friend who was going to go work for a while in Houston.

What does this mean other than it is definitely true that the wrong-headed but major message sent out from Hollywood/Mtv/mainstream media is that black people are dangerous gangstas? What should the call to action be? My classmate isn’t a racist. She is just trying to make the best decisions with the information she has…something all rational people do. That means that she can be convinced of a new reality without blind hatred getting in the way.The problem is not with her, it’s with us.

Should media outlets care how blacks are portrayed as opposed to how others are portrayed? Should I care? Should I care what Taiwanese students think of black Americans as opposed to other Americans? Should black Americans care? Should all Americans care? Should all the world care? I believe the answer is yes but that means actionable change needs to be pursued and that is where I get completely befuddled.

What can be done other than publicly denouncing these lies about my black brothers? Should all Americans be forced to move back into the cities so that, at least, to be authentic they’ll (the media outlets) have to show a “new” racial diversity in portrayals of inner-city problems? Should we all just keep yelling at black Americans that this is all there fault? Should we support the propagation of media that demonizes other people groups in greater proportion to balance this view so that at least all Americans would be seen as dangerous as opposed to just blacks? Should we make movies about Westboro Baptist Church, or the Iran-Contra Scandal’s connection to crack being introduced into American cities, or how public education was thought up by rich people in an attempt to obtain workers who would be satisfied with assembly line lives? Should we do more to share with the world some of white America’s suburban/rural problems seeing as how we are the majority? Should we support exchanges and multi-cultural experiences for all people (young, old, black, white, American, Iranian, Christian, Muslim) so that we can base ideas about others in reality? Should we “purify” all entertainment and media messages into non-truth about inter-racial love and acceptance? What can be done that is actionable and also brings about positive change? How can we make Michael Jackson’s profound lyric, “I’m not gonna spend my life being a color” be true for EVERYONE and to EVERYONE?

These are the thoughts that are circling round my head.

A lot of people wonder how we go about living in a foreign country without knowing the language. I have to admit I can understand where this incredulity from our fellow Americans comes from. We (as in Americans) think of that once-in-a-lifetime trip we took to Mexico for a week or two, thinking to ourselves that vacationing without language is hard enough but how could we ever go about renting an apartment, getting a job, paying the bills, buying groceries, or even figuring out how to take out the trash without knowing how to speak to those around us…and we haven’t even mentioned the literacy problem yet. These concerns are definitely ones that I thought about before I did all those things over here in Taiwan. I should also note that I am very much aware that not all Americans only take one trip to Mexico in their life. Many Americans are extremely well-traveled and I know a lot of them. I’m talking about the others who look at those of us who live overseas with that “I could never, ever do what you are doing” look in their eyes.

For me there are two keys to living in a foreign country without knowing the language. Key number 1: have a friend who knows the language and likes/is willing to help you. Emily and I were blessed to arrive in Taiwan with several friends already here and were so blessed by how kind and helpful they were in getting us up and running. We have really enjoyed doing the same for others who have come after us and consider it an honor and a privilege to help the newbies because we remember the surreal, helpless feeling at the beginning. We’ve also met people here who got a job online before arriving but knew no one at all. These friends were invariably helped by their new employers and the friend situation was rectified quickly. Plus, with the internet now and websites like www.couchsurfing.org tapping into friend networks is easier than ever.

Key number 2: be patient and take new information as it comes to you. While this is probably not as important as the first key it is helpful in keeping a light attitude when you realize that simple tasks that would have been a quick errand on your way home from work in the States are whole afternoon affairs in your new home. Like for example when I wanted to get something at a music store the other day. In the States my brain would immediately know where the music stores in town are and I could think to myself which one would be best suited for my purchase. I would go there when in that area of town next without any hassle whatsoever. Here in Taiwan the process is similar but just a little longer. It went like this: I remembered that Emily and I had driven by a music store a few months back so I took off on my scooter to re-trace my steps. And actually it wasn’t too difficult at all. I only went a few kilometers down the wrong street, and after doubling back without finding the store I realized I needed to be a few blocks down on another street. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again right.

The fun times are when I know something another foreigner doesn’t and I get to let them in on it…it’s like simple bits of knowledge become these nuggets of gold that I get to give out. I remembered this the other day when I was at 7-Eleven. I was there buying a few beers and returning Taiwan Beer labeled bottles for the 2NT deposit on them. Another foreigner in the store saw me handing the empty bottles to the cashier and asked what I was doing. I told him about the 2NT deposit and his face lit up with recognition. I knew exactly what was going through his brain because it’s the same thing that went through my brain when I learned about the deposit. He was thinking about all the bottles he’d thrown out and about how exciting it would be the next time he had some empty beer bottles and would get a chance to use his new nugget of knowledge. It truly is the simple things my friends.

Living overseas without knowing the language is by no means impossible. It just takes a little more patience and a willingness to accept help from others. The pros outweigh the cons by a million to one.

Endnote: please accept my apologies for the corniness of this post. It’s just so fun to realize how much pleasure can be gotten from simply knowing how to do easy, everyday stuff.

For those of you who have never used Google Translator here is your big chance. You should keep in mind that 鄭明哲 is my Chinese name. Once you have figured out this post’s title you can write me a comment about how great Chinese is and how much you enjoy learning it.

Before reading on, press the play button of this video and listen to it as you read. It will be a scrumptrulescent experience, I promise.

Last week I finished my last final, turned in my last term paper and started winter break! Last Thursday Emily and I hosted a “No More School” party here at our house with truly fantastic people joining us in our celebration. This week I’ve lazed about, began using Pimsleur in my quest to become a real speaker of 普通話 (Mandarin), hiked with Emily in the hills just south of 台北市 (Taipei City), spent an evening at the club with foreign exchange classmates for one last whoopla before they bid Taiwan adieu, and said goodbye forever to being a twenty-five year old. What a wonderful world we have been given.

After checking my grades and speaking with classmates it seems that there is consensus in my class that many of our professors felt that they were too kind to us during the midterms and have tried to make up for it in grading our final exams. It seems like all of us have 5-10 points less on our finals than were on our midterms….maybe the administration gave one of their crack-down decrees or something. Maybe we all just slacked off. Whatev’, we should all become Montessori advocates anyways.

Our party was great. A ton of people had told Emily and I that they would be coming but as it turned out there were not too many but plenty enough to have fun! I estimate thirty to forty but Emily insists there were at least fifty people. We had an awesome mix of my classmates, Emily’s classmates, and friends of friends creating an atmosphere of diversity, conversation, beer-pong, Soul Caliber II (Playstation for the rest of you), and Texas Hold’em. Phil, one of our roommates headed up the beer-pong effort and it was a true hit. While the fact that the Asians did not know the game wasn’t surprising, I was flabbergasted in learning that the Europeans hadn’t played. Just think, because of our party beer-pong will be spreading the world over. Can a man leave a better legacy is the question that now haunts my moments of cogitation. Last year we had our party at the end of Spring semester in June and it was way too hot. Now, having done both I can say with authority that having the party at the end of Fall semester is a much better way to go.

The lazing about has been great for me but a little nerve-racking for Emily. I think that might be a reflection of our upbringing. What do you think?

Pimsleur’s Mandarin learning curriculum has been recommended to me a few times now. It was apparently developed by Dr. Pimsleur to simulate the way a baby learns language. So far I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m hopeful that I will soon be speaking pǔ tōng huà like a zhōng guó rén. Right now, though, I need to remain hopeful and consistently exercise my nǎo. Diligence is my Achilles’ heel but this time…this time will be different.

The lazing about came to a head this past Wednesday with Emily suggesting we go hiking. We chose a trail out of our Taipei Day Trips book that started just south of Xindian and went up over a mountain (or big hill if you prefer) and ended down the other side in Muzha. On the way up we stopped in to see a little temple cut into the side of the mountain behind a waterfall. It was pretty rad. If I were going to be a monk that place would be a contender. Upon reaching the top of the hill Emily and I came upon a few criss-crosses in the paths that we weren’t too sure about and ended up a little off-track. No matter though as we decided we had had enough hiking for the day. Finding ourselves in the Tea House area of the mountains surrounding Muzha we popped into one, bought some tea, enjoyed the view, talked, and sipped to our hearts content. I should teach you all how to properly drink tea; it is quite a procedure. Once we’d had our fill we hopped on the bus for the winding ride back down into the city.

Emily and I joined some of my classmates, who were only here for this past semester as exchange students, at 9 percent, a club that is luckily within walking distance from our house. Emily and I had never been there before and the evening was a nice bit of Long Island ice-teas, dancing, and saying goodbye to Julia and Fendi who are leaving to head back to Germany.

As I write this I am celebrating my first day as a twenty-six year old. I knew it was coming up but since break began I’ve completely lost track of dates. Consequently I didn’t realize until yesterday that my birthday was looming so near. I’m not even thirty and I’ve already become that guy who forgets about his own birthday. This very moment Emily is preparing a wonderful birthday dinner for me so I had better go.

Well my workload is finally up. It seems like all semester long I haven’t had too much to do or study but that is just because it was all delayed. I guess the stars aligned this semester or whatever ’cause most of my classes have end-of-semester projects but not really stuff that I could do until after I learned it. So between now and mid-January I’ll be busy, busy, busy with papers and presentations.

My university had a blood drive last week and I donated so sometime soon some Taiwanese dude, or dudess, will be walking around with 250cc of Michael Jefferies coursing through their veins…pretty cool huh? They even gave me a pair of socks with hearts on them for donating! Not too mention the added benefit of finally discovering my blood type…B+ thank you very much.

In other news I finally got up enough courage to ask the homeless guy who sleeps on the bus stop bench across the street from our house if he wanted some food. Why do I always go back to worrying about doing stuff like that? I’ll go through times where fear about that sort of thing really doesn’t bother me and then other times where I hesitate. But every time I overcome the fear I remember that it is no big deal at all and I kick myself for waiting so long over nothing. In any case the guy said he’d love some food so we gave him some leftovers.

I’m playing guitar at church pretty regularly now or at least playing what I know and fumbling through the rest. It’s fun and I’m excited to be playing an instrument more regularly again. Our new roommate, Phil who took Darren’s place, has a keyboard and the other night we “jammed” for a bit.

Lately I’ve been missing work. Studying is nice but going so long without an honest day’s work has been getting to me. I keep on going back and forth between doing that accelerated Masters program I’ve mentioned before and getting a job after I graduate. Right now I think getting a job is winning in my mind.

Last week we had an British guy stay with us for a few nights who has moved to Taiwan from mainland China and needed a place to stay for a few days before moving into his apartment. Ken, our other roommate, is signed up at www.couchsurfing.org and this dude connected to our house through that. It’s a really cool idea and I’m becoming more and more intrigued with the idea of using couchsurfing for vacationing and traveling myself. Lodging is such a big expense and being able to stay on nice people’s couches for free is so appealing. Everyone should check out the website!

Left to right: Phil from Michigan, our newest roomie; Ken from Taiwan, our faithful roomie; Jim from England, couch-guest for a few days. They’re all painting over the leftover weird wall drawings and scribblings in Phil’s room.

It’s been a few weeks since my last post so I figured I had better get on the ball. The problem is there is not much to tell. I mean sure, I can tell you that Emily is super busy and harried with schoolwork and that I’m not but is that really post-worthy news?

If you are a praying person you can pray for Emily. She is incredibly challenged by this semester’s workload and doing her utmost to measure up. I, on the other hand, have one of the lightest loads of my academic career right now. With that in mind I’ve been trying to work on becoming more in tune with the housework and meal needs and all the jobs that Emily remembers so naturally but that I just don’t even think about. I want to be better at having all that stuff in my head constantly and being able to remember that the bathroom needs cleaning, or the roommate needs to be reminded to do their cleaning job, or the groceries need buying. And then once I get that stuff in my head on a constant basis I want to do those things.

I’ve been having fun building my Mandarin vocabulary. It is a constant challenge but I’m hoping the consistency of lessons and such will help solidify all these new words into my brain so that I can actually benefit from them in real situations. Our good friend Sandy has agreed to do some language exchange with me and she is a really, really good teacher. We are so blessed!

Oh, I just remembered there is something I can talk about. Last Saturday Emily and I went to Guang-hua Market electronics district and bought a new desktop computer. Both of our laptops are 4 plus years old and are getting quite temperamental. We have high hopes for our new computer! Guang-hua Market seemed like a geek’s paradise. Picture a billion little stores that had all these menus of computer components. You could buy each component individually or put them together to create a new computer. Emily and I ended up at this store and the guy had this order sheet and basically filled in what type of each computer component we wanted. He told us to come back in thirty minutes and the computer would be built. Great way to buy computers as far as I’m concerned because I could choose how good/expensive I want our computer to be!!