ELISA ENGLISH 英語園地 - 版權所有

Minority

We seem to be the minority wherever we go. Our kids are the only two kids in their school with heritage tracing back to Taiwan. There are about 1,342 Taiwanese (0.5% of all Asian population in Minnesota compared to Chinese which is 11.4%) in Minnesota according to 2010 Census. We also fall in the minority group for voting a Republican presidential candidate compared to the majority of the Minnesotans since Minnesota has the longest streak, out of all states, of voting a Democrat in the presidential elections.

Something New

I am trying something new this year.  It is not a New Year resolution as there is not a goal attached.  About 2 weeks ago, I started doing 50 curl ups a day.  In about half a week, I increased the number of curl ups to 100 a day.  Then I set ten minutes aside each day before I go to bed to do the curl ups.  Why curl ups? Why ten minutes?  It is to ensure that I don’t break my neck or wreck my back.  In addition, we often find the following excuses not to do something.  We don’t have enough time.  It is too boring.  We are too tired.  It is too difficult and painful.  Starting with something small is easier to build up our confidence and maintain our interest.  I didn’t think of setting any goal. Just 10 minutes of curl ups a day for now.  It is easier to start slowly.  A little is better than nothing.  By the way, I am now doing 200 curl ups in 10 minutes.  Eventually, I will increase the work out time to 15 minutes a day if I feel comfortable.    

Talking about politics

I do hate to talk about politics or get involved in it. However, if you don't get yourself politically involved, you will be leaving your future at the hands of the politicians who might not be looking out for you in your best interest.

I haven’t had much time to really sit down and think through the reforms needed for Taiwan’s electoral system.

The first thing that came to my mind is the urgent need of a transparent vote counting method.  Due to what happened during the entire presidential election campaign process, I could never clear that doubt in my mind of a possible falsified outcome since the entire government system is controlled by strong authoritarian-inclined policy-making KMT in the realms of justice and the rule of law, whose overwhelming parliamentary majority allows it to do whatever they want.  How can we trust a government like that?  Representatives from different parties should be present to monitor the count of the election votes to ensure that there is no falsification. Without transparency, democracy is impossible. A country without transparency is not a democratic country.

Hollowing out Democracy Unwittingly

As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr’s Day, I have something to say.  I seem to always have things to say whenever it is Martin Luther King Jr’s Day. 

I have been busy in the past few weeks.  It finally reaches the end and I can now stop watching all news related to Taiwan.  To be honest, I am extremely disappointed. 

What have I been spending my spare time in the past few weeks?  You probably won’t know that the amount of news and TV programs in Taiwan that I have been following and watching for the past few days is more than that of any given year. Bombarded with the news of unethical and even illegal dirty tricks against campaign opponents, I was actually getting tired of watching any TV programs or reading any news related to Taiwan's presidential election. Nothing is really new. Politics is a rough game everywhere and Taiwan is no exception.

I just found a pretty good website where I can find up-to-date TV programs from Set TV in Taiwan.  This is the link.  http://taiwanyes.ning.com/group/youtube

Some of my favorite TV programs are 大話新聞 and 新聞挖挖哇.

Recently I used a phrase in my article: "It fareth between thee and me as it doth between a player at the chess and a looker on, for he that looketh on seeth many draughts that the player considereth nothing at all."  I like this phrase a lot.  The phrase seems to originate from William Fullonius's Latin play, The Comedy of Acolastus.  In plain English, the stander-by sees more than he who plays.  In Chinese, it means "當局者迷，旁觀者清".

For example:  please click on the link to my article.  http://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/40322797

An Olympian in the Making

This is actually not a story about an Olympian but rather some trivial about my son.  If you have been reading my blog, you will know that my son took some ski lessons last winter.  This winter, he is enrolled in the snowboarding class.