ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

About citizenship

In America, a natural born citizen is someone who is considered United States citizen from birth.  Unlike naturalized citizens, natural born citizens do not need to apply for any of the rights of citizenship. 

Give me a break!  What a bullshit!  I know there is a reason that I don’t read UDN, a Chinese Communist backed newspaper, ever since I moved abroad.  You have the nerve to criticize Americans and spread anti-Americanism while the Americans are risking their lives saving the Haitians.  And KMT, or should I call you Chinese Communist now, you have really outdone yourself in sinking this low, succumbing to the Chinese Communist,  and posting that article on your party’s official website.  I am really speechless.  http://www.kmt.org.tw/english/page.aspx?type=article&mnum=112&anum=7518

I can’t believe that this would come from a Taiwanese.  The Taiwanese I know are polite and friendly.  The Taiwanese I know will pour over their hearts and souls to rescue the Haitians along side with the Americans.  The Taiwanese I know will not succumb to becoming the puppets of the Chinese Communist and spread anti-Americanism.  Americans are the people I know who are truly compassionate towards humanity.  They come to your rescue without any hidden agenda.  I attribute that to Christianity even though I am not a Christian and even though I believe more in Buddhism.  I know a lot of Americans who adopted children from the underdeveloped countries, not that they cannot have a child of their own, but that they want to rescue the children from a poor living environment and give them a better life.         

These are some enlightening words of wisdom from Benjamin Franklin that I came across reading this article: http://ifreemans.org/blogs/formosa/2009/09/17/previously-unrevealed-2-28-account-chinese/  

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. 

- Benjamin Franklin

** Updated 12/11/09:

If you have been faithfully reading my articles, you probably have come across an article that I wrote in rage, stating that I am ashamed to be associated with any so-called Taiwanese (who do not truly identify themselves as Taiwanese but in camouflage disguise themselves as one), eager to comprise any Taiwanese human rights, afraid to intimidate the Communist China, looking out for their own short-term interest, or just plain dreaming to unite with China and be part of a Communist Chinese.  I am proud to be a Taiwanese.  Whenever people ask if I am a Chinese, my answer would always be “NO, I am a TAIWANESE”.  To me, Taiwan is not and has never been part of the Communist China.  I am sad that some Taiwanese had elected Ma to be the Taiwanese President when he never admits to be or once in his action acts like a Taiwanese President because he never thinks of Taiwan as a country.  

A License to Kill

Can you imagine an eleven-year-old having a license to operate a rifle and kill a duck?  Based on our community center’s catalog, kids as young as eleven years old can take a hunter training course and upon completing the course, they are allowed to use a shotgun and hunt for animals unaccompanied by any adult.  I was so shock to learn so I searched online and found out that a youth as young as nine years old can obtain a license to kill unaccompanied after completing a Hunter Education Training Course.  Wow!  Talking about independence and leaving all the responsibilities to the kids.  A nine-year-old child is still a child needing plenty of guidance from the adults. 

If you are looking for a review of the movie “Eyes Wide Shut”, you will be disappointed.  This is a question to me and to the rest of you.  Can we keep our eyes wide shut, allowing economic growth at the expense of human life and human rights?  Can we keep our eyes wide shut, with silent approval to the destruction of earth to boost economic development?  Can we keep our eyes wide shut or even worse become an accomplice, caving in to the demand and indirectly promoting terrorism, just for the sake of economic interest?    

Often, we try to take the easy way out, adopting the attitude of “out of sight, out of mind”.  It is so easy to deceive ourselves into believing that we live in Utopia.  As in the United States, we seem to be shielded against most violence and threats.  Is it truly so?   Globalization has brought us closer to all other nations and the devastating effects from other countries upon us.

My heart is bleeding

I just found out this morning, as I was checking the balance on my flexible spending account that the claim I submitted this January wasn’t processed.  I called the claim office to find out why, and the reason was that there was no record of my claim.  Since it has already passed the claim deadline of April 15, 2009, I cannot claim the balance on my account from last year’s flexible spending account for my childcare expenditure in 2008.  I should have checked my account to ensure that the reimbursement was there.  I have been faxing the claims for years and never had the problem of a claim not being processed.  I have all the information I faxed except the fax transmission record.  Therefore, there is no proof for me to even argue that I did fax the claim in January 2009.

Can you imagine what wakes us up in the winter?  Oh, did I say “winter”?  It does seem like winter to me waking up at a temperature around 30 degree Fahrenheit’s for the past week.  Anyway, it is our friendly little woodpecker.  Did I say “friendly”?  I meant to say it in a sarcastic tone.  I hate woodpeckers.  Imagine that you are sound asleep and suddenly awoke by loud hammerings on your wall.  If you experience that, you would understand how I feel.  I don’t know if they are within the protection of Minnesota State Law or not.    

Anyway, we saw the coyote again the other day near our pond.  Oh, remember the pheasant that used to wake us up in the morning.  I believe it leaves for the summer and returns in the winter.  Maybe, Minnesota summer is too hot for it to sustain.  I don’t think that the coyote ate it.  That pheasant jus showed up in spring to chew off our screen door so it could get to the dead bugs behind the screen door.  I don’t know why it didn’t go after the fresh bugs.  Maybe it is a lazy pheasant. 

The only time my husband surfs the internet is when F-1 (Grand Prix Racing) is on the air.  Maybe that sounds a little bit exaggerated.  Anyway, you get the idea; he doesn’t browse the web much, except watching F-1 and reading news.  So, recently, when he told me that he kept a Facebook account, I was in total disbelief.

When did that happen?  I thought that I am the one in my family most up-to-date with all the internet gizmos.  I blogged, I answered yahoo questions, I stored our family photos online, I used to have my own personal webpage, and I shared professional information and linked up with professionals in an online professional networking community.  The only thing that I don’t have is probably creating a social network. 

I came across the link to this film on someone's profile at yahoo knowledge in Taiwan.  It is a short film but it is sad to watch.  We should always be thankful of how fortunate we are and give a helping hand to the less fortunate ones. 

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte/TVE9PSt

Alright!  I really cannot imagine that there is such a person.  When he indicated that the translations we provided were all a bunch of jokes.  I asked him to provide us suggestions for improvements and also to provide his version of the translation.  When he finally produced one, I pointed out the similarity between his translation and mine.  He was not happy about that and started reporting all my answers to be deleted.  Oh, well.  I really couldn't care less.  Next, he employed a bunch of fake accounts, trying to manipulate the outcome of the results on the questions I answered.  I really can't do much about that either.  I do not have time to play games with this type of person.  And now, he is here criticizing the articles I wrote.  I am sorry to say that I do live in America and received education in America.  I am surrounded by Americans and have lots of highly educated American friends and colleaques.  I told them about my blog and they visit it from time to time,  proofread my articles and also provide suggestions.  To insinuate that my writing is inappropriate, my grammar is incorrect and just criticize me without any ground is just so unfounded.  Don't pretend to be a columnist, I know who you are.  I am sad for you that your life spins around me.

There is more (to it) than meet the eye.  I like this phase a lot.  A lot of the time, we need to look beyond the surface.

--- To Be Continued ---- 

Not many people knew that I performed in Southern Theatre or watched me dance before.  My husband came to one of my performance.  I believe that we still have the videotape of that. 

I am not a professional dancer, not even an amateur.  The dances I performed were Arabic Dance, Tap Dance, and Flamingo.  I like dancing.  It is just purely an interest - my passion for dance.  I also learned Modern Dance and African Dance.  Before having kids, I live a free life, swimming, spinning bike, playing racquetball, and attending dance schools.  Life is carefree.  I maintained a fit body.  

I just got back from my 3-week vacation back to Taiwan .  This was our first time back to Taiwan in the heat of the summer.  We usually went back in the winter during Thanksgiving.  I was afraid of the heat.  The reality proved that my feel was not unfound.  I was soaked all the time.  I sweated constantly like running water.  I wore the bare minimum of cloth I could wear and had to change clothes constantly.  I washed in cold water and got all soaking wet again after the shower.  The bathroom was like a steam room even though I was washing in cold water.  It was hard for me to endure.  The humidity was unbearable.  Staying at my in-law’s house was unbearable too because we usually turned on the air-conditioner at night while we were sleeping.  It was unbearable for me.  I am so used to cold weather.  Most of the time, we were in shopping center.  However, any time away from the air-conditioner was hard for me.  Finally my body could not take it anymore and I came down with a cold after a week in Taiwan .  So I carried a cold for the remaining of my trip in Taiwan .    

I hope that I don’t have to visit Taiwan in the summer again.  However, it seems unlikely since that would be the only time we have not to interrupt our son’s school schedule.  I am glad that I am back to the US and my cold seems to go away.

Is it summer yet?

It is probably hard to imagine that we still have to turn on the heater in June.  30 degrees Farenheit.  I don’t think that it is so bad.  I do wonder if this is going to extend the season of the swine flu.

A friend of mine

Recently I got a complaint email from someone I befriended while I was interning at Corestates Bank in Philadelphia 18 years ago.  It is somewhat amazing that we still keep in touch with each other after so many years.  After the internship, I have never been back to Philadelphia .  Time really flies.  I do occasionally think of the succulent lobsters on South Street and the bars near Delaware River .   

My son and the Children’s Hospital

Since my son was 6 days old, he has frequented the emergency room of the Children’s Hospital.  Maybe I am somewhat exaggerated.  

I actually started volunteering as an ELS teacher on and off during weekends about thirteen years ago.  It lasted about seven years, but was put off when I had my son.  Not until half a year ago did I pick it up again.  It is hard to juggle between family, work and volunteering.  I reduced the hours to an hour a month to fit in our current schedule.  So far, it is working fine.  My ESL students are mostly Somalians and Hmongs because Minnesota has a huge population of refugees from Somalia , Vietnam , and Cambodia .  These are the type of people that I usually teach as a service to the community.  They are usually not highly educated.  The difficulties of teaching ESL to these people are the barriers of language and culture. 

I have seen Grand Canyon twice, not in person though.  What I felt was overwhelming, even through videos.  The first time I saw the movie “ Grand Canyon ” in the movie theater, I was dumbfounded by its astonishing view.  The sensation I felt was out of this world.  Today, we took our kids to the Science Museum .  With paid annual membership, we are able to watch an IMAX movie each visit free of charge.  I picked “Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk”.  The feeling will be vastly different, viewing from an IMAX theater versus from online because of the big screen.  It was breathtaking. 

Our kids were quite well-behaved.  They were scared though, with the darkness of the theater and the dramatic impact emanated from the screen.  No words can truly speak of the beauty of its vastness.  I was again captivated and enraptured by the magnificence of its beauty.  Even through the video, I could feel the wondrous nature.  Grand Canyon offers an innumerable variety of sensations.  You can see the greatness of the nature from the over pouring waterfalls, the raging rapids of the almighty Colorado River, the stark desert beauty of the Tonto plateau, the stunning cliffs, the sublime vistas to the various winding creeks.

About internet usage and the attitude of studying

We do no have a Play station, a Nintendo, an X-Box or a Wii at our house, as we do not want our kids to lose themselves in the games.  However, we do buy some games on CDs for my son to play since they are rather educational.  We see no harm in that as at the time he is learning from playing.  Sometimes, we allow him to play online games offered free from Disney and Cartoon Network to reward his good performance and behaviors.