Category: Uncategorized

So sometimes when the music stops
I seem to hear a distant sound
Of waves
and seagulls
Football crowds and church bells
And I . . .

Wanna go
back to my home town
Though I know it’ll never be the same
Back to my home
town
‘Cause it’s been so long
And I’m wondering if it’s still there?

– Joe Jackson, Home Town

And with that, I’m outta here for the rest of August.  Thanks to all my readers – please check back sometime in early September for new posts.

Just collected all I’ve written on De-Chiangification & Name Rectification into a category of its own.  The main posts should all be there, though it’s quite probable that some posts may have been missed (particularly when the subject was mentioned in an update or as an aside).

NINE weeks to get a computer fixed?  And there are still software issues?  Fortunately, none of you is here to see me hulking-out right now.

Might just be time to consider keeping a backup computer on hand for times like this when the first one goes kabloey.  Although this internet cafe isn’t too bad: smoke-free and not terribly noisy.

Computer’s in the shop right now, and will be for a while.  Guess that’s OK, seeing as I’m leaving the country for a few weeks.

Happy Chinese New Year.  Or Groundhog Day.  Take your pick.

Apologies for the light posting during July.  I’ll be out of country for the rest of August, so posting will be even lighter.

The View from Taiwan today had a post regarding the new trend for Taiwanese bakeries to make and sell novelty cakes.

I can’t add much to the discussion, but at least now I have an excuse to post this pic I took a while back near Jason’s Supermarket in the basement of Taipei 101.

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i-1

Chinese New Year is approaching, and posting may be light.  Check in once or twice a week if you like, but there may not be much for a month or so.

Shin Neeyen Kwai La to all of my Taiwanese friends.  And Happy Chinese New Year to the rest.

Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here
Families drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year

– "Christmas Time is Here" from A Charlie Brown Christmas

For children, Christmas is a holiday that just happens.  But an adult, well, he has to work to make it happen.  That applies doubly so in Taiwan, where maybe 5% of the population is Christian.  A foreigner has to create his own "Christmas environment", or the day will pass, scarcely noticed.

And that’s what I’ve been doing since my last post.  Working to make Christmas happen.

In Flanders Fields
poem by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) of the Canadian Army

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

This is the first post for The Foreigner in Formosa.  Welcome to the site.

I envision this blog as a kind of information clearing-house and electronic diary.  First and foremost, I plan to provide links to interesting or significant stories & editorials from the three English newspapers that are published in Taiwan.  The emphasis will be on subjects directly or indirectly related to Taiwan.

With regards to these, I will sometimes provide my own thoughts and comments, based upon an anti-communist, pro-democracy weltanshuung.  Those with differing world-views may not find that this blog suits their tastes.

C’est la vie.

Readers should bear in mind that the opinions expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the Taiwanese.  Rather, they are those of an outsider, a stranger, a foreigner in Formosa.

In short, they are mine, and mine alone.

– The Foreigner.