March 10, 2006 - This is what it looks like from the window of my classroom. Except that it's in fisheye view, and Bebe doesn't do well in low light so the exposure isn't great.
The language school at Shida (pronounced shr-da) is the largest Mandarin language school in Taiwan. It was established not long after the Chinese Nationalist Government was kicked off of the mainland by Mao Tse-Tung, and gained control of the island, previously a Chinese province, by massacring thousands of locals and establishing 40 years of martial law. Go team!
It makes me feel a little funny that this school was established partly to promote mainland Chinese hegemony over the island, but the reality is that I think there is a good possibility that in the next 50 years or so, Mandarin Chinese will be the most important language to learn, not English. And I don't see that as a good thing. Just a possible reality.
iTunes soundtrack:
1. Speed Is the Key (The Sugarcubes)
2. Sugar Mice in the Rain (Marillion)
3. Warszawa (live) (David Bowie)
4. Stop Your Sobbing (The Kinks)
5. Perfect Sense, Part II (Roger Waters)
6. On the Sunny Side of the Street (Ella Fitzgerald)
7. I'm Afraid of Americans (David Bowie)
8. Dyke March 2001 (Le Tigre)
9. So In Love (Chick Corea Akoustic Band)
10. A Better Son/Daughter (Rilo Kiley)
4 comments:
so what will you do with your new found mandarin knowledge? i'd like to learn mandarin, i like the way it sounds better than cantonese. :)
I haven't come up with anything clever yet, like my response to "What are you going to do with your law degree?" "Probably hang it on the wall". A response would have to imply that I didn't succeed in learning the dang language (I'm having serious doubts). :)
LOL...you are hilarious. well, i'm sure you'll pick it up quick since you've kind of emersed yourself in it by being in taiwan in the first place!
I hope so :) I would definitely choose succeeding in learning the language over having something snappy to say. Although it would be a close call.
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