在台北國際藝術村與寶藏巖國際藝術村工作，受藝術村主要業務藝術進駐影響，開啟自己對異地體驗、創作、交流的嚮往，於2018年申請第一次駐村在宜蘭利澤國際偶戲村，駐村期間的創作與交流迄今仍點滴心頭。
I know as much as you want to hear about my work as a service designer, a sociologist, and avid observer and connoisseur of cities, you also know I live in Tainan and you want my list of where to eat. I get it, I’ll receive your eventual LINE message asking me to send you my google map recommendations, but let me take this opportunity to give you something more than google reviews can provide; the story behind every recommendation. It’s no secret Tainan is known for its food, as every guide book on Taiwan will make sure to mention its famous reputation, and the distinctly sweet taste of its dishes. The food has wowed me to the point that trips longer than two days out of Tainan have me sorely missing the wide array of local tea shops and sesame noodles. However, Tainan is rich not only in flavor but in company, and this is my personal reflection on where to eat and go, compiled not from a guide book, but from memories of living leisurely in Tainan, and from a patchwork of experiences with my friends, the city, and of course–the sharing of food. My classmate Daniela and
很榮幸能成為傅爾布萊特學人(Fulbrighter)，踏上美國進行文化交流的旅程。 申請傅爾布萊特計畫通過後，傅爾布萊特就舉辦台灣傅爾布萊特行前教育並邀請上一屆的傅爾布萊特學人分享出返國的經驗，期間更獲得多數人踴躍的提問與交流。
2035 vs. 2020 Dubbed “the turnaround king” in arts management, Michael M. Kaiser, the author of Curtains? The Future of the Arts in America (2015), knows the arts industry better than most. “Long before 2035,” Kaiser writes, “It is likely that many productions will be available for viewing at home, on demand.” Furthermore, he predicts that “While these performances should attract sizable audiences, there will be a reduction in overall demand for the classical arts.” Why? “Another two decades without comprehensive arts education and the passing away of many current arts lovers and supporters.” But all of this “will” in his book is happening now. Today, classical musicians and their managers are trapped in all the crises which Kaiser writes about in his book, years earlier than he expected them. After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the performing arts industry, we are making efforts to move forward and find ways to survive. We may discover something that will help us along the way by opening a drawer of history. In the drawer, there is a case that we can refer to: a unique classical music project created by integrating pieces from the classical canon with creative, cross-border
This is my first-time visiting Taiwan. I arrived in Taipei on December 12, 2021. Everything started with a 22-day quarantine. Actually, it was not bad. I was very lucky to have got a hotel room with a window. Not only that, but there is a temple (Jingfu gong) right in front of the window as my view. I was so excited for I have long been interested in Taiwan’s religious culture. I took pictures and sent them to my friends in the US. Everybody thought it was so beautiful. Moreover, I didn’t need to make decisions on what to eat for each meal and did not have to cook at all. I got to try various biandang (bento box) the hotel provided. I took pictures of each. When I encountered some food that I have never had, I sent pictures to my Taiwanese friends to ask and often ended up having some interesting conversations with them (about family, memory, nostalgia, etc.). I guess that’s what food can do and part of the reason why I have been interested in food history and culture. In addition, it was a delight that I could directly communicate on the LINE app with the
It took me more than a year plus three weeks to start my Fulbright program in Taiwan, so I was determined to utilize all the opportunities during my stay there. The pandemic delayed my travel by over a year, and of course I had to go through three weeks of quarantine in Taiwan. My teaching and research are related to tea and culture, and Taiwan turns out to be a tea paradise! While I have studied tea and culture in China’s Tang through Ming dynasties, I came to Taiwan with no experience in tea making, and only rough ideas about Taiwan’s tea tree species, the variety of teas, and the art of tea. Now having completed my program in Taiwan, I feel so enriched in my knowledge and experience of tea. I followed tea masters to make teas three times, which means, in addition to learning about the process of tea making, I stayed up till 4 or 5 am to follow critical tea-processing steps. I have learned so much about varieties of tea plants, kinds of teas, and the art of tea in Taiwan. My trips to Alishan initiated my wandering in the land of tea, learning about and
Participating in the Fulbright exchange scholar program has given me an opportunity to broaden my view of US education systems. I am familiar with US higher education while receiving my Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Coming back to the US as a Fulbright scholar with my family and conducting research in the preschool and K-8, and acting as a parent has enriched my experience. With an 11-year-old son, I participated in an American public middle school as a parent. Being a 6th grader and the oldest in an elementary school in Taiwan, my son became a freshman at Northeast Middle School in Minnesota. We arrived in the US on the day of the open house of the school. When we arrived at the school, we were surprised to see the welcome printed in different languages on the wall, including Chinese. We met the principal in the office, who welcomed us enthusiastically. He is very different from the serious principal in Taiwan, with rich intonation and body language. We were able to select courses in time and obtain the course schedule during the open house. Then, we visited every classroom teacher listed on the course schedule. The teachers introduced the
In America, I found that many speakers of English as a lingua franca (ELF) experience misinterpretations involving loanwords, culturally-specific locutions, creative wordplay, or individual idiolects. Accordingly, in my talk for the celebration of 75 years of Fulbright, I proposed the concept of supra-understanding to explicate how ELF speakers can develop a critical sociolinguistic awareness of ethnocentric language usages and worldviews, thereby avoiding the misunderstandings of alien and idiosyncratic utterances in intercultural communication. To illustrate this concept, I present two scenarios to demonstrate how these adept ELF speakers achieve supra-understanding by re-deploying their semiotic resources, repositioning their perspectives, and re-negotiating meanings. The poster for my Fulbright talk Anecdote 1: It’s made by chili, not curry. Pat, a visiting scholar from India, invited me for dinner at his apartment.[1] He cooked some rice, vegetables, and soup. Like most Indians, Pat likes very spicy food, but the dishes he prepared for me were much milder than those he usually makes for himself. I was surprised by the reddish-brown color of the soup, having long associated Indian food with the yellow color of turmeric powder, but I instantly realized my misconception. My Indian friend cooked delicious dishes for our dinner Then I asked Pat
Looking back on this past year, I couldn’t have imagined how incredible my Fulbright experience in Taiwan would be. For most of my life, I lived in Boise, Idaho, a modest-sized city in the Mountain Northwest. I knew, however, that after graduating from college I needed to explore more of the world: to learn about different cultures and people. Growing up I was always passionate about the idea of using science to contribute back to my community and to use it as a tool to advance change. It’s for this reason I studied molecular biology all throughout college and planned to pursue medicine as a career. However, as I progressed with my undergraduate studies, I became more and more fascinated in the intersection between science, policy, and service work. After discussing with my college fellowship adviser my desire to travel abroad and expand on my education interests, he recommended that I look into the Fulbright Scholarship, and specifically into the grants in Taiwan. When I stumbled upon the master’s program in global health at National Taiwan University, I realized I found the perfect opportunity. Educational Experiences in Taiwan: Since coming to Taiwan to start my graduate studies, I
“I don’t know if you’re brave or if you’re crazy,” said a fellow Fulbrighter to me after our quarantines had ended, “coming to a country where you don’t know anyone and you don’t know the language.” The comment caught me off-guard, but she was right: What on earth had I been thinking? Why did I agree to take on this incredibly daunting challenge, and who was I to think I could overcome it? I remember laughing before responding: “Maybe it’s a little bit of both.” Weirdly enough, this has become my mantra during my time in Taiwan, though I’ve never been too big a fan of the word “crazy” – instead, let’s call it “blindly optimistic.” Yeah, sure, that’s what I am. See, growing up in a small South Carolina town, I’d always had dreams of “making it,” though I was never quite sure what that meant. Did I want wealth, popularity, incomparable success? I thought so – after all, aren’t these the things that make people happy? Now, I believe that “making it” is actually just realizing you are more than all of the bad experiences you’ve had — and that you’re fully capable of making new memories
