On Living in Taiwan

Someone asked me the other day if living in Taiwan, which I’ve done for the past ten years, has meant a loss or dilution of my unique Australian heritage: my answer was an outraged “Fair suck of the sav, mate!” – a classic Australian expression to show amazement and incredulity, because in reality the opposite has been true. Since Australian and Chinese societies are so far apart in nature, it has been possible to eat, live, work and love in Taiwan without any cross-pollution of cultural characteristics or eccentricities; in fact, being a stranger in a strange land has . . . → Read More: On Living in Taiwan

The Chinese Year of the Rabbit Or The Year Of Unintended Consequences

On February 3rd we began the Year of the Rabbit, the New Year in the Chinese lunar calendar, saying bye-bye to the Year of the Rat. If you are born in the Year of the Rabbit you’re gracious, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, lucky, flexible, moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, and stubborn. But not necessarily in that order. What does this new year mean to non-Asians? Depends on your viewpoint. One thing it means, if you’re an Aussie, is unintended consequences. When I was a child, learning about my great . . . → Read More: The Chinese Year of the Rabbit Or The Year Of Unintended Consequences

The Inhospitable Dunny Or Any Port In A Storm

Thomas Crapper is usually credited as the originator of the modern flush toilet, and also the term “taking a crap” – but as it turns out the earliest flush toilet is recorded in the Indus Valley in the 26th century B.C., and people were saying “crap” and meaning it long before Thomas put his name on a dunny lid. In an earlier post we revealed a useful method for categorizing toilets: those where reading is possible and those where it isn’t. We can thank Thomas for popularizing the reading version; and authors all over the world owe him a . . . → Read More: The Inhospitable Dunny Or Any Port In A Storm