My friend, a terminal sociologist and recovering Chinese-American, spontaneously sent me this email: White people! White people have all kinds of ridiculous gadgets and toys in their kitchen. They’ve got 16 different knives, an eggbeater, a slicer, a dicer, a cheese grater, and all kinds of other wacky shit. My dad has one (1) big … Continue reading
I wrote this in fulfillment for coursework during my stay in Taiwan. I found it recently and recalled that at the time, I’d thought it would make a good blog post. It seems to match well with the thought processes of the United Lodge of Theosophists post I made recently. Recalling times when I have … Continue reading
The weather has been abysmal here lately, and I’ve been loving it. It actually is starting to feel like autumn. The temperature is dropping—a relative concept, believe me—and everyone is walking around all bundled up. I don’t have an umbrella (typhoon season saw to that), and I’ve been chastised about that, as Jhongli used to … Continue reading
I’ve been trying for some time now to obtain a visa for my impending trip to Taiwan. This has proven most bothersome. I’ve had to travel to New York each time to deal with the Taiwanese Consulate in person. The first trip I took up there, a Friday, my application was declined. The reason given … Continue reading
Spain has broken a world record this year in Beijing, by being far more racist than any country present. Or at least, being obviously so. What were they thinking? It’s a question that crops up all too often when it comes to Spanish sports and racial sensitivity. And now the Spanish basketball team, the reigning … Continue reading
For the past few weeks, I’ve been living on campus to chill with the Euros in this program I’m taking part in. Just now there was a fire drill, as happens in the dorms about every other day, and so we stood outside and talked. (Thankfully, the rain had just stopped.) We got to talking … Continue reading
Last year I had the pleasure of participating in a university program which hosted about 20 students from all over Western Europe to take classes for five weeks. I’m doing it again this year. The students—24 in all, from 9 different countries—just arrived this weekend; today is their first day of classes. I’ve not spoken … Continue reading
Let’s define our terms We have a little saying around these parts. It started among the Americans, actually, but it’s since spread to the Germans. The saying is, as you can guess, “six Maßes later.” If you don’t know what a Maß is, here’s a little help. The Maß (“measure”) is an old Austro-Bavarian unit … Continue reading
At work tonight (how many entries can I possibly start with that line? I need a new intro!), there wasn’t much going on. I grabbed a pint of Cappuccino-and-Caramel-and-awesome Häagen-Dazs, which is super marked down because nobody buys it, pulled up a couple cases of beer to sit on, and chilled out. Since there weren’t … Continue reading
Heading home from my morning job yesterday, on my way to my evening place of employment, I got controlled by the cops. Again. This has been a very regular occurrence since I got to Germany. It’s legal for the cops to just frisk anyone on the street, for any reason, and I get that treatment … Continue reading