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Music from Taipei: building demolition
When an excavator blasts a building apart in a crowded part of Taipei where thousands of workers are straining their brains at office desks, it sends us all staccato soundwaves at high decibel levels. One excavator has done that in my neighborhood since May 16 to demolish a four-story building ( Read more... ) -
Update on Green Card process from Taiwan
Our two adopted Taiwanese children are officially next of kin, the U.S. government says. So do they get U.S. citizenship? Let's take a poll. Good, you all said no (insert expletive) way. We need to get Green Cards first. That has set us back $770 plus mailing fees. We're waiting for the National Visa Center in New Hampshire to review our documents ( Read more... ) -
A shout to all my homeys trying to get legal status in the US
When I did local news stories in California about foreigners trying to get green cards, some officer with what we called the Immigration the Naturalization Service would explain that cases tend to take time and extra energy because of applicant fraud. That was in the 1990s and I saw no reason to doubt the INS ( Read more... ) -
Taiwan film director issues rare warning to his own people
My children and I just watched “Beyond Beauty,” the half-baked English name of a 90-minute film shot from the air over Taiwan ( Read more... ) -
Promotion for Taiwan's favorite souvenir snack
Taiwan says its local invention the compact, cubic pineapple cake makes the perfect souvenir for people back home. I’ve come up with this promotional slogan:
The outside crumbles apart and the inside makes you fart. -
Why it's hard to get anything done in Taiwan
Here are the formal instructions from National Chengchi University on printing a master’s thesis to meet graduation requirements. (“Print” is one of the university’s favorite words. It hasn’t come to terms with 2013.) I have amended the instructions to indicate what my department missed because it lacks a sense of customer service, can’t think for ( Read more... )
