Why are all the yummy fruits bad for you?

We are starting a lesson that deals with food today, and our teacher told us that the Chinese have a long-held belief that food (fruits and vegetables, but not meats) can be categorized in two categories -- heaty and chilly -- and that the objective is to eat a balance of foods. Should one be out of balance, traditional Chinese medicines or a diet of certain kinds of "bu" foods are prescribed (more on "bu" later).

Heaty foods are foods that cause your body to produce heat, and too much of it may cause a bit of discomfort, such as dehydration or dry mouth. These include mangos, dragon eye fruit, lychees, all of which are the most sublimely delectable summer fruits that one should, based on their heatiness, avoid during the summer (so long mango shaved ice! adios refreshingly juicy fresh lychees!). Chilly foods are foods that causes the body to cool down, and too much of it may result in cold hands/feet, which includes melons. Ironically, hot beverages are believed to have a cooling effect, while cold beverages raise the body's temperature. Ergo, one should drink hot tea in the summer, and iced tea in the winter. It's all very counter-intuitive for my feeble Western mind.

Health seems to be a national obsession. Based on my experience, the typical Taiwanese love to discuss their health, take medication, and eat "bu" (foods with high medicinal value which often includes all sorts of exotic endangered species and other cute critter parts) to address a plethora of non-existent deficiencies. There's a night market in Taipei that specializes in snake meat, which I think is meant to boost virility. I recall my parents once bought a few slices of of deer antler from a tribe of aboriginal Taiwanese, and when I told a friend of mine about it, she explained that deer antler is supposed to be amazingly "bu" and good for health. Incidentally, also during that little shopping trip, the aborigines were selling bottles of honey complete with a section of honeycomb and a few bees marinating in the honey. Another friend recounted a childhood horror story when she discovered a dark package wrapped in thick plastic in the freezer, and when she inquired about it, her parents replied that it was a bear's paw (yup, my friend was totally freaked out too).

Well, if you think about it, I suppose these exotic cures are not entirely unheard of, I mean humankind has been employing natural cures for thousands of years now. After all, many of us grew up being told that fish is brain food and eating it will make us smarter. I recall reading about how the Arabs used to produce a concoction called "mellified man," wherein the corpse of an old man soaked in honey for 100 years, the resulting honey infusion is then used to cure broken bones. Did it work? Who knows. I think I would still prefer wearing a clunky cast.

I don't honestly recall whatever happened to our deer antler slices.

A few other "bu" foods:

• shark's fin (as in shark's fin soup)
• sea cucumbers or sea slugs
• bird's nest soup
• bear bile

Are you grossed out yet? I am.

Soliciting Topic Suggestions

It is something that I have come to regret. On one of the first days of class, my teacher told us that in some previous classes, her students took turns making short presentations about various topics of their choice, and the whole class got to learn some interesting things like karate, dancing, and the like. Most importantly, these presentations help break up the monotony of the lesson and is good speaking practice, so she asked us if we would be interested in doing this. There being five people in our class, we would each need to present once a week. I didn't think it was a big deal at the time, so we all agreed. Damn, if only I had known.

We are about halfway through our quarter, and so far everyone has put on pretty good presentations on topics ranging from embarrassing moments, favorite foods, foods that make us sick, Japanese tales, good movies, and the like. We've all been pretty much prepared to go come our day to present, with the exception of the Korean guy who rarely shows up and thus has only presented twice so far (once he had to think up a topic on the spot, and chose to talk about the differences between Korean and Taiwanese drinking habits). As for myself, I've talked about Halloween, a great novel I read ("Perfume: The Story of a Murderer"), interesting Taiwanese night market treats, the architecture of historic streets, and voting in the upcoming election.

Here's the deal: I'm running out of things to say. I had a brainstorming session with my best friend back home, and we came up with a few good ideas, but not enough to last me until the end of the quarter. I asked my other Japanese classmates, and they too admit that they are running out of things to talk about. So...I'm looking for suggestions. Any good ideas out there, please post on this blog or email me directly. Your input will be much appreciated!

P.S. I've just mailed in my ballot today, postage for the oversized envelope cost 80 big ones, but worth every New Taiwan dollar!

P.P.S. My school is putting on the "My Chinese at its Best Competition" next week, and I along with two of my classmates have signed up as a team to compete. It is basically a competition to see which team knows more Chinese, should be good fun. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Democratic Party, NOT Democratic Progressive Party

It just occurred to me that I live in an English-speaking household where I'm the only native English speaker. In case you are wondering, my other roommates are Taiwanese, French, and Dutch, it is like that movie "Auberge Espanol," except that I think my flat is much better furnished and there isn't nearly enough drama in this household to provide material for a movie, at least not a very interesting one.

The other day, I received my absentee ballot in the mail, along with an "I voted" sticker, and I was soooo excited. Never have I been this excited to put on my "I voted" sticker, but I am resisting the urge until I actually mail in my ballot. Later that evening, my French roommate asked if I knew if there was going to be some sort of rally or event on election day because that would be so cool and he would definitely want to go. I did a Google search, but the only thing I could pull up was the Democratic Progressive Party, which is a political party under fire right now in Taiwan due to the last president's (of the DPP party) embezzling scandal. Still no luck in finding an election day party.

A few days later, the Dutch asked if I was going to vote and then asked to see my absentee ballot. When he returned my ballot, he said that there were simply too many things to vote on. What do you mean too many things? Well, apparently an American ballot would drive the Dutch mad, they don't want to have to make so many choices, they would much rather elect someone to make all these decisions for them. No, no, no, that would not do in America, at least not for some things like tax hikes, bonds, building more prisons, same-sex marriage, and the like. Then we got into a discussion about the voter turnout rate, which I know is dismally low in the U.S., struggling at around 40-50%, which lamentably, is worse than India's. In contrast, around 90% of Taiwanese vote. So how does a democratic nation function when only half of its population bothers to vote? Whose voice gets heard? You can bet that MY voice will be heard, and I look forward to wearing my little sticker!

Check out the voter turnout in US federal elections

How the US compares with other democracies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout

You too can get your roll of 1,000 "I Voted" stickers...woohoo! http://victorystore00.stores.yahoo.net/roof1ivost.html

The Game of Life

I have the hardest time remembering people's names, especially Japanese names which are usually 4 characters long, one character longer than traditional Chinese names. It's hard because I'm not used to these kinds of names, so I've decided to come up with new names for them:

Sleepy/Lush Japanese Guy - I initially called him "Sleepy Japanese Guy" because in the first few classes, he always looked so tired, and a couple of times he admitted that he just woke up (class is at 12:20pm).

Japanese Girl - She is the only Japanese girl. She is not demure and all cutesy and shy like many of the Japanese I've met, and has a pretty good sense of humor.

Other Japanese Guy - A baby-faced, laid back and good-natured guy, has a good sense of humor.

Korean Guy - This guy is a riot. He showed up the first two days of class, then took off for 4 days, then showed up for another day or two, then disappeared, then showed up, then disappeared...essentially, nobody, not even our teacher, really knows when he will show up. He is always late, strolling in in the middle of a class or during the break. We're always a little surprised to see him, and he has the worst timing, coming to class on days when we have a test, or when it is his turn to give a presentation (we do presentations on a rotating schedule). One time after class, the Japanese Girl said to him "See you tomorrow," and everyone started laughing. I hear he works at a waitress bar and goes home to sleep at 6 or 7am, which is why when he does show up for class he looks pretty worn out.

Canadian Guy - He came in last week to audit and sign up for the class, but doesn't officially start until October. We've had 3 days of classes in October now and there is still no sign of him.

So the other day, the Japanese girl brought in a big white shopping bag, and we were all curious so she told us it was the boardgame "Life" in Chinese, and asked if I wanted to play after class. I said sure, and after class, the Japanese Girl, Other Japanese Guy, two other Japanese students who they were friends with, and myself went out to lunch at the student cafeteria, and we played "Life" afterwards. I remember the original "Life" game, but this one is all vamped up, with new professions, the opportunity to get promoted, opportunities to change careers, a section where you get lost in a maze, and chances to buy a house and souvenirs that can be sold back for mucho bucks later on. The game came with a Taiwanese board, and an extra "International" board, all of it written in Chinese.

So I ended up being the first to finish, but second in wealth because I was a poorly paid designer/architect, but what I lacked in wealth I made up for in speed, plenty of promissory notes for purchases I couldn't afford, and traffic accidents. It was good practice for us, and I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't have too much trouble figuring out what we were supposed to do. The next round is this coming Tuesday, so I'm told.

Update: Milk Scare

I was in the reading room at at school yesterday, perusing a few English newspapers, when one of the headlines caught my eye - KLIM milk powders have been taken off the shelves. Now folks, if you read and remembered Jean's Milk Powder Selection Methodology entry from a couple of months ago, you'll know that I drink KLIM milk powder because the can is a pretty color, there were a few English words on it that suggested it was nutritious, but mainly because I liked their play on words. KLIM is made by Nestle, and turns out that while their products initially tested negative for melamine and declared safe about a month ago, the government is now conducting new tests that can detect even trace amounts of melamine. Some of KLIM's milk powders are made in China, and the new tests show that there are trace amounts of melamine, although they assure us that it is not enough to be harmful. In the article, the company's CEO was shown drinking a glass of KLIM milk to demonstrate that it is still safe, but they have agreed to pull their products off the shelves anyways. I think I'll toss the rest of my can of milk powder too.

My teacher was telling us how they've also discovered melamine in Oreo cookies. She is a mother, and expressed the horror as she remembers buying Oreos for her children, although she herself has not liked them because, as she claims, they are a little dry (I was tempted to tell her that to eat Oreo cookies properly, you need to first dip them in a glass of milk, but stopped short of this advice given that milk has become the new four-letter word).

I've become ever more careful about the food that I buy, especially when it comes to milk. I've cut down on desserts and ice cream that contain milk, and even my beloved pearl milk teas. This really sucks.