Does looking at a region’s top-watched internet videos count as cultural research? Here are my brief summaries and commentary on Taiwan’s top 2013 Youtube videos, followed by some concluding thoughts. Some things to keep in mind: I have not done anything to look up the back story for these videos, so this exercise of watching …
Last week, I paid a visit to 山外山有機生態茶園農場, (roughly translates as Mountain Outside Mountain Organic Ecosystem Tea Farm. I will refer to it as SWS for the remainder of this post). As my experience with tea farms and organic tea farms continues to grow, I am starting to appreciate the individual stories that each has …
A few weeks ago, Fulbright Taiwan hosted a conference for all of the researchers in the greater China area: the Fulbright Research Workshop (傅爾布萊特年度研討會) with attendees from Taiwan, China, Macau and Hong Kong. The conference was packed with activities, which only makes sense given the effort of bringing together such 70+ people in the same …
Midyear Research Conference: Reflections on Taiwan vs. China Read More »
Yesterday I found myself trying to explain a “food desert” to a Taiwanese friend. It turned out difficult to convey, but not due to the language barrier. Instead, it emphasized some very strong differences related to the supply of food in between these two countries. My friends and I got to the point of introducing …
A little while ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a unique experience, the kind that is so unexpected and amazingly interesting it might be best labeled as a “Special Fulbright Experience”. With that hook, let me tell you about making tea. Wait what – don’t I make tea every day? Well, yes that’s …
Making Tea – Skill can also be a limited resource Read More »
It started with a bang and ended with silence. Or something like that. Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) is upon us! Chinese New Year really is the biggest holiday of the year here – and now I can agree that equating it to feeling of Christmas / New Year in the States is appropriate. …
When I wrote my application to come to Taiwan, I said that I was coming to study tea. My proposal was primarily to conduct scientific study of environmental impacts of tea farming. However, the logistics of conducting a meaningful study of anything related to environmental science appear to be quickly withering away my time in …
I apologize for the dearth of posts in the past few weeks. It has not been a lack of things to write about. I’ve been busy, but mostly I had no desire to sit at my computer any longer than I already am when I am working. This post is all about what I mean when …
This post is more than a week late for its topic, but it is too interesting to not write some about. Last week was October 10. In Taiwan, this is the National Day holiday 國慶日, commemorating the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) which now governs Taiwan. For short, it’s often referred to as …
This is a gratuitous post about things that I have been eating.