Before They Go

Friends,

Above is a picture of a meal in progress at a 熱炒 (rechao) restaurant, a very casual eating experience where you order way more food than you can possibly think about eating, then talk and drink beer or plum juice until magically you have eaten it all. It, along with hotpot restaurants, are the quintessential Taipei meals out. The above rechao is close to our house and we’ve been going to it since our first visit to Taipei, but it wasn’t until this month that I finally found a vegetarian hotpot place I really like. The first few attempts were pretty bland, which is not surprising, the concept of hotpot (a sort of soup fondue, if you’re not familiar) lends itself much better to meat.

School is a mess right now! It’s midterms, a teacher left abruptly, the chicken pox tore through 4th grade. Last week was the school anniversary when they had the teachers play a game of dodgeball against each other, and we all learned that dodgeball rules in Taiwan are much more structured and complicated than dodgeball was back in the old American elementary gymnasium. I managed not to embarrass myself too bad.

It’s also college application response season. The waitlisting and the early decisions and the stress is upon us. As I’ve written before, almost every student from the program I mainly teach in will go overseas from Taiwan, and the majority of them will go to the United States. I’ve helped them with their applications, mainly personal statements, and now Friday I’m going to give a little talk about things I think they should know from the PoV of a professor. I’m also teaching 11th graders who are going to be facing a lot of decisions over the next year, so I’m going to incorporate some readings that might help them into our English class. The thing I’ve really emphasized over the past year is how their lives probably won’t be that much different between their 1st choice and 10th choice college, that rankings aren’t everything, and that they’re making the best decision they can right now between a bunch of really great options, not between good and bad colleges. I don’t think they believe me.

Lately, though, I’ve been feeling like that’s not enough. I worry a lot about what happens to these students when they arrive, as they transition from a world where they’re on a strict schedule for 80% of their waking hours to one in which they make all their decisions about time management. Or the loneliness that is normal for students arriving to college to experience but will be especially pronounced in their situation. I also worry about how prepared they are for the cultural differences: racism, socializing, norms in so many situations. Of course, Atlanta is on my mind, but smaller things too. What happens the first time a person they consider a friend makes a joke about all Asians? ( Scroll down to Amy. ) What happens the tenth time? Does someone tell them that there will be people in the US who want to date them in part because they’re Asian , who don’t want to date them in part because they’re Asian, who will date them but never consider a longterm future with them in part because they’re Asian, or will be mad at them based on their romantic decisions ? Have they thought some about how they’ll feel as they’re lumped in with east Asians writ large? Have they thought about how they’ll interact with people from China ? Have they thought about how they’ll react when a professor makes a racist assumption about them? I mean, university was rough for me and a lot of people I know, and I had everything going for me. Add on the things they’ll have to deal with in terms of adjustment and I think I’d be crazy not to worry.

But. But these are smart kids. But they have the internet and older friends/siblings. But I’m sure most of them will be fine. But I also don’t think I’m really the right person. But I don’t want to scare them or put doubt in their heads that are undeserved. But.

I don’t know. My plan is to continue to read myself, and to offer up the articles and voices that seem like they might be useful, and to be an ear as wanted. I hope it’s enough. I hope it’s unnecessary.

Further reading:

• I found a lot of good stuff this month! Which is surprising, because I also started playing Everquest some again. Here’s an older article about how unusual EQ was in its day.
• Have I mentioned my students are brilliant? One of my students has been blogging about social issues for more than a year now, but her latest article is based on a conversation she had with journalist and activist Tania Safi, a conversation with a connection to a project from our class. Few things make me happier than seeing my students create things outside the boundaries of the classroom.
• Have you thought about what you’d do if you witnessed a racist attack? Think about it now, to better prepare yourself if it happens. The Inclusive Care Project has a good succinct guide for steps you might take.
• Peggy is the best thing on Instagram. Peggy is also in Time Magazine . (PS this Peggy shares best thing on Instagram with another Peggy .) (PPS I really miss my dog a lot.)
• Helen Rosner. Stanley Tucci. I don’t think I need to say anything else .
• Weirdest background noise for working I came across this month: music piped in based on Wikipedia updates . Give it a chance.
• A not insignificant number of people in Taiwan changed their name to salmon to get free food .
• Maybe some of them were revenge eating (article on Taiwanese returnees enjoying the pandemic-free island and its food offerings).
• Researchers in the US found that 65-year-old people have cancer a significant amount more than 64-year-old people. Turns out it’s because people wait for Medicare before going to the doctor. Good God.
• Anyone else making elaborate post-pandemic travel plans? Mine involves the new Nintendo theme park .
• Video game recommendation: Hades . It’s on Switch and PC. Trust me (and trust that as usual I’m late to it).
• Finally, the most beautiful thing I read this month was Ann Patchett writing about her friendship with Tom Hanks’ assistant . Warning: tears ahead.

I haven’t been to coffee shops as much as I’d like lately, but my most recent trip was a special one. A very excited dog was under the table next to us, and they were very focused on every person and every plate of food that got close. We quickly realized that this was a celebrity dog, because they had their Instagram handle printed on their harness. On Instagram I learned that the dog was less than six months old! Imagine the expectations put upon you by having an Instagram account at that young. Poor dog is going to grow up with an inflated sense of self.

May you have the confidence of an Instagram username-emblazoned dog harness this month.

-g