Weather, whether

I underestimated how cool it would be here.

Or maybe we can just chalk this up to (chuckle, chuckle) "global warming"...!

I was told last night that this is about as cold is it ever gets here.  Great.  I didn't bring a jacket (not counting sportcoats) or any sweaters with me, as I thought the weather in the winter was mostly in the 60s and 70s, warming up the longer I would be here.  The Tropic of Cancer runs right through Taiwan, a few miles north of Tainan, in fact, so technically we are "subtropical" here, and I didn't expect to have to brace a cold breeze on my morning walks to Starbucks.  So I've been putting on three or four layers of short and long-sleeve shirts in the morning to stay warm, while everyone else here is walking or riding around bundled up in winter coats and scarves.  Of course, while the northeast US is getting hammered by another big, cold snowstorm, I should point out that the low temps here are dipping all the way down to 11 degrees Celsius, a  brutal 52 F!

I had dinner with Yungnane after he arrived back from Hong Kong on Friday, and learned a little more about one of the projects he wants me to be involved in while I'm here.  Yungnane and another professor who is Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at NCKU (who has apparently helped develop a process for creating rain!) are leading a project that is focused on changing the governance structure of the university.  A number of years ago there was an unsuccessful attempt to "corporatize" the National universities here, in an effort to give them greater autonomy from some of the fiscal and/or budgetary constraints that come with being government entities (and thus all employees being civil servants).  So now the folks at NCKU are trying a different tack -- they are proposing to create a new "board" for the university to which the university administrators will be accountable, rather than being accountable directly to the Ministry of Education as is the case currently.  The university vice-president I met with on Tuesday, who was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Texas-Dallas prior to coming to NCKU, is in favor of the plan, and may be the one spear-heading this effort, although I'm not entirely sure about that.  In any case, Yungnane and Prof. Chin Cheng Chen have apparently been tasked with trying to get this idea implemented.

The problem, as is always the case with organizational change, is that there is some resistance to the idea, in particular by some of the NCKU faculty.  So apparently Yungnane has told VP Feng and Prof. Chen that I am an OD expert, someone with expertise in organizational change, and that it would be good for me to get involved in this project.  So my growing suspicion is that I am supposed to help them figure out how to get past the opposition they are encountering from some of their colleagues.  The situation is complexified (not really sure that's a word, but it should be) by the fact that a new university president is about to come on board, which likely will mean other transitions in positions of power, and attendant uncertainty regarding how much support there will be among the new administration for the idea of creating a university board.  In any case, the project is inevitably a very political one, and reasonably high profile in the sense that NCKU, if the change is implemented, becomes something of a test case for a change that might then be implemented throughout the entire National university system.

My time over the last few days has been spent catching up on a "to do" list of things I didn't get done before I left, getting going on a couple new projects of my own I'd like to make progress on while I'm here, watching a little of the Australian Open (congrats to Na Li, or Li Na as I presume she calls herself, for being the first person from China to make it to a Grand Slam final!), and of course keeping up on global news.  In the latter case, the most exciting of course is the explosion of "people power" in Tunisia and Egypt, spreading already to many other countries where frustrated masses are starting to display their discontent with ruling elites who aggregate great wealth and power while most of the people struggle to survive.  (For those interested, I've provided a link to a good discussion of this situation in the Interesting Stories box.)  Following events in Iceland, Greece, and elsewhere in Europe last year, there is good reason to believe that the people of the world are getting fed up with the banksters and the Zionists (or are these one and the same?) and their puppets in governments around the world.  Some observers are suggesting that the events in North Africa signal the fact that we are reaching a "tipping point" which could readily accelerate and explode into a global revolution through which the masses through off the shackles of the controllers and claim the freedom that is their birthright (http://dailybail.com/home/amazing-video-of-the-revolution-taking-place-in-egypt-plus-l.html).

A compelling question is whether this revolution will eventually spread to the US; if or when the American people will finally get tired and angry enough about being shafted by the corporatocracy that they also take to the streets to demand systemic change.  So far they seem essentially fine with the fact that billions of dollars of "taxpayers' money" is being redistributed directly and explicitly into the hands of the banksters and Zionists (again, is this redundant -- can you say Bernie Madoff-with-the-loot?).  I guess that's because the media talking heads do a great job of convincing them that it's for their own good, you know, the "economic recovery" and all that.  What a joke!  Our insolvent, unconstitutional, house-of-cards, Ponzi-scheme fiat-money system -- overrun with nearly a quadrillion dollars worth (that's $1,000,000,000,000,000)  of fraudulent "financial derivates" that Warren Buffett famously called "financial weapons of mass destruction" -- cannot and will not recover.  It is dying, collapsing, and plenty of people "in the know" seem to think that this is essentially inevitable.  Be assured, "quantitative easing" has nothing to do with helping to ease the economy back to "normal" and everything to do with helping the boys at Goldman Sachs and the US Treasury (oops, no difference there either!) ease their way through the collapse.  As things get worse, which it certainly looks like they will, it will be intriguing to see how the American public responds.  All in all, I'm glad I get to watch it unfold from a distance. 

In any case, today, this American in Taiwan stands in solidarity with my brothers and sisters in Tunisia and Egypt and elsewhere who are risking their lives to step out of the darkness and into the light.

Peace out, y'all.

Adjusting

OK, so I'm experiencing a little cognitive dissonance.  On one hand, I really do believe in the value of living simply.  I read Duane Elgin's book "Voluntary Simplicity" way back on my first sabbatical in '97, which supported what was already a tendency toward frugality on my part and strengthened my growing conviction that those of us living in the so-called "developed" world need to significantly reduce our consumption in order for global society to become sustainable.  Especially when I travel, I tend to avoid expensive hotels and resorts and am satisfied instead with more basic, inexpensive accommodations.

So I'm trying stay positive about my room here, despite a number of factors that are challenging my comfort zone.  First, the bed is hard -- I'm intending to rectify that by trying to track down some kind of memory foam or other additional layer I can add between me and the wood.  Second, the bar in the closet collapsed today, from the weight of all the clothes I was hanging from it.  (Yes, some guilt about how many clothes I own and brought with me!)  I suspect the screw was already old and loose in the wood, so after borrowing a screwdriver from the CHASS staff, I pulled out the one end of the bar and re-attached it in another place.  I hope that will hold, but for now all my sports coats and dress slacks are hanging from hooks in the wall of the room itself.  If I end up not wearing them much while I'm here, I guess they'll suffice as wall art!  Third, I woke up at 4 AM this morning aware of a low humming noise that was just loud enough to be distracting and annoying.  I'm still adjusting to the time zone difference and waking up early, so I trust once I'm adjusted I will easily sleep right through that buzz.  Fourth, the one shower I've taken so far was not too hot -- one of my indulgences, my primary guilty pleasure, is a nice long, hot shower.  I'm not happy about the prospect of having to go without those for nearly four months.  Maybe time of day matters -- I'll experiment to see if hotter water is available at other times than mid-morning.  Finally, the lightbulb in the bathroom burned out this morning.  A trivial thing, easily fixed (by someone who came by to do so), but on top of all the other things, I hope it is not a portent of further "breakdowns" to occur.

I think the building I'm staying in is labeled the "Dormitory for Single Faculty and Staff."  What that means, I assume, is that some of the people staying in the other rooms in the building essentially live here full-time, long-term, whatever that might mean for them.  In other words, to some extent, these are "normal" accommodations for at least some professors here, which gives me cause for pause when I start to think that the room isn't good enough and I deserve something better.  I'm definitely tempted to ask about an "upgrade," to see if there's another option that would be a little more comfortable if also more expensive.  But I'm hesitant, not just because I don't relish the thought of packing up all my stuff again and moving it all somewhere else, but because I'm reluctant to send the message to the folks that lined this place up for me that it isn't good enough.  Thus, my cognitive dissonance.  I'm not sure yet what I'll do.

What I do know is that I'm not going to do anything til Yungnane gets back to town.  Prof. Yungnane Yang, the Director of the Department of Political Science in the School of Social Sciences at NCKU, is the guy who invited me here for the semester.  Yungnane comes from a background in the Taiwanese police, with undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Chinese Police University outside of Taipei.  His first job as a professor was there too, but he was successful enough as a researcher/scholar/professor that he made the jump into the National university system, which is not necessarily an easy thing to do.  Now he has made his way up into an administrative role, which gives him some leverage to be able to put the funds together to support my visit. 

Yungnane was one of, maybe the first student whose dissertation committee I chaired after I got to USC in 1989.  I guess in Taiwan there is a traditional belief that personality type is related to a person's blood type, and Yungnane wanted to investigate that issue empirically.  I have a suspicion other faculty had told him already that it wasn't an idea worth doing his dissertation research on, so I think he was grateful when I said that it was fine with me if that's what he wanted to study.  I don't think he found much in the way of significant correlations, but I guess 20 years on now it's clear that doing that study didn't get in the way of him having a successful career! 

Anyway, Yungnane was in Hong Kong when I got here and won't be back til Friday.  So I'm pretty much adjusting on my own, although the CHASS stuff are certainly helpful if I have any questions or needs.  (I think they're now trying to track down some pots and pans that I can use to do some cooking in the common kitchen four floors down!)  I haven't eaten a lot yet since I've been here, but today they told me where to find a nearby supermarket, so I perused that and bought a few things that will hold me over til I learn a little more about the food options in the area.  There are certainly plenty of them, from the McDonalds that I walked in and out of last night (I just couldn't bring myself to eat there even though I was hungry and wasn't ready yet to just go buy something without knowing for sure what I would be getting), to the very nice, upscale restaurant that Terence took me to yesterday for lunch.  One of the more abundant options are the many sidewalk stands where people prepare one or another kind of food, ranging from those apparently serving mostly fruit-smoothie kind of drinks, to those frying up some bready kinds of things that look pretty yummy, to those serving more hearty egg, meat, and/or noodle dishes.  Once I get a little more info from Yungnane about what's good and safe, I look forward to trying some of them.  And then there are the innumerable small sit down cafes and restaurants whose menus are entirely in Chinese, which so far has intimidated me from walking in and trying to place an order.  Based on my previous experiences, the food in Taiwan tends to be quite good, so I'm looking forward to exploring more of these options!

Arrival

I got onto the China Airlines plane on Saturday, and as it taxied from the gate I was psyched to know that, even though the flight was pretty full, the seat next to me was empty!  On a 14-hour flight, that's definitely helpful in terms of me being "comfortable."  And I was counting my blessings, as the next seat over was filled with a very large Taiwanese dude -- very happy he wasn't next to me!

I was met at the Taipei airport by Professor Terence Tai, the Director of the research center at National Cheng Kung University that is sponsoring my visit here.  He took me to the Hara Zuru Hotel in nearby Taoyuan, which the folks here had lined up for me because it had a wireless connection.  And that was important because it gave me the opportunity, after paying a $25 to the NFL, to stream the NFC and AFC championship games that started six hours after I got to the hotel.  I had dozed enough on the plane that I woke fairly rested after a few hours sleep, and settled in to watch the Packers-Bears starting at 4 AM Taiwan time.  Great game, too close even though the Packers thoroughly dominated, and I'm very excited about the Super Bowl against the Steelers.  Go Pack!!!

After the NFC game, I went to the lobby for some quick breakfast, then went back to watch the AFC game.  I was pulling for the Jets, but a couple bad plays cost them the game.  When that was done, I showered and organized my six pieces of luggage (OK, I'm including everything here:  fanny pack, day pack, computer bag, and three pretty full suitcases) and got a taxi to the station for the new high-speed train that went into operation in the last couple years, since the last time I was here in Taiwan.  It cuts in half or more the time it takes to go from Taipei at the north of the island to the southern cities, including Tainan where I am staying.

So after a ride of less than 90 minutes, I lugged all my stuff off the train and was met there by a staffer from the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at NCKU, who took me by the office for some paperwork and then over to the "dorm room" I'm staying in for the next 3+ months.  It's a rather spartan place -- cement floor (in desperate need of cleaning), small single "bed" (a thin mattress on a wood bench), a desk and two simple wooden chairs, no TV, common-area kitchen downstairs (I'm on the fifth floor, no elevator), and a lukewarm shower.  So be it -- when in Taiwan...

On the upside, there's a Starbucks within easy walking distance!  After falling asleep at 6PM yesterday and waking up at 3AM again, I headed over there once it got light for a cup of coffee and a roll.   It's a 3-story place, so I headed up to the top and had a view of the early sun shining in the window, looking out at the rather strange building that dominates the view from the window in my room (see photo).  For some strange reason, while I sat there reading my book on "The Money Men" (by H. W. Brands), they kept playing the same song over and over and over and over...  If that's a pattern, maybe I won't be heading over there most mornings.  There are other coffee places...

Later in the morning I went back to the Center offices to meet with the Vice-President of the university (Prof. Da Hsuan Feng), and then have lunch with Terence Tai.  Before we headed out, the staff reimbursed me in cash for my airplane ticket -- there's something I don't think happens in the States much.  I learned a little more about the kinds of research projects I'm likely to be involved in while I'm here, but I'll have more to say about all that in later posts.