Rooted in Taiwan, Connected with the World

I went on my first backpacking trip in my country about two years ago. I did it as my new pastime after retiring, to familiarize myself with the land I had lived over sixty years but had known embarrassingly little about. In the 20 months that followed, I backpacked around, visiting 358 townships listed under the 20 administrative divisions of my country, including 6 special municipalities, 11 counties and 3 cities.  While my round-the-country backpacking ended two months ago, I also planned to start my new round of backpacking in line with my new personal vision statement: "To live a life rooted in Taiwan and connected with the world". I call my new plan "A Day in Town", under which I will spend a full day in a township during my backpacking trips. With about 350 townships that I planned to spend a day in each, I hope to complete my personal project "A Day in Town" in five years -- and that I'll remain healthy and free enough to live my life this way,...

I'm not sure if it's part of my growing process—or rather, my aging process—but I started reflecting on the passing year about 20 years ago. Though I usually reflected alone, I appreciated the Word of the Year assessments. These assessments, conducted by authoritative institutions, highlight the most important words or expressions representing each year, as demonstrated concisely in this video. So, in a way, I wasn’t alone as I’ve followed the Word of the Year announcements made annually around this time. Incidentally, in my role as a Toastmaster I was asked to host our regular meeting held yesterday, so I had to choose a theme for the meeting to center around. Thus, I chose my favorite theme of the season: My Word of the Year 2024, and it made my annual routine this year all different because I reflected it alongside my fellow Toastmasters and friends. As part of my preparation for my task as the TME (Toastmaster of the Evening,  the meeting host), I checked out the status of ...

I just finished reading Hard Times , the 10th and also the shortest novel authored by Charles Dickens. I was not aware of this novel before purchasing the product online which was a collection of 6 Dickensian books in one pack. I bought it mainly for the ones I had heard of but have not read yet, particularly  A Tale of Two Cities . So, I actually stumbled upon Hard Times, and it turned out to be a good read. The first thing that attracted me is the novel's length. Still, this shortest novel of Dickens includes three books, each consisting of 16, 12 and 9 short chapters respectively. Another thing unusual is that this novel doesn't include any sketches, which are usually featured in other Dickensian novels. The novel was published in 1854, during the height of the Industrialization in England, driven by capitalism, which was criticized in many if not all Dickens's works. Interestingly, the three mini books contained in the novel were named Sowing, Reaping and Garnering res...

I just returned from an eleven-day trip (flight time included) with my wife to England. Everything went smoothly and we experienced nice weather in England while Super Typhoon Kong-rey bashed my country, Taiwan, just days ago. We boarded our return flight after Kong-rey was gone and had a happy landing in Taoyuan last evening, as scheduled. How lucky we were! As a longtime English reader and a marathoner-turned English literature lover, I admire the history and culture of England and the UK as a whole. This was my first sightseeing trip to England. However, it's not my first trip there. I first visited London in 1993, and returned in each of the following two years. These were all business trips that I made in my tenure as what they called a "flying canvasser" for a renowned shipping line based in Japan. As part of my preparation for the trip, I tried to locate my old passport or photo albums that might bring back those old memories of my previous three business trips to ...