Being a tourist in Taipei

by | Saturday, May 17, 2008

I woke up this morning, feeling maybe for the first time in this entire trip, tired and a little homesick. I ascribe the first to the rather hectic schedule I have had the past 10 days so, continually on the move, presentation after presentation, meeting after meeting, never in a place for more than a day. The homesickness I ascribe to hanging out with Hsueh-Hua, Han-Chin, and (the one most to blame) their 8 year old son Matthew. I guess I was suddenly reminded, in a very forceful way, of the three people back home in Okemos, whom I haven’t seen or talked to in a while

The day was spent doing touristy kinds of things – all of which can be gleaned better from the photographs, some of which have been uploaded to Flickr and others will be sometime soon.

Dinner, for once, was a quiet affair, a veggie Subway sandwich, in my hotel room watching Taiwanese game and reality TV shows (not that I understood a word!).

Just a couple of thoughts about Taiwan, little things that surprised me. First, it turns out that pretty much everybody is a fan of the Yankees. This is mainly because of Chien-Ming Wang who is a pitcher for the Yankees and a national hero back home. Almost every body you meet, from a cab driver to an academic follows every game and knows the most arcane of baseball statistics.

Second, is something I saw during my first evening here at Taipei. We were strolling around after dinner through the inner streets, generally looking around the shops till we came to a small public park in the middle of this hustling, bustling marketplace and people’s homes. What first drew me to this park was the sound of country music blaring through a music system. And there, in the middle of the park, were approximately 30 people, mostly middle aged women, slow dancing in formation. This combination of Alan Jackson, smells of food from the restaurants and open-air stalls, and the gentle aerobic dance was just wonderful to see.

What a beautifully crazy world we live in.

I am off tomorrow to Hong Kong, one day, two nights and then back to India.

Topics related to this post: Fun | Personal | Research | Teaching | Technology | TPACK | Travel

A few randomly selected blog posts…

Goldbach is back! New math poem

I guess once the bug bites, it never really lets go. So here's another poem (to follow this and this and this). As it turns out this is my second poem on the Goldbach Conjecture. I realized after I had written the first one that I had actually messed up the history a...

Bits to Atoms, A Fab lab

I had heard of Neil Gershenfeld's work on the Bits to Atoms Project at MIT but thought of these Fabrication Labs as being too expensive ($500,000+) or esoteric for everyday or classroom use. But one fine day I got an email from Glen Bull from Virginia informing me of...

Happy Diwali

Diwali is one of the most important of Indian/Hindu festivals. The best part of Diwali (at least for the children) are the fireworks. Click here to enjoy a pollution-free Diwali Card. Enjoy (and don't forget to click on the night sky!)

Looking for a one good person, i.e. #MAET is hiring

I'm excited to announce that the MAET program is hiring a new team member. The official posting is below (or you can go here). The posting closes on September 30 - email all of the application materials to edutech@msu.edu CNS ED PSYSPC ED - SPECIALIST-OUTRCH Posting...

Arizona in black & white

Arizona in black & white

Over the past two years in Arizona I have had the opportunity to indulge in my love for photography. Recently I felt the need to play with Adobe Sparks - and what better way to learn a new tool than to use it to create a photo album. Enjoy.

Tasteless and offensive

Checking up on urban legends leads to tasteless and offensive error message. I recently received a forwarded email from a friend that listed a bunch of top-notch, companies that were filing for bankruptcy. The list included Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Circuit City,...

Fishing for problems: Podcast interview

Fishing for problems: Podcast interview

I was recently interviewed by Matt Schneidman (Curator, Creator, Podcast Host) for his Fishing for Problems podcast. Matt also publishes an  ed-focused newsletter. Our discussion was broadly framed around educational technology and the TPACK framework - but...

TPACK & 21st Century Learning @ AACTE

I was recently in San Diego for the annual conference of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. I had served as a chair of the Innovation & Technology Committee for a while, and the committee invited me to participate in two different sessions....

Calvin & Jobs!

This is just too good to be true! Also see here and here.

5 Comments

  1. Punya Mishra

    Yes I did, and I think I did write about it too… I also have a ton of photos from 101. Check it out here. [The Taipei 101 pictures start around two-thirds of the page down and continue on to the next page. Enjoy.

    Reply
  2. Daniel

    Have you visited the Taipei 101? It sure is one of the most exciting buildings in the world.

    Reply
  3. Punya Mishra

    No, I am now in India for a few days and then I go back to the US.

    Reply
  4. Sandra

    Are you still in here(Taiwan)?

    Reply
  5. Sandra

    Are you still in here Taiwan?

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Sandra Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *