Just an off the cuff -

[kyburg]

Anyone really trying to get their heads around Race Fail (and no, I haven't been by, won't be by, etc.) -

If you haven't been in a place where nobody - and I do mean NO ONE - looks like you, speaks your language like you, and you can't possibly catch up on their culture, their language...you don't know what it's like.

I think the idea that once you've open the discussion...taking 'a break' from it is absurd. It's not like I can take a break from being in Taiwan, the only one of me I can see anywhere. I can only imagine what it would be like to want to get away from this at home, and can't.

I am impressed with my hosts understanding of my needs, being so far away from home. They speak to me in English, they turn the radios to English stations, they have American and British television playing in the common areas.

It is blunt acknowledgment that the only common ground we have is the one I brought with me - my language, not theirs.

Also, in Taiwan, it is implicit that this is a place that depends on support from the outside world for survival. Everything is in Chinese, Japanese and English. Just about everything, all the time. Here, in my cozy incredibly posh hotel, of course. The hotel didn't suggest public transport to Donggang...they provided us with a driver and car of our own who took us there. Crazy things like that. Only movie stars get that kind of treatment at home, right?

Which is another thing. Nobody told me this was going to be so incredibly - affordable. It's nearly embarrassing. I've never stayed in a hotel this well-appointed, and it's a fraction of what I'd pay in San Diego. Not even half. Maybe a third. Maybe even a quarter.

We are rich people, and it's freaking me out. We're not, by our standards. So I say - we are incredibly privileged. By just dumb luck of birth. We're not special.

Oh my God, I'll be glad to be home again where I'm not.

And when all this settles down into routines and we all get sorted out

Time to Kiddo - T minus five hours and counting.

Comments

[betnoir.livejournal.com]

Yanno...

This pissed the ever-loving hell outta Ms. X (Asian-American that she was), but...

Oh do I know what it means to be judged on appearances at first sight. To be placed in that Other/Unidentifiable/ThankGhodsThat'sNotMe category.

Have an obvious physical disability and see if you don't feel like a minority.

This may be why I decided to take Three Giant Steps back from FanFlail'09.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Will not engage. Plenty of discussion and thinking to do about it in other spaces. But the ones I hear about...and that's all I do, just a couple of winces from folks on the FL...indicate that what is happening is education, but with varying levels of success.

And that's all.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

I don't understand the whole "Race Fail" thing.

I mean, HELLO... look at me...

In Taiwan I'd blend in until I opened my mouth. Of course, it would likely take a week or two were it would end up that, again, I would start to blend in again.

I get stared at by kids and some adults where I am now.

[melodicblue.livejournal.com]

I have a Thai friend who went home to Thailand for three months and lived there for only a whopping total of $600.

[isolt.livejournal.com]

Yesterday, in the Kansai countryside, a drunk man stared at my eyes, commented on how colourful they were, and asked if he could have them while making pinching motions at my eyes in a very playful but slightly dangerous-seeming kind of way.

Yeah, I get what it's like to not fit in.

Ganbatte! in Taiwan. :)

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

I have been in those places, and trying to bring that experience to the table caused such a kerfuffle and a lot of anger. I chose to take a break because I figure it's bad for me to get stressed out by angry people calling me names on the Net.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

I'm remembering the experiences of a Taiwamese-American guy I know, who theoretically could pass by looks, but was a foot taller than "the entire country" when he visits family.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

I keep running into folks who didn't come to the table to educate or listen, just to smack other people around. In some cases at least education's gotta wait til the people get less cranky and can listen again.

[worldmenders.livejournal.com]

My wife said traveling with me in China and Korea was like being with a rock star. My gray hair was a dead give away that I was was "not from around here', and made me the target of every street vendor and petty scam artist.

I, of course, enjoyed the hell out of it. :)

[poetpaladin.livejournal.com]

I think that's pretty much how Melanie felt after a while. We only occasionally saw a Westerner on the streets of Taipei. Luckily she had me around - but I don't read Chinese and don't speak more than the basics. But still.

Taiwan's economy is not doing very well.

Our package tour of Taiwan cost us under $500 each, and we had a motor coach, tour guide, 5-star hotel rooms, free buffet breakfast and ten-course lunch, for 4 days and 3 nights.

The nights we were in Taipei not on the tour, we stayed at a hotel with free Asian-style breakfast offerings and they offered free once-per-day private car service (not shuttle) to the airport or some other location. It was about $55 a room.

EVERYONE was extremely nice to us.

[monkeyfruit.livejournal.com]

It's common in Asia to have the hotel recommend you hire a van and driver for the day. This way, I guess 1) you get a recommended service, 2) the price is settled at the hotel so no dirty tricks or discrepancies, 3) one very large less thing to worry about during your stay. :)