Saturday, November 17, 2007
In the news today - the temporary police powers awarded after the Cronulla riots are going to be made permanent. Police will be able to eavesdrop on people without a warrent.
Also in the news, people's Lonely Planet books have been confiscated at certain border areas of China because the map in the front of the book shows Taiwan as a separate country. Mine, the 8th edition I bought in 2004, has intentionally, I suspect, covered up Taiwan with a label pointing to one of China's highlights, so they have been able to avoid the matter entirely. It's funny how none of these issues have changed since my Taiwan jaunt. The issues are still the same, people are still arguing the same things. Bloody maps mate. I'm thinking of doing a Chinese Studies masters in Taiwan one day, but what they hell are they going to teach? I brought back a historical relic from Taiwan. It's a book on 'Chinese History', but after 1949, it focuses entirely on the GMD in Taiwan, and pretends the mainland doesn't exist - nothing about China under the commies - cultural revolution... Mao... Great Leap Forward... the China that we know. I wonder if that book will be a collector's item one day, for it's absurdity, in our eyes. In fact, doing that masters could in fact be a research project in itself. Will have to think about that further. And then there was the guy at the Chinese consulate making a point of my Taiwanese visas - I feel like I'm revisiting my own past. I have been home for three years now and hardly think of my time there, or what I spent time thinking and talking about while I was there. I feel like when I left Taiwan, I left all those thoughts behind.
Actually it's all been a bit weird this week- last night I had dinner with people from highschool as a kind of reunion. When people metioned the names of people I couldn't actually remember, I realised how long it's been since I was 17 and finishing highschool, cooking up the dreams that would shape the years to come. This year I've been so focused on driving forward that I never think of the past in any of the detail it deserves, but this week I'm assessing my experiences, and if or how I've changed, how Taiwan changed me, how the most unexpected things have happened, the friends I've made, what I've learnt about the real world, and my first serious relationship. I did the living overseas dream and I'm desperately trying to get excited about a new destination, but nothing will ever feel the same as it did sitting on the plane to Vietnam in 2003 knowing I was finally fucking off for a year for the first time. Like your first E I suppose - it will never be as good as the first. When your dreams become a reality you have reached a certain goal, and you then need new ones to try for, but have already done all that you thought you wanted to do.
In other news, I'm going on a 'business trip' to Adelaide on Tuesday for one night. My boss, the national sales manager, didn't want to go, so I suggested as a joke that I go instead, and as it turns out, it is no longer a joke. I'm going Qantas too. It's for the SA launch party of our new brochure. Then on Wednesday night straight after work, I'm going to the Sydney launch party at the zoo. So, Tuesday, go to work for one hour, fly to Adelaide, maybe squeeze in a few churches, go to launch party, fly back to Sydney on Wednesday morning and go straight to the office, work, then go to Sydney launch party. My! What a high-flyer I am! ¶ 13:56
Also in the news, people's Lonely Planet books have been confiscated at certain border areas of China because the map in the front of the book shows Taiwan as a separate country. Mine, the 8th edition I bought in 2004, has intentionally, I suspect, covered up Taiwan with a label pointing to one of China's highlights, so they have been able to avoid the matter entirely. It's funny how none of these issues have changed since my Taiwan jaunt. The issues are still the same, people are still arguing the same things. Bloody maps mate. I'm thinking of doing a Chinese Studies masters in Taiwan one day, but what they hell are they going to teach? I brought back a historical relic from Taiwan. It's a book on 'Chinese History', but after 1949, it focuses entirely on the GMD in Taiwan, and pretends the mainland doesn't exist - nothing about China under the commies - cultural revolution... Mao... Great Leap Forward... the China that we know. I wonder if that book will be a collector's item one day, for it's absurdity, in our eyes. In fact, doing that masters could in fact be a research project in itself. Will have to think about that further. And then there was the guy at the Chinese consulate making a point of my Taiwanese visas - I feel like I'm revisiting my own past. I have been home for three years now and hardly think of my time there, or what I spent time thinking and talking about while I was there. I feel like when I left Taiwan, I left all those thoughts behind.
Actually it's all been a bit weird this week- last night I had dinner with people from highschool as a kind of reunion. When people metioned the names of people I couldn't actually remember, I realised how long it's been since I was 17 and finishing highschool, cooking up the dreams that would shape the years to come. This year I've been so focused on driving forward that I never think of the past in any of the detail it deserves, but this week I'm assessing my experiences, and if or how I've changed, how Taiwan changed me, how the most unexpected things have happened, the friends I've made, what I've learnt about the real world, and my first serious relationship. I did the living overseas dream and I'm desperately trying to get excited about a new destination, but nothing will ever feel the same as it did sitting on the plane to Vietnam in 2003 knowing I was finally fucking off for a year for the first time. Like your first E I suppose - it will never be as good as the first. When your dreams become a reality you have reached a certain goal, and you then need new ones to try for, but have already done all that you thought you wanted to do.
In other news, I'm going on a 'business trip' to Adelaide on Tuesday for one night. My boss, the national sales manager, didn't want to go, so I suggested as a joke that I go instead, and as it turns out, it is no longer a joke. I'm going Qantas too. It's for the SA launch party of our new brochure. Then on Wednesday night straight after work, I'm going to the Sydney launch party at the zoo. So, Tuesday, go to work for one hour, fly to Adelaide, maybe squeeze in a few churches, go to launch party, fly back to Sydney on Wednesday morning and go straight to the office, work, then go to Sydney launch party. My! What a high-flyer I am! ¶ 13:56
