Re: CHAT: Gobble (was: CHAT: cross-culturation)

>From: "Douglas Koller, Latin & French" <latinfrench@...>
>Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 14:58:38 -0500
>
>>  It was
>>here in Taiwan till this year.[1]  I'm gonna have to teach on Christmas
>>Day.
>>  Major bummer.  Guess how much book work's gonna happen THAT day!
>
>Yeah, working on Xmas is a definite suckeroo. That's what I liked
>about Taiwan. That Constitution Day and Christmas just *happened* to
>be the same day was great (weren't Chiang and Madame Chiang Xtians?).
Yes, they were.  So was their son and Chiang Ching-Kuo and Lee Tung-Hui.
Chen Suei-Bian is the first non-Christian president the ROC has ever had.
Christians are only about 2-3% of the population in Taiwan, but about 20% of
the people in government, education and other high-status, high-education
professions.

>Dismayed and a little surprised to hear that holiday has fallen by
>the wayside.
>
>>[1] A whole bunch of holidays got scrapped when they went from the 5 1/2
>>day-every-other-week workweek to the 5 day workweek.
>
Yeah, Constitution Day is gone so is the remebrance day for the White
Terror, several days of the Lunar New Year a couple of other Chinese
festivals.

>Just can't seem to relax, can they? That change was implemented while
>I was there (at the same time it would have kicked in as a work
>benefit at my office after I'd been there for a year. Oh well). TV
>interviews had John Q. Public Wang up in arms, "O tempora! O mores!
>Too much free time! What will become of the children?! We are at the
>brink of the abyss!" I think one minor holiday (on a Friday or
>Monday) bit the dust while I was there (since, horror of horrors, we
>wouldn't want to have a *three*-day weekend).  Then again, I suppose
>two whole days of non-stop Taiwanese TV variety shows would be enough
>to push anyone over the edge.
>
>Kou
LOL  You ain't kidding.  These Taiwanese variety shows make Lets Make a Deal
look intelligent.  Only semi-kidding.  Then there are the infomercials . . .
drink this and you'll grow taller, youth potions, imotence solutions, breast
swellers, and of course the amazing chop-all/shred-all/kitchen-wonders.

Adam who is contemplating getting a tv again

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