Monday, Aug. 23, 2004 - 11:14 p.m.

The main article in August 8th SOUTH magazine is on "Ladies Nights." The magazine covers the entertainment and food going ons of Southern Taiwan. And they do a damn good job considering how quickly things change around here.

This article cracked me up. Read this final sentence in the article and you'll see why:

I am still laughing. Why, I ask, would you run an article about Ladies Night when the conclusion that your writer came to was that there werent many? And further, why would you let them state just that in their article?

(raising and waving my hand around crazily)
"I know teacher, I know!"
"Yes, Debra, go ahead. Tell us."
Heres the deal. There is NO gray area here when it comes to the truth here. I believe I was told that this concept of all truth telling comes from Confusious (man, am I butchering the spelling there!). No matter its orgin, its current practice is of a blunt hit on the head to the western mind.

I have seen people (myself and others) being told something about themselves (a flaw or something seen as not wanted here) by a total stranger. When the stranger walked up to me and told me where to get my facial mole removed, this was an example. People see it as their duty to right a wrong. But when you have multi-cultural society where there are MANY versions of right and wrong, how does this work? Well, thats the thing, Taiwan is still VERY homogenous, so this isnt so much an issue yet.

Personal feelings dont seem to matter in these circumstances. People just DONT LIE to stop someone from being hurt. I have heard and seen friends pick at their physical and mental qualities. Back home if you said something bad about yourself your friends would tell you good things in return. Here is the same happens, they only expand on this badness in hopes of helping you change it.

In the classroom this becomes an issue. A lot of reading and writing in different verb tenses is making up things that DID or WILL happen. But if something is not true in their world, the students wont answer the way needed for the lesson. They wont even play along when learning new vocabulary and needing to make alterations in truth to demo them. I cant be beautiful and ugly at the same time, cause in their eyes I am only one (ugly).

Ugh! This is a part of the society that I will gladly leave here when I go. It is none of my business what someone elses flaws are, as long as they are not hurting someone else. And I will NEVER call my friends ugly or stupid cause they dont fit the small window of what my society views as criteria for these characterisics.