Haha, you can’t hide that you want to be a submissive , don’t you? Bad boy.
It's pretty cool that you have interest in those things and countries. ESPECIALLY, as a American haha.
But besides East Europe countries like Lithuania the pre-USSR countries aren't really safe for travel especially they are not friendly to gay people, so take care if you need to go there and don't be horny there lol.
Russian languages are hard to learn>< so, best wish if you want to learn that haha.But it well cool to have a friend or boyfriend/girlfriend who can speak multiple language, that's always one of my dream haha.
Simply to explain, pre-USSR is a dying old empire, Russian Empire was a tradition strong empire power, and Japan was a new-born empire. They have conflict for the interests at the north-east side of China(they even fight on the land of territory of China). The result was that Japan win the war, shocked other Empires like Brittan.This war is a overture of Japanese Empire, they took the place of Russia at Northeast Asia. As you might know Japan occupied Korea and Manchuria after this war. And it also the epilogue of Russian Empire, they collapsed in ten years later in the WWI. If you want to know Russia more, especially their insistences on expanding their territories, Russian Empire in late 19th will be a good thing for you to know.
Don't say you're a geek mate, I'm more geek than you(all those things you mentioned were kind of my interest before university) . I think I saw the time I was 18 still when I still curious to everything haha. Keep it and keep exploring! But I'm sure those singer aren't not popular now haha, you feels like older than me , geek ><, to know all these singer. I know them for sure, my parent love Teng's songs, she was famous as you said because her charter in politics, in fact, she was really famous at that time since she went to sing songs for solders to cheer them up. But it's really oooold mate. I like old songs too, just so surprised that you know them. And 2000s >< my wonderful childhood, and 10s, the waka waka and the world cup. That's a period so dreamcore for kids nowadays.
I don't like mandarin songs actually haha, I recently really attracted by Sam Fender, a british singer. But if you want to know more about Taiwanese songs I can also keep talking topic with you. Your thought about this is great to doing a deep research actually.
Geography is a requested subject at the school, we learn that since elementary school. Not just Taiwanese geography but almost all formed of geography around world, we even learn American Geography, so I know California rains at winter because of the Mediterranean climate form. I love snowy places cuz we're a tropical country, the snow only happened on the really high mountain here in a really cold winter. In Taiwan I love the east coast cuz it's much prettier than west, as for America I want to visit North side of East coast or Great lakes areas since I like snow haha.
I want to visit Norway or UK the front, Norway is for landscapes and UK for the cultural things.
It's great to be an outdoorsy boy, pretty handsome and fit I guess? Haha charming kid maybe?
Buildings styles is a cool thing too, but if you come here you will see lots of ugly buildings looks like tumors of city.
I'm so surprise you know so much, just make me saw the younger me haha. That's great you have some many things that you want to explore. We have some indigenous tribes here, and we're a small island so it's not that obvious we have huge differences between tribes and other places, but the tribes usually are on the high mountain so the inconvenience still make some differences, it mostly related to rural-urban differences I think.
I would said Taiwanese history is a sad history, it need times for reconciliations. We called ourself as "the orphan of Asia" because every regime just want to occupied us but no one really care about Taiwanese think in most of time.(Did you know as a citizen of Taiwan, you can't visit UN buildings at New York because we didn't recognized by them ). Both of the topics of races and history are huge, we can discuss later if you really interested in it. And Earthquake, so normal as the threats from China, so just normal without feeling lol. You can feel the monsoons changed following with the seasons here, as for tsunamis not really common, at least I never heard that happen here.
A little bit French boy? it will be hot haha. Not to be offensive, what is your ethnicity mainly made of?
You studied so hard that make you seemed like an Asian lol.
Hey boy, you know too much language that make me feel I'm useless, jk.
The Korean words you mentions I'm sure it comes from the Chinses 班( Ban),It's the same system almost in all east Asia countries, so basically we will have a classroom, like class 401, is just for people in 401 class to learn, and different teachers will come to the classroom in different courses.
Just keep learning to improving, you gonna make it one day mete, you're already been great!
As my English, we're asked to learn this since 9 until 18 you graduated from high school. But most of people even worse than me>< . And the environment here of learning English is toxic, people always judge others accent. So I'm kind of no confidence while using English ><.
UCLA is a fantastic and extraordinary school, it will be great if you can study there.
I'm single since I was born Q__Q, so... you will do better than me anyway. Tragedy of being a nerd><
I'm used to going jogging on the playground just, so kind of boring? And it will be great to swim in the lake, but there is no place for us to do that, jelly.
Mostly I played old-fashioned League of Legends, and played Zelda on my switch before but lately is too busy to play and too lazy to open the switch haha. Lots of my friends love Pokemon, but I'm not a cartoon person since I was a kid expect the SpongeBob lol. And hey boy, your interests are really cools, haha maybe we can talk on the discord or other social media if we have the chance.
And thanks for your warm bless mate, but I'm going to teacher internship first then maybe come back to school, don't want to go into society so soon, I'm a useless man haha. And it will also be a huge milestone for you too, so hope you will have a good time at university !
Aw you caught me red handed, I’ve been so naughty, haven’t I? You’ll have to give me detention, maybe even corporal punishment if that’s still allowed in Taiwan haha flirting can be so silly sometimes ^^
Yeah, it’s super unfortunate that a lot of the places I’d like to visit are really unfriendly to gay people <\3 I have the choice to take caution and leave, and have the safety of being a tourist from a first world country, but I really really feel bad for the gay community that don’t have those luxuries. One of the languages that I want to learn in my later years at college is Arabic, and we all are familiar with the dangers for the gay community in the Middle East, so I’d just use that language to reach out to Arabic speakers, some of the kindest people I’ve met have been Arab so that’s one of the reasons I wanted to learn the language, along with really adoring the art and intellectual outputs from the region. Though I want to wait until I’m proficient in Russian, the previous languages I’ve learned and the languages I’ll learn for my travels in Eastern Europe/Central Asia, I have a lot of a lot on my plate haha, but I really like how learning a language can be such a turning point in one’s life, and can make growing older less scary, because that just means you have more time to educate yourself! What foreign languages have you always wanted to study? Do you have a plan to eventually try and learn them? Also, for studying English, do you study extracurricularly, or mostly in school? If you study English outside of school, is it with a textbook or through immersion with content for native English speakers? Also back to the previous topic haha, In Taiwan, is being gay still pretty taboo? I know in East Asia, homophobia operates pretty differently, it isn’t like the Christian guilt that permeates western/western colonized nations, but stemming from the traditionalism taught by Confucianism to uphold traditional gender roles and family structures, that’s where a ton of the harsh misogyny stems from as well. Do you feel that pressure from your community and peers to settle down with a wife? Also, have you visited any gay clubs, and what is the gay nightlife like in Taiwan? I’ve read through a lot of forum posts and articles, movies etc about gay life in places like Thailand, and done reading on the history of the gay community in Korea, but I don’t know a lot about the experience of being Gay in Taiwan. Also, since you’re pansexual, Kinsey scale wise, are you more interested in men or women, sexually and romantically respectively? Would you feel like you’re more likely to later in life get a boyfriend or girlfriend? Also, how did you discover your sexuality? Did you ever have some doubts about your identity?
Haha, I’d say that I feel like I was kinda born in the wrong generation since I’m more interested in researching and being engulfed in older media and history than some modern things like tiktok and such, I don’t like that app haha. Ah I totally understand being more interested in listening to songs from other nations, I’ve been a pretty huge fan of ‘world music’ for this reason, it’s really intriguing to hear different song structures, instruments, vocal performances and such from different cultures, and connecting to others from these cultures through the universal language of music. I think one of my favorite cultures to listen to music from is Arabic music, the pace and pitch of the music feels very modern in a way while also containing the structures and vocal performances of older traditions, and for some reason it feels very nostalgic to me. Haifa Wehbe’s songs are a guilty pleasure for me haha, they’re very fun and really get you dancing. Eastern European and specifically Lithuanian music is also fun to listen to, lots of techno but also some traditional folksy songs, that contrast is just fascinating. I also enjoy learning about history through my interest in world music, one of my favorite artists that I’ve researched is Miriam Makeba, she was a South African musician during the period of apartheid, and her story is shaped a lot by both the racism of the apartheid culture she was born in and Jim Crow, segregationist America, which she had to contend with as she promoted her art during the period. She was even banned from South Africa for her activism. The click song in specific, which is her most famous song she performed, is very special, it portrays such a unique vocal performance with such heart, and it really connected to me, I clicked my tongue a lot as a child and I just felt this deep connection to how she interpolated it as art, we’re all connected and just human in the end, arent we? Hah also I’d love to learn more about Taiwanese songs, do indulge me =3 some other Taiwanese artists I didn’t mention are some of the indie ones I recently discovered and started listening to, Waa Wei and Peggy Hsu, they have a very lofi cosy feel. Oh also, do you play any instruments? And do you collect music, or mostly just stream it online? If you do collect music, do you collect cds or vinyl records? And have you been to any concerts before?
Woah, it’d be super interesting to hear more about Japanese occupied Russian territories, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me! Also, with history, especially regarding conflicts and wars, are you interested more in the combat side of things, like the models of guns, artillery, etc, and the experiences of the soldiers, or more in the humanitarian reaction to wars? I fall on the latter side haha, not to flagellate my empathy or anything haha I’m just really not interested in weapons and bloodshed. I began to ruminate more on the humanitarian implications and reactions of war when I started reading feminist literature at 12, and learning just how horrific the affects of war have been on women, specifically I remember reading about how women and girls in the USSR post WWII, and in instances like the holodomor, faced repugnant amounts of rape, cumulatively on a scale of the casualties of the holocaust numbering in the millions, it was heart wrenching and totally changed how I viewed history and empathetic connection to victims of sexual abuse. ‘Who cooked the last supper’ is a really good book that delves into this topic as well. My interest in the humanitarian affects of war increased even more when I started researching Korean history, and the intersection of women and abuse in Korea/Joseon under Japanese colonization, I’ve read university articles on comfort women and the ongoing rifts between Japan and Korea caused by Japan’s refusal to acknowledge their culpability in this tragedy; the contention regarding the comfort women statues that were erected around the world is a fascinating topic, and the statues themselves are some of the most moving pieces of art I could imagine existing, their interactivity that puts you in the place of these women who faced so much pain is something that just changes you, man. the book ‘winds of change’ which documents the role of women in Korean society throughout various eras also touches this topic. Heh sorry for rambling!
Woah, I didn’t even know about the Mediterranean climate form! You’re truly intelligent, you know that right? I really understand wanting to experience snow as a California guy, haha, well in California since it’s so big there’s actually quite a few places up north that do snow pretty heavily, I’ve been to a cabin up north that was fully covered in snow, and snow was still falling as well, it was incredibly to finally experience and play around like a kid making snow angels haha. Is Taiwan similar to California in that the seasons besides summer are pretty uneventful? How is fall in Taiwan? Also, what’s your favorite season? Mine for sure is summer, I love the nostalgic atmosphere it has for me, my emotions and memories are the clearest and most profound in the summertime. I also really enjoy the heat and cooling off, being sticky and sweaty can be a nice feeling, can’t it? Wearing loose clothes and hanging by a fan, sipping on cold glasses of water and hanging out in nature is the best part of any of the seasons for me. Ah, Norway is pretty sublime, isn’t it? Even though you prefer the east coast of Taiwan to the west, it might be nice to visit it sometime imagining the fjords and mountainous terrain of Norway, there’s so much beauty in its mountainous terrain, like a sort of culmination of thousands of years of creation and destruction. The song ‘joga’ by Bjork and its music video really made me fall in love with the landscape of Scandinavia. Haha, I try my best to stay fit, I really like to exercise, it’s such a relaxing experience that’s at the same time challenging and stimulating, I enjoy how it conditions me to be content with and pursue uncomfortable experiences for my greater good. I enjoy cardio the most, not much of a strength trainer haha. Do you go to gyms and such? What are your favorite exercise routines and equipment? Do you exercise often, like everyday or week or for special occasions?
I hope it’s not a sore subject to ask you about, but what would you say are the differences between how Taiwanese history is taught in Taiwan, and how it is taught in mainland China, if you have some familiarity with the curriculum? I ask this since I am familiar with how Korean history is taught and suppressed in Japan in comparison to Korea, and the political conflicts and contention surrounding education about these subjects, I watched a really illuminating documentary on my college’s streaming service (I took a few college classes before starting when I was 16, but this summer is my first official full school year) about a while back. What do you wish that Taiwan would be recognized for by the rest of the world? Also, what are some of the unique aspects of Taiwanese life and culture that you are proud of? Also, do you like Taiwanese food, or a different cultures food? Are there many different types of restaurants in Taiwan? Also, I know you mentioned there being a lot of Japanese in Taiwan, but would you say that the Japanese are the most common immigrant/expat population in Taiwan? Is manual labor usually done by Taiwanese citizens, or foreign nationals, I know that in other eastern Asian nations occupations like hard labour and construction are usually done by foreigners. Also, do you know about a ‘brain drain’ in Taiwan, where there is a lot of studying abroad and immigration for employment opportunities? Do you know any people who moved from Taiwan to different countries? Also I’d love to discuss Taiwanese history more with you, I’ll have to do more reading about the subject so I can have more interesting and poignant questions to ask you^^. Haha, I don’t study that hard! Besides the French that’s on my Dad and Mom’s side, also Egyptian, and some African American, not too proud of that because there exists a lot of dumb stereotypes about it, I’d like to be seen as just a normal guy haha.
In Taiwan, does there exist a lot of importance placed on participating in after-schooling like in Korean culture with hak-kweons? Also, do you find studying a stressful or relaxing experience? I quite enjoy studying as the structure of having deadlines and specific chapters and such to research really motivates me, though sometimes I just wish I could slack off more. Oh also, what were some of your favorite memories in school? Did you have a favorite subject? Did you have any favorite school friends, or a favorite teacher? Also semi related to studying, but do you have a journal? If so, do you write in it a lot, and is it more of a diary, or like a bullet journal where you use it to self motivate?
Gah it sucks that there’s no lakes where you are, are the beaches nice atleast though? Also, are there naturally occurring hot springs in Taiwan? Or are most of the saunas kinda artificial in that they’re not connected to any real hot springs. Also, how is the vegetation in Taiwan, are there lots of trees and forests? Also, I’ve recently checked out a book about the animals of China, some of my favorite animals are only found in China or are common there, as a little kid my favorite animals were pandas haha, so generic! But I also like Jerboas as well, and there are so many fascinating species in China, like Musk Deer, Mouse Deer, spotted Linsang and the monkies of China are so colourful, I was wondering if there are any unique species of animals in Taiwan you are familiar with? What would you say is the animal Taiwan would be most associated with? What animals do you commonly see in your day to day life? Since you play Leauge of Legends now, have you been playing MMO games for a while? Have you played any games like Ragnarok online? If you were a hardcore gamer back in the day, did you used to visit any LAN parties? Also thank you dude, I’ll send you my discord handle using the chat feature, I finally got it to work I think!
Thank you, also, what specific classes did you take while you were in college? What would you describe your college experience like? And what changed with each semester, did you feel like you got more equipped and prepared, or did you kinda lose some of the passion for learning you had as a freshman, etc? And what advice would you have for a freshman like me?
