a little background

This is not the huge update I promised, but just to introduce:

I'm Stephen Chen, ES 09, a cognitive science and music major. I took Chinese 115 this past year and thought it'd be a fine idea to learn some more of this language that I've always wanted to know. (My father's side of the family is Taiwanese.)

So, I'm in Taichung, Taiwan ROC this summer learning Chinese, or 國語 Guo Yu as is called. I'm at Tunghai University, living with my uncle whose house is nearby.

This blog is entitled "Taichung Mystery" because everyone, myself included, knows next to nothing about this program. Nobody's been there from Yale during the presidency of the current Light staff, no student reviews can be found, and the official documentation from the website gives very little information. In a way, I'm here both to learn Chinese and to find out what this program is all about. If I don't return, then I was probably abducted as I went to pay the tuition (28000NT ~= US$900) IN CASH and sold into slavery.

If I do come back I'll know Chinese and Yale will know about the Chinese Language Center at Tunghai University.

Language Note: I'll be using traditional chinese characters when I post, so if they show up as boxes that's the problem, and you should install the Chinese (Taiwan) language mode. If I have time / motivation I'll write in simplified too.

Language Note 2: Taiwan uses the Wade-Giles romanization of Chinese, so place names, etc are written as "T'aichung" rather than "Tai Zhong." Don't be confused. I'll still write in Hanyu pinyin whereever possible.