The English Learning Fad in Taiwan

I took my trip to Taiwan lately, and one thing I found more popular than any other things is learning English.
It’s not that learning English wasn’t popular or wasn’t important before. In fact, in most of the Asian countries where English is not the spoken language, learning English has always been the “window to the [...]

Taiwan High Speed Rail

This is the first time I ever take the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR). It’s fast — it used to take about 4.5 hours from Taipei to Kaohsiung, the northern and southern end of Taiwan, while now it takes as little as 1 hour and 36 minutes while averaging 2 hours. It goes in speed [...]

Kaohsiung City Tour

Kaohsiung is the biggest city in southern Taiwan, about 50 km south of Tainan, which I visited two days ago. Today we took a city tour in Kaohsiung. We loved campus, so our first stop was National Sun Yat-sen University. Its library (left) and the math department (right, note the pi shape on the floor [...]

A Day Trip to Tainan in Southern Taiwan

I am traveling to Taiwan now, and today I took a refreshing day trip to Tainan, which is in the southern part of Taiwan. Tainan is known for its varieties of “snacks” — cheap, traditional, small portion of food that the locals call Xiao Chi. Below are some that we had today. The noodle [...]

A Pilates Routine That Really Flattens Your Tummy

Written by YP my wife:
http://www.healthmad.com/Fitness/A-Pilates-Routine-That-Really-Flattens-Your-Tummy.64500

Four Yoga Poses for Anti-Aging

Yoga can relieve stress, give you flexibility and strength, and regulate metabolic rate, which all slow down the aging process. Here are four yoga poses that effectively make you look and feel younger, and live longer!
1. Reclining Twist
Benefits: Twisting squeezes and stretches all the internal organs and especially improves sluggish [...]

A Letter from My World Vision Sponsored Child

…Child Sponsorship Can be Very Rewarding…
Sponsoring a child is easy, rewarding, and joyous — especially when you hear from your sponsored child.
There are many children in developing or under-developed countries that don’t have the resource that we have here in the States. Many of them are in desperate need of help in continuing their education, [...]

Who Says Language Is a Necessity?

Language is a powerful tool indeed. But is it a necessary tool always?
Language is the main tool for human communication. What makes human the dominant species on earth is its unique ability to use language to record and share knowledge in a systematic way. Through language, verbal or written, human has advanced science cooperatively. Without [...]

Five Zen Tips for Living a More Financially Sound Life

Financial health is an essential element of our life. In a time when maxing out and over-spending seem contagious, tips for cutting the spending are useful. And a lifestyle that implements these tips are priceless.
Financial health — besides physical and mental health — has become an increasingly important element in our life. Yet we yearn [...]

Consistency Is the Hardest Thing to Maintain

Maintaining consistency takes commitment. And commitment itself seems to be the hardest commitment to make.
It’s close to the end of the year again, and soon it’s New Year. It’s a time we look forward to the future; it’s also a time we look back at our life. It’s a time we make New Year resolutions; [...]

The Eastern Worldview — Revised

This article discusses the Eastern worldview shared by Eastern religions such as Taoism and Buddhism.
The Western cultures rely on logic and reasoning very much. Logic and reasoning are the cornerstones of Western thinking, and indeed, the entire Western civilization. Particularly, if you ever studied philosophy in a U.S. college, you would deeply understand what [...]