Journey into Taiwan 2008

Impressions, observations, and professional activities in Taiwan (10/15/2008-11/16/2008)

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I have taken a lot of pictures in Taiwan and have organized and uploaded several web albums in my personal picture site at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/chiehwen.hsu

(To view each web album, just click on the cover picture.)

 

Personal impressions and observations:

  • What a beautiful island!

Taiwan is a small island, but is full of natural beauty.  Just look at the pictures I took to see some awesome sceneries around the island.

  • No need to cook at all!

There are little food stalls and nice restaurants everywhere.  Every few blocks, you will find a "Night Market" that offers a great variety of foods.  The food culture is incredibly rich in Taiwan.  Strangely enough, most people look fit and thin.

  • Great to be a teacher here!

Following Confucian tradition, teachers are highly respected.  Students seem so eager to please and to serve the teachers.

  • No more "stepmothers' faces"!

The service attitude in Taiwan used to be poor, store clerks often showed "stepmothers' faces" to the customers.  Now the service attitudes are excellent everywhere.  Customers are generally treated with courtesy and appreciation everywhere.

  • Subway and train systems are superb!

Excellent Metro subway system in Taipei!  The subway trains come frequently and people are orderly in using the system.  The high-speed train system can take you from Taipei (in the North) to Koashiung (South) in two hours.

  • Motorcycles are everywhere!

Cars, motorcycles, bikes, and pedestrians are everywhere.  Traffiic is congested.  I have not seen a single traffic accident since I arrived though.  What a miracle!

  • People act responsibly to protect the resources and environment!

People separate their garbage into different categories (i.e., recyclable paper, plastic, and common garbage).  The garbage trucks pick up garbage every day.  Most people bring their own bags to buy groceries.  You will be charged for the plastic bags if you need them.

  • High population density and poor air quality in Taipei

There are a lot of people in Taipei and the air quality is not good. People told me that I am here at probably the best time of the year weather wise.  However, my eyes are still allergic to the air.  Well, nobody or no city is perfect...

 

Professional Activities in Taiwan

As a visitidng scholar at National Taiwan Normal University, I did manage to do some work too.

  • attended the annual conference (50th anniversary) of Taiwanese Counseling Psychology Association in Chung Hua, Taiwan. (10/18/2008)
  • Made four presentations at four universities in various parts of Taiwan as follows:

  • National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei (10/21, Northern Taiwan, topic: "Toward a Global Psychology")

  • National Hualein University of Education in Hualein (10/23, Eastern Taiwan,  topic: "Toward a Global Psychology")

  • Chung Shan Medical University in Taichung (10/30, Western Taiwan,  topic: "Toward a Global Psychology").

  • National Taiwan University in Taipei (10/31, Northern Taiwan, my Alma Mater, topic: 'Building Global Competence in Psychology:  Education and Training" or "internationalization of psychology curriculum ").

The powerpoint presentations for these lectures have been posted at the my Learning Web -Resource Website for the Global and Cross-Cultural Psychology:

http://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/joanne.hsu/global_psychology

 

  • will represent Houston Alumni Association of National Taiwan University (NTU) to attend the 80th anniversary celebebration of NTU (11/15/2008).