national parochialism and taiwan
Is it problematic to eat at a cult?
Or is it problematic to call ISKCON a cult?
Just as Loving Hut - a chain of vegan restaurants attached to the cult run by self-proclaimed guru Ching Hai - was one of the few (only?) places i could find vegetarian food in Panama and Czech Republic, Govinda's - a Hare Krishna brand - is the only place i have found proper vegetarian food in Colombia.
I actually knew it was here since my very first day in Cartagena, and there's one literally around the corner from my hotel in Barranquilla. But i never went because i don't really like giving money to a religious organization at the best of times... Although i suppose there's worse things for religions to do than open vegetarian or vegan restaurants. (I mean, this is ignoring the child abuse scandals in ISKCON and general corruption around both ISKCON and Ching Hai...)
Actually, come to think of it, most of the other restaurants i've been to in Colombia are likely owned by devout Catholics, and that religion has millennia of violence, corruption and bigotry baked in, so perhaps it doesn't matter.
You know what, even if i ate against my principles, it was so nice to actually get something without fucking meat in it for lunch today. Not only that, something with a ton of vegetables. As usual with these religious restaurants, they don't use pretty much any spices at all, since i guess the whole point is to eat food that is as thoroughly divorced from earthly pleasures as possible, but when you've been deprived of a full plate of vegetables for 3+ months, even just a limp aubergine tastes like caviar.
Yes, friends, it was a good meal.
I finished the first season of Tokyo Vice last night. It definitely got less interesting as the show went on, and that tracks with the increased emphasis placed on conversations between the two American characters. Proof, perhaps, that when an expat meets an expat in a foreign country, the conversation is destined to be utterly insipid.
But Tokyo Vice is nonetheless a very good show, and - more importantly in the context of my journal - a show that really brought into focus for me what i want to do with my life. Or - to be more precise - where i want to go next.
I want to go back to East Asia. Japan might be an interesting place to visit, but i can't speak the language even a little bit, and learning it would overflow my brain at this point. So, Taiwan. I want to move to Taiwan.
When i originally chose between Taiwan and China as a place to settle for a bit longer than the usual tourist jaunt, i was specifically drawn to China for a number of reasons. One was that simplified Chinese looked easier to read than traditional Chinese (and i still strongly believe that, despite having spent the past 2 years leveling up on traditional characters). Another was that the massive changes around urbanization in China seemed more sociologically interesting to me than relatively developed Taiwan. But thirdly - and what ruled out Hong Kong too - is that i found Taiwan kind of parochial compared to China.
Taiwan being parochial is understandable, though, perhaps. Much like Canada and New Zealand, it is a country vastly overshadowed by its more powerful neighbor. Unlike Canada and New Zealand, it doesn't even have representation in global organizations like the UN thanks to the bullying tactics of the 800-pound gorilla across the strait. Taiwan's future in the international sphere is almost completely dictated by a superpower that has vowed to destroy it. Wouldn't you become more fiercely self-interested in that situation? Wouldn't you want to turn inward as you try to find something to distract you from the goddamned kaiju looming at your doorstep?
I thought about that again, spending 3 months in Panama. It felt like a parochial country. There is only one major city. Despite the nation's outsized economic clout thanks to the canal, people there often seem excessively snippy over their history with Colombia, and the US. I suppose there is always some regional rivalry - in every country - but i feel like there is a certain commonality between these countries who seem to have taken on a greater degree of resentment or bitterness toward their more powerful neighbor.
And rightfully so. This morning there was an article in the paper about how the perpetrator of a horrendous mass shooting in Canada actually smuggled in three of the guns from the US. And - the real scandal - the American government isn't particularly interested in prosecuting the case, despite the fact that American citizens illegally supplied this Canadian with those guns. There was a quote in the article from an American politician saying something like bla bla we have bigger problems to worry about. Like. Really? Fuck you, America. You're literally turning back millions of asylum seekers on your southern border - forcing them to file their claims from a country that is not their home and is clearly unsafe for them - while at the same time shipping illegal guns used in actual fucking violent crimes over the northern border. And the response? "Oh well." Yeah.
So i read my Canadian news every morning, and i have sympathy for the political leaders of these countries that need to walk a fine line trying not to piss off their neighborhood bully too much, while also empathizing with their population who is suffering the consequences of that bullying. And maybe it is a bit parochial when my Canadian news talks about a bear in a liquor store or a how the extraction industry impacts a small indigenous community, but at least it's our news, something that can't be stomped on by America's latest political whims.
And it's funny. When i was living in New Zealand, i always thought Australia would be better, because at least it'd count for something on the world scale. And for the very longest time i dreamed to move to the United States, a country that truly did matter - a country where all the world's best entertainment and culture sprang from. And when i visited Taiwan, i thought China was the center of it all, and worthy of a closer look. In all those cases i was right. Bigger countries are more exciting. They do have more stuff going on that's relevant in the wider world. There is more industry, more culture, more news, more everything. But. In the end, i always ended up disappointed, living there. Australia, America, China... Eh. There's always more crap too. There is something to be said for being in a country that just kinda cruises along under the radar. The New Zealands of the world, the Canadas... and, perhaps, Taiwan?
I'm not sure if i will feel underwhelmed there. Maybe it would be like moving back to Europe and working in Liechtenstein instead of Germany. But, on the other hand, i remember the delight i felt when i traveled around Taiwan, and the ease at which i slotted into the pace of life. It's an ease that i have found in other places while traveling, but only in smaller doses, only in smaller areas.
I don't need to go back to work right now if i don't want to. I could continue traveling by living off my mom's money, which thanks to the stock market crash has returned back to the same level it was 2-3 years ago when i originally inherited it. Which actually means it's lost value thanks to inflation. But i still don't feel much ownership of that money. I don't feel like it's mine to spend. I could keep traveling... There are still places on my bucket list - the American southwest, East Africa, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands... But i feel more comfortable traveling when it's on money i earned myself, when i feel like i don't have to be beholden to anyone else or any kind of charity. So i have resolved to go back to work.
And i have resolved to look for it in Taiwan.
I have two screening interviews next week.
I hope it's the right move.
Well, i hope i can find someone willing to sponsor a visa first.
Or is it problematic to call ISKCON a cult?
Just as Loving Hut - a chain of vegan restaurants attached to the cult run by self-proclaimed guru Ching Hai - was one of the few (only?) places i could find vegetarian food in Panama and Czech Republic, Govinda's - a Hare Krishna brand - is the only place i have found proper vegetarian food in Colombia.
I actually knew it was here since my very first day in Cartagena, and there's one literally around the corner from my hotel in Barranquilla. But i never went because i don't really like giving money to a religious organization at the best of times... Although i suppose there's worse things for religions to do than open vegetarian or vegan restaurants. (I mean, this is ignoring the child abuse scandals in ISKCON and general corruption around both ISKCON and Ching Hai...)
Actually, come to think of it, most of the other restaurants i've been to in Colombia are likely owned by devout Catholics, and that religion has millennia of violence, corruption and bigotry baked in, so perhaps it doesn't matter.
You know what, even if i ate against my principles, it was so nice to actually get something without fucking meat in it for lunch today. Not only that, something with a ton of vegetables. As usual with these religious restaurants, they don't use pretty much any spices at all, since i guess the whole point is to eat food that is as thoroughly divorced from earthly pleasures as possible, but when you've been deprived of a full plate of vegetables for 3+ months, even just a limp aubergine tastes like caviar.
Yes, friends, it was a good meal.
I finished the first season of Tokyo Vice last night. It definitely got less interesting as the show went on, and that tracks with the increased emphasis placed on conversations between the two American characters. Proof, perhaps, that when an expat meets an expat in a foreign country, the conversation is destined to be utterly insipid.
But Tokyo Vice is nonetheless a very good show, and - more importantly in the context of my journal - a show that really brought into focus for me what i want to do with my life. Or - to be more precise - where i want to go next.
I want to go back to East Asia. Japan might be an interesting place to visit, but i can't speak the language even a little bit, and learning it would overflow my brain at this point. So, Taiwan. I want to move to Taiwan.
When i originally chose between Taiwan and China as a place to settle for a bit longer than the usual tourist jaunt, i was specifically drawn to China for a number of reasons. One was that simplified Chinese looked easier to read than traditional Chinese (and i still strongly believe that, despite having spent the past 2 years leveling up on traditional characters). Another was that the massive changes around urbanization in China seemed more sociologically interesting to me than relatively developed Taiwan. But thirdly - and what ruled out Hong Kong too - is that i found Taiwan kind of parochial compared to China.
Taiwan being parochial is understandable, though, perhaps. Much like Canada and New Zealand, it is a country vastly overshadowed by its more powerful neighbor. Unlike Canada and New Zealand, it doesn't even have representation in global organizations like the UN thanks to the bullying tactics of the 800-pound gorilla across the strait. Taiwan's future in the international sphere is almost completely dictated by a superpower that has vowed to destroy it. Wouldn't you become more fiercely self-interested in that situation? Wouldn't you want to turn inward as you try to find something to distract you from the goddamned kaiju looming at your doorstep?
I thought about that again, spending 3 months in Panama. It felt like a parochial country. There is only one major city. Despite the nation's outsized economic clout thanks to the canal, people there often seem excessively snippy over their history with Colombia, and the US. I suppose there is always some regional rivalry - in every country - but i feel like there is a certain commonality between these countries who seem to have taken on a greater degree of resentment or bitterness toward their more powerful neighbor.
And rightfully so. This morning there was an article in the paper about how the perpetrator of a horrendous mass shooting in Canada actually smuggled in three of the guns from the US. And - the real scandal - the American government isn't particularly interested in prosecuting the case, despite the fact that American citizens illegally supplied this Canadian with those guns. There was a quote in the article from an American politician saying something like bla bla we have bigger problems to worry about. Like. Really? Fuck you, America. You're literally turning back millions of asylum seekers on your southern border - forcing them to file their claims from a country that is not their home and is clearly unsafe for them - while at the same time shipping illegal guns used in actual fucking violent crimes over the northern border. And the response? "Oh well." Yeah.
So i read my Canadian news every morning, and i have sympathy for the political leaders of these countries that need to walk a fine line trying not to piss off their neighborhood bully too much, while also empathizing with their population who is suffering the consequences of that bullying. And maybe it is a bit parochial when my Canadian news talks about a bear in a liquor store or a how the extraction industry impacts a small indigenous community, but at least it's our news, something that can't be stomped on by America's latest political whims.
And it's funny. When i was living in New Zealand, i always thought Australia would be better, because at least it'd count for something on the world scale. And for the very longest time i dreamed to move to the United States, a country that truly did matter - a country where all the world's best entertainment and culture sprang from. And when i visited Taiwan, i thought China was the center of it all, and worthy of a closer look. In all those cases i was right. Bigger countries are more exciting. They do have more stuff going on that's relevant in the wider world. There is more industry, more culture, more news, more everything. But. In the end, i always ended up disappointed, living there. Australia, America, China... Eh. There's always more crap too. There is something to be said for being in a country that just kinda cruises along under the radar. The New Zealands of the world, the Canadas... and, perhaps, Taiwan?
I'm not sure if i will feel underwhelmed there. Maybe it would be like moving back to Europe and working in Liechtenstein instead of Germany. But, on the other hand, i remember the delight i felt when i traveled around Taiwan, and the ease at which i slotted into the pace of life. It's an ease that i have found in other places while traveling, but only in smaller doses, only in smaller areas.
I don't need to go back to work right now if i don't want to. I could continue traveling by living off my mom's money, which thanks to the stock market crash has returned back to the same level it was 2-3 years ago when i originally inherited it. Which actually means it's lost value thanks to inflation. But i still don't feel much ownership of that money. I don't feel like it's mine to spend. I could keep traveling... There are still places on my bucket list - the American southwest, East Africa, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands... But i feel more comfortable traveling when it's on money i earned myself, when i feel like i don't have to be beholden to anyone else or any kind of charity. So i have resolved to go back to work.
And i have resolved to look for it in Taiwan.
I have two screening interviews next week.
I hope it's the right move.
Well, i hope i can find someone willing to sponsor a visa first.