Saturday, February 16, 2013

The Secret Ingredient

A year before I was born, my family left Taiwan and immigrated to a small city in the middle of nowhere. We were now more than eleven thousand kilometres away from our country of origin, and in a place where access to Taiwanese cuisine was severely limited. It seemed certain that I was (my sister also) doomed to never have the chance to grow to love the food that is a part of everyday life in Taiwan. Indeed, it was also certain that I would have the chance to visit the country as I was growing up, but there was always the likelihood that I would develop a preference for a burger and fries over Taiwanese food and never take the opportunity to properly indulge in authentic Taiwanese cuisine.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Courage, Confidence and Choices



Last week in Melbourne, my friend and I came across this guy busking on the streets outside one of the busiest train stations in the city. He was from Taiwan, and most of the songs he sang were familiar to me – popular pop ballads released by many of the biggest artists in Taiwan. His dexterity with the guitar left me nothing short of envious, and listening to him sing live, with just his voice and guitar as instruments, free of digital alterations, stopped me and many others in our tracks, inserting a short interlude into our busy lives, slowing down the frantic movement of people for just a few minutes, allowing them to take a break from the tedious march that we call life.