Hsinchu asked

…and we’re back!

Gentle reader, lo these many months, HsinchuAsked has grown dusty.

But, since you asked (ahem), the blog is back!

Life as an expat continues to present daily mysteries/amusement. Like tonight, there was a knock at the door. A woman stood at my door, a five flight walk up stairs, in a blue dress uniform with an armful of red carnations. I figured she was selling them for a charity and was preparing myself to politely decline.

Flower lady: (Something in Mandarin I don’t understand).

Me: (In Mandarin) I’m sorry, my Chinese is bad.

Flower lady: (Handing me a carnation) Mother’s Day is Sunday.

Me: For me?

Flower lady: Yes. (Smiles, begins to walk away).

Me: (Startled, in Mandarin) Thank you!

You know, just the ol’ door-to-door red carnation distribution to strange women who may or may not be mothers.

Glad to be back!

Democracy now

Last weekend people in 17 of Taiwan’s 25 counties voted for a slew of local candidates. We knew it was election season because when we arrived in August, there were already scads of colorful flags and makeshift billboards featuring the smiling, Photoshopped faces of candidates cluttering roads and overpasses.

(Looks like they like change in Taiwan, too. Behind No. 16 is our building.)

For candidates from both of the major parties, the blue pro-China Kuomintang and the green, pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, local campaigning is based largely on volume. There have been jingles blasted from megaphones outside our apartment, little caravans of supporters beating drums and cymbals in time on the back of trucks, fireworks rocketing off of moving vehicles and people lifting up signs in unison along busy streets.

Nice volunteers handed us packets of tissues wrapped in their candidate’s face.

Two local KMT officials were knocked out of their spots, widely viewed as an indictment of President Ma Ying-jeou’s recent moves to nudge Taiwan closer to China through a powerful new economic pact, his decision to let more U.S. beef onto the island and bungled relief efforts after Typhoon Morakot. This year, the DPP won 45.32 percent of votes cast, up from 41.95 percent in 2005.

The day after the election, during a visit to the Matsu Temple in the historic city of Lugang, a campaign caravan decked out to look like a tank rolled by. Someone getting a scary jump on the next election?

If you’re reading this right now

Then please vote for Hsinchu asked in the 2009 Taiwan Best Blog Awards! You can click on the plus button next to the “Hsinchu asked” listing (just search for “Hsinchu” on this page) every 24 hours through Dec. 20.

Many thanks and a good day to you, gentle readers! 謝謝！