transnationalisms...

Transnationalisms: sitting here, last day of the tour, thinking of the whirlwind thus far, cars/buses/airplanes, four universities in three days, and after today, six in four. The cost to the body, weariness of multiple roads and peoples and buildings and foods, leaves one wondering about lasting effects, both good and bad. This city, Taipei, bustles, but not as much as I would have thought. The traffic outside the pale of canadian roads but not the asia I have known in india, for instance (the overwhelming smells of exhaust and the noise, oddly craved with all the sensory surroundings). So, sitting here in a Starbucks, an ode to transnationalisms, listening to Izzy Kamaawiwo’ole, another ode to indigeneity as it performs across borders, perhaps, getting some quiet time but refusing the too-quiet of the xmas-music starbucks so sitting outside with the smokers, listening to traffic and watching the sun break through for real this time it looks like…Met yesterday with Ron MacIntosh, exec director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, himself a newcomer to the country and post as of two months. It’s interesting, as always, to talk to civil servants to see how different interests converge – that is, what are we doing here, I sometimes wonder, and what does this have to do with Canada, international relations, transnationalisms? None of this is querulous or quarrelsome, just an open-ended query… Shot some video yesterday in Xinzhu, will try to post later...Below, that's our host at Xinzhu, Guy Beauregard, walking along with Hiromi at the spectacular campus.