This Tuesday, arriving at Chinese class, we were informed by Lin that the class is going to be special. Aside from the fact that it's the last week of school, we were informed that we are about to have some visitors - reports from the Israeli extremely-popular channel 2. The reporters were doing a story on Chinese studies in Israel with the question with the stereotypical obvious answer - "Why are Israelis suddenly interested in studying Chinese?".  The reporters were suppose to arrive at mid-lesson, but calling Lin up in while the class was taking place they kept delaying their arrival until 15 minutes before class ended. Lin, looking somewhat nervous but still energetic, went on to show the reporters …

Walking around the Hebrew University today, I picked up a copy of the student newspaper called Pi-Haaton (verbal meaning the female donkey’s mouth, or something) and was surprised to see an article with a word game titled “Korea Heart” (which is suppose to sound like heartbreaking).

Not only isn’t it my own imagination that prices went up, it is now official that I haven’t gone insane seeing Asians all over the university. Yep, according to the article the Hebrew University hosts a live community of 100-200 Christian Koreans studying the holy scriptures. Assuming that there are a few dozens more from Japan and China and some more at the other campuses, that might explain why I see so many of them, …

Two months before coming to Israel, while in Taiwan, I got an Email from a friend I previously worked with but haven’t been in touch with much ever since - Ori, saying that he’s been following my blog and that he feels something similar towards the east. When I came here, and found out about the Chinese Garden (link) I was welcomed to join the Hebrew University Chinese classes by two people, one was the Chinese teacher - Lin (Previous post on Lin can be found here) - and another someone suggesting the structure of the Hebrew University classes and how he did the same thing a year ago when coming back from China. Although I was …

(This post is part 2 to an article posted here) It's not only that Israel has more Chinese characters around and more Asian people in the streets, it's also that China and Taiwan are more widely known and discussed around Israel. "The Marker", Israel's best newspaper's economics section, reports on the Chinese and Taiwnaese economics daily. References to China's growing international power and Taiwan's hi-tech are everywhere. People are fully aware that every piece of clothing they wear and most of their cheap belongings are marked with "Made in China", especially those bought from leading Israeli brands and that cheap electronics usually mean "Made in Taiwan". Moreover, people are also more politically aware of China. I will never …

It doesn’t take a genius to see that I’m Taiwan home-sick. It shows on me, even if I don’t talk about it too much. My efforts in studying Chinese are one thing, but there’s more to that. I’ve adopted a few hobbies and habits that are Chinese related which I enjoy. Some people around me find those to be a bit peculiar.

The few times I did the mistake of going to eat at a “Thai”/”Chinese” sandwich-bar , where they offered something that’s suppose to taste like Asian flavor but didn’t even come close, I immediately sympathized with the Asian looking person who was in charge of the frying wok. I usually tried to ask the owners for the person’s origin …

(This is part -2- to an article posted here)

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Movie official description
“The Journey of Vaan Nguyen” describes a crucial period in the life of the Nguyen family. Hoimai Nguyen and his wife escaped Vietnam in a refugee boat and arrived at the Israeli shores, where he and other refugees were granted asylum. Hoimai’s seven children were born in Israel. Two died at birth. Five girls were raised in an Israeli surrounding and developed a complex and split identity.

The film starts at the time when Hoimai decides it’s time to go back home to Vietnam. The longing, the constant feeling of foreignness and the need to go back home, carries him to the muddy roads of …