Todd Sandel's Blog from Macau

Environmental Problems in Macau! This morning, after taking my daughter to school, I returned by climbing the trail up to Taipa Park 大潭山. As I was walking along the section that is closest to the chimneys of the Incinerator, I came across dead frogs (toads?) on the trail. I did not count the exact number, but estimate around 20. All were fully grown and were healthy until recently. But they were all face down, dead, with excreted fluid coming out of their mouths. Here's a picture of one: Other pictures can be found here As I walked further down the trail, about 100 meters from where I saw the first frog/toad, I didn't see anymore. If anyone knows why they died, or what could have caused their deaths, it would be appreciated.

Brides on Sale Chapter Preview It's been very warm here in Macau, although the weather started to cool off today. Based upon records that I could find from WeatherUnderground, we had record high temperatures three days in a row. While parts of the US are cold, here in Asia we are experiencing a warm winter. I just finished writing four chapters for my book: Foreign Brides on Sale. These chapters have been sent to a publisher for review, and hopefully a contract will be forthcoming. For those interested in a preview, here are links to the Introduction and Chapter One . Feedback is appreciated! Happy New Year to Everyone! 新年快樂!

 I have not posted in sometime. Those interested in a Holiday/Christmas greeting and pictures may see it HERE . The three of us went to Bangkok last week. It was an enjoyable trip. However, there was an electrical failure of the "skytrain" system on Tuesday that made getting around the city difficult. We were also advised not to go into areas of the city where protests were occurring. Yet we were able to get to the places we wanted to see. The National Palace in Bangkok is magnificent! We also enjoyed the aquarium. A disappointment was a trip to see the "floating market" and elephant ride. We paid for a private taxi driver who took us to places that charged too much, and the venues were of very poor quality. After spending a few unhappy hours there, we returned to Bangkok early. We then went to the market near the MoChin stop and found an excellent shopping area. Donna is already looking at a return visit--and a trip to the Huahin beach--suitable for families. Tom...

On September 12 I went to a meeting of the Singkawang Association 山口洋地區鄉親會 . It also called Permasis in Indonesian. Website: http://www.permasis.org/ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/168710176483301/ This meeting was set up by Mr. Hartono, 李伯巧 , whom Aimee introduced me to the first week I was in Jakarta. As noted below, I did not know what to expect before I went to the meeting. I thought I would speak with just a few people. Instead, it was a meeting of the association as a whole that was arranged to accommodate my schedule. I was overwhelmed. They spoke Mandarin at the meeting for my benefit. I asked afterward how they normally conducted meetings, and Fuidy Luckman, who was very nice to me, said they spoke a mixture of Hakka and Indonesian. Fortunately that morning I took time to do an overall analysis of the interviews, counting the number of marriages with Taiwanese men discussed by participants involving themselves (women) or a close family member...

Recently my University of Oklahoma webpage was deactivated. Since I have adjunct status with OU, I am able to reactivate it. But it will take me some time and is a task for later. One item that I would like to make public, and is difficult to do with the University of Macau website--I do not have personal control over it--is my CV and list of publications. Using Dropbox I am able to present this information publicly and post it to this blog. Those interested in some of my work may access this using the following: Todd Sandel's CV--2014 Select Publications Sandel, T. L. (2014). “Oh,I’m here!”: Social media’s impact on the cross-cultural adaptation of students studying abroad. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research. 43(1), 1-29. Sandel, T. L., Wong Lowe, A., & Chao, W-Y. (2012). What does it mean to be Chinese?: Studying values as perceived by Chinese immigrants to the United States and by their children. In S. J. Kulich, M. H. Prosser, & L. P. Weng (...

Singkawang, Jakarta and Elysium These past two weeks I have been in Indonesia visiting new places and meeting new people. This trip came about not by plan, but by a chance meeting with Dr. Sunny Lie at a conference in Nebraska last year. I presented a paper on my past study of Taiwan’s “foreign brides” and she was in the audience. After the talk, she said her family came from Singkawang ( 山口洋 in Chinese), and that it is a place notable for the large number of young women who married Taiwanese men. As part of my research I had long wanted to visit such a place, and we began to talk about the project that now is being carried out. Last week I was in Singkawang, assisted by Sunny’s cousin, Ulung Wijaya. He was the perfect man for the job, fluent in English, Mandarin, Hakka, and Indonesian. Through him I came to know members of his family who all helped, most especially his brother-in-law AThong. I also met his other brother-in-law, Steven, who led us on a one-day trip to the c...

Happy Holidays to all. Grading is finished and we are getting ready for the long journey to see family and friends. I've just written a Christmas letter that you can see at the following: Happy Holidays from Todd and family Sorry for not posting much in recent months. A New Year's resolution for 2013 is to post at least once a month. I've been much busier than expected these last months. Todd