I sat my Taiwan Driving Licence test two days ago.
It was actually the second time I had gone to sit the test, but I wasn't allowed to the first time, because I don't have a Chinese name. My ARC has my English name, my health insurence is in my English name, my motorbike registration is in my English name. EVERYTHING in fact is in my English name, and indeed I am entitled to have everything in my English name, just as the Taiwanese aborigines are no longer required to have a Chinese name and can choose to use their original name in their native language. Everything, that is, except my driving licence.
"We can't have your English name, as it won't fit. Look, there's only enough space."
"Can't you just put my surname and first name, or surname and initial?"
"No, because then your name will be different from your ARC. Police will look at the cards and get confused."
Good. "But if I have two cards, both with my English name, both with the same photo, what's the problem?"
"No."
And they wouldn't allow me to sit the test until I'd gone to the Immigration department and put a Chinese name on my ARC.
1 comment:
I can only assume you went back to NZ? I have lived here for four years, and given the (incredibly) small foreign community here, I suppose that since I never heard your name you have already left!
Your "Speech to the Taitung County Government" reminds me of a similar mood that I experienced a couple of years back. I hated everything - the traffic, the people, the food - just everything.
And then I went back to Seattle, and all I could think about was Taitung. For half a year I walked around, wondering where the beautiful girls and the sunshine had gone. I thought the feeling would go away, but it never did.
So here I am, back in Taitung. And I am happy. I realized that much of the reason I was unhappy before was that I was always comparing Taitung to somewhere else, always comparing Taitung to some imaginary place that I called "home." In time I learned how to let go of that ideal "home," and I am much happier for it.
I truly love this place now, and I hope I never have reason to leave.
Anyway, if you are still around let me know. I would be happy to know you.
My email: timesthreethehighest@gmail.com
My blog:
www.taitungstyle.blogspot.com
Facebook:
Timesthree The highest
I hope you found a place where you can be happy. If it wasn't Taitung, I wish you the best wherever you are!
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