re-love Taiwan

Now it is 10:00pm, 3/21, Taiwan time. Any election-related activities stop now. Both parties cannot officially gather people parading on streets or gathering in squares. No one is allowed to distribute flyers.
Since 3/12, it is illegal to report any polls on who gets more popularity than the other.

I didn't know the above deadlines. Or I should say, I don't remember the deadlines for Taiwan elections. I haven't executed my civil right since 8 years ago. Eight years ago, I voted for Chen, the current president. Disappointedly, although he was the greatest Mayor of Taipei City, he is the worst President of Taiwan.

People have to come back in order to cast our votes. This time the number of returning voters from all over the world is amazingly huge! It is like Chinese New Year. Everyone comes back home from Americas, Europe, Australia, Africa, Oceania, and different places of Asia (especially China). This past week, Taiwan-born-but-oversea-resident tourists are everywhere. At first I didn't figure out why lots of people were not working at 10am Thursday, crowding something new and cool that I was going to try: MaoKong Gondola. Soon I overheard cell phone conversation such as "Hey, I am in Taiwan now. I will get back to deal with that thing once I vote on Saturday", "Oh, finally I can have a good haircut. Americans never know how to do it right!", and "This is delicious! I miss it so much."(The red-ish reflection was my coat. The whole MaoKong Gondola trip was 4.03 km in a super cute white cube as if we were in a "sky lamp")

Or in streets, it's easy to hear people say "Taipei is the most convenient place in the world." I totally agree.
If the yoga and tango communities in Taipei were as good as those in New York, I would move back immediately.
If the culture of appreciating beer and wine was like the culture of appreciating tea, I would move back to Taipei soon.
If I could easily (as easy as 95% of the population) find beautiful shoes for myself, I would not hesitate on the idea of moving back too long. Even stores selling European or American shoes are unlikely to get my money. Why can't Taiwanese shoe-sellers understand the difficulty of a tall woman? Ok, of a large-feet woman?
If more international news were covered on Taiwanese TV, and thus if Taiwanese people had a broader view of the world, I would be proud of Taiwan even more.

See? Taiwan is not perfect but I love it.
It's a weird but normal feeling of love. The goodness is overwhelming so I tolerate the badness.

Opening a once-my-favorite novel, a sentence read "That was 10 years ago when I entered university."
I entered university 10 years ago. It's amazing to look back to see how much things have changed and how many things have not changed.
I was so enthusiastic about the election for Mayor of Taipei. Young people like me were active participants. We wanted Taipei to change because we loved it and because we could not stand the old-fashioned style of ruling. We were so happy when it changed.
Now again, almost everyone is participating in changing Taiwan. I can't help but feel passion everywhere. People care. I love it when people care.
Perhaps we should in a way thank the corrupted government for triggering passion in people. It is so moving to see how we fight for loving Taiwan.

In less than 24 hours, the result will be known. I wish we all love each other again, green or blue, for the reason that we all love Taiwan.


PS. an irrelevant thought:
Recently in the same press conference where Tibet was the focus, Taiwan was not left out. Mr. Wen of China said "independence of Taiwan should not be decided only by people in Taiwan but be decided by people in China too."
Oh, really? If he could hold a national election and give his 1.3 billion of people the right to vote (the first ever right to vote~ wow~ what a historical event~), Taiwan would be so so so honored. This does sounds like an exciting opportunity for him to mark the history. Go for it, Mr. Wen! Let your people decide. We would be very happy to host a debate and invite international media. The headline would be so shining "China to Give People Rights".