I was born in Taiwan, a little island south of Japan and north of Philippines. It is considered a province of Mainland China, although the Chinese government and the Taiwanese government both cl aim to be the official government of China. That is a complex story. If you are interested in finding out more details, you can click here. I spent my childhood and most part of my teens there in the city of Taipei, until I came here on February 6, 1990.
I still have a lot of friends back in Taiwan and I go back there to visit about every two years. Besides hanging out with my firends, I spend a lot of time shopping. You can find all kinds of beautiful and inexpensive things there. Many times my friend s here or even strangers on the street will approach me and ask me where I got my bag, my shoes, my earrings....etc. Then I will do a little advertisement for Taiwan. Now a lot of my friends are saving up in order to go there for a shopping spree with m e next time.
I also buy a lot of books and CDs when I go back to Taiwan. Chinese books are twice as expensive if you buy them here at New York because of the shipping expenses, and so are the CDs. Everytime I return to New York, my luggage only barely passes the max imum weight requirement. Most of the time my parents have to carry the rest of my stuff in their luggage. Most of my books are Japanese mystery novels, Chinese martial art stories, and Chinese poetry and history. I also have many books in English liter ature, but I just don't have time to read them, since my reading speed in English is much slower than in Chinese. Besides, reading in Chinese is relaxing for me, while reading in English is not.
There is a popular trend in Taiwan now, that many young men and women are going to a studio to have their pictures taken, in which they look like models or movie stars. These services are not expensive at all, considering the quality they provide. A lot of people from other Asian countries, such as Japan, even form tour groups to go to Taiwan just to have these pictures taken. I did mine when I went back there three years ago, just to keep a record of how I looked like in my teens. Whoops! Now you kno w my age. I must be more careful next time. Anyway, if you are interested in seeing those pictures, please click here. If you like them, then here are more.
When I have free time, I like to compose some simple songs. They are usually little romantic and soothing melodies which are good for candlelight dinner. The composing process often can be really frustrating. A lot of times nothing comes up when I have the time and the mood to sit in front of my piano. However, little bits and pieces of melodies just pop up in my mind at the strangest time--such as when I am busy studying for an exam or when I wake up in the middle of the night. I then have to just stop whatever I am doing and go downstairs to write them down. This is really annoying, but after a song is completed, I will get so excited that I start calling all my friends, playing the piece on the phone, and bugging them for opinions and suggestions, until I get sick of the song myself. That is when I start a new song.
If you want to contact me, please send mail to:Lu@soc1.soc.qc.edu
(C)Copyright
Sandy Lu 1995
Last Updated: 12/28/95
