First "Non-Taiwanese" Takes Public Office/拉丁女鄰長 樂當台灣媳

So, I found out some good news today.  Taipei has a new Neighborhood Chief (鄰長) that's making some splashes not because of any controversy, but because she's a naturalized Taiwanese citizen.  I found out about Arelis Gabot, originally from the Dominican Republic, in Taiwan's Immigration Agency's biweekly newsletter.

I think I have a new hero.

I mean, c'mon, the woman has lived here for 17 years, she speaks Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, Spanish, and, I'm assuming, English (because as we all know, all foreigners speak English), she cooks, she can regularly make coherent sentences (in more than just her native tongue) while being filmed for TV, and she's a Taiwanese politician?  Dude, seriously, she is amazing.

I live in the first city in Taiwan to elect a naturalized Taiwanese citizen to political office (well, unless you count Chiang Kai-Shek, born in China, heh), and she is a woman to boot. Awesomeness.

Coming from the first state in the US to elect a Chinese-American governor (what's up, Gary Locke), I feel that I can celebrate this victory with Arelis even more enthusiastically (wait, did I just commit the political/diplomatic version of "I have a black/gay/Jewish friend!"?).

The best Chinese-American governor EVER
(and I don't just say that 'cause I've met the man)

 Apart from her recent political activity, she's actually been a regular on a local TV talk show for a while now; the show features foreign wives of Taiwanese nationals.

Some of the WTO Sisters guests with the show's former host 于美人 (center, in orange and white),
who is Taiwan's version of Oprah (well, in my opinion anyway)

I've watched the show a few times, and of course there are the expected questions like "What's the grossest thing you've eaten/had to cook (in Taiwan)?" or "What's the worst fight you've had with your mother-in-law (in Taiwan)?" (it's like the fortune cookie game, except instead of adding "in bed" to your fortune, you just add "in Taiwan").  But once you get past that, it's really nice to see a large group of multi-cultured women speaking seriously in Mandarin and Taiwanese about their lives in Taiwan.  They're generally quite positive, but it seems very sincere and both Taiwan and the women are treated with respect (the women are mostly treated as people instead of just "foreigners").

My only beef with the show, really, is that it almost exclusively focuses on foreign wives from wealthier situations and/or countries.  It would be nice to see some foreign husbands. It would also be good to hear from more spouses coming from southeast Asia or mainland China, where most foreign spouses are from in Taiwan.

It would also be nice to see some foreign nationals that very much feel that they're part of Taiwanese society but are not married.  People, say, like me (yes I know that my situation is, well, a little special).  Not that I want to be on the show (I don't really want to hang out in a dress and heels that much).  But the guests on the show seem to be from a very small cross-section of the long-time foreign residents on the island.  And just to be clear: these women by-and-large are residents and not citizens.

But in any case, I think Arelis Gabot rocks, and hope she enjoys her new job.  Congratulations, Arelis!

Move over Supergirl, there's a superhero in town.

The awesome Neighborhood Chief herself

來自多明尼加的蕾妮絲最近當選台灣首位外裔配偶鄰長了，實在太棒了！感覺她好認真，一直都在學習，不管是語言，煮飯，或其他的事情，她好像漫優秀的。我很想認是她，問她怎麼變成這麼勤快。本人有意點懶惰。我知道，我知道，你們一定有些人在想「但，凱蒂，你也很優秀，我好佩服你耶！」（or maybe not ;-)），可是請你們不要誤會：你或許以為我很優秀，但其實我只是有很多要求。例如，我需要常常吃冰淇淋，但我住台灣怎麼辦？那我就得學會很多關於冰淇淋的詞彙，要不然我怎麼活下去呢？巧克力、碎片、冰沙、薄荷、餅乾、冰棒、草莓及香草（但我有時候還是會講錯講香腸－－香腸冰淇淋也太惡了吧）等都是因為我太愛吃巧克力而學的。這不叫做認真，這叫做有癮。

Anyway，我個人很佩服蕾妮絲，也希望她都一直很成功。太厲害了，太厲害了（舞台指示：凱蒂搖著頭，駝著背，嘆著OS）希望會有一天我也可以跟她一樣優秀。

ㄟ‧‧‧可是我有一個疑問：很多台灣新聞都寫說她是「外籍配偶」或者「non-Taiwanese」，這是對的嗎？她有台灣國籍，所以寫「外籍」或「非台灣人」應該是不對的吧？那要怎麼形容她？你們說呢？