Pictures

Weekends Fun in Taipei

In this short post I would like to talk about the place where I go to have fun during the weekends in Taipei. This is a club called "Hips" which is a Latin club, you only need to pay 400 NTD if you are a VIP like me or 600 NTD if you do not have the VIP card. Here you can enjoy different types of Latin music like: salsa, merengue, reggetón, Spanish pop & rock, etc. Over here not only Latin people go, we can also see Europeans, Taiwanese, Americans, and so many different people from everywhere. I think the price is quite good since it is "All you can drink" all night long, it starts at 10pm and ends around 5:30am of the next day. If you are celebrating your birthday, you can get a free VIP table, a place of chicken wings, and a bootle of Tequila (Mexican alcohol) or wine... all of this for free, you will only need to show your ID showing that your B-day is during the month you are going, ah! and that day you do not need to pay for your cover (entrance to the club).

You guys have to try going to this place and get to know more about Latin Culture, better come one a Friday night, when most of Latin scholarships students are having fun...

Taroko Trip

This last trip we had the great chance to visit one of Taiwan´s most famous National Parks… Taroko National Park, located in the northeast coast of Taiwan, near Hualian, quite long trip from Neili but fun inside the bus, just by having the change of continuing exchange cultures with different YZU´s international students and this time with Peter, our only Taiwanese friend in the bus. Our first stop was in Taroko´s Terrace located in the Visitors Center of the park, the center of this building is occupied with key exhibition area, such as the Environment Hall, Humans in the Environment, Environmental Education Hall and Special Exhibition Room which provided us educational and travel related information just enough for us students to get started with our wonderful trip. Right here we watched a introductory video about the park, there I realized that the place was just a wonderful landscape of Taiwan, the beauty in its flora, fauna, and nature is just amazing, it´s like having part of heaven on earth.

Not that far from this center we got off the bus and walked through Shakadang (molar) Trail also known as "Mysterious Valley Trail", trail that has a beautiful light blue water river next to it and all the way until the end. Since this trail is built along the river cliff we could easily observe both the rock folds and ecosystem beside the river´s shore.
Just a few minutes by bus after this trail we went to one of the most pleasant landscapes that I enjoyed the most in this trip… the Tunnel of Nine Turns (Jiucyudong) this is the most magnificent part of Taroko marble gorge, where the uprising sheer cliffs are facing each other. Here I watched rock folds, joints and faults of marble cliffs, the two cliffs are so closed to each other that it looks like they are joining to each other if watching them from afar, I also watched the tunnels and the ecosystem of the vegetation growing amidst the rocky terrain.
Later this day, after having dinner and resting for and hour we went to experience, in my case for first time a Nauruwan dance from aboriginals of Taiwan, these dances were so nice and enjoyable, the steps of the dancers and how they put their heart in what they are doing and how they represent their culture is just valuable to admire these feelings of happiness in this people. I am also glad that I had the chance to go in front and practice some of their steps with them; it was very nice from them to show some of us and be part of them while we are complete estrangers for them.

Early in the morning of the next day we went to Lushui-Holiu and see its suspension bridge spanning a verdant hollow followed by a narrow tunnel. Oh! It was a long walk in this place to be so early in the morning but the nature was beautiful, the water look so clean a nice; cold weather was not enough to stop us to reach or main point… find the Baiyan Waterfall, trail that exhibits splendid examples of the geology and morphology of the marble gorge, I went inside of this cave… Oh my God one of the most exciting, noisy, and scared moments I have had in Taiwan… honestly, I was scared at first because I didn’t know what was inside plus it was too dark, oh well, I got inside and I was starting to get wet when I looked up I see light from behind this wonderful waterfall into the cave going down all over the places coming from the inside of the rocks, I got really wet but the experience is unforgettable, I will do it once again if possible.
After coming back fro this two hours walking trail we were so tired, we got something to eat and went to see this nice temple which is in between two mountains where a river goes into the middle of the temple and continues its way to the sea.
Another exciting moment was to be able to know that we were in one of the eight wonders of Taiwan, the Cingshui cliff which rises vertically from the Pacific Ocean. Its height looks magnificent and after my research I found that it is known as the second great cliff in the world. Being up here feels so close to the sky that with the wind of the ocean you can feel as if you are flying if you close your eyes…

Tainan and Sun Moon Lake Trip

The biggest trip in Taiwan… we made it with our wonderful Geography Class and it was really fun… this time we had the pleasant pleasure to visit several places down south of Taiwan, we visited Tainan and its surroundings, several famous temples full of history and exotic handcrafts, frames, sculptures, etc.

First we went to National Anping Harbor Historic Park, over here we walk through its market until we got in the Eternal Golden Castle, this place was built in was built in 1874 in the famous Qing Dynasty. At that time it was used to fend off the Japanese and defend Anping from attack from the sea, around this castle there are several canyons and other kind of weapons for wars. When Japan took over Taiwan, the Taiwanese resisted the Japanese's warship from this fortress. During the Russia and Japan war the Japanese government sold some of Eternal Golden Castle's guns in order to pay for the war. Afterwards, the fortress lost its military value, it was good to listen from some of the tourist guides being there who show people around, I still practice my Chinese in these trips, good thing that I am taking advantage in Taiwan. A few blocks downs the castle there was a really nice temple where I went too, over here they were having a special ceremony with fireworks and lots of people around.

After Anping we went to the most relaxing place I have ever been in Taiwan… “The Confucius Temple” also called Scholarly Temple over here we could see the school and Confucius´ laws giving to its students, the rooms were so relaxing and full of stuff they used to use in the past, around this placer there are several courtyards with very pretty small trees, I think the arquitecture in this temple was different from others and its very pleasant with a lot of meaning. Right after this temple we visited another temple related to Dutch people coming to Taiwan… it was a really nice looking temple with some new arquitecture but we saw it during the night so the light show focusing the temple makes it really pretty and attractive to the tourist, right here there some Chinese sculptures a bit ugly though but with a lot of wise being represent in them. After our long trip to Tainan and being really tired we went to the hotel to rest.

This first day I learned a lot about Confucius temples history, why they were built, what was going on those times in these temples and that most Confucianist temples were built in Confucian schools, either to the front of or on one side of the school. I also did a search for myself on the internet since it got me really interested and o found that in south of China was built the first one and they are all over Asia, countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, Korean, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan. What I notice and I investigated about is that Confucian temples do not normally have images, so I found my answer that says that in the early years of the temple in Qufu, it appears that the spirits of Confucius and his disciples were represented with wall paintings and clay or wooden statues. Official temples also contained images of Confucius himself. However, there was opposition to this practice, which was seen as imitative of Buddhist temples. It was also argued and that the point of the imperial temples was to honor Confucius's teachings, not the man himself, I think this is a very reasonable answer to my question while I was in that temple asking myself why it was so different.

During our second day we went all the way to Sun Moon Lake, while going there we stopped at this really crowded train station, we realized that it was a fast growing city in Taiwan most of the things are around the train station, and the market and all kind of business goes at its surroundings, we also get to know Taiwan´s economic growing in this kind of trips, things like that don’t happen in my country anymore.

Human Cloning

HUMAN CLONING

By

Carlos E. Matus / 馬卡力

The issue of cloning is nothing new; it has been around for the past 100 years. The issue now is of cloning in the biotechnological kind rather than natural. Early in 1885, scientist first discovered cloning through sea urchins that did not reproduce but produce replicas of them. From this, curiosity of how and why developed. Scientists began the study of cells and in 1928 discovered that the Nucleus was, as they would put it, in charge. Through this knowledge it was then discovered that if the nucleus of a cell was to be copied or cloned then DNA fragments and organisms can be identically copied as well.

The term clone was derived from a Greek work that meant “twig”, referring to the process of creating a new plant from a twig. This is the ideology behind cloning, using one fragment of DNA fragments, cells or organism to create an exact replica of it. Scientifically speaking there are three forms of cloning; molecular, cellular and organism. Molecular cloning is the process of isolating a defined DNA sequence and duplicating it creating multiple copies of it. In cellular cloning a populations of cells from a single cell are derived and copied. While in organism cloning refers to the process of creating a multicellular organism genetically identical to another, this process is very common in horticulture and reproductive cloning where plants and animals are cloned through somatic cell transfer.

Although there is no harm in wondering and researching about cloning since “Dolly” the cloned sheep, scientists are aiming higher. Dolly was a breakthrough in science but also was the cause of growing concerns around the world due to its scientific and ethical implications. The thought of being able to clone a human being is ethically disturbing due to the fact that it is a creating another human being that may be genetically superior than the original and the rights of these “clones” are unknown. Will these clones be considered as a normal human being or will they be considered inferior or superior than us? If cloning becomes legal, the possibilities are endless, maybe we are looking at a future where a person can live through his/her clones so there is no need of reproduction. Maybe in the future if cloning becomes common and inexpensive, there will be no future generations but a one generation that is repeated for years. Instead of new individuals entering our world, we have the same people with the same ideals and imagine if someone in power kept cloning himself. There are many possibilities that may occur but what is known for sure is that cloning can cause serious implication on future generations.

Biologically speaking, cloning may enable us to clone organs for transplant patients by the use of therapeutic cloning. In this process, DNA would be taken from the person in need of the transplant and transferred into an enucleated egg. When the egg containing the donor’s DNA starts to divide, embryonic stem cells that can transform into any type of tissue would be harvested. The stem cells then would be used to create an organ or tissue that is a genetically identical to the recipient. This cloned organ, in theory, will be transplanted into the patient without the risk of tissue rejection. Although this is only in theory, if organs can be cloned then this means that the need of transplant donors will reduce incredibly.

As all theories go there are many challenges facing organs clones. Harvesting stem cells, cloning human embryos and producing organs from stem cells have to be developed and mastered. 2001 was the supposed year that a biotechnical company successfully cloned human embryos but the only one to survive stopped developing after six cells. This inefficient process is extremely expensive due to the fact that it takes about 100 nuclei transfers for one to develop and even then continuous development is not guaranteed.

In the religious point of view cloning is not accepted. Many religious followers think that the aspect of creating another life is deeming ourselves God. The idea that we have the ability to create a life or continue a life or to save one goes against the idea that there is a higher power controlling our fates or that our fate was already laid out. Many Christians believe that God has a plan for everyone, if a person was intended to have a diseased organ then let it be, if a person was meant to die let it be. But as for many Christians, any idea that is not written in the Bible is automatically deemed wrong. We may never know whether it is good or not till the day we are able to see its effects and until then we will have to wait and see.

Worldwide we know that there are some disadvantages in human cloning, the first one is Health risks from mutation of genes, being this technique extremely risky now days. As we still do not know yet why Dolly the sheep died at 7 years old, the age that the donor was when they did the cloning process. The second one is Emotional risks for the clone, how would she/he feel knowing that is a clone, maybe the exact copy is a relative of him/her, where would marriage go? A husband might fell in love again with a new clone of her wife but this time many years younger. And the third one is the Risk of abuse of technology, which means as an example, a person with bad intentions and with a lot of power in a rich country where cloning humans is possible and he wants several clones of himself, lets just say Hitler in his time, would have those clones been as bad ad he was, and how about if they disagree in certain things since their familiar environment would have been different.

For me, human cloning should not be allowed in any part, it seems to be a game against the natural laws, we might just get in big troubles in life later on time, as how is happening now with global warming, something that which is not so hard to help in avoiding it, but humans can really be the most dangerous animal on earth.

Me, Myself, and I

My name is Carlos Emilio Matus Penados, I am a twenty-four years old boy born in Flores City, Peten, Guatemala. The first son of four in total, raised in a very close and catholic religious family, I am the son of an Environmental Engineer (my father) and a Professor (my mother) who had taught me a lot of principles and values and given me and my brothers everyday life’s education. Since a very young age I have participated in several volunteer activities for different non-benefit organizations and purposes, back in Guatemala and in the United States of America as well, I really enjoy doing community service and by doing it I have gained a lot of experiences, friends, contacts, leadership skills, and even awards, things that had made me focus more in setting my goals up and meeting them through life.
I am a Taiwan’s Scholarship Recipient, scholarship given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). From September 2006 until August 2007 I studied Chinese at the Mandarin Training Center (MTC) in National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), and right now I am studying Electrical Engineering at Yuan Ze University. Since I was a teenager I was interested in electric systems and electronic devices and that is why I went to the United States of America to study college for two years with a scholarship given by the USAID and administrated by Georgetown University, I graduated in 2005, after that I went back to my country and got certified as an English Teacher as a Foreign Language (TEFL). I thought English in the best second English academy in Guatemala for about one year in several places like: Tikal International Airport, teaching the air traffic controllers, the bilingual secretaries in my old high school, tourist guides from different organizations, etc. This is a brief autobiography of myself and I believe it is quite enough for you guys to know something about me...