Chop Chop Chop

I seem to have gotten a cold this week, which hopefully i can keep at bay while i get through a whole bunch of classes in the next 3 days, including a teaching day in hualian where i just found out (2 days before) about two more classes there. Life is full of suprises: like when my class turns out to be 53 students instead of 35 students in a classroom meant for 40, at least i had a microphone in that room!

Anyways, I felt like writing an informative post today, in case you were tired of my regular chatter, so here is what I know about the chop, or name stamp widely used in Taiwan in place of a signature. When Amanda was here, we got chops made at a little roadside stand that did it in 5 minutes. Usually a chop is Chinese characters containing your name, and is needed for all kinds of transactions, including opening a bank account. Actually, it seems more convenient than a signature to me! Most people carry around a small one with a little red ink pad. You can also get very fancy ones made out of wood, plastic, or stone. They can also do English words (though nothing too long since the stamp surface is usually a small square). They make a fun gift too, though I don't know how often you could use it. Perhaps on your Christmas cards? We don't reall have a practical use for them in North America.