When I first came to Taiwan to teach, my colleague introduced me to a local purveyor of sweetened tofu 豆花 in the night market outside of school. This woman said to me: “Fu Jiaoshou 傅教授 [“Professor Fu” — my Chinese surname]? That mean’s you’ll always be Associate Professor 副教授 [Fu Jiaoshou]!”
The pun doesn’t translate well into English, and I hope it isn’t true (I’d like to be a Full Professor one day…), but when she said it I was only an Assistant Professor and I’m happy to say that, as of today, I’m truly “Fu Jiaoshou”!
