Hi Paul,
> > 2 - You write that NCTU wants to sponsor both venue and accommodation in
> > dormitories. How strong is their commitment (do you have any signed
> > letter from them?)
>
> The chairman of the department already wrote us a mail in Chinese which
> promised to sponsor both venue and accommodation.
> I've asked him to write it in English and directly send to debconf-team
> mailing list. I've already received that mail but seems the mailing-list
> blocks him? Or maybe it is because the chairman doesn't subscribe the
> mailing-list?
That's great! You say you already got the letter translated to English
- That's even better, but for the future, is not *really* needed. What
we mean by asking this question is that we want to make sure the
committment is official and not just some hallway chit-chat with
authorities; that the Chairman will not back down on his words. If you
already have a Chinese mail supporting this, I think this point can be
settled.
Debian mailing lists are usually open for anybody to write¹, but maybe
this is hitting a size limit because of a scanned attachment or
something like that. In any case, have the letter sent to you, then
provide it at iether the Git repository or the public Wiki (or just
personally upon request), as you see fit.
¹ Debian and DebConf lists might not share all of their policies, though
> > 3 - You plan to let people eat in different restaurants. How do you plan
> > to manage reimbursement for people who have their food sponsored?
>
> We plan to talk to the restaurants inside the campus. To allow us to
> make "tickets". So after that they can charge us by giving the tickets
> back to us. Actually there was tickets for students in the campus
> years ago. What we need to do is just redo that again.
Great! There is a bit of community-making that several of us
personally enjoy if we are all set to eat together, but it is a good
compromise IMO, and this can make people avoiding getting tired of the
same caterer, something that usually happens no matter how good our
food is.
Although this leads to...
> > 4 - Having traveled in Asia (mainly mainland China) I have found that
> > even though I speak and read mandarin well enough to understand and be
> > understood, eating vegan meals was very hard. Lots of place will say
> > there is no animal byproducts but there actually are some in their food.
>
> In NCTU campus, there is a true vegan restaurants. We will point out
> that restaurant clearly so people won't eat any animal byproducts.
> Also, we plan to issue special tickets that can only used for that
> restaurant. So vegan people will have that special tickets and they
> can't do anything wrong because regular restaurants won't accept it.
Do note that vegan people also enjoy eating with the rest of us. So,
if I'm discussing something with a vegan, we both understand she
cannot join me at the pork-based restaurant, but I should be able to
join at the vegan place.
I would even say that a vegan might want to join me at a "regular"
restaurant if we find a given dish that is suitable for vegans; I
don't see a point in restricting which restaurants will accept their
tickets. Maybe, if at all, provide them with a printed set of
instructions in Chinese, so they can provide their waiter with the
instructions on what they can eat.
Now, on a different topic, visas: You provide a list of countries for
which there is a visa waiver program. Fortunately, this covers most of
the DebConf attendance. However, the map at the following web page
proved interesting to me:
http://spanish.taiwan.net.tw/Article.aspx?a=17
It makes sense, of course, as the countries with less relations do
require a visa. We need visas for all of Latin America and Africa, and
for most of Asia. Can you ellaborate on how easy/hard the process
usually is, or an official requirements page?
I found the following information, but it is not official (and, of
course, is not universal to all relevant countries):
http://www.tramitedevisa.mx/visataiwan.html
It basically states that only basic requirements are requested for a
visa (original passport valid for ≥6 months, fill a request form,
accompany with photos, copy of the air ticket), and cost US$25, or
US$50 for multiple entries. Work-allowing visas are US$115/170
(single/multiple entries).
I want to add a question here: Although not that many, over the last
few years we have got several DebConf attendees from mainland
China. Will it be possible for them to enter Taiwan?
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