Age proved to be nothing but a number in a contest for an “internship” opportunity in the Northern Mariana Islands yesterday, as a 50-year-old single mother beat two younger candidates to win a free trip to the northwestern Pacific islands next month.
Sunny Lin (林詠晴), a yoga teacher and triathlon athlete, was the oldest of three candidates competing for the internship in the Marianas, along with 26-year-old Jenny Tu (屠潔), an event host, and 27-year-old Rex Lin (林世旺), a swimming coach.
Sunny Lin overwhelmed judges and the audience in the contest’s talent competition yesterday, with her singing and dance performance of the song Hafa Adai, which means “hello” in the native language of the Marianas. Her son accompanied her on the banjo, while three of her friends performed the dance with her.
Photo: CNA
“When I signed up for the competition, I saw the candidates must be at least 18 years of age and a Taiwanese citizen. I said: ‘Great, I am 18 already,’” she said. “I am 50 years old, but I have the attitude and energy of a 20-year-old.”
Winning the internship was one of several goals Sunny Lin set for herself when she turned 50 last year.
In July, she graduated with a masters degree in exercises and health science from National Taipei University of Nursing. She went hiking on Mount Fuji in August and completed a bike tour around Taiwan in September last year. She also finished a triathlon race in October last year and took her two children to run a marathon in Taroko Gorge.
“I had nothing to do in December. Then I saw this [internship in the Marianas] and signed up for it. It turned out to be the most grueling race I have ever competed in in my entire life,” she said.
She said the most tiring part of the race was to persuade her middle-aged friends to vote for her in the online competition. She eventually had between 400 and 500 friends who voluntarily campaigned for her.
According to the Marianas Visitors Authority office in Taipei, the one-week “internship” will allow the winner to live in a holiday resort for free, serve as event instructor at the resort, taste local cuisine, go on a jungle tour and all types of water sports in all three Northern Mariana Islands.
The intern’s prize was valued at NT$300,000, apart from getting paid NT$60,000 for working at the resort.
The authority’s marketing manager in Taipei, Milane Tsai (蔡璧如), said the final three candidates were selected from 398 participants. The winner of the competition is required to leave for the islands before March 31 this year.
“The authority’s managing director [Perry Tenorio] was very impressed on a visit to Taiwan, which is not far from the Mariana Islands. That was why we launched the ‘Dream Job’ campaign in Taiwan this year,” Tsai said.
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is an associate of the US and consists of Saipan, Tinian and Rota islands.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard