Adjusting to Taiwan

Initial observations about Taiwan: 3 week mark

1. Transportation is pretty good. The MRT opened about 10 years ago and moving around by subway or bus definitely means you don't need a car or scooter anymore. That being said, actually going anywhere takes a LONG TIME. Going to Costco is easily an hour each way when you figure in walking to the MRT, MRT, bus, and then walking there. And Taiwan isn't all that big. Gone are the days when we could hop in my car and be there in five minutes. We miss our cars :) The American way is more convenient because we have room to store all the cars and they are more affordable to buy. Taipei is much more polluted than Socal is. (We have much more stringent measures on filtering gas). They however, are much more diligent about recycling and garbage (blog post to come).

2. food here is cheap, convenient, and good. I didn't realize that eating at home would be a luxury though. All food is expensive in Taipei if you just buy it to make yourself. We really like the the Taiwanese food but eating it for every meal is too tiring so we have decided to just make breakfast, have snacks and usually eat out for dinner. This seems to be working for us. However things like good bread (they call it morning toast even when it's not toasted) and lunch meat are hard to find, lunch meat being impossible. Beef is from the U.S. and prohibitively expensive.

3. Safety. It is really really safe in Taipei in terms of violent crime. You have a *much* better chance of being accidentally run over crossing the street (pedestrians don't unofficially have the right of way) than you would being robbed or murdered (watch out for pickpockets though). Traffic is crazy, but actually I would expect to see a lot more accidents and I haven't. I haven't seen a single one and I cringe every time I am on a bus that is careening wildly and laying on its horn like it's the Knight Bus (and things don't magically jump out of the way). At all the MRT's there is a special area for female passengers to wait at night with a camera on the area and a security person watching. I have heard stuff about people getting felt up or recording in women's restrooms but that's it. All scooterists wear helmets, however children just hang on which I don't really feel is very safe. Car seats aren't totally used and it's common to see a very young child in the front passenger seat of a car holding on the dashboard like they are on a roller coaster ride (which in Taipei traffic is kind of accurate).

4. Much more open about bodily functions. The sound of someone hocking a loogie is something (no matter how long I am here) I will NEVER get used to. Whenever I hear it (esp. from a woman!) I cannot stop the shiver of revulsion going down my spine. It's also normal to burp, pass gas, or see someone picking one's nose. Just different perceptions of gross here, I guess. There's also less privacy going to the restroom. Although the stall doors do go almost down to the floor unlike the U.S. there is no bend when you go in the restroom so you can walk by and see people at the urinal or coming out of the stall. It's also the norm to have a common place in the middle for men and women to wash hands together. The toilets are predominately squat in public facilities though there is usually a disabled/family toilet which is Western. You should always roll up your pants (floors can be wet, usually due to the toilet maid swishing her mop about but you don't want to risk it), and hand off your purse (sometimes no hooks). Balancing, reaching for tissues, etc all takes practice. I do recommend disrobing from the waist down (esp. for girls) when attempting a squat for the first time. Most of the restrooms have all been clean that I have seen though sometimes there will be no tissue paper so you have to bring your own and you can't flush it. Homes and nicer restaurants all have Western toilets.

5. It's normal to push, cut in line, etc. Very, very different. Not good if you are passive. However if you are more aggressive like me, you fit right in! (J/K I always worry that I'm being rude by taking my turn because so many people will jump in front of you at the slightest hesitation (or even no hesitation). Just the other day at the coffee shop I was patiently waiting and 2 people cut in front of me. I don't know how to say "Excuse me, I was here first" in Chinese yet.

6. Clothes and Shoes: So cheap and you can find them anywhere! There are numerous stalls lining the street, shops, and night markets where good clothes can be found cheaply. If you are taller I don't know if they would fit though. Taiwanese girls and even women are very stylish and it's not common to see people slouching about in jeans and hoodies like me. (Hoodies are virtually non-existent and everyone just uses umbrellas when it rains.)

7. Weather: I love the rainy weather. Growing up in Socal it NEVER rained so it's a good change. The hot/humid weather is really uncomfortable. The last few days have been sunny and relatively dry so that's nice too.

8. The Language barrier: Not too bad actually. It's very possible to get by in Taipei speaking almost no Chinese because most of the signs are in English. I keep these pictures

on my camera and if I need to go I just point to them and although the locals laugh at the waiguoren (foreigner) they are always happy to point me in the right direction. (Haven't been able to master the tones in Chinese so I can't speak at all! Not a good language for a tone-deaf person to try to learn) When I order food I usually point a something, give them some money, and they give me some food and I go on my way. If it's something I won't eat usually Rico will eat it so that works out. 


Things I wish I had brought with me:

Ok when packing I looked at all the lists and I mostly brought the right things, however, there's always those things you really REALLY want when you get there and realize it just doesn't exist here.

1. caladryl (the anti-itch stuff here is menthol which reminds me of being sick and is very greasy)

2. real cake (all cake/cookies here are really dry and crumbly, I would kill for real, moist, sweet cake)
3. after itch pen (impossible to find here!!)

4. witch hazel (so good for so many things)

5. An american oven/washer/dryer/my car (I can dream)
6. Hawaiin punch packets
7. A milky way   (not as good a selection of american candy as I was led to believe. M&Ms, twix, snickers, skittles, ferrero rocher, mentos (for some reason really popular here) can be readily found but are about $1 (U.S.) each).
8. electric blanket
9. Gatorade (they don't really have an equivalent. All the fruit juices here taste like liquefied lollipops (unusual because normally they don't like really sweet things I thought, just in juice))
10. a good mop
11. Nanu's threading: Taiwan has threading for eyebrows but it is NOT like Indian threading. For one they mostly use tweezers which means my brows grow back in about 2 days, and they do it rounded (how Chinese like it) with absolutely no arch no matter how hard you try to explain to them. I am incapable of plucking my own eyebrows so I'm kind of screwed. They also don't really wax here because less hair than Westerners.
...to be continued...