First Impressions Once Removed
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First Impressions Once Removed |
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Often school lunch really bites (and as the year progresses it seems to get worse. Alya's school too, she says � budget issues?). Was fairly tasty back in September. Then in October I realized my stomach ails may be due to the food being washed and cooked in (un-pre-boiled) tap water. So I stopped eating lunch there (many excuses to the Philippino maid/cook as to why I didn't have a bowl and chopsticks in front of me). I'm seen to have the odd bowl of noodles here and there, but not usually.
The meat selection is nasty and getting worse and worse � greasy minced pork. And this stuff called �rogan� or �rugan� � some weird processed pork meatball thing. Soups are sometimes just oily water. But most of the kids dig it. That is one interesting thing about the eating habits of children here � they love their veggies! (They are quite good � I think had I grown up here I would have appreciated vegetables more given the local selection).
I come home, or go to various vendors in the area (many and plenty).
I often go to Wilson�s. Only took half a year to learn his name. He told me the first couple of times I went, but I forget and didn�t want to appear rude by asking again.
Nice beef curry noodle soup from the polyglot in Shi Dong market. He is Vietnamese and speaks 6 languages. Makes some awesome curries and the best Singapore dish I've been dished. Also, he has nice stories to tell.
One day I was just walking through the market with some houseguests, and some guy said, in decent-enough English, �hey, hi there, come eat here!� And so we did. I continued to go two, sometimes three times a week. Wilson makes absolutely amazing food. He really seems to like his foreign clientele. My food often comes with free soup and drink, and a great chlorophyll tapioca dessert when he gets around to making it.
As mentioned, he has a lot of stories to tell, many related to mafia and old scandalizing tales of his life. He enjoys politics, and we have talked about putting up a �Wilson for President, 2004� banner at his food stall. His wife, a kindly Taiwanese woman who knows more English than she usually lets on, often scolds him for talking with me too long, neglecting his culinary duties.
I�ve been invited on one family trip to central Taiwan, and a trip to Vietnam. The first invite came as a bit of a surprise. Then I let the surreality consume me and I figured: well I�m a regular patron at his eatery, I guess it�s only right that my presence be requested for family functions. The second invite was more tempting. Unfortunately I was unable to attend either sojourn. Who knows? I may take him up on one of his offers one day.
You wouldn't believe the traffic rules here. You couldn't really, as there aren't any. No stop signs. Few traffic lights except for at major intersections. No regard for other drivers. No regard really for the safety of oneself even.
> Pay by the minute? For a phone call?
Yup. That's the way of it 'round here. Not a lot or anything, but yeah, by the minute. (And on a sim' note the subway (MRT) is pay by the stop).
As for expats, I don't know.
A lot of the expats (the English teacher crowd I refer to here) have big weirdness attached to them, and not in any good sense.
Most, I think, have no idea what else they could do with their lives jobwise. Many have problems, and many are very culturally set in their ways; as are the Chinese, but then, we are in a Chinese country. But these Western folk come and try to live like Westerners. Nice to get a Western taste here and there when a piece homesick, but we've actually been berated basically for blending in too well. We love the local foods and the local habits (i.e. chillin' in the mountains all day).
And the damn Americans � i-o! All they seem to talk about is America. (I sometimes wonder how they found these places).
To Go...
You know "to go?" I'm realizing this is some Western thing only. Not The way or any shit. This is a whole world. Canada is just a piece and the West ain't the best, and it's not the way all the time. Just things like "to go" remind me of thinking of this. Here they say "for takeaway." Taiwan, as small as it is, has a population only a piece lower than Canada. That evens out. But Thailand and a lot of Southeast Asia say 'for takeaway' too. That evens up with part of America. If China says it too, we're fucked as a majority with "to go." You know what I mean? It's just some little thing we say.
We live in Tienmu, the north end of Taipei. This is where most expats live and there are a lot of western restaurants (if you're missing the flavours of back home). There's a slightly higher likelihood of running into people who speak English here, but it's still at least 95% Chinese.
We have downtown to the south of us and a river to the west of us. North and east is a beautiful cascade of mountains (Yangmingshan National Park). And beyond those is the ocean. So I go east and north quite a lot.
The girls went to costco, and I'm home on the computer and shit. None of that bulk for me (though it is THE place � the only place � to get a back-home-style hotdog.
The man on the green motorcycle (aka 'mailman').
Ha ha! You could say it's like Chrismas all year 'round. And this is somewhat true, as Asians seem to love Chrismas (the decorations at least). Some stores still have decorations up. Some places have 'open' or 'welcome' signs with Santa and reindeer. And there's garlands and xmasy bells up at Takashimaya still. Funny funny.
At times they are extremely efficient and wise, at other times completely illogical by anyone's standards.
It's an automatic scooter. Kymco Jockey 125 (cc). "Join Us to Ride It" the slogan says.
The roads are plagued with scooters (and cabs). Mainly old men, postmen, and the occasional expat drive actual motorcycles (which are manual).
The food is amazing... and totally different than Canadian Chinese food. And it's super-cheap too. One can get a plentiful seafood dish for less than 5 bucks. The seafood is so fresh (being on a small island and all I suppose).
(speaking of food...)
I work in a small private school only 4 minutes (walk!) away. It runs on the philosophy that the best way to learn a language is not through repetition and drills but on constant regular exposure. Works for me. I have a regular class of 16 cute little Chinese kids. The parents of one of them are coincidentally our landlords. It just worked out that way.
Height isn't that much of an issue. 'Rotundness,' I guess, would be the issue. I am pretty slim, but an L here is like an S in Canada.
Still, it's possible to find clothes, if needed. We haven't bought a lot, though. A lot are really tacky � there isn't a very fashionable fashion sense here. Some of it is downright wacky. I dig the 'chinglish' shirts that have ridiculous messages on them.
>You are more than half way through your trip and I thought I would find out how things are going?
>Are you still enjoying it as much as in the begining?
Trip? I never thought of it as a trip... but it's wonderful here.
There really isn't much night life going on. There are clubs, but they are ridiculously expensive � much more even than Toronto.
Day trips are the specialty here with the mountains and ocean at our fingertrips.
Urban, rural, doesn't matter. I have never heard of any violent acts in Taiwan, and there is more or less no crime (all crime here is pretty much organized � corrupt government mostly). And there is essentially a 0% poverty rate. So, one can stroll about anywhere with impunity. Though, as a foreigner, you might get some stares (but these are always accompanied by smiles).
Alya's coming back with a pizza soon. A nice treat.
(Special request for the foreigner: no peas and corn please).
It will be great to see you.
I think I'm more worried about my return than when we came here. I've told people this before: I think it's going to be Loud. Here, I can't read the signs, nor understand ads or what people are yapping about over my shoulder. Coming home I will suddenly be flooded with comprehendable language, most of it trite and trivial.
Also, I think I've changed a bit, this experience and all, I think. What if everyone else is same old same old...and I don't dig it any more?
Chances are I'll slip right back into Western culture unnoticed.
back to the "Formosan Experience"
So my memoirs become reworded
email messages, or vice versa,
so "everything I say is all going on a tape
somewhere right now," except by me,
so I'm conspiracy theorist And conspirator.