day to day to day

Some people have been asking about my day-to-day life here. The thing is, every day for me is kinda different, and I'm enjoying the change of pace from the classroom along with the surprises of living in another culture. So instead of boring you guys with my daily routine, I'll just include some tidbits and observations I've made about living in Taipei so far.

As much as I miss my NY bagel, people here take breakfast pretty seriously. On any given morning, I will pass by close to 10 breakfast shops on my short walk to work. I can order an egg sandwich, rice ball (fan tuan), dumplings, turnip cakes or egg pancakes (dan bing) and have it packed and ready to go in a handy little plastic bag in less than 2 minutes- along with a spill-proof cup of soy milk or milk tea. Price tag? usually just over $1 US.

I used to make fun of my mom because she carried around an umbrella all the time in the states. She used an umbrella as protection from the rain AND the sun. Weird, right? Well, imagine my surprise when I see a whole country of women doing the same thing- and for good reason. The sun is pretty brutal here and for fear of getting darker, many carry around sun umbrellas. I might consider getting one. :)

Every foreigner here has at least one taxi story to tell. You can never really know what to expect with taxi drivers here. Some will want to debate politics with you (trust me, BAD IDEA), others will ignore you and talk on the cell phone the whole time, some will try to impress you with the little English that they know, and then some might even try to sell you stuff (I've gotten offers for different types of honey). The best was when this one driver was totally convinced that he personally knew Buddha, Jesus, and other major deities and then told me that in my former reincarnated life I was actually a Buddhist monk. I guess that's better than being a cockroach or some other animal.

There are designated seats for elderly, pregnant women, and the disabled on all major public transportation, and believe it or not, people generally adhere to it. It's really nice to see people giving up their seats for others in public.

7-11's = one stop everything. Convenience and speed is valued in Taiwan society, and that is never truer than your neighborhood Seven Eleven. In one trip, you can pay all your bills, add money to your transportation card, get cash from the ATM, get lunch and pick up some last minute cold medicine or mango slurpee. As Evan says, 'Done, son.'

Boy or Girl? Karen and I made up a silly game to see who could figure out the correct gender of some of the more androgynous looking people we would see on the street. Trust me, its a lot harder than you think. Asian fashion is just that different and confusing sometimes. Plus, the guys are just so skinny here!

My Chinese is improving, but. . if I wanted to, I could get through a whole day without speaking a word of Chinese (There's quite a large number of expats here and most of the youth can understand English). I might get a lot of strange looks from the locals, but Chinglish is rather acceptable in most places. :) Care to join me?