Fun economic fact for the day: Many things are cheap in Taiwan. Food is no exception. However Western foods cost about the same as they would back home. Thus in Taiwan, ketchup is about $3 Can whereas a pack of cigarettes would only cost you a loonie (one dollar for the americans out there). There you have it. Ketchup is officially more expensive than cigarettes. Welcome to the other side of the world.
On to todays post. One particular incident this week has inspired me to write about being exotic in a very homogenuis society. When something is different it often gets special treatment which can be nice but also unwelcoming
So at one point in our lives we've probably all felt like a minority. In high school I used to wonder how the six or seven black kids felt being constantly surrounded by a sea of white faces. Sticking out like a sour thumb is something I get to experience here on the daily. While Canada and America are made up of people of all different skin colours, races, and religions, Taiwan is 99.99% made up of Taiwanese people. I can not stress this enough. Everyone Is Taiwanese! Rarely is there any variation in hair, skin, or eye colour among the people. In the beginning it was really wierd for me. To look everywhere and see nothing but Taiwanese people everywhere. This casued my dear friend Avi to burst out laughing while at a bar during the first ten days or so we were here. I dont blame him at all. A totaly appropiate reaction to an absurd change in situations. What's wierd is how I have addapted. I dont even notice that everyone is taiwanese anymore. I can see their facial features and tell them apart. More importantly, I dont even think about the fact that the person i am talking to or teaching is taiwanese. I dont feel as ostrasized as I did in the beginning. I feel fairly comfortable. I hope this is something I can take home with me and preserve the rest of my life.
When it comes to how others perceive me that is a different story. Coming from such a homogenius society, its rare that they see something that looks so different. When i asked some of my older kids if they have every seen a black person their response was "yes teecha one time on TV". In addition to this, my hairy arms are a huge source of wonderment for my kids. I can see the temptation in their eyes to touch my arms when i am casually sitting in the back trying to mark their homework. So you get the point. I stick out. Because of this I am often privy to alot of special attention.
Sometimes the attention can be harmless. Like when your walking down the street and you have people shouting "HELLO!" at you. Sometimes the attention can be flattering when girls go out of their ways to approach you when your riding on a bus, or when you go into a bakery and all the girls giggle at the one who is brave enough to try to speak English with you. Sometimes the attention is welcome. This weekend I went to play pickup basketball at the local university. Being the only foreigner there, everyone was extremely friendly, made sure my shit didnt get stolen, made sure i didnt die of dehydration (there are few water fountains here as the tap water is undrinkable), and were very interested in where i was coming from and what i was doing here.
Unfortuneately there are instances, where the attention is inappropiate and unwanted. This last Monday, I was bone tired from having subbed kindy (kindergarten) at a different school (which was much better than mine) for the morning. With some time to kill in the afternoon, I headed for the gym for some R & R in the hot tub just to relax. Soon i was approached by a Taiwanese guy my age who was overly friendly and just wanted to talk. He wouldnt leave me alone, and eventually started to talk about how beautiful he thought my body was. After informing him that I was married, I excused myself and went into the sauna to try to get some time to myself to take a nap. After waiting five minutes, the guy followed me and continued to talk about how much he loved my body and what excersices i have done to get it that way. I indulged him for a little while until he asked me if he can touch my chest. "No you cant." I left the sauna 2 minutes later and went to take a shower, the only place i was guarenteed refuge from this guy who wouldnt give me my space.
So there you have it, being a foreigner in Taiwan is kinda like being a celebrerty or really attractive girl. People are constantly approaching you interested in who you are and what your deal is. I think most of us would agree that attention can be quite nice, but theres defineately a fine line that seperates it from being welcome and obnoxious. Its a fine line thats well worth understanding.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Paper Scissors Stone!
One of the most important differences In Taiwan that I have somehow neglected to tell my readership about is the way people play rock paper scissors. Just about everything is decided from playing this game including; who gets to do things first, who has to do things they would dislike to do, and who gets to be the home team in baseball. Ok im lying about the baseball part but its still a very popular game probably more so than back home. People of all ages can play for hours upon hours and seemingly not get bored.
Lets start with the basics. Being Chinese, everything is backwards. Even the number for the police/ambulence is 119 (this im not joking about). It may not surprise you then, that the first of the three said objects of the game is paper. Back home as many of you probably know, we would normally say the rock first. Already an interesting cultural comparison. Back home we value ROCK. It represents sheer stregnth and for that reason many of us have trouble beleiving rock can beaten by anything, yet alone paper. The Chinese apparently see the virue in paper, and have adopted it as their own and possibly favorite of the three as indicated by its order, well ahead of scissors and rock. Scissors procedes paper and is fairly similar in its action as back home. Scissors then is not followed not by rock...but by stone. Somehow stone just sounds so much more composed and less brash than rock. Its like comparing Ryu to Ken in streetfighter.
When you put it together it sounds something like Paper, Scissors, Stone! Except in English this usually sounds more like: Pay-pah, Scee-sus, STONE! Everyone gets really excited as they discover who the victor is and kids will usually inact the result of the match quite enthusiasticly. The results are still the same, As paper covers stone, scissors cut paper, and stone crushes scissors.
One noteable difference is that there is no "Shoot!" I fucken hate shoot. Whoever invented it is probably the biggest cheater in the history of the world. I mean who EVER learned to play the game with shoot? Whoever started this ridiculousness, was probably some asshole who was pissed off that his rock, which he relied on way too much, kept getting beaten by paper, and thus made up the excuse that both parties werent supposed to act until shoot and that rock wasnt his real move. Yeah right. The game as we know it in north america is no longer quite the same as no one knows whether they are supposed to play with a shoot or not. This has probably caused countless miscommunications, tainted results, and has managed to give even more strength to an already overrated rock. The shoot is useless and im glad it doesnt exist over here.
I know your probably all thinkging that this sounds wierd and Chinese. At first I would have agreed with you, but now I have to admit that I kinda like it. I uesd to say "paper scissors stone" only in class to avoid the confusion amongst kids as to what this rock thing is and why it comes before everything else while secretly laughing to myself over their ignorance. Now I see my own ignorance, and choose to say paper scissors stone, out of respect for the culture I am living in and also out of respect for what is probably a better "shootless" version of the game. I know that I will probably get made fun of by everyone except for maybe Shaggy when I get home, when unconciously I say paper scissors stone, but its ok I can accept that. It takes time to realize that things arent always done exactly the same all over the world. Sometimes they may surprise you by being a little bit better.
Lets start with the basics. Being Chinese, everything is backwards. Even the number for the police/ambulence is 119 (this im not joking about). It may not surprise you then, that the first of the three said objects of the game is paper. Back home as many of you probably know, we would normally say the rock first. Already an interesting cultural comparison. Back home we value ROCK. It represents sheer stregnth and for that reason many of us have trouble beleiving rock can beaten by anything, yet alone paper. The Chinese apparently see the virue in paper, and have adopted it as their own and possibly favorite of the three as indicated by its order, well ahead of scissors and rock. Scissors procedes paper and is fairly similar in its action as back home. Scissors then is not followed not by rock...but by stone. Somehow stone just sounds so much more composed and less brash than rock. Its like comparing Ryu to Ken in streetfighter.
When you put it together it sounds something like Paper, Scissors, Stone! Except in English this usually sounds more like: Pay-pah, Scee-sus, STONE! Everyone gets really excited as they discover who the victor is and kids will usually inact the result of the match quite enthusiasticly. The results are still the same, As paper covers stone, scissors cut paper, and stone crushes scissors.
One noteable difference is that there is no "Shoot!" I fucken hate shoot. Whoever invented it is probably the biggest cheater in the history of the world. I mean who EVER learned to play the game with shoot? Whoever started this ridiculousness, was probably some asshole who was pissed off that his rock, which he relied on way too much, kept getting beaten by paper, and thus made up the excuse that both parties werent supposed to act until shoot and that rock wasnt his real move. Yeah right. The game as we know it in north america is no longer quite the same as no one knows whether they are supposed to play with a shoot or not. This has probably caused countless miscommunications, tainted results, and has managed to give even more strength to an already overrated rock. The shoot is useless and im glad it doesnt exist over here.
I know your probably all thinkging that this sounds wierd and Chinese. At first I would have agreed with you, but now I have to admit that I kinda like it. I uesd to say "paper scissors stone" only in class to avoid the confusion amongst kids as to what this rock thing is and why it comes before everything else while secretly laughing to myself over their ignorance. Now I see my own ignorance, and choose to say paper scissors stone, out of respect for the culture I am living in and also out of respect for what is probably a better "shootless" version of the game. I know that I will probably get made fun of by everyone except for maybe Shaggy when I get home, when unconciously I say paper scissors stone, but its ok I can accept that. It takes time to realize that things arent always done exactly the same all over the world. Sometimes they may surprise you by being a little bit better.
Monday, March 12, 2007
March Madness
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Rather than do long infrequent updates I think it would be a better idea to do smaller more frequent ones. That way i can relay a more accurate picture of life, without forgeting the details, cause life here is clearly all about the details. Id say 9/10 of the time im pretty busy and the other 1/10 of my time im pretty lazy. With my busy time it seems i am either teaching or learning.
The teaching I am still enjoying. The kids are amazing. The chinese teachers (with a few exceptions) are amazing. The company still sucks but oh well. Fairy is still my private student. It is even better then ever becasue lately she has taken it upon herself to feed me. I can always count on a fresh plate of bear apples (wierd apple like taiwan fruit) guavas, or some odd banana apple hybrid fruit to eat while im explaining the wierd subtlties of the English language. She even made me sweet potatos last week...some of which are purple on the inside! To pay her back I am starting to buy books for her such as yurtle the turtle and The little prince (but ntot before i read the little prince). I hope she will like them. I almost had another private student, but it dint pan out. I drove 30 minutes into the boonies in the rain, Gave a free two hour lesson, and was almost late to work. You should know that driving a roofless, sideless vehicle in the rain is not a pleasant experience, especially when you have no idea where you are and how to get back to work/ civilization. Anyways bottom line is they were too cheap. The audacity.
Things I am learning/things going on in my life.
Jiu Jit su - Still into it. Last week got into ankle locks and escapes. This stuff is awsome. I also met a wicked guy from Calgary who is actually in Taiwan to persue a career in mixed martial arts. If anyone is interested in starting to fight professionally apparently Guam is the best place to get started....Lots of sailers there or something.
Guitar. with my freebie guitar and ringo amp, me and Andrew have decided to start a band. We had a jam session just guitar and bass and it went pretty well. We have some good covers like man who sold the world, pride and joy, babe im gonna leave you, and may even come up with some songs of our own.
Tv- We got cable last week and Taiwanese TV is pretty good, particularly the commercials. I think i just saw a commercial for Chinese viagra, there were rockets launching, missles being fired off helicopters, really cheesy sets and older Taiwanese men in bed with younger Taiwanese girls. Interesting. We get espn too. Im glad the jays are in the yanks division because there seems to be a plethora of yank games being broadcast due to the fact that Wang (A now Taiwanese legend) pitches for them. We also get a couple movie channels. Not too shabby for 5 bucks a month.
Chinese- I seem to be stumbling across several Chinese words while teaching English to my kids. I will be in the middle of teaching a lesson or introducing a word and suddenly the kids will burst out with laughter. I guess its not surprising that some english words sound like Chinese. For anyone interested, sunny when pronounced Sah-ni means kill you. My kids personal favorite is side, which when prounounced very sharply with a quieter "d" means poo-poo in Taiwanese. Although everyone in Taiwan speaks Manderin, something like 5% of people speak Taiwanese which is somehow slightly different from Manderin. I have been informed that comparing Taiwanese to Mandarin is somewhat similar when comparing Newfoundland to the rest of Canada. I guess for the States the best comparison would be north to south. Different accent and some different words. I also had a fluent conversation with a guy at the grocery strore. Here is a rough translation:
Me "Excuse me sir how much do these cost" pointing to the frosties (frosted flakes).
Him "109 dollars"
Me "Thank you very much."
Him "your welcome"
Impressed? I know i was
Made in Taiwan- I'm also learning the meaning of Made in Taiwan. Let me explain. In the previously mentioned rainstorm i had the forsght to go out and buy a pair of what i thought would be waterproof gloves. They claimed they were upto -20 degrees. Needless to say my hands were soaking within 10 minutes. The gloves were returned soaking wet later that evening.
Example 2- After a night at freedom (my favorite Taiwanese bar) i decide to turn on the air conditioner. I wake up to find the bottom of my sheets and floor soaked in air conditioner fluid. I have yet to solve this mystery
Example 3- My phone which i bought 3 months ago already has a slightly cracked LCD. Fucken synnex.
New thought- I hate proud people. Pride is a trait that barely exists Taiwan, and it is very refreshing. No one trying to prove anything to anyone. Is there really a greater mark of insecurity? Modesty and harmony in realtionships seem to be much more important here and i think Its great. I simply dont want to be around argumentative people who always need to prove something to you or themselves. Its a great revelation im very happy with.
Last week was lantern festival. Lantern festival is a festival that happens 15 days after Chinese New Year. There are fireworks and everyone has these red helium lanters. People go to the park and all let them go at the same time. Suposed to be quite the visual simulus but unfortuneately i missed it because i was called into action to do some wine tasting. At least i got to experience "Le Grand Jean", some shitty vintage wine. Some good did come out of it as i may have found a link to a good squash court and learned where I could purchase some good cheese, and purchase it I did.
This last weekend was Wes's and Kats one year Taiwanaversery so me and the roommates showed up as three mexicans. I was Tito te mexican wrestler. More imprortantly it gave me an opportunity to finally wear the suspenders i purchased for Halloween. The night was amazing and was capped at freedom (obviosuly enough). Possibly more details to follow at a later time...
This week is March Madness and i think it will be the first time in eight years i havent skipped school to watch the games. At least there is a palce i know that is showing the games. I have my pick to win but am unable to make it public as some people in my pool may be reading this. The year is moving by fast and i have to decide whether I'm going to go to Thailand in 3 weeks or not. Whereever I am I will be sure to do some surfing. Next update coming soon.
DG
The teaching I am still enjoying. The kids are amazing. The chinese teachers (with a few exceptions) are amazing. The company still sucks but oh well. Fairy is still my private student. It is even better then ever becasue lately she has taken it upon herself to feed me. I can always count on a fresh plate of bear apples (wierd apple like taiwan fruit) guavas, or some odd banana apple hybrid fruit to eat while im explaining the wierd subtlties of the English language. She even made me sweet potatos last week...some of which are purple on the inside! To pay her back I am starting to buy books for her such as yurtle the turtle and The little prince (but ntot before i read the little prince). I hope she will like them. I almost had another private student, but it dint pan out. I drove 30 minutes into the boonies in the rain, Gave a free two hour lesson, and was almost late to work. You should know that driving a roofless, sideless vehicle in the rain is not a pleasant experience, especially when you have no idea where you are and how to get back to work/ civilization. Anyways bottom line is they were too cheap. The audacity.
Things I am learning/things going on in my life.
Jiu Jit su - Still into it. Last week got into ankle locks and escapes. This stuff is awsome. I also met a wicked guy from Calgary who is actually in Taiwan to persue a career in mixed martial arts. If anyone is interested in starting to fight professionally apparently Guam is the best place to get started....Lots of sailers there or something.
Guitar. with my freebie guitar and ringo amp, me and Andrew have decided to start a band. We had a jam session just guitar and bass and it went pretty well. We have some good covers like man who sold the world, pride and joy, babe im gonna leave you, and may even come up with some songs of our own.
Tv- We got cable last week and Taiwanese TV is pretty good, particularly the commercials. I think i just saw a commercial for Chinese viagra, there were rockets launching, missles being fired off helicopters, really cheesy sets and older Taiwanese men in bed with younger Taiwanese girls. Interesting. We get espn too. Im glad the jays are in the yanks division because there seems to be a plethora of yank games being broadcast due to the fact that Wang (A now Taiwanese legend) pitches for them. We also get a couple movie channels. Not too shabby for 5 bucks a month.
Chinese- I seem to be stumbling across several Chinese words while teaching English to my kids. I will be in the middle of teaching a lesson or introducing a word and suddenly the kids will burst out with laughter. I guess its not surprising that some english words sound like Chinese. For anyone interested, sunny when pronounced Sah-ni means kill you. My kids personal favorite is side, which when prounounced very sharply with a quieter "d" means poo-poo in Taiwanese. Although everyone in Taiwan speaks Manderin, something like 5% of people speak Taiwanese which is somehow slightly different from Manderin. I have been informed that comparing Taiwanese to Mandarin is somewhat similar when comparing Newfoundland to the rest of Canada. I guess for the States the best comparison would be north to south. Different accent and some different words. I also had a fluent conversation with a guy at the grocery strore. Here is a rough translation:
Me "Excuse me sir how much do these cost" pointing to the frosties (frosted flakes).
Him "109 dollars"
Me "Thank you very much."
Him "your welcome"
Impressed? I know i was
Made in Taiwan- I'm also learning the meaning of Made in Taiwan. Let me explain. In the previously mentioned rainstorm i had the forsght to go out and buy a pair of what i thought would be waterproof gloves. They claimed they were upto -20 degrees. Needless to say my hands were soaking within 10 minutes. The gloves were returned soaking wet later that evening.
Example 2- After a night at freedom (my favorite Taiwanese bar) i decide to turn on the air conditioner. I wake up to find the bottom of my sheets and floor soaked in air conditioner fluid. I have yet to solve this mystery
Example 3- My phone which i bought 3 months ago already has a slightly cracked LCD. Fucken synnex.
New thought- I hate proud people. Pride is a trait that barely exists Taiwan, and it is very refreshing. No one trying to prove anything to anyone. Is there really a greater mark of insecurity? Modesty and harmony in realtionships seem to be much more important here and i think Its great. I simply dont want to be around argumentative people who always need to prove something to you or themselves. Its a great revelation im very happy with.
Last week was lantern festival. Lantern festival is a festival that happens 15 days after Chinese New Year. There are fireworks and everyone has these red helium lanters. People go to the park and all let them go at the same time. Suposed to be quite the visual simulus but unfortuneately i missed it because i was called into action to do some wine tasting. At least i got to experience "Le Grand Jean", some shitty vintage wine. Some good did come out of it as i may have found a link to a good squash court and learned where I could purchase some good cheese, and purchase it I did.
This last weekend was Wes's and Kats one year Taiwanaversery so me and the roommates showed up as three mexicans. I was Tito te mexican wrestler. More imprortantly it gave me an opportunity to finally wear the suspenders i purchased for Halloween. The night was amazing and was capped at freedom (obviosuly enough). Possibly more details to follow at a later time...
This week is March Madness and i think it will be the first time in eight years i havent skipped school to watch the games. At least there is a palce i know that is showing the games. I have my pick to win but am unable to make it public as some people in my pool may be reading this. The year is moving by fast and i have to decide whether I'm going to go to Thailand in 3 weeks or not. Whereever I am I will be sure to do some surfing. Next update coming soon.
DG
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