Hello Taiwan, my new home!

I've been in Taiwan for almost two months and am now officially a Taiwanese resident! Today I got my work visa, so I am not legally allowed to stay and work here for a year. I am slowly acclimating, every day I am less shocked and surprised by the things I see. There are many things that stand out to me as funny differences from home, so I've compiled my top ten list of cultural differences...

1. Lack of concern over general safety

Remember when Britney Spears let her son ride on her lap in the car for a few minutes, and the whole country freaked out? Well maybe Brit should try living in Taiwan, because as far as safety goes, apparently here anything flies. Everyday I see kids, babies, even dogs riding on the back of scooters. Sometimes it's even an entire family: dad driving, mom on back, a kid or two squished between, and one standing between dads legs. They don't always have helmets, and when they do it's often only a little one covering the very top of the head.

2. Intense fear of piggy flu

In a country that does not seem overly concerned with general cleanliness (ex: it can be rare to find soap and toilet paper in the bathrooms), everyone is completely freaked out when it comes to H1N1. Face masks are everywhere, and a lot of places they take your temperature when you enter buildings to make sure you are not about to contaminate the scene. They hold a thing up to your head that looks like it's about to scan your barcode before you walk through the door.

3. Stray dogs - a social issue

The dogs are EVERYWHERE. And it breaks my heart, I want to build a big house for them all to live in and play fetch with them all day. One of the QAs in class here is "What is a social issue in Taiwan?", and all the kids answer stray dogs. But at the same time, the Taiwanese accessorize with dogs in a way that would put Paris Hilton to shame. At the night market there are countless stalls devoted to dog clothes and there seem to be pet shops on every corner. As a side note, most of the stalls include Lakers and Yankees jerseys, because for some reason Tawian is in full support of those two teams.

4. Where are all the ninjas?

Drivers in Taiwan are crazy. Walking down the street I often feel like I'm in a real life game of frogger, except I only have one life. But I still prefer walking to driving a scooter, and as a few of schools are less than 40 minutes away I usually walk to class. As soon as I arrive at the schools and am asked how I got there, I see the look of shock on all the Taiwanese teachers when they hear I have walked. Apparently no one walks here. No one even seems to exercise, but the whole country is skinny and healthy.

5. I could go for a fudgesical about now

With 23 million people in this country, they make a lot of trash. Taiwan is very good with recycling, and you get fined if you throw away things that could be recycled. You have to pay for each bag of trash, and instead of leaving it at the curb, the trucks drive around twice a day and people are responsible for bringing their own trash out to the truck. To let people know it is coming, it plays a song on repeat just like an ice cream truck. So if you are home between 6 and 9 in the evening, chances are you can hear Beethoven's fur elise blasting from the truck. I hope when it gets warm I don't get confused and try to order a cone.

6. Stores, stores EVERYWHERE

Walking down the street here, every building you pass is a store of some sort. A lot sell scooters, a bunch have puppies, there are 7-11s on every block, noddle shops, but most of them I have absolutely no idea what they sell. One restaurant I went to looks like an abandoned antique shop on the first floor, only to house a delicious treasure on the second level. It's amazing that all of these manage to stay in business, but creates quite the adventure no matter what street you walk down.

7. Betel Nut Girls

Many men around here chew Betel Nut, a nut wrapped in the leaf that gives a minor stimulant buzz. You can tell the men who chew it because they have rotten teeth, and their mouths are stained red from the juice. You can also see the remains spit along the side walks and roads. Betel Nut is sold in stores with big glass windows out front. In these windows sit scantily clad girls ready to run and sell cigarettes and betel nut to cars that pull over in front. If this whole teaching thing doesn't work out, maybe I could check out a new career...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel_nut_beauty

8. Bushiban aka Cram Schools - they are building an army of super educated children

The school I teach at is called a cram school, meaning it is a place kids come after they have already completed a full day of class. The little ones come to Gloria twice a week for 2 hours at a time, and the older ones come just once a week for a 3 hour class. Most kids also attend cram schools for other topics, like math, science, or caligraphy. One kid told me that between school, cram school, and homework, he learns an average of 13 hours a day. CRAZY. My friend Clare said that when she was younger she even had to go to a cram school to learn how to use an abacus. I prefer my graphing calculator, thanks.

9. I'm so pale I could be a vampire. Or maybe just a beautiful Taiwanese woman

In Taiwan the whiter you are the more beautiful you are, so under this logic I am a stud. A lot of toiletries, even deodorants, have whitening agents in them which I guess is the opposite of a nice fake tan. People also have these gloves attached to their scooter handles. I originally thought they were to keep hands warm in the winter, but was informed that they are instead used to keep hands from getting tan. It gets pretty hot and humid here in the summer, but apparently people wear longs sleeves and pants and use umbrellas to block the sun.

10. Godzilla does Taiwan

I'm tall for a girl back home. I've had to deal with short boys, short pants, even short walls in toilet stalls. But here, I am a giant. On the trains most people walk right under the handles hanging down from the ceiling. They are right in my face. Everytime I teach a new class, I let the students ask me questions. The first is always 'how tall are you?' When I respond I get an automatic look of shock from the entire class. I don't even want to try shoe shopping here, because I know my big foot size will be no where to be found. But at least other people can always find me in a crowd.