Observations on the City People

I’ve posted a few things about my personal experiences here already, but I want to speak a bit on the Taiwanese people themselves. Now, I should clarify that I’m specifically talking about city people, I suppose, since I haven’t been out of Taipei yet. Sad, yes. But next week we will be flying to Borneo for a week, so that will be remedied soon.

It seems the simplest way to discuss this is list format. In no particular order, here are some observations about Taipei’s people, the quietly vibrant and lovely ones:

1) Spaghetti or Hamburger. Bless their souls, the Taiwanese seem to think we are afraid of their food. On the contrary, Dave and I were very excited to try new foods here. We see everything in shop and hole-in-the-wall restaurant windows, from super freshly pressed and squeezed fruit made into amazing juices, to roasted duck hanging almost artistically on spits–and that’s just the stuff that is easy to digest!

Source unknown. I know, I need to start taking my own photos. I promise, this is representative of what we see.

The few places that we’ve been to where one of the employees has decent English, they have always shown us their menu sheepishly. Then, excitedly, they add, “And we have spaghetti!” I think they expect us to breathe a sigh of relief and happily order two large helpings. Or, as another woman said to us when we approached her counter, “Ni hao, hamburger?”

I like to think we please them when we instead order something that a local might, or at the very least, I know we surprise them.

2) Oh, they aren’t statues. In Montreal and a couple other cities I’ve visited, I’ve seen these actors who come out dressed as statues and through an amazing feat of discipline, they stand just as still as one. People who didn’t see their entrance admire them as though they are statues, and then jump back about fifteen feet when the “statue” opens their eyes and stares for just a moment, and then returns to neutral.

This is the same reaction we get when we catch people staring at us. We only see one or two other foreigners on a daily basis, and so we are quite a novelty. As soon as they are caught, though, they become quite embarrassed and look away, which Dave tells me is not the case in South Korea, where he was a few years ago.

Most are shy to stare, but some are very happy to. After enjoying breakfast one morning–I believe my third day there–we were on our way out of the restaurant. As we were leaving, an old lady, probably in her seventies, was entering the establishment and came up to me within about three inches. Rather than say anything to me, she started talking to her family with her while poking a finger right into my chest. The restaurant’s aisles, as is everywhere here, are a tight squeeze, and I shoved through the crowd to get away from her, as that was probably the most awkward encounter with a stranger I’ve ever had. But as I say, this is a rarity, hardly representative of all the Taiwanese people we’ve met.

3) In fact, random acts of kindness live on. I found a coffee house where a guy was working and I ordered a latte. (In case any of my former coworkers are reading, it was actually quite a nice latte. It was very foamy, but that’s how I like it.) Dave and I sat and watched the TV in the cafe for a bit, and then he came over and gave me this funny little pastry. It was strange: sort of in the style of French pastry, and inside was chocolate surrounding a bizzare orange centre. I figured out what it was: squash. Now that sounds really strange (and it is) but it was one of those few strange combinations that actually works!

Anyway, my point is, this pastry isn’t something I ordered, nor does it come with the latte (I went another time when a girl was working, ordered the same thing, and I didn’t get that). He saw me again today pass by, nodded, smiled, said hello, and looked down shyly. Little gestures like this make me so happy, and it’s nice to know they are very universal. Not that I had any doubt.

4) The visitors are much worse. While Dave and I have been here, as I mentioned, we don’t encounter other foreigners much. But when we do, they see us and make brief eye contact. We smile, as we do to anyone here who makes eye contact. All the Taiwanese people smile back. Foreigners never do. It’s so strange! In fact, they make a point of looking away and a lot of them make really strange noises while doing so. No joke. Neither Dave nor I can figure it out. Given this sort of attitude preceding us, it’s a wonder that we’re still treated so nicely by the locals.

On deaf ears.

There are exceptions, of course. The hostess we have here at the hostel, Norine, is a beautiful and sweet lady of African decent from Holland, and she has been more than helpful while we’ve been here. We met two Americans a couple nights ago and had a fun night out. But on the whole, we’ve been disappointed, as trying to make foreign friends is proving to be a bit more difficult than expected.

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Those are the ones I can think of at the moment and I’m sure this has made for a sufficiently long entry anyway. I hope this entry finds everyone reading well, and I’m about to go take a walk to settle this yummy vegetable curry in my stomach.