Confessions of a western-born and western-raised kid in Taiwan:

  1. After visiting the NTU campus to meet with a professor for thesis research, I realized that their campus is much more run down than I would have ever imagined. I think I take for granted the polished state of my college’s campus – in many places, aesthetics of a building are far from a priority. The buildings here were darker, featured more architectural cracks, and generally less polished. (12/27)
  2. Professors were more than willing to connect me with other professors. While this has always been the case in North America, I’ve usually found that one prof will offer to email another to connect him/her with me. Here, they all picked up the phone and just called the other profs. I was surprised because it feels like an invasion of privacy/space/schedules, though at the same time, worked in a really efficient way. (12/27)
  3. People here smell funny. I think there’s a general Taiwanese human body/breath scent and I’m not sure whether that’s genetic or food-based or entirely in my imagination but I really do think people smell the same. Some cars also smell the same way I distinctly recall them smelling when I was little. Some houses have a unique smell too. Other than those, I also think that some streets in Kaohsiung have a particular smell while some streets in Taipei have their own. (12/27)
  4. I think I’m allergic to the dust or many other particles or various allergens in the air here. (12/29)
  5. There is more food here than I could possibly consume in my entire lifetime. How will I ever try everything? Sometimes I despair about this so much I just give up and eat congee that my grandparents make. (12/31)
  6. People here like to refer to themselves in the third person. Especially parents to children. Maybe only parents to children. (1/1)
  7. There are more bubble tea places here than I can name. I thought that the few I’d come to know in North America (Cha Time, Gong Cha, Kung Fu Tea, etc.) would be well known here but turns out it’s also regionalized within Taiwan. (1/2)
  8. Parking spots may be short in supply but finding temporary parking by pulling over and stopping in the middle of the right lane is totally acceptable. Everyone does it and it makes for an extremely convenient means of running quick errands. Efficient for overall traffic, though? Not sure. (1/2)
  9. Cars honk their horns to indicate that others should take care and be careful, not that they did something wrong. In North America, I interpret honking as a sign of aggression – here, it’s merely a warning. (12/28)
  10. Young people don’t do much except eat night markets, walk around, get food, and go shopping. (I guess we’re the same everywhere!)
  11. Elections are characterized by lots of loud parades consisting of car brigades, police cars, motorcycles, jeeps with people standing up in them, flags, drums, speakerphones, and also (once) firecrackers.
  12. Professors don’t speak much to students; often when I was meeting them and wanted to discuss my area of interest, they were merely silent where I would have expected a prof to ask me more or probe for my engagement.
  13. Showering in a real shower is a luxury. Most homes don’t have real showers.