Ni Hao friends and family,
I’ve decided I’m going to go with a different approach for this blog post. I’m not especially in the mood right now to talk about myself and reflect as I normally do. However I will take the quick second here to randomly share that I went to a Japanese restaurant tonight and had the most amazing filet mignon dinner ever, making me a very content and full man as I sit here writing this entry. But apart from that side-note, I’m going to actually take the spotlight off myself here and shine it on the people who surround me on a daily basis: the Taiwan locals.
The Taiwanese are a very unique people in a number of different ways. They are at once extremely friendly yet very serious in how they go about their way of life. And while many of their customs and mannerisms are very foreign to me, much of what they do reminds me at least in part of life back in the good old U.S.A. Considering many of them work six days a week, you might get the impression that everyone here is a work-a-holic. But then again, when you see how many people nightly frequent the many night markets here, or the impressively long lines to get into night clubs, you begin to understand that the locals here abide by the same “work hard, play hard” lifestyle that is so common in the U.S. That said, many things have stood out to me as uniquely foreign and/or rather amusing.
Staring Contest
I really can’t go on any further here without making mention of the locals’ knack for staring at foreigners. Although it happens on a daily basis, I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to how much the Taiwanese just stare at me here. Didn’t their mothers ever tell them that it’s impolite to stare? I’ve noticed that this trend is especially bad with the older generation and young kids. In fact, the other day at the MRT station while I was standing waiting for the train, a young girl literally stared at me for no less than 5 minutes straight. Not only that, but when I turned away from where she was, she actually walked around to right in front of where I was now looking. I turn again, and she followed. Everywhere my gaze went, she maneuvered herself to be in the picture, literally circling me. It was so unbearably awkward. I can’t say I really understand why people do this too. I mean, especially in Taipei, and more especially where I live (right by ShiDa University), there are tons of white people around. Surely they’ve seen more of us around. So why are they so fascinated with me that they fixate their eyes on me for minutes on end? I actually end up wiping my face/licking my lips a lot in those situations, convinced that there must be some food on there or something for them to be so intrigued.
Even though I’ll never get totally used to it, I suppose it’s become at least more tolerable at this point. After all, I have been in Southeast Asia now for nearly 3 months, and everywhere else I’ve been (Hong Kong, Cambodia, and Vietnam) the staring has also been an issue. But still the staring here is of a completely different nature. In Cambodia for instance, when people stared it was almost always followed by them trying to talk with me/sell me something. They were either genuinely interested in getting to know why I was in their country or they were genuinely interested in getting money from me. There really wasn’t much of a mystery. Yet here, that is hardly the case. The Taiwanese are much more passive in their curiosity. Seldom have the locals actually approached me and tried to communicate. Instead the most they will do is look at me for some time, and then turn to someone and whisper something, only to have them then both turn back to me (I wonder if they realize they don’t actually have to whisper? They could scream something out loud and I still wouldn’t have a clue). THIS is especially frustrating. However, I have found ways to entertain myself so as to make light of the situation when this happens. Often I will try and think of my own dialogue for what they might be saying, adlibbing in a kind of Mystery Science Theater fashion—“Oh look, it’s the bumbling American again”; “I bet he’s lost”; “Is that Matt Damon??” (OK so I flatter myself a little bit with that last one, but you get the idea).
Sometimes I actually get the feeling that many of the locals here are suspicious of my very presence in their country, like maybe I’m a spy sent from America to learn the ways of the Taiwanese and report back in Avatar-like fashion. But I suppose there would be some truth to that accusation. After all right now I’m writing a lengthy blog post about all I’ve learned about the locals. So I guess for amusement’s sake I’ll actually play the role of the spy here. Here is another one of my observations thus far:
Fashion Police
Let it be said—the locals here are fashion fiends. Indeed this is one of the first things I noticed when I arrived here. Everyone here tries to dress very trendy and maintain a unique personal “style”. I’ve heard from many people who have lived here longer than I that this style is very “Japanese”—which makes sense considering the historic influence Japan has had on Taiwan, and the admiration that the Taiwanese generally have for Japan (I’m certainly admiring them right now after that amazing dinner). I wish I could post some pictures here or the things I’ve seen people wearing, but unfortunately I’d feel really guilty/awkward about taking pictures of the locals. Perhaps further down the road when I inevitably become more rude/less considerate I’ll have some pictures for you then. But for now, my words will have to suffice (though if you want to get an idea of the fashion sense here check out my co-workers blog, which features pictures of the ridiculous outfits that the locals dress their dogs—yes dogs—in here. If you want an idea on how loud and outrageous the clothing is that people wear here, just take what the dogs are wearing and multiply it by about 10).
The trendy ‘hipster’ look seems to be the norm here. It is common for many people to be wearing decorated scarves and/or beanies here when it is completely unnecessary (a.k.a when it’s 73 degree weather) just so they can pull off their desired look. And maybe the most common thing here is the big-rimmed trendy glasses, many of which are even worn without lenses. Apparently these glasses seem to be the “in” thing in Taiwan right now, because everyone seems to be wearing them (OK so yes, this one hits home a little—considering I myself often wear my reading glasses in places where it really isn’t necessary just so I can look sophisticated/intellectual…so touché).
I could write for days on the shoe selection here. Many girls tend to take this one to the extreme, wearing anything as crazy as frayed leather boots to multi-colored loafers with stuffed animals protruding out the front. Also, underneath those shoes expect just about every girl here to be wearing some type of matching stockings. If it takes girls in the U.S. upwards of an hour to get ready to go out, I don’t even want to imagine the length of time it would take the girls here…
Another disturbingly popular fashion trend here is unique jeans. I’ve seen so many bedazzled and jeweled jeans here (even on men) that it really blows my mind. Worse than that, the tightness of the jeans here is beyond insane. In the past my homeboy Mr. Chris Reynolds has jokingly given me flack for the alleged “tightness” of my jeans (though I have denied and will continue to deny that there has ever been any merit to this claim). But even so, if Chris really thought my jeans were tight, he would undoubtedly change his opinion if he saw what transpired here. The tightness of the jeans here, literally looking like some of them have been spray-painted on, make any pair of jeans I own look like they would be straight from the O.G. line from Sean John or something.
This fascination with fashion extends all the way to the young ones I teach. For example, one of my first few days of teaching, one of my girls was so excited to see my shoes. “Teacher Andrew, Converse All-Star! SO cool!” Ha. Little did she know that they weren’t actually Converse, but were instead the knock-off Airwalk brand (a pair of shoes, I might add, that I was able to snag for all of $10 as a part of a deal when I bought my cleats for flag football last Spring).
As a guy who normally just goes the jeans with a t-shirt/polo ensemble (normally of the Marshalls/Ross/Target assortment), I’m constantly finding myself feeling under-dressed. It’s definitely been a change getting used to all the various and outrageous styles here. I suppose in a sense the fashion style is very Orange-County like. Or perhaps I’d even call it very “Kanye”, since everyone seems to experiment and try out different and progressively more bizarre clothing combinations to stand out from the crowd, much in the same manner the famous rapper/producer/gay fish goes about everything he does (obligatory South Park reference: check). But I still think the styles here are much crazier than in O.C., Hollywood, etc. My brother Brandon, who actually lives in O.C., praises the “peacock” method of dressing (inspired by his love-life guide The Game—basically saying that it’s best for you to wear clothes that allow you to stand out). With no offense to Brandon or the The Game, that method is utterly ineffective here, where everyone stands out like Borat in a slingshot onesie (sorry for bringing to mind that terrible visual).
Wow. Well it appears that I got so involved in talking about the staring problem and the fashion style that I didn’t leave much time or space to detail the rest of the discoveries I’ve made about the locals. Looks like this is going to be a 2 part blog post! Check back in the very near future to hear the rest, where I’ll talk a little about the PDA problem here, how locals respond to the weather, as well as the rather loud volume many locals use with each other in daily conversations. So there's a little teaser to hopefully keep you interested. Stay tuned!
To be continued…
