Stories about Taiwan

There are a number of stages you go through in Taiwan. This one was called: Taiwanese don’t write perfect English so i am going to set up a marketing company.
“Just look at this, buddy,” said Josh holding up the brochure for his student’s hose-pipe company, and blocking access to my food which was sizzling away [...]

As foreigners in Taiwan we had the opportunity to play above our league. It may seem straightforward, but Taiwanese girls are different (see Culture Shock: Women) and there is alot of adjusting to do. It is difficult for all of us but for Eric particularly so.
Eric looked around at the people sat around him in [...]

Today is the 15th day of the seventh Lunar month, otherwise known as Ghost Day, a day people gather to burn incense and hell money, and lay out lavish amounts of food to feed hungry ghosts. During the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell open up to allow ghosts of the deceased to [...]

At the time i really committed to learning Chinese. I was going to two classes a day. This was the afternoon one.
“Good afternoon everyone,” the teacher would say in English every class and i would start to grit my teeth.
“She is quite hot! Maybe, I’ll do you a favor and ask her out,” replied the [...]

You know when you are an vacation or business you have to press palms and talk about yourself. You happily do it for the first few months in Taiwan, but then you remember you are not in Taiwan for two weeks, and sooner or later the non-PC unsubtly and stereotypes begin to get you down [...]

You get used to the usual questions, but the one about marriage I always found funniest:
“Where you from?”
“America.”
“Very good. I have been to New York, and…uh…Disneyland.”
“How long you want to stay Taiwan?”
“Two years.”
“You come alone?”
“Yes. Huh, so brave. You don’t miss your family?”
“Not really” Chuckles and giggles at the ridiculous suggestion you don’t miss your [...]

My friends would ask me what it is like dating a girl from Taiwan, and I would say, “You have watched Pulp Fiction of course. Well…Remember Bruce Willis’ character’s girlfriend. The one who lies on the bed talking about whether she has a belly or not - Who forgets to bring his watch and then [...]

Condoms were a no-no for some older women because it suggested you were planning to have sex, and you did it often.
This is one of John’s stories.
He had had a particularly bad class and started drinking beer from the 7/11 and hanging around on Chong Hsiao East Road, one of the most popular shopping areas.
After [...]

A couple of weeks after the condom ad we had the apartment building complex shoot.
“Jesus. Why am I a waiter again?” complained Eric while we were on the way.
“It is your fault, you choose to be the waiter in the bar ad,” answered Pierre. “Now you are type-cast. You Americans should understand that principle: all [...]

I was once recruited to do a condom ad.

When i asked the agent why she wanted a foreigner, she explained it thus: abortion rates were among the highest in the world, and the condom manufacturer believed there was a market if he could get his message out. Unfortunately, when he had done an advert before [...]

I  was in the living room with a book one recent Sunday afternoon and Char was out front with the cat when Eddie came up the walk.  He’s a Taiwanese man I met in 1977 when I lived in Pingtung City.   I was teaching English as an intern missionary, and Eddie was a veterinary student.  [...]

In the 1970’s an American pop song about a rural lawman, “The Sheriff of Boone County” contained the lyric, “You might outrun my old Chevrolet but you won’t outrun my old two-way”. It implied that though lawbreakers in that rural area had better cars than the sheriff, his two-way radio meant that he could arrange [...]

When I was a child in California a National Guard unit about 10 miles from my home often flew large silver cargo planes with orange on the tails and wing tips over the neighborhood on training flights. It being the height of the cold war, military stuff was common in the area.
“Real” Air Force planes [...]

It should come as no surprise that people have different tastes. Whenever I am in a different country, I always like to browse through the supermarket aisles to get a sense of what people like to eat. Here in Taiwan, it’s interesting to find that although we can buy the same brands of [...]

I arrived in Taiwan fresh from California in July of 1976. In my homeland the law stated that a pedestrian in a crosswalk had the right of way. Motorized traffic was supposed to stop. Whether the rule was honored or not “depended.” Life in Taiwan was not like home.

I was accustomed to cars slowing [...]