I don't know how much you all know about Taiwan, but if you were ever to visit here you would find out very quickly that there isn't much diversity here. And when I say much... there is next to none. Even us who have only been here a few days freak out a little bit when we see another foreigner on the streets. So you can imagine the people here when they see us walking through the streets... Nine obviously foreign girls, about half of us blonde... We're quite the spectacle! And people openly gawk at us. I'm talking mouths hanging open, heads following us as we pass. Not everyone is quite that bad, but there are very few who do NOT stare. If any at all.
The best part of the whole staring thing is that most of the time the expression on the persons face is a stony, serious one. But when I can meet their eye and give them a big grin, their faces transform. With some it's instantaneous, like a flash of lightening that lingers in the sky. But with others, it comes up gradually, more like the sun rising. But each time I am able to get one of them to smile back at me it makes me love this place even more. Especially with the kids! It's so funny, because you know we're like some kind of zoo creature to them, and I believe it's quite exciting for them to have us wave and such. Like we're movie stars or something :]
It's very obvious that this staring thing isn't out of any kind of ill will whatsoever... the people of Taiwan are some of the friendliest, nicest people I've met. That may or may not be because I can't understand a word they're saying, but that's beside the point. Already there have been numerous times when people have come to our aid, and let's not even try to count the number of times that we have required a lot of patience from people in ordering or buying things!
My favorite example of this so far happened today when we were trying to find a particular restaurant some previous teachers had recommended to us, and seeing as they just called it "the orange chicken restaurant", you can imagine we were having some trouble. We knew that it was on this particular street, but there was about ten restaurants and we didn't know which one was the one we were looking for! All we knew is that it had an English menu, so the only way we could think of to find it was to go to each one and ask if they had an English menu. How efficient, right?
So while we were doing this, a little Taiwanese lady was waiting at this red restaurant for her food, and as I passed she points to it and tells me "Very good!" And then when we finally decided to go to that restaurant, she helped us get a menu, then came over and showed us the best dishes (I know they were the best because I tried them) Such a sweet lady!
And then I must tell you about James.
He's got to be in his 70s at least, and he lives on the fourth floor of a building with no elevator. That's right - 3 flights of stairs multiple times a day. We met him through a former teacher and were privileged enough to be invited into his home. Not only did he show us around and tell us about all of his projects (he's in to gardening, languages, music, just to name a few), but he also offered to teach us Chinese or Japanese or Taiwanese and show us around the island a bit. Several times he insisted that we could always come by his house for a cold drink, he said his wife would teach us how to make a few Taiwanese dishes, and before we left he said that he would be our "family while we're away from home." How can you not love that?
The picture isn't the greatest quality, but that's us with James.
(For the slow among you - He's the ONLY Asian in the picture ;]
Those white girls are us teachers from America)
I hope you're starting to understand how wonderful these people can be.
Not that they don't have their flaws as well. Things like a lack of affection and a serious workaholic syndrome could be improved upon. But for the most part, the Taiwanese that I have met are friendly and just generally amazing. I should have known, seeing as I was privileged with a taste in Hawaii, but I didn't. It has been a very pleasant thing to find out!
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