Shawty fire burning on the dance floor.
Whoa!
For those of you who don't know the song I am referring to, click here.
It occurred to me today that the emergency number in Taiwan is 119, not 911. I tried doing a little research on why it happened to be exactly backwards from the US number but did not find any results. If you think think you know the reason or have any guesses, feel free to share in a comment!
I also found out that a lot of countries have separate police, fire, and medical emergency numbers. 119 is the fire and medical emergency number in Taiwan; 110 is the police emergency number.
For a list of other countries and their emergency numbers, visit this Wikipedia article.
In other news, today I went ice skating 台北小巨蛋, also known as "Taipei Arena". It basically looks like an egg nest, like the stadium built in Beijing, China for the 2008 Olympics. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed being in a super air-conditioned environment after so many days in the Taipei heat! The one downside was the scary amount of people. I spent most of my time dodging people, which turned out to be a fun little game but was pretty scary at times.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Interlude: Jetlag
Hello everyone!
Greetings from Taiwan :)
I realize I have not published any of my posts from the last few days - sorry about that! I've been out and about revisiting the city, seeing family, and meeting up with old friends. By the time I get back every night, my jetlag usually kicks in and I try to sleep as soon as possible.
I have been writing though, so no worries! I will post them up this weekend once I've had some time to polish and read over them. (Lethargy is not usually a good state of mind for blogging...or anything else, really, and I think jetlag would only add to the incoherency and confusion). I will put them up in chronological order, with the timestamp documenting the moment I finished that specific post. So, when I'm done with that update, this blog entry will be smack in the middle of the new posts. Might be confusing for someone who reads my story from the beginning, but I don't think it'll be that bad :D
Thanks for following my journey though this new phase in my life (to put it very dramatically haha), and I promise the posts will be up this weekend!
With love,
Frances
Greetings from Taiwan :)
I realize I have not published any of my posts from the last few days - sorry about that! I've been out and about revisiting the city, seeing family, and meeting up with old friends. By the time I get back every night, my jetlag usually kicks in and I try to sleep as soon as possible.
I have been writing though, so no worries! I will post them up this weekend once I've had some time to polish and read over them. (Lethargy is not usually a good state of mind for blogging...or anything else, really, and I think jetlag would only add to the incoherency and confusion). I will put them up in chronological order, with the timestamp documenting the moment I finished that specific post. So, when I'm done with that update, this blog entry will be smack in the middle of the new posts. Might be confusing for someone who reads my story from the beginning, but I don't think it'll be that bad :D
Thanks for following my journey though this new phase in my life (to put it very dramatically haha), and I promise the posts will be up this weekend!
With love,
Frances
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Top 10: What I Will Miss About America
10. Having the Right of Way as a Pedestrian
Dodge car is not the safest game.
9. Convenience
Amazon.com has restrictions and can only ship certain items to Taiwan. This makes me sad. In American, yahoo is yahoo.com. Google is google.com. Anywhere else, for example Taiwan, it's yahoo.com.tw and google.com.tw. English/the US rules the Internet. I have a feeling this will confound me for quite awhile.
And that's just one of the many examples of the conveniences I will miss dearly.
8. Swimming Without Swim Caps!
Swim caps are required at most pools. Something about not having hair fall out and making the water dirty, from what I've gathered. Also, a lot of swimming pools require guys to wear speedos. As in, swimming trunks are strictly prohibited. Skinny Asian guys with virtually nothing on...hot? O.o
7. Dairy
For some reason, it appears that Asians never really got into the whole milk, cheese, and yogurt thing. Nowadays, yogurt is starting to become an eating fad, especially with the girls. I don't really know how to explain this, but I can say I did not know what whipped cream was until 7th grade. I also grew up drinking formula, not "fresh milk" (that's the literal translation of what we call milk here in the US. 鮮奶.)
6. Not Using/Seeing Umbrellas, rain or shine.
Americans aren't too worried about running from place to place in the rain, playing Ultimate Frisbee in the rain, or sometimes just sitting in the rain. In Taiwan, almost everyone carries an umbrella on their persons at all times. There is also some weird desire to be more pale like white people, traced back to something like how in the ancient times, the nobility stayed indoors and did noble things, while the pesants worked outside and did peasant things. Therefore, the paler the girl is, the hotter she is. Something like that. This leads to many people, especially the female kind, carrying umbrellas in BROAD DAYLIGHT (with really nice weather and blue skies). To protect themselves from the evil, evil sunshine. I really don't get it.
5. Grass - Fields. Frisbee. Freedom.
Ok, that is a little overdramatic. But as you can imagine with all cities, grassy fields are extremely limited. I'm going to miss all the random pick up games and just running with the soft touch of grass against my bare feet :)
4. National Holidays; All Their Crazy Glory
I am going to miss 3-way weekends dearly, such as Memorial Day, Labor Day, President's Day. The only real break I have is Chinese New Years; there will be school on Christmas day for me this year. I am going to miss Black Friday shopping (come on, that's almost a holiday in and of itself), and I might even miss hearing Christmas songs on the radio as soon as Thanksgiving starts.
3. Dryers
For some reason, everyone hangs their clothes to dry in Asia. I didn't even know dryers existed until I moved to the US in 3rd grade.
2. The Return Policy
As a general norm and rule of thumb, you don't return things after you purchase them. I know that probably sounds really strange to Americans and must seem like the Taiwanese offer horrible customer service, but I was blown away when I discovered that items can be taken back to stores for a refund. Crazy!
I'm not sure how more expensive items like electronics work, but with clothing, handbags, and literally every other item I've purchased in Taiwan, I have not been able to return. It's not like I tried, though. The thought never occurred to me, and it would've been really strange if I attempted to return something I bought and maybe even used.
So, here is goodbye to "I'm going to get this shirt, and that skirt, and these jeans, and this necklace...and decide if I like it/if it fits later and then return it if I don't!"
1. My AT&T Phone Plan
700 min shared family plan, $10/month for my line. Plus, unlimited texting family plan, $35/month, which means $8.75/month per person. $18.75/month for unlimited texting, unlimited calls at night and on weekends, and some minutes to use during the day.
In Taiwan, it's approximately $26 USD, individual phone plan. 2 hour outgoing talking time. (In Taiwan, you only get charged for the calls you make; if someone else calls you, you are connected to that call for free). Yes. That is 120 minutes we're talking about. And that includes nighttime and weekends. 120 for the entire month. Um. Crap.
As for texting, it's the same thing. You only get charged for outgoing calls. My plan lets me text users with the same carrier for free, and all other outgoing texts are charged per message sent.
I just may implode and die.
Disclaimer: The list is not in any particular order.
Dodge car is not the safest game.
9. Convenience
Amazon.com has restrictions and can only ship certain items to Taiwan. This makes me sad. In American, yahoo is yahoo.com. Google is google.com. Anywhere else, for example Taiwan, it's yahoo.com.tw and google.com.tw. English/the US rules the Internet. I have a feeling this will confound me for quite awhile.
And that's just one of the many examples of the conveniences I will miss dearly.
8. Swimming Without Swim Caps!
Swim caps are required at most pools. Something about not having hair fall out and making the water dirty, from what I've gathered. Also, a lot of swimming pools require guys to wear speedos. As in, swimming trunks are strictly prohibited. Skinny Asian guys with virtually nothing on...hot? O.o
7. Dairy
For some reason, it appears that Asians never really got into the whole milk, cheese, and yogurt thing. Nowadays, yogurt is starting to become an eating fad, especially with the girls. I don't really know how to explain this, but I can say I did not know what whipped cream was until 7th grade. I also grew up drinking formula, not "fresh milk" (that's the literal translation of what we call milk here in the US. 鮮奶.)
6. Not Using/Seeing Umbrellas, rain or shine.
Americans aren't too worried about running from place to place in the rain, playing Ultimate Frisbee in the rain, or sometimes just sitting in the rain. In Taiwan, almost everyone carries an umbrella on their persons at all times. There is also some weird desire to be more pale like white people, traced back to something like how in the ancient times, the nobility stayed indoors and did noble things, while the pesants worked outside and did peasant things. Therefore, the paler the girl is, the hotter she is. Something like that. This leads to many people, especially the female kind, carrying umbrellas in BROAD DAYLIGHT (with really nice weather and blue skies). To protect themselves from the evil, evil sunshine. I really don't get it.
5. Grass - Fields. Frisbee. Freedom.
Ok, that is a little overdramatic. But as you can imagine with all cities, grassy fields are extremely limited. I'm going to miss all the random pick up games and just running with the soft touch of grass against my bare feet :)
4. National Holidays; All Their Crazy Glory
I am going to miss 3-way weekends dearly, such as Memorial Day, Labor Day, President's Day. The only real break I have is Chinese New Years; there will be school on Christmas day for me this year. I am going to miss Black Friday shopping (come on, that's almost a holiday in and of itself), and I might even miss hearing Christmas songs on the radio as soon as Thanksgiving starts.
3. Dryers
For some reason, everyone hangs their clothes to dry in Asia. I didn't even know dryers existed until I moved to the US in 3rd grade.
2. The Return Policy
As a general norm and rule of thumb, you don't return things after you purchase them. I know that probably sounds really strange to Americans and must seem like the Taiwanese offer horrible customer service, but I was blown away when I discovered that items can be taken back to stores for a refund. Crazy!
I'm not sure how more expensive items like electronics work, but with clothing, handbags, and literally every other item I've purchased in Taiwan, I have not been able to return. It's not like I tried, though. The thought never occurred to me, and it would've been really strange if I attempted to return something I bought and maybe even used.
So, here is goodbye to "I'm going to get this shirt, and that skirt, and these jeans, and this necklace...and decide if I like it/if it fits later and then return it if I don't!"
1. My AT&T Phone Plan
700 min shared family plan, $10/month for my line. Plus, unlimited texting family plan, $35/month, which means $8.75/month per person. $18.75/month for unlimited texting, unlimited calls at night and on weekends, and some minutes to use during the day.
In Taiwan, it's approximately $26 USD, individual phone plan. 2 hour outgoing talking time. (In Taiwan, you only get charged for the calls you make; if someone else calls you, you are connected to that call for free). Yes. That is 120 minutes we're talking about. And that includes nighttime and weekends. 120 for the entire month. Um. Crap.
As for texting, it's the same thing. You only get charged for outgoing calls. My plan lets me text users with the same carrier for free, and all other outgoing texts are charged per message sent.
I just may implode and die.
Disclaimer: The list is not in any particular order.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Introduction
I originally started off with Post #1, no Introduction. Alone, the entry was missing something. It felt rather awkward. So, here goes my Introduction!
46 more hours until my flight takes off from Newark, NJ.
60 more hours until my flight lands in Taipei, Taiwan.
46 more hours until my flight takes off from Newark, NJ.
60 more hours until my flight lands in Taipei, Taiwan.
At this point, I don't know whether I consider myself more Taiwanese, more American, or both equally (although my passports legally say I'm both!). The purpose of this online journal is for me to keep track of my many escapades (because I know they're coming!) and comment oh-so-cleverly on the reverse-cultural experience.
When I decided to attend National Taiwan University (台大) 2 months ago, I partially thought of it as subjecting myself to a cultural experiment. And, as any good AP chemistry student knows, all experimentation must include documentation! So, from that standpoint, this is my lab report :)
Or, from the viewpoint of my friends who are probably used to/bored of my rambling and are familiar with the spastic and lengthy nature of my previous blogs, this is just another place for me to talk to the world/whomever/myself! :D I secretly enjoy reading blog posts from 7th grade and making fun of myself for being so "cool" back then. I like looking back on those posts, thinking way too much and overanalyzing everything, and seeing how much I've changed with time.
I've kept many blogs and written diaries in the past but have never continuously written or finished a blog/diary. I know you can't just say "the end" in a diary, but there are definitely certain checkpoints in life that may provide an appropriate closing entry (e.g. a travel blog ends with that trip is over, a diary can be just a "middle school" diary, etc.).
This time, I plan on blogging continuously for 4 years. About life, about college, about Taiwan. The end, at least for now, of my journey in America is the beginning of Re:Discovery. Hopefully I can keep this up! So, let's see how this goes. Wish me luck, and maybe I'll even be able to read my posts 6 years from now without too much self mockery.
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