When Two Worlds Collide
No surprise that life in Taiwan is a bit different than life in quiet, little Norway. This is what I've noticed so far:
The young people
"Handsome" guy here is being pretty. Kinda like a girl. I'm not kidding. The trendy guys here have long hair which covers most of their face. They are thin and they quite pro at being vain. The guys' clothing are nice though. But most them are too preppy for my taste. Dior, Armani, Chanel etc isn't my street. Oh, and most of them look like they're 16 years old. Funny thing... Here, it's the pretty, vain and skinny guys who are straight. The more buff, masculine guys, tend to be gay.
There are a lot more pretty girls than good looking guys here. I have to give it to the girls; they sure know how to take care of themselves - looking smashing at all times. The term here for "hot" is "La", as in spicy-hot.. Haha.. I'm very different than the average girl here. While the girls tend to be skinny, pale and "fragile", I'm ummm... bigger (eventhough I'm only 160cm/5ft3), dark-skinned and not so fragile looking. Like today, I was playing tennis and basketball with my uncle. There were only guys there, and their jaw practically dropped when they saw me playing. Is that good or bad??
In general, people here are really nice and polite, and very very curious when it comes to me. I think it's quite obvious that I grew up somewhere else. I'm slowly adjusting to all the staring...
Fashion
As mentioned earlier, guys may look like girls.... But there are also a lot of girls looking like boys. Notice me using "boys". No further comments on this issue lah.
The strongest influence is the Japanese. Taiwanese ppl simply love everything about Japan. Sometimes, I think some ppl wish they were Japanese.
The American fashion is also visable. I saw lots of youngsters wearing baggy jeans, big t-shirts and Timberland boots!!! It's around 34C here, and they're wearing big-ass Timberland winter shoes. Hehe...
Music
It's all about the Pop. Sentimental pop stands for maybe 90% of the music, catchy, more upbeat pop stands for the rest. I've never heard anything but pop at the two main music channels, V Channel and Chinese MTV. But I guess that's how it is...? No rock, not even pop-rock. No alternative music. Also strongly influenced by the Japanese and Americans, with a Taiwanese twist of course.
Food
I don't need to say much here... It's just fantastic!!!!!!!! I'm definetly here to eat. I try to have different dishes everytime, so much to choose between! And the best thing is that it's cheap. Cheap Cheap Cheap!!! I'm in Paradise.
Language
Mandarin is the main dialect here, but very many, especially the adults like to shout things in Taiwanese, at the night market, the food market etc. I don't understand one single word. Haha. The Chinese language is special. And the young ppl like to add in some puns when they speak. I don't understand that either. I've noticed that some of my Mandarin is outdated. Bear in mind that I've learned Mandarin from my parents. And I also have problem with some pronounciations. There are a couple of words me and my cousins pronounciate in a different way - becoz we are of mixed heritage, our grandparents are from different provinces in mainland China. But I'm learning, and my vocabulary is getting better and better.
Media
a.k.a. the Circus. I'm not kidding. The media here focus a lot on gossip, weird happenings, murders, crazy ppl, and of course the political scandals. I wont talk too much about politics, as I'm ignorant when it comes to the Taiwanese political system. And very biased of course, my family is after all KMTs.
--------------------------
PS: all this is just me rambling, ok? I see the world through pink glasses.
The young people
"Handsome" guy here is being pretty. Kinda like a girl. I'm not kidding. The trendy guys here have long hair which covers most of their face. They are thin and they quite pro at being vain. The guys' clothing are nice though. But most them are too preppy for my taste. Dior, Armani, Chanel etc isn't my street. Oh, and most of them look like they're 16 years old. Funny thing... Here, it's the pretty, vain and skinny guys who are straight. The more buff, masculine guys, tend to be gay.
There are a lot more pretty girls than good looking guys here. I have to give it to the girls; they sure know how to take care of themselves - looking smashing at all times. The term here for "hot" is "La", as in spicy-hot.. Haha.. I'm very different than the average girl here. While the girls tend to be skinny, pale and "fragile", I'm ummm... bigger (eventhough I'm only 160cm/5ft3), dark-skinned and not so fragile looking. Like today, I was playing tennis and basketball with my uncle. There were only guys there, and their jaw practically dropped when they saw me playing. Is that good or bad??
In general, people here are really nice and polite, and very very curious when it comes to me. I think it's quite obvious that I grew up somewhere else. I'm slowly adjusting to all the staring...
Fashion
As mentioned earlier, guys may look like girls.... But there are also a lot of girls looking like boys. Notice me using "boys". No further comments on this issue lah.
The strongest influence is the Japanese. Taiwanese ppl simply love everything about Japan. Sometimes, I think some ppl wish they were Japanese.
The American fashion is also visable. I saw lots of youngsters wearing baggy jeans, big t-shirts and Timberland boots!!! It's around 34C here, and they're wearing big-ass Timberland winter shoes. Hehe...
Music
It's all about the Pop. Sentimental pop stands for maybe 90% of the music, catchy, more upbeat pop stands for the rest. I've never heard anything but pop at the two main music channels, V Channel and Chinese MTV. But I guess that's how it is...? No rock, not even pop-rock. No alternative music. Also strongly influenced by the Japanese and Americans, with a Taiwanese twist of course.
Food
I don't need to say much here... It's just fantastic!!!!!!!! I'm definetly here to eat. I try to have different dishes everytime, so much to choose between! And the best thing is that it's cheap. Cheap Cheap Cheap!!! I'm in Paradise.
Language
Mandarin is the main dialect here, but very many, especially the adults like to shout things in Taiwanese, at the night market, the food market etc. I don't understand one single word. Haha. The Chinese language is special. And the young ppl like to add in some puns when they speak. I don't understand that either. I've noticed that some of my Mandarin is outdated. Bear in mind that I've learned Mandarin from my parents. And I also have problem with some pronounciations. There are a couple of words me and my cousins pronounciate in a different way - becoz we are of mixed heritage, our grandparents are from different provinces in mainland China. But I'm learning, and my vocabulary is getting better and better.
Media
a.k.a. the Circus. I'm not kidding. The media here focus a lot on gossip, weird happenings, murders, crazy ppl, and of course the political scandals. I wont talk too much about politics, as I'm ignorant when it comes to the Taiwanese political system. And very biased of course, my family is after all KMTs.
--------------------------
PS: all this is just me rambling, ok? I see the world through pink glasses.
posted by Mar at 4:56 PM
1 Comments:
your hair, your hair!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home