A Belated Update
I'm sorry about how long it's taken me to get back to you.
I've been spending a good amount of time getting to know the people in my hostel, though many of them seem to come and go too quickly. In particular, I have one good British friend who is studying here at National Taiwan Normal University, and a friend from Canada named Dave. Ironically, the more citizens of the Commonwealth I meet, the more I realize how much closer the Canadians are to us than we usually assume. It's often quite difficult to make friends with British because I usually simply fail to understand the undertones of their conversation. Even though they speak the same language (more or less), I end up feeling as if they're a part of a clique which, though it seems to be based on the same elements as my American existence, is really quite exclusive. Even Australians and New Zealanders are easier to get along with. That said, I'm finding camaraderie in strange places. My friend Duncan, though, is really quite nice and unassuming. He's really a relaxed, fun guy, with a fair bit of experience in Asia. He just finished a Master's in International Business and Chinese, or something along those lines, and is studying here to perfect his Chinese, which still has many elements from the Mainland in it. To be honest, a lot of the students here in Taipei aren't very good. Maybe I sound just as bad to others, but I have heard some really bad Chinese accents these days.
I am still living in the hostel, and that suits (it had better, since I haven't anywhere else to sleep!) me just fine for now. It's a fun, dorm-like experience, though I'm going to have to go to a tea house or a web cafe to study once classes start. In fact, the hostel is quite near to both of those establishments, and what fine places they are, indeed. The internet cafe is a little less than a dollar an hour, and it has pool tables and all sorts of nice amenities. The tea houses are 24 hours as well, and serve quite good food along with an array of teas which would be speciality in the United States. Here, they are just par for the course. Four or five kinds of green tea, served hot or cold, with or without milk and sugar, plus another selection of oolong and fruit teas. They drink it the way we drink fountain sodas in America. Though, it's often not quite as good for you as you might assume, since people here can make a powerfully sweet iced tea, like something from the Deep South. Worse still, the Taiwanese national favorite, zhen zhu nai cha or pearl milk tea incorporates a huge amount of milk or cream. It tastes good every once in a while, but I guess I prefer the more traditional unsweetened teas. What really gets me, though, is how popular Lipton is here. Just boggles the mind, doesn't it? That in a country where you can buy tea from a particular mountainside among many at every tea shop (they have shops dedicated to selling tea leaves! you can't even drink it there; it's just for purchase) people would still want Lipton.
In any case, I have to go, but I'll try and be more regular with my posts. I hope you enjoyed this, and I really appreciate your comments. Post again!
Zhu
Hao
(Wish you well.)
I've been spending a good amount of time getting to know the people in my hostel, though many of them seem to come and go too quickly. In particular, I have one good British friend who is studying here at National Taiwan Normal University, and a friend from Canada named Dave. Ironically, the more citizens of the Commonwealth I meet, the more I realize how much closer the Canadians are to us than we usually assume. It's often quite difficult to make friends with British because I usually simply fail to understand the undertones of their conversation. Even though they speak the same language (more or less), I end up feeling as if they're a part of a clique which, though it seems to be based on the same elements as my American existence, is really quite exclusive. Even Australians and New Zealanders are easier to get along with. That said, I'm finding camaraderie in strange places. My friend Duncan, though, is really quite nice and unassuming. He's really a relaxed, fun guy, with a fair bit of experience in Asia. He just finished a Master's in International Business and Chinese, or something along those lines, and is studying here to perfect his Chinese, which still has many elements from the Mainland in it. To be honest, a lot of the students here in Taipei aren't very good. Maybe I sound just as bad to others, but I have heard some really bad Chinese accents these days.
I am still living in the hostel, and that suits (it had better, since I haven't anywhere else to sleep!) me just fine for now. It's a fun, dorm-like experience, though I'm going to have to go to a tea house or a web cafe to study once classes start. In fact, the hostel is quite near to both of those establishments, and what fine places they are, indeed. The internet cafe is a little less than a dollar an hour, and it has pool tables and all sorts of nice amenities. The tea houses are 24 hours as well, and serve quite good food along with an array of teas which would be speciality in the United States. Here, they are just par for the course. Four or five kinds of green tea, served hot or cold, with or without milk and sugar, plus another selection of oolong and fruit teas. They drink it the way we drink fountain sodas in America. Though, it's often not quite as good for you as you might assume, since people here can make a powerfully sweet iced tea, like something from the Deep South. Worse still, the Taiwanese national favorite, zhen zhu nai cha or pearl milk tea incorporates a huge amount of milk or cream. It tastes good every once in a while, but I guess I prefer the more traditional unsweetened teas. What really gets me, though, is how popular Lipton is here. Just boggles the mind, doesn't it? That in a country where you can buy tea from a particular mountainside among many at every tea shop (they have shops dedicated to selling tea leaves! you can't even drink it there; it's just for purchase) people would still want Lipton.
In any case, I have to go, but I'll try and be more regular with my posts. I hope you enjoyed this, and I really appreciate your comments. Post again!
Zhu
Hao
(Wish you well.)
posted by Andrew at
2:02 PM
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