Peshawar III

I am sitting in a cafe near National Taiwan Normal University, called Peshawar III. I always seem to begin my posts by describing where I am at the moment of writing them, and I think that's because my access to the internet here is not as stable as it is back home. At times I will check my email at school (especially those times when I don't have a computer), but otherwise I will usually be in some small cafe or the odd bar with wireless internet. In any case, this particular cafe is a very nice place, for some reason named after Pakistani provincial capital:

Peshāwar literally means City on the Frontier in Persian and is known as Pakhor in Pashto. It is the provincial capital of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. Located on the edge of the Khyber Pass, Peshawar is the commercial, economic, political and cultural capital of the Pakistani frontier and, particularly, of the Pashtuns. In ancient times the city was known as Purushapura when it was officially founded by the Kushans. For much of its history, it was one of the main trading centers on the ancient Silk Road and was a major crossroads for various cultures between the subcontinent and Central Asia.

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I never finished that post. I don't even remember what it was going to be about, but at least you all know a little bit more about Pakistan now. It's late, and I have to go to sleep soon or I won't wake up on time for class, but I'd like to explain to everyone the kind of thing that has made me so intent on staying in Taiwan for another semester. (In case you haven't yet heard, I am staying for another few months. I will almost certainly be graduating a little bit late, but this is an opportunity for me to push my Chinese to a level I could never attain from a few disconnected sessions of study, and certainly not while in the United States).

Quite near my house, there is a bing lang (betel nut) shop which functions more as a social gathering place than a place of business. Many Taiwanese open shops which don't seem to exist to make money, but rather as a way to keep busy and make the most of the family real estate. This particular establishment isn't exactly hopping with customers, and I don't go there to buy betel nut, but I do enjoy talking to the owner. He really enjoys discussing politics and cultural differences. In truth, he's more of a pontificator than a debator, but it's entertaining to hear his opinions nonetheless. One of the things that really intrigues me about meeting people in Chinese is the way that language influences the way I understand them. Sometimes little things that come out of our language barrier can make them seem very different from how I think native Taiwanese might perceive them. This betel nut shop lao ban, for instance, loves to watch foreign movies till late at night when there aren't any customers. Sometimes he seems so entranced by the cheesiest of American action films, and it really seems a little childish. But are the majority of Americans any different in watching foreign films, like kung fu flicks? On the other hand, it took me a while to see through his impassioned tone to realize he just likes to be right about everything, no matter what the topic of discussion. At first, it had seemed like he was a closet philosopher, but after talking to him a couple times his personality sort of forced its way through the veil of language difficulty and made itself clear. He would never lower his level of discourse to aid me, which although pleasing meant I had some difficulty understanding him. Regardless, he seems to have let me into a circle of some sort, which includes his brothers and various neighbors that like to stop by and chat. I'm sure I'll stop by again, because I do enjoy those impromptu gatherings. But I think my Chinese is starting to get good enough where some of these types of people can be more annoying than fascinating. It really is an interesting process, growing up again in another language. Kind of like reincarnation, actually, but with more hints along the way.