A Crazy Island I Call Home

Being in Taiwan for about 2 full days now and I've realized that looking like an idiot is almost impossible to do until I learn Chinese better. To be honest, I have been living off some clif bars I bought at Target before I left because I have no idea how to order stuff. I walked around for about 30 minutes going through all the back alleys and up the streets just looking at all the stores and little food places. It's crazy how different everything is but it's really cool. I was so hungry that I almost made myself point to a random food item and just eat it... but I decided not to. Not because I was scared but I thought I could do way better than just point and smile. So I went back and asked my new friend, Frank, to help me out. He taught me a little basic stuff (which I really should have known) like 我想要这个 (wo-xiang-yao-zhe-ge) and 多少錢 (duo-shao-qian). [Those mean, "I would like that" and "how much"] So now I can go walk around, smile, point, and have something to say in Chinese that is worthwhile.

Crime must be really low in Taiwan because stores just have their goods on the sidewalks and no one watching it. I've also heard from other people that the clubs are really safe because some of the new girls were worried about being jumped. Not to lie I was a little scared too but at the same time I don't know why because I've been walking around this city by myself a couple of time and I've had no troubles. This also leads me to think. Being here for the past couple nights, this culture is way different than America. Well at least the people I have met anyways. They remind me of how I used to be back in the day.. like Freshman in High School. Pretty much having fun without alcohol. It's really fun to play card games and learn new words... but every night is getting a little boring, but I'm sure that's because of my ability to communicate is lacking some. I did find some people that play guitar and basketball. So at the moment I'm not too worried about being bored. Also, I'm in the beginning stages of converting one of my favorite guitar songs to piano. I have the basic layout of the song down (intro-verse-chorus-bridge-final chorus) but I need to find a better rhythm since all I'm doing at the moment is playing the chord once and holding until I need to switch chords. Hopefully soon I'll be able to play my first piano song flawlessly.

One of the things that I was told that might happen would be "culture shock". I haven't even thought about it. Sure I can't understand anything that people are saying when I go out but its kind of fun [to me at least] to be like, OH I know that word! It is kind of weird when I walk down the streets and alleys to only hear a foreign language though. The thing that fascinates me most would be that everyone I have met so far speak at least 2 different languages. Most speak Chinese/Korean/Japanese/English. Some conversations they literally switch in and out. It's insane. I'm slowly learning Korean and Japanese so maybe I can join that awesome group in a couple of months.

I've been slacking on the whole picture taking aspect of this trip. And honestly, I've seen some really awesome things that I wish I had taken pictures of. So from today on, I will have this camera attached to my mother!@#%ing hip. (Hopefully anyways) I wanted to because, there are no words to describe this different culture. It's awesome, terrible, and amusing all at once. I miss a lot of American ways but this culture offers enough positives that culture shock isn't even a big deal to me. I mean on the plus side, I'm like one of the taller people! The biggest thing that has affected me would be that no one really shares the same interests as me... well on a deeper thinking level. I've been searching about watching interviews of Jacque Fresco because after listening to him talk in that interview just leaves me speechless. He has a great level of experience and explains common everyday things that I have never even questioned before. Before I get way off topic, I'll try to take some pictures of this crazy place and show what it is like to live in Taiwan.

Hope all is well back in the lovely U.S of A.

Cheerio,

Alastar Swift


PS: You were right, about page 100 and it's just way to hard to put down. Except I have to force myself to stop so that I don't spend all day reading.