Some funny things that happened to me in the first few days
Being an European, or a foreigner in general, in an Asian country is always a challenge in many ways. And Taiwan is no exception to that. Of course in these few days, I haven't experienced anything bad. The only thing that is different for me now is that people are looking at me more often, I feel like I'm getting much more attention.
That happens especially in the neighborhood, where I stay, because it's a very traditional one. But even in Taipei City, around Taipei 101 or in the subway, people look at me a lot and talk about me or us. It's so easy to notice, even if I don't understand what they're saying. Interracial couples are always an interesting sight (even to me), so that's understandable. But so far I haven't been walking around by myself. I will have the pleasure to experience that tomorrow and that may provide even more funny situations, because I will have to communicate with some locals and find my way around all by myself. More about that next time.
So what happened so far? There were three really funny things, the first one is...
My epic fall: Me and my girlfriend were walking back to the subway from Taipei 101 and as you can see, the sidewalk is very wet and slippery. It's been raining for like one week, there's even small leaves on the ground. So while we were walking, I had the stupid idea to take a quick snapshot of my girl. I stepped two steps back with my cell phone camera in one hand and said: "Baby, look at me!" She turned around just to see how I slipped and fell on my front - what an epic fail! It didn't really hurt, but I immediately started to look around, if any people have seen it. Lucky for me, most of them were too far. I had a small bruise on my left hand, the right side of my pants was all wet. My Nokia got smashed on the slippery floor, but luckily, no scratch or damage was done. Pheww... I felt so stupid and shy, haha. The blurry photo above is the result of my epic fall, hehe. That shall remind me to walk like a gazelle from now on - slowly and gracefully :-P
I am the "Money come cat": The cat on the right is a common sight here, it signifies wealth. The waving left paw is calling for money to come. And guess what? My girlfriend says I'm like that cat, because it happend at least twice, that I helped someone to increase their business.
On the picture above you can see the two dishes I ate in the recent days. My girlfriend noticed that after we ordered it, suddenly there were so many people ordering the same dish. She says it's because of me :-P First I didn't believe it, but then it made sense, because they all ordered the exactly same dish and the hawker was suddenly full of people. We joked around that I should get free meals, since I always attract customers. My girl's theory is that when Taiwanese see, how a Westerner enjoys the food, they think it must be delicious, hehe. And you know, I'm many times at the center of attention, because I am different.
But the truth is, I always finish my food, even, if it's not thaaaat yummy. I don't like to waste food. But in the cases above, I really liked those dishes and I was very hungry, so I ate quicker, hehe. I guess people had the impression I'm eating the best food in the world. Well, that's how I became the "Money come cat" :-P
We were street models: Yesterday, when we walked around Taipei 101, a young girl started to talk to my girlfriend. i had no idea, what she's saying, she talked fast. I thought it's my girl's friend. Then she took out her cell phone and snapped a photo of us and repeatedly bowed and said thank you. She wanted to take a picture of us, but I have no idea why. Do we look cute? Weird? Unusual? Who knows. The only thing I thought about is, I may end up on a Taiwanese girly blog or Facebook and people will drop tons of comments about us. That's ok, if I never find out where I am posted, I don't care :-P
Being an European, or a foreigner in general, in an Asian country is always a challenge in many ways. And Taiwan is no exception to that. Of course in these few days, I haven't experienced anything bad. The only thing that is different for me now is that people are looking at me more often, I feel like I'm getting much more attention.
That happens especially in the neighborhood, where I stay, because it's a very traditional one. But even in Taipei City, around Taipei 101 or in the subway, people look at me a lot and talk about me or us. It's so easy to notice, even if I don't understand what they're saying. Interracial couples are always an interesting sight (even to me), so that's understandable. But so far I haven't been walking around by myself. I will have the pleasure to experience that tomorrow and that may provide even more funny situations, because I will have to communicate with some locals and find my way around all by myself. More about that next time.So what happened so far? There were three really funny things, the first one is...
My epic fall: Me and my girlfriend were walking back to the subway from Taipei 101 and as you can see, the sidewalk is very wet and slippery. It's been raining for like one week, there's even small leaves on the ground. So while we were walking, I had the stupid idea to take a quick snapshot of my girl. I stepped two steps back with my cell phone camera in one hand and said: "Baby, look at me!" She turned around just to see how I slipped and fell on my front - what an epic fail! It didn't really hurt, but I immediately started to look around, if any people have seen it. Lucky for me, most of them were too far. I had a small bruise on my left hand, the right side of my pants was all wet. My Nokia got smashed on the slippery floor, but luckily, no scratch or damage was done. Pheww... I felt so stupid and shy, haha. The blurry photo above is the result of my epic fall, hehe. That shall remind me to walk like a gazelle from now on - slowly and gracefully :-PI am the "Money come cat": The cat on the right is a common sight here, it signifies wealth. The waving left paw is calling for money to come. And guess what? My girlfriend says I'm like that cat, because it happend at least twice, that I helped someone to increase their business.On the picture above you can see the two dishes I ate in the recent days. My girlfriend noticed that after we ordered it, suddenly there were so many people ordering the same dish. She says it's because of me :-P First I didn't believe it, but then it made sense, because they all ordered the exactly same dish and the hawker was suddenly full of people. We joked around that I should get free meals, since I always attract customers. My girl's theory is that when Taiwanese see, how a Westerner enjoys the food, they think it must be delicious, hehe. And you know, I'm many times at the center of attention, because I am different.
But the truth is, I always finish my food, even, if it's not thaaaat yummy. I don't like to waste food. But in the cases above, I really liked those dishes and I was very hungry, so I ate quicker, hehe. I guess people had the impression I'm eating the best food in the world. Well, that's how I became the "Money come cat" :-P
We were street models: Yesterday, when we walked around Taipei 101, a young girl started to talk to my girlfriend. i had no idea, what she's saying, she talked fast. I thought it's my girl's friend. Then she took out her cell phone and snapped a photo of us and repeatedly bowed and said thank you. She wanted to take a picture of us, but I have no idea why. Do we look cute? Weird? Unusual? Who knows. The only thing I thought about is, I may end up on a Taiwanese girly blog or Facebook and people will drop tons of comments about us. That's ok, if I never find out where I am posted, I don't care :-P
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