It occurs to me that you are probably as bored with hearing about my internet problems as I am with writing about my internet problems. Therefore, I am excited to announce that my problems are resolved, I have returned to the world-wide-web, and I could not even begin to tell you how we went about solving the connectivity problems (let's just say I'm thankful for friendly, technologically-skilled, Chinese speakers).
I realize, as the weeks pass, that I find it increasingly more difficult to think of things that are worth writing about. What once seemed unique and exciting has begun to lose a bit of its 'sparkle' for me. I still love Taiwan, the problem is that it is just home to me now, and I would have struggled thinking of exciting events for every week of my Milwaukee life, or every week of my Apple Valley life, and so it appears Changhua is no different. This city, this country, they are my life right now, and all of the elaborate temples, quirky locals, and even the language (however little of it I understand) are things I barely notice anymore. It is a little bitter-sweet, being so acclimated to my life here. It was fun thinking that everything was amazing and picture-worthy, and that thinking the experiences like being stared at by strangers (or watching them sneak pictures of you) were funny, but you can't live on the outside forever. Before moving here, I had an in-depth conversation with someone, and their advise was to "truly live there". It meant that I shouldn't try to survive off of a year-supply of things I brought from the US, or rely on care-packages from home, but I should embrace how Taiwanese people live. I do live here, I shop in markets, I order in Chinese, I swerve around obstacles on my scooter, and all the other things this list implies. I know there are still aspects that I have managed not to fully immerse myself in, namely the language (which, while I have taken lessons for months) but because of the large number of English-speakers in my daily life I have gotten by without dramatically increasing my fluency, but I still have hopes of improving that as well. What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that there is nothing new in my life right now.
But even when my life doesn't hold updates, it still usually encounters something that makes me cock my head and think 'huh?'. This week, my thought was about how easy it would be (or is) for foreigners to get away with breaking the laws in Taiwan. Most police officers know limited or no English, so when they are confronted with a situation where they need to interact with foreigners, they often choose to just ignore it. Confused? I have a few examples. The other day I was driving my scooter home from work, and the police had barricaded one of the intersections. Right now the police are cracking down on drunk driving, so all scooters that arrived at the intersection had to pass a breathalyzer before moving on. I waited in line on my scooter as each of the drivers ahead of me blew into the tube, and when I reached the front of the line they just waved me past. Also this week, one of my friends was pulled over by an officer for running a red light. She pulled her scooter over, the police officer approached her, and then she was free to go. It would be impossible to expect every police officer to learn English, but the non-confrontational approach gives foreigners a lot more freedom than they deserve.
To complicate things for the Taiwanese law enforcement, government, and people in general, there is the realization that not all foreigners speak English to consider. There are a large number of German engineers who live here, but the appearance of a white face automatically triggers an "English mode" in the Taiwanese population (which is something that was drilled into them in their school and work days). Luckily with the popularization of English around the world, most white foreigners living in Taiwan, regardless of their ethnicity, have at least some grasp of English.
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