Home away from home

I may be ethnically Han Chinese like the many millions of people in China, but I realized after my trip to China, that Taiwan will always be my home away from home. I speak Chinese with a Taiwanese accent, I am familiar with Taiwanese food (and love eating it!), and most of my relatives here. I feel more at ease here than I did in China, but that may be because I'm more familiar with this country and I have the convenience of family relations to rely upon. It may just be me, but I feel like Taiwanese people are very warm, friendly people, moreso than Chinese and I don't have to always be worried about being cheated out of my money. Granted, as in any foreign city, one must exercise common sense and caution, but I've settled fairly quickly into life in Taiwan.

China is supposedly known for having some of the best food on earth, especially in the Chengdu region. While I had great food in China, I would venture to say that Taiwan has much better food. (Granted, I could be biased.) I was chatting with the ladies at the local 7-Eleven and one of them asked me, "So what do you feel like is the one thing you must do in Taiwan?" to which I quickly replied, "To eat all of the Taiwanese food!" She said, "I knew it! Everyone knows that in Taiwan you must eat the food."

While people do own cars in Taiwan, mopeds are still quite popular, especially with young people who don't have too much money. Yesterday, I went with my cousin as he ran some errands and he decided to take the moped since it was just the two of us. At first, I was a bit nervous to ride on the back of a motorized bike but it's really fun and I'm debating whether or not to try driving it myself. Most likely not, since I don't want to be responsible for damaging or losing something that belongs to my cousin. Taipei is a pedestrian-friendly city so I plan on walking or taking the subway. The subway system here is really nice and quite extensive as well as user friendly. It's one of the reasons I decided I should be fine studying abroad in Taipei for the summer. Without the MRT, I may have been less inclined to do so. The MRT has signs in English and Chinese, so one doesn't need to know Mandarin to get around, though it definitely helps to know the language.

I haven't done anything really exciting since arriving in Taipei, but since classes begin this week, I should have more to report later in the week.