- Our special little guy!
- Ronald McDonald. Of course he's here, but the kids call him "crazy uncle McDonald" instead.
- Crows and seagulls. Mel's spot-on crow impressions aren't impressing anyone here.
- Scary people or obvious social problems
- Arby's and Quiznos. My two favorite places to be fed unhealthy food.
- Sidewalks that don't double as parking spaces
- SNOW ...mwhahahahaaha!!
- Old ladies dressing old. While the men are pretty conservative, older women still look pretty hip. I saw one wearing a t-shirt that said "it's all good in the hood" the other day and last week I saw a lady pushing 60 with a t-shirt that had a pot leaf on it and it said "F*** off" on the back! I choose to believe that these ladies don't know what their shirts said.
- Free plastic bags at the supermarket. They're $1-3 NT depending on where you go.
- Bars. I've seen like 1 and it was lame. I know they're out there, but they don't seem to be as common as they are at home or in Korea.
- Stores open before 11am
- Stores closing before midnight
- Oprah :(
- Houses, lawns
- Expensive postage. It cost $11NT (30 cents) to send a postcard by airmail to Canada.
- Drive Thrus
- Fruit punch
- Available seats inside any cafes on a hot day. Those seats are spoken for, son.
- People listening to music when they walk down the street (probably for fear of being run over if they can't hear)
- Hats that aren't oversized and made of straw
- Garbage cans. It's amazing how long you'll have to carry your food wrappers sometimes.
- Eating on buses or subways. It's a strict no-no and if you get caught there's a fine. We were chewing gum on the subway once and a lady tapped Mel on the shoulder and showed her a pocket translator which read "can receive fine for chewing the essence". We awkwardly chewed our "essence" more discreetly.
- Toilet paper in most public washrooms. You're supposed to bring your own or buy it from a vending machine out front.
- Agreed-upon spelling. We live in Sinjhuang but it can also be spelled "Hsinchuang"or "Xinzhuang". I've seen Taipei spelled "Taibei", Danshui as "Dansheui" or "Tamshui" and Bali as "Pali". It can make googling things quite tedious when you have to search 3 different spellings of a place name!
- Horse heads (you KNOW I brought it but it's been too hot to wear that rubber death trap!)
- People waiting very long for a subway train. They go by every 2-3 minutes.
- Bikinis on the beach. Well, maybe you'd see a few but the main fashion seems to be to wear your street clothes in the water.
- Churches
- Inflatable furniture. Seriously, where can I find a blow-up sofa? I'm not blowing $400 on a couch and wicker chairs are not comfortable.
- Heaters. We only have A/C and no heater of any type. I don't think this is going to be an issue.
- Dogs on a leash
- Pizza without corn and peas
- Ovens. We have a big toaster oven which I used to make cookies... they were a little flat but still tasted good.
- Discarded receipts (the receipt lotto draw is tomorrow!)
- Liquid vanilla (it's powdered)
- Quarter Pounders with Cheese on the McD's menu
- Wooden walls. It's all concrete here.
- Shawn and Melodie wearing anything more than shorts and a t-shirt. Seriously, Mel hasn't worn a sweater in 5 weeks. If you know her then you know how amazing this is.
- Godzilla. And I was sure I'd have seen him by now.
most homes have electric plug-in heaters. believe me, they do come in handy in the winter. sure it doesn't seem like it gets too cold here based on the long, hot summers we go through but it does get fairly cold. and as you said, all homes are concrete here, so it's basically an ice box in the winter. brace yourselves. i've heard of canadians complain that it feels colder here than back home.
ReplyDeleteActually, this post is mis-titled. It should be perhaps "Things you don't see in Taipei."
ReplyDeleteLots of those things can be seen down here in the southern part of Taiwan.
Drive-thrus, bikinis at the beach, food on buses, long waits for subway in K-town, pubs galore (more often called pubs than bars in Taiwan), freestanding houses, even small lawns, toilet paper in public places, scooter free sidewalks, and people walking around listening to their mp3 players/cellphones--all be found in the south with no problem.
Check Ikea for inexpensive but comfy furniture.
Find a bakery store--there's bound to be one near you--for liquid vanilla and other "western" baking goodies. Costco also sells a HUGE bottle of liquid vanilla.
Wow, we'll have to go on a K-town fact checking mission. I just can't fathom there being toilet paper since it was a rarity in Seoul as well.
ReplyDeleteAs for it being as cold here as in Canada in the winter, the temperature for my city at this very moment, is 0 degrees Celcius. As long as I don't have to shovel a foot of snow covered in a layer of ice off my step, I'll be happy.
there is at least one inflatable sofa/sofabed in neihu, i know, i brought it there last year. :) i think you may be able to find something at carrefour, they sell the air pump. i'm from vancouver, and will be visiting my mother in law next week, can't wait for the food.
ReplyDeletei just came across your blog and i like it, keep up the great posts.