My first face to face with Taiwan’s food would be the famous fried chicken, I was a newcomer so I had some people that I met here took me out to what is going to become my first visit to a nightmarket (Shilin nightmarket in Taipei), so back to the fried chicken, I liked it although I thought it was sort of too oily and seemed quite unhealthy as a meal, let me just say that I wasn’t impressed at all.

I remember I had an indian roll after that and on and on…Japanese cheese sticks,American hotdogs, fried dough (comes from North Africa), Japanese fish balls….I was constantly looking for something that belongs to Taiwan’s cuisine and is not some sort of imported culinary concepts…after a couple of days, I had to look no further, I had found something that locals consider as a local dish and that foreigners (or at least most of them) run the other way as soon as they get in touch with its smell, for those of you who guessed, yeah you got it right, Stinky tofu (cou tofu).

The name and the distinction of the smell matches perfectly, it STINKS, but I wasn’t going to back off, I’ve had similar experiences previously (Rockfort cheese to name one and I loved the taste) so there was, with my courage and determination, making my way through the crowds, zig zagging between the stinky smoke coming from the vendor stand, speaking out my only chinese words learned at the time in a clumsy tone (yi ge which means one or I want one) and finally reaching for the bag of sliced fried and nevertheless stinky tofu with a hand, and giving the vendor the coins with my other one, first bite, chewing…………

Ben-0

Stinky tofu-1

Now how would I describe my deception merging with my disapointment, hmmm….Imagine a tasteless cube of bean curd, sunk into a pile of greasy oil, then snatched out of that nasty oil and finally blasted with a dark soy sauce and lots of chili sauce(Taiwan’s chili sauce has not nothing but Hot chili, it’s not seasoned, no sir). First, I busted in tears the chili was a sneak preview of your first inhalation if (could be a when) you go to hell, then what comes after the spicy taste? nothing but the taste of the greasy oil, I felt bad, for my stomach, for all the people who were going to have the same experience or had it already and generally for the gourmands and gourmets.

Throughout my 4 years in Taiwan, I got to learn that what is tasteless to me and probably to other foreigners, is delicious to locals and what tastes horrible to me and the rest of us, is….still delicious to locals, well you get the idea…Taiwan food and I will just never be friends, we won’t call each other or not even bother to send an email, Taiwan food and I is like that date you had when you were young and fool and although you insisted on staying till the end of the first date by courtesy, you have realized since the first seconds that you and your date have nothing in common and you would rather walk the other way, even if it meant taking a further way back home.

Weddings in Taiwan are different from those in the west, everything starts with the letter you receive as a guest, an invitation letter with a huge box full of sweets (usually, cookies in all kind of flavors).

Next, you have to sort of value the relationship between you and the person getting married, in order to not mistaken the amount of money that you have to put inside the red envelope, which every guest is likely to give at the reception of the wedding.

Got your suit on and your red envelopes with couple of thousands of dollars NT? Then the next stop will be the wedding’s reception where you’re going to give the red envelope and get your name marked on a list with the amount of money that you gave.

This is a tradition in Taiwan and the married couple needs to check how much you gave them so that they can give you more money when you get married. Weird? Or brilliant? Let me know what your opinion is

In addition to the numerous mandarin blogs covering practically every topic that someone can think of, Taiwan got also its bag of English blogs and they are qualitatively imposing, another niche market affirmation?

English bloggers in Taiwan successfully distinguished themselves in diverse blogging categories and their blogs are as eminent as American or other English speaking country’s blogs, in terms of quantity, quality, variety and interaction with the audience.

The view from Taiwan is one of the top and most successful English blogs in Taiwan featuring Political views about Taiwan, Owned by Michael Turton, Chao Yang University lecturer in Taichung.

Michael Turton came to Taiwan in 1989 and became a very active person in Taiwan’s politics since.

He taught in several universities, had his own business going on for a little while and started blogging on 2005 and was already known on the internet before getting into the blogosphere.

“It is something that I know and I thought wasn’t getting enough exposure in the world, it just came naturally, I suppose.” said Michael, in regard of the reason behind launching his blog about Taiwan, “My Taiwan website was already very popular but it lacked a regular update function. Further, there were many things I wanted to say about Taiwan, but really didn’t fit the kind of website I constructed”

Michael recently gave a speech about blogging in Ming Chuan University, Taoyuan branch. He also talked about how important the role of globalization in Taiwan is, and how blogs can change the view of a person, a country and even the whole world.

The speech ended with advices for the audience on how to have a successful blog and a question/answer session.

The view from Taiwan gets high blog stats but is not profitable yet.” I dislike advertizing intensely, but I see no other way to make money off the blog” said Michael,” And I have a wife and two kids who need me to make money.”

Michael is actually working on his next project which is a book entitled “Taiwan: A memory”

Blogging in English in Taiwan is not only about politics but also other areas as education.

Scott Sommers, Ming Chuan University Lecturer, runs Scott Sommers’ Taiwan Weblog, One of the top English blogs in Taiwan about education.

Scott has lived in Taiwan since 1996 and prior to joining MCU in 2002 taught business English in Taipei and Taipei County, before Taiwan, he taught at universities, colleges, and business companies in South Korea and Japan.

“A lot of blogs provide information that in the past would have been very difficult to find. For example, the information about living in Taiwan that you find on Michael Turton’s blog would have been impossible to find without his work” said Scott,” My blog provides a similar service for those interested in teaching English here and for those teaching here to stay informed about professional and policy issues in Taiwan.”

Scott expressed his opinion about the education in Taiwan, which he thinks has 2 major problems, “One is that the government does not provide support for the aspects of education that would really improve the quality of education here. The other is that it does not allow the flexibility that educators and administrators need to handle the problems that emerge regularly. The MOE itself has become one of the obstacles that schools have to overcome in their efforts to educate students.”

Scott said that he doesn’t really have any expectation concerning his blog and that as long as blogging is fun, he’ll keep doing it.

One of the most powerful ways to get more and more audience towards a blog is to have tons of pictures on it as Michael said, “People are visual animals.”

35Togo is another, but nevertheless important, English blogs in Taiwan featuring the photography work of Clark MacLeod, a freelance designer and art director.

“Photography is a far too serious term for the photos I have on 35togo”, said Clark describing his blog, “I was simply trying to record the quotidian of life I saw as I wandered the streets. The results are usually not of high quality but it is representative of the artifacts I noticed.”

The blog gets some 900 unique visits a day and is much like a scrapbook, explained Clark, a catalogue of ideas, events, artifacts, and impressions. He records the things that interest him during this period of his life.”It isn’t always beautiful nor technically compelling but it’s my view of the world no matter how mundane.”

Clark has BA in Jazz Music from Saint Francis Xavier University; he spent three years studying towards a Music Performance diploma from Humber College. His graduate studies were at Chiao Tung University where he was a student of Prof. Chung in Visual Communication.

Whether it’s Michael, Scott, Clark or other English bloggers, Taiwan is well represented in the world blogosphere and as dozens of blogs are popping out every second, Taiwan certainly doesn’t have to worry about its English blog community.

Jeana Noels who was born in a small community on the tropical Islands of St.Vincent and the Grenadines expresses that the major obstacle for her is the language.

“It was even more difficult when I had just came and spoke no Chinese at all.” said Jeana. “Now after more that three years, there’s a major difference because I can communicate with others.”

She came to Taiwan in August of 24. She spent one year earning Mandarin at National Taiwan Normal University, then in September of 2005 went on to pursue a degree in Advertising at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

‘Being such an eager and motivated individual, at the beginning of my second year I went on to pursue a second degree in Diplomacy at NCCU.” Jeana said.

When asked if there’s anything she might be concerned about when she returns home, she stated that it might be difficult to find a job because there has been a significant increase in the numbers of students from her country going overseas to study, many of them excel academically.

‘With so many qualified people and job offering, the competition is tight.” said Jeana.
Added to obstacles, all three students that were interviewed face major problems with the weather.

‘Coming from a tropical island I find it difficult to adjust to the cold winters and the seemingly never ending rain.” said Jeana. “Because of the constant fluctuation in temperatures, especially during the changing in seasons, I get colds very often, sometimes very bad.

Kervin Lloyd and twenty two year old Samantha Daniel from the beautiful Caribbean Twin Island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis also expressed how they felt studying in Taiwan.

Unlike Jeana, Kervin came to Taiwan in 2005, where he studied Mandarin at National Chengchi University for one year.

Presently Kervin is a first year student pursuing a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at Ming Chuan University at the Taipei campus, making him the second person from his country to pursue a degree in this major at the same University.

“As a student my life on campus is not really forth coming.” said Kervin. “Sometimes as a foreigner, I feel shut out and things about me are just handed down to me without my input of opinion.”

“However, I am very happy to be given the opportunity to study in a foreign country.” stated Kervin. “For me it is a change of environment and an education in another country’s culture.”

Even though he is far away from home, he is not eager to return because he knows that someday he will, so for now he is just living the moment here in Taiwan. However, he mentioned that he keeps in touch with his parents and friends back home regularly through much modern technology such as the internet.

He further mentioned that living in a totally different environment to his, obstacles do arise.
‘To overcome these obstacles I first seek guidance from God, then my mom and to a smaller extent the advice of those from my country who have been here for some tome now.” said Kervin.

Upon returning home Kervin is concerned about the usual stifling of new ideas learned in modern day education systems from people who have been in the system for too long and unwilling to accept change or new thinking.

Samantha is a third year student pursing a Bachelors degree in Life Science at the National Chung Hsing University in Taichung.

Surprisingly, Samantha is not too moved about the culture change. In an interview with her, she had this to say.

“I enjoy the beach, so sometimes I feel am too far from home, but as a Caribbean woman, I believe that we have survived so much so far; this is nothing.”

She finds that Chinese is a lovely language and is so blessed to learn such a language that is the opposite of English. Sam is a positive person and tries not to dwell in the negative.

Unlike Kervin and Jeana, Samantha doesn’t ‘dread’ anything when she returns home.
“God is in control and He will see me through.” she said. “He would not give me more than I can handle.”

Going to church every Sunday, singing and keeping in touch with her Caribbean counterparts/friends helps Samantha to relax and overcome any obstacle she faces while here in Taiwan.

Students strongly believe that they now have a responsibility to self, family and country to apply themselves diligently. They are here as students to observe and to become acquainted with the culture, environment and the people among whom they live.

This is just a little of our experience when clubbing or just trying to have fun in Taipei, Taiwan.

Bernice Matthew

Bernice Matthew

Taiwan roads, to start with, are one of the worst in shape that I’ve ever seen…it’s never flat or when it is, it’s for a short, I’d say really short period of time before you get back on the usual potholes and the, so many, manholes.

For me, riding a bike on Taiwan’s roads feels just like riding a camel but with more speed into it, and your scooter or motorcycle receive the shocks and at the end, even your scooter was bought brand new, you end up spending loads of cash on fixing this and that.

But let’s not forget some other things that makes your scooter riding experience in Taiwan, sort of unforgettable, such as, the Taiwanese drivers, whether they’re riding a scooter, driving a car, a taxi or even a truck, behave in a bad way on the roads, scooters speeding up a zigzagging between scooters and cars, taxi drivers popping from everywhere on the road, sports cars horning n driving at some ridiculous speed with drivers chewing “Ping Lang”, the local drug or drunk and so on…

Another very stressful experience is that when it rains, even softly, the roads become very slippery and on the man-holes, it’s even worse…

So if you’re going to ride your bike anywhere in Taiwan, wear your helmet and maybe the mask, turn it on and hope for the best, because, in most cases, that’s all you can do.

Ben Hakam