I do a fair amount of Taipei bashing, but that is more the nature of this beast rather than an indictment on the city as I have well documented issues with being hyper-critical. The infrastructure is good; efficient and cost efficient transportation, convenient and accessible health care, and clean drinking water being the most obvious examples. The architecture overall is uninspired, but I think that is mostly do to the speed with which the city and country grew from basically an afterthought before 1949, into today's Asian Tiger. You do see a lot of the newer stuff having a bit of architectural flair and creativity. The reason I got to thinking about this today was I saw them repairing a pot hole this morning and it struck me that I hadn't drivin into a pot hole before. With all the precipitation and pounding the streets get, that fact seems most amazing and is a testament to a well run city. When you see construction or maintenance projects going on around town, the speed at which they are completed just astounds. Coming from Seattle and LA, dealing with the most minor of fix-it projects taking months of traffic snarling detours was expected, and watching the same kind of street repairs being completed in days is so refreshing. Am all for "code" and government approval processes, and living in seismically active spots like all of the above, understand that strict adherence to building standards is critical, but just feel like they are handled far more efficiently in this society. We'll see what happens when the shit hits the fan as there are notorious stories of corruption with regard to the Taiwanese government officials.
I think we've either grown accustomed to Taiwan, or have lived here too long. In Chinese class a while ago, we got on the topic of bugs and how the teacher was afraid of spiders. Coming from the PNW, spiders are THE bug, and waking through a spider web, getting your face tangled up in one is just part of daily life. Haven't noticeda significant spider population but rather, the cockroaches here are THE bug. The teacher was saying that growing up with them, that they have become her pengyou (Chinese for friend), but they still make me uneasy. We were walking to dinner the other night, and a big one is crossing the street in front of us, and whereas before, Carolyn would freak and run behind me for protection, she just sorta non-chalantly pointed it out and said "that's a big one". We might as well embrace their love. I just read this article about them that says they can have virgin births, can survive for hours without oxygen or in a nuclear war, and can live for hours without their heads. I was betting on the kids to take care of me in my old age, but think the cockroaches might be better suited to the task.
Another little cultural difference tidbit for today is how time is perceived. Westerners view time on a horizontal line while Chinese view it vertically. Grew up with terms like last and next describe time, while their counterparts are above and below in Chinese. For example, next Wednesday becomes below Wednesday. Doesn't seem like much, but it carries into everyday life in odd ways and it explains something that has always confused me. When we (Westerners) wave to some one to come here, we will pull our hand towards us horizontally. I kept seeing locals waving their hands in a top to bottom vertical movement, like one would imply another to quiet down, but realized that that is the "come here" motion. One of my favorite scenes from Inglorious Bastards is the one in the bar where the guy wants three beers, but holds up three fingers as an American would, not in the German way. The German sees it and his suspicions that the guy is a spy are confirmed, and as it's a Tarantino film, a bloody shootout ensues. Think I better work on learning more of the hand motions so I don't cause an international incident. I am a big fan of flipping the bird on the road, but don't feel satisfied with the responses. Haven't figured out what the local equivalent is. Will get back to you on that.
Finally for today, saw the new Fast and Furious last night. So mind-numbingly great. Was watching CNN International the afternoon before going to see it and they were having a sit down interview with Vin Diesel and were discussing his acting "craft". I know...CNN International has time in their schedule to interview Vin Diesel? But I was impressed that he knew the meaning of the word archetype and used it correctly in a sentence (and yes, wearing a wife-beater IS an archetype). Anyhoo, once you suspend your belief in reality and the laws of physics, the movie was everything I could hope for from the Fast franchise. My favorite line in the flick, and one the kids are already tired of hearing me quote, was when Diesel character, Dominic Toretto, says to his old girlfriend (that has risen from the dead, natch)..."Show me how you drive, and you show me how you live." Truer words my friend.
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