Benchmarks

So, I've been here for over two months now. So it seems as good a time as any to Evaluate, with a capital E what I've been doing since I've been here. Overall, I like Taiwan a lot, I think I'll stay for a year and maybe for longer, maybe even till I'm fluent. However, I'll wait until winter's over to see whether that really holds true. I hear winter can be really tough on foreigners and also that it gets really cold because everything is made of concrete and there's no heating.

There's a lot to like, cheap food, the access to Asian movies and music that I could only dream of in the states, speaking Chinese, being able to live quite well on 20 hours a week, although I'd like to work more.
I've met people here who complain a lot about the crowds in Taiwan and the inability to see a tree. Although these are things I notice, they don't seem to bother me as much as they do other people.

There are things I don't like, the fact that I can't find any clothes that satisfy all three of the following criteria
1. fit me
2. are in a color I would wear
3. don't have writing on them.

I usually have to settle for one of the three. The fact that women who are 30 still act and are proud of still acting like 18 year olds. The fact that there's still nothing to do in the town where I live. The foreigners. Quite frankly, I'm really tired of hearing "The Taiwanese can't make good bread. The Taiwanese are so rude. Taiwan is so crowded. People in Taiwan never travel." all the motherfucking time. Daniel once said something that I think is quite true, that most foreigners here don't seem to be having a really good time. Most of them seem to be here because they don't really have much going on for them back home, and a lot of them don't seem to have any desire to interact with or get to know Chinese/Taiwanese culture.

Just one more thing. Today, I went up to the top of Zhongzheng park which is on a hill and sat on the edge of the railing looking down on the city. If you would have told me 3 years ago that I would one day be sitting on a steep railing in a park in Taiwan listening to Chinese pop music, I would have told you you were insane.