[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Gingerman said:
How long have you been in Taiwan Gingerman? When do you stop scuppering around on egg shellls trying not to upset the locals and just relax and become one of the boys? Those locals are always such wondeful “guests” in the region, I note. Really, you should check out the way they swagger around the likes of Zhuhai or Nha Trang.
Sorry mate, not really picking on you, quiite a few people respond with this guest thing. I personally don’t get it.
HG[/quote]
Been here 8.7 years.
Scuppering (now, there’s a cool word!) on egg shells? Me?! Never…
This is how I see it. As a foreigner I try and act in Taiwan as I would want any other immigrant to act in my own country. That is to blend in, stay away from controversial activities, put the nose to the grindstone and work hard. Especially stay away from illegal activities, which only sharpen any underlying racism if any one member of an ethnic group or nationality is caught involved in something illegal, especially drugs. This is true in any nation, or indeed culture. The media, in any country, especially have a field day with this sort of thing. “Crazed (insert nationality here) Drug Fiends Corrupting Our Youth!”.
I guess I’d feel the same way if I was an honest, law abiding hard-working Vietnamese on the west coast of Canada, and I saw some of my fellow compatriots smoking dope out in the open. It can only lead to further negative stereotyping. In my own country, I would never even dream of smoking a pipe at a busy downtown intersection. If I did so as an immigrant, I would not only stand out more than the locals when I commited this offence, but I would be letting down the rest of my fellow- immigrants.
Now, in this country & culture, with its past history of xenophobia, social norms (by this I mean maintaining face, avoiding confrontation, and low tolerance for excessive indivdualism) and views on illegal drugs, anything negative a foreigner does will have repercussions all down the line. This goes for getting angry in traffic, standing in a queue, getting into loud drunken fistfights, dealing with Customer Service, chatting with one’s neighbors, etc.
Or smoking dope in plain view. Right in front of cameras. Outside a pub frequented by gansters, plain clothes and uniformed cops. Beside a series of night stands that serve families out for a late evening snack. Onandonand, on…In my view folks that do such a shortsighted deed are either dumb punks, or reckless amateurs. Dangerous, either way…
And if this sounds too self righteous, it may well be just that. I live in the same city where the event I described in my previous post took place, not more than 5 minutes away. It’s my neighborhood that’s being directly affected. And as a member of a quite visible minority (the lofty, towering one, i am 6’4’') in this small city, I will be the one that has to suffer any consequences of such a selfish, thoughtless action.
