On my part it is 100% not sarcastic
Jeez Louise, give the kid a break.
I can think of a bazillion worse things he could have put in his video.
BTW, kid, you don’t need to get an adapter for those 3-prong plugs, you can just snap the third one off. It’s a redundant ground, which in Taiwan is wired into one of the blade prong slots.
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Honestly, I think it’s cool what you are doing. Kind of interesting to see what Taiwan looks like through a different set of eyes. Even old-timers might learn something. Keep it going. I’ll watch.
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Oh, and I meant to give you some random advice. Go buy yourself some D cell batteries. You’ll need them for the water heater when you suddenly have a cold shower at the worst possible time.
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He’s a newbie and the culture shock/home sickness and the reality of how life is hasn’t set it. Let him enjoy the honey moon period we all had coming to Taiwan at first.
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Reading the comments I can see why some fellow expats might describe other expats living in taiwan as rude and always full of complaints.
He’s new and probably really excited for his new life in this great island.
Let the optimism continue, we certainly need more of that!
Welcome to taiwan!
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You’re referring to someone else as a newbie???
Am I reading that right??
I think the OP will be fucking off back home now that he sees what a bunch of cantankerous wankers we are.
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He’s a student, most students here share a shoebox so it’s not so bad.
Racism and discrimination from the general population to governmental policies. If you’re visiting for a couple years, it might not affect you too much. But, just try living here and making a permanent life. You’ll see. YOU FOREIGNER, YOU!
His best bet, I reckon, is to head down to the nearest nightclub to pick up a dose of chlamydia. Just for a bit of balance, like.
I like this word.
To be fair, I lived in East Asia for about three years and I developed the same anti-Westerner racism. I saw so many white people go about the same patterns of disrespect toward the local culture and society and refusal to integrate that are reproached to immigrants back in France.
On my first day in Taipei, Taiwan, I got sucked into a row about how people describe money.
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Try to integrate into Taiwan and you will be rebuffed. FOREIGNER! OUTSIDER! Become a citizen and you will never be referred to as a Taiwanese, you’re simply A FOREIGNER WITH A PASSPORT OR FOREIGNER WITH AN ID CARD.
Foreigner.
Tell a Taiwanese that you are a Taiwanese and they will laugh. Show them your id card or passport and they will call you a foreigner with a passport or id card.
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I understand it as a cultural difference. East Asian countries have been almost racially homogeneous. Nationalities and races have been almost identical for them. Their concept of foreigner could be very different from that of westerners.
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As has been established numerous times, in Taiwan, “foreigner” means “white guy”.
Which you are
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But that doesn’t make it any less racist, discriminatory and non-inclusive in tone and attitude.
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I have had some deeper philosophical discussions about this with friends, and it seems that at least among my friends most are willing to admit that a “white person with a 身份證” is just as much “Taiwanese” as they are.
One of the difficulties that many long term foreign (Western) residents have (I’m not sure whether those who have nationalized should be included here, because I only know one personally and locals that know him consider him 台灣人) is lack of real cultural integration, despite the fact that I’m sure some would say they have given it a “best effort”. Speaking passable Taiwanese, knowing about the kind of stories you would have had growing up in Taiwan, pop culture, doing military service, and so on.
On top of that, rather than getting pissed at always being called “whitey”, how many of you have actually had those deeper conversations and the result was “nope, you can’t be considered Taiwanese because you’re white”? I’d be very surprised if anyone had this result in a conversation with anyone under 40.
There is more to integration than getting a 身份證 .
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Please define:
Good to know 