OK…do people really get more sick here?? Maybe they go to the doctor more here than in the U.S. but that’s strictly a money issue – here there is nationalized healthcare and the doctor is cheap. I didn’t go to the doctor for three years before I moved to Taiwan. Did I need to go? Sure. But since I didn’t health insurance at my job I couldn’t justify spending almost US$100 just to see a doctor on the off chance there was really nothing wrong. Luckily, I didn’t die from the flu or from my high blood pressure. (Of course, high blood pressure is the silent killer so at least I would have died quietly 
)
I can finally eat the pig pipes after years of not wanting them. Large and small pipes. All okay and between them and a Big Mac, I’ll take the drainage system.
It is funny to see your friends eating all the insides and turning their noses up at fresh cut mushroom in a salad.
I’ve seen some very serious Chinese wives discussing the fresh vegetables and how gross they are. They make a lot of chopping and frying motions so you can see the gist of the discussions without much language skill required.
I’ve recently taken to slicing a lot of fresh tomato alongside traditional Chinese food. Hot and cold is not allowed of course but its very good all the same.
This is my biggest pet peeve as well. I watch friends and stragers alike quickly pass one hand under the tap, slick down there hair and leave the restroom. It drives me nuts. The lack of handwashing, coupled with used tissue in open containers is something I wish I could get used to. Since I’m feeling pissy at the moment. I also hate when a “Western toilet” has footprints on the sides and is sprayed with urine. Not fair. WHaa WHaa I don’t pee all over the “squatters.” I don’t understand the logic" it’s not safe to sit on a toilet, but it is ok to pee everywhere and not wash your hands?
Maybe we should change our ways in our family. We wash our hands thoroughly with soap after a dabian, but just water after a pee. Is this wrong, because it’s how I was brought up!
Meat is seen as nutritious and only the rich could afford to have it everyday, like a lot of famine/peasant food using up every last bit of the animal is a sensible way of making more meals out of little protein. I guess its becomes a part of ‘traditional’ food culture. You may afford filet mignon, but also hanker for chitlins…
I would love to be able to eat like I do in Taiwan everyday and buy meat from a butcher in all its bloody glory as opposed to shopping under an artificial glare. Ironically for the ultra-industrialised countries…It seems that the blanket pravelence of trans-fats, refined carbohydrates has fuelled an upmarket trend towards ‘rustic’ food these days with people wanting to eat like poor French and Italian farmers with artisan ‘hand cut’ chips.
Maybe we should change our ways in our family. We wash our hands thoroughly with soap after a dabian, but just water after a pee. Is this wrong, because it’s how I was brought up![/quote]
This is simple. Soap cleans your hands. If you use only water, you are just moving the “dirt/etc.” around on your hands. 