Although I was not born in Italy my family is Italian and I can say that it’s a stark contrast.
Italian women are strong loud and proud.
Italian men are willing to fight to stick up for a woman.
Italians are not afraid of danger.
Italians are rude and will push your buttons when they want to.
Cute is not cool.
Real pasta is NOTHING like noodles here.
From my experience, although there are always exceptions, most people in Taiwan are shy, scared, closed up, overly feminine people who don’t know how to have a good time.
There is no link between cynisism & happiness as far as I am aware.
I think these countries use cynicism (I must remember that word for when I next place Hangman) , sarcasm, irony etc as forms of fun.
Some other nationalities find this hard to understand.
I certainly hope the french are happier here than they are in France. The French on average consume twice as many antidepressants as the Brits…but maybe that is because the Brits are repressing thier depression
Having said that , I think Dassgrrl is right , its much more down to your personality than your nationality re: who is happy or unhappy here.
As for the Italians. I dont know any here so I cant comment …though it would be tempting to respond to the post above with …“smallest book in the world = Italian book of war heroes” type comments …but I wont because that would be childish …
How depressing it must be to live in a country full of such people. I’m glad I don’t live there.[/quote]
Everybody has their bad points. For all of those bad sides that Nikeh pointed out, there’s the flip side of good points.
a) shy - I don’t think anyone who’s lived here is seriously going to debate this point. Compared to loud, boisterous Westerners, Taiwanese are extremely demure and shy.
b) scared - Chinese culture is about harmony, not confrontation. Confucian values raise people to be unnaturally afraid of open conflict.
And yes, Taiwanese are scared for one other big reason, and they have the right to be afraid. They’ve got several hundred missiles pointed at them that could rain down at any given minute.
c) closed up - this goes hand in hand with the shyness. There is a lot of emotional repression in this society, particularly in regards to sexuality. Taiwan is a deeply bourgeios place and to be bourgeios is to be uptight, always worrying about what other people think about you.
d) overly feminine - I for one find it a relief that most of the guys here aren’t strutting around like macho dickheads. Give me overly feminine than overly masculine any day. You actually prefer that culture of preening gorillas thumping their chests, like they have in places like Italy and Latin America? Takes all kinds, I guess.
I do get sick of hearing that “hao ke-ai!” crap 1,000 times a day, though. A lot of the women here need tips on learning how to act like women instead of little girls.
e) people who don’t know how to have a good time - eh…maybe. A lot of people here work too much, too many long hours. But c’mon, you need to get out a bit more and watch’em when they’re belting a few out at the KTV. Just because their idea of a good time isn’t the same as yours doesn’t mean they aren’t having fun.
I think you are being rather cruel to imply that there has not been a brave Italian since the Romans 2,000 years ago. I am sure you could find one if you looked really hard. For example there is Russell Crowe that gladiator & another guy like Nikeh who was “not born in Italy”.
BTW Nikeh I find it highly amusing that in one post you accuse the entire Taiwan race of not knowing how to enjoy themselves then you reply to my post at 10.30pm on a Friday night . Now I dont think the Taiwanese can learn much about having fun from someone who spends his/her Friday nights in front a a computer screen It may not be ignorant but it sure is sad.
Well, maybe nationality doesn’t matter so much for westerners, but just ask my Indonesian classmate how she liked Taiwan and how she was treated…
I was really disgusted by the news story yesterday about the New Party guy who was alleged to have mistreated his maid. The neighbors were describing the girl (all of 24 yrs old) “prettier than most Filipina maids”
I’m sure there has been a thread about this somewhere, but while I love a lot of things about Taiwan, this attitude is something I just can’t get over.
Pretty bad, too, that the prosecutor will not take things any further unless he can get the woman to return to Taiwan for further questioning (she was apparently paid “hush money” by the lawmaker in question, who himself has buggered off to mainland China).
Looks like he’ll get off scot free.
Sorry…I didn’t mean to understate the issue, but I didn’t know the exact accusation. (I saw that it was “xing qinhai”, but I did not know if it was sexual harassment or even worse) Whatever the case, I wanted to knock that smug smile off of his face.
Elmer Fung (or Feng if he prefers to romanize it thus, as I’d have thought he ought to given his pro-Beijing lackeyism), one of the most loathsome characters on Taiwan’s political stage, has been accused of raping the young Filipino caregiver employed in his household to look after his mother-in-law. When she reported the matter to the Philippine representative office, they took her to the hospital for a check-up, which confirmed that her hymen had been newly ruptured and, I hope, collected traces of the alleged rapist’s semen for DNA identification. When Fung’s family were alerted to this state of affairs, they quickly started negotiations to hush the girl up and, working through the Philippine office, managed to persuade her to accept NT$800,000 (a huge sum in the circumstances, and by itself damning enough evidence of Fung’s guilt) to drop the accusation and return to the Philippines.
I’m afraid that he’ll almost certainly manage to use his connections and clout to wriggle out of this one, especially given how difficult it is to bring a successful prosecution for rape in Taiwan. But at least one can hope that whatever credit he may have had with deluded people in Taiwan will be torn to shreds in the process, and that his wife, who evidently knows the truth of the matter very well, will make his life hell at home as the price for standing by her man in public.
[quote=“mouserstar”]Well, maybe nationality doesn’t matter so much for westerners, but just ask my Indonesian classmate how she liked Taiwan and how she was treated…
I’m sure there has been a thread about this somewhere, but while I love a lot of things about Taiwan, this attitude is something I just can’t get over.[/quote]
Well, Chinese in Indonesia and much of Southeast Asia really aren’t treated that well by the natives either. Especially in Indonesia with its regular Anti-Chinese riots. Chinese in Malaysia aren’t even allowed to hold government jobs.
not to defend these riots where chinese often become targets (like pogroms almost), but then again, when a small visible minority maybe 1% holds over 90% of the country’s wealth (or something like this or at least the perception) coupled with the well-known racist view by Chinese of other Asians, it’s not surprising is it.
And it’s that kind of attitude that makes places like Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia, Israel/Palestine, Kashmir, Rwanda, etc., such lovely places that they are today.
It may not be ignorant but it sure is sad.