How Did Living in Taiwan Change You?

waffle… stop. :nauseated_face:

3 Likes

That was my reaction too :nauseated_face: :slight_smile:

1 Like

made me care less about certain things i guess, i really noticed it when i went back home recently.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l0uqye2nr_c

1 Like

Not mine!!! :blush: His!!! :wink:

I used to look at US dollars as the only “real money”, but now NT dollars look real and US dollars look like they came outta the Monopoly set.

I think age and family changed me more than Taiwan has. I came to Taiwan at the end of one decade, lived here through that next decade, and am now into a new decade (I’ve been here almost 14 years). I feel all that that entails has changed me more than my environment.

I don’t think Taiwan changed me.

But I do think looking inside and embarking on an iterative self-improvement journey changed me.

And you can, too!

Back in the day girls used to move to Taipei from the sticks and stand on the western toilets that they clearly didn’t know how to use, leaving grubby footmarks. We used to have to put signs up in Buxiban toilets telling girls not to stand on the seat.

But yeah, not many toilet facilities only offer the squat option these days although quite a few have both.

1 Like

My impression is that people still do that, but not because of being from the sticks, but for reasons having to do with hygiene. And I still see the signs every now and then.

For them maybe, but certainly not for the next person in the stall. I’d like to put a footprint on their forehead. :grin:

1 Like

Living in Taiwan has changed me in that I’m much more patient than I used to be. When I visit my home country I never get annoyed if someone suddenly stops in front of me, or walks backwards into me, or cuts me up when driving. Obviously these things hardly ever happen in the UK, but in general I’m much more chilled about other people not being aware of my presence.

The downside, as tango42 mentioned earlier, is I’m generally off guard for the first few days when I visit the UK. Stupid stuff like leaving my wallet in front of me on the bar when drinking. Or not thinking twice before entering a strange pub. I don’t have any problem in dealing with meth heads - I’m used to them in Taoyuan.

1 Like

Can someone from Europe or Italy confirm something for me. Because I’m not sure if my gf is fucking with me. Apparently many public places don’t have the toilet seat, they literally stand on the edges of the bowl to poop or pee.

I thought for the whole trip it was weird that so many toilets were broke and missing the seat. And later asked her and she told me it’s like that.

I hope their aim was very, very good. Especially if it was number 2.

The problem is it isn’t, so then there’s effluent all over the shop and NOBODY wants to sit down.

Back in the day, the girls used to say that of a Friday or Saturday (or Wednesday Ladies’) night, the Ladies’ Room at Carnookie’s was like a fucking open cesspool.
These are real signs put up in places with lots of Taiwan/Chinese tourists:

1 Like

Oh yeeeeaaaah I’ve seen those :thinking:

lol stand on the edge of the seat?? i can remember my dads house in italy had no toilet seat and i was like wheres the seat how am i supposed to sit on that? i thought it was just broken and he hadn’t bought a new one or something.

Italians are legendary style mavens, but hygiene has always been iffy.

Roman men used to sit over a cutout on a long board, with lots of other cutouts, over a latrine pit (did have running water through it though) to take a crap. There was a sponge brush tied to a leather string next to your cutout. You used that to wipe. It wasn’t washed between uses. You just made do with another dude’s poo while removing the goo.

In Ireland - if the seat is nasty - people do what is known as the “hover dump”. It involves hovering over rather than standing on the seat. If they put 2 and 2 together I am sure they would stand on it. But I dont think that has occurred to anyone yet

I always wanted that some woman actually slipped and got her foot stuck in the ‘pot’, at our eatery we always needed to clean the friggin’ foot marks. It irked me big time.

1 Like