…try to catch the half hour Zhongtian Xingwen at 12.30 PM every weekday, just so I can hear Mandarin (Taiwan style). In Taiwan, I scoffed at the local news and made fun of how the “reporters” were like hound dogs and couldn’t even speak properly. I liked to keep my TV on English shows back in Taiwan. But ever since I clicked on Zhongtian Xingwen by accident in SF, it’s been a source of comfort. Sometimes I don’t even watch it, but it makes for soothing background noise.
…I’ve even gone so far as to catch a bit of the Minnan show following it at 1 PM. It’s Daai (“Big Love”) some sort of religious show in Taiwanese. However, it’s so sappy I have only managed to watch a few minutes of it.
…I’ve even gone to this so-called Taiwanese restaurant to eat so-called Taiwanese food when it’s actually just a Chinese restaurant which also serves a few local Taiwan favorites. It’s pretty shite, but again, it’s comforting.
I think I need to just spend a couple of weeks back in Taiwan, take a million pictures, eat local junk every single meal while watching horrendous news, sweat my ass off, and get this out of my system.
[quote=“914”]…try to catch the half hour Zhongtian Xingwen at 12.30 PM every weekday, just so I can hear Mandarin (Taiwan style). In Taiwan, I scoffed at the local news and made fun of how the “reporters” were like hound dogs and couldn’t even speak properly. I liked to keep my TV on English shows back in Taiwan. But ever since I clicked on Zhongtian Xingwen by accident in SF, it’s been a source of comfort. Sometimes I don’t even watch it, but it makes for soothing background noise.
…I’ve even gone so far as to catch a bit of the Minnan show following it at 1 PM. It’s Daai (“Big Love”) some sort of religious show in Taiwanese. However, it’s so sappy I have only managed to watch a few minutes of it.
…I’ve even gone to this so-called Taiwanese restaurant to eat so-called Taiwanese food when it’s actually just a Chinese restaurant which also serves a few local Taiwan favorites. It’s pretty shite, but again, it’s comforting.
I think I need to just spend a couple of weeks back in Taiwan, take a million pictures, eat local junk every single meal while watching horrendous news, sweat my ass off, and get this out of my system.
How about you guys?[/quote]
haha i hear you. I sometimes (forget the channel and time) catch a bit of taiwan tv news on comcast and its pretty cool. Even my cat looks up (hes from taiwan).
but when i was in taiwan i basically had the tv on BBC most of the time and rarely on those 24/7 taiwanese news channels. But i lived briefly here in SF with some taiwanese students and they got cable with the same 24/7 taiwan news and it was just like being in taipei.
Yeah you hav to get back on the rock and gorge yourself with all the taiwnese-ness to last you another coupla years.
and ya, i never went to a single “taiwanese” restaurant around here. I just dont think it willl be anything like Shin Yeh in Taipei.
OH and I have a theory bout why having the taiwan news on is comforting even if you are not really watching. Its because in Taiwan as you know nuttiness is normal, so if any part of your life feels nutty , listening to taiwan tv makes that nuttiness “normal” and therefore acceptable.
Did the same for a summer. I also got into Taiwanese dramas, big time last summer.
I’ve done the hunt for Taiwanese food here in Chi-Town. Same results as you 914. But I’ve found some pretty damned good Beijing places that do some similar dishes.
…i signed up at FORUMOSA, even thought my move there has been postponed for a while
I watch some taiwanese dramas to hear that specific tone of mandarin, i speak to my mom in mandarin more often, i eat obsessively at taiwanese style restaurants (thankfully i live in a city FULL of chinese/taiwanese), i look at real estate online in taiwan, i ask about relatives/dad in taiwan whenever i hear from them, just for any THOUGHT of taiwan, i stalk pictures of friends photo albums on facebook when they’re in asia, MORE SO WHEN THEY’RE IN TAIWAN…
i WOULD have just come back from taiwan last night…if it weren’t for…the trip being cancelled
Drive to the Pacific East Mall in Richmond. Then go to a restaurant called 168. Taiwanese food…including Stinky Tofu![/quote]
168 probably has the best Taiwanese Xiao Chi in the bay area that i know of…their Er Ah Mi Sua (oyster noodle) and Er ah Jian (osyter pancake) are pretty good…Ma Wan (meat ball) and Nui Ruo Mian (beef noodle soup) are not bad too…there used to be one Taiwanese Xiao Chi restuarant that was better in the south bay but recently closed…
I’m going to be there in about 2-3 weeks, and really there is nothing for me there.
My gf left me (or shall I say, found another love) one month before arriving there.
I’ll have to take a bus to Taichung alone from the airport cause no one has any free time to pick me up.
Most of my friends have already left the island or started working in their careers, so I won’t get to really see them.
It will be hot and humid.
And yet I can’t stop thinking about the island. Last summer the “rock” treated me very well. I hope it does the same again and blesses me with a great time
Either way, can’t wait for some of that good Taiwanese food. And who could ever forget the mighty “guabao”? The most delicious and important item in that little country.
I apply for jobs there from time to time and have thought about starting my own business there. We get back often as my wife is Taiwanese but we both miss our life there - Taiwan treated us brilliantly.
Tommy, I really hope so man. Some of the women in Taiwan are truly amazing, it’s not a mystery why many people on this forum marry or have married Taiwanese women.
Wow! God I hope I can avoid Taiwan’s gravitational pull, but five years out and I’m still on Forumosa and visit when I can, so it’s not looking promising.
I wonder if that would change if I moved somewhere with more appealing people than HK?
I wonder if that would change if I moved somewhere with more appealing people than HK?
HG[/quote]
But how could you say such a thing! I mean, Hong Kong is an International City, and Asia’s World City! And its people are so cosmopolitan and fluent in English the International Language, and act as a bridge between East and West! Are you sure you aren’t actually living in Shenzhen, with all those dirty mainlanders who sort of look like Hong Kong people?
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Wow! God I hope I can avoid Taiwan’s gravitational pull, but five years out and I’m still on Forumosa and visit when I can, so it’s not looking promising.
I wonder if that would change if I moved somewhere with more appealing people than HK?
HG[/quote]
I have these same thoughts, but Arkansas people.
I’ve graduated now and all I can think of is returning to Taiwan. Not saying I’m going to, but . . . . However, I don’t want to work in a buxiban again and everyone on F.com, and everyone I know IRL, says that teaching jobs, especially good ones, are hard to find these days. I got a recruiter to send me a contract for teaching in a regular school–same money as buxiban, but more hours. No tax, though. I wonder if they would care that my certification is not for elementary?
