Here is how it goes… I chat with someone at The Wall/Underworld/whatever, we exchange phone numbers, then after that I try to contact the person so we can do something together the person is either not answering or something. Is there such a taboo against making friends with strangers in Taiwan?? I mean what must I do to make friends with Taiwanese??
Kinda hard to find band members when people are “busy”…
Geez I have easier time trying to call a member of Dragon Force than these guys!
Tie Dye scares people more than you think.
Yes.
The people who approach you in the street and hand you their name card and say, “I want to be your friend,” are generally crazy people.
My nephew has a band.But they are still students.
Maybe you can meet them since it’s summer holidays.And they are not busy.
I usually make friends with people when I join a club, organization, or class.
I also seem to make friends in stores when I look really helpless and they want to help me. (But, maybe that only works for girls. 
)
I’ve found some Taiwanese people say they’re really busy when they’re not because they’re afraid that spending time with a foreigner means they need to spend a lot of time with that foreigner’s foreigner friends–and they’re afraid of speaking English. Later on, when they find out (usually from photo set of pictures I’ve sent to everyone that was invited to the event) that most of my other friends are Taiwanese, they are really eager to hang out the next time I ask.
So, if you want to make friends, go to places where people share your interests.
If you want to connect with the friends you’ve already made, make sure you ask them to participate in events that interest them and let them know they won’t have to use a lot of English. Even some people who speak really good English can be afraid when it comes to interacting with large groups of foreigners. Ease them into your world.
I’ll be your friend.
The general practice is to offer people money in red envelopes. When they give you their number, give them a red envelope with a few thousand NT in it. Then the next time you meet, give them some more.
Try offering betel nuts or the Chinese custom of tossing a cigarette in their direction every 5 minutes.
I am a chinese though, I can speak chinese perfectly, I don’t think that’s the problem… are they really afraid that I am trying to sell them something? I don’t make enough money to give red envelopes everytime I want to make friends, and if they are that shallow then they are probably crappy friend anyways. I was talking to people at The Wall and stuff and I would think people there share my interest…
It is not worth believing money-giving thing.
That’s just the poster’s bad joke. :fume:
You can find many people who want to start a band.
Try ICRT forum,and yahoo “知識+” since you can speak Chinese.
ICRT forum?
I can read chinese I just can’t type it fast enough for effective communication… It will take me 3 hours to type one paragraph in chinese.
PM me ,I type it for you.
The red envelope thing was a joke…pretty sure of it!
Things are weird in Taiwan. It’s not like back home where people pop by your place. After 6 yrs here I’ve become pretty unsocial…needing about a weeks notice before meeting up with friends. It’s extremely odd and I hope I can adjust to being ‘normal’ again one day.
But then I propably won’t be able to pick up my phone if friends call because of the straight jacket and all… :loco:
It sucks… people are too busy making money I guess. Seems in Taiwan there is nothing more important than money. Even friendship revolve around red envelopes and stuff and you are always expected to give a certain amount. I wonder if true friendship even exist in Taiwan. I was hoping we can break the cycle in Forumosa but I can’t get Fridays off to go to Happy Hour…
I really hate this place but I can’t go anywhere else because I don’t have an immigration visa to the USA, and I don’t think I will ever get one.
Well the next Happy Hour is on a Saturday…
Anyway, I know pretty much how you feel. I first came to Asia 4 years ago and nobody I met was into the same stuff I was. I gave up looking for nights I wanted to go to because they were just not there. I became a hermit in my early days in Taiwan and at one point I didn’t go out for 7 weeks except for work.
But then I figured, F*ck it! so what if I’m “the only one”… you will always have that side of you that keeps you unique, hobbies interests etc are by there very nature personal.
Since I went out and about, I’ve met all kinds of people who do all sorts of stuff, that maybe not to my taste (we are all human after all), but genuinely nice, interesting people who are good to have about.
By the way, I still never did find my “kind of night” but its been so long now I’ve pretty much stopped caring.
I was hoping by going to The Wall a little more often I would be able to meet metalheads and actually form a band of some kind. I mean most of the guys I meet in the mosh pit are actually very nice but I don’t really like those semi famous band members because they act like they are god or something. Like those guys from Silent Hell… Really getting tired of the “we are in a gang and you’re not” attitude.
I guess it was cause I saw that guy from Silent Hell in Herman Li’s guitar clinic and he acted like such a stuck up…
I am not busy. I have lots of spare time. I’ll be anyones friend. I like stopping by peoples house on a moments notice. PM me your number. I’ll be your friend too Battery.
[quote=“rahimiiii”]It sucks… people are too busy making money I guess. Seems in Taiwan there is nothing more important than money. Even friendship revolve around red envelopes and stuff and you are always expected to give a certain amount. I wonder if true friendship even exist in Taiwan. I was hoping we can break the cycle in Forumosa but I can’t get Fridays off to go to Happy Hour…
I really hate this place but I can’t go anywhere else because I don’t have an immigration visa to the USA, and I don’t think I will ever get one.[/quote]
I understand your feelings and I certainly agree that most Taiwanese are overly obsessed with money. However, you can make good friends here. There are people who are genuinely interested in you as a person, not just your money. It just takes time to get to know people. Also maybe you are looking in the wrong places.
Don’t forget that people you meet at a pub/club and in a mosh pit may not be all that sober. So after you exchange numbers and you give them a call, they may not remember who you are, or even that they gave you their number (depending on how drunk/stoned they are at the time of meeting).
People you meet in clubs almost always turn out flakey. Dude, you’re ABC, you have specialist hobbies - there are loads of cool people out there for you to find. Have you been to any of the Forumosa meetups? You’ll at least have some people you already talked to online and I met some great people that way. Happy hunting!