Where foreigners people are hanging out? (except bars)

Spot on, Alice! You could hardly do better than that. Joining the wholesome, friendly, chatty group in our hiking club would offer the perfect opportunity for a lively, active, outgoing young woman to socialise with a first-rate bunch of foreigners while also enjoying bracing exercise, unforgettable adventure, stimulating exploration and oodles of merriment in lovely natural surroundings. What more could you possibly ask for?

Don’t keep it a secret, tell her when and where.

[quote=“aliceyun”][quote=“X3M”]Try walking around in Shi-Da university area with a map, pretending to be lost.
Approch any intersting foreign-looking student with the excuse that you are not from Taipei, and maybe he/she can help you.

but anyway thank your advice…I need to have courage to do that…
It will be more authentic if you hold the map upside down, and always point the direction your nose points (that has to be North) :slight_smile: :slight_smile: Remember, you don’t understand maps, even if you read and speak Chinese.

Addendum:
I have not met a person in Taiwan that can give directions on a map, after almost 13 years living here, so you should be safe with the approach. It they seem to know, just ask something like:
OK, so I go West for 200 meters, turn to South-East, follow that for 300meters etc. etc.

They’ll be off your back before you know it.

Remember, it is a long way from Nanjing West Road to Nanjing East Road - better take a taxi.[/quote]

it was funny…maybe it worth it to try…thanks your advice!! but oyu guys won’t think why this girl don’t ask Chinese person but not local one>>[/quote]

Most of the locals I know are not able to read a map, so that would be your natural explanation.

Is this hiking activity called

[quote=“MuffinGirl”]Is this hiking activity called

[quote]maybe sitcoms from other countries outside the states, like

Sorry, I hang out exclusively in Bars. I only drink coffee, beer and I only eat steak or Fast Food.

Spot on, Alice! You could hardly do better than that. Joining the wholesome, friendly, chatty group in our hiking club would offer the perfect opportunity for a lively, active, outgoing young woman to socialise with a first-rate bunch of foreigners while also enjoying bracing exercise, unforgettable adventure, stimulating exploration and oodles of merriment in lovely natural surroundings. What more could you possibly ask for?[/quote]

cool…where’s the hiking group

Oh, theyre still in detox. They talk big while theyre there . . . :wink:

Kidding! Good choice, good souls they all be. Erh, I’m not one of 'em.

HG

Check the Events forum. We usually hike each weekend, weather permitting.

Here. I will give you some tips on what NOT to do.
Almost ALL my friends are Taiwanese. And I am pretty open minded about friendships and all, but ALL of the following keep me from being friends with someone:

  1. Letting me know you are interested in practicing English (too late for you)
  2. Complimenting me on my use of chopsticks. A baby can use chopsticks. I find it insulting.
  3. Telling me my chinese is HaoLiHai. I know my chinese sucks. Fake compliments are insulting.
  4. Asking me if I like hamburgers or always trying to eat with me in western restaurants. Find it insulting.
  5. Insulting my chinese. I find it, well, insulting.
  6. Telling me what life is like in my home country. I have lived there, you have not. Don’t tell me how it is.
  7. asking too many questions. Nosey people SUCK.
  8. not telling me anything about yourself. Why should I have to tell me about me if you aren’t going to tell me about you.
  9. not seeming to have any intrests that don’t relate to my country. If my world revolved around the good ole USofA I would LIVE THERE.
    Thankees.

[quote=“SuchAFob”]3) Telling me my Chinese is HaoLiHai. I know my Chinese sucks. Fake compliments are insulting.

  1. Insulting my Chinese. I find it, well, insulting.
    [/quote]

Does anyone else see a wee contradiction here?

[quote=“Josefus”][quote=“SuchAFob”]3) Telling me my Chinese is HaoLiHai. I know my Chinese sucks. Fake compliments are insulting.

  1. Insulting my Chinese. I find it, well, insulting.
    [/quote]

Does anyone else see a wee contradiction here?[/quote]

I think the point is that it’s best to neither bestow fake praise upon, nor openly insult a non-native language speaker. I won’t say “Wow, your English is SO great!” or “Hahaha, your English really sucks” to someone who is a beginning-intermediate level speaker. Both are equally irritating.

just because someone is a foreigner in taiwan doesn’t mean they speak English. For example, just look at bob’s posts. Post in the language exhange thread and say you are looking to meet non-alcoholics.

That’s one way to narrow the pool.

You mean “Foreign” doesn’t mean “american”?!?!?!

You mean “Foreign” doesn’t mean “American”?!?!?![/quote]

In my experience anyone who’s white is American to the Taiwanese.

Lets see, I’m a foreigner in Taiwan and I think she is spot on with a few things:

  • There are quite a few foreign bar patrons (especially after a few drinks)
    that are either dangerous or assholes

  • I also assume (and usually correctly) white people in Taiwan speak
    English

  • In Taiwan many assume all white people are American, in the west
    many think all Asians are Chinese

Alice,

I disagree with some of the posts here. I think you will get good results if you are open and direct with the foreigners you see who look interesting to you.

What this means is, I would:

  1. go to places where a lot of foreigners tend to hang out. I suggest Chengpin on Renai lu, Carnegies at lunch time, coffee shops in shida yeshi or the entire neighborhood of Tianmu.
  2. Then I would wait for the ones who look interesting for some reason - maybe their clothes or style, maybe they are very talkative, maybe they are looking at DVD’s and you are a big movie fan, or they are looking at a book on modern architecture which you like.
  3. Then, I would wait to see if there is a moment you can introduce yourself in a friendly and direct way.
  4. I would walk up and say, “Hi, Do you speak English? I noticed you are reading this book (or I think you look interesting and talkative). Could I practice speaking English with you for five minutes?”
  5. Then, after five minutes of conversation, you should be able to tell whether you might actually have common interests with this person that you could continue to talk about.
  6. If it seems like the two of you could be friends, then ask if you could get their email address and contact them again.

In general, you want to use your conversation skills to quickly find out about what the other person’s interests are and whether you could be friends, so ask them – “Where are you from? How long have you been in Taiwan? Can I ask what you do here? What do you like to do for fun? What are you favorite neighborhoods? What are your favorite restaurants? Do you speak any Chinese? Are you married?..” You also need to give enough information about yourself so that they are interested in you, but in general use the time to find out about them and show that you are a nice interesting person to talk to.

This will work even better if you can find a group of three or more foreigners together – walk up to them all and start the conversation. Chances are that in a group of foreigners one will be pretty outgoing and like to talk to anybody. Keep in mind that you are not asking for much – just five minutes of talking in the language they speak easily. If you do have a fun conversation, then it is likely they want to make friends too. After all, they are the foreigner here and probably have fewer friends than you!

The rate of success of this approach is LOW. That is, first you will see a lot of people who look like they could be interesting, but you will only be able to approach some of them. Only some of the people you approach will be able to talk for five minutes. (Some might say, “I’m sorry, I’m in a hurry.”) Some won’t speak English. Only some of the people you talk to will actually be interesting to talk to. And only some of those will want to give you their email address.

But the advantage is that this won’t take you a lot off time for each person. You could probably talk to about 10-15 people in two hours and might make one or two friends. This is what I’ve done when I studied languages overseas before and it has always worked. I am not shy at all.

Alice,

I agree with gingko.
Assume the NP Museum to be a perfect place : people there during daytime should be expected to have time to spend of on conversation, be interested in ‘eastern’ culture and not be rash barbarian…

cantui3