so your in the right class then? 
In my six years in Taiwan I got angry certainly but I never suffered from culture shock as such.
Unfortunately the cure may be worse than the disease. Before I came to Taiwan I spent time in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. After those two Islamic paradises, Taiwan was a cakewalk.
Iām pretty pissed off lately. Not sure if itās culture shock or not. Everything gets on my nerves. I want to kick people out of my way. Especially people who linger near the top or bottom of the stairs.
The other day some woman was swinging her umbrella in a wide arc as if to say āarenāt I cute, just like a child, swinging my umbrella around in a wide arcā while walking down a busy street. I fought the urge to grab her umbrella and smash it on the pavement.
Once when I lived in Hsintien, I was lying in bed reading a book and a B.A.R. flew right beside my head. That was a non-drug related freak out for sure. My toes still curl when I think about it.
Can I assume that a B.A.R. is a big ass roach? A bit OT but once my 2 friends were attacked by a āherdā of those nasty things. It makes me sleepless just thinking about it, and it didnāt even happen to me!
As for the freaking out part, I have to agree with Lorettaās post a bit back. If you just accept that youāre already a bit weird, the other crap doesnāt bother you as much.
I am a self-described, and affirmed by others, bitch. Easy to anger and all that. But I have never blown up at anyone in my almost 4 years here. I certainly would have if I was back home. But early on I just realized it was pointless.
[quote=ātrebuchetā]Iām pretty pissed off lately. Not sure if itās culture shock or not. Everything gets on my nerves. I want to kick people out of my way. Especially people who linger near the top or bottom of the stairs.
The other day some woman was swinging her umbrella in a wide arc as if to say āarenāt I cute, just like a child, swinging my umbrella around in a wide arcā while walking down a busy street. I fought the urge to grab her umbrella and smash it on the pavement.[/quote]
I decided not to respond to your post the other day, but, yes, you do seem to be having some problems here. Iām not sure if it is culture shock, or that you are just angry, but you seem upset about things that just arenāt that big of a deal. I think you need a break from Taiwan, or at least the part of Taiwan you live in.
Best of luck.
The closer a B.A.R. (yes, Big-Ass Roach) is to an indoor space, the more freaked-out I get. Of course, when my mother came to visit me, the second she stepped out of the taxi from the airport, two B.A.R.s ran right between her feet.
I assume that they were the Naruwan welcoming committee. 
I truly believe, if you donāt freak out here sometimes, YOU ARE NOT SANE! A lot of these people and the way they act, is not real. How could you not lose it, sorrounded by so many unlearned, selfish, uncaring lunatics?
I have found freaking out quietly, so only you and the person or people involved can see or hear what is going on, is most beneficial.
Peace, Mark
[quote=āTyc00nā]Donāt you think that some Asian people smell different. Like there is an Asian smell. Iām not using the word in a derrogatory sense, but its just an observation of mine.
*I am very sensitive to different smells, tastes, sounds which makes me a naturally fussy person[/quote]
I have a few people in my relative, whom i can track by smell. I can smell if they wore a clothe, slept in a room, or are near me.
Strangely this is completely random in terms of person.
As for running amok, i found since my time in india that a good joint early in the evening, when the day is right, is what clears the shit that fogs my mind, and help realising whatās wrong with me.
Plus, as locals can obvioulsy live here without too much of a problem, i guess running mad is stemming from the innability of one to connect with people and to understand his surrounding.
So the first and only ātaskā i focuse on when i arrive in a new country is to try to understand what is in peopleās mind, even if this is sometime going against my own principles and moral.
These are some of the things that have kept me away from running mad in these past 5 years in the US, UK, India, and here in taiwan.
It has allowed me to live by the low-medium indian standard in bombay, get good friend with some people of the local slum, and actually be more happy there than anywhere else.
I am as well happy to say that after 4 month in Taiwan, iām finally pretty much ok and balanced here (iām not saying it was a gentle ride till now though!).
This is as well what brought me to forumosa, so as to see and understand how does other foreigners are dealing with life here.
Topics on this forum sometime keep in their inner depth nudgets of āadaptation goldā, where a few sentences help to unravel things that would have taken me months to understand. I am now āpublicizingā this place to other foreigners who are eager about understanding what they see.
Iād say, if you keep freaking out in taiwan after a year, the solution is only inside yourself 
Feiren,
I know. I am in the middle of culture shock right now. I have all of the symptoms.
I am going to spend today reading up on culture shock on the internet.
Ten days from today I will spend five days in a resort in Thailand. 
Itās expensive, but my mental health is at stake, lets face it. I feel better just knowing I have that to look forward to.
Thanks for being frank with me. Itās freakinā hard to see out of something when youāre in the middle of it.
[quote=ātrebuchetā]Feiren,
I know. I am in the middle of culture shock right now. I have all of the symptoms.
I am going to spend today reading up on culture shock on the internet.
Ten days from today I will spend five days in a resort in Thailand. Itās expensive, but my mental health is at stake, lets face it. I feel better just knowing I have that to look forward to.
Thanks for being frank with me. Itās freakinā hard to see out of something when youāre in the middle of it.[/quote]
Good on you. You wonāt regret the vacation. Go crazy (but stay out of prison).
Cheers.
I got bored of the security of Boise Idaho. I love where Iām from and Iāll probably return there at some point, but I needed to try something new. So after finishing university which included 2 years of Mandarin here I am. Itās funny because I noticed there were even things back in Boise that would piss me off, but home is where you make it and so far I love it here.
And yeah, after eating out and getting a bit sick the next morning Iām going to eat out a lot less.