Don
Yeah, I first saw that list (or something like it) as a FAX! Pre-internet! How’s that for having “been in Taiwan too long” 
4 Years in Taiwan tomorrow for me.
Blah! I have a copy carved on stone – in runes. :raspberry:
Blah! I have a copy carved on stone – in runes. :raspberry:[/quote]
I KNEW you’d one-up me. 
I have only been here for a little under three years and I recognize myself in about a third of those. I guess I need six more years (with the exception of the betel nut and Taiwanese women ones).
One of my favorite things to point out is that when I am walking, the sound of a horn beeping makes me move to one side of the sidewalk automatically.
Some other ones I am guilty of:
-Seeking out Chinese people when you visit home (and especially in the airport) because you are undergoing withdrawal from speaking Mandarin.
-When you watch a foreign movie in a language that you are comfortable in and you catch yourself focusing on the Chinese subtitles more than the dialogue.
-Your students make fewer errors in English than you and you’re a native speaker.
-When you try to speak the language that you majored in and studied for 15 years of your life, and find yourself blocked because only Mandarin (which you have only studied for one year) comes to you instead.
Aha! You see? That actually sets you apart as a relative newbie. The correct response of course is to slow your pace, stick your arms akimbo and turn the head slightly – just enough to let the rider see your “you tootin’ at me?” scowl. 
It’s originaly was found in a cave painting just north of Ilan. Dating back to 250,000 BC.
Ski
How about when you are suprised at decent service in a store or a restaurant?
When you start spitting loogies and tossing cigarette butts into any covered sewer that is handy, or onto the street if one isn’t?
When you look around at all of the garbage, and toss the receipt from your pocket in with the rest of trash?
When you realize how horribly expensive it is to live back home, and how outrageously high taxes are, and wonder how anyone survives?
When you find yourself burping and farting in public on visits back home, yet you feel no real sense of shame?
This is sort of fun 
.
How about when you start making long lists of behavior you despise in locals so you can make yourself feel better by accusing people who have been here longer than you have of Being Here Too Damn Long?
Who does that?
Who does that?[/quote]
Just some people I know.
18 years, 3 months, 1 week, 3 days, and about 7 or 8 minutes so far.
And yes, I do recognise myself in a very large, almost embarrassingly large, number of those descriptions.
What a great list!
Aha! You see? That actually sets you apart as a relative newbie. The correct response of course is to slow your pace, stick your arms akimbo and turn the head slightly – just enough to let the rider see your “you tootin’ at me?” scowl. [/quote]
Sandman, You nailed it! So true. You have been here a long time!
And I can’t resist adding these:
You’ve begun to scout out good hillside locations for your final resting place.
You care passionately about the result of the next election.
People speaking Taiwanese no longer sound like they’re arguing (unless they actually are).
Xiaojies weighing more than 50 kg strike you as needing to lose weight.
More than just two cupped handfuls is a novelty.
You’re thinking of getting your eyelids done.
Aha! You see? That actually sets you apart as a relative newbie. The correct response of course is to slow your pace, stick your arms akimbo and turn the head slightly – just enough to let the rider see your “you tootin’ at me?” scowl. [/quote]
Sandman, You nailed it! So true. You have been here a long time![/quote]
I got HIT by a motorcycle HARD when I “moved to the sidewalk automatically” after hearing a honk my first week in Taiwan, eight years ago. Now I’m a bit smarter. 
And a few more that I simply must add:
You don’t even think of complaining when your neighbour uses a masonry drill at seven o’clock on a Sunday morning. And you’d do the same yourself without giving it a second thought.
Scenic spots just don’t look right unless they’re well strewn with trash.
You’re shocked by public exposure of the “three points”.
You’ve come to embrace the view that raw nature generally needs to be embellished with large amounts of concrete to make it a worthy tourist attraction.
You do a double take when deep cleavage comes into view.
You’re cultivating a splendid growth of three-inch mole hairs.
You can actually appreciate porn in which you never get to see the “three points”.
[quote]# Scenic spots just don’t look right unless they’re well strewn with trash.
[/quote]
Here 16 years and that 'aint NEVER going to happen to me. :bluemad:
[quote=“Omniloquacious”]And a few more that I simply must add:
1. You don’t even think of complaining when your neighbour uses a masonry drill at seven o’clock on a Sunday morning. 2. And you’d do the same yourself without giving it a second thought.
[/quote]
Yes to part one, no to part two. It happens all the time, holidays, Sundays, New Year’s period, anytime. There is no such thing as sacred time here in Taiwan. But for part 2, no i would not do the same. The neighbors are sleeping for god’s sakes!
“Your mom has a funny accent.”
Well, then I guess I’d been here too long before I ever got here! But my husband does think it’s funny to listen to me and my mother talk on the phone!