Anj and I fell in love with this country that we decided to stay here a little longer after earning our Master’s Degree. It will be my 6th year in Taipei and my first few years here were never easy as I couldn’t speak their local language, Mandarin. Language Barrier was my main problem before but now, good thing I learned the basics to survive here.
As I lived my life here in Taiwan, I also noticed that there are a bunch of foreigners, Western and Asians, and I could really tell that they’re happy to have a convenient Taiwan life. I might not have stayed here in Taiwan for too long, unlike others, but I am probably qualified to feel that I have since grown and used to the life here.
The following are my mere observations on the signs that one has been in Taiwan for too long:
1. You make 7-eleven or Family Mart your one-stop shop.
Convenience Stores like 7-eleven and Family Mart can be seen in every corner of the streets, it’s almost everywhere. At first, I thought that those are just stores where you can eat snacks or buy a coffee, but actually, you can buy almost everything in one of those 24-hour stores like earphones, lunch box, facemasks, school supplies, etc. These stores also serve as your courier counters that let you deliver and receive things you ordered online. But wait, there’s still more to that! You can pay your electricity, internet, and other bills in these convenience stores. Run out of ink on your printer, don’t worry! You can just go over to these convenience stores to have it printed or copied!
2. You shower in the evening.
Taiwanese people tend to shower in the evening and you’re guilty of doing that too? Because why not? Back in the Philippines, we shower every morning as the weather there is too hot and we don’t like to start the day with sweat so we normally start the day fresh. However, in Taiwan it is different. During winter, showering in the evening makes more sense because as Taiwanese say, “Don’t go out if your head is wet during winter, you might get a headache” or so they say. That’s probably the main reason, but even during summer, they still shower in the evening as they might already used to it. Also, showering at night will give you ample time in the morning.
3. You own a motorcycle.
If you’re new in Taiwan, you’ll know that you need to get a bicycle so that it would be convenient for you to go to the MRTs, convenience stores. Been there, done that! But if you’ve stayed here longer, bicycles might not be enough anymore as you need to upgrade to a motorcycle or a scooter. But why not a car? Well, it is actually much appropriate to ride a scooter going to the nearest MRT station, then from there, take the MRT as it is more convenient to travel long distant places through trains. This means, no traffic. Actually, when I first arrived here, I was pretty shocked to see so many motorcycles parked anywhere in the city. Getting a motorcycle is easy as long as you have completed all the required documents to acquire a license.
4. You always bring an umbrella.
The weather here in Taiwan is so unstable that some locals don’t even trust the weather forecast anymore. I tell you, the weather here is as unpredictable as girls. Sometimes, it’s very warm in the morning and it will just suddenly rain in the afternoon. As a result, they always have an umbrella with them, just to be prepared. And yes, your umbrella is one of those items you checked before leaving your homes.
5. You wear a facemask in public, may it be sick or not.
Wearing disposable facemasks is a norm here in Taiwan and everyone’s doing it. Taiwanese people are very much conscious with their surroundings and if you wear one, it just means that either you are sick or just preventing others to hit you with a cold or illness.
6. You are already used to earthquakes
Taiwan is located in the junction of 2 tectonic plates and there is around a thousand earthquakes hitting Taiwan per year. When I was still a student and an earthquake hit Taipei, I was so scared that I literally shouted and about to do the Earthquake safety procedures, but to my surprise, almost all of my classmates were just looking at me and they just continued doing their own business, as well as our professor who was so calm discussing as if nothing happened. As I am still in a state of shocked, I asked my seatmate about it and told me they are already used to small earthquakes. Well if you already stayed here for too long, you’ll get used to it too, except for the stronger and more dangerous one of course.
7. You’ve once taught English or still doing it.
As you live here in Taiwan, you’ll probably noticed that there are a lot of foreigners. Most of them came here in Taiwan to learn Chinese, but in the long run, they will end up teaching English instead. As a foreigner in this country, they would think that your English is much better than them and at one point in time they will ask you to teach their kids. For Taiwanese, learning English here in Taiwan is somewhat hard and expensive for them. The Chinese and English grammar are way too different that makes it harder for them to construct a whole sentence. Though teaching English was not my purpose when I came here, I had fun and learned Chinese in the process well. Now, those children I’ve taught English have already grown up. That’s how time makes you feel old.
8. You communicate with friends through LINE.
This app is the most popular messaging app in Taiwan that enables you to connect with your friends. Actually, LINE is more than just a messaging app. You can get the latest news through their LINE TODAY feature, it also gives you an access to the public timeline of your contacts, and a lot more. Most companies in Taiwan invest a lot of advertisements in this app as most people in Taiwan have this. This has replaced SMS since it’s just common here to have an internet connection on their phones anytime of the day.
9. You just automatically say “Xie Xie” wherever you are.
Saying “xiexie” or the mandarin term for Thank You is one of the most important words that you need to learn when in Taiwan. It’s just normal for them to say “xie xie” whomever they talk to, may it be older or younger than you. I can really say that Taiwanese are very polite and kind as it’s not difficult for them to say “Xie Xie”, no matter how small that favor was and this makes me love Taiwan even more. There was even one time when I went to a restaurant in the Philippines, I unconsciously said “xie xie” after the food was served, after paying the bill, and so on.
10. You keep all your receipts.
Feeling lucky? Well, you should start keeping your receipts! Contrary to what we’re used to in the Philippines, here in Taiwan, we always ask for a receipt from the cashier, regardless of the amount. And now, we got a bunch of them waiting for the lottery results. Yes! lottery results! The government in Taiwan came up with this amazing concept of a Receipt Lottery to encourage honestly in stores as most customers would demand a receipt for every purchase. Each receipt has its own unique 8-digit number that can let you win up to 10 Million NTD if all these numbers will match the winning numbers. The minimum prize for the lottery is 200NTD if you can match the last 3 digits. We’ve been collecting receipts for years now hoping that we could also be one of those Lucky winners of the grand prize.
And that’s it! That’s the top 10 Signs that I can think of if you’ve been living here I Taiwan for too long. How about you? How has Taiwan changed you? Share to us in the comments below!
