1. Betel nut- First off, there is a drug in Taiwan that ALOT of people eat (chew?). Its called betel nut and it looks like this:
It is basically a green seed-like thing a bit bigger than an almond and they wrap it in some kind of leaf. The people chew it. Apparently it is a mild stimulant. It turns people's teeth really red and gross. You always know when some is a betel nut chewer. A TON of taxi drivers chew it and a bunch of people that sell things on the street do also. I'm pretty sure it is illegal but you can find it just about everywhere! We have seen people preparing it out in the open as we walk down the street. Sister Tan (one of the sisters serving in the ward we attended) told us that they specifically tell investigators that betel nut is not allowed and violates the word of wisdom. Interesting huh?
2. Drivers/scooters- There are 50 billion scooters in Taiwan! I guess that is an exaggeration but it is absolutely INSANE how many people own scooters. We were told that more people ride scooters than there are cars in the country! You can definitely tell though. We almost got run over by scooters (and/or cars) on several occasions. Scooter riders never follow the law, they prop their children up between their legs and weave in and out of traffic! Its absolutely crazy! Also, people rarely wear seat belts. Most taxi drivers would look at us like we were crazy when we reached over to put our seat belts on. The nurses, luckily, were very good about putting their seat belts on, however, they did not force their child to.
3. Language- We learned a whole lot of Chinese while in Taiwan. Mostly, we learned things that would help us get by. Here are a bunch of the words/phrases we learned, spelled phonetically:
- Nee How- Hello
- Shay Shay- Thank you
- Shay Shay Boo-ya- No thank you
- Doe souw chien- How much money?
- ee, er, san, si, oo, leo, chi, bah, jio, szia- 1-10
- amah, pieoliang- Grandmother, beautiful (Taiwanese)
- akong, endow- Grandfather, handsome (Taiwanese)
- bu kah chi- You're welcome
- may guan shi- It's okay
- de bu chi- Sorry or Excuse me
4. Lady Gaga- People know who Lady Gaga is. Even if they can't speak English AT ALL, they know "Lady Gaga". One older women in the hospital sat and talked about Lady Gaga to some of the other students for like a half hour!
5. Pass with Two Hands- This tradition is starting to fade out a little bit but you can still see it around. People in Taiwan are very careful about passing items (anything! a water bottle, papers, money, etc.) with both their hands. It is considered rude to pass with one hand, like you don't care about the person you are handing the item to. Most older people still do this, and families giving items to the nurses. The nurses said that it is becoming more and more common for people to not worry about this practice but we still say it around.
6. Hairy Moles- We saw some pretty nasty, hairy moles! The men think it is SO awesome to hand long nasty hairs growing out of the moles on their face. They will NEVER cut the hairs so they are seriously like 1-1.5 inch long hairs!! Kind of like this:
So gross!!! Right?!
7. Hard Beds- We had some pretty hard mattresses at the dorms we slept at but its not just because its a dorm! A lot of people just sleep on thin mattresses because they like it. Some people like to sleep on the bamboo mats also!
8. Money- In Taiwan, they use what is called the New Taiwanese (NT) Dollar. The exchange rate is about 28.5 NT to 1 US Dollar. So, we had lunch for 30 NT most days, which was essentially $1.05. Things were pretty cheap most of the time but we could definitely find expensive food, shopping, etc. if we wanted it.
9. Sick of the Food- A lot of the food near where we lived was mostly street food. Which was mostly fried right there on the street. Or, it was boiled and gross anyway. By the end of our trip we were pretty much eating strictly from the bakery across the street or going to the most expensive places just to avoid the fried stuff.
10. Home Temples- People often have a "temple" set up in their home. These temples usually consisted of a large table or cabinet designated for a couple red lamps, a buddah-looking statue, some alters and some stands to hold burning incense. We were told later that usually only the oldest child has a shrine like this built in their house. Here's a picture of one in a patient's house we visited:
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11. Answering Phones- People don't say 'Nee-How' when they answer their phones, they say 'Way?' The nurses said it pretty much means, "Hello", "Start a conversation with me", and "What do you need?" all in one.
12. Cooking Causes Cancer- In the hospital one day, we were making rounds with the doctor and came across a patient that was dying from lung cancer that had spread to her brain. Since smoking is SO common in Taiwan, we asked if she was a smoker. The doctor told us no and gave us kind of a funny look. We proceeded to ask if the husband was a smoker and the doctor then said, "Yes, a very heavy smoker." I guess Alyssa and I had a look on our face showing that we thought the patient got cancer from second-hand smoke from her husband. The doctor then jumped in and said, "She didn't get cancer from her husband's smoking, she got it from cooking!" I had NEVER heard that you could get cancer from cooking too much...but a lot of people in Taiwan (even the doctors and nurses, obviously) think a people can get cancer from cooking too much. I don't know what the research says but I am a little skeptical.
13. Eggs- People in Taiwan don't refrigerate their eggs! I don't know if its just cuz I've grown up refrigerating mine, but I think its pretty gross! Even in the grocery store, you find the eggs on the shelf next to the crackers! Its so weird!!
14. Cold Drinks- Here's another crazy practice people do in Taiwan. People believe that drinking too much cold water can mess up a woman's uterus. So, consequently, Taiwanese people drink only luke-warm water. Street vendors sell drinks on the street but most of them are not even cold! They think we're crazy when we want some ice in our drinks! Women would teach their young girls that if they ever start their periods at school, they should not drink anything cold. Apparently, your uterus is ESPECIALLY susceptible to problems when you are on your period. Also, most restaurants or vendors don't sell drinks with meals. They just have a warm or hot soup with every meal. We had to get used to carrying around our water bottles just have something to drink with our meals.
15. Back-Up Beeping- All cars in Taiwan beep when you get to close to something backing up! I only thought those were on special cars in the states!! I think we need to switch over. It is so great!!
smoking
