Lost - or gained - in translation

I just cracked and had McDonald’s for lunch.

 

But before you look down on me for abandoning my promise to fully immerse myself in the culture here, let me explain. Maybe 60% of my decision to go for the burger and fries rather than some Taiwanese dish was actual desire for greasy fast food. But the other 40% was curiosity.

 

The fries tasted the same as they do in the states, although they were skimpy on the ketchup. They’re very protective of their condiments here. But the burger was a different story. Instead of having a bread bun, it came with a bun made of – what else? – rice. It was actually pretty darn good.

 

The way I ordered the McDonald’s is indicative of my supreme fish out of water status in this random, but lovely, place. I had to walk behind the counter in order to point at the burger on one of those large display boards, and of course caused a scene doing so. I can only imagine what people think of me as I consistently make a fool of myself using mock sign language to attempt to order food, take the bus to the right place, and find the bathroom. Hopefully I come off as a loveable fool, but I’m sure to some I’m just a fool. To use a word we taught the local interns: whatevs.

 

Since last week’s update, I got through another week of work at the fabulous Washington State trade office, where I’m currently tasked with updating an information packet for potential investors that has not been updated in ten years. Gotta love the efficiency of American government.

 

On Friday night we went to see Sex and the City on its opening night in Taiwan. While I’m not really a fan of the series, the movie was actually pretty good despite the fact that our seats weren’t ideal. Tickets to movies here have reserved seats, and ours were the best in the house: in the very front row. But that wasn’t so bad, and the real fun of the experience was watching it with a Taiwanese audience. It seemed as though they were watching an entirely different movie, laughing when I didn’t think anything funny was happening. I guess some things are lost – or gained – in translation. 

 

On Saturday morning we left at the crack of dawn for Kaohsiung with a group of USC alums. The “tuna gathering,” as they called it, was really all about tuna. After a one and a half hour trip on the high speed train and a ride on a bus, we pulled up to a restaurant and feasted on fish dish after fish dish. I liked the raw tuna the best.

 

The alums then accompanied us to a local temple and a fish market. The market was just like the ones you see on TV when you’re watching a travel show about Asia. Men were hacking away at huge just-caught tuna, which can apparently retail for up to $200,000 NT or about $7,000 USD. In two weeks it makes its way into sushi restaurants at every podunk town across the U.S. It was fun to see, but not to smell.

 

We parted ways with the USC group and we fellows continued on to Kenting, which is as far south in Taiwan as one can go. My eyes were glued to the windows of the bus as we made our way further and further down the island. It was nice to see the ocean again after being landlocked in Taipei for three weeks.

 

We checked into our hotel in Kenting and then hit the beach, which was very crowded even in the evening. We watched the sun set as we frolicked in the Pacific and laughed at a group of Taiwanese men being pulled out to sea on a giant hot dog.

 

Nighttime brought dinner at a Mexican place (when will we learn that we’re simply not going to find good Mexican food here?), a stroll through the touristy Key West-esque town of Kenting, and a trip to a local bar/club.

 

Sunday was probably my most favorite day of my adventure here so far. After checking out of our hostel we rented scooters and drove (don’t worry, I didn’t actually drive, I rode!) down the island, past the southernmost point in Taiwan, and up the other side. We stopped to swim in turquoise water in a pool under a large rock, where American male (of course) 20-somethings were acting like American male 20-somethings.

 

We had a pancake lunch, complete with an allotted half-a-shot-sized container of syrup (and there was really no getting more), and then kept riding to a beautiful lookout point and a practically-deserted white sand beach. It was perfect/lovely/beautiful/insert adjective meaning sublime here.

 

After returning the scooters we were picked up by no-name, crazy, chain-smoking Taiwanese guy who cut our trip time down by an hour by obeying absolutely no traffic laws and almost killing a pedestrian. But anything to make it to our train on time, right?

 

A HSR ride brought us back to Taipei, and consequently back to another loooonnnngggg week of work.

 

This week’s outings have included a trip to Ice Monster and to the hot springs in Beitou. I’m trying to think of an American comparison to Ice Monster, but nothing is coming to mind so I’ll just describe what we ate. It was basically a mountain-sized serving of shaved ice covered with fresh mango and syrup and topped off with a scoop of mango ice cream. All the people here are crazy about it, and it’s easy to see why.

 

The entrance fee to the hot springs in Beitou was approximately $1.33, but that just goes to show you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a good time. We hopped on the MRT right after work and walked to the public springs, which are really just glorified hot tubs. It felt very nice to soak in the hot water after a long day of staring at the computer screen. We were (almost) the only non-Taiwanese people there and I felt as though I was observing some sort of ritual. We heard the waters have magical healing abilities, but my legs are still covered in mosquito bites so I’m not a believer yet.

 

Random musings:

 

1. People won’t stop staring! My boss, Sean, said foreign women are a rarity in Taipei and it seems our group of girls brings delight to many Taiwanese men. I can sense stares pretty much wherever I go. It is becoming annoying, but at least they’re not vulgar like some American men. One Taiwanese man chased me out of the 7-11 just to ask if I wanted to “make friends” with him! I prefer that to a cat call any day.


2. The heat is not as bad as I thought it would be. Being raised in Louisiana has given me a pretty high tolerance for heat and humidity. Take that, wimpy Californians!


3. 7-11 hot dogs are God’s gift to meat lovers. I’ve had more hot dogs from 7-11 here than I had in the U.S. all year. I’m not exactly proud of my convenience store hot dog obsession, but they’re irresistible.