Chapter 3: What do I like about Taiwan

While the first oh-my-God-I'm-in-Taiwan excitement slowly passes, and I am starting to be more focused on my teaching experience, I still find a lot of things extremly stirring or at least very, very pleasant. My brain is still a little bit scattered, so I figured - why not make a list of my "likes" and put them in order? (Of course, not all of them, that would take ages and be even longer then my favourite list of all times.)

• I like the fact, that I can leave my bike on the sidewalk, enter the buffet, eat, watch three cartoons and - guess what? My bike is still going to be there, when I'm back. Whether it was Kraków, London or Paris, I could see the bits and pieces of what used to be a bike at every corner. Somehow in here nobody is tempted to borrow your mean of transport and never return it back. At first, I could hear my bike whispering: "Don't leave me like that, alone and helpless!". Now the voice magically stoped. (Or maybe the medicine starts working.)

(Some of the random "yay, got I camera" and "yay, got a bike" shoots; I'll do better next time, I swear).

•  I like Taiwanese tea. Or, excuse me - teas. I only tried a couple of them: the ones brewed traditionally in restaurants, the ones drank from "tea take-aways". Ones with flowers, herbs, spices or milk; served cold with ice or hot. (But not too hot; tea, as tea connoisseurs probably know, is never brewed with boiling water, but with "water just below the boiling point - about 85 - 95 degrees Celsius". Knowing that, a Westerner shouldn't be shocked by the presence of another tap in a water dispenser: the one to brew a tea.) I tried "bubble tea" and Taiwanese classic: High Mountain Oloong Tea. Its rich, a little bit smoky taste is simply divine. I'm not an expert on tea, but there are two things I'm absolutely sure when it comes to Taiwanese tea: a) it's delicious b) it's everywhere. Tea is not just a beverage, it is also a natural medicine, beauty product and, I guess, a style of living - quite the opposite to the one introduced by Starbucks*. I suppose my knowledge about tea will become much more thorough, when I visit a tea plantation next month. Looking forward to it.

* Don't get me wrong: I love the comforting idea of Starbucks; whatever part of the world I'm in, I can count on their decent espresso, chai or my favorite diet sin - Christmas Gingerbread Latte. But the always-in-a-hurry attitude, that Starbucks gave us, is ridiculous. If you have time to queue for your coffee, then sorry, bro - you can't be THAT busy.

• I like Taiwanese streets. Why? Well, they gave you a unique insight in people's lives. (When I was little, I had a book with a picture of a block of flats' vertical section, so one could see: a family having dinner, guy digging his nose, a couple making sweet love (there was no such thing as political correctness at that time); somebody cried, somebody else played with a dog. I blame that book for making me a nosy and tactless traveller, who is more interested in the kind of soup someone has for dinner, then in memorials and museums. But well, there is really little I can do about it, so I simply go with the flow.) In old parts of Puzih, you would find streets, that are perfect for making this kind of enquiry: narrow, with very little light. Since the houses (or small buissnesses, which are usually situated on the ground floor) have glass door with no curtains, you can just walk around, not being seen, and observe the theatre of life: kids coming back from cram school; tired old man, lying on the couch, watching baseball; bored to death lady, filing her nails and looking out the window. I wish I could make a great photoshoot, catching all those facial expressions, that we usually have, when we think nobody observes us. But I know I won't, because an amateur photo would ruin that unspoken pact that - I like to think - me and those, who I observe, have. Wandering Taiwanese streets is, I'm afraid, not this kind of experience that emerges immediate "wows", but still the one I like best. (Of course I realize, that a big city streets might look a little bit different, but I like this kind of small town girl perspective)

 Did you notice, that I still don't mention the food? That is only because I am still trying to figure out a way to do it. Should I go by a sort of product (tofu separatly, then seafood, fruits and rice?) or maybe method of preparation (fried - deep/ pan/stir/sautés, boiled - in broth/water, grilled, and then raw foods)? This is too much. I have to make another list.