The funny thing is....

It’s so easy to go to another country and, being American, think the people there are much more uncultured, unsophisticated and uneducated. Shoot, I used to do that all the time when I would come over here to visit my grandparents. And, for awhile, it would appear that that way of thinking wasn’t too off-the-mark. With a lower standard of living and the underdeveloped infrastructure, Taipei, at times and in some parts of city, looked more like a town than a sprawling metropolitan city. But, clearly, anyone living here or visiting knows now that Taipei is becoming more and more the latter than the former. Now, amid all this growth in culture and sophistication, there are some traditions, behaviors and other moments that leaves me either chuckling or scratching my head.

One is guys here (mainly older dudes) will just blench out loud. And I’m talking about in the company of other guys at some buddy’s place or at a loud bar, I’m talking about at work. Imagine everyone with their noses down, typing away on their computers or talking quietly with a co-worker and then piercing the quiet is a loud belch worthy of John Belushi in “Animal House”.

The other thing is how guys here will wear a rather unflattering tank top under their white dress shirts. Now, I suspect the reason for this is that it gets hot here and, thus, it’s understandable to buy dress shirts of thinner material. Now, with shirts of thinner shirt, particularly white ones, it can be rather see-throughy, thus, immodestly exposing the guy’s areolas. So, to avoid present that scarring image to others, they wear these unflattering tank tops underneath. Either way, it just looks very professional and sophisticated, to say the least. I’d rather just buy the thicker shirt or just wear a white shirt.

Another funny thing is some of the English names people chose here. Today, I saw a co-worker’s name on an email. His name is Price. Last name? Ho.

Looks like two is the limit here, everyone

Well, one of the reasons why so many guys like living in Taiwan is the women. I think I’ve addressed this before, but the women are very friendly to foreigners and ABCs. With ABCs, it’s mainly because the women here see them as “high-value” (to borrow a term from the pick-up artist community). Almost all of us are from are a “good” family (above-average wealth coming, most likely, from a family business), well-educated (graduated from a top-50 school), comparably worldly and speak English and a woman probably feels like less of a social pariah if she married one. Whatever the reason, it’s not too difficult to meet and date women here, especially when you consider how tough it was for someone like me in the states. I lived in LA for about nine years and I think I dated more women here in one year than I did all nine years in LA. Part of that probably has to do with being just an average-looking Asian guy in a predominantly white society where being an Asian guy is just one rung above a “trailer trash” on the hot scale, at least that’s how it felt like to me. Here, I’m above the status quo. All, for once, it’s a nice feeling to have.

See, being here, I feel like how I felt I should have in the states. All modesty aside, I think I’m a decent catch, look-wise and background-wise. And, here, for the most part, I’ve done okay. The only down side is that, in terms of finding “the one”, I’ve been about as successful as Ross Perot’s Presidency aspirations. In the meantime, I’ve dated a bit and, most of those relationships, (since I know they’re not the “one”) I’ve tried to keep it casual (hey, dog’s gotta eat :S). Unfortunately, I’ve found that most of the women here are not really down with that type of relationship. In an antiquated way of looking at things, the woman here assume that if you sleep with them, you are her boyfriend. The most recent girl even asked me that. The more interesting thing I’ve found is that most of these girls will sleep with you two times before they begin to express discomfort over the fact that this is the direction the relationship is going to take. It reminds of a dating rule/ advice for guys that someone once told me when I was still living in LA. The rule was called “3-30-300”, which states that if you don’t get what you want (most of the time, it’s sex) within 3 dates, 30 days or $300, you’re not ever going to get it. I guess, with a woman here, if you don’t get the boyfriend proclamation, it’s time to cut off the supply. So, a word of advice, fellas, enjoy those two “freebies” because they’re going to make you pay one way or another for the next one. ;)