some taiwan people have asked me if i hang out with foriegners. the answer is, "not really".
i take people on a case by case basis. i have taiwan friends whom i love dearly, as well as japanese, african american, white guys, ABCs, south pacific islanders,India, pakistan, etc. all depends on if they're a good person and have a good personality.
so the idea of hanging out with "lao wai" is foriegn to me (pun intended). hell, i didn't hang out with whitey in college even. i was the egg (white guy into asian culture) at the "asian table" in the cafeteria.
and anyway, some foriegners are here because they're losers in their own country. i don't trust them. simple as that.
as much as i rant about taiwan, i would rather hang out with locals, because whatever faults they might have, i know what they are. asian cultures produce a fairly predictable personality, but even so there is a lot of variation in that. foriegners are a mixed bag.there are some really excellent ones,and some shity ones too who couldn't make it back home with half the level of woman they're banging here.
it's that lack of up/down in the personality style in asians that first attracted me to their friendship many years ago.
americans could be really nice or an axe murdering pedophile. there's just too much variation in the personality types. taiwanese, i know, and can choose my friends accordingly.
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I found your blog today, great! am going to TW this year I will live there for 5 years how are the taiwaneses about foriegners?
ReplyDeleteI mean am african american.
dear julian,
ReplyDeletewelcome to taiwan. i hope you have a great experience. in spite of my bitching on this site, there are a LOT of great people here.
i do notice that african americans tend to have more problems finding english teaching jobs. the american born chinese have the worst time, however.
the schools seem to think englsih= white. and that's a shame.
thanks for stopping by.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for your repply, but am not going to teach english in TW I will learn mandarin and study.
ReplyDeleteThanks
I'm butting in here :) Julian: I am a Black woman and had a great time. I don't believe you should ever consider our gorgeous hue a disability (actually the contrary often proved true for me). In Taiwan, how you are perceived depends on you; if you're positive and upbeat, that aura will always shine through. There'll be some gawkers and some weird things said but never offensively and don't be afraid to put people straight e.g. "No, my father doesn't rap, hold his crotch and play basketball, he's a pharmacist and plays the guitar"...and so on :)I love this post as it rang true for some of the expats I meant. 90% were great, the other 10% were white guys who were dating, academic and social failures in their native countries but revered like gods in Taiwan by beautiful Taiwanese girls = superiority complex = this small section of men felt they were doing foreign girls a favor by flirting with them. One of these guys also told me their nickname for white women who had been in Taiwan a while - "Great white sharks" and "Tea egg" was what they called Taiwanese women who they deemed as looking old...In short, avoid this bunch of man bitches and you'll absolutely love everything (and there's lots!!!) that Taiwan has to offer :)
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