Taipei, Taiwan - September 12, 2003
Well, I stayed in one hostel last night, but ended up moving to a different place. This new place is pretty cool, and I met quite a few Englsih teachers here as well. I believe most of them are teaching illegally. I also, again, met a few Americans. Interestingly, a few Americans asked me if I was a Canadian, as once again, there is more verbal attacks on Americans here as well, or there was a day or two ago. (Nothing against Canadians, as I have many good Canadian friends. But there seems to be alot of verbal attacks that come from individual Canadians moreso than other nationalities). Anyhow, whew, good thing I wasn't here, I was just getting worked up on that again yesterday in my rant on this site. Oddly, there were two Koreans in this hostel. We turned on CNN, and for whatever reason, there is a little more on the 9-11 anniversary, and the two Koreans asked someone why the Americans keep showing pictures of the World Trade Centers all of the time, kind of as they were super-annoyed by it. Someone had to explain it was the anniversary to them. Anyhow, I wish people stopped watching American tv shows, movies, news programs, media and all the rest. I wouldn't mind sitting back and making fun of other programming of other people's stuff for a change.
Anyhow, I'm leaving all of this political talk behind us again, and going back to Taiwan stuff. The teachers in the hostel were quite interesting. One American guy there had citizenship from Spain. He said he purposely overstayed his visa by 5 years and then applied for citizenship and got it!! Now I finally know how so many other people from poor countries get their citizenships, when it always seemed nearly impossible for me to go and do that in any other country. I guess its not impossible. You just to seriously break the laws to do it, or at least in his case ;).
Actually, there were alot of really interesting people in the hostel. Too many different stories to tell. Almost everyone in there had been to many many places, probably half had also taught in South Korea, and most were trying to save money for further travels, and just in Taiwan to earn up a bit more money to do just that. I could relate to them very well.
I was also able to get out and about in the evening. I found quite a few places around the city. One place has bars called '45', 'Spin', Roxy99' and a few others. They were near a university, and it was where most of the English teachers seemed to hangout as well as Taiwanese students. Later in the evening I went to what they call 'the Zone' which is a selection of bars on the other side of downtown. They were alright, and I met quite a few bartenders from the Philippines in these places. Actually, I've seen a small number of Filipinas in Taiwan. Also, they were working as the staff in the first hostel I stayed the first night.
Well, Taiwan is definitely a much more relaxed place that South Korea. Its hot here, but not too bad. All in all, quite interesting so far. I'll keep you all updated!
Next Journal Entry in Taiwan:
September 13, 2003
You can email me at:
Wintermoon2@yahoo.com