Big Man on Campus: Reflections on Taiwanese University Life

Hey everyone who checks this blog, I thought that both of you might be interested in this little piece I emailed to my friend Kyle. Here it is in all its partiality:


I have been amazed at just how much school spirit these folks have, for a school the size of U of M. They have water activity clubs, bartending clubs, kendo (Japanese swords), fencing, fine arts, poetry, debate,camping, childcare, kung fu, comic and animation, chinese chess, goh, movies, horse riding, army, drama, karate, chinese medicine, motorcycle, ping pong, tea drinking,mountain climbing,western music, and whole pile more campus groups. About the only thing they don't seem to have a strong form of is a (get this) STUDENT UNION!!! Maybe this should tell us something... As it turns out, there is an extra bed in my dorm room, but it's a top bunk (Each room has two bunk beds, so I got the bottom bunk of one, while my Taiwanese roommate got the top, and my French roommate got the other one's bottom). The rooms are little crowded, and to be honest, I'd like some more personal space, but my roommates are nice and there's always someone to hang out with around the residence. Not too mention that coming to Taiwan has increased my attractiveness to the female gender tenfold, as the only native English speaker with that oh so sexy North American accent. Seriously, I get more attention than the French guy, its nuts! Every other day, some girl comments on how cute I am, which I must say is a pleasant change from the reception back home. Of course, here they also think I look like Colonel Sanders(all Westerners look the same, right), so who knows.The residence itself isn't as bad as I was told it was last year. Sure the rooms have too many people in them and are furnished like hospital/prison cells, but at least there's Air Conditioning and bathrooms and laundry are right beside me. The residence staff seems to have toned down their "control freak" nature from last year somewhat (probably realizing they were pissing off the very westerners they are so desperate to impress). I see no one going around patrolling the residence (like guards), though the Taiwanese residents do restrict themselves (ie, there are male and female floors, and the Taiwanese wont' break these boundaries, even to pass on a message), but I have seen no real resistance to Westerners doing it. (I helped a German girl haul her luggage up to the female floor for example). The Taiwanese definitely are quite funny people, they basically act like Victorians, constantly worried about breaking ridiculous gender boundaries while at the same time trying to be polite and to leave a good impression. The girls here, I kid you not, routinely walk around with umbrellas and fans to prevent their skin from getting "tanned" and thus them being less "beautiful". They use umbrellas even on sunny days (and it has been nothing but bright, hot, and sunny since I arrived, except for one day when it rained a bit, but I mean a typhoon WAS passing through) and are shocked to hear that no one in Manitoba uses umbrellas and that girls actually PAY to get their skin tanned. They are also terrified of being alone, and look as my coming here knowingly as the only North American (only person from the western hemisphere) and with no Chinese as a feat equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest. All I did was sit on a plane. Still they are very eager to please, one friend of mine who works for Hewlett-Packardt said she was going to give me some stationery items, but ended up giving me a bag full of scissors, glue, a mouse for my laptop, a portable usb storage device, a binder, a bunch of cord things which I have no idea as to the purpose of, and a bunch of other stuff. Sometimes, though the need to please gets to be too much, as they try to do things for you, but because of poor english schools, get things mixed up. For example, I was ordering a combo meal that came with an egg and was trying to say I didn't want the egg, but instead my "helpers" asked for 2 eggs. It was even more fun when we went to the bank. The problem is the thought of acting independently (doing things on your own) is really quite foreign to a people who spend their whole lives with strong kin connections. For example, they lock the doors to the residence at 1 am (you are supposedly supposed to let know if you won't be back by then, which is hard if you don't have a cellphone) which means if you're out later, you have to stay out all night (which to be honest, is my biggest beef with the residence). I get the impression though, that they do it this way, because it never occurred to them to just give the residents all the door code and let them come back anytime they want. My Taiwanese roommate said I could just call his cell, and he'd let me in, but I don't exactly want to have to wake him up just to open a door. As for the Europeans, they're friendly, and actually speak half-decent English. I haven't seen anyone drinking really, but then I'm not a big drinker myself.