Top Five Adjustments I've Had to Make

台北 is s very different city than Seattle,  台灣 is a very different country than the United States. There were some adjustments I've had to make. Here's my top 5: 


 5. The Weather Okay, this one's a bit of a gimme. To be honest, the weather has not been that bad for me. It's hot, it's humid, but that's what I expected. I wouldn't say this applies to everyone on the team, but I've gotten along with the weather pretty well. Still, applying sunscreen everyday and the sauna conditions still called for adjustments.

 4.The MRT Stations/Buses In my opinion, Phildaelphia's SEPTA is still the worst public transportation for a city (for multiple reasons, including the "what the heck is this subway map saying" factor as well as the "crap, I might actually get shot" factor. How's the MRT? Is it good transportation? Sure. Are the trains nice? Absolutely. Is it easy to find your way around? Ehhhh, that's questionsable. Tapei's transportation is very nice, but getting lost isn't.

 3. The Time Zone This one is also kinda of  an obvious one, but it's effects are kinda uncontrollable/more powerful than the weather. I think its getting better though and this one would probably fall out of the top 5 within the next few days. A lot of us are able to sleep longer into every morning, but that might be because my two roomates stay up later every night watching TV. Either way, we still seeing some "Dead Man Walking" faces in the morning.

 2. Traditional Chinese(繁體字) For the record, I think that Simplified (简体字) is so much better. But that's probably cause I'm biased since I only know 简体字. Reading 简体字 is already is already pretty straining for me. Traditional is that much worse. "Hey, Emily, what's this word say?" " That's chicken". "What? I know what chicken is! That's not chicken. Wheres the bird on the side (鸡)? (The bird is 鸟). But look at chicken for traditional: 雞. See!?!? Where's the bird?!?!?!?! No bird!!!! (haha total freak out moment). Anyways, you get the idea. I like to keep it simplified, but that's kinda of an excuse of not being able to read. Anyways, it's not like I'm some  简体字 scholar; my reading level was pretty low to start with, so that's why this one's at number 2.


1. Taiwanese-Chinese

Alright guys, keep it chill. 

And at number one, it's the way these kids are speaking Mandarin. I'm not talking about just adjusting to people saying "你要怎麼樣"(hahahahahahaha)  all the time and not trying to laugh. Say what you want, but I find it hard to understand the kids some times. Their accent, is well, their pitch is high and some of their terms they use are completely foreign to me. Sometimes, (feeling like a dork), I have to say "Huh?" and have them repeat. Regardless of pronunciation accuracy or slang, or lacing of Taiwanese, I'm still adjusting to their language, and hopefully, it should be better soon.