Originally I had planned on getting a scooter, buuuut after seeing the insanity of the drivers here, and the fact that it rains, alot, and is windy as shit, I've decided against it. So my school pays for a taxi to come pick me up at 6 30 and take me to the branch in Jhongli so that I may get to work on time, usually I get there right at 7, but am still sometimes late as traffic can be crazy or there are accidents blocking roads and all sorts of shenanigans going on.
Each Thursday the same taxi driver comes to pick me up, I like being able to tell stories and say "my taxi driver." It's like I have my own private car to pick me up! And really it kinda is, because he doesn't come in the normal yellow cab with the sign on top. Although there are plenty of those around, there are also a lot of cars that just look like normal cars, but are actually taxis. Sounds a bit sketch, but they still have all the tags and ID numbers inside.
So on Thursday at 6:30, Wu, my driver, comes to pick me up. He is always waiting on the bench outside, and when I see him he goes over to the car and opens the door for me and I get in. He doesn't speak much English, but he always tries to speak with me, at a least a little. The first few times was just questions about the radio and A.C. Then he would say "Long time no see," when I got into the car. This is a phrase I actually learned in Chinese, so the next week I tried it out on him, and he understood! It sounds kinda like "how show booo shee en" if you want to imagine what I said. He must have been excited that I tried speaking Chinese with him, because periodically during the rest of the trip he would point things out to me and try to explain what they were, in English.
A couple of his key points of interest to me were some of the Betel Nut shops. Betel Nut is the Taiwanese form of chewing tobacco that many people indulge in. Perhaps for the wonderful taste (I have no idea actually, maybe I'll try it one day) but what may entice them even more is how you get the Betel Nut. Now, I have seen some old ladies selling it on stools on the sidewalks, but more commonly are the Betel Nut girls that sell the product. There are tons of stores with big front clear windows, just a shelf, and then a pretty Asian girl sitting at the shelf making the Betel Nut and selling it. Most times they are dressed quite provocatively. When I first started noticing these places I thought they were like front advertisements for a lingerie shop, then I thought sex shops, maybe I wasn't so off.
From what I've heard anyways they really aren't prostitutes, they just dress skankily so that men will want to come to their shop and buy the Betel Nut from them again and again. Sometimes I see girls wearing sweaters and pants, but often times it's little dresses and heels.
Anyways, Wu pointed to one of the shops with a hoed out girl and did a motion of putting something in his mouth by his lips, chewing, and spitting. I said "Ohh yes, Betel Nut. Do you have it?" He was quick to shake his hands "No! 5 million people, die a year," he continued, and did the little finger motion for death. (In Taiwan, if you put your hand palm up and curl just your index finger toward you, it means death, which is something I found I do more often than I thought, it frightens the children.) Wu also added " Bikini girl," Which is a common phrase that I hear my older students use a lot too, I think they use it to mean something like sexy girl. We kept driving along, and he pointed to another window and said, "There, no Bikini girl!" and laughed. Oh Wu.
This is what Betel Nut looks like. After you chew it turns all orange and people spit it all over the streets.
He also pointed to some stores and said something that sounded like "garden" but after asking him to repeat it three times I gave up and just said "Ohhh" and smiled. We came across an accident between a scooter and a car, and he turned to me and said "Car kiss scooter." I thought it seemed an accurate description of what had happened. Go Wu!
Wu always puts the radio to an English station while I'm in the car, I think it's called ICRT or something, and since we are together at the same time each week, I'm always just in time to hear the "call out" segment of the show where the host reads and e-mail from a listener and calls whoever they have requested, usually for a birthday or anniversary, and then plays a song for them. One week he called this guy's girlfriend named "Pinky." Pinky tried to practice her English with the man from the radio station, and he told her she sounded like a Pinky.
During the rest of the trip he tried to explain something about going to Hong Kong and I pretended to understand what he meant, maybe he wants to take me on a longer journey? I wish I had a picture of Wu to share with you, perhaps next week I will snap a photo.
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