Think about growing up in your hometown. Think about all those times some visitor, traveler, new arrival knew more about your hometown than you. Whether it be some great hidden restaurant, an interesting town fact, or all those tourist attractions that you never took the time to go to because "hey I live here, i can go anytime i want."
Now picture that life in reverse and that's a foreigner's life in Taiwan. On the whole i'd say foreigners know much more about taiwan than that of the average taiwanese. and i get it, we come here because we are interested about taiwan. we read about it, research it, explore it. we want to know every story about every nook and cranny of the island.
On the one hand this can make foreigners very popular, as taiwanese enjoy spending time with us and being exposed to this things they would never know about or experience. Also it's fun to tease friends about how I am more taiwanese than they are, every time they say "wow, i didn't know this was here." I have a few friends whom i know are only friends with me because i'm always introducing them to special new restaurants they had no idea about.
One reason this happens is because, as i mentioned before Taipei is a place where each neighborhood has the same stores, restaurants, facilities, as the next (with obvious exceptions) so people generally never stray too far from their home or their office. Unfortunately I know more than a few people who refuse to venture out of their own neighborhood.
On the other hand it can be frustrating because people always say "really?" or "that can't be true" and "are you sure that's right?" when you mention something that is or is not true about Taiwan. But this is also where I make a lot of my money. I will often say "you wanna bet?" And let's just say I have yet to lose a bet. In fact one friend still owes me 300 USD from a bet four years ago. Perhaps I should put her name and contact info on here so you all can pester her about it.
The picture above is one such bet. When i tell many people that I usually walk home when i'm in the city, they ask me how, and when i say I walk over this bridge they all say "are you sure? i don't think you can walk over that bridge." To be honest i used to hate this, because i know taiwanese people think that just because we are foreigners we don't understand things like what a sidewalk looks like....sigh....Anyway as you can see there is a sidewalk on the side of the bridge to walk across. And i'm happy for this sidewalk as it has not only allowed me to easily get home, but it has also provided me with a lot of free meals from friends who doubted me. And if you think free food tastes good, you should try victory food!
