There is one big rule when living abroad, "don't compare things to your home country." While there is something that every foreigner does all the time here...compare things to their home country. We do know we shouldn't and life would be easier if you can accept that things are different here and that there is a different way to do things here. Then again it's always good to get a different perspective on things and compare them to what you are used to so you can make an informed decision about what you feel is the best way to handle something.
Living abroad has given me a bit of a respect for life in the west though, as I compare some parts of western culture to that of asian culture. Although I try not to bring these things up when talking to friends as I don't want it to seem like i'm just biased. And honestly who knows? I'm always questioning if i think the western way is "better" because i've weighed all the choices and objectively it is, or just because i grew up in that culture and have been brainwashed.
However this doesn't mean that the west is always right. Pictured above is one area where I think Taiwan "wins." It's a picture of a greeting card and you will notice that it's blank inside. This was a big problem for me when I first came to Taiwan and was trying to look for clever cards to send to people back home. I thought it was so lazy that none of the cards here have anything in them. I held on to this position even when Taiwanese friends would say "but a card with writing already in it is so impersonal."
Eventually I came around and agreed. Sending or receiving a hand written card really is more personal than a prewritten one. Granted I'm still completely against the whole idea of greeting cards, but at least having a hand written one seems is a bit more acceptable.
Finally this picture also serves as evidence. Later I will fill it out and then send it to my Mom for her birthday. I want evidence of this since the post office has lost some of my outgoing and incoming mail recently.
