An unexpected result of my new hobby, is finding out more about what kind of people my friends are. After talking about my new interest in board games, people seem to fall into one of three groups. People who like it an are excited to play, people who aren't so interested but are willing to give it a shot, and people who think board games are a waste and aren't willing to give it a try.
It reminds me of something I was told by a Taiwanese friend a few months after arriving in Taiwan, "It's better to want to do something but not be able to do it, than to do something you don't want to do." Granted every culture is different and most importantly every person is different, so i'm definitely not going to paint all Taiwanese as being unadventurous. Especially since I am lucky to have more than a few friends who let me drag them along on some activity or adventure that terrifies them.
But it does bring me to one pet peeve of mine. The double standard between foreigners and taiwanese when it comes to trying new things. What i mean is that as a foreigner you are not allowed to dislike anything. For example you may be going to eat with a friend and trying to decide what to eat. They will mention a food that you don't particularly care for, and you decline. However their first response is always "come on, try new things." And yet you respond that you have tried it many times, and you don't like it. However this is unacceptable to them and you are labeled as not easy going.
But this for some reason doesn't apply the other way around. I know a lot of people who claim that they are adventurous, want to try new things, and are easy going when it comes to whatever to do or eat. but there is always a long list of what they can or can't do, and what they can or can't eat. But when you ask if they have ever tried it before, the response is "No, but i don't like it."
Anyway, yesterday my friend and I went to another board game shop, this time one much closer and also more "popular." and if you've been following my blog you'll know that most of the time the word "popular" means "not good." This place definitely held true as it was not as nice, the selection was smaller, and the worker seemed like it was bothering him to explain the game to us (which is his job). But while the place was not so good, we still had a great time.
The game we played this time is called Ticket To Ride, and is about trains. I should have taken a picture of the game before we started to clean up, but that's ok, you would have seen how badly I was crushed. Granted I played the first third of the game operating under the wrong rules, so that put me a bit behind. Oh well, i still had fun and that's just motivation for me to improve my chinese listening ability.
Oh what's that you say? That there was an English language manual there and I should have read more than half of it? Shhhh! Don't take my excuse away from me, it's all that's keeping the tears away.
