TW3: Language and shopping

After being here for some time, i've observed the only difference between taiwan and US is the language.

Both have so much in common,

1. place
no HDBs, mostly shophouses, not much high rise buildings except in the city area.
dirty streets, air pollution due to cars and motobikes, dangerous traffic and both have totally yellow cabs!
not forgetting neon signboards and nice large posters all over the place.

1. people.
The locals are just so ever friendly and chatty, even if they are strangers, and specially friendly to foreigners.

Service line or Sales help their customer to the max and they greet every customer that passes by the shop, even if u'r not buying anything after trying their stuff they'll still smile and thank you for shopping.
One of the reasons i dun like to shop in singapore. Our service is rock bottom compared to them.

2. language culture
Both have common language, that is everyone in the country knows how to communicate well in their local language. although limited to one language, at least they can speak and write well and everyone understand each other without a barrier.
Well, it's good that we'r educated in both languages, but are we good in both languages?!

My tutee can speak but can't write in chinese. Nor he is good in English. then what else can he use to communicate?!? On the surface it doesn't seem like a flaw in the education system, it is just not effective. they can't separate both languages in their speeches.

Even in university level, we can't speak nor write both languages as well as those natives in college level. How about other students of other races? do they know their mother tongue as well as those in their native countries?
Singaporeans mix english and chinese together to become Singlish, i'm afraid that is only limited to Singapore the tiny island.


i have a sudden impulse to fly to US immediately after staying in taiwan for some time. not that i'm not used to the food here, the food is great. It's actually the language and shopping.
While learning chinese here, i am actually used to writing so much in english i have to translate most of the things from english to chinese to form sentences. Learning english is much easier! Chinese is so hard to read and write and takes time to understand!

and shopping... hm... for girls it's a cheap heaven, but for guys... i gues nothing much, at least not in kaohsiung, mayb more in taipei. and the fitting and sizing is quite weird for me too, but it's fine for petite asian girls.

i haven bot much clothes since my return last summer, and bot onli one pullover here to prepare for Alishan.
i miss shopping so much that i went online window shopping.. abercrombie.. hollister.. american eagle.. all american apparels. the thing about american clothes, they do not compromise quality. their S size fits just nice on me too! i'm getting my credit card soon and there are summer sale on their websites.. so... hee heee.. thank you friends-in-US-coming-back-to-singapore!

time to welcome new friends into the wardrobe!

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http://goto.canon.com.sg/ixus100is/#/stylebook/vote/