After being in Taiwan for over a year there are a lot of things I have come to love about this place. So for today's email I would like to write a short list about a few of the things I thing Taiwan does better than the good old USA -or that I just think are really great.
- LINE
Line is the texting / calling app in Taiwan. I think it is a Japanese creation but more or less everyone has Line in Taiwan which makes it a super convenient way to communicate with literally everyone! While I don't particularly like Line over other messaging services (I think Apple's iMessage and Facebook messenger are both nicer to use) everyone has it, so you can call or text anyone in the whole country for free! Also has a ton of fun sticker packs.
- Motorcycle / Bike lanes
Most main roads in Taiwan have a dedicated motorcycle and biking lane on the far right which is really nice for us missionaries. Honestly, Taiwan has a lot of nice features to their roads. You'll hear about a few more in this list.
- Everything is super fast
Taiwan likes everything to be really fast. They like food to come out fast, they like things to be close together and so on. In fact if something is more than a 10 or 15 minute drive away people start to thing its a really far distance and would take too much time! Kind of funny from our American perspective but nonetheless makes life pretty efficent. In Chinese this idea is simply called convenience which is a word you use a lot when talking about Taiwan.
- Stop light timers
Another nice road feature is that on main roads (especially in cities) stop lights have timers next to them to count down until it will switch to green.
- Squatting Toilets
I won't say anything else on this one. But they are great!
- Turning left (for motorcycles and bikes)
Since the two wheeler lane is on the far right, it can be kind of hard to make left turns. But Taiwan has solved this problem with the nifty left hand turn box that I will explain with one of the attached photos
- Getting told I am handsome by people
It is normal in Taiwanese culture to tell people they are handsome and such which is very flattering! Also nice when random people want to take pictures with you!
- Food is really cheap
This one isn't really something you could take back to the US, but I really like how cheap food is! Hahaha!
There it is. A few great things about Taiwan I especially like! It's been a good week. Hope you all had a good one as well. Had some fun meetings and taught some good lessons to a few of our friends who are starting to progress quickly. Looking forward to another good week of trying to bring people closer to Christ!
Love
Elder Neilson
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| Left hand turning box explination |
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I met up with one of my MTC companions, Elder Brady when we went to Taipei for a meeting
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| Train station going back to Hualian |
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| Picked up a new reflective vest at the mission office! Safety stat improved! |
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