Monday, Jul. 12, 2004 - 11:40 p.m.

Ugh! Started a thread on Forumosa.com that is causing quite the stir. Its entitled, "Why stay here if you hate it?" Lots of defensive comments, lots of judgement calls on MY personality, but also lots of nice suggestions and a TON of people reading the post. Kinda funny. If we're all so honky friggin dorry about being here, why are so many of us reading such a post? eh?

Time to break out the notes here....Oh, a point I have been meaning to make for sometime I just coincidentally posted on the above mentioned thread. Forgive me, but I am going to copy and paste it.

I do NOT think that Tainan is hell on earth. I know that it is NOT a place for me. I am someone who needs tons of external stimulation (no, I am not talking about kinky stuff, lets keep focused for a second please!) Tainan seems to be a good place if you have family here, are studying something where you need a lot of quiet time for, or if there is a hobby that you really want to spend a ton of time on, oops, one more, or if you like drinking and working few hours (cost of living being so low its easy to earn a lot and drink a lot and still save money.I think and I hear.) There is nothing wrong with any of these lifestyles, I just dont fit into any of these, nor do I want to at this time.

Let me expand on that a bit. Taiwan in general seems to be (from my in depth analysis after 9 months here) a really receptive audience. They are simply MAD (good mad) about Western culture and all that includes. If you are into spreading your art or knowledge, this is a place for you. There are dollars to be made and minds to make an impression on.

For me, I want a place that I can learn from, not where it is such a devastating one way street of exchange. You tell me about Western culture and I will tell you what I know about Western culture. Oi! No, no, no. Some exceptions to this rule, but generally, I have experienced a very receptive to Western culture but closed off to explaining local culture. (I can just hear the nay sayers now. But remember, this is MY experience, I hope yours has been different.)