So, I am starting to settle in here. I have found a new apartment, walking distance from the school (and fixed my door). I have begun training and meeting the other teachers. I am increasing my still-sparse Chinese vocabulary. I am figuring out where to eat, what’s worth buying, where to go out, etc. So far, so good.
A couple things worth noting. As anyone who has attempted to walk with me around cities like New York or Washington knows, I am an avid jaywalker. I treat crosswalks and pedestrian traffic lights with bemused disdain, and traverse streets wherever traffic patterns allow. Taipei seems to have cured me of this habit. At first I waited at walk signs based on a “when in Rome” philosophy. Now I do so out of genuine mortal fear.
Lest you think I exaggerate, let me explain. People in this city cannot drive. Every day is like a rally race at a sweet sixteen party. People swerve. They accelerate until right before they stop. They ignore one-way signs. They drive up onto curbs to park, even when people are on those very curbs. They go straight through red lights. Honestly, they don’t even drive that fast. It’s not recklessness so much as a genuine lack of skill.
Of course, cars are only a small portion of the vehicles on the road, and that brings me to an entirely different dilemma. My new housemate’s theory is that people drive cars so poorly because they are use to driving scooters, and expect them to handle the same. More than three quarters of drivers are on scooters, rain or shine. When a red light turns green, you can tell without even looking from all the buzzing Vespa engines.
The Taiwanese scooter is an All Terrain Vehicle. It will be driven down highways or alleyways, over dirt or grass, off curbs and down sidewalks. Riding down sidewalks is a convenient way for the Taiwanese Scooter-enthusiast to avoid rush-hour congestion, or just to see the city from a different perspective. In any city this would create interesting choices for pedestrians, but the way buildings are constructed in Taipei makes it especially nerve-wracking. Most buildings’ in Taipei have their ground floor set back as to create an overhang under which pedestrians walk. With shops to one side and pillers, food venders, and parked bikes to the other, there is little room for a weary ambler to avoid oncoming scooters. About once a day someone reenacts the scene below from True Lies, with me as the bellhop pushed into the fountain (fast forward to about 2:45).
True Lies - Mall Chase - Every10Mins.com
I actually have a bit more written that needs a little editing. That, along with a bunch of photos, I will put up tomorrow morning (in my new place!).
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