After an afternoon of studying, I decided to make a trip to Carrefour, Taiwan's hypermarche from France, where you can buy everything from DVD players to lard. I have a little extra money and there are some things I've needed to buy, so I take the bus to Xindian. It's a surprisingly short ride, and as I walk toward the store, I can feel some excitement.
It's called purchasing excitement. Yes, Roni is going shopping. Roni doesn't like capitalism and Roni has been known to sympathize with very left wing economists. However, tonight, I must confess, I am excited to buy stuff.
Carrefour is bustling with this purchasing excitement. Exciting, I would say inspiring, music is playing over the loudspeakers. I walk in and take my backpack off and give it to a security guard (I have been here before and know that he needs to put a plastic lock on the zipper.) He hands me my freshly locked backpack and smiles, saying (in English): "Thank you!" I give him a big smile, "No... thank YOU!" I say. He doesn't know that this is a little American joke, but I am being sincere. I can feel that he is a nice man.
These moments of human connection are important and transcend language and cultural barriers. They happen a lot in Taiwan.
I walk through the masses of people and see that there is a sale on men's clothing. I didn't come here to buy clothes, but I check the sale clothing anyway. Who doesn't want to look good? You know what they say, "The clothes make the man."
I look through some bins of sweaters that I can tell were once very organized, but have been sifted through by a day's worth of Taiwanese shoppers. I bet you I am the first foreigner today sifting through the hip sweaters.
"Bu hao! Bu hao! (Not good!)" a young girl says poutingly to her boyfriend as he picks up a shirt from the bin. I continue my sifting and then turn to him as they walk away. "Bu hao!" I say, in my imitation Taiwanese accent. Luckily, I get a smile from them and they do not pull out their cell phones and call the Carrefour security line.
"Hello security, there is a foreigner making stupid-ass jokes in the men's fashion section!" Phshew! I am off the hook!
I realize only in Taiwan that we Americans really like to make jokes. When I came here in August, I went to my school's administrative office and registered. When I responded to something the woman behind the counter asked with a joke, she looked at me with a blank stare. Then, a few seconds later, a look of relief came and then a smile. "Oh, you are American. You like to make jokes." Yes, I am American. I like to make jokes.
I walk into the library this past week. There is a table set up in the lobby and students are advertising the school's study-abroad programs to Europe and the States. With a straight face, I say in Chinese, "Hi, I would like to study in the United States." For some reason, I think this is extremely funny. They look very confused. I smile and tell them that I am American and I am just making a joke. Fortunately, they get it and start laughing as well.
I decide not to buy a sweater. I think I brought enough sweaters with me to Taiwan. If I need a sweater, I think to myself, I'll come back in a few months. You gotta be disciplined in these places, because I think the music all has subliminal messages say, "Hey, buy stuff you don't need at all. Come on!"
I pick up the things I came here to buy. A backpack, a water filter, and potting soil and plastic planters for the plants that I bought the first week I arrived in Taiwan. I've been meaning to replant them. Give them room to grow.
A Carrefour employee, a middle-aged Taiwanese woman, is demonstrating a special teapot. She's selling her wares in the middle of the flow of customer traffic, as if we are at a night market. She asks me if I would like to buy it. I tell her I already bought it (actually, a friend gave me the same thing last week). She doesn't have any customers watching her demonstration, so I hang out with her for a few extra seconds. She starts demonstrating the product. I don't want to be rude, so in English I say, "Hey, I gotta run," figuring she will not exactly understand, but she will get the idea that I am taking off. She gets it, especially because as I say it, I walk away.
She smiles at me and I think she is a little bit of a Taiwanese comedian, as she says something in Taiwanese on her microphone, knowing that other customers are watching our interaction. Damn, Taiwan is fun.
I manage to not spend too much time picking up what I need and find myself on the bus home a few minutes later. I get off at Zhengda (政大) and wait for the bus that will take me up the mountain. I must look a little ridiculous, a foreigner lugging around two backpacks (my old and new one) and two plastic bags full of stuff.
My bus comes and ten minutes later, I am in my room. I have decided that tonight is a time to garden. In my room!
I drop my two backpacks and two bags full of stuff, take my shirt off (it's hot!), and pull out the potting soil and the new pots and put them on the bathroom floor. I then pick up my plants and place them next to the soil and the pots and I'm ready to begin.
With Brazilian music in the background, I set about repotting the plants. When I'm done, I hose down the bathroom floor and find good places for the newly repotted plants.
A simple palm graces the kitchen area, bringing a fresh, natural feeling to my daily tea ritual.
As one enters my room, plants in the foyer welcome you, saying, 歡迎光臨.
Several plants grace my desk, making my forays into technology that much more enjoyable.
Gardening can be hard work, and I shower and go to bed, but not without admiring my new garden.
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