Hello everyone
I'm Grace
Today, I'm going to share
some of the differences I’ve found between living in Taiwan and the United States
After coming to the States,
I’ve been receiving some comments
Many of you want to know
What are the differences between living in the States and Taiwan
So today
I’ve come up with 10 differences
that I’ve observed from living both in Taiwan and the States
to share with you all
But just for the record
I currently live in Indiana
So some of the things I’m going to share
like Americans’ living habits
might not be true in every state
I’m just sharing based on my experience in Indiana
Okay, without further ado, let’s get into it!
The first thing that I found different between Taiwan and the States is
the ways to greet and say goodbye
When it comes to greetings
it’s more like a short conversation in the States
Let’s say if you meet someone
and they might say, “How are you?”
and you would probably go, “Good! How are you?”
They might respond by saying something like “I’m doing great!”
and then it’d become a short conversation
But in Taiwan
If you encounter someone
You would probably say “Hey~ Hello!”
and he goes “Hello!” and then that’s it
I think it’s quite a difference
But I have a quick question:
you’d only use “How are you?”
to people you are not that close to, right?
If they are your closer friends,
are there other ways to greet them?
If you know, please tell me in the comments
As I was just talking about the way people greet each other
And when they say goodbye,
they tend to say things that I think
would make others feel better
For instance
every time when I leave after buying something
Cashiers say “Have a good one!”,
“Have a good day!”
And that makes me feel like they care about me
This might just be a fixed expression
but it doesn’t happen in Taiwan
so when people say these things to me
It warms my heart
The second difference is that in the States
I found that people usually
hold the door for people behind them
If someone is before you
they usually hold the door for you
and let go of the door when you get close (for you to go through)
and some of them are super gentlemanly
like they’d…
When they open the door and see that you’re coming
some of them go past the door
and then hold the door from behind like this
and let you go first
and then I think, “Wow, what a gentleman”
This is something I’ve never experienced in Taiwan
There was one time
me and my language exchange partner
were heading out of a building
We were still discussing something,
so we were moving a bit slow
As we approached the door
We realized we needed to schedule our next meeting
So we just stood there
As it turned out, there was a guy
already standing there by the door
He was holding the door
he just stood next to the door
holding it while he waited for us to pass
and we kept standing there
and he kept holding the door
after a little while
We realized it and quickly responded,
“Ah! you don’t have to wait for us. Don’t worry about us!”
and he went “Oh no, it’s fine! I’m not in a rush!”
And I was like “Awww, that’s so nice!
Why would someone be willing to hold the door for us like that?”
So I started to develop a habit that
if I open a door, I’ll check if there is anyone behind me
If so, I’ll hold the door open for the people behind me
The next one is that I found that
in the States they use cards as their main payment method
Of course in Taiwan, you can use cards to pay in many places
but you can still choose to pay with cash
However it’s not the case in the States
For example, when I first got here
I didn’t have my card
So I paid only with cash
There was one time I was buying coffee
and the shop said they don’t accept cash
I had to ask my friend with a card to help me pay
it’s quite a hassle
I didn’t expect a situation where a shop wouldn’t take cash
so for me this is also another difference
but now I feel the convenience of it
because I still have difficulty differentiating American coins
it’s very complicated lol
So afterwards I came to think
“Yep, it’s so convenient to pay everything with cards!”
And then there is the thing about umbrellas
In Taiwan, even when it’s drizzling
You’d most likely see people using their umbrellas
While in the States, no one uses an umbrella when it’s drizzling
Only if the rain is very heavy
will you see people start using umbrellas
Not to mention on sunny days
no one ever uses umbrellas
but in Taiwan, I usually use an umbrella when the sunlight is strong
so I wasn’t used to it when I first got here
I didn’t feel like I should be using my umbrella
Because people would think that I’m weird
and later I got used to it
I don’t use an umbrella either when it’s drizzling
or when the sunlight is strong
it’s just like “when in Rome do what the Romans do”
and another difference is
the food portions here are really large
Every time when I order food …
I feel like I can separate it into three meals
Many people think that the cost of living in the States is high
and then I realized that…
if I pay the same amount of money
Say, a food order costs 300NTD (=around 10USD)
I can then enjoy them over three meals
it’s not much of a difference from the cost of food in Taiwan
Therefore I don’t feel like
the cost of living here is much higher than in Taiwan
There is another one
When you sneeze
you hear others say to you “Bless you”
I’ve never been accustomed to this one
The reason why I’m not used to it is not because
people say “Bless you” to me
It’s that when others sneeze
I’m…
I’m not used to responding by saying “Bless you”
so sometimes I wonder
if I’m being rude by not saying it
I remember the other day I was having a class with a student
He coughed
and I thought he coughed because he was a bit sick
I thought I should say “Bless you”
so I said “Bless you” to him right after he coughed
and then he said
“Teacher, we don’t say ‘Bless you’ after hearing a cough”
and I was like “really?”
and I discussed it with another American friend of mine
he told me that for him
in both the case of coughing or sneezing,
he’d use “bless you”
So I am not sure what it is exactly.
if you’re American,
feel free to share in the comments
if you’d say “Bless you” when you hear someone cough.
Would that be weird?
Next, pedestrians have the right of way
I discovered that cars in the States all yield to pedestrians
If you’re crossing the street,
they usually stop and wait for you
This is something I rather can’t see in Taiwan
In Taiwan you have to constantly look out for moving vehicles,
and wait until the road is clear
and then quickly cross the road.
That’s when there are no traffic lights.
In the States, sometimes
You are not even close to the road
and they’ve already stopped for you
Then I’d feel a bit pressured
and quickly run across the road
I was like, “woah, this is really different from Taiwan”
The next thing I want to share
is also about traffic in the States
namely stop signs.
I have an embarrassing story about it
Before I came to the States
I watched some American TV series and movies
Every time I saw a stop sign
I thought it meant that
you’re no longer allowed to move forward
it’s a dead end or dangers lie ahead
and I thought to myself
“Why are they still driving forward?”
I only discovered after I got here that stop signs mean
you should stop before starting to move forward again
I misunderstood it this whole time
I was like why are there so many dead ends in the States?
Why so many stop signs?
I thought I was so dumb
The next one is that
bathrooms here mostly use wall-mounted shower heads
It was a little weird for me
because most of the shower heads in Taiwan
can be removed to wash your body
So I wasn’t used to how shower heads in American houses
all pour water right from above
but I eventually got used to it
The last difference I noticed is that
I found that Americans really like to eat baby carrots
You can see a lot here
Like baby carrots sold in bags
as if they’re snacks
They’re actually eating these baby carrots as snacks
I’m actually not a big fan of carrots in general
But at first I saw how everyone enjoyed snacking on theｍ
I ended up buying a pack for myself
but I still didn’t enjoy it after I tried it
So I don’t buy them anymore
But I just realized that people here really like baby carrots
If you go to American grocery stores
you can see entire fridge shelf sections selling carrots
I’m not even exaggerating!
Alright, that’s all
the differences I found between living in the States and in Taiwan so far
If you’re American and you’ve been living in Taiwan for a while
and you notice other differences
Feel free to share them in the comments
Or if you found the things I shared today
different from your own experience
You’re also welcome to share them in the comments
So that’s it for today
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Remember to like, subscribe and share
I’ll see you next time. Bye!