Scooters, Dogs, and 7-11s OH MY!

Since this is my blog, I'm going to start out informally with some semi-related thoughts before I start "blogging." Those of you who read my first posts obviously realize it's been three weeks since my last post. I realize I said this was a "weekly" blog. I'm also someone who likes to write, so in my mind that's not really an issue. But funny thing: when you deal with rambunctious kids all day, every day, even a responsibility that should be easy and fun becomes more of a chore than you'd like it to be. That's not to say the only reason this post is delayed is from life stresses. I also found myself wanting to take more time to actually experience Taiwan, and have the time to reflect on it, before writing. Sure, I could bust out a blog post every week, just writing about the things I saw and heard that week, with some basic thoughts. Or, I could actually take the time to experience things I want to write about, and have the time to reflect properly. So in that spirit, three weeks later, here's the result of that:

Scooters. While I was in the United States (which was the majority of my life), I saw maybe 20 scooters in total. In Taiwan, I see 20 scooters in half a second. In the just-over-a-month that I've been here, I've probably seen enough scooters to fill a stadium - heck, probably two stadiums. If Taiwan decided to go to war, I'm fully convinced scooters would be their cavalry. I wouldn't be surprised if the Taiwanese flag had a white scooter added under the sun. I've read estimates that there are the same amount of scooters as people in Taiwan. None of this is exagerrated; there are a lot of scooters.

This is not photoshopped, and they are all moving

But there's obviously a reason scooters are so popular. Nothing happens for no reason. One obvious aspect to point to is their cost. Compared to a car, scooters are pretty cheap. Some people get them used for under $10000 NTD ($330 USD). They also get great milage, which adds up to even more money saved. These aren't prolific observations. It's common sense to save a lot of money when you can. Scooters are also easily parkable. Thanks to their compact size, you can find them parked on just about every street, in long lines. Many people even park them on the edge of the sidewalk. Oh wait, there are no sidewalks in Taiwan (there are, but they're rare).

Scooter road-parking with a rare sidewalk

The above reasons are all pretty standard. But I believe there's much more to the scooter than meets the eye. The interesting thing about scooters in Taiwan is that you'll see a lot of them with more than one person riding. I've seen up to 5 people on a scooter. Any time you put more than one person on a scooter, a few things are happening. At a basic level, two or more people are getting to a destination using the same vehicle, something we call "carpooling" in the US. But on a deeper level, trust is being built. Scooters are by nature unsafe vehicles. You can wear a helmet, but if you run into a car, there's a very good chance you will be hit. When we get into a car with someone, we're trusting them to a certain extent, but we're also trusting the car, and its ability to withstand an accident. On a scooter, all of your trust it placed in the hands of the driver.

Let's count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

By filling an entire nation with these vehicles, you are also placing more trust in your community. At any moment, my neighbor could act incorrectly in his or her car, or even scooter, and I'll be in an ambulance. But so many people drive these machines with others, placing their trust in each other. Many Westerners spend a lot of their lives skeptical about and even hating those around them. Taiwan embraces the people around them.

These people are trusting all of those other drivers not to plow into them

If you don't know it already, China and Taiwan are very conservative when it comes to public displays of affection (PDA). You'll see some handholding, maybe even a hug here and there, but other than that, there's not much. That's where a scooter comes in. You're on a date with someone new. You've met in public, shared a meal, and now it's time to say goodbye. There's no wondering "will he kiss me/should I kiss her?" because it doesn't happen in public. So how are you supposed to tell if the girl or guy likes you a lot? With a scooter it's easy. Does he/she put his arms around you? Almost every scooter has a handle on the back, and many Taiwanese are adept at balancing on the back of a scooter without holding onto anything. While PDA is unacceptable in Taiwan, holding onto someone on a scooter is. Everyone knows that "cuddling" is a great affection builder and display.

Even dogs get to scooter cuddle

Combining this idea of trust, and affection, we reach an important aspect of falling in love. Many people place trust and love together. You can't love someone you don't trust. Many Westerners feel that it's hard to build up trust with their significant other. In Taiwan, on date one you are placing a lot of trust in someone. This trust leads to more comfortability with this person, and falling for them is much easier.

The love is still there

For these reasons, I urge all of you to think of scooters less as dangerous but cheap transportation devices, and more as a trust and love machine.

I do want to point out that there are still many scooter accidents in Taiwan. Up to 50% of the hospitals' ER departments are filled with people who were in scooter accidents. My third day here I saw a guy lying on the road with a bone sticking out of his leg. But as many Taiwanese people have pointed out to me, a lot of these accidents could be prevented with safer driving by the injured.

Another day; another scooter accident

I also want to point out that a huge drawback of scooters in Taiwan is a rapidly rising rate of obesity. Westerns are no strangers to this phenomenon, and now Taiwan is experiencing it worse than ever. Part of this is all of the delicious but unhealthy food, but the other part is people riding their scooter instead of walking five minutes to their destination.

Closest 7-11 is two blocks away - better ride my scooter

As a final note since this post is coming after some time, I am really loving my job. The kids are great, even when they're naughty, and as I've told my family and some friends, I work for a smaller school that allows me to feel like I'm part of a family instead of "just another teacher." I have two coworkers from South Africa whom I love to work with, and we have a great time together. I'm also still trying as many new Taiwanese foods as I can, and I still haven't found one I don't like (although, spitting out squid mouths is a bit more of a chore than I'd like).

That black thing is its mouth, and you generally spit it out

Until next time...