Habits in Taiwan

I had a short trip to Korea this week, and Teresa had one to Japan. So we got to test out parking at the High Speed Train Station, traveling in coach (rather than our usual business class), and returning.

I discovered that I am settling into Taiwan. As an example, the sewer systems in Taiwan are not as robust as people in the US are used to. You do not put paper (or anything other than bodily wastes) into the toilet. There is a small trash can in the bathroom for that purpose. It takes a lot more mental attention for a while to avoid that automatic reaction primed by years in the developed world. So, I went to use the toilet in Korea, and found myself reaching for the trash can. Oops. It shows how quickly some of those mental habits can be adjusted.

Some mental work is harder however. We have taken three weeks of Chinese lessons (2 x week). Most of this so far has been pronunciation of sounds (some of which are very different for us). Along with sound, we are practicing tones. Chinese has high (flat), rising, dipping, and falling tones which impute a completely different meaning to a given sound. It sometimes help to think of it like singing. But it is difficult mental work and will take more homework and practice than I am giving it at the moment.