To Flush or Not to Flush ...

Last night, Jason and Spring invited myself and his best friend, Murray, out to dinner. We went to one of our favourite Thai restaurants here in Taiwan. We had shrimp cakes and water spinach and yellow and green curries and some papaya salad among a few other things. This restaurant has it's own small brewery and, luckily enough, it seemed to be happy hour.

I'm not much of a beer drinker as it always seems to go right through me. A beer and a half in, I found myself making my way to the restroom. Upon my arrival, the plastic sign hanging in the bathroom stall reads:

1. Please do not flush toilet due to malfunction.
2. Please flush after each use.

Hmm ... what is one to do? In Taiwan, it is a common rule that nothing is to be flushed down the toilet ... meaning any kind of tissue or feminine product. You are to place them in a provided garbage bin. A how-to picture did accompany the sign, so I believe the first rule was supposed to read something like ... Please do not flush tissue down the toilet due to malfunction ... some key words missing there, I think.

It still amazes me that you see incorrect English around Taipei. Big signs that have been made and paid for by companies read things like , 'Comming Soom' and 'Bisiness' and one of the best so far, 'Languguage School'. Needless to say, that school didn't stay in 'bisiness' too long.

I can scoot from home to work in about 7 minutes if I catch all the lights. I always see at least one foreigner on my way to work ... at least. I wonder why it is that one can't tap another on the shoulder to ask for a little help.

This must be one of the most interesting time periods to be living in a place like Taiwan. Things are developing so quickly that come another 10 years down the road you won't see errors such as the few I've introduced.

My apartment is scattered with new odds and ends from Jason's old apartment. It is going to be very sad to see him go. I feel luckly that I can say my bro and I lived in Asia together for a few short years ... it was a pretty special thing. I guess there always comes that time when one is ready to move on to something new ... something bigger and better.




Brother J ... you will be missed greatly. Best of luck to you and Spring on the other side of the globe!