American girls strong, eat steak.
Often while riding in a taxi, the cab driver will attempt to strike up a conversation. Sometimes he speaks good English or I manage a full discussion in Chinese, but most of the time it is a mix of both. A while ago I had a quite memorable cab ride. I'll write the conversation in English but really it was a rather garbled and confusing mix of languages, including a few random sentences of German at one point.
The driver started out typically, asking me where I was from and whether I liked the food in Taiwan. I told him that I was American and he started in on a long speech about the war in Iraq. I honestly had no clue what he was saying so I just nodded. Somehow he got the mistaken impression that I was from Chicago and I didn't bother to correct him so we talked about Chicago.
He asked how old I was and I told him.
"You are married," he guessed.
"No," I said.
"Your boyfriend," asked the driver, "Taiwanese or American?"
"I don't have a boyfriend," I told him.
"No?" he asked, quite surprised, "because you are Christian, yes?"
"No... I don't think that's why," I said. He was silent for a moment, and I thought the conversation was finally over. Then he spoke up with these words of wisdom:
"Taiwan girls very beautiful. American girls strong, eat steak."
So that explains it...
Yesterday I got some more deep insight into Taiwan from another cab driver.
"Taiwan is very very good country," he said, "No terrorists."
Sounds good to me.
The driver started out typically, asking me where I was from and whether I liked the food in Taiwan. I told him that I was American and he started in on a long speech about the war in Iraq. I honestly had no clue what he was saying so I just nodded. Somehow he got the mistaken impression that I was from Chicago and I didn't bother to correct him so we talked about Chicago.
He asked how old I was and I told him.
"You are married," he guessed.
"No," I said.
"Your boyfriend," asked the driver, "Taiwanese or American?"
"I don't have a boyfriend," I told him.
"No?" he asked, quite surprised, "because you are Christian, yes?"
"No... I don't think that's why," I said. He was silent for a moment, and I thought the conversation was finally over. Then he spoke up with these words of wisdom:
"Taiwan girls very beautiful. American girls strong, eat steak."
So that explains it...
Yesterday I got some more deep insight into Taiwan from another cab driver.
"Taiwan is very very good country," he said, "No terrorists."
Sounds good to me.