First of all, we LOVE living in Taiwan. The list of things we love about this country and our life here is MUCH longer then the things that bother us. But of course, even in our own country there are things that drive us crazy! And surprise, surprise running away to another country on the other side of the planet doesn’t magically make life perfect. We just get to be driven crazy by different things 🙂 Such as…
1. 7-11 doesn’t sell Aspirin.
BTW this list IS in the order of largest to 
smallest complaints. This is my hugest pet peeve about life here! Struck with a sudden headache in the middle of the night and forgot to pack pain relievers? Well you’re SOL. Because none of the 24-7 convenience stores here sell pain relievers of any kind. Although a sweet Taiwanese friend responded by telling me they DO sell vitamin C. And for the record the convenience stores also sell disposable underwear, prescription contact lenses, cough drops, liquor shots, hot roasted sweet potatoes, and will even let you drop off your dry cleaning there. BUT as you may have already noticed NONE of these will help your midnight headache (and neither with the hotel front desk btw) So now I stash Ibuprofen in every purse, coat pocket and suitcase I own, just in case.
2. Public schools don’t provide TP in their bathrooms
Actually many public bathrooms do not provide TP. And if even they do, it probably won’t be in the stall with you (read Josh’s great post on Taiwan Bathrooms here). All of that is a little difficult to get used to and obviously can lead to some very awkward situations. But the public schools one is the one that especially shocks me and still manages to catch me off guard.
3. It’s not unusual to get hot drinks or soup in a plastic cup
Ok this doesn’t happen all of the time, but when it does, it’s jarring. Wait, didn’t I ask for a hot coffee? Did I get the Chinese wrong? Oh! This cup IS hot. But, then why did they give me a straw?! I’m not drinking my hot coffee with a straw! For one, that sounds like a great way to burn myself! And second, I’m pretty sure flimsy plastics and hot liquids are not supposed to go together… especially if I’m going to ingest that liquid. Ugh.. can I peel this plastic seal off the cup without spilling it everywhere? …”
4. Taiwan’s banking hours are impossibly inconvenient.
Seriously, why?! Us foreigners can not be the only people who find it thoroughly annoying that banks are ONLY open when we’re all at work! Sure, it’s not like banks in the USA are open 24-7 or til 10 pm. But many are open til 6! And some of their branches will have Saturday hours. But not in Taiwan. Here you’re doing good to find a bank open past 3:30 pm. And don’t think its because they open super early, they don’t. Thankfully we have a job that doesn’t mind if we’re back a little late from lunch because we had to do a bank transfer. But I’m sure this is not the case for many people in this country!
Actually, now that I’m on this topic. There are a few other things that strike us as strange about banking in Taipei. One, you don’t get to pick your bank. Your company instead dictates which bank it will deposit your money in, regardless of if you already have 3 other bank accounts at three other banks. And even if you, as a married couple, both work for the same company using the same bank, you’re not allowed to have a joint checking account. I mean seriously, what’s the deal?!
On the other hand, I do admit that their bank-book system is brilliant! Here, they have this little machine that you slide your bank book into. It recognizes what transactions haven’t been updated in your book, flips to the next available page and fills all of that information in for you with your most recent account balance. That’s cool.
5. They really believe that tomatoes are fruit – and not just in a science trivia kind of way.
The last time I asked a friend to bring fruit over for our movie night, I laughed when he arrived with a bag full of cherry tomatoes. I mean they WERE a wonderful fresh sweet snack! It was just a funny reminder of how fundamentally differently we view the culinary role of this *ahem* “fruit”. Generally I find this to be more amusing as opposed to outright annoying. UNLESS. I unexpectedly find a tomato in my fruit tea or fruit salad. :S That, my friends, crosses the line. Its just not a flavor I’m been conditioned to expect (or want) in combination with other “real” fruits.
By the way, many other examples of tomatoes used as a fruit can be found here. In the night markets you’ll often see skewered cherry tomatoes covered with a hard sugar glaze. (I haven’t tried them. But they do not look good to this Americans eyes.) They also do a plum tomato juice here, which I have tried and I’m on the fence about.
And there you have it! Our 5 everyday little gripes about life in Taiwan. Honestly, the fact that these complaints are so trivial is a testament to how great this place is! And I promise to follow up this post with the much longer list of things we LOVE about living here. We are especially grateful for how welcoming, warm and gracious the people of Taiwan are towards foreigners like us. I’m sure there are many little things we do in their country that drives them crazy too. So thanks to them for putting up with us and this post.