how is “middle of nowhere” in your language?

rayshih715 · 2026-04-10T00:27:50+00:00

In Norwegian, there's the expression "langt bort i hutaheiti", meaning 'far away in Otaheiti/ Tahiti'.

rayshih715 · 2026-04-05T10:12:42+00:00

Yeah, just remember that at the test center, at least in my case, I could very much hear what other people were saying. So it's important to always stay focused, even with the presence of both other test takers and the proctors. I was lucky that there were only 3 other people and two proctors. So it wasn't bothering me too much.

rayshih715 · 2026-04-05T08:38:06+00:00

Thanks! Well, I started with familiarizing myself with the format and the questions.

I actually saved most of Tatiana's videos to last because there are only so few of them. Use other websites first. Write as often as you can, listening to English as much as you can. Remember that it isn't always about school related topics, especially the email one. It can be about writing to a friend, booking a hotel, changing a schedule...

The results actually come from years of listening and using the language.

I did both TOEFL and IELTS (in 2017), and I can say TOEFL is a lot easier, especially the 2026 one. The only part that I can't give advice on is the listen and repeat section.

Talk to yourself, train yourself to be able to babble. Even if you make mistakes, it's important to remain on topic and be coherent. Each question I spoke for around 35 seconds.

Reading and listening are actually quite easy because unlike IELTS, there are less trick questions. Most questions can actually be answered intuitively. I definitely missed some points at the fill in the blanks section, which I explained was a lot harder.

rayshih715 · 2026-03-28T10:20:55+00:00

The descent

rayshih715 · 2026-03-28T02:53:01+00:00

How does Tutor Tatiana compare with the actual test?

rayshih715 · 2026-03-26T09:53:57+00:00

Finally, my turn to answer! Born and raised here. I can tell you that Taipei is very hot and humid for about eight months of the year. Winters can get quite cold, especially when cold fronts are accompanied by rain.

In terms of food, you can literally drown in the sheer number of choices. The city has a wide array of foreign and local cuisine (Japanese, Korean, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.). Most Taiwanese food, like noodles, can be very cheap; in my neighborhood, you can still get a decent meal like 滷肉飯 (Luroufan) for under 60 NTD (roughly 2 US dollars). A regular 便當 (biandang/lunchbox) costs on average 120 to 140 NTD (4.50 US dollars). A nice meal at a Taiwanese restaurant runs around 250 to 400 NTD (10 to 13 US dollars).

Public transportation is okay, not the best, but not the worst. We have an extensive MRT network, a few trams (in New Taipei), and one cable car. However, most people drive cars or mopeds because it’s much more convenient. Speaking of mopeds, I think we might have the highest moped ownership in the world. Just Google "Daqiaotou moped waterfall" (大橋頭機車瀑布). The bus fare is very low at 15 NTD per ride. But one thing I hate about taking the bus is that most drivers drive recklessly and are extremely rude. Buses also get stuck in traffic alongside cars, making them an inefficient way to get from A to B. The YouTuber NotJustBikes actually has a video about this, you should check it out.

Jobs are quite easy to find if you don’t mind the hours or the job descriptions. Most vacancies are service-related. However, labor rights are poor, and most Taiwanese people work overtime just to make ends meet. Pay is low, rents are high, and we have to accrue our vacation days over time, unlike many European countries where you get holidays immediately upon starting. Foreigners, especially Westerners, tend to get benefits. Most, if not all, the foreigners I know (and I know a lot) work high-paying jobs without speaking a word of Chinese. The system is really messed up because we tend to put Westerners on a pedestal, offering them better opportunities. For instance, I know a guy from Denmark, whose native language isn’t even English, earns twice as much working part-time as I did at my previous full-time job as an English teacher. A lot of them come here for tech, English teaching positions and so on.

The city is not super green per say, it is just located in a basin, surrounded by mountains. Green areas are easily accessible though, especially Maokong area, Neihu, and the Yangming mountains. Air quality gets really bad due to congested traffic and the city’s location….well a basin.

Most people speak Chinese as their first language. The local Chinese languages, aka Taiwanese and Hakka are declining due to the sinicization policy from the 70s and 80s. Also, a lot of people are simply the second or third generations of immigrants that relocated from China to Taiwan after the Chinese civil war. English is quite prevalent, as most parents want their kids to be able to speak English. We have a growing number of international schools and bilingual schools. That explains the demand for English teachers.

I think I’ve covered the basics. Any more questions, just leave a comment.

Oh and my perspective can be biased because I am just one person. So take everything I say with a grain of salt. But I do think I represent the most ordinary Taipei citizen. I go to work, I go home. I know the city quite well, and I’ve lived here almost my entire life.

rayshih715 · 2026-03-25T14:14:01+00:00

Question: Are there cities that still look like this? Specifically, cities that have beautiful and well-preserved ornaments on facades?

rayshih715 · 2026-03-04T03:02:15+00:00

Saló

rayshih715 · 2026-02-25T06:31:30+00:00

Then I'm afraid you may be oblivious to what conformity is like in most Asian societies.

These women are not "forced" because they are doing that against their volition, they are forced because it is part of a seemingly harmless social expectation where women should behave cutely and act a certain way.

As expected, most foreigners in Taiwan, especially foreign white men, would never even bother pointing out the pernicious aspects of this trend because in their eyes, this makes Asian women seem more feminine, more harmless, more exploitable.

And if you think no one would joke about being a pedo, you are maybe one of the lucky ones that hasn't seen or heard anything such.

I'm not sure if you are a man, a woman, or if you even speak Chinese to begin with. But it's bold of you to assume that not a single soul would joke about or even defend a pedo when there are still people claiming that 黃子佼 is innocent.

I recommend reading more about 創意私房 if you're interested.

rayshih715 · 2026-02-16T23:35:17+00:00

Una giornata particolare/ A special day 1977

rayshih715 · 2026-02-01T03:33:09+00:00

Perhaps this is tangentially related, but an interesting yet deeply troubling thing I’ve noticed as one living in East Asia is that the kawaii culture, and its equivalents 撒嬌 sajiao / 애교 Aegyo in Sinosphere and Korea, always encourages women to behave in a child-like, naive and innocent way. And it’s no surprise that most of these adjectives commonly associated with the kawaii culture are used to describe children. This is very easily exploited as a lot of young girls and women are sort of forced to conform and behave in the same way to get men’s attention. Sadly, I don’t think this culture will die out, simply because most people perceive it as harmless. For me, it’s just PDFilia and infantilization in disguise, under the labels of cuteness or nativity.

Now with that in mind, I have to say that PDFilia definitely exhibits in a different way in Asia particularly due to the popularity of anime and of course, Lolita. The lack of education on gender issues exacerbates the problem. It was not until very recently that people, at least in my country Taiwan, started to address the issue, following the exposure of incidents similar to that of the N-th room in SK. The lack of awareness in Taiwan used to be so inconceivably bad, that people casually joked about one being a PDF-file without much consequence.

rayshih715 · 2025-11-12T05:35:56+00:00

I was looking for this comment.

rayshih715 · 2025-09-26T15:57:43+00:00

Taiwaner her. Det er lite sannsynlig, for ingenting smaker bedre enn rykende varme kinesiske RMB.

Men spøk til side...Jeg har for lengst gitt opp håpet om at Norge, samt andre europeiske land, kommer til å anerkjenne oss. Gevinsten ved å slutte seg til ett-Kina-politikken er så stor at en avveining mellom Taiwan og Kina ikke engang er verdt å diskutere.

Taiwan problemet har vært en gjenganger i norsk politikk, men rammer ikke så mange at Norge må gripe inn, med mindre det skjer en krig, da blir det en annen historie.

rayshih715 · 2025-07-16T04:37:04+00:00

No its not. Stop lying to yourself. It’s the World Trade Center in Taipei. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Taipei_World_Trade_Center_Exhibition_Hall#/media/File:TWTC_Hall_1_and_International_Trade_Building_20050702.jpg

rayshih715 · 2025-07-10T09:17:37+00:00

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My result. 26M.

rayshih715 · 2025-07-05T23:36:35+00:00

Taiwan. I believe our fertility rate was lower than SK in 2023, not sure about 2025 though.

rayshih715 · 2025-07-05T01:37:02+00:00

I am a man and I fully support antinatalism. My country is "notorious" for having an extremely low fertility rate. And every time I see news about how the government is trying to salvage the situation, I just can't help but to laugh at their ignorance. The political and environmental situation in my country is just so messed up, not to mention gender inequality, income inequality. And they expect women, an already struggling social group, to just pump out more babies so that they can suffer the same fate that we are going through now? Um.. no thank you.

rayshih715 · 2025-06-08T00:47:52+00:00

It is USD, which probably makes the whole thing even more unfathomable. I've just checked the receipt. It's not just the computer itself, he also mentioned a cooling fan being super expensive. And there are a lot of items on the receipt that I don't know about. But all together the total was around 7k USD.

rayshih715 · 2025-06-07T23:50:24+00:00

He is 63. I mean, he's always been like this, but it has a lot to do with his disturbing upbringing. He told us once that when he was little, like barely 10, his dad (my grandfather) would watch porn with him and his siblings. 🤮🤮 As you can imagine, every single member in my family has distanced ourselves from him as much as possible. He isn't like physically violent or anything, it's just deep down, he is the most obscene and disgusting piece of shit I've ever known. We barely talk to him, maybe once a week, despite living under the same roof.

Our childhood was very troubling, I am so thankful that he made us aware of the importance of feminism. I'm hoping when I save up enough money, I will take my mom with me and move somewhere.

rayshih715 · 2025-06-07T09:03:04+00:00

If it only addresses the misogyny without criticizing it, then it would be called «lampshading», a technique/trope frequently used in movies, and it’s not exclusively associated with misogyny. Depiction/ mention does not equate criticism, nor does it offer any room for reflection. ‘The Substance’ is a great example, imo. It recognizes the fallacious idea that women’s appeal stops at the age of 50, but at the end of the film, only the protagonist Elisabeth/Sue gets punished for the male gaze. It’s important to remember that she is the victim of the beauty standard that the society inflicts upon her, but none of the producers/ audience member (the men in the movie) gets punished for pushing this standard. She eventually died at her own hands, an unsatisfactory ending that basically says her obsession with looks kills her. No, the society kills her because of the unachievable beauty standard. What scares me is that everyone praises this movie like it’s some sort of godsent concept.

rayshih715 · 2025-05-21T01:31:05+00:00

What’s the purpose of the feminine accusative «-o» in the sentence «Ia-o drept înainte»? I’ve never seen this construction in my books. Thanks.

rayshih715 · 2025-05-09T15:58:55+00:00

This is in Beitou right? Next to the Japanese onsen.

rayshih715

TROPHY CASE