The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. I Friend Zoned a prostitute in Taipei’s red light district, and it was easier than you’d suspect. During the first year after I had moved to Taipei, I lived in one of the city’s seediest neighborhoods, affectionately nicknamed the […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. A 2-mile park zigzags its way through the center of Taichung. The narrow strip of developed greenery, known as People’s Park, interlocks quads of urban development and stereotypical Taiwanese neighborhoods. It’s a far cry from the hefty real estate […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. Conventional wisdom lists four things to avoid doing at all costs. You never (1) tug on Superman’s cape, (2) you don’t spit into the wind, (3) you don’t pull the mask of that old Lone Ranger, (4) and you […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. The relationship between a teacher and student is not unlike the divide between Dorothy and the great and powerful Oz. Teachers are overpoweringly flashy, and students respectfully cower in the presence of the proverbial pyrotechnics and smoke-and-mirror routines. […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. Amy doesn’t have many enemies. As a kindergartener, she met another Amy – Amy H. – who had a superiority complex beyond adolescence from being listed earlier alphabetically and never passed an opportunity to point out that she […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. Few things seem less practical inspiration for architecture than prison. A Swedish hotel is carved from ice to pay homage to its proximity to the Arctic Circle, and there’s another in Australia carved underground amid recreated opal mines. […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. Call me American. Everyone else does, some way or another. If you’re speaking Mandarin Chinese, it’s “Měiguórén.” To more than a billion people, my nationality sounds like Elmer Fudd on a Rogaine bender. “It may gwow in, it […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. I punched Amy when we were inside a Buddhist temple. Hard. Without warning. In the shoulder. When she wasn’t looking. One minute, we were quietly minding our business admiring the intricate, handcrafted floral designs. Then, the next minute, […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. A one-armed man lived in my first apartment building in Asia. There also was a three-legged black Labrador and a Chihuahua that was missing an eye. The country felt like The Island of Misfit Body Parts. Rummage long […]
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of short stories about living abroad in Taiwan. In the days before moving to Taichung City, our school’s head trainer, Gavin, tried to give us the lowdown on the area. “It’s got a really tight expat community and a great music scene, the weather is […]