Call me crazy but I am officially riding a scooter in Taiwan. My roommate, Cathy, who is leaving in two weeks is going to sell hers to me, so yesterday I decided to take if for a spin. Everyone drives a scooter here; it is a necessity of life. They are cheap and take only a little gas. It is the best mode of transportation…that is, if you are not afraid of dying. See the catch is that driving here is CRAZY.

The best way to describe it is like a video game. You never know what will pop up in front of you, a person, a car door, another scooter, a dog…Cathy has not driven it further than to the school but I have been riding a bicycle around town, so I have gotten pretty comfortable with the roads. A few days ago Cathy and another teacher took me across the street to show me how to get it started, which is the hardest part. Her scooter is a little old so the ignition is not so great and if you don’t wrap the key chain around the mirror, the key will fall out and fall off and the scooter will keep going. The first time I started it I nearly ran into a fence. But once I got the hang of it and got going, I realized it was quite easy. I drove around in a few circles and felt pretty comfortable, so yesterday when I had some free time I decided to take it out for a while.

You have to be extremely observant when driving, but the rules are pretty universal, only scooters get away with a little more. Scooters are expected to go first through the intersections so when the other side turns yellow and all the cars are stopped, you should already be going. Also, if you are turning through and intersection, you never just get in the left had lane. Scooters are supposed to be in the right and you make a box turn through the intersection, just like you would if you were on a bicycle.

Overall, it has been a very liberating experience. In the past few days of driving I have been all over the town. It is so great to go off exploring and not have to ride a bike or wait for a taxi. Today I rode to a Japanese restaurant and met a 26 year old girl named Evelyn who was eating with her family. When she realized I was alone, she invited me to eat with them. They ordered a ton of food. In Asia, when you eat as a group, one person will order a selection of food for the table and you just take what you want and put it on a small plate, one piece at a time. I tried some salmon sushi, cooked salmon, cooked beef, miso soup, fried shrimp, salad, hand rolls, and tofu. The restaurant also has a free ice-cream bar where I had a scoop of mint chocolate chip and a scoop of chocolate chip.

At the end, it was beginning to rain and I was getting on my scooter Evelyn ran into the store and bought me a tiny rain coat. We exchanged phone numbers and she offered to take me to a night market next weekend. So I officially made my first friend in Chiayi.