These French Students Absolutely Love Taiwanese Culture! | Wow! Taiwan
This is Patty. This is Andrew. And you’re watching WOW! TAIWAN! Campus Edition! Let’s welcome our guest Tofu and Lola. And we also have Colombine and Arnaud. Welcome… Bienvenue Bonjour… Please sit… Yeah! We are changing up the show a little bit. This time we’re going onto the campus. We’re going to hear about what it’s like to be a student studying abroad in Taiwan. Yes, and we’re fascinated to hear all of your stories in Taiwan, whether it has to do with your lifestyle or what you had at school. Yeah, so, like kind of like a classroom, you know, when you have a new exchange student or like a new kid coming in, why don’t we do like a kind of like a show and tell self-introduction, right? Oh, yes, please. Well, I think we should start with you, Lola. What do you have today? OK, so, my name is Lola. and I have a little present for you. -Yeah.
-OK. I have present, it’s soap from my country and from my region. It’s beautiful! Yeah, you can smell, it smells so good. It’s actually different from Marcell soap, it’s more like for body, it’s more luxurious than Marcell soap. OK, so this is like a bathing soap, you use it in the bath, in the shower. Yeah. Really to have an experience, you know, like smell good after shower, you know. Oh, yeah. Where was your hometown again? I’m from French Riviera, near Cannes. Oh, near Cannes. It’s the southern part. Yeah. This is very special. I smell the elegance. It smells fancy. Wow. -This is nice.
-Thank you. Now we’re all posh. I’m also really good after this. Thank you, Lola. Thank you so much, Lola. Please sit… Thank you. OK. We have next, Colombine. -Hi, nice to meet you guys.
-Welcome… And what I’ve brought for you guys today is a cup that my mom bought for me. It’s actually like it just shows my hometown which is a very small town in the north France. It’s right under the UK. Actually, it’s called Brittany, this whole area. Brittany, yeah, I know Brittany, the little peninsula. Yeah, exactly. And it’s actually near the beach, it’s right under the UK. OK. And so this is like a little window into my hometown which I miss very much. Wow. And so it’s a maritime town, you guys have a lot of sailing. Yeah, when I was young, we did a lot of sailing. A lot of seafood. Yes, definitely. Lovely. OK, let’s go Arnaud. Hi! My name is Arnaud, a.k.a Dafu. Today, I wanted to mix things up and I got what we call a Lambawani, which it comes from Madagascar because I’m half French, half from Madagascar. Oh, wow. It’s so pretty. Let’s turn it around a bit. Here. This is really cool. I see cocoa beans, is that cocoa beans? Yeah, those are cocoa beans. I’m sorry, Colombine. We’ll hold it. This is actually… Colombine like, “Hello, I’m here.” And this can be a decoration you can put on the table and a wall, but it also serves as clothing accessory. So it’s unisex, so male and female or anything, anybody can wear it. If there’s a lot of wind, you can be like that, you can like… OK. -I’m gonna, yeah.
-OK. You can just do it like that, it’s very free, there’s not really a good or a bad way of wearing it. So there’s maybe one day you’ll wear two, like one on your waist and then one over your shoulder. Yeah, you can wear one on your head if you’re like… What do you call it? Lifting wood, carrying wood around and everything, so that’s super useful, super pragmatic. I love that! Utilitarian and pretty. Exactly. Function and form. -Yes.
-Oh, wow. Thank you so much. Thank you, Arnaud. Please sit… OK, and last but not least, Tofu. Yeah, hi. Hi everyone, I’m from France from Paris. OK. Yeah, so I bring you guys some creps. So, I made them right before the show. I saw you backsatge. That was really impressive. -OK.
-Look at him, just then. This is 30 minutes ago. Backstage scene, such a pro. Oh my god. And do you have a bottle of rum? Yeah, to spice things up. Really? Yeah. So, this one is Nutella. Nutella. -This one is butter and sugar.
-OK. And this one is butter, sugar, and lemon. So, this one is a bit more original. OK, so, which one is the most classic? That’s the most classic? No, that’s my favorite one, the most classic, I would say the butter one. Alright. -Then Nutella.
-Nutella. What’s your choice? I like the lemon one, but also Nutella. I haven’t had it in so long. Oh, let’s share. OK, yeah. You get a bite here, you get a bite there. Yeah, so let’s share the butter, lemon. You take a bite first. You can see we’ve rehearsed this. No, we’ve been looking forward to this since like last week. Yeah. When we heard we’re gonna be actually having… There you go. How is it? -Oh, god.
-Delicious. Is it good? It is good. Then I’m happy… It’s crispy, it’s light. It shouldn’t be crispy though. No, It’s soft. The sugar, it’s like… Pretty good. The crepe itself is very mild and very soft. How did you tear that so cleanly? Because I’m good at eating. This is my talent. OK, you know what? I’m gonna be doing… Wow. You! -Really?
-That’s great. Hey, the elegance. We just received some soap. American. -Half.
-All right. Sit down… Lovely. Oh, what a great start. A sweet start. Yeah, that’s a nice little pick-me-up. Wow, OK, so everyone here has studied before or is currently studying in Taiwan? And I think we should start with Lola. 8 months. Where are you studying? What do you study? Are you having fun? Yes, I study in I-Shou in Kaohsiung. It’s like a school not in the city, it’s inland, so I need to take the bus 45 minutes, so it quite far. And I have actually a lot of foreigner students like not Taiwanese people, but Indonesia, Vietnamese, Thai people. So it’s very funny and we have like Fo Guang Shan Temple next to… Fo Guang Shan. Fo Guang Shan, right? -Like the picture with my family.
-The big buddha. With my family, they came to visit and it was during the new year. So it was so funny because like they have like singing, dancing, and things like that, it was amazing. So, is that the campus on the left? Yeah, it’s the campus, it’s really big. It’s just one building, but it’s like maybe 7 or 8 building, it’s very…. Very tall building. What are you studying in? I’m studying actually business like administration business, international administration business. It’s a mix between marketing, finance, and things like that. And it’s very useful I think in the future because I want to work in this field. The campus looks quite different compared to what you have back home. Is the atmosphere different as well? Yeah, actually the class is very different. In France, we study and we study a lot, and we do like closed book test, more like how you learn and think you learn, and here is more like soft skill, you know, like you need to do presentation and things like that. So, communication skills. Yeah, communication skills. So and it’s a way to know better other people in your class actually. So I think it’s quite good. And like you said, you have an international cohort, you have a lot of people from all over the place. Yeah. Oh, wow. Culture exchange. Exactly, OK. Lovely, thank you, Lola. Thank you. Colombine. Where did you study? In NCCU, it’s in Taipei. OK, National Chengchi University(NCCU) Yeah, exactly. In Muzha. -Yeah. -OK. There are quite a lot of foreign students. A lot of, especially a lot of French students as well. Oh, and this is you in your class? Yeah, it was a field trip. We went to a tea plantation, that was really nice. On Maokong? Yeah, exactly. There was a tea tasting. -It was really cool.
-OK. And so what were you studying in NCCU? It’s a international communication master’s degree. OK, so a graduate program. -Yes, exactly.
-OK. Are there quite a lot of English-taught classes in Taiwan and in school? I think there are a few English-taught programs. Not so many though because I would have rather stayed within the management field, but I chose communication because it was the closest one, and I thought it was interesting as well. Yeah, I think a few, yeah, -in NCCU at least.
-OK. I heard you came to Taiwan because of love. Let me hear the story. Amour… I did, yeah. So, love brought you to Taiwan. Exactly. So, I actually did my undergrad in the U.K., I studied there with my boyfriend. So, we lived together for a while and then once I finished up my studies, we decided to move here. Yeah, so that was a really big move, but I think it’s really great. OK, and it’s been fun so far? Yeah, it’s been really amazing. I think because I’m considering staying here. Actually, no, I’m not considering, I want to stay here. Boyfriend, watch out. She’s only considering, no. No, you want to stay here. Yeah, I want to stay here. So, life in Taiwan is amazing. Well, thank you, welcome very much. All right. Arnaud, how about you? Me? Well, I graduated already, but when I was a student, I came here on an exchange program and originally I didn’t know anything about Taiwan. -OK.
-I wanted to learn Mandarin, and Taiwan is a Mandarin-speaking, you know. And I chose it here and my dad, actually my parents knew Taiwan better than I did. They’re like, you’re going to Taiwan? You know, the place that makes semiconductors, TSMC? They’re like all excited like, you know how crazy this place, you know how important this place is in the world? Calm down. I mean I’m not going to TSMC. I’m just learning Mandarin, all this pressure like, can you calm down? Your parents were ahead of their time, they knew this 5 years ago. Yeah… they knew this. But the impression was like this is a tech island, right? Of course, it’s a tech… All these smart people reunited doing like on the cutting edge of technology. -Right.
-Right… And after you came, is it like that? Has it fulfilled that imagination? Well, yeah, I mean… Taiwan is extremely unique and everything, it seems like, you’ve thought about all these solutions, like in the campus. I was surprised that it was so full of life compared to my university at home. Because at home, we come to university just to study, and once you finish studying, you go home, here, they had all these activities, you can go in… -Clubs.
-Clubs, yeah. Exactly, that’s the word I was looking for, clubs. It was about whether it’s sports clubs, creative clubs, like film making… I thought nightclubs. No… So yeah, there’s that as well. Yeah, like that’s my university here. Yeah. Yeah, and it’s just such a welcoming place. And I remember this story of when I was in Taiwan I was visiting Taipei because Wenzao, the university I went to is in Kaohsiung in the south. OK. I didn’t have any friends in Taipei, I only had friends of friends. And so people that I’ve never met were willing to meet me up in Taipei and help me visit during a whole entire day. Oh, wow… Yeah. So you never even met them before. Never even met them. But they’re so willing to help you, accompany you, right? Spent an entire day like almost being a tour guide, even though I never met them, helping me in the metro. And I was like, this is… You guys are too nice, like why? What did I do to deserve this? Oh, this is, well, welcome to Taiwan. No big deal. This is an everyday thing, come on. Yeah, just put on the tab. It’s all right. Wait, so you you were here for an exchange. -Yes.
-And then you came back. Exactly. So, I had to finish my master’s degree in France -in order to get the full diploma.
-OK. And once I graduated, it was in the middle of COVID actually. So, I had a hard time. I found a job in France, but it was hard to keep it. And I saw in the entire world, there’s only two places, New Zealand and Taiwan, that handled the situation correctly. And during my university years, I met my girlfriend, and my girlfriend, of course, headed back to Taiwan. She was living in Europe. And I was like, you know what? This is an opportunity, maybe it’s fate. I should just move, without a job, just a dream in my heart. And I moved to Taiwan. First, I worked for six months in her dad’s shop, he has a key shop. And I was just opening up doors, copying keys, and then making these little stamps for all these old people right in Tainan in the south. Very traditional industry. -Yes.
-Small shop. And that’s where I really progressed how I got my a little bit better at Chinese. I mean yeah, I’m better at Chinese and a little bit of Taiwanese as well. I was about to ask, yeah. Yeah. And then, yeah… I found a job finally in Taipei. So I moved to Taipei where I work now at AmazingTalker. OK. Making videos kind of like you guys. So, I came here kind of on a whim. Tofu’s gonna explain a bit more after. And then, love kind of made me come here by fate almost. I was like, I was basically forced by the world just to come here, I had to. The hand of destiny guided you. Exactly. And then it put something on your hand, too. Yeah… Did you notice? He’s off the market. Exactly. Like Beyonce said, put a ring on it. Well, maybe the best choice ever to come to Taiwan. He married the Keysmith’s daughter and then he didn’t know she had the key to his heart. Oh… You’re so romantic, are you from France? A little bit. You guys have little cute things just dispersed everywhere. Like even the EasyCard, like the metro card. Yeah, it’s an easy card, you can buy stuff with that. You’re gonna have to learn this life skill to drink water without touching the cup. You got it, OK. OK, stop where you head, OK. Only in Taiwan? Only I’ve never seen that. That’s not true. I’m not, we do in France. We call that Wi-Fi. Yeah, drinking Wi-Fi. Like Wi-Fi? What? Well, he just cued Tofu, so we have to hear Tofu settle this story. He mentioned, he forgot a big part on his story, it’s me. Because you’re tall. Why? Why you? So, as you can see on the picture, we were together as an exchange student in Wenzao. -So, 7 years ago.
-OK. Because we were studying together in France. So actually we wanted to learn Mandarin. So we wanted to first apply to China, but we were too late to apply, so it was full already, so the last space available was here in Taiwan. But for myself, I didn’t know anything about Taiwan. I just knew MIT, made in Taiwan, but I didn’t even know it was electronic component or whatever. And to compare with his dad, my dad, he thought that the name of the country is Taipei. Taipei and Taiwan is the same. Well, you know, that’s a step up from Thailand. I mean we love Thailand, but not being recognized as Thailand is quite nice. True… So yeah, we don’t have the same knowledge when we came here. But yeah, I moved here and as an exchange student, I loved here. We went to a lot of places and the thing that really impressed me here is how warm and friendly the Taiwanese are. They really try to help you no matter what. I have a funny story to share actually like, the second week I arrived in Taiwan, I rented a scooter, and I got an accident like the first day right off. Yeah. And so I was on the floor, I broke my arm, I knew my arm was broken, and the guy just ran away. So I was like, “What should I do?” Yeah, you can see the picture. -Oh, no!
-You look so lost, my god. Poor guy. I was on the floor like that and like what will I do? I don’t speak Mandarin, I don’t know where to go. And finally the guy came back, and so like, “Oh, he will help me, that’s great.” Maybe stuff like that. Finally, he took his phone and he looks at me and say in Chinese, “Picture, picture, selfie, selfie.” So I was on the floor like that… and the guy was just ike… -No way.
-Yeah. So he took a picture because back then I guess there were less foreigners in the south. Yeah. And he was like happy. Yeah, strike a foreigner today, that’s great. He went to buy a lottery right after that. But in the end, he helped me and brought me to the hospital and helped me with everything from A to Z. And it was so convenient, so smooth, -so cheap as well.
-OK. So yeah, I felt like I was in a nice place with nice people and nice environment. Even though you broke your arm, but that’s another story. -That’s another story.
-Yeah. That was a good memory. Lovely. Let’s speaking of somewhat kind of painful experiences. Lola, how has your Chinese learning experience been going? -Maybe painful…
-Painful or not so painful. I would say so so because Chinese is quite hard, but I took like lesson, from my university in the first semester to learn some word, but it was quite difficult, and everybody already speak Chinese or Mandarin, So I was like, OK, I’m limited, I am beginner, so it’s no way. So I learned some sentences. And actually near my place there are a little miss who sell like baozi(steamed buns). Buns yes, buns. Yeah, it’s my favorite food here. OK, with the pork? -Yeah.
-Do you like the one with bamboo? No, pork. OK, just pork. Sorry. So I was brave, I was like, OK, I will ask her in Chinese because she only speak Chinese. So I said like, two buns for… and she’s starting to speak Chinese really fast like where are you from? Oh…, so I say from France. She said, “Oh, from France.” And she’s starting to like speak and speak… I’m sorry, I don’t understand, sorry. I have the tips for you, next time you just have to say “Dui”(yes). -Dui.
-Dui… Yeah, and they’ll keep going until they realize the “yes” isn’t matching up with. Oh, OK, that’s the limit. Where do you live? (in Mandarin) Yes. (in Mandarin) -OK…, stop.
-Where do you live, yeah. OK, yeah. OK, so you, I mean you’ve only been here 8 months. So, considering the fact that you already kind of understand that much, you can order your own food, that’s already pretty impressive. Yeah, that’s enough for this moment. How long is the program? How long is the stay? One year. One year, OK. Well, you have 4 months, and by the end you have to order everything in Chinese. Yeah, and if you don’t, we’ll find out, OK? OK. -OK, I keep chellege.
-Come on. -Yeah, OK.
-You got this, classmate!(in Mandarin) So cute. Arnaud, how about you? Yeah, I can totally relate now that I’ve been here for a couple of years, I’m married, and I’ve had my fair share of adventures. I can say my Chinese, my Mandarin is good enough. I can now work in Mandarin. But yeah, there’s always a time where you make a mistake that stays within your brain, your heart, your memory. So, there’s this one story, maybe it’s the most famous one that I have. Is it, wait… Is it a funny one or is it a pretty bad one? It’s a funny one. It’s a great one. You guys are gonna like it. OK… You guys are gonna love it. So, I was in a restaurant in Taiwan, of course. And I was enjoying my food, it was great, and my friend told me, you know, this is like handmade, it’s not pre-prepared, it’s made with a lot of love. And I was like, “Oh, I can totally feel, I want to compliment the chef.” When they came out, I tried to say it in Mandarin. And unfortunately, instead of saying, I can tell you made this with love with your hands. I said, I can tell you make love with your hands. I said, instead of saying… You are doing… Handmade with love(in Mandarin). Yes… Handmade with loved. I said, you make love with your hands. And then he kept looking at me, he was like, “What do you mean?” It must have been the tones, let me do it again, and then I kept repeating it and repeating… And my friends are like, “What are you doing?” I was like, “What did I do? I’m just complimenting.” He’s like, “You know what you just said?” He left in horror. Yeah, OK, cool, man. Yeah, come again, thank you. No, come again? I think we’ve had enough of that. OK…, that was dirty. Moving on. Thank you… It’s one of the process, you learning a new language, you get mistakes. Well, I really feel the love that you make with your words. I can tell you make love with your mouth. -This show is never going to end.
-Risky… Oh, this is getting…, OK, anyway. Were you there when he spoke that? Yeah, I was there. You were there! Oh, geez. But for me, I was on his side, I was like, yeah, he’s saying nothing wrong. He’s like, you’re just like, you guys are so dirty. Wow. There may be jokes, but, hey, it’s the process. Well, it’s a learning. -It’s a learning moment.
-Yeah. Have to be careful. And it’s a lesson you’ll remember. Exactly. For sure… All the way from France to Taiwan, I believe lifestyle habits in Taiwan, cultural shocks you may have, -totally different.
-You must have some, right? -Right.
-Very different from life in France. I’d love to hear your stories on that. What are your points to this? Starting with… Let’s keep the ball rolling, Lola. I think the most thing that is different from Taiwan and France is like the way people dress, like the clothing. Taiwanese don’t judge people, they are friendly and they do their whole thing on their way. They can go like sometime out with their pajama. Sloppy style. Yeah, really like sloppy style. For breakfast. Yeah, and then for restaurant. For restaurant, too? But actually, it’s good because like you can go out everywhere you want like just dressing like you want, but sometime create strange situation, like restaurant in pajamas is like, OK, why not actually, why not? But quite strange. It has to do with the manners, right? How you dress is how you respect the place. Because like in France, when you go out, you need to be well-dressed like, you cannot go in pajamas or like flip-flop or like that. Right, sometimes we see that, but not for everybody. No. Taiwan change you after 5 years now. Taiwan change you, right? You’re like wearing an undershirt, and you’re like, maybe like some bigger boxers and flip-flops to take out the trash. Yeah. Eight months end up, actually. I already do that. It happens… It’s just so laidback here. And no one’s judging what you’re wearing, yeah. Colombine. Anything that you had to adjust to when you first got here? Adjust? Yeah, I feel like the traffic is definitely something I have to adjust to. Do you take the scooter? Can you ride the scooter? I cannot drive, I don’t have a driving license. OK. Yeah, then I shouldn’t drive, but yeah, to me, that’s a bit crazy sometimes. How about the food? Has the food been a challenge for you? Or… I think generally I like Taiwanese foods, but there’s definitely… I think I’ve been raised as a picky person. OK. Because in my family, we care about food quality, so my dad would cut out all the greasy pies from the meat. And yeah, we were very picky. That’s the best part though. Yeah, that’s why Taiwanese person would say, yeah. The biggest shock maybe is more about the chicken cause for us in France, we eat mainly the legs and the breast. We eat everything. Yeah, like the balls(in Mandarin), like… Yeah. And even sometimes the head, -The crown, the head.
-the neck, the crown. -The leg.
-The tail. Yeah, the butt, yes. I think so, and the feet? -Chicken ass.
-Chicken butt.(in Mandarin) Butt, the chicken butt. So do you find yourself eating out a lot in Taiwan? Yeah…, for sure. Most than at home? We eat out every day. Oh, really? Yeah, for dinner at least every day. But is it cheaper than cooking by yourself? I think it’s about the same, it depends. But I think at least compared to France, it’s totally different because in France you have to if you want to eat out every day like it’s super difficult, we don’t have food stalls. It’s just like restaurants and then it would be really expensive, it’ll cost you your liver! But I think in Taiwan it’s much easier to take out. And so a lot of people make this choice to just take out instead of cooking, they don’t wanna bother. Because they don’t want to do the dishes, either. Yeah. It’s the same price anyway, Just eat, OK, I’m done. Yeah, but in France, we’re forced to do it, so… OK… I think it has to do with Taiwan, the convenience, -Yeah.
-that you can reach so easily. Right… I mean, it’s so competitive that everyone keeps the prices down, so… That’s true. Arnaud, what about you? Something that struck me right away was just how much you guys have little cute things just dispersed everywhere, like even the EasyCard, like the metro card. Right. In France, it’s the most boring like violet slash gray color and it’s not customized at all. Here, nobody has a default metro card, all the metro cards are like customized, it’s little a… All kinds… There’s, it’s like infinite, the possibilities are infinite. -Yeah.
-Right. I’m just like if my room was bigger, I’d collect all of them. I’d like to collect all of them… Because it can come in every kind of form, different form, and you know, special editions. Yeah. What are some of your favorite? One of my favorites is Tofu, he has a PS4 controller. Oh, it’s that? This is really hard to buy. I tried buying it. It’s crazy. This is an EasyCard. Yeah, it’s an EasyCard, you can buy stuff with that. So, if you go through the gate of the MRT, and you go like ‘beep’, so snobbish. This will light up. This will light up. Yeah, and then you can kind of control the MRT. Very good… You had me for a minute. Yeah… These are the more standard ones, but these are like special collector’s editions? Like you have little anime or main manga editions, like your mascots. You can kind of like represent your fandom a little bit. -Exactly…
-Even idols. So, we are creative, right? Yeah, super creative and cute and, like everything. It makes your daily life just a bit joyous, a bit more fun. It’s Taiwanese style. I had a really “cute EasyCard”, the MRT card, mine was a watch. It was actually, just like a watch and it had a clock face and it could do the dates, but then you just ‘beep beep’. Oh, really? Yeah, and then it broke, and then so now I just have a broken watch. It’s my “EasyCard”. So yeah. Arnaud, I think you also had something that you found kind of weird about how people drink water here. Oh, yeah. What’s wrong with water? If you’re in a relationship with Taiwanese, you’re gonna have to learn this life skill, which is basically learning how to drink water without touching the cup. And it’s not a magic trick, it’s like a for hygienic reason or being polite, right? I didn’t know this because I’m a French person, I drink water like this. So French. For example, you finish eating, you didn’t get to brush your teeth, if you’re sharing a bottle, you shouldn’t make it dirty, so you can’t touch it with your lips, you have to learn to… You got it…, OK. OK, stop where you head. OK, good job. You’re so Taiwanese. This is 5 years of training. -Yeah.
-5 years. I know, I couldn’t get married to my wife, I couldn’t do this. They’re there, like, “Show us your skill!” Final exam. Final exam. Can’t be a drop or else you’re out. I think we do that quite a lot, right? If we want to share something. Yeah, not so much with a cup or a glass, but with a bottle. A bottle, yeah. We have so many convenience stores. We get drinks all the time. It’s like our compulsion purchase, like if you wanna, I wanna buy something, you get a drink, and so like a bottle. And sometimes, hey, I want a sip. Yeah, can I try that? It’s like… Yeah, we always skip it cause you’re being polite, I might be sick, you might be sick, we’re not gonna talk about it, but we’re not getting each other sick. But I’m curious. That was well done. Only in Taiwan? Only, I’ve never seen that. That’s not true…, I’m not… We do it in France, we call that Wi-Fi. Yeah, drinking Wi-Fi. Like Wi-Fi? What? That’s so creative. Wi-Fi drinking. Are you sure? Am I like am I a savage or… No, you just been in Taiwan for a very long time. By the time you came here, it started becoming popular. Oh, so I’m old. Join the club, man. OK. So, who thinks Taiwan, Taiwanese are always well-prepared. We have everything in our bag. I mean… Taiwanese wife? Same… Same, right? Yeah… How do you think we’re overpreparing? You guys always have a lot of accessories with you for any situation. Yeah, we have like “EasyCard” like a playstation “EasyCard”, and? Like the most exaggerating thing you can see is when it starts raining, in like 30 seconds, everyone in the street will have either an umbrella or a raincoat, even on the scooters, I don’t know when they change themself. Only foreigners will be like, “Oh, I didn’t prepare for that.” Taiwanese are so prepared. Same situation in France, what would it be? I guess we’ll just go in a mall or something. And just wait it out. Yeah, find shelters somewhere. We’ll just walk under the rain, that’s it. OK, I’ve never thought of that, like we always have a small umbrella in our bag. Yeah, especially we went to school. You also have the bag to put the umbrella afterwards, so it won’t wet the other things in your bag. Well, a lot of umbrellas that you buy come with that now too. It’s just it’s all built-in, you know. And then if you don’t have an umbrella, you go to the convenience store, it’s super cheap, It’s like, hey, NT$40. All right. I’m dry. There’s a lot of examples. So, you have the cup holders for your drink. Oh, yes. That’s a thing we don’t have in France. I don’t know if I’m too old as well. No… No, we don’t. Is it also Wi-Fi? No. Actually that’s so smart. Yeah, so smart. You also have like the small hat to put in your scooter helmet, like… The kind of like the hygiene, for hygiene. That’s in the scooter, that’s in the rental. Oh, in the rental, yeah… You don’t have, I mean, I guess maybe some you can prepare your own too, then you’re really prepared… Yeah. Hygienic. There’s a lot of examples about that I was shocked, oh, yeah, OK. That’s one step forward what I expected. We are well-prepared. We’re well-prepared. We like to keep things clean, and we like to keep things tidy for everyone else, you know. Except for when we’re just like, erh… Except when you see a foreigner like, “Yeah.” You want to see our hospitals? You’re super nice. Oh my god. We can do French episode for like two or three. OK, so, let’s take a break and when we come back, we’re gonna play a little game and have a little competition, have a little race. -Yeah.
-Let’s go! OK? All right. We’ll be right back. Is this skincare? Yes. It’s so useful like you have the glowy. When you travel to Taiwan, you might bring home things like pineapple cakes, tea, or even keychains, but there is something truly special inside Ri Xing Type Foundry. Look guys, they actually make all those Chinese characters by themselves. That’s so cool. They’re maintaining this whole thing themselves. They’re keeping the tradition and the craft alive. Exactly. That’s really WOW! TAIWAN! Yeah, that’s pretty… You gain some points for it. Welcome back to WOW! TAIWAN! Since we are on the campus, it is now time for your final exam. We are gonna play a little game, we like to call “WOW ME.” And the idea is we like to hear about what you have experienced, found in Taiwan, as someone coming from abroad and things that you’ve found so interesting that you want to share with you back at home or even with us, the locals. So, please wow us, OK? We’ll give you points if you guys successfully wow us. We have two buttons, we have the OK, which is like OK, so so. So so. And then we have the ooh la la! Ooh la la! So let’s start with Colombine. Because you have a VCR, is that right? Exactly. What is it about? I went to a place called Ri Xing Type Foundry. So actually, it’s the last place in Taiwan that has preserved traditional lead type stamps. -OK.
-Tiny tiny one. Tiny tiny one, so they make their own metal Chinese characters, and then you can go there and pick them, and they will help you make a stamp. -OK.
-A very unique stamp. All right, I wanna see…. Yeah, it’s really cool. That sounds really cool. OK, let’s roll the tape. Hi, I’m Colombine. And today I’m taking you to a really special place, the Ri Xing Type Foundry. And the souvenirs here definitely not what you’d expect. Let’s go. When you travel to Taiwan, you might bring home things like pineapple cakes, tea, or even keychains. But there is something truly special inside Ri Xing Type Foundry, a lead type stamp. Ri Xing is the only place in Taiwan that still casts traditional Chinese lead types. Every tiny metal character here scars the warmth of culture and the beauty of the past. Look guys, they actually make all those Chinese characters by themselves. That’s so cool. So, basically, when you come here, you can choose a phrase, a word, or even just your name and turn it into a stamp. Hi, I want to pick a stamp. Could you help me out? Sure. Thank you. Let’s have a look. Yeah, sure. And your surname is here. Let’s pick one. And normally, we will tell our customers that do not pick it out and put it back because it’s a traditional of this type foundry. And we hope our customers can help us to… Conserve the tradition. Yes, that’s right. May I ask you why are you guys particularly wanting to preserve this tradition? We are the last remaining type foundry here in Taiwan which is still producing the traditional Chinese lead types, and it is precious to preserve the beauty of traditional Chinese font, and also the craft of it. That’s why our typecasting master put a lot of effort. We still have a lot of typecasting machine in the back, we’re still making these lead types. My name, my given name. ‘KE’ can be “able to,” and the ‘LIN’, the last one is a kind of Jade. Jade. OK, thank you. OK guys, so this is the finished stamp, and I chose my Mandarin name because I really like it, and also because it represents the very beginning of my journey in Taiwan. So, let’s have a look at it. So this is my recommendation for a super cool souvenir from Taiwan. It’s not just cute, it carries the weight of a beautiful memory. Thank you, guys. I’ll give you a wow for this. I got goosebumps. It was so tender, it’s a tender ending. Oh my gosh. It is a very special way preserved that we can experience now, because newspapers used to be printed this way. So you can imagine how much time they spend on just preparing the letters. And now, it’s a souvenir for you. And they told me that the machine that they used to create those tiny like metal letters, basically, no one else can fix it. They cannot find anyone in Taiwan to fix it. So they have to fix it themselves and maintain it themselves. Oh my god. So they are maintaining this whole thing themselves. They’re keeping the tradition and the craft alive. Exactly. That’s really WOW! TAIWAN! Yeah, that’s pretty wow. You gained some points for it. Yeah… Lovely. How did you pick that name? That was a bit hard to find because my name Colombine is hard to translate into two Chinese characters. So, basically, I just have asked my boyfriend’s family for help. So, they always trying to find names in the group chat, so they all sending like names and I was reviewing them and then we just thought it sounded nice, so… OK… But your last name is Han. Yeah, that’s his last name. So, I didn’t have any… That’s very subtle. In writing, we call that foreshadowing. Oh, wow. Best wishes to you. OK, extra points for Mr. and Mrs. Han. All right, next up. Thank you. We have Lola. Yeah, so for me, I think the most… You would recommend. Yeah, recommend from Taiwan. Is like the skincare. I don’t know if you know this brand like. I do. -You do?
-Yes. It’s so useful like you have the glowy. OK. It works really well? Yeah, it works really well. Wow. This one is like for the brightness of the skin. And this one is like for the impurity, you know, like… -blackhead and like that.
-OK. And it’s so useful and my family actually loved it. So I give them, friends, and they love it. And the second one is like for your little feet. For your feet. Yeah, actually because like when it’s summer, you don’t have like, you have whole all feet from walking everywhere like, you will have like smooth feet, baby feet. Baby’s feet, like the picture, baby’s feet. Yeah, like the picture actually. And it’s really cheap actually. So, you need it. So you say you’re recommending for people who come to Taiwan to visit, like instead of buying like cakes or stamps, get face masks. Is that what you’re saying? Yeah. OK, there, you just created… I did, you see. I stirred the pot, and we have drama now. But there is a problem to foot masks. Once I bought a foot mask for my friend, and she was terrified because after putting the mask on for around three days it will start shredding. Shredding the skin would be like huge pieces. And she’s like, “Oh my god, what’s happening?” It’s melting. Yeah, but there are different kinds of different selections you can choose from. But actually to eliminate the skin. that’s why you are shredding. OK, yeah… So it’s her problem. And this one I chose it because I think it’s pretty special. I don’t think we have these in France cause that’s an insult to our culture. Yes, I can tell… Let’s say this is my little piece of nature, I guess I found in the city. Just look at that. It’s moist, tender Just like your partner after a good date, if you know what I mean. This is a very useful tip because it’s affordable. I got some “OKs,” and I’ll give you a couple of wows. Yeah, girlies for girlies, it’s perfect. Maybe I’m biased… I thought that was it… But this is good, yeah. But anyway, next one, OK. Tofu. I’m digging my own grave. So, I brought you guys some croissant. Oh, wow. First, if you want to eat it, you have to say croissant in French. Croissant. OK, you can do it. That was easy. Usually, Taiwanese like, “croissant.” You are American. Yeah, you know, hey, can I have one of them croissants? Croissant. There are three types. So why did I choose that? It’s actually because all my friends in France, they will say, do you find good croissant here in Taiwan? Yes. And I said no, I’m kidding. I said, “It’s hard to find those, but we have convenience store, they are open 24 hours a day.” So I have croissant at night. Do you have croissant at night in France? And then they say, “No, I don’t.” But are there decent croissants in convenience stores? These ones are OK. I think these ones are actually good. OK. You will see by yourself. And this one, I chose it because I think it’s pretty special. Did you run over it on your way here? Yeah, exactly. Because I hate it. Like that croissant you can find it here in Taiwan. I don’t think we have these in France because that’s an insult our culture. I can tell… Like with all the layers, all the butter and then… We can squish stinky tofu. So, which one do you recommend we start first? I would recommend you to start from the small ones. OK, small one first. Bon appétit. They’re better than what we search in the convenience store. It’s kind of like crispy. Yeah. Which not in like a croissant way, but kind of like, oh, it’s not bad. I taste maple syrup. Yeah, there is maple syrup. There’s yeah. That’s a Taiwanese touch… Sorry. So, this is something new that you’ve tried like a maple-flavored croissant. And you OK with it? I mean, I have to, after 5 years, otherwise I won’t eat any croissant. It’s OK. You can call these croissants. They’re not croissant. Croissant, these are croissants, agree. This is a Taiwanese fusion, too, because it’s what’s on the pineapple bun. Pineapple Bread. Exactly. We put the pineapple on top of the croissants. So, fun fact, they’re actually pretty good, but I didn’t try them until last month because it’s written on the packaging pineapple croissant, and I don’t want to have pineapple in my croissant. Right. Doesn’t make sense. Doesn’t make sense. It’s all right. But actually, it’s not the flavor, it’s just the way, the texture. Yes. It’s a very Taiwanese think. Kind of like a crunchy foam, which sounds really but worse than it actually is. But it tastes OK, right? It tastes OK… OK… May I use your plate of actual croissant to demonstrate the difference? See, like this is how it should be, right? And then this is really… Small difference. But this is something you found in Taiwan. Exactly. And these are things that you think you can call croissant. Yeah, because I was on the quest for good croissants as we all are. Yeah… Yeah, which is a tough quest, but I think those are really good. It’s from a shop called ‘My Croissant.’ OK… I think it’s been awarded by a French person as well. Wow, OK. It’s pretty authentic. So, you’d recommend it if you ever get that itch? Definitely. Look at this… They are, yeah. I’m curious, the price. How much for the pineapple croissant one? That’s a good question. 30? NT$30 each, yeah. And for your luxury one croissant for each one? A bit more expensive. I’m not sure actually, I think maybe NT$60? -Oh, so they’re double?
-Maybe… -Impossible.
-No? I think it’s more… 180ish. 180 or 200. So about six times. Yeah, so, well, this is an everyday thing and this is more of a luxury delight. Yeah. This is every night thing. Every night thing. OK. So, I’ll give you wows for that. This is the winner. Fair enough, all right. Yeah, thanks for helping in there, like a little show and tell, OK. But this is beautiful, this is wow! Look at the crust, look at the layers. The lamination. It’s shiny, it’s amazing. And I just want to point out that poor little flat. OK. They taste well, they all taste good. All right, let’s wrap it up. Arnaud, let’s bring it in strong. Come on. What you got? You got a VCR? I got a VCR as well. I won’t spoil it too much, but just to give you a taste. Let’s say this is my little piece of nature, I guess I found in the city. This is where I found food that normally wouldn’t be able to get in the middle of Taipei. OK. And I’m talking about, in Taiwanese, we say “clay pot roasted chicken.” I’m gonna bring you guys to my secret place, I bring all my friends or late night after work. OK. You’re going to see this. OK… In France, if you want something to eat late at night, there’s always a kebab or something open, but in Taiwan, good luck finding something open after 9 p.m. But here, it’s different. It’s open until 2 a.m. You know what the best part is about it? There’s a signature special dish. 100% authentic Taiwanese cuisine. So, you know what? Come and check it out. Let’s go! Look at that. It’s clay pot roasted chicken. Normally you’d only find this in the mountains And if you’re a real foodie in Taiwan, you know, you can’t get this without booking it a day in advance. But tonight, we’re gonna get it in the middle of the city without booking. I really love eating(in Mandarin)! This chicken has been slowly roasting just like a French relationship, slow, intense, and ends in fire. Hmm, smoky, juicy, seductive. Just look at that. Oh, it’s moist, tender. Just like your partner after a good date, if you know what I mean. And of course, you have to dip it in your little Taiwanese pepper salt. How could you resist this? Why isn’t this not in Paris? Even the crispy skin, it kind of reminds me of the external side of the French baguette. But don’t just look at the chicken, this is a full on Taiwanese feast. I mean you got salty, sweet, garlicky goodness. I mean basically what my mom just always warned me about. Cheers(in Mandarin). I’m full. I didn’t just eat chicken tonight. I think I found my midnight soulmate. Messi Taiwan, messi Laoban(boss). So greasy. Yeah, greasy. I mean the chicken. Yeah… Oh, you mean sleazy? No…, I wouldn’t say, I guess. So that’s a place that you found and you go to like whenever you need like a comfort meal kind of thing. Exactly… And the staff are 100% locals. All the customers are locals. So if you want to learn Mandarin Chinese, you just go over there, you have to speak it, you have to. Is it expensive? No…, it’s not that expensive. A set of meal. A set of meal if you’re…, maybe 4 or 3 people, it’ll be around 800. OK, that’s very… That’s with half chicken -with stir-fried instant noodles.
-so affordable. with the roast, yeah… So we have affordable dinner, midnight snack, affordable face mask and foot mask, affordable croissant. At midnight. At midnight. OK, yeah, 2 points for you. And then the real thing when you want to splurge a little bit. So, as French students in Taiwan studying abroad, it’s not that bad… It’s good. It’s kind of good. You can get what you want, anytime, anywhere. OK. Well, now that everyone has presented, I think it’s time to tally up the scores and see who won this little session of “WOW ME.” Oh my god. What do you think? Whoever wins has a bit of time to, you know, express themselves. Right, we would love to hear what you think and your thoughts of winning this illustrious award. Thank your mom, thank your dad, thank your family back at home. OK. Anyway, drum roll, please. The winner is… Arnaud. Speech… First of all, I’d like to thank my beautiful wife because I wouldn’t be here without her. Smart man. Yes, not just for the visa. No… And thank you to WOW! TAIWAN! for inviting us, it’s incredible and we love Taiwan. Thank you the entire country. You guys are the best, just the best. Thank you. Please sign yourself. Sign your name on the honor of wall. Prestigious member. Yeah. Leave it down for history. And thank you all. Thank you so much for being on the show. We really appreciate it. We’ll see you next time on WOW! TAIWAN! Thank you. See you on the campus!
These four French students have fallen in love with Taiwanese culture and daily life in Taiwan. Arnaud and Tofu (Wenzao Ursuline University), Colombine (National Chengchi University), and Lola Bellon (I-Shou University) share what surprised them most about Taiwan. People don’t seem to judge others’ outfits and everything from cup holders to umbrella covers is thoughtfully designed. Together they’ll take us to try clay pot chicken and explore Taiwan’s personalized name stamps, a unique memento that quickly becomes a great souvenir to bring home!
Chapters:
00:00 Wow! Taiwan: French Students
19:38 Mandarin Mistakes 😅 | Word Order Can Change Everything!
21:52 Taiwan Fashion Freedom 👕 | Pajamas in Public?!
27:03 “Wi-Fi” Water Trick 💧 | Funny Taiwan Skill You Must Know
32:40 Best Taiwan Souvenir 🎁 | Cool & Meaningful Gift Idea
37:21 Cheap Skincare Finds 💆 | Even Foot Masks?!
40:00 24/7 Croissants in Taiwan 🥐 | Late-Night Bakery Surprise
44:12 Authentic Clay Pot Chicken 🍲 | Hidden Gem in Taipei
#France #French #Taiwan #TaiwanPlus
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