Experiencing true Taiwan / 感受最真切的台灣文化
Most foreigners' visit Taiwan to either work or travel, but Adam has another reason-to learn more about his girlfriend's hometown.
Adam first came to Taiwan in 1999 after meeting his Taiwanese girlfriend at a college they were both studying at in Sydney, Australia. Five years later, in June of this year, Adam has just returned for the sixth time and has decided to stay for longer, as he would like to really experience the culture and lifestyle of Kaohsiung.
Adam already speaks quite a lot of Mandarin as a result of mingling with Taiwanese friends, and he even has a Chinese name - 歐陽震一(Ou Yang Zhen Yi). When he thinks back to his first trip to Taiwan five years ago, he recalls being amazed at the number of scooters on the streets of Kaohsiung. He then experienced his first exciting ride on the back of a scooter when he went to buy groceries at a traditional Taiwanese market. Although the small and dark traditional market was very different from the bright and clean supermarkets Adam usually goes to in Sydney, he felt an instant friendliness from the people working at the market. He said, the lady that sold them vegetables still remembered and greeted his girlfriend by name even though she had not seen her for about 2 years. From that moment, Adam believed Kaohsiung to be a very friendly city with a tight-knit community.
Over the last 5 trips to Taiwan, Adam has been to most cities for sightseeing and visiting friends. However, this time his purpose is different. He has started working and is keen to learn more about the Taiwanese Culture.
Adam grew up in Sydney, which makes him familiar with bright, sandy beaches but not the lush, green mountains that he finds here in Kaohsiung. Therefore, when he went to Chaishan for the first time, the thick green foliage and the cute monkeys (that he could only see in a zoo back in Australia) instantly attracted him. Besides that, he also usually goes to Love River and Chi Jin to relax.
Another thing that Adam enjoys doing is catching up with local friends at a local teahouse or coffee shop. He said chatting with them improves his mandarin and at the same time he learns so much about their culture. Adam also teaches English to adults and explains that speaking to them is another great way of understanding more about the local's lifestyle and how they think.
Overall, Adam enjoys living in Kaohsiung and finds it a very interesting city. He now rides a scooter on his own to Chinese classes, admitting that he does so very slowly as he likes to observe the local lifestyle that's going on around him. Adam has fit into Kaohsiung well and enjoys trying the many different types of street food. He has recently started learning about Tai Chi and Qi Gong from a DVD and he looks forward to the time when he can actually start practicing the essence of the Eastern culture.
外國朋友來到高雄的原因多半是工作或旅遊，Adam則是因為認識了台灣女友。
Adam在大學認識了同班來自台灣高雄的女朋友，因而五年前第一次造訪台灣後，便陸陸續續來過多次，不過到今年夏天，Adam才開始真正在高雄做長期的停留。
中文已經說得不錯，且有個中文名字──「歐陽震一」，Adam說，第一次來到高雄就令他印象深刻，不僅第一次乘坐機車感到既驚訝又新鮮，還第一次去到澳洲所沒有的傳統市場。雖然有別於超級市場的明淨寬敞，然而市場裡擺攤小販的活力卻深深感染了Adam，此外，當時他的女友已經兩年沒有回到高雄，然而賣菜的歐巴桑卻仍然記得她並熱情招呼，更是讓Adam充分感受到這個城市的友善。
生長在雪梨的Adam，對於海洋一點也不陌生，倒是澳洲不常見到樹林景象，因此Adam很喜歡去爬柴山，不但有濃密的林蔭，更有許多以前在動物園才見過的可愛猴子。此外，旗津、愛河邊，也是Adam很喜愛的去處。
Adam更喜歡和台灣的朋友聊天，不但可以練習中文，也可以從中感受台灣人的文化。而已經開始工作、教英文的他，甚至連工作都覺得是一種有趣的學習，因為學生都是與自己年齡相仿的人，因此在會話練習中，也能了解他們的生活與想法。
Adam很適應在高雄的生活，他可以自己騎機車去上中文課(雖然騎得很慢)，喜歡邊騎機車邊觀察路上人群，也喜歡吃路邊攤，最近他還開始研究起太極拳與氣功，希望以後有時間可以不只看DVD，也能親身練習，好好體會一下東方文化的精髓！