JSLALALAND

CITY & ITS PEOPLE

Same little thing, two lives | Taipei vs. LA, up close

No winner, just one little thing playing out once in each city: flaky plans, parking, earthquakes, packages, the dentist, a boba… moments you'd never post but suddenly remember ten years later. Lived in both? You'll laugh, then go quiet.

Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.

Key points

Full text

  1. 01 | A friend says 'let's do it another time'

    In Taipei, 'let's do it another day' = this Friday at 8, restaurant booked. In LA, "Let's grab coffee sometime" = never happening in this lifetime; you'll just like each other's IG posts for three years.

  2. 02 | Parking

    In Taipei, your scooter gets towed from a red curb; you grumble, pay, and park there again next time. In LA, one pole has four contradictory signs, you roll the dice, and come back to $73. Street sweeping day is the real enemy.

  3. 03 | Earthquakes

    Taipei: it shakes, you keep eating, 'oh, a 3.' LA: Slack blows up, someone's under their desk, and for three days every conversation opens with "did you feel it??" Taiwanese calm is a kind of homesickness.

  4. 04 | Packages

    In Taipei, you pick up packages at the convenience store and grab some oden while you're there. In LA, Amazon says delivered, there's nothing at the door, and the camera only caught a white Honda stopping for 11 seconds. By now you know how to file a claim.

  5. 05 | The dentist

    In Taipei, teeth cleaning is covered by national health insurance, and the hygienist nags you to floss. In LA, a cleaning is $150, followed by a pitch for a deep cleaning, whitening and a water flosser. You say you'll think about it, and think about it for two years.

  6. 06 | Getting off work

    In Taipei, it's 6:30 and the boss hasn't left, so you leave your bag on your chair and pretend you're going to the bathroom. In LA, the parking lot's empty at 5:01, but the same people are still answering Slack at 11 p.m. One's tied to the office, the other to the phone.

  7. 07 | Walking down the street

    Taipei gets livelier the later it gets; the streets at 11 p.m. feel more alive than in the afternoon. In LA, residential streets are empty by 8; you just want a walk, and every passing car slows down to look at you. In LA, walking is suspicious behavior.

  8. 08 | Buying a boba

    In Taipei, NT$55, three minutes, and the owner remembers you like less ice, a little sugar. In LA, $8.50 plus tip and a 25-minute wait, because every brand has opened in the SGV. While you wait, you figure this cup would buy seven in Taipei, and then you buy it anyway.

  9. 09 | Saying your name

    In Taipei you don't have to explain. In the 626 you can go your whole life without speaking English; head west past the 405, and you explain your name three times, then finally say 'just call me J.' There's a lot hiding in that 'just.'

  10. 10 | The backyard

    In Taipei, 25 ping (about 900 sq ft) counts as big, and the balcony is for drying clothes, holding the washer and stacking boxes. In LA you have a backyard, and in it are two trash bins, a BBQ used twice in three years, and a chair you thought you'd sit in a lot.

  11. Last word | Packed full vs. left empty

    Taipei packs life so full there's no time to think about what you want; LA leaves life so empty you can't help but think about it. You can laugh in both, and you've cried in both.

In this series

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An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).