In my experience of Taiwan, How much is it? or a variation of this question is quite common. Whether they want to know how much my manicure was, or how much the trip back home might cost, Taiwanese are often interested in learning about the costs of things. At the beginning of my life here, I found it annoying and thought they were the nosiest of people. I later found out that talking about money in this culture is equivalent to them showing they care about one’s life. I still find it super weird but I’m getting used to it.
Despite being sort of used to the question, yesterday I was asked how much my eyelashes had been. I was teaching a preschool storytime class yesterday, when the school nurse walked in and started staring at me, she was so mesmerized by my eyes she walked up to me and asked to see them. She then said how pretty my eyelashes were and asked how much I had paid for them. I was confused by this question because I was born with my lashes, and hadn’t ever considered getting extensions. When she saw the confusion on my face, she repeated the question and I then realized that she thought my lashes were fake. I told her they had been given to me by my mother and had been completely free.
We all had a good laugh about that and then she left and I proceeded with my class. Later during the day, she told me what she paid for her lashes and that she went every two weeks to get them retouched as they occasionally fell off. I guess that means we’re friends? Eyelash extensions are quite common amongst my co-workers, so I guess it is natural for them to assume mine are fake as well. Not sure, but I feel lucky to have the ones I do have as they are enough and look long enough to seem fake.
