1. Your middle school cell phone didn't show up on the US market for, like, 10 years.
The Nokia 8110 was the futuristic phone of The Matrix, but you were all, "Bitch, please."
2. You were glued to television shows like Meteor Garden and Princess Pearl.
3. In the winter of 2003, SARS scared the shit out of you.
4. Badminton was the sexiest sport.
5. You know hamburger buns don't have to be made of bread.
6. You and your friends have about a thousand photo booth stickers.
7. These completely revolutionized your note-taking game.
8. You brought your metal lunch box to school and put it in the steamer until lunchtime.
And that sensation of steam hitting you in the face is something you'll never forget. So many lunches. So pungent (not always in a good way).
9. You spent almost all your free time wasting away in internet cafes...
10. ...or at a manga cafe.
11. You'll never forget where you were the morning of September 21, 1999.
12. You did your homework at some place with a generator.
13. You had a wall plastered with posters from these boybands...
Westlife and Tension 4ever.
14. ...and you reserved your other wall for these girlbands.
S.H.E. and Atomic Kitten was your jam.
15. While we're talking music, A-mei is to you what Mariah Carey is to America.
View this video on YouTube
聽海 is still your karaoke staple.
16. And Jay Chou is Taiwan's answer to Justin Timberlake.
View this video on YouTube
17. Sailor Moon was basically your religion.
You had the manga, the toys, and you watched it on TV like a true fanatic.
18. These were your after school snacks of choice.
In retrospect, you never realized how angsty the name was for Lonely God.
19. When you got thirsty, you reached for one of these.
Tastes like childhood.
20. The Net was to you what the Gap was to your American friends.
21. You had a pearl milk tea pretty much glued to your hand.
22. You befriended or rescued a stray dog.
23. You stood in looooong lines for these.
24. Hello Kitty was on everything.
25. You also queued up at KFC for these Portuguese egg tarts.
26. Coco Lee's "Di Da Di" was the song that followed you around for months in 1998.
View this video on YouTube
Even now, the song is so catchy, it'll be in your head all day. You're welcome.
27. You had so much hanging off your cell phone, it was amazing you could talk on it.
Taiwan may be small, but its significance is immeasurable, and you will always be proud to call it home.
