Photo of old posters on the wall taken in the Bo Pi Liao Historic Street in Taipei.
This is sort of a non sequitur post, but having blogged for several different blogs over the last few years and now run two of them, I’m always endlessly amused by what Google Search terms lead readers to my blog posts.
Also, lately around Taipei I have met new people, mainly expats, who say– “Oh yeah, I’ve seen your blog… I was looking for something else, but it was interesting.” And there’s that look in their eyes that’s purposefully vague and a little bit awkward, like, were they Googling where to go in Taipei to get that toe fungus cleared up? Or the best third date spot/coffee shop/karaoke house/bathroom supplies store in Shi Da? Or how to say, “I really like you but I just want to be friends, also, I forgot to mention that I’m already married” in Chinese?
Anyway, sometimes the looks are not awkward, and we talk about my travel and research, and I make new friends! But still, sometimes I wonder about their wayward searches. Also, why has this blog popped up as a possible result?!
So I started listing some of my favorite recent searches that fortunately (or frustratingly) led the search parties here, and I realized it was beginning to sound rather poetic (at least to my untrained-in-poetry ears). So in honor of this week’s earlier post about reading poetry this year, and because this whole month I am somewhat consumed with writing a large swath of the book manuscript, I give you: the Google Search Terms Girl Meets Formosa Collage Poem.
A few notable features: The order is decreasing order of frequency, no spelling errors have been corrected, and terms have been merely edited out of the list composition by omissions, if you will.) The title is the first term on the list (aka most frequently-searched term of the past 3 months) and the last line is the last term. It won’t be making any best-of lists anytime soon, but on this air-conditioned morning, to me, it seems like an interesting reflection over my adventures and writings over the past ten months.
Who’s nostalgic to go trolling the blog archives now, eh???? (wink, wink.) Next post this week will resume our regularly scheduled programming, I swear!
Hong Kong 1941
(by Girl Meets Formosa’s Google Search Results)
chinese characters for love
best street signs
futuristic castle
hair longest asia
girl showering
ice cream taiwan
6 pieces of clothing for a month
the stroke and stroke in chinese art
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futuristic castle pics
core wardrobe pieces blogs
touching dangerous objects
what happens if you don’t refrigerate typhoid oral vaccination
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taipei rain not so bad
hazy sunset
thomas liao
sweet dynasty, taipei
typhoid oral vaccine feel bad
“watch movies in chinese”
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taipei weather summer rainboots
amazing singapore
blog taiwan writer formosa
longshan temple beutiful images
drink iced coffee with typhoid pill
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Photo taken at the 228 Incident Peace Park, in Taipei. A memorial park, of sorts.
what is love in chinese
8-12 piece clothing
to a high place
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calling center
taipei 101 fireworks 2011
taiwanese roommates
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mountain tree dusk hazy
raining season and girl
futurstic casle
girl meet again in taiwan
japanese soldiers wwii marching
5 pieces of clothes per season
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now carving
14 pieces 12 outfits
love words
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chinese word seem great
nine layer tower vegetable
why is weather in boston so rainy
thomas liao taiwan independence
photography instructor, taipei
empty heart vegetable
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view through the trees
in kowloon 1948
11 pieces 52 outfits
taipei fridge repair
japanese girl guide to taiwan pineapple cakes
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what is the banned book about the formosa massacre
writer studio
taiwan, wavy short hair style
discovering taiwan
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turkey carving
kimchi “grew on”
typhoon satellite
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i heart you in chinese
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çince
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blowndry
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the history of my family
chinese symbol for might
taiwan girl skype
bad writers studio
bilishi in taiwan writing
Girl Meets Formosa 
Hands down, the most popular Google search leading people to me is Hadley Hemingway…as in Ernest’s wife. I didn’t know so many people were curious about Hadley! For the most part, my search times are pretty boring and standard. People also really want to know about paper dolls, Moulin Rouge, and Regine from Arcade Fire, if you want to drive more Googlers to your blog. 🙂
Nice!! Thanks for sharing— I will be sure to do a post about Hadley Hemingway, Moulin Rouge, paper dolls and Arcade Fire…..in Taiwan. With a futuristic castle on the side, of course, to nurture my already existing Google Search base. Or maybe we could write an absurdist, fashionable collaboration?
For some reason, my most popular search is some variation on “bad sunburns,” which I assume will change once winter returns.
Also, huzzah on resuming blogging mere days after we talked about blogging! I feel as if I have had some influence. Now I should start up again!
Thanks, Bridget! I owe it all to you, really. And: I just tried Google Image Searching “bad sunburns” to see which of your comics would come up, and saw some TRULY HIDEOUS sunburns. Folks, I don’t recommend it.
This is amazing. Futuristic castle! Girl showering! Refrigerating typhoid medication! Turkey carving! A girl showering with a turkey carved into the shape of a futuristic castle while her typhoid medication chills under the cold tap! I think almost any one of these could be your new title. Or subtitle? “Empty Heart Vegetable: A Japanese girl’s guide to Taiwan pineapple cakes.”
Awesome stuff! Love it. Personal favorite: “blowndry.” Like foundry, only blowsier.
Thanks, everyone. New title suggestions duly noted. Perhaps, “The Blowndry Futuristic Castle: An Empty Heart Vegetable’s Guide to Pineapple Cakes and Girls Showering?” But then, perhaps that’s false advertising…