The first thing that struck me when I moved to Taiwan was how warm and friendly the people are.

Random strangers on the bus will strike up a conversation with you, asking about your day or wondering what you’re going to have for dinner. You could meet your next best friend waiting to cross the street or while shopping at the grocery store. In fact, I would extend this experience to all the Asian countries I had the pleasure of visiting, although depending on the country, “hello” might be followed by “looking for a good time?”

I got accustomed to strangers asking really personal questions about my life, relationships and family. It didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I really liked it and looked forward to exploring the city and meeting new five-minute friends. One of the places that I found had the friendliest people was a Starbucks in Ximending, in the Wanhua District of Taipei City.

Ximending is the consumer area, full of trendy shops, movie theatres and street performers. I loved it there and, whenever I could, I would read a newspaper at the Starbucks and chat. This crowd was different than anywhere else in Taipei. They were either young, hip girls looking like a million bucks, or business men, who always started a conversation by buying you a coffee.

“Hello. Are you a student?” they would ask.

“No, I’m an English teacher. But I’m studying Chinese, so yes, in a way, I am a student,” I always answered.

And so, our conversation would begin. Short and choppy with many pauses along the way since my Chinese was terrible and their English was limited. One day, a dashing middle-aged man in a business suit asked if I gave private lessons. I did. He asked how much I charged and I told him $1,000NT per hour (about $30CDN per hour).

“$1,000NT!” he said, looking surprised.

“Yes, that’s about the going-rate for foreigners. If you’d like someone a bit cheaper, I can find someone else for you but they may not have as much experience,” I offered.

“No. I like you,” he said.

The barista, who kept glancing over at us the entire time we were talking, came over and started saying something to my potential student in Chinese. I couldn’t understand what he said but he was clearly annoyed. The man in the suit picked up his briefcase and left without saying a word.

“You should be more careful!” the barista yelled at me in English, then stormed back behind the counter.

I was confused. Careful of what? It is a bit dangerous to have complete strangers as private students but this wasn’t uncommon. I always met in a crowded coffee shop to teach and never had a bad experience. I was careful.

The next day at work, I told my Chinese friend Janice what happened. She looked appalled.

“I know — I can’t figure out why the barista gave me such attitude,” I said, in response to the look on her face.

I quickly found out that the look of horror on Janice’s face was directed at me and not the grumpy Starbucks employee. Ximending, she told me, is famous for student prostitution.

The Starbucks I frequent is well-known as a place for prostitutes to meet clients and the man in the business suit wasn’t interested in English lessons.

“Haven’t you seen all the hotels that rent rooms by the hour?” she asked me. “They’re all over Ximending. Haven’t you noticed how the girls are dressed? I hope you never accepted coffee from strange men.”

When I stopped to think about it, there were a lot of hotels in this area. I thought about my delight in having all those cups of coffee bought for me and how I eagerly accepted each and every one. And the girls: they do get dressed up, but the fashion in Taiwan is super-short mini skirts. Many of the Chinese teachers’ assistants wear eyebrow-raising short skirts to work and it’s considered perfectly appropriate. How was I to know that they were prostitutes?

I looked at Janice and her face was flushed with irritation. I decided not to tell her that I couldn’t tell the difference between respectable women in Taiwan and the prostitutes.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful,” I squeaked.

But, the next day, I was right back in my usual spot at Xinmending’s Starbucks, looking at the crowd with a fresh perspective.