If there's one thing that Taiwanese are never short of, it's convenience stores. Taiwan has more convenience stores per capita than any other country in the world. Circle K, Family Mart, 7-Eleven and others can be found all over New Taipei City. If you don't like one store, there's usually another one less than a block away. When I arrived here in February 2009 there was one Family Mart near the school, and one 7-Eleven around the corner. Now there are two Family Marts, three 7-Elevens, a Circle K all in the immediate area, and one more 7-Eleven is under construction. One way that the stores try to gain customer loyalty is through special promotions. They give you stickers when you buy something, and if you get enough stickers you can exchange them for prizes. I usually don't bother with these prizes, and give my stickers away to Chinese teachers here at the school. But a new promotion is so popular, it's even got me hooked.
You see, another thing that is incredibly popular in Taiwan is the iPhone video game Angry Birds. I'm not sure if it's like this in other countries, but here Angry Birds T-shirts, toys, cell phone cases and other paraphernalia can easily be spotted when out walking around. And 7-Eleven has found a new way to cash in on that popularity.
Thus, we now have the Angry Birds promotion at 7-Eleven. Every time you buy a medium or large coffee, you get an Angry Birds sticker. 3 stickers plus NT$59 nets you an adorable Angry Birds pen, or you can get one for free for 9 stickers. There are ten different pens in total, but the catch is that the pens are 'blind packed', which means that you can't tell which pen is in which box. So just like baseball cards or capsule toys, it's possible to end up getting one you already have, although it's possible to trade with friends to collect the whole set.
As I'm an avid coffee drinker, it hasn't taken me long to amass my own collection of pens. Thanks to several duplicates, however, I've only managed to get five of the ten that are available. I did however, manage to get the one I really wanted - the yellow one, which writes red ink. The reason I wanted this one the most is because we have to use red ink to mark all our books at the school, so for me it's more useful.
This isn't the pen I got in the box today, however. I got a pig pen with a crown on it's head, that I had never seen before. Not sure if it's rare or just new, but I traded it with the girl at the cashier for the one I wanted, and she was very very happy. "Thank you thank you!" she kept saying.
I keep the pens at my desk, and I must say they've garnered quite a reaction from the students and Chinese teachers. Students are impressed that I have so many, and Chinese teachers say "Can you give one to me?" Like I said, they're extremely popular. I've given away a couple of duplicates, but I hope to collect the whole set. I guess I'll just have to keep drinking more coffee!
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