I’ll never forget the day I told a Taiwanese cab driver I wanted to “eat” Jhubei (a city on the west coast of Taiwan) instead of saying “I want to go to Jhubei.” She laughed, corrected my Chinese and mumbled something about how I was an American, excusing my mistake. Learning a new language really […]
culture
A White Girl’s Guide to Being Taiwanese
My Taiwanese-American friend and I had a joke that I was becoming more Asian than him due to my living in Taiwan. While I battled language barriers, played teacher to adorable but possibly terrified students, maneuvered my way through crowded night markets, and indulged in a hundred types of tofu, dumplings, and dried noodles–he tried […]
Worlds Within Worlds
My journey to Asia began in late 2009. What I’d read about Taiwan hadn’t prepared me for the sights and sounds which were about to assault my senses. I started out in Taipei county before I moved on and spent a year in the ‘Silicon Valley of Taiwan.’ During this time I learned that sidewalks […]