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 […]
Battle of the Chopsticks
I was not always good at using chopsticks. My occasional chopsticks wielding sushi experiences hadn’t prepared me for what I’d face in Taiwan. Not at all. My first chopsticks challenge came a few weeks after I’d arrived in Taiwan. The large omelet sat harmlessly next to the pieces of battered coconut shrimp. An odd combination, […]
The People You Leave Behind
*Sunset photo courtesy of peasap, Flickr Creative Commons When you step off into the great unknown and leave life as you know it behind, some funny things happen. For awhile, your new life is fresh and exciting. But eventually, everything–every moment that has led up to the present point in time, catches up with you. […]