Christmas Part II

On Christmas Eve, I went to the Catholic, Chinese Mass at Wenzao at 8 o'clock. When I got there, I felt a bit alone; however, it wasn't long before I walked over to our auditorium, where the mass was being held, and I saw a lot of familiar faces. My Japanese classmate (who lived in New Zealand for university:aka awesome english) and my enthusiastic French 同學 were happy to see me, and we proceeded to grab seats in the auditorium. I saved a seat for Nora (who showed up an hour late because she was eating ice cream), and looking around, it was obvious how many different nationalities were represented at Mass. Nora and I saw a lot of our Indonesian friends who are from an Ursuline high school where they won a scholarship to study at Wenzao for four years. Because Wenzao is a Catholic and language school, many of the teachers are quite religious although Taiwan as a whole has less of a Christian influence than the southern United States. Two Spanish teachers were sitting behind me; one with a Bible in hand: he doesn't speak Chinese. The whole service was in 中文, but a lot of the music I recognized, only English lyrics has been substituted for Chinese ones. It was interesting, even though I'm not sure what the sermon was, and I learned that even in Taiwan, non-Catholics aren't allowed to take the communion. 

After the service, they had a reception afterwards with free food. One of my teachers from Spain gave Nora and me turrón, a traditional Spanish Christmas chocolate. I spent the night at Nora's and briefly talked to the Mc-Family on Skype.

When I woke up, IT WAS CHRISTMAS!!! It was also like 9:30, and Jubbie and I just went home. The middle of my day consisted of lots of laundry, a chore I had put off for too long. I called the NSLI-Y group and organized a Christmas dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant (they have real cheese). Before we ate, we took pics.

NSLI-Y Bringing Christmas to Taiwan aka 聖誕節快樂！

At dinner, we ordered enough food to feed a small army. It's pretty much the only restaurant where we pay food prices that are similar to eating in the United States, but it's worth it for CHEESE.

I left a bit early to be home by 10 to skype with my American family there Christmas morning. We has both sent packages through customs and it was pretty cool to open presents via skype with Ya-Shu Mammy and Jubbie at my side. I got to translate comments like "(while looking at Charlie) Is that Jubbie's boyfriend?" from Ya-Shu Mammy, and it was cool to see how my Chinese has improved. Translating is so cool, and it's something I didn't know I loved until I came here. 

 Siblings!

 The present on the left is from me. The present on the right is from Dad.

 Stars and Strips, Chrismas present in Taiwan 2011. The blanket was an incredible, homemade graduation gift from one of my best friend's mom. My room is awesome. 

Tanner got a lot of tea. Christie sent Jubbie and I matching PJ's, and I am super excited bout my new electronic translator that has 14 languages!! With so many different foreigners at Wenzao, I already know I'll be able to use Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Korean, and Japanese. (and Jubbie says the Brazilian men come second semester, so cross your fingers I'll be using Portuguese.) Our skype date ended quite late, so when I finished chatting, I shut my computer and went to sleep. 

It was a merry Christmas, if not a white one.

    

Best Christmas Present Ever

TAIWANESE CULTURE NOTE: Here in Taiwan, Christmas is an imported Western holiday that is mainly commercial. It's kind of like Cinco de Mayo in the United States. The winter break doesn't start until mid January and ends in February (in order to correspond with Chinese New Year, which is a big deal here), so in a lot of ways it hasn't felt like Christmas this year. We went to school on December 23rd and will be going to school on the 26th. My host family doesn't celebrate Christmas (they aren't Christian), and December is just a regular school month for most Taiwanese students.   

HOWEVER.....

This weekend, I got the best present I could have wished for: Derek Shyr!!!

Two USN alums of the Class of 2011 in Taiwan! It was fantastic to see him; the Shyr family is here over Christmas break. Listening to an American talk about multi-variable calculus in English is great. There isn't anyone on this island that could have held the same conversation. It was also really awesome, because now I can understand what he and his mom are saying when they speak Mandarin. It was a day I'd been looking forward to for a long time, and we had a lunch at a great 小龍包 （xiaolongbao) restaurant. It was so delicious!

After lunch, we went to a car show. This was my first one; there were a lot of scantily-clad, skinny Asian women showing cars and speaking Chinese. Some were really hot. Mrs. Shyr told us that a lot of them had surgery to get bigger eyes and more Western-style noses.

I can't say how surreal it was to see someone from back home. Derek and I were teammates on the swim team and classmates in a ton of AP classes (He's probably helped me in math almost as many times as Mark). Now, we're alumni and friends, and this weekend, we were both in Taiwan. Small world, small island.

Another CRAZY thing that happened in Taiwan recently was that I had a chance meeting with another USN alum. John Loftus, class of 1998(ish), randomly came to my Chinese chess class about a week and a half ago. I asked where he was from (because he is white), and he said the United States. When he then said he was from Tennessee, I screamed, "ME TOO!" Then he said "Nashville" and I shouted. "I GRADUATED FROM USN!!!!" and.... SO DID HE! It was literally the most unexpected thing that's happened so far. He remembered Mr. Durnan, Mr. Robins, Zaf, Dr. Lavine, and Mrs. Melchiore. I ran over and hugged him immediately; apparently Mr. Loftus has been working in Kaohsiung for a few years, and he was actually going home to Nashville for the first time in three years for this year's Christmas. We exchanged information (I'm the first person from Nashville he has met since he's been here), and I emailed him a list of around 20 restaurants he should eat at when he is home for the holidays.

Speaking of which, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!  聖誕節快樂！ Feliz Navidad!

(My Christmas tree and presents. Thank you Andrews family and Kathy Greene!!!)

Love,

McKenzie

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Visiting High School

This weekend, our group woke up early on Saturday and attended the 19th anniversary party of a local high school named 鳳新高中 (FengShanGaoZhong). Though I'm unsure why, we were presented as honored guests from the United States. Students pulled out their cell phones and cameras to get pictures of us on stage. After the opening ceremony was over, students approached us to take pictures, and a teacher who also volunteers with NSLI-Y gave us a tour of the campus and the celebration that was taking place. A main building housed student artwork that was absolutely amazing! 

All of these pieces were done by high school students! 

 This guy made an Ursula costume from "The Little Mermaid."

Outside the school, there were tons of students selling sausage, fruit, teas, sodas, french fries, tacos, noodles and other goodies.  It felt like being at a Taiwanese Night Market. In Kaohsiung, there are multiple 夜市 (yeshi...aka night market) that have tons of vendors selling food, clothes, and games. It's a bit like a county fair, only they operate every weekend and some weekdays. A local delicacy is "stinky tofu". The chances are if you come to Taiwan, someone with ask you, "Have you eaten stinky tofu?", and then "Did you like it?"

 A photo with some of the performers from the opening ceremony. 

Thank you so much for following this blog! Blogger shows me how many hits "taiwanplusmack" gets, and the screenshot above is fantastic. 

Love you all!

Mack

NSLIY Homework #3

One of the most interesting parts of living in Taiwan is gaining perspective on America. Living abroad, I’m lumped into the category of 外國人that includes all of the world that’s not Taiwan. My nation, appearance, and language are more defining than they’ve ever been in my life or at least it’s become more apparent through living abroad. Being in Taiwan (especially on Halloween and Thanksgiving) has made me appreciate--and often miss-- my American culture more than ever.

(Homemade Halloween costume)

Gaining perspective on the rest of the world’s impression of the United States is fascinating. Although I didn’t realize this before arriving in Taiwan, America has a HUGE culture influence on the world. I can easily eat at McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, McDonald’s, or Starbucks on any given day. 7-11’s are practically on every corner (though according to Wikipedia, that franchise is now mainly operated by Japanese owners resulting from a 1990’s buyout).

Outside of America’s fast food influence, we also have a huge global influence through Hollywood’s movie/TV industry. A lot of people’s impression of the American lifestyle is based off of movies like “Gossip Girl”, “Friends With Benefits”, and “Mean Girls”. One of the cool parts about being here is teaching people about my culture and language while I’m also learning about Taiwan’s.

In talking to other foreigners, I’ve realized how unique American’s citizenship process is. If you’re born in the United States, you’re an American citizen. My Spanish friend commented on how that doesn’t make sense to him, but I think the unique part about being American is our emphasis on the individual. I really like the ideal that anyone can be American, regardless of where you came from, but that separation from your lineage is weird from my friend’s point of view: “my parent’s are Spanish, so I’m Spanish.”

A new, Taiwanese friend mentioned that he would need to buy a second passport to travel to China. His Taiwanese passport isn’t recognized the PRC; Taiwanese people fiercely love Taiwan, but also must struggle with the fact that the “nation” in their nationality identity is defined differently depending on who you ask.

Living abroad gives an entirely new perspective on your worldview. In Taiwan, instead of being from a city in a state, I’m from America: a nation that has a 14-hour time difference from my life.

 

Skyping, comparing passports, practicing Chinese

Turkey Day in Taiwan

Happy Thanksgiving from Kaohsiung!!

This Thursday night, our group of four was invited with our host families to Mr. Oba's house, the current branch chief at Kaohsiung's AIT office (American Institute in Taiwan, the equivalent of the embassy for American citizens in Kaohsiung, but not called an embassy due to Taiwan's history/political status) for Thanksgiving dinner. I rode with Ben's host family (he brought Richard, his Taiwanese brother) and Jubbie to dinner, and on the car way there, I was pleasantly surprised when I understood the Chinese conversation that was taking place with three native speakers.

The dinner party consisted of about 20 guest; outside of the NSLI-Y group, there were several members of the United States' foreign service and several of their children. Before dinner, Mr. Oba gave us a moment to silently reflect on the things that we were thankful for in our lives and then dinner commenced. I sat near Jubbie and Mr. Oba at dinner, and he asked if this was my first Thanksgiving away from home. I also talked to an adorable, blond-hairded 9-year old daughter who told me how she had lived in the United States when she was 1 to 4, then lived in Mexico for two years, then moved to Korea, then Taipei, and now lives in Kaohsiung, as of this summer. Her little brother was 4, and his mom said he had picked up some Chinese in his Taiwanese day care. He was also super excited about the "Pancake Cake!" that was available for dessert.

Also at dinner was a man from Beijing's press office and listening to his perspective on working for the government and foreign service was pretty awesome. In some Chinese conversation topics, I think I'm as proficient as our service members, and I learned there are a lot of local hires that the US government employs at their embassies (or AIT offices in the case of Taiwan) worldwide. Chinese is extremely difficult to become proficient in as a native English speaker (especially in regards to things like reading/writing the characters), so in a way it makes more sense to hire native Chinese speakers. Regardless, I got a new perspective on how the US foreign service works on Thursday. 

Mrs. Hartman, a tall American woman who works with her husband at AIT and lives here with her two children, worked with the caters to replicate an authentic, American Thanksgiving. We enjoyed turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, creamed corn, and fruit as well as "pancake cake", apple pie, and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was a really thoughtful gesture, and I'm thankful that the American Institute invited the NSLI-Y youth! I think the Boulevard Bolt was probably happening around the same time in Nashville.  

Friday morning on a usually week, I have a language exchange from 8-9am with a Spanish Wenzao student I met in the library. He's the oldest of eleven siblings that moved to Kaohsiung about 10 years ago when his father decided to quit his job as a doctor and become a Catholic missionary/Spanish teacher in Taiwan. My friend came when he was 12, so today, his Chinese and Spanish are basically fluent and fluent. For me, I'm fluent in English and working on Spanish and Chinese, so our language exchange is a win-win situation. Everyone at Wenzao is studying English, so it's useful to have me as your friend. After Spanish, I then usually meet with my 小老師s (literally, little teachers; actually, tutors from the Applied Chinese department) for an hour of Chinese practice before going to my daily Chinese class from 10-12. 

This Friday, however, I just spoke Spanish for a half hour, and then let Spanish dude watch as I switched to English and narrated my attempt to get my family on skype during their Thanksgiving dinner. While we waited for McDad to get online, I showed him my house on Google Earth (technology is amazing), and the he asked if he could see South Park, Colorado. I've met two European guys (one Spanish, one German) who learned how to speak English by watching South Park since I've been here. 

It was so good to see home! In the course of our Skype chat, I introduced the fam to my tutors, Spaniard, and two of my Chinese classmates. My November 24th dinner pales in comparison to Christie's cooking. The desserts looked so delicious, but I enjoyed my Thanksgiving in Taiwan. I'm thankful for my family and friends here and at home, both new and old.

McKenzie the Model

Behind Wenzao, there’s a street filled with small, independently operated restaurants, teashops, and street vendors.  One day while Jubbie and I were eating noodles, the 老闆 (owner) came over and asked if we were interested in modeling for her. Of course we said “of course”, and the next week, I found myself sitting in a chair in the basement of a pasta store while a group of six Taiwanese adults focused on me.  Two hours of staring at the wall and thinking about my life later (six sessions of 20 minutes), I saw the results. Like many experiences I've had recently, it was strange but cool.

Thank you McDad, Grandma Sharon, and Kathy Greene for sending me postcards and packages!!! I love mail, especially updates about what's going on in your lives since I'm far away and somewhat  disconnected. Let me know if you need my address.