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.  

Taiwanese Friend On Us

Nora, Me, Diego, Diego's Mom at his Spanish Graduation Play

The friends I've made so far make Taiwanese life infinitely richer. Within our Chinese center classes, our NSLIY group has met a variety of world travelers that draw from Germany, Spain, Japan, Korea, France, China, Belgium, Mexico, Canada, and Australia (and I'm sure I've forgotten some). In the last few weeks, our small, but lovely, NSLIY group (Ben, Brandon, Nora, Me) has become even closer, as we build history together here in Taiwan. Outside our Chinese classes, there are hundreds of Taiwanese students, and we're lucky to be living with our host siblings. I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty certain I got the best host family. Ya Shu Mammy is wonderful. Jubbie is awesome.

To give another perspective on my Taiwanese life, I asked our friend, Diego/Daniel/王冠予, (phonetically, Wang Guan Yu), to write his perspective on his new American friends. Enjoy:

American Hot Friends  (How I Met White People)

         I'm writing this because there's a hot american girl who wants me to dedicate a blog post for her and contribute something to her fancy taiwanese life record. I didn't even know that i am having some white people as my friend 'cause i usually get super nervous when white people are around me, and my english knowledge can go away in no time. Okay, this is how it all started, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Daniel Wang and I'm a 19-year-old taiwanese boy who's been studying in Wenzao for five years. One day i was doing my part time job at wenzao like a postman delivering mails and other stuffs between different offices and that's when i saw the white people group.

Okay, it wasn't actually the first time i saw them. I saw them on the wenzao website 'cause they were like super big to us so that went on the front page and had a story for them. They were dressing in wenzao junior uniforms which is so not cool, i later on told them never to wear them again in their life.

So i knew nora one day when i was taking my regular bus to work, on which she takes it everyday for her chinese class. first of all i don't see americans everyday in my life so i soon spotted her and recognized that she was the girl in the frontpage. I mean, this is like the first time i see a girl can grow up so tall and so White! Thats so cool! We became friends soon and i knew Ben, Mack and jubbie, who's mack's host sister.

Speaking of so getting american friends, there are so many fun things to say. first of all there are…

         1. American don't really hold chopsticks well and like falling everything from the bowl.

         2. It's so easy to recognize them. Their skin tone are so white!

         3. They speak English! I mean really saying English!

         4. When they are trying to do fake chinese by doing some stupid voices, it's really funny.

       5. Never talk to them before you are really sure of what you are saying. They laugh at your   accent so much that i couldn't even resist myself from laughing. But why, my accent is hot.

Okay, and this is seriously now. I’ve been watching American films since I was little, and they teach me a lot of things when I didn’t even know that they were bad.

Since I have these American friends, I sometimes say “Damn”, “pussy” and something’s really bad while I don’t even know it. So one day when I was out with these American friends in a department store near to our school. We were having chicken and (that’s when I found out how true is my impression to Americans) cause I don’t speak English a lot till I met them, so I usually have to think before I speak. Suddenly they started to laugh when I say “TAKE IT” while I was serving a chicken skin to McKenzie. I was seriously asking her to take that skin but in fact I was saying something with sexual implication. It was so creepy.

Oh yeah and speaking about “eat out” I didn’t even know that It was bad. I thought I meant something like someone eats a lot and eat the whole house or something, like an adjective to describe a fat guy who eats a lot, and it turns out that it’s totally not. You guys know the meaning.

        

The other thing that i found interesting is that They Learn Chinese. The first time i learned that they are learning calligraphy, Chinese chess and other things scares me.  I mean, personally I hated writing with Chinese Pens (what they usually call brush, which i prefer saying Pens) when i was little cause it makes me so messy every time i try it. And it's even funnier to see foreigners writing Chinese characters with creepy hand positions. (I saw a foreign guy writing it before it was so funny to see lol)

I still don't know why they laugh at my accent so much though.

Okay, so in sum, It's been really funny to have American friends 'cause i used to get so nervous having white people around me, but they are pretty cool.  I’ll have more introductions to the intruders at Wenzao so keep following McKenzie’s blog. Bye now!

最後, 美國人真的好白啊！

Diego and I on the train

   

VIDEO MONTAGE

VIDEO MONTAGE OF TAIWAN


This was my homework for this week's blog post. I hope you enjoy it!!!!