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How to Live Overseas

Michael's Posts, Our Taipei Life, Taiwanese Culture, Travel & Exploring No Responses »

Mar 082010

A lot of people wonder how we go about living in a foreign country without knowing the language. I have to admit I can understand where this incredulity from our fellow Americans comes from. We (as in Americans) think of that once-in-a-lifetime trip we took to Mexico for a week or two, thinking to ourselves that vacationing without language is hard enough but how could we ever go about renting an apartment, getting a job, paying the bills, buying groceries, or even figuring out how to take out the trash without knowing how to speak to those around us…and we haven’t even mentioned the literacy problem yet. These concerns are definitely ones that I thought about before I did all those things over here in Taiwan. I should also note that I am very much aware that not all Americans only take one trip to Mexico in their life. Many Americans are extremely well-traveled and I know a lot of them. I’m talking about the others who look at those of us who live overseas with that “I could never, ever do what you are doing” look in their eyes.

For me there are two keys to living in a foreign country without knowing the language. Key number 1: have a friend who knows the language and likes/is willing to help you. Emily and I were blessed to arrive in Taiwan with several friends already here and were so blessed by how kind and helpful they were in getting us up and running. We have really enjoyed doing the same for others who have come after us and consider it an honor and a privilege to help the newbies because we remember the surreal, helpless feeling at the beginning. We’ve also met people here who got a job online before arriving but knew no one at all. These friends were invariably helped by their new employers and the friend situation was rectified quickly. Plus, with the internet now and websites like www.couchsurfing.org tapping into friend networks is easier than ever.

Key number 2: be patient and take new information as it comes to you. While this is probably not as important as the first key it is helpful in keeping a light attitude when you realize that simple tasks that would have been a quick errand on your way home from work in the States are whole afternoon affairs in your new home. Like for example when I wanted to get something at a music store the other day. In the States my brain would immediately know where the music stores in town are and I could think to myself which one would be best suited for my purchase. I would go there when in that area of town next without any hassle whatsoever. Here in Taiwan the process is similar but just a little longer. It went like this: I remembered that Emily and I had driven by a music store a few months back so I took off on my scooter to re-trace my steps. And actually it wasn’t too difficult at all. I only went a few kilometers down the wrong street, and after doubling back without finding the store I realized I needed to be a few blocks down on another street. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again right.

The fun times are when I know something another foreigner doesn’t and I get to let them in on it…it’s like simple bits of knowledge become these nuggets of gold that I get to give out. I remembered this the other day when I was at 7-Eleven. I was there buying a few beers and returning Taiwan Beer labeled bottles for the 2NT deposit on them. Another foreigner in the store saw me handing the empty bottles to the cashier and asked what I was doing. I told him about the 2NT deposit and his face lit up with recognition. I knew exactly what was going through his brain because it’s the same thing that went through my brain when I learned about the deposit. He was thinking about all the bottles he’d thrown out and about how exciting it would be the next time he had some empty beer bottles and would get a chance to use his new nugget of knowledge. It truly is the simple things my friends.

Living overseas without knowing the language is by no means impossible. It just takes a little more patience and a willingness to accept help from others. The pros outweigh the cons by a million to one.

Endnote: please accept my apologies for the corniness of this post. It’s just so fun to realize how much pleasure can be gotten from simply knowing how to do easy, everyday stuff.

PingXi Lantern Festival – or – How We Avoided Death by Trampling

Michael's Posts, Our Taipei Life, Taiwan, Travel & Exploring 5 Responses »

Mar 012010

We’ve known about the PingXi Lantern Festival since our first year in Taiwan. However, we’ve never attended before. Last night we seized the opportunity and, with some friends, took the train to experience this end-of-the-Chinese-New-Year-Celebration event.

The crowds were incredible. We arrived just before it started to get dark and as we walked through the narrow main street of Shihfen, eating street food as we went, it seemed like the crowd just kept on building. We stopped and took the time to participate ourselves, buying a lantern and then writing wishes on it, then sent it up into the night sky to join everyone else’s lanterns.

It was like a whole bunch of fireflies or stars were floating up into the sky, becoming fainter and fainter until disappearing into the blackness.

I think the largest crowd I’ve ever encountered was last night’s in PingXi. Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-Jeou showed up. We didn’t get close enough to see him but we were unfortunate enough to find ourselves in the crowd, bottle-necked behind him, as he went through the streets shaking hands and kissing babies. It was crazy how close everyone was to each other, all of us trying to figure out how we could get out of the human traffic jam to where movement could once again resume. We finally ducked down a side alley to an alternate route along the train tracks with loads more people having the same idea.

When we decided to leave we had a harrowing experience weaving and running through the crowd back to the train station. We thought we were about to miss the last train out that night. We arrived before it pulled out…only thing was that the platform was chock-full of people and the train was already bursting at the seams. That train pulled out…without us on it. We popped a squat on the platform and waited with a ton of others for the next one (it was not the last train of the night thank goodness. Otherwise the residents of PingXi would have had a riot on their hands of a bunch of stranded city-folk). The next train pulled up after about 30 minutes or so. Electricity shot through the crowd as the train approached. It was like a lottery drawing trying to guess where to stand to end up in front of the doors once the train stopped. The winners of this lottery would end up with seats! As the train came to a standstill little clusters of people up and down the platform who had gotten lucky let out cheers and hurrahs. We were some of the lucky ones as it so happened. When the doors of the train opened though it was crazy as everyone behind us pushed with a mighty heave to get in. I went into the train with half of my body on the left side of the doorway and the other contorted towards the right side. Thankfully my feet stayed underneath me and I managed to get into the train. All five of us got seats together along the bench-style side of the car for the trip out of PingXi, back to Taipei.

What a night!

End Note: It should be noted that the title does not reflect what we experienced and is only a sensationalization (we can play at that game too mainstream media) of the event. While the crowds were immense, fire was everywhere including floating up into the sky, and stray firecrackers were going off inches from ears, shoes and faces, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Lantern Festival to others. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Summer’s Twilight

Michael's Posts, USA 1 Response »

Sep 012009

Well at the beginning of the summer I meant to make a point of doing more blog posts about our summer break than I did last year but alas, September is at hand and I did not make that point a reality. Another thing I wanted to spend time doing this summer was studying Chinese. ‘I’ll have so much time’ I thought. No tests or other classes to distract me from adding a ton of verbs and nouns to my Chinese vocabulary was what I envisioned my summer months to hold beforehand. Now in summer’s twilight I must again say alas. Alas, alas, I am an ass. I have not opened my Chinese book let alone taken steps to actually imprint any Chinese onto my brain.

We are back from our road trip and we had a wonderful time. In total our odometer clicked over 2300 new miles before we arrived back at the house in Lansing. After Florida our trip to Chattanooga, TN was great. I got additional chances to get to know more about members of Emily’s extended family and burrow my way deeper into their clan. My days as the new kid on the block are also numbered as one of Emily’s cousins recently became engaged. Before I know it I’ll be the ‘ole fart member of a whole hoard of ‘in-laws’…that’ll be weird come to think of it.

Owensboro, KY was next on the agenda and it proved to be a very good visit as well. Sadly, Emily’s grandma had been injured and was in an assisted living facility while she recovered while we were in Owensboro. However, this proved to be a blessing in disguise as it provided Emily and I a chance to sit and visit with her grandma, who still was not able to walk, for several hours at a time without the normal bustle of visits with everyone in perfect health. Emily said it was one of the best times she’s ever had with her grandma just getting the chance to talk and talk and also to listen and listen. I really enjoyed it as well. Not only that but we got some great time in with Emily’s grandpa and Aunt Winnie at the house too! Driving around Owensboro I got the impression that its probably a really nice place to live. It just has this feeling of goodness about it.

After that it was back up to Lansing where we are now enjoying a few weeks of work-free visiting before we go back to being Taiwaneers.