10 Things I Miss about America: After a Year in Taiwan

I wrote, before leaving America, things I expected to miss about the place. I then checked again 6 months later, to see how accurate my original guesses were. Now, a year later, as I am getting more fully adjusted and settled in for the medium-term, I will take another look.

 

Original List (not in any particular order) of things I expected to miss:

1. Driving                                                     (6 months later: confirmed)
2. Spring and Autumn                                   (6 months later: partially confirmed)
3. Wardrobe flexibility due to summer heat    (6 months later: busted, it was fine)
4. Being able to make jokes people get         (6 months later: partially confirmed)
5. Real southern food and Tex-Mex               (6 months later: confirmed)
6. Pop culture/movie references                    (6 months later: confirmed)
7. Political discussions                                 (6 months later: busted, did anyway, heh)
8. No garbage cans                                      (6 months later: confirmed)
9. Not having to worry about water quality     (6 months later: busted, a very small issue)
10. Blending in                                            (6 months later: confirmed, of course)
11. Added in the 6 month post: Being able to flush toilet paper!

Updated List: Things I Miss After One Year

It turns out I did a pretty good job of guessing, overall. (I don't blame myself for the talking-about-politics one, too many interesting political things happen in Taiwan not to at least discuss them. And I discovered refusing to participate in that kind of discussion irritated some people more than simply expressing an opinion.)

A year later, a few of the original list deserve a second look:

2. Spring and Autumn (Yes I still miss them, but keep reading)

My impression of Taiwan last time I lived here was that there was winter, a rainy period in late Spring, then a typhoon-filled summer and a nice few weeks of Autumn (hard to call it Fall when very few leaves do) before it got cold again.

That's not far off, but what I think has happened this time around is that I've begun to accept that Taiwan, for geographical reasons, simply doesn't have 4 seasons. America might not either, really. If you watched the weather patterns closely for a few years, then set about to define your own local seasons, I bet you wouldn't come up with 4, and they wouldn't be all the same length. People who have lived in the same place for decades/have family roots there often know the ins and outs of the yearly weather patterns.

So I do still miss Spring and Autumn, especially early Spring and the warm days/frosty nights part of Autumn, but I think we should embrace the richness of our local climates which never line up with the astronomical seasons anyway. (Where is it not summer weather until June 21? Alaska?)

This was about as close to Autumn leaves as I got this year. They didn't really crunch...
I hear there's a bit of leaf change in the mountains though, something to check out next year

5. Southern food and Tex-Mex

I think I mentioned in the 6 month update that this was true but not a problem because of all the good local food. And Taiwanese food is -amazing- so that's not wrong. But I think it's seasonal too. Over the summer I was fine (I think if it came down to a contest, Taiwan would beat America for warm-weather food), but as the holidays have arrived, I've begun to miss some of the tastes of home. Fried catfish, BBQ baked potatoes, etc. I think maybe it's not so much the taste itself, as enjoying that taste with other people who also know the same food and are anticipating enjoying it just like you are. Then there are the little rituals of "ok, it's cold enough, we can start drinking hot cocoa and making neiman marcus brownies," that sort of thing.

Then the Tex-Mex is just a personal preference. We had some great Tex Mex restaurants in Alabama, and even better ones in Dallas, and from time to time, I am really in the mood for some good tacos de lengua, pollo loco, or steak quesadilla. I have yet to find a good Mexican restaurant in Taiwan. I went to the one that was supposedly the best, and it was very "meh." They had some of the basic dishes, but they were bland, mild, and lacked any piquancy. Maybe they were worried about people not being used to the stronger flavors and heat; I might go back and ask them if they can spice it up a little.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Go to your favorite Tex-Mex place (Or mine, for those of you who know what that is) and enjoy a meal there (pray for Taiwan when you bless the food, if you please), and take a picture, and send it to me or tag me in it. I won't be mad that I can't eat the food, I will enjoy the experience vicariously that way.

Like I said, Taiwanese food is amazing, so I cannot complain whatsoever. I think my revelation over the past  6 months has been the thing about sharing familiar food (family recipes, seasonal dishes) with people who know and anticipate them like you do. I expect that might change over the long-term in Taiwan as I also begin to recognize seasonal dishes here and look forward to them, and share them with friends.

For now, I am both loving Taiwanese food and also really want a good taco. I might go looking for some ground beef and spices later... (I think an international store might have corn tortillas...hmm...)


6. Pop Culture/Movie References

This is very slowly changing. Your Chinese has to be pretty amazing to really 'get' pop culture in Taiwan and know what's going on and what's popular. (Obviously, not everyone keeps up with that sort of thing in their own culture; I certainly didn't in America. But you catch things by osmosis, by articles you don't bother clicking on, that sort of thing. My Chinese is not good enough to do that yet)  So Facebook is my best source of that kind of information for now, but I've seen at least a couple movies here now and when I reference them, people can at least figure out what movies I'm talking about. (It's a start!) Watching a couple Taiwanese TV series has been interesting and helpful as well, though it's incredibly slow if I really want to try to pause it and figure out everything everyone is saying.


8. (+ 11.) No garbage cans, no flushing toilet paper

This is still occasionally frustrating, but I've noticed that as I get used to the lifestyle here, I start remedying the lack of trash cans in various ways. A lot of the trash I need to take out of my house is recyclable, so the old lady down the street gets it. I've gotten better about throwing things away outside the house when I get the chance, and not bringing trash home with me so I don't have to deal with it later. The no flushing toilet paper thing is still weird, though it's instinctive at this point. (I'm definitely going to need to hardcode that switch in my brain and switch it off next time I'm in the US, heh) The biggest result of it overall is that bathrooms are generally much less pleasant places than they are in the US. Though, ironically, it's partially a result of having adopted western toilets. You don't normally need as much paper after using a squatty. (They're all around more efficient... I'll leave it at that)



10. Blending In

"One of these things is not like the others..."
(The bags are me helping someone carry their stuff, I think it was houseplants, oddly enough)

I will never blend in here, barring some kind of historically unprecedented situation where tens of thousands of Westerners want to come live permanently in Taiwan and Taiwan lets them do so. So it's deceptive to even say I 'miss' this, because it's so obviously impossible. It does get tiring to be permanently treated as an outsider and according to different rules, though in Taiwan at least this is both polite and obvious. (Taiwanese people who don't know you are typically either shy or warm and effusive; there are far worse places to be an outsider)

I'm thankful for a few contexts where due to my previous experiences in Taiwan I've been around long enough to be an "old friend" or "familiar face." The attempt to eliminate discrimination in America may be a praiseworthy goal, but personally I don't think discrimination itself is wrong; it's simply recognizing difference. I am different here. I do stand out. To be treated differently is not anything to be offended about. To me the question is not whether we discriminate, which is natural/instinctive behavior, but whether we are loving or not towards those we treat differently because we perceive them to be different.

So now...

Would I add anything to this list? After a year, I could add maybe two or three things I miss:

A. Literacy

I often get polite compliments on my Chinese (that's not bragging, you will get those at any level of Chinese, and they taper off when you're really good), but I'm only conversational, and barely that after missing a lot of sleep. But even being conversationally fluent, which I should be able to achieve some time next year, is not the same as being fully literate. This is where being highly literate in English actually hurts me. I'm used to the written word being something I utterly take for granted, like shapes or colors, not something I have to stare at for a moment and actively think about before I get it. It's humbling in a good way, but I'm hoping there comes a day when I can be sort of aware of what's written around me without having to focus on each thing.

B. Not Feeling Guilty for Leisure Time

This is not so much a Taiwan thing as a missionary thing. Taiwanese work very hard, usually, and I find that work ethic inspiring. The hard part is working the weird hours of a missionary, when there's no clear "at the office/at home but on call/on vacation" distinctions. In my previous incipient career as a computer engineer, I would work 40+ hours a week, attend a couple Bible studies and Sunday morning and evening services at church, and (being single) no one criticized how I used the rest of my time. Saturdays were mine, and I enjoyed them. I don't really get criticism from anyone here (I'm staying quite busy with ministry as it is), but what I miss is that "off the clock" feeling. But I really wonder now, is that right? If I really am a believer, called to the Great Commission by Christ as the whole Church is, isn't it true that I'm always "on duty" for the gospel, and wrong for me to have thought before that my secular employment set the hours? I'm still thinking about this. Another aspect of it is that, as a missionary, you always wonder, if I spent a little more time working on that ministry, making more contacts at that school, etc., would I see more fruit? I did not wonder this as an engineer, as my company was pretty adamant about not paying me for more hours than they'd asked me to work. But as a missionary, my hours are the 24 that come with each day. What does "free time" even mean anymore?

A resulting problem is that I end up needing rest and recreation time and taking it anyway, but feeling vaguely guilty about it. Or, I don't "rest hard/play hard" when I have the chance, and so my working times start suffering, and I fall into the trap of time-wasting activities that aren't all that fun but don't make me feel guilty like "having fun" would. I'd be curious to hear people's thoughts on this; I have a feeling there are lots of books and articles addressing this exact phenomenon. (I know part of it is resulting from something I discussed in my look back at this past year, not having the friendship networks I thought I would.)

The problem is, though, that even resolving it for myself, it's nearly impossible to explain to my (much older) Taiwanese coworkers, who have expressed their appreciation for missionaries in the good old days who didn't play around but were serious about the work. (Not aiming that at me, as far as I could tell, just reminiscing)

And I can't really imagine The Apostle Paul deciding to sink a few weekend hours into a TV series he missed, or go visit a nearby town "just for fun,"... so I don't know. Maybe it's me that is immature, or confused by an immature culture (Americans all are to some extent, that's for sure), and I should simply apply myself more diligently. I would appreciate any reflective thoughts on the subject.

10 Things I will Miss about America while in Taiwan - 6 Months In

So before leaving for Taiwan, I wrote a post about things I expected to miss about American while living in Taiwan. (Things, not people, so they're not on the list. I assume friends and family are a given) Now that I'm coming up on half a year over here, I want to take a look at those expectations and see what I got right, what I got wrong, and what I didn't find out until I got over here again.

So without further ado, let's check out my 10 previous things:

1. Driving (Confirmed)

Yes, I do miss driving. Living in this part of Taiwan a car would be more trouble than use (I don't need to haul things and people around much, and finding a parking space takes longer than getting to your destination), and I don't really need a scooter, though I'll probably want to learn how to ride one just to have that option.

But driving does other things too. It gives you time to yourself (valuable for introverts), and you can listen to your music turned up without earbuds and it doesn't bother your neighbors (and their neighbors, and their neighbors...). I also used to do a lot of praying and thinking while driving, and miss those quiet times.

2. Spring and Autumn (Partially confirmed)

We'll see. Being in the East Asian monsoon cycle, things don't exactly follow the traditional Western four seasons; Chinese culture observes more or less the same solar cycle but we're way farther south than where the traditional ideas about the seasons were developed, and also an island in the Pacific, so things get a little... tropical. Autumn remains to be seen, but since this winter was unusually cold it seemed quite Spring-like when it warmed up and the cherry trees blossomed. We've gotten unbelievable amounts of rain since I got here (which is semi-normal but it's definitely more than last time I lived here), both when it was colder early in the year and for nearly the entire month of May, with the arrival of the Plum Rains (梅雨).

Seattle gets 37" (950mm) of rain per year; Taipei gets 95" (2,400mm)
Could be worse.. nearby Keelung gets an incredible 144" of rain per year. (3755mm)

So far the jury's out on this one, given that Spring was pretty normal. I know from experience that there's not really a proper Autumn, however, so we're calling this partially confirmed until proven otherwise.

3. Being able to wear Dark Colored Shirts in the Summer (Mostly Busted)

(This one was kind of random. I wonder why I included this in the original post)... Having just passed Dragon Boat Festival it's only now considered early summer, but according to my weather app with the humidity it felt like 100F here (38C) a couple Saturdays ago. I haven't replaced my clothing to the extent I'd expected before getting over here. I should get on that, actually...some of these are pre-seminary shirts, they're getting to that really comfortable stage that wives/girlfriends seem to dislike. The good news is that as long as I don't need to carry a backpack, a dark-colored shirt does just fine hiding the sweat and I rarely get the serious salt mine action I mentioned in the original article.

4. Being able to Make Jokes (Partially confirmed)

Mostly right. My Taiwanese coworker is rather fond of what they call "cold" jokes in Mandarin (what we'd call a bad pun, the ones that make people groan and leave), and as I've knocked the rust off my Chinese and improved it here and there, I'm able to make some forays into Chinese punning. The tricky thing is to make sure you're not saying something inappropriate by accident (there are lots and lots of homophones in Mandarin), as your listeners usually remember to give you the benefit of the doubt, but not always..

5. Real Southern Food and Tex/Mex Food. (Confirmed, but it's ok)

Yes. I do miss both of these, but am encouraged that there are a couple new Mexican places to check out, and also very excited to have belatedly discovered the Taiwanese pork BBQ sandwich:

Guabao! In Chinese the name means "glory in a rice flour bun"
(Ok not really, but it could)

It doesn't look like what you're used to, and it's not hickory-smoked pulled-pork (nor sliced beef brisket) but believe me, it's amazing on its own merits, and somehow fills that dietary niche quite well.

Still miss the Southern food, but as I said in the original post, that doesn't even exist much in the rest of the States, so there's not exactly a sense of deprivation.

6. References (Allusions to things in wider pop culture) (Confirmed)

For sure on this one. Even more common references get missed, sometimes due to not knowing the Chinese name of something (which is not necessary just the translation of the English name), and sometimes just due to different growing up experiences.

It's always fun to discover when you have something in common with a Taiwanese friend, however, and can both appreciate the reference. And there are always the more recent references, things that happened after I moved here, of which I now have a growing stock and have used successfully a few times.

7. Arguing about Politics (Busted)

Well.. I had good intentions about staying 100% out of political discussions, I really did... then there was a historical first in Taiwan when protesting students took over the Taiwanese legislative chamber for three weeks, accompanied by the biggest protest rally in Taiwanese history. With near-heroic levels of self-control (I argued about politics with my second grade teacher when Bill Clinton was elected and she made us watch his inauguration, no joke), I managed to make (mostly) indirect references to it online and mostly post news stories so my American friends would be aware of the situation without interjecting too many of my own thoughts. I also took the opportunity to learn a lot about Taiwan politics in general.

What I said in the first post was true; I need to avoid this as much as possible. It's not worth losing a chance to witness over. But it's also very difficult to sit on the fence in these situations, especially when many of my friends feel passionately about these issues. (Once or twice I felt that it would have been less offensive just to go ahead and say what I thought, rather than claiming I didn't think I should say what I thought) I will keep praying for discernment in knowing who to share my thoughts with, and knowing if/when the appropriate time to do that would be.

8. No Garbage Cans (Confirmed)

Yes, it's a constant thing you have to work around here that you don't in America, and it's annoying to have to be home at 9:05PM when the trucks come rolling in (Blasting Fur Elise to let you know they're on their way) for just a couple of minutes, and keep food trash in your freezer in the mean time. But I don't generate all that much non-recyclable trash, and I can haul that down to the street and give it to an old lady who gets money for turning it in, so it's all good.

9. Not Wondering about Water Quality (Busted)

 

This one hasn't really been an issue, as I suspected at the time it might not be. It's better not to drink out of random faucets, but bottled water is slightly cheaper than in the US when needed, and I have a Brita filter to use in my apartment. (Hey, come to think of it, my filter needs changing...)

10. Blending In (Confirmed)

Yeah. I get stared at (or very conspicuously not stared at, which is kind of the same thing) every day. Goes with the territory, won't change during my whole life over here, so I wouldn't expect it to be any different. And no it doesn't make people racist, it would be the same if I were super tall or super short or super-whatever. I'm just easier to notice, and so people do.

 Some parts of Taipei actually have a lot of foreigners, though interestingly, (white) foreigners tend to not be American or Canadian this time around. I hear a lot of French and German, as much or more than English.

11. UPDATED: New entry

Ok, so in summary I think I did reasonably well in guessing which things I'd miss. But I forgot one of the biggest small things that I miss about the US:

Being able to flush toilet paper.

 

There's always a can beside the toilet... optimally it gets emptied often

I've heard various reasons: the water pressure isn't good enough to get it through the pipes; there are chemicals in the paper that aren't supposed to go into the plumbing system; perhaps there's no way to get rid of the paper once it collects wherever it collects. All I know is, the general rule is that you can't flush toilet paper here.

This may seem like a small thing (or maybe not), but put that together with no central A/C, a tropical climate, interesting changes in your diet, and the fact that the only legal way to get garbage out of your house is to coordinate disposal with the nightly garbage trucks, and it's one of the bigger small annoyances one deals with.

(Note: One of the biggest 'things' I miss about living in America is the churches and church families I've grown close to, both my sending and supporting churches, in Alabama and Texas. But I mentioned at the beginning that this list was for things, not people, and a church is not a thing, it's people)

Conclusion:

I love Taiwan, and any of these things I miss are very much balanced out by great things about being able to live here. (The most difficult things are mostly the same things as I'd deal with at this stage of my life doing full time ministry in the US) I'm very blessed to see God at work, and our ministries have progressed slowly but steadily over the past half year. It will be interesting to take another look at this once it's been a full year and see if my perspective has changed at all.

10 Things I will Miss about America while in Taiwan (and 10 Things that Help Make up for Them)

Read first:

1. It's 10 things, not people. So I'm not including family/friends on here because hopefully that's a given.

2. I'm numbering them for clarity, but it's not in descending or ascending order.

3. For each entry I'm listing a mitigating factor- something that at least partially makes up for the absence of the thing I'm going to miss.

I love Taiwan and enjoyed living there very much, but as my time of departure (seemingly) draws nearer, I am appreciating some things more knowing that I won't get to experience them for 3 years or so. Having lived in Taiwan before, I have a somewhat informed idea of what I can expect. I thought it might be interesting to list out the top 10 things I expect to miss about America. Maybe I'll come back in a year or two and see how accurate this was...

10 Things I Will Miss About America in Taiwan:

1. Driving

I know some people don't like driving and are happy to give it up for mass transit, but being able to hop into your own vehicle and cruise down the interstate with your own music and maybe even the sunroof open is pretty nice too. Yes, I do plan to get a vehicle in Taiwan at some point, but a) it will probably be a scooter, which is practical, cheaper to operate, and vastly easier to find parking spots for, and b) traffic in the metro area around Taipei is such that even in a car you don't exactly 'cruise' most of the time, it's more like vehicular tetris.

Mitigating factor: Trains! Trains are an inexpensive and enjoyable way to travel between cities in Taiwan, and great for reading or staring out the window in a reverie. (Unless you take the local train, then it's great for immersion in a different side of Taiwanese culture than visitors often see.)

(Ok I cheated a little with this picture, it's not usually -this- bad)

2. Spring and Autumn

The Tropic of Cancer runs right through Taiwan, so it's subtropical/tropical. There are certainly seasons in Taiwan, with the late spring plum rains, summer typhoons, long clammy winter in Taipei, etc. But it never gets cold enough to freeze during the winter, and thus spring is not quite as dramatic an event as it is in more northern latitudes. The same is true of autumn. Although the weather does change, much of what we think of in association with autumn is simply absent. No drifts of falling leaves, no explosion of color (there's a bit of it up in the mountains, but you have to go looking for it), no football, no Halloween, no Thanksgiving (no pumpkin spice lattes at the innumerable Starbucks, at least not last I heard), you get the idea.

Mitigating factor: No seasonal allergies! Though the wetter seasons do come with mildew allergies, and the drier ones with worse air pollution. Still, the gradual changes are easier to handle than the massive influx of pollen in Alabama, when the surface of any standing water turns yellow, etc. Also, summer in Taiwan has a unique sort of beauty (it's... very summery. The skies glow blue and there are ocean breezes and rice fields and really loud cicadas.. It's hard to explain.) which for me partially makes up for any perceived lack in other seasons.

3. Being able to wear dark colored shirts in the summer.

Scientific fact- White people have many more apocrine sweat glands (what produce arm pit sweat) than East Asian people, which means we both sweat a lot more, and smell worse when we do.
So wearing a black t-shirt, for example, in the bright Taiwanese sun for a well-hydrated Caucasian means some pretty rapid and impressive salt stains. (Antiperspirant is a bad idea; when it's 95F and 95% humidity outside, you need to sweat. I've been in Texas grilling over an open fire in nearly 110F weather and it didn't come close to a Taipei sidewalk on a summer day with no breeze)

Mitigating factor: This may force me to finally stop dressing like an engineering college student. Or at least to get more creative about it... no lack of affordable but good-looking clothes in Taiwan to replace my current, mostly-cotton (thus moisture retaining) wardrobe.

4. Being able to make Jokes

This one is more important than you might think. Imagine before trying to say anything potentially funny, trying to figure out if a) you can even make the joke in Chinese (most don't survive the transition between languages) b) it's something which translates culturally (many kinds of humor don't) c) it's based on a reference your listeners are familiar with (a high percentage of humor relies on shared context).

Mitigating factor: Motivation to improve my language skills.
And less punning overall, which is probably good for humanity and my reputation as a pundit.
(Heheh, get it? Don't punish me... Oops, ok that was the last one. Well, the punultimate one, anyway...)

5. Real Southern food and Mexican/Tex-Mex Food

Many other kinds of foreign food can be found in Taiwan, to varying degrees of authenticity/goodness, but there's a notable lack of Mexican food, both real and Tex-Mex, to the extent that a lot of expats comment on it. And Southern comfort food (ie, real cornbread, not the fluffy sweet stuff; mashed potatoes that aren't made from potato flakes; good biscuits; fried catfish; etc.) doesn't exist too much outside of the South anyway. So I'm used to not having it when I travel, but not having it for 3 years will stink.

Mitigating factor: Taiwanese food is amazing (there will be future blog posts on that subject), and healthier on average than American food. And it's motivation to learn how to cook whatever I miss anyway.

Can I drown my sadness over a lack of tacos in a bowl of beef noodle soup?
Yes, yes I can.

6. References

Like the Jokes, this one is big but not obvious. Basically, you can say things like "Run Forrest, Run," "Hasta la Vista, Baby," or "May the Force be with You," as expressions in daily conversation, and nearly all Americans will know what you mean (Popular quotes from Forrest Gump, The Terminator, and Star Wars, in case you live under a rock or are very young), but very, very few Taiwanese will immediately pick up on them, even if they've seen those films, due to the language barrier and other things. They have other cultural 'memes' which I will begin to recognize as well, in time.

And the issue goes deeper. As we get to know someone, from time to time references will come up, to movies, cartoons, books, etc. We are often pleasantly surprised to find someone of our acquaintance 'gets' a more obscure reference to something we are interested in or a fan of, and a closer friendship is often the result. ("Oh, you know that?" "Well yeah, I loved that book! You know about it too?") It's usually a joyful feeling to bump into these people and discover it about them. (I'll bet you're smiling now as you think about it.)

But this is not an available mechanism for finding "compatible" friends in Taiwan, because we've grown up with different media and experiences. I remember watching an evocative Taiwanese movie ("Those Years...") about high school friends and how their lives change through college. The movie communicates a nostalgic feeling so powerfully that even as a foreigner I felt it strongly, but for me it can ever only be vicarious; no matter how long I live in Taiwan, I can never have grown up there. That simple fact raises an invisible wall that forces one to be extra-intentional about friendships and with whom one pursues them, which is not a bad thing, but which takes away part of the naturalness of making those deep friendships which happen quickly and endure over the long term.

Mitigating factor: The rise of the internet and global youth culture. I am part of the first global internet generation, which often have more in common with each other across cultures than with their parent's generation inside the same culture. The internet both allows for shared references from the past and the continuity of ongoing ones, and I've already discovered that many things that went 'viral' on the English-language internet went viral in Taiwan as well. It's a small start, but there are more things which I'm slowly discovering I have in common with my Taiwanese counterparts. For example, both Taiwanese and Asian-aware Americans in my age range share an appreciation of Japanese pop culture and music of the 90's, in contrast to younger students who are comparatively more interested in Korean pop culture and music which took the world by storm in the 00's. (I'm curious to see which East Asian pop culture will have risen to the top by the end of this decade...possibly China will have developed their own youth pop culture to something internationally magnetic by that point, but it will have to happen fast)

7. Arguing about Politics

I already have to be careful about this as a missionary; the message of the gospel is infinitely more important. (Note: I make an exception for calling for an end to the barbaric travesty of abortion as it is currently practiced in the US, as I view that as a moral crisis that's become politicized. If that statement puts me on your bad side, I'd be happy to explain why I feel so strongly about the issue.) Yes, I have a position on most issues our nation faces, and rather strong opinions on how our leaders are doing along the lines of both competency and moral leadership. I even flatter myself that I have not swallowed either party line (or to be rather direct, ceased to swallow one of them) but see past the false dilemmas they present to the root issues (sin in general, but issues specific to America today as well) causing us unnecessary problems.

But that's not really important at all in the context of planting churches overseas, is it?

The issues people argue about in Taiwan are different than in America, but people there feel just as strongly about them. Wading into that fray which I can't ever understand on the intimate level that someone growing up in a country understands it (with connections to their family and identity and all the little associations and assumptions one makes based on someone's political views) would only damage my relationships with other people before they had a chance to get to know me on a personal level. If I get involved at all, it should be as a learner who wants to learn purely to understand the country and culture better. We'll see how successful I can be at walking that line. The first step is not trying to picture the two sides as analogous in any way to the two sides in America, as that already seems like an invalid comparison.

Mitigating factor: I'm a foreigner who loves Taiwan, and am generally suspicious of governments and politicians as being only self-serving. That combination works pretty well for most people in Taiwan. Also, when asked if I'm "green" or "blue" (the colors that go along with their political parties), I usually reply that, obviously, I am "white." (which both dodges the question in a humorous way and reminds the listener that I don't have a vote in elections, to put it one way)

8. Garbage Cans

There are no garbage cans to take to the street in Taiwanese cities, and normally no dumpsters. You sort your waste according to variety, and every evening at a certain time, garbage trucks drive to a spot nearby and stop, playing icecream-truck-style music so you'll know they're around (used to commonly be Fur Elise, but I don't hear it as often lately on my trips back). They accept different kinds of recycling on different days, and kitchen scrap/non-recyclables on any day, in their own specific kind of bag. (Different places are more or less picky about how carefully you have to sort your garbage, in the denser areas it's quite specific)

Recycle or Else!
(Or else some impoverished person will have to do it at the other end because you were too lazy)

Did you forget some lovely soup dumplings in the back of your refrigerator and now they have sprouted multicolored fur and wept toxic slime? You can't just hold them at arm's length and dump them in a thick, black, plastic bag, which can then if necessary be carried outside to a waiting trash can, to be dragged to the end of the street where garbage men will come do the dirty work and leave behind the empty cans. You must face the biological hazard, scrape the lovecraftian horror lurking within into a certain type of bag, then wash the container they were in and place that into either your recycling pile for that sort of material, or into another bag, and wait for a) the time of day you can take the kitchen garbage out to discard the biohazard into the waiting truck (if you live alone, better hope you're around to do it during that time, or else make some kind of arrangement with your neighbor) and b) the day of the week you can dispose of the container. Which means you've got to wash the stink out too.


Homes in Taiwan normally don't have central A/C, and as I discovered while living there, in tropical climes fruit flies don't mess around when it comes to multiplying in your kitchen scrap bag. (It would be exaggerating slightly to say that the bag was close to lifting off the ground when I got it closed, but not exaggerating to say the number of flies was in the 500-100 range. Thankfully I trapped about two-thirds of them in the bag and fruit flies have very short lifespans)

Mitigating factor: You learn quickly to not forget things in your refrigerator, to close up kitchen scrap bags, and generally be very intentional about handling waste, which is more hygienic anyway. Larger apartment buildings do have places to dump your bags of waste (So no emptying out of all floors of a high-rise to carry innumerable bags of garbage to a waiting fleet of garbage trucks), but in general the no garbage can thing is pretty necessary in cities with such a high population density. Taiwan simply doesn't have the room for a bunch of massive landfills, and with the pollution that's already there and what comes over from China, I'm ok with not adding any more vaporized garbage to the air than necessary.

9. Not Wondering about Water Quality

When traveling overseas people often worry whether food is clean/unspoiled or not, when a bigger issue is the water that was used to cook it. Taiwan is definitely not an example of undrinkable water like parts of Mexico (when you're warned not to let any water get in your mouth during a shower, you begin to wonder if you really need to immerse your body in that water to begin with), but in Taipei we're still advised to stick to filtered water for drinking and cooking. (brushing teeth and such is fine) Whether that's still necessary or an example of snapshot syndrome I am not certain, but it's certainly true in Taiwan that street food utensils and containers are often washed in some pretty scary water. (already used water... dirty water... street puddles...) However, I've enjoyed delicious street food on many occasions and only once or twice paid a price for it later... in other words it compares favorably to Taco Bell, and is infinitely more delicious.

Of course it's been suggested that some of the chemicals we add to our public water supply in America to make it 'safe' are harming us in the long run, and there's probably some truth to that too...

Mitigating factor: Taiwan's water is fine as long as you know the situation in the place you're in, and there are no lack of bottled water options, often ph-balanced too, which is nice. Also, not everyone realizes that in American restaurants (or probably restaurants anywhere), the ice machines often don't get cleaned, and the ice can be dangerously unsanitary. It's cold enough that you don't notice, but it can easily make you sick. Also, US fountain drink dispensers are often pretty nasty. Basically, there's no place in the world that what you drink can be totally taken for granted as safe, you just trade risk factors. Maybe I ought to have been wondering about the water quality in America too... but for now I'll stick with asking for no ice. (It's better for you anyway)

10. Blending In

I visited New York City for a few days a couple of months ago on my way back from TEAM training; didn't have much money to spend, but had a great time overall. One thing I enjoy doing when traveling is seeing if I can fit in enough to be mistaken for a local (or at least not recognized as a tourist), and due to the facts that a) my accent tends to neutralize based on where I am, and b) I have advanced training in picking up on unfamiliar social cues due to my homeschooling background, often I am successful. Taipei had trained me pretty well in navigating large cities, so subways were no problem. After being there a day or two I was repeatedly approached by (other) tourists asking for directions, and often was able to supply them.

In Taiwan, I will never be mistaken for a local, except perhaps (May God grant it) someday on the phone. As a Caucasian there is no question of fitting in, ever. I will always, with one glance, assumed to be a tourist who needs help with directions, or an expat there to teach English illegally while taking advantage of the good life and local girls, until I get caught and exported. That doesn't change no matter how long I live there, because it's not a question of dress or behavior but of general appearance. (Actually the fact that clothing styles in Taiwan are very similar to those in the US makes it worse, since I can't stand out a little less by at least adopting some kind of traditional apparel as missionaries in some countries can)

As an introvert, although I am friendly and don't mind the random kid tugging at his mom's sleeve and saying urgently "waiguoren, waiguoren!" ("foreigner, foreigner!") and having the occasional very random English conversation, it's nice to blend in with the crowd sometimes too, not even from so much an identity standpoint as that of social anonymity. You want to be socially disengaged in public sometimes, and when you look like everyone else, you can do that. Taiwan allows for it more than some places (Foreigners are not super common, but are around and passing through often enough that you have to go into the countryside to get a really surprised reaction. In Taipei I got the impression that sort of behavior was considered a little gauche and unsophisticated, though people were quick to offer help if I appeared uncertain about how to proceed in a given situation), but still you notice subtle things, like how the last unfilled seat on the bus is usually the one next to you, and plenty of people have looked at it then chosen to stand instead. Or not-so-subtle things, like when shopkeepers try to sell you clothes that would fit a bear... (I am a very normal-sized American... I have to go up a t-shirt size to accommodate my shoulders, but not 3 sizes!)

Mitigating factors:
All in all, Taiwan is not a bad place to be a foreigner. People are polite and welcoming to guests, even if they have their suspicions based on the unfortunate behavior of some other foreigners. And it's a given that when choosing to be a missionary to an Asian culture, standing out is going to go with the territory. The only way to sort-of blend in would be staying inside the expat/foreigner bubble, and that's not what I'm going to Taiwan to do.

A few of my Taiwanese friends have told me they hope for the day when the idea of what it is to be Taiwanese will not be restricted by default to ethnically Chinese (or Taiwanese indigenous tribal) people, that anyone who comes to live in Taiwan and participate in the culture could be considered Taiwanese too.
That day may be far off, but if sharing the Hope we have in Christ with the Taiwanese people I have come to love means a little uncomfortable standing out, then I can hardly complain about suffering a few small discomforts, having freely received grace from the One who endured the cross.