The Essential Mental Packing List for Study Abroad Students in Taiwan

Your flight is a week away and you are super excited to start your study abroad in Taiwan. Your suitcase is already filled with cotton t-shirts, sneakers, a supply of deodorant, a toothbrush, a Chinese-English dictionary, your passport and visa, and of course a good stash of quality dark chocolate.

But what about your mental suitcase?

Before you embark on any relatively long-term project abroad you need to be prepared for new customs, new thought patterns, new tastes, new language, new beliefs, new sounds–new everything. Basically, you need to be prepared for culture shock.

One major point to note:

• Culture shock does not come in one shape and size. We all come from our own different cultural backgrounds, so naturally our experiences among new cultures will also be different. Therefore, some of the following coping mechanisms might work for you while others might not. Also, some of what you experience in Taiwan may be very stressful to you, but may be wholly insignificant to your friend.

And now, a short mental checklist (to be edited and updated periodically):

Rain or shine, time to break out the umbrella.

• Taiwan’s weather is mad-eye MOODY. (Please excuse the really bad HP allusion).

Spend one day in Taipei and you may experience blue sunny skies, sweltering humidity, torrential downpours and cold damp temperatures. If this does not eventually affect your mood, you are not human. Also, weather forecasts are useless; my rough guestimation is that they are correct maybe 10% of the time.

o How to Cope: Learn from the locals—always carry an umbrella (they sell them everywhere here for $100NT). They protect you not only from the rain, but also from the brutal sun. I would also recommend always having a plan B. You may plan an amazing five day trip to the Kending complete with hiking, sandy beaches and surfing for yourself and your best friend who has traveled all the way from the U.S. to visit you. Then it rains. It pours. It downright monsoons. (Believe me, it happened). This is where an alternate itinerary (like visiting the hot springs and checking out the local aboriginal culture) comes in handy so you won’t be too disappointed. Also, pack appropriate clothing and allergy medications before you arrive.

• Not everyone in Taiwan speaks English. Big surprise this one, I know. But I’ve also come across a handful of foreigners who continually bemoan the fact that they cannot understand the locals and the locals cannot understand them. If you weren’t already aware, the official language in Taiwan is Mandarin Chinese, though many people also speak Hoklo (or “Taiwanese”) and other indigenous languages. Sometimes you may experience being in a supposedly English-taught class and the professor will begin to speak in Chinese. Don’t panic. Understand that there are some local students in class that might not fully understand a concept or idea unless explained in their own language. However, if this becomes a problem (ie: the professor persists in repeatedly speaking Chinese for long lengths of times), then talk with the professor privately about your concern and if it still does not change, speak to a representative in your school’s international office (at NCCU, the OIC)

o How to Cope: Study a little Mandarin before you arrive. This doesn’t have to be much—just enough to learn about the four tones and maybe a little about the history of the language. Learning a few basic phrases, such as how to properly say ‘hello’, ‘thank you’, ‘this one’ and ‘I want/I don’t want’ wouldn’t hurt either. You will most likely learn a lot more once you get here and there are plenty of friendly people willing to help, but you will feel a lot more comfortable if you have some background in the language beforehand.

• Wearing surgical masks. Many people in Taiwan, as well as throughout East Asia, wear surgical masks. (They even come in fancy colors and patterns now!).

Masks are sexy here!

Coming from the West, we are often suspicious of people who cover their faces; it implants a spatial separation we are generally uncomfortable with, and also may suggest sickness or disease (as my Dad remarked, it reminds him of  those old doomsday sci-Fi flicks about the plague). However, people here sincerely believe  wearing a mask will either protect them from getting sick, or will prevent them from spreading germs. Whatever the validity of the claim may be, remember the context. East Asia’s recent experience with SARS and H1N1 scares has prompted many to prepare for the worst.  Moreover, with so many people living in one place, the Taiwanese are very wary of the potential of one virus.

• Noise. Forget the stereotype of the quiet little Asian man. Taiwanese people are LOUD–and all the more so when they share a big meal together. Want evidence? Simply mozy on over to any restaurant, bar or cafe in Taipei. More significant, however, is noise tolerance in general. Be prepared to encounter high levels of noise due to traffic, the garbage man jingle, trucks blaring advertisements for political candidates, construction at 8AM, neighbors arguing and fireworks.

o How to Cope: Pack some earplugs just in case and your own mp3 player. Find a quiet spot in the city and visit it at least once a week.

• I’d like some food with my oil, please. One of the most difficult quirks about Taiwan that I’ve had to adjust to is the liberal amount of oil they use in cooking. You can readily find most anything in some fried form–deep-fried, stir-fried, pan-fried–you name it, they fry it. Most vegetable dishes are also fried and, I’ve found, usually drowning in oil to the point where all nutritional content has disappeared. Be prepared to have to adjust to local flavors–it may be difficult to find the foods you are used to eating, especially for those with certain dietary restrictions. But before you write off Taiwanese cuisine as a whole, make sure you try as many different types of foods here as possible: night market snacks, different regional and aboriginal cuisines (including from mainland China), as well as Taiwan’s international food scene.

o How to Cope: Bring some spices and local foodstuffs from home that don’t go bad. Buy fresh vegetables and other produce and cook your own food. This is always the best method to eat healthier, and more critically, to eat exactly what you want to eat. True, this is also difficult for students who live in the dormitories where cooking is forbidden, but students can still purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, wash them and eat them raw. You can also ask for your food to be prepared with less oil when you order. Of course, obviously not *everything* is fried or cooking with oil. Look for steamed, boiled or grilled options (you usually won’t find baked/roasted/broiled because most people don’t use ovens).

• Smile for the Camera. No use beating a dead horse. Refer to my recent post for a fuller explanation.

o How to Cope: Taking a word of advice from good friend Daniel, when and if this happens, kindly decline and explain to the person who is asking that you are a resident of Taiwan and that not all foreigners like to have their picture taken.

• Food is not served all at once. When you go to a Western-style restaurant with a group of friends, be prepared to wait a while for your food. Often your friend’s meal will come out and you will have to wait up to twenty more minutes or more for your own to follow. This is mostly due to the tradition of family-style eating. If you go to a Taiwanese style restaurant or eat in someone’s home, all of the food will be put on plates in the center of the table and you will be expected to share and serve yourself. Thus, dishes typically do not come out all at once because everyone can begin eating once the first dish is served. For some reason, this has translated over to almost all of the restaurants in Taiwan.

o How to Cope: Inform the waiter that you would like all of the dishes to be served at the same time (this sometimes does and sometimes does not work). I would better suggest, however, that you do like the locals and eat once your meal is served. Don’t worry about “being polite”–that Western custom simply does not apply here. Also, I would recommend telling the waiter that your want your drink first or served with the main meal; often, drinks are otherwise served last, like dessert. Bon appetit!

And finally, the two universal coping mechanisms: (1) Learn how to practice cultural relativity—the ability to put yourself in someone else’s cultural “shoes”. What does this entail? Trying to think about the reason *why* people behave the way they do here. What is the value behind the action? What does this person believe? For example, before you accuse someone for being stupid to put shrimp in your “vegetarian” stir-fry, put yourself in their cultural mindset. Many Taiwanese do not consider fish or shellfish to be meat. Learn from these experiences. This time, politely inform them that you also cannot eat shellfish and can they please make a new dish. Next time, make sure you make it clear exactly what foods you cannot eat when ordering and again politely ask them to repeat it back to you to make sure the order is correct.

Cultural relativity means that an observer cannot condemn any practice in which culture engages. In other words, cultural relatively does not allow us to judge another culture, even when its practices are inhumane. Cultural respect requires us to be aware that our own ways are not the only ways, but it allows us to judge others when warranted.

"Don't let ignorance be an excuse."

(2) Learn to develop empathy. This is hardly a conscious act, but it should be an obligation. Cultural empathy refers to the ability to accurately understand the experiences of people from diverse cultures and to convey that understanding responsively. When you are empathetic, you are able to develop an emotional and psychological bond with another person or social group. Ultimately, you become “other”-oriented and THAT is an invaluable life skill.

Don’t let your ignorance be an excuse. Being mentally prepared will enable you and the others around you to have a smoother and more enjoyable experience abroad.

For those who are already here, perhaps take some time to reevaluate your own attitudes and behaviors. I know I could definitely benefit from an attitude readjustment every so often as well. Nobody likes a complainer and it is all to easy to fall into the trap of being negative about everything. It’s not *that* bad and, if it is, then go home. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

Also, for those who are already here, what are some other cultural quirks you have encountered in Taiwan and how did you learn to cope?

For those who are now mentally packing, don’t let any of this alarm you. You are about to embark on an exciting journey full of wonderful and surprising experiences that only Taiwan can uniquely supply. Be proud of taking the leap and being adventurous–you will not regret it!

See you on the other side.

Yellow Fever, Foreign Moons 黃色戀情‧外國月亮比較圓

Time and Travel

Time is an interesting construct. It can seem to drag for eternity (and what is eternity?) or it can zoom by before you have a chance to realize that it happened at all. Long time or short time. Is six months a long time? I swear, I was drinking hot chocolate in Grovers Mill Coffee House on a rainy Sunday morning with some of my best friends just yesterday. But since then I’ve taught hundreds of students English in a small school,

climbed the Great Wall,

spent weeks sweating through my shirts, ate real kimchi in Seoul,

completed an entire semester’s worth of schoolwork, snorkeled in the Pacific Ocean,

sang karaoke, learned a new city.

And is it really a week into January already? Then how come every minute seems to stretch on and on…will it ever be Tuesday? Six months now.

In anthropology, we can talk about monochronic and polychronic peoples (shout out to Edward T. Hall!). As Americans–those without too much extra-cultural influence, anyway–we are severely monochronic. We do one thing at a time, are regulated by schedules and to-do lists, value promptness, and are accustomed to short term relationships. Time is a linear, one-way street. Polychronic people, on the other hand, do many things at once, are highly distractible and subject to interruptions, change plans often and easily, and build lifetime relationships. Time moves round and round, a circle or a squiggly path.

Of course, nobody fits perfectly into either of those formulations. However, by moving between cultures, this is something I’ve had to–and many travelers have had to– reconcile time and time again. And maybe it is because my monochronic tendencies are doing a dance with some polychronic fledglings, passing instances in life are all becoming very acute to me.

So, in the spirit of polychrony I am not going to make a “to do” list of new year resolutions. But, at the same time, it can’t hurt to set some new goals and refresh some old ones. My primary goal for the remainder of the year is to really improve my Chinese language abilities. It has been a lot more difficult than I anticipated and, with some greater self-discipline, I think I can really stand to better myself in this way. Second, I am going to strive to be a better friend–not only to those I have here in Taipei, but also to my closest ones I have back home (and this includes family as well). As I travel, I realize how significant relationships truly are. No matter how far I go–and honestly, I don’t think I can go much farther than this–I rely tremendously upon the relationships I have to keep me sane and to keep me motivated and to provide me with reason to do what I am doing.

And, finally, my last goal is perhaps something more pertinent to you, dear reader. As I said before, time is a funny thing. It’s gone before you know it; replaced only by a memory that is subject to fade. I will strive to record these instances more consistently and as they happen on this blog. If it helps, I will try to think of myself as a travel writer like my idols in National Geographic or those really helpful dudes who write for Lonely Planet.

For the next few days I will be putting this blog on rewind and will be posting multiple entries about various experiences I have had during the past month. This includes points of destination, Taipei travel guides (ie: tourist traps, restaurants, etc.), events, cultural oddities and so forth. All this before I am spit-wadded back to the good ‘ole US of A next week (no worries, Taipei is back on the agenda beginning February 15th). Oh, and how’s this for a time warp? I leave Tokyo, Japan at 3pm and arrive in NYC at 2pm the same day. Yes, folks, time travel is possible.

And with that, I have to run to lunch! Time’s a’wasting!

It’s All Nonverbal To Me

The more I study the Chinese language, the more I realize how much I rely upon non-verbal communication. A mere twitch of the eye or body motion can mean all the difference in the message I am trying to receive in face-to-face interaction with the locals here. Pointing is probably the best tactic in most cases. For example, at the bubble tea shops (or yin3liao4dian4 飲料店) I usually just say “wo yao zhei.ge” (我要這個 “I want that one”) and point to the thing I want. Much easier than learning all of the different names for the myriad of drinks each shop offers. This usually works up until the point when they ask exactly how I want my drink made or if I want it in a bag or for here or to go or if I’m just a stupid foreigner and haha you can’t understand what I’m saying to you anyway.

Lately, anyway, I’ve also realized that my usually fool-proof nonverbal body motions don’t always work. Or they seem to mean something completely different than what I thought they meant. Take for instance Chinese number hand signals. I’ve been completely befuddled in various situations by what the seller is telling me is the price of the product and what the number hand signal it is he is giving me at the same time. When I count numbers on my fingers: “1″ is one index finger pointed up; “2″ is an index and a middle finger pointed up; “5″ is a full hand up; “6″ is a full hand plus an index finger on the other hand; and so on and so forth. This works fine in Taiwan up until you get to the number 6. People here hold up one hand with the pinky finger and thumb extended and the three middle fingers curved down, kind of like the Hawaiian “totally awesome dude” sign or a “love” sign or the American Sign Language signal for the letter “Y”.

6

And just to make it even more confusing, the next one can be taken for numbers 7 or 8.

7 or 8

Ka-Pow! The man at the buffet shop made this side at me last week when I tried to buy lunch. His speech was unintelligible (I have local student back-up on this one) and I didn’t understand his hand motion either. So I gave him $70NTD figuring this was average for the buffets in the area and made my way to the lunch table.

Ten is done by taking both index fingers and crossing them, resembling the Chinese character for the number 10: 十

10

I requested a piece of man-tou 饅頭 (steamed bread) yesterday and when I asked how much the women clearly told me “Shi2″ (10) at the same time holding out this hand signal in front of me. Thrown off by this gesture (hey, maybe it meant 2?!) and a little embarrassed, I fumbled through my change purse, dumped some coins in my hand and let her pick. She was honest at least.

Continuing with this theme of communication, there was a related and interesting article about it in today’s New York Times. Apparently, Japan has the hots for Obama. Or at least his voice anyway. A CD compilation of his speeches has sold over 500,000 copies since last November and is mostly promoted as an English language learning tool.

“Mr. Obama sets his range of vocabulary wide enough to accommodate the highly educated and the less educated…and at the lower end, it sometimes comes within the range of non-native speakers’ comprehension.” …

“But there are probably a large number of buyers who do not really possess the basic English skills to understand his speech, said Yuzo Yamamoto, an editor at Asahi Press. Since the sales took off, he has received postcards from readers saying they had been touched by Mr. Obama’s speeches, but “those same people have said they were moved even though they didn’t understand English well,” he said. “Some even said the only phrase they caught was, ‘Yes, we can.’ They said they were in tears nonetheless.”

Mr. Yamamoto said there was a sincerity about Mr. Obama’s speaking style that listeners could perceive phonetically, combined with a delivery that was almost musical.

“That seems to result in sensation, the kind of which you get from listening to good music,” he said.

Other observers say that Japanese buyers probably feel as though they understand his speeches just from the nonverbal cues.“

Ok, so I concede this is not completely non-verbal communication we’re talking about. But clearly it’s the medium (Obama’s sexy voice) and not the message itself that carries the meaning and effects the receivers. I’d be interested to know, but would not be surprised, if the phenomenon is apparent anywhere else in the world–not just Japan.

Overall I think this is just another explanation for why the world seems to be so taken with the president and underscores his pervasive influence.  And while I may not completely agree with Obama’s new status as a Nobel Laureate for Peace, I think this article does give a nod to Obama’s soft-power-savvy and knack for communicating with such diverse audiences.  It will be truly interesting to see what this means for future US foreign policy; for once, our president has the ability to communicate and–more than that–has the ability to inspire others to want to communicate with us.

∴Now all I have to do is learn how to do sexy-talk like Obama and then maybe I can communicate what I want to eat for breakfast!

A Bit of Cross-Cultural Randomness

A cultural oddity someone (please!) needs to explain to me…