We had always talked about taking the family to either China or Taiwan for a year. We realized that the 2017-2018 academic year would be the best timing for the kids’ school, but it seemed hard to disconnect from work and everything else at home in California. However, when Mike quit his job in April 2017, we started talking about this adventure as a concrete possibility. By mid-June we had committed to taking the kids out of school in the U.S. for a year, and by mid-August we were in Taipei!
When I first walked into 民族國中 (Taipei Municipal Minzu Junior High School) on the first day of school, I didn’t know what to expect. I made my way up the two flights of stairs with my entire family in tow: my dad, mom, and brother had ALL insisted on coming along for the ride. The second I stepped foot in the classroom, I could feel the stares. The fact that I was a 外國人(foreigner) was enough to set off the whispering that immediately broke out upon my arrival, not to mention that I wasn’t even wearing the correct school uniform, having just registered the day prior. To make matters worse, my overenthusiastic family waving from the window of the classroom was not really helping matters. (see the above picture of me *politely* asking my parents to STOP TAKING PICTURES AND LEAVE) That was obviously a mortifying experience, but once I got past it, I immediately began feeling at home. At first, my classmates were afraid to talk to me, presumably because they weren’t sure if I could speak Mandarin. This problem was easily solved by someone (I don’t remember who) asking bluntly “你會講中文嗎？(Do you know how to speak Chinese?)” I answered that I did, and the tension seemed to ease. Now that I’ve gotten to know them better, I am so thankful for my classmates. Whenever I don’t understand a teacher’s question, they explain it to me with patience. When I can’t read a test, one of my friends will help read it to me. It’s not just my classmates, either. Many people have come up to me in the hallways, library, etc. and asked me everything from “Why did you move to Taiwan?” to “Do you dye your hair?” It’s such a funny experience having so many people constantly interested in my story: I’m almost a celebrity here! I’ve formed so many wonderful friendships with so many kind and funny individuals, and I will look back on these memories with a smile long after I’ve left Taiwan.
Other countries have always fascinated me, be it anywhere from France to China to (who would’ve guessed?) Taiwan. Our family loves to travel, and I have often glanced up from the novel I’m currently reading (I’m a complete bookworm) and found myself in all corners of the world: Europe, Asia, and South America, to mention a few. But those trips were all short vacations, nothing longer than a month. Though I’ve always fantasized about living abroad, my daydreams always took place far in the future somewhere during or following my college years. So I can’t say I ever imagined living long-term anywhere but the United States until I was much older, which is why I was so shocked when my parents asked Clifford and I how we would feel about moving to Taiwan for a year.
In hindsight, I should have seen it coming. When my brother and I were younger, my parents had often talked about living somewhere in China for a while to improve our Mandarin. Clifford and I grew up speaking Mandarin with our mom, who was born in Taiwan, and until third grade we took part in the Mandarin-immersion program at our school. After that, we went to a Mandarin program on the weekends, and later took lessons from a tutor. So I can speak Mandarin pretty well, but my reading and writing falls somewhere around a fourth grade level. My parents thought living abroad was a good way to improve these skills, but I guess I never really took them all that seriously, being so young at the time. We certainly have our fair share of visits to China, and even one to Taiwan, under our belts, but I definitely didn’t expect to be moving to one of those countries.
Unlike Clifford, I was… fairly upset, to say the least, when my parents first brought it up. In fact, for several months, I refused to even talk about moving whenever my parents mentioned the subject. I didn’t want to think about leaving all my friends behind for an entire year, or, even worse, being a grade behind everyone when I returned to the United States. Over time, though, I came to be as excited about the prospect of moving as the rest of the family. I had been on the brink of relenting for a while, but I think the moment I finally made the decision was the one following a remark made by Ms. McGourty, my school counselor in the US, when I discussed with her the possibility of moving: “Think about it like this. Could you forgive yourself if you didn’t take this opportunity?” I thought about that for a split second, then came to my conclusion: no, I couldn’t. In that split second, several things were going through my mind, one of which was what I talked about at the beginning of this post. I love adventure. I love the thought of the big, wide world out there, just waiting for me to explore it. And I love all the diverse cultures, people, languages and religions that come with it. In that moment, I knew this was one chance I simply couldn’t waste.
Airport-ready outside our (very empty) house in CA. Our tutor Hailing and her husband “Putao” helped us a lot packing up!
To get ready for the move to Taiwan, we threw out about half the clutter in our house, and packed the rest of our stuff into storage.
We were allowed 12 pieces of luggage on the plane… including Mike’s digital piano in an oversized box ($200 baggage fee). Here is Clifford in the almost-empty house posing with one of the eight duffle bags we bought at Costco, and the box containing the digital piano. We sent these pictures to the airport shuttle driver in Taiwan, so that he could judge the volume of our stuff; he decided we needed to order two vans.
