An Expatriate in Taiwan

新年快樂! Happy New Year!

The Expatriate — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:47:36 +0000

I’ve been pretty lazy lately, but I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year. Mrs. Expatriate and I will be spending some time with her family, playing some Mahjongg, eating some great food, and having a good time. Hope everyone else has a great weekend!

Happy New Year! 新年快樂!

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新年快樂! Happy New Year!

Awesome student response of the day

The Expatriate — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:47:59 +0000

My students are pretty creative sometimes.

I was teaching a Language and Culture course recently. After going over the chapter on Nonverbal Communication, I gave my students several questions as homework. One of them was to interpret several situations according to their culture. The question was, “How would you interpret a young man dressing entirely in black?”

My awesome student’s response?

“Maybe he wants to become the bat man.”

新年快樂! Happy New Year!

Hanzi Milestone: 1000

The Expatriate — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:38:09 +0000

I finally broke the 1000 mark on my Hanzi Flashcards on Friday. Feels good, yet I’ve got a long way to go.

I officially started studying Hanzi on Feb. 9 of this year, armed only with Anki, pen and paper, and a book. I learned approximately 300 Hanzi by simple rote memorization (I also learned to sing a few Chinese songs and entertained my friends at the KTV) before discovering Heisig.

I started using Heisig on July 14 and have thus far finished the first 25 chapters. This brings my total number of Hanzi to 1007. It’s very slow, I know. Many people finish Heisig in a matter of a few months. Since I don’t have as much time as I’d like to dedicate to it, I’m much slower. I get 15 new Hanzi on a good day, sometimes as few as 8 or none at all depending on my schedule. What is apparent is that Heisig has incredibly sped up my learning process. I can read and write all 1007 of those Hanzi; I know the pronunciations for most of them; it’s exhilarating and extremely satisfying to sit down to watch TV and be able to understand the subtitles.

I also read the 國語日報 everyday to practice pronunciation and get some input and it’s nice that I’m always recognizing new characters. Street names, menu items, directions – slowly, everything is becoming more clearer. I cannot recommend Heisig enough if you want to learn to read and write Hanzi. It has worked for me and countless others. It is simply one of the greatest, if not the greatest, method for acquiring languages.

Harsh winter

The Expatriate — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:34:51 +0000

It’s early December, which means Taiwan is frozen over. All the Taiwanese people have donned their thick winter jackets to protect themselves from the cold. There is already ice on the ground and forecasts call for more snow.

No, actually, I’m just kidding. One of my absolutely favorite things about Taiwan is the weather. When it isn’t raining or incredibly hot, the weather is incredibly wonderful. It’s 81 degrees Fahrenheit today. I just had a nice bike ride to the grocery store and back wearing sandals, shorts, and a t-shirt and managed to work up a sweat. I love living in a semi-tropical zone!

The forecast for this week shows high 70s to low 80s, so things are looking great! I’m looking forward to a long Taiwanese winter like this!

Taiwanese Winter dessert

Small victories

The Expatriate — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:44:58 +0000

One of the greatest and most underrated joys of learning a new language is have small victories. All too often, big victories are emphasized – especially here in Taiwan and especially when learning English is the topic. However, I find so much more satisfaction in small victories. Learning new 漢字 and recognizing them on tv, in ads, or somewhere else. Understanding a little more each day. This is incredibly important and rewarding when your brain finally just *clicks* and you understand what is being said.

As a perfect example, I was driving today and had the radio going to a local station. It was commercial time and I wasn’t really paying attention to the music – it was mostly just background noise to keep my brain immersed in Chinese as much as possible. Anyway, as I was driving, I just caught a small part of the commercial:

85折!!

I’m not sure what the commercial was for, but they were talking about having a sale: 折 means discount or rebate. Now, most of you are thinking, as I did when I came to Taiwan, that it would be an 85 dollar discount or perhaps 85% discount. However, in Taiwan, the discount price is given as the percentage of the original price. So 85折 is actually a 15% discount (it’s 85% of the original price, so 15% off).

Now this was, for me, a small and rewarding victory. Not only did I understand that small part, but I also understood that it meant 15% discount and not 85%.

Some readers of this blog might scoff or laugh at such a piddly, unimportant thing, but small victories like these need to be emphasized, not only for Expats learning Chinese and Taiwanese like myself, but for all of us teaching English: I love telling my students how much they improving when they have small victories like this – all too often their parents and other teachers are just badgering them to pass the GEPT or TOEIC or some other test and have a huge victory. I think it’s pretty normal for Taiwanese students to get burned out under such pressure, so emphasizing their small victories is totally worthwhile and helps them realize they are making progress.

I think I’m speaking Chinese

The Gukeng Coffee Festival

The Expatriate — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:34:15 +0000

Last weekend, Mrs. Expatriate and I decided to take a trip to the Gukeng Coffee Festival. It’s a small gathering of people selling coffee, food, handicrafts, and other such things. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and there were quite a few people out and about. If you get a chance, I recommend you go.

Our trip started at the Gukeng Honey Museum, which is pretty small, but nice. There are no English signs, so you’ll have to look at the pictures or read Chinese in order to understand. You can also buy a wide variety of bee- and honey-related products, such as honey (Longan flavor, etc), pollen (great in tea or on ice cream), honey Liquor, honey vinegar, and so on. Outside, you can cool down with some honey ice cream, which is simply outstanding.

The Coffee Festival is at the end of a road that starts at the Honey Museum. You can walk down this road, stop for some drinks or food or watch street performers. Finally, you will come to the coffee festival, which is inside a large tent. It’s not just coffee. In fact, overall, there was relatively little coffee compared to the other offerings, but it’s still a great place to visit during this great weather we’re having in Taiwan.

[View with PicLens]

After we got home, we noticed these white-headed birds eating some fruit in the trees. Can anyone identify them? I’d love to know what kind of bird they are.

Erroneous Taiwan Stereotypes

The Expatriate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:25:54 +0000

Catherine over at shu flies had a great post a while back about one of her blogging pet peeves – people who generalize and stereotype about every Taiwanese person based on the actions of a few. This also happens to be one of my pet peeves and something that I, being a foreigner, have to deal with every now and then. That is to say, as a foreigner, it’s easy for me to see a Taiwanese person or a group of Taiwanese people do something and create a stereotype about all Taiwanese people. It’s something that I have to watch myself for.

However, I have an answer.

I have previously blogged on how bad Taiwanese drivers are. This is a prime example of me labeling all Taiwanese as bad drivers, even though it isn’t true. Some Taiwanese are very good drivers. Taxi Drivers, for example, even though they are perhaps the craziest drivers, also tend to be the best – I’ve never seen them crash, they know the best routes through the cities, and if you need to get somewhere fast, follow the cab. Mrs. Expatriate’s father is also a very good driver. But I digress.

It’s easy to drive through Taiwanese traffic a few times and label all Taiwanese drivers as bad. This simply isn’t true. I’ve been thinking about this lately, however, and I believe I’ve come up with a solution that answers pretty much all the “problems” that Expats have with Taiwan.

Population Density.

You see, Taiwan is a small island packed to the gills with people. According to WolframAlpha, Taiwan’s population density is 712 people/km^2 (1844 people/mi^2). This makes it the 16th highest in the world. This means that no matter where you go in Taiwan, you’re going to run into people (OK, most places).

Where I’m from, South Dakota, the population density is 9.9 people/mi^2. Yeah, big difference. If you are from a bigger city, like Manhattan (25,850/km^2), then this is nothing new to you, but it’s still a lot of people.

I guess what I’m taking the long way of saying is that, for most expats, it is a matter of all Taiwanese drivers being bad drivers. It’s simply a matter of having a higher population density and therefore running into bad drivers more often. Taking Catherine’s example, it’s not a matter of Taiwanese women being shallow; it’s merely that you are running into shallow Taiwanese women more often. I’ve met plenty of good Taiwanese drivers and plenty of non-shallow Taiwanese women. However, you simply don’t meet them often enough to people being packed into the island like sardines.

I’ll finish off this post with Catherine’s own quote, which also goes for this blog. Some days in Taiwan are just those kind of days. As foreigners, it’s very easy to cast a wide net over Taiwanese culture and generalize about the people. Therefore, it’s even more important that we are aware of what we are doing and take steps to avoid it. Taiwan is a great place and we should do well to welcome more foreigners here by sharing our great impressions of the island.

I don’t want anyone stumbling upon my blog and leaving with an erroneous impression of Taiwanese culture — and people — just because I had a bad day and needed to vent. I don’t always succeed in this, but I am always conscious of it.

Someone wants us to have kids

The Expatriate — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:41:00 +0000

In Taiwan, it is common to eat sweet foods on and after your wedding day. It is thought that eating sweet food will help the newlywed couple have a baby boy. The reason is a Taiwanese proverb:

吃甜甜，生兒子。 (chī tiántián, shēng érzì)

It doesn’t sound as good in Mandarin, but it rhymes in Taiwanese (jia didi, sei haoxi).

What it means is, “Eat sweet food, have a son.” I’m not sure where this proverb comes from or how long its been around. If anyone has any more info about it, drop me a line in the comments.

Anyway, a student’s mother made us some sweet soup to congratulate us on our marriage. It wasn’t bad. Had some weird things in it, but overall it tasted something like fruit cocktail. I should note that you must first heat it up so as to make sure the ingredients and gelatin inside are cooked. Then you serve it with ice or put it in the fridge and eat it cold.

The Gukeng Coffee Festival

Getting married in Taiwan

The Expatriate — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:24:20 +0000

Been a while. I’ve been busy. However, I did find time to turn Miss Expatriate into Mrs. Expatriate and thought I would write about the process of doing so here. Like most things involving government in Taiwan, getting married is a very simple process that is muddled in bureaucracy. The process of getting married I’m about to describe is for:

Americans in Taiwan who wish to marry a Taiwanese person.

That’s it. If you are from somewhere else, then the process will most likely be different. I will not be talking about changing your Visa or other such information (I’ll write about that later next year when I do it myself).

So, if you are an American in Taiwan who wishes to marry a Taiwanese person, here is what you must do:

Step 1: Visit AIT
Required materials: ARC (Alien Resident Certificate), passport, money
Required time: 10-30 minutes

It doesn’t matter if it’s in Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taipei or wherever. Just go. You can make appointments online, but when I went to the Kaohsiung office, I still had to take a number and wait, so I don’t see the point of making an appointment. Once at the AIT window, tell the officer working there that you need to fill out a Single Affidavit form. Preferably, they should give you one that is in Chinese and English. If you get only Chinese, you’ll probably be confused. If it’s only in English, you may encounter troubles at stop #3: The Department of Household Registration.

So, get the Single Affidavit form and fill it out. Should be relatively straightforward. Give your information, check the box that says you aren’t married, and give it back to the clerk. They’ll stamp it and make it official. Pay the fee (NT$990) and now it’s on to step 2!

Step 2: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Required Materials: Single Affidavit form, ARC, passport, copies of ARC and Passport, money
Required time: 20 minutes to 1 hour

Again, it doesn’t really matter where the office is, just go there. You’ll need the Single Affidavit form, your ARC and passport, and copies of each. In Kaohsiung, you’ll want to go straight to Counter 11: Authentication. In other offices, just ask. Give them the Affidavit and whatever other information they’ll need. They’ll tell you it’ll take 4-5 days and cost NT$400. This is normal, so plan ahead. For an extra NT$200, they’ll have it done in 24 hours. I paid the extra fee and, indeed, they had it ready the next morning at 10:00 when I walked in. With your authenticated Singles Affidavit, you are ready for the last step!

Step 3: Department of Household Registration
Required Materials: Authenticated Singles Affidavit, ARC, passport, Marriage Agreement, money, possibly witnesses
Spouse will need: Household Registration form, Taiwanese ID Card, passport photos, witnesses IDs
Time required: 20 minutes to 1 hour

You can NOT go to just any Household Registration office. You must go to the Household Registration office in the district where your spouse has their permanent address. Miss Expatriate is from Kaohsiung and her permanent address is in the Lingya district, so we had to go to the Lingya Household Registration Office.

Before you go, you’ll need to fill out a marriage agreement. You and your spouse will need to fill it out, sign it, and stamp it with your chop (see the comments for picture). You’ll also need two witnesses to fill it out, sign it, and stamp it with their chops.

Once there, it’s fairly straightforward. Give them all the materials and do what they say. You probably already have a Chinese name, but they’ll give you a form to choose your official Chinese name. I chose to keep the one I’ve been using. There are a few other forms to fill out, in both English and Chinese.

Hopefully, the office you go to will know the procedure. I think I was the first foreigner ever registering a marriage at the Lingya district, so the whole thing took about an hour and the clerks were a bit confused. The supervisor had to come over a few times, some calls were, but in the end everything was sorted out. You’ll have the option of getting English or Chinese marriage certificates. I recommend at least 1 of each. Personally, I got 2 of each. If necessary, you can always go back and get more printed out. Certificates are NT$100 each. Your spouse will also need to change his/her ID (your name will be put on it), so he’ll/she’ll need a passport photo. That will be an extra NT$50.

Overall, it’s a rather drab process. It takes some time and none of the offices are quite exactly sure what the other offices are supposed to do. I called AIT and asked: Do I choose my Chinese name at MOFA or HHR? I was told HHR. I called the next day and was told MOFA. This is pretty standard in Taiwan. There is nothing that can simply be done entirely in one building or one office. Everything is spread out and no office knows what the next step is or what gets done where. They only know their job from doing the same exact thing every day.

Anyway, hope that helps you. Your mileage may vary with things such as the witnesses and their IDs, stamps, and time, but overall that is the process. 3 stops, 2 papers (Singles Affidavit and marriage agreement), and some cash. Good luck registering your marriage!

Helpful links:
AIT webpage concerning marriage in Taiwan
Marriage Agreement (PDF)
Forumosa Marriage subforum

Going to the hospital in Taiwan

Random Fact about Taiwan #1481

The Expatriate — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:29:26 +0000

In Taiwan, many people don’t eat beef for various reasons; however, religion doesn’t appear to be one of them.
A coworker of mine doesn’t eat beef because her family has always been farmers. I guess they raise cows for milk and think that because the cow has given them so much (allowed to make a living, that is), they should respect the cow and not eat it.

Miss Expatriate’s Mother also doesn’t eat beef. You see, on her deathbed, her mother (Miss Expatriate’s Grandmother), told her that she shouldn’t eat beef. No rhyme or reason to it… just that she shouldn’t do it. And so, respecting her dying mother’s wish, she hasn’t eaten any beef since.

Some in Taiwan (including Miss Expatriate’s mother) believe that eating beef will make you stupid. I’m not sure where the correlation/connection is, but they are quite superstitious about a number of things. (My note: See Edit below!)

As of yet, I have met no Taiwanese people who object to eating beef for religious purposes.

EDIT: OK, a bit of clarification. Miss Expatriate has done some research for me and found out a few things. First, let me retract my statement: People in Taiwan do NOT believe that eating beef will make you stupid. Rather, some people in Taiwan, including Miss Expatriate’s mother, believe that eating beef will give you bad grades on upcoming tests. There are two possible reasons for this, but the source for both reasons comes from fortune tellers, which are wildly popular here among the superstitious people (Miss Expatriate’s mother goes to see them on a regular basis).

Reason 1: Fortune tellers will often tell you that your son/daughter/husband/wife/relative was born with good spirits protecting him/her. This is because they were a good person in their previous life. However, if you eat any “higher-level animals” (Cow, snake, rabbit, horse, dog), the good spirits will no longer protect you; they’ll leave you and make you vulnerable to bad-spirits which will obviously influence how well you do on tests, life, etc.

Reason 2: Fortune tellers may tell you that your son/daughter/husband/wife/relative was going to be a governor in a past life (they do this through a myriad of “calculations” according to numbers, birthdates, names, etc). As a governor, you are naturally a very smart person, a leader of people, etc. However, cows are very stubborn. So, the fortune tellers will tell you that if you eat beef, you will become stubborn like a cow and you will obviously not make a very good Governor(ess). So, they advise them not to eat beef.

Sounds a bit crazy, I’m sure, coming from the outside, but you must realize that many Taiwanese are wildly superstitious and honestly believe what fortune tellers tell them.

Anyway, hope that clears it up!