Welcome to Taiwan: Crossing the world in less than 72hrs

For those less inclined to read and who just want to see the pictures check out my Tumblr blog (I’m looking at you Edy).

你好！我姓柯，我叫 邁文 (Hello! My last name is Ke, I’m called Maiwen)。Thus began my introduction into the Chinese language about eight months ago when I stepped into a Mandarin class at the University of Calgary taught by Yang Laoshi and was given the Chinese name of Ke Maiwen. Mai means step, stride or advanced in years (old); wen means language, character or writing. Ke was the phonetic translation of my last name Calderon. So, I am an old lover of language.

Through my studies at the university I was fortunate to be one of six 2014 Huayu Enrichment Scholarship recipients at the University of Calgary for the Summer Months (July-August). The scholarship is meant to encourage international students and individuals to study Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan and was established by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 2005. It allows me to study Mandarin at a Taiwanese School for two months.

Coming to know the Far East: My first week in Taipei, Taiwan

I arrived in Taipei, Taiwan on June 28 after having spent nearly two months in Brazil. I left Brazil on June 24th and got home on the 25th at night. I spent a day and a half in Calgary and left on the 26th for a 17-hour flight directly to Taiwan. I went across the world in less then three days or 72 hours. It was exiting and exhausting. During the whole flight I worried how I was going to get to my apartment and find the school. I didn’t speak the language besides knowing how to introduce myself, my family, and ordering tea and coffee—two things I wasn’t going to use (or so I thought). I found Taipei was very well structured in terms of communication and was able to easily get a sim card with unlimited internet for five days for about $16 CAD (NT 450). I quickly used google maps to figure out the bus and metro system and reached my apartment without any issues. I was a bit worried because I had found my new place through Facebook at Looking for Roommates or Apartments in Taipei and Taiwan.

I was happily surprised when I got here and realized I lucked out since my apartment was a 15 minute walk from school and one of the most popular night markets called Shida Night Market. Since I love food I immediately set out to find something to eat. There were options galore! Only problem: I didn’t know how to order anything. Everything was in Traditional Chinese characters and I had learned Simplified. For the first two three days my communications skills were reduced to pointing to an object and making hand gestures to signal how many I wanted. I found out I could get by but it was frustrating since everywhere I’ve travelled I could communicate to the locals in their own language. This was proving to be the hardest place I have travelled to so far.

Seeking wisdom by study and faith

When I finally registered for classes I was fortunate enough to run into one of my classmates from the U of C. His name is Jace and he arrived in Taipei the day of registrations. I also met an American named Andrew who was also a Huayu recipient from Washington D.C. After registering for classes and attending orientation all three of us decided to get dinner and Andrew offered to show Jace and I were we had to go to get our legal paperwork done. During that time we all got acquainted and had dinner by Andrew’s place. I was glad to have both these new friends and felt a bit more at peace knowing I wasn’t alone in this adventure.

My first two days of school were rough. I entered the class only to realize that all the students had been studying the textbook for a month and the teacher only spoke in Chinese. It was a fun class but I was dumbfounded. I had been placed in a beginners class but advanced to the fourth level (chapter) in the book. Because of this I felt like someone who had come into a theatre during the middle of a movie and had missed the crucial introduction and setting of the story. I tried to wrap my brain around the teaching material but everything seemed so foreign. I had been told that Taiwanese like giving tests. My teacher was no exception. This was my first day of classes and she gave the class a test. She told me I could be excused for this one but that the next day we would be having another test. Turns out we have tests everyday!

My second day of classes was harder than the first. I took my first test only to realize I hadn’t been able to memorize the new characters in Traditional form and so had to write them out the romanized phonetic versions (pinyin) and the simplified form. Needless to say I failed. After two days of playing catch up and failing my first test I went to the library to study. I spent three hours watching a cartoon and writing down characters and phrases. That night I walked home feeling defeated. I had a 2-3 second pity party and told myself that this was too hard. I wanted to quit. I stopped, looked around and laughed. I told myself, “you’re in Taiwan. Deal with it.” Thanks Melinda 😉

The next morning I spent and hour studying the scriptures and four hours reviewing and writing down characters. I went to class and aced my next test (91%). Not bad. The teacher even wrote a smiley face. I also wrote a composition about shopping and aced that too. I got my mojo back. So that’s how the week went. Each time I fell I took a reality check and picked myself up. I kept telling myself, “if others can do it so can you.” So far this can-do attitude has helped me increase my confidence, but I couldn’t have done it without help. My friend Jace told me about his flashcard system to help him memorize. My friend Calvin encouraged me to speak and order things using Chinese. My family back home kept telling me I was crazy (thanks guys). My teacher has kept a cheerful attitude, she smacks us with books and threatens to kill us if we speak in English. She’s 5′-1″ and too nice to kill a fly but she’s a great intimidator. So, as hard as Chinese is I think I’ll do just fine “bùcuò”（不錯, not bad).

Exploring the city

Another neat treat is the super efficient metro system. The city has 8 subway lines and 1 gondola line. The trains operate about 3 1/2 minutes apart from each other and read out their instructions in Chinese and English. In fact the entire city’s transit system is bi-lingual. All the road signs and major banks, stores etc are in both languages. I’ve loved riding the train and bus and trying to read the scrolling messages as they change from Chinese to English to see how many characters I recognize. The city is also really clean. It seems as if the city’s motto is efficiency. Every space is maximized for use. As my apartment attests, every nook and cranny is used up or reserved as green space. I live in an alley. My apartment has a “road” that resembles a bicycle lane and has numbered alleys. Other areas such as hills are not heavily populated in contrast to what I saw in Brazil. In fact it seems I’m living in a polar opposite country.

Taiwan is an island and is relatively small compared to Brazil. It is summer here while in Brazil winter is fast approaching. Graffiti and litter are virtually none-existent (at least none that I have observed). There are relatively few trash cans. Each day, except Sundays and Wednesdays, the trash is collected. Check out this article from the BBC about the Taiwan’s “no trash hits the floor” policy and their musical dump trucks. Drug trafficking is punishable by death. Police are few in number. Orderly form is the rule of thumb. The people speak an entirely different language but were colonized by the British (and other European nations). Yet for all of its differences it has many similarities: the rural areas are vastly poorer than the city. Taipei has a high concentration of the country’s “super rich.” In just one week I’ve seen Ferraris, Hummers, BMW 7 class and Mercedes S-Class cars across the city. Both in the city and in the mountain luxury cars abound. Consumerism rules here. When the sun goes down the city shines in artificial lighting promoting everything from cheap hourly motels to high fashion and real state. The streets are covered with billboards and small independent shops and restaurants. The small scale owner is the prominent class.

Leaving socio-economic issues aside the city is highly polluted. Some days have been so hot and smoggy that it hurts to breath. While I understand that somedays are better than others I can’t help but be afraid for my poor lungs. Surgical masks are everywhere. My friend Calvin explained that people who are sick usually use them. Others who have been here and in Beijing tell me it’s too help with the breathing. Some masks even come with air filters. Yet the city is a tropical haven. Green trees cover the landscape and large areas are left as foresting grounds. I marvel at the beauty of this country. I’ve seen trees and shades of green that I have never seen in my life. Taiwan so far has met my expectations and exceeded others.

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