We Are Family

*Warning* This post might get slightly sentimental.

Coordinator and practice scooter

Before coming to Taiwan, I heard the whispers of how awesome the country is... the food, the drinks, the night markets, the food, the dessert, and did I mention the food? However the whisper I have found to be the most true is how generous and friendly the people are here.  They make Southern hospitality look like that neighbor you've lived next to for years, but have never actually met.  To list some examples... I have yet to see anyone, both behind the counter and in line behind us, get impatient as we try to decipher the menus ordering our daily tea drink.  If anything, they use what English they speak to help us or patiently listen to our attempts at ordering in Chinese all while smiling encouragingly (before they confirm what they thought they heard with the token Chinese-speaking person with us). Bus drivers have let us off at non-designated stops because we missed the one we were actually supposed to get off at.  Our coordinator has let us all practice driving mopeds on her own scooter (I don't know about you, but I wouldn't let anyone- people I've known less than 2 weeks keep in mind- just take my car around for to practice driving it before the test... especially coming from a country where they don't typically drive cars).  Our coordinator has also taken some of her off-work time to show us around on evenings and weekends to make sure we know how to navigate everything and where all our essential stores are.  One of our presenters for our orientation (who was a previous Fulbright ETA the year before and is doing a second-year... so he's American) even brought us muffins all the way from Taibei. 

Jurassic Park scenery: Bamboo forest

 However, this weekend took things to a whole new level.  One of the ETA's here is Taiwanese-American, and she has family in the city we are in.  Her family invited us to go with them to Xitou, a local nature area heading towards the mountains (it was kind of like a national park although more paved trails and drink/food stands... and no camping... but lots of nature and nature inspired places).  It was really refreshing to get out of the city, and all of us were so surprised at how good it felt. And how easy it was to breathe. Maybe we've been getting more pollution than we realized O.O . And it was at least 10 degrees cooler up there which was awesome.  Seriously though, we all felt we were in Princess Mononoke or that a raptor was gonna come crashing through the woods at any moment because the place felt like Jurassic Park.  The foliage was so thick on the ground, and the paved paths were the only parts of the forest that were touched.  And so much walking... so much walking... and what's insane is there were Taiwanese girls doing it all in super cute outfits with platform shoes. Platform shoes! Going up hills! Unfortunately I didn't know enough Chinese to go up and inquire as to their logic behind their get-up.  It's now on the to-do list.

Handmade taffy: flaky, not chewy

It all started with the coffee.  Her uncle asked if anyone wanted some coffee from the 7-11 before we set out and one girl in our group said yes.  But before she could pay for her coffee, Uncle bought it for her.  Before going into the park, the ETAs from Harvard, Standford, Johns Hopkins, USC, etc all gathered around excitedly to... play with bubbles and watch taffy being made ^-^.  And the best part was, we were far from the only adults doing so.  Some things you just never grow out of, no matter what country you're from.  After the taffy show, we wanted to buy some to try it, but Uncle beat us to it and bought us a bag to share.  So generous :)

Princess Mononoke scenery

Suddenly we were gestured to hold out our arms, and we were all stamped to get into the park. But wait, didn't we have to pay? We asked Uncle how much it was so we could pay him back... after all, we have money, and the admittance fee couldn't have been cheap.  He said it cost NT$0 -_- "Thank you so much" was all we could do although we were starting to realize that we had to be on top of buying him a treat to return the favor (side note: we had already brought some bakery gifts as a thank you for inviting us and driving us- in typical Taiwanese fashion... when in Rome after all).  Half-way through the hike to the "Big Tree," we stopped for a break and out of Uncle's backpack came guava slices, cherries, and pineapple cake that Auntie prepared for us.  The generosity was overwhelming and it just kept coming! When we stopped to get snacks for our lunch, we decided to try some sausages one stand was roasting, and I literally had to snatch the bill out of the cashier's hand that Uncle had handed him to give him my own so I could buy him, Auntie, and myself a sausage.  But I guess he thought I was playing the piggie American and eat my 3 sausages because he then proceeded to buy 3 more -_- So people who didn't even originally order one got to try one. "Are you guys still hungry? This is lunch after all." "No we're ok, thank you." "Ok, let me go buy some roasted corn for you. And here, try some rice made in bamboo." (ya not kidding, they shove the rice into the bamboo and cook it. Then you break open the bamboo to eat the rice. it was SUPER cool and SUPER delicious). "wow, thank you so much, but we can buy it." "Oh you guys really like the rice, let me get you more."   

Bunny Tree... found only in Taiwan

By this point, we realized three things 1- we were gonna have to tackle him if we wanted to pay for anything ourselves, 2- never say/gesture/make eye signals that you want to buy something in his proximity, and 3- we were little kids.  Auntie and Uncle were mom and dad making sure we weren't hungry, were eating, had napkins... they were taking our trash and doing head counts every 15 min or so.

Eventually we went to a Japanese inspired village there and I was able to buy Uncle and Auntie ice cream to repay their kindness, if only in part.  But this peace was not meant to last.  As we were all chillin listening to a live band play songs (many in English just for us ^_^ -> Taiwan welcoming/generous spirit once again), Uncle brought us Peach Shaved Ice.  We had been searching for it earlier, but had contented ourselves with ice cream and had hit the full mark.  But oh no... Uncle had seen it, remembered we wanted it, and by-golly we were gonna have it.

I never thought I would ever feel overwhelmed by generosity, but I was. Don't get me wrong though, we were all incredibly grateful and thankful for their kindness and thanked them profusely.  On the drive home, I wondered... how sad is that that the Americans feel "not happy" to have someone be overly generous with their money and time? In America, it seems we treat each other occasionally, but there's a strong sense of paying separately, or treating each other equally (ex: you buy a $20 dinner? I buy a $20 set of movie tickets).  In Taiwan, it seems there's that sense of treating each other, but you don't keep a mental tab on who owes who how much in terms of treating friends.  There's no score. Everyone helps each other out, everyone sticks together. (Keep in mind, this is all just my opinion and observation based on my experiences.)  A few of us speculated on this, and we've come to determine that probably a big reason for this is how expensive everything in America is.  I can literally eat an entire filling meal here for under $2 (about NT$100= $3.33). When you eat that cheap, it's no problem to spend an extra $2 for a friend who's wallet is at the bottom of their bag or came through for you earlier.  Even their medical system is a reflection of this. I can't remember exactly, but one trip to the doctor costs you $15 (not sure if that's NT or American dollars). No matter what's wrong. They have arguable one of the best health care systems in the world.  Everyone can be taken care of, and no one is afraid of going to the doctor.  Although I haven't experienced this yet, as soon as you either sneeze, cough, or sniffle people will start urging you to go to the doctor. It's convenient and doesn't hurt the bank.  Because everyone takes care of each other.

Bamboo bridge

In the States, being an only child, I grew up with the sense that "this is mine and this is yours. I'll share mine, but you have to ask first" and a strong urge to pay my half. Luckily though, it seems the Taiwanese way of thinking is rubbing off on me.  I don't thoroughly catalog what people owe me anymore, all the food I buy (and all the food everyone buys for that matter) usually gets passed around for everyone to try (hopefully none of us have/will have mono), and especially when it comes to our coordinators/babysitters, if I'm going to the OK-Mart or local tea shop to get something to drink, I ask if they want something, "my treat."  Just because they are working so hard, and it's no trouble at all.  I guess the real question of how much Taiwan has changed me will come when it is extra trouble... will I still be just as generous?