National Taiwan University

                                                            Life @ NTU "Taida"

National Taiwan University has a beautiful campus.   In the cool quiet of the early mornings it is easy to forget I am in the middle of a bustling capital.  The main entrance of "Taida" and the rows of palm trees greet me M-F 8:00am.  The main road is nearly empty and I can swerve back and forth over the yellow line enjoying the freedom of being nearly alone on my bicycle.  At the end of the road is the library where two luxuries are guaranteed everyday; 1) AC , 2) quiet.

Last week,  I walked down the library steps to unlock my bike and ride home.  I flopped my backpack into the basket and was startled by a Taiwanese student standing behind me waiting to get his own bike out.  I replied with a friendly, "Ni Hao."  He responded, "I can speak English."  What a jerk, I thought.  Here I am half way across the world trying to learn.  Why are you making it more difficult?  So I said in broken words, "I want to study Chinese."  He then replied with something in Chinese, very quickly.  I had no idea.  "You understand?"  Darn.  "No."  "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."  "Yes," I nod in agreement.  When in Taiwan do as the Taiwanese do.

So far, this means biking, eating tofu, drinking milk tea, exchanging money with two hands instead of one, nodding in politeness a lot, learning efficient transportation routes and creatively using as much Chinese as possible.  This last point is made difficult by people such as the man in this story who respond in English.  Strangers greet me in English and assume that because I am white I speak English and prefer it over Chinese.   While in Rome, let me at least pretend to be Roman.  

Solution: I tell strangers I am German and do not understand English.  This has proved advantageous with cab drivers.

A)             B)

So blessed to have option A) now and not just option B) thought option B) was exciting for a while. 

Student Cafeteria

Delicious Meal @ NTU that cost me $1.58. 

In the Chinese language department there are students from all over but our book is in Chinese/English.  Taking this course in this context has really reminded me how English is the international language of study and how many people are exposed to English in school, media, etc. from an early age.  This does not mean they are fluent but it means they know more of a second language than most English speakers do.  For us, this is an advantage (convenience) and disadvantage (we are rarely put into situations that challenge our linguistic communication skills and rarely take the opportunity to learn a second language enough to achieve fluency.  That's why the growing Spanish speaking population is an exciting opportunity for our country to grow linguistically and challenge our minds to learn Spanish and help others learn/improve English!)  

Anyways, here are my classmates! 

(Zhe shi wo de zongxue!)  

 (Left to Right) Zhenya (Japan), He Fen (Thailand), Xiangshimei (Japan), Kelin (Mongolia), Meina (Mongolia), Me, Teacher Wang!