I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived in Taiwan. Aside from a few short visits in the past, I knew little about the pragmatics of everyday life here. Taiwan was also a new field site for me, where I was beginning a (relatively) new research project on care and breast cancer.
I am very grateful to Dr. Brian Boyd, the host of this exchange, for giving me the opportunity to visit the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute FPG Research Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill).
The first year of my Fulbright in Taiwan has made me extremely grateful that I will have
a second. Already, I feel that I’ve learned and grown immensely—but if I had to leave Taiwan now,
“Good morning, misty mountains!” exclaimed my 5-year-old son as we walked to his kindergarten soon after our arrival in Hualien. Since then, that greeting has become part of our morning ritual. His middle name,
Taiwanese folk religion, or Taiwanese Taoism, worships hundreds of gods. Most of these gods were imported from China, and if you look at their histories, you will find that long, long ago,
Swept up in the stresses of finishing my thesis, I holed myself up in an effort to minimize my social contact with the world. Taipei, however, had other plans.
For most Chinese language learners, their primary goal is to use the language effectively in daily conversations. In such conversations, the ability to understand and provide meaningful content is crucial.
I received the 2022/23 Fulbright Senior Research Grant and visited the Department of the History of Art at Yale University between February and August 2023 (see the cover photo where I am in front of the departmental building).
My clearest memories of Taiwan involve enduring the hot and humid summers, engaging in fierce battles of Street Fighter at
A Reflection to Commemorate Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Before coming to Taiwan, I did not expect Taiwan to be where I would reconnect so much with my home culture, Hawai’i. Throughout this year in Taiwan as a TEFL Advisor, I found that some of my experiences as a young Hawaiian girl were also felt by others 5,200 miles across the Pacific Ocean. The views I have seen growing up and the mixed traditions I have lived share a similar thread with those here. Memories such as comparing pictures of our flower garlands (lei po’o in Hawaiian and aputr in Puyuma language) with a coworker from the Puyuma tribe… Meeting a stranger from the Amis tribe who gave me a honi, a kiss on the left cheek as a greeting… Walking around and seeing wooden canoes, beautifully woven artifacts, shells, feathers, and plants as jewelry, patterned body tattoos, vibrant colors, the moai (megaliths also found in Rapa Nui), the taro patches… Hearing a familiar language on the local train that sounds very similar to my mother’s native language from the Philippines… Seeing preservation and revitalization efforts of the indigenous languages and cultures here… Stumbling upon so many pieces
