Why I believe going to Taiwan is realistic: an update on where I am

November 20, 2020

I've been saving this journal for a long time, waiting for a good opportunity to post it. No time felt like the right time- I've been so heavily focused on language but there are other aspects of travel (and learning to be an adult) in general which I'm concerned about. I might tackle my essential question more directly in another journal, but for now this is what I want to clear out of the way before that.

The latter part of this journal will continue from the last, but I do believe the main part of this connects to my previous post because they both concern immersion, and preparation for real life in Asia- that's where I want to focus my efforts next year, but nearing the end of the HSK it seems like a good idea to at least think about it.

I believe that my dream of going to Taiwan is realistic. Not easy or "agreed upon" between my family and I. But in this post, I'll lay out exactly how I plan to achieve this in a realistic way. This isn't to say that everyone should travel to Taiwan, but I think it helps often to write out exactly what I plan to do logistically.

Why I want to go to Taiwan when I'm older

If you didn't know, I've wanted to live in Taiwan since I was in seventh grade, the year I started learning Chinese. Since I was really little, according to my parents, I've had an interest in Asian culture. I wouldn't call myself a "koreaboo" or "weeaboo" (someone who wants to be Korean - koreaboo - or japanese - weeaboo). I don't want to be a Taiwanese person- I'm not anyway.

In seventh grade I saw lots of videos from people who live in China in English, many of whom come from Britain or the US. They don't sugarcoat it, but there was something about China that appealed to me. Soon I realized how impractical, not unrealistic going to China was. I mean that I might be led to think some way about China, but it's too different from America politically for it to make sense.

Somehow the people in all these videos, despite living all around the entire world seem to know each other, or at least have a strong community- after watching a video with a man living in China and Taiwan, I recall the man living in Taiwan saying the people there were the "chillest in the world", and the man from China agreeing. Of course, at this point in time I didn't even know where Taiwan is- well, I thought I knew, Taiwan's a small strip of land connected from the south of China, landlocked by some other southern Asian countries, right? Thinking about this today, I don't even know where I got this idea (and there's no country matching that description).

Taiwan didn't immediately clicked- I still thought going to China was viable. Friends told me people in China got paid less and it was hard to get a visa and there's a lot of crime there. It wasn't really because of them that I changed my mind, but what really grabbed my attention was the university in Taiwan: National Taiwan University. Everything about it made me want to go there. That's in short how I decided I wanted to go there- I know it sounds pretty stupid, but it's actually my dream!

Why moving to Taiwan is realistic for me

Moving to Taiwan is probably going to be one of the most difficult parts. I will have just become an adult, and even now in comparing my own knowledge about "adulting" to that of my friends, I come up fairly short. Maybe that's just because I'm not used to asking for help often in daily tasks of life. I don't know how to get an apartment or health insurance (even though I got 100 on the quiz in Health) or file taxes. Do you ask someone? Is it online? I really don't know.

Those are things most people have to figure out already. On top of that, though, I don't know the first thing about the airport. When I went to JFK for my tour in Hungary, we did go in the airport, but I just followed what my mom told me and followed everyone. It was crowded though, and I wouldn't have been able to go on my own. Do you have to check in with a person if you have luggage? Do you have to pay for the little tags you can get for your suitcase? Where does the line even start? I feel so dumb not knowing any of this.

I know this section is about proving why going is realistic, but before I said that I wanted to say what I was unconfident about, to get that out of the way. Trust me, before I go I will learn all or most of what I don't already know. It is realistic because I can easily get a job, I'm in high school and it's probably not impossible for me to work during the summer. A flight costs much less than I would have expected- around the end of August, when students have to go, the price is usually below $400. Plus, I do know all about how to use the public transportation in Taiwan.

Since this journal is getting way too long, I will do a part 2 when we have another free journal, or ask to swap journals if the next one isn't free.

Update on where I am right now

Right now I think I'm on the right track. Today in particular I did really well with memorizing words- the words that just never seemed to click, impossible to memorize, suddenly stuck on first try. I suspect this is because I am not stressed today. I feel very relieved and content that all my work is done for the week. Writing to-do lists in Chinese is going really well- it forces me to have to recall the information, and usually it isn't too hard to figure out. I am also doing well in speaking. It is best when I have my Level 4 list in front of me- level 6 sort of works, but the words are just too hard for me right now, and if I haven't used this word enough, realistic.

Season 2 is coming very soon. My goal is Thanksgiving Break.