Taipei, Taiwan
Midwestern winter
Veronica's parents met while attending a top university in Taipei, Taiwan. They got married on Christmas Day of 1980 when her father was 24 and her mother was 23. At the time, it was seen as the best path for advancing one's opportunities to come to the U.S. for graduate school and, if things worked out, to stay and make a life for oneself in the States. So, this is what Veronica's parents did.
"They were both smart and they had a taste for adventure, so that's what they did."
In January 1981, one week after their marriage, her parents landed in the U.S. in Iowa. They were a part of a large wave of immigrants in the 1980s who came after the U.S. lifted immigration quotas and was looking for graduate students from Taiwan who could work in tech industries. Her parents attended one semester at the University of Iowa and then transferred to Purdue University in Indiana. There, her father got a masters in civil engineering and her mother got an associates degree in computer science after studying library science in Taiwan. The young couple lived in Indiana for three years.
The transition to life in the U.S. was difficult. Although they had both studied English in high school and college, getting used to the speaking the language every day was hard. Additionally, the two parts of the world could not have been more different. They moved from Taiwan, a tropical location with beautiful lush greenery to the Midwest during the winter. In Taiwan, they lived in the city of Taipei and used public transportation and bikes often. However, in the Midwest, life was less urban and everyone had their own car. Although in some ways this was a change to get used to, the use of cars also excited Veronica's parents. They loved the prospect of just getting in the car and exploring their new country. They traveled often but did not have a large budget as they were young students. One adventure they embarked on was driving to Disney World in Florida. They were excited to see the amusement parks and be a part of this American experience but their budget limited their options. They ended up visiting all the parks but sleeping in their car rather than a hotel, which they could not afford.
Life was hopeful and exciting in the U.S. In Indiana, her parents lived near her father's oldest sister (the one with whom he grew up). She had immigrated there before they did which made the location particularly appealing to them. Seeing her often made life feel familiar and comforting but they often felt lonely in this new place. They lived over 7,500 miles away from their families and their cultures. They missed their favorite foods and had to get in the car and drive to Chicago to go to Chinese grocery stores that had the ingredients of the meals they had grown up eating.
"It sounds crazy and it is but it's also not terribly unique in that for their generation; there a lot of families that have that kind of story"