Happy New Year! It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything for my blog. My main excuse is busyness, but I’ve also felt relatively uninspired to write. My last post was filled with tales from my trip to China, meaning I haven’t written any updates from Taiwan for almost two months. So, without further ado: some stories from the past couple of months.
I’ll get the more “sad” / “less fun” updates out of the way first. The past couple of weeks were pretty brutal at work. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been researching and writing a report about Taiwan’s startup ecosystem. My company will be taking the report around the world on business trips this year which is pretty cool! Right before I left for my trip to Vietnam, the deadline for the report, much to my dismay, was moved forward. Then I left the country for four days. What followed was a crazy scramble to the finish that involved a lot of overtime work, a couple of nights staying up until 2 am, and several days of grueling feedback from the National Development Council. Another element of my work was collaborating with our designer for the report design. A lot of the pressure I experienced was preparing content in time for her to reasonably design the book and leave time for edits. Thankfully, she is one of the most patient people at my company.
All this to say, I’m recovering from some burnout. I didn’t think that burnout was something that described how I’ve been feeling until I talked with my friend Elena on the phone and she said, “I think you’re burned out!” I proceeded to read the Mayo Clinic article on Work Burnout and resonated with a lot of elements of it. I had some time to rejuvenate over the weekend (spending time outside, having lunch with friends, playing music, and shedding some tears), and I’m feeling much more like myself again. I’m giving myself some space to take things slower at work during these next couple of weeks where there’s not much going on.
Most of the work intensity happened over the holidays, which made Christmas a bit of a bummer. During the week of Christmas, work was so all-consuming that I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to miss home, which was a very strange feeling. Another bummer of the holiday season was the question “are you coming/going home for Christmas?” In Taiwan, Christmas isn’t a day off of work, so I wasn’t able to go home. The whole situation of not going home didn’t really hit me until I got a text from a good friend of mine in November:
Oof.
So anyway. The past couple of months have been hard. Missing the holidays, longing for time with close friends, and some intense time at work have made life a real challenge. It’s important to me to be honest about how I’m doing, because my little lovely life here in Taiwan is not all sunshine and roses. Yes, I’m doing a super cool thing, but there’s hard moments along the way too that are very real and present in my experience. To only share the good moments would not be doing my story justice.
Within these hard moments, I’ve had some really great times too. A lot, in fact! I’ve spent time with friends, traveled to Vietnam (which will get its own post), and been enjoying uncharacteristically sunny, temperate, non-rainy, and glorious weather in Taipei. I’ve played a couple of concerts and made some tasty food. Here’s a collection of some of those stories and photos:
In early November, my coworker Winnie invited me to her house in Sanxia district, west of Taipei for a day of mahjong, food, and baking. Being at her house was such a breath of fresh air. I felt incredibly welcomed by her family, and it was lovely to be in a bigger space than my apartment. We spent the afternoon playing mahjong with her sister and a family friend. I also took advantage of her family’s oven (a rarity in Taiwanese kitchens) to bake some scones using mom’s recipe. I made two batches, one with blueberries and one with chocolate. Both were fantastic and really reminded me of home. After everyone got over the initial shock at the vast quantity of butter required for flakey scones, they were well-received!
Hannah and I attended Allen’s nephew’s wedding in mid-November which was a real treat! We got to spend time with Allen’s full extended family (many of whom we’d met before) and enjoyed tasty food. We also got a really nice photo of the four of us, which is a new favorite of mine.
During the third week of November, I went on an unintentional global food tour in Taipei. All in one week, I had incredible Mexican food (very hard to come by), Indian food, and a really good American diner style burger and fries. Each meal was enjoyed with good friends and met all of my cravings.
Despite the really difficult times at work, there have been some highlights! At the end of November, we had a pavilion at the annual MEET Taipei exhibition, the largest startup exhibition in Taiwan. I met some interesting people, and we got a photo with the vice president of Taiwan which was cool! The event was two very long days, and I was definitely ready to be done at the end. After I got back from Vietnam, we hosted our annual Christmas party which I helped organize with my colleague, Amber. We were the emcees and had a great time chatting with partners, eating food, and running a spirited game of Kahoot! And finally, despite the blood, sweat, and tears, the report is done and printed! They arrived in the mail on January 7th, and it was really neat and gratifying to hold the physical copy. If you’re curious to see the final product, the digital version is on our website here.
The weekend after MEET Taipei, I took my first trip to Kaohsiung to visit Hannah, and it was so needed! Southern Taiwan is so much more chill than Taipei which was respite after an intense week at the exhibition. Hannah has her scooter license now, so a highlight of the visit (apart from spending time together) was riding around on her scooter. We ate yummy food, visited an artist friend of hers who gave us henna, went on a short hike, saw the ocean, and hit up our favorite night market. I had to dash back to Taipei for orchestra early on Sunday morning, but the whole trip was so worth it and very refreshing.
I co-hosted a friendsgiving event with my friend Sam at his apartment. We each invited some friends, and everyone brought a dish to share. In preparation, I made my famous roasted garlic mashed potatoes which were divine as usual. Butter + potatoes = hard to go wrong. During the week of Thanksgiving, I also called home a handful of times and got to catch up with family and family friends. I miss them a lot. My friend Josh from highschool organized a little call for him, Jeremy, Amy, and I to connect around the holidays. Getting everyone on a call together was a throwback to covid times!
The weather over the past 6 weeks has been too good! Evelyn and I took a day trip up to Qixingshan, the tallest peak in Taipei, in Yangmingshan national park. After about a 45 minute bus ride from an MRT station, we arrived at the trailhead and began to climb lots of stairs. The views were spectacular! The mountain is near a grassland and overlooks other peaks and Taipei city. It’s easily one of the best hikes I’ve done in Taipei. More importantly, I enjoyed spending time with a new friend and getting outside!
Oh, and when we reached the peak, I stood on my tiptoes and was taller than the peak marker. So, for a brief moment on November 30, 2024, I was the tallest point in Taipei. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Lukas went back to Germany for Christmas, so we scheduled a pre-Christmas celebration during the first week of December. We took a day trip out to the Shen’ao bike trail in Keelung City which was one of the cooler excursions I’ve been on in Taiwan. The trail is a refurbished railway that goes along the coast. We went on a slightly cloudy day, and the scenery along the ocean was gorgeous. After returning to Taipei, we made a home-cooked meal together accompanied with wine and good conversation! I continue to be so thankful for Lukas and his friendship; it has been very meaningful throughout my transition to life in Taipei.
In the same weekend as my celebration with Lukas, I also did perhaps the most random thing I’ve ever done in Taiwan. My orchestra, the Taipei Civic Symphony Orchestra, was invited to play at the Budai Music Festival in Chiayi County in southern Taiwan. What I didn’t realize when I agreed to play this concert was that the venue was a ferry terminal in the middle of nowhere. I never in a million years would have thought I’d be playing a concert in Taiwan at a ferry terminal. Anyway, I digress. The concert atmosphere was festive, and it was nice to do something for the community. I also spent a lot of time (10 hours?) on the bus that day, making the whole affair a bit of a slog. Nonetheless, it was a neat experience! Later that week, I left for Vietnam (more on that in a later post).
Despite my horrible week of work that corresponded with the holidays, I still found ways to make Christmas special! Of course, I completed my annual tradition of making gingerbread cookies with my grandma’s recipe. They’re always a treat and remind me of home. I made a total of 120 cookies and gave them out to my coworkers and friends. On Christmas Eve, I went to a lessons and carols service with Wendy, followed by a very spontaneous and random dinner at…McDonald’s! There was one in the area, and Wendy was craving an apple pie, hence the on-the-whim decision. On Christmas Day, Laura, a friend from orchestra, took me out for lunch with her daughter, which really meant a lot. I’ve really enjoyed connecting with her; she’s from the Netherlands, has lived in Taiwan for over 30 years, and understands a lot of the challenges of living here as a foreigner and learning Chinese. I really appreciated her looking out for me over the holidays.
I also hosted a little Christmas indoor picnic/girl’s night with some friends! We had a potluck, played some games, and filmed a Tik Tok (some of us, including me, begrudgingly). The event was the first time I’d hosted a group in my little apartment, and although it was a little crowded, I enjoyed having people over and celebrating together.
With Wendy on Christmas Eve
I spent a lot of time on Facetime with my parents over Christmas too! The California Bucks were in town, so I got to say hello to my extended family. Being away was really difficult, but I’m thankful for Facetime.
I bought a little toaster oven! And an oven mitt! And a silicone mat to protect my counter! Now I can roast veggies, toast bread, and make small batches of cookies. It’s my first major kitchen upgrade, and I’m happy about it.
I played another concert in the Zhongshan Concert hall right before the New Year. We performed Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with an amazing piano soloist, Vivaldi Winter, Brandenburg 3, Offenbach Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld (Can-Can), and a jazz medley that ended with an incredible drum solo. For the Bach and Vivaldi pieces, we tuned our instruments to traditional period tuning (A=415 hz instead of A=441 hz, a confusing intonation experience), and we used a beautifully painted harpsichord! I had several friends in the audience which was also really nice.
In Taiwan, New Year’s Day is a national holiday celebrating Taiwan Republic Day, so I had the day off. My coworker Winnie invited me to her house for a chill and cozy sleepover. After work on New Year’s Eve, we hopped on the train and went out to meet her family for dinner. On the way back to her house, we stopped at Costco! Stepping into the store transported me straight back to the US. They even have the $1.50 hotdogs! I got some bagels (Costco bagels are the closest I can get to real bagels here) and CHEESE! Specifically a big block of parmesan and some mozzarella. I got way too excited about the cheese. I haven’t had good cheese (it’s hard to get and really expensive here) for five months (with the exception of some burrata on a pizza in Vietnam), so I was (and still am) so excited. Yay cheese.
On New Year’s Day, we slept in, went on a walk around the neighborhood, sang karaoke, and ate food. It was a much needed rest day after all the craziness at work.
I went on a hike with Sam and Makaela to Jinmianshan (金面山), a short hike on the north side of Taipei. The weather was glorious, the conversation was good, and I enjoyed getting outside. The view from the peak was amazing—we could see most of Taipei and the surrounding mountains.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for seeing this relatively sporadic update through to the end. I’m considering taking a leaf out of my friend Sam’s book (or his blog, Sam, but in Taipei) and to try and put less pressure on myself to have very “put together” blog posts. Given that I put pressure on myself for a lot of things, I’m not sure how well this proposition will work out (and given that I want to write a very “put together” post about Vietnam for archival purposes), but I’ll try a couple shorter/more sporadic posts sometime. I have thoughts on a podcast I listened to (funnily enough, also shared by Sam), some photos from a day trip, and some upcoming adventures with the Parentals (arriving in T-minus FOUR DAYS) that should make good “casual” blog posts.
With Love From Taiwan,
-Miriam
On the final morning of report edits, I was on the phone with our designer, Iris, who I usually communicate with in Chinese, since she prefers to speak less English. It was early in the morning, before I’d even started my morning routine, and I was explaining to her how to implement the latest (and final) edits into our design based on the content changes I’d made. Despite my sour mood, exhaustion, and deep frustration, I had a moment where I realized I am doing the thing! I am in Taiwan, working, and using Chinese at work, and I’m able to communicate what I want to. The whole process was a huge learning curve, a lot of work, and incredibly stressful, but I’m learning and doing what I came here to do, which is cool!
