Final thoughts

My final blog will be a little different than the rest. While there have been many aspects about this trip, I would like to focus on three; our volunteer guides, our housing accommodations and language class. The content here is not intended to reflect the views of anyone else on this study abroad. Further, given that we are the first study abroad for this kind of program, I understand that obstacles were to be expected. My hope is that those who follow us can enjoy a program where such obstacles are anticipated and thus more readily overcome.

We were understandably a little nervous during our first couple of days in Taiwan. Being in an unfamiliar environment can rattle even the hardiest of people. However, we were provided with guides around our age to help tour us around the city. I will not name them, but the group of people to whom I refer is composed of undergraduate students, a graduate student and a staff assistant, all of whom are around our age. Our guides quickly became our friends as they accompanied us through museums, temples and other excursions to places such as night markets and Taipei 101 to see the New Year's fireworks. One of them was even there to help ensure we were placed in the most appropriate language class. In short, my time in Taiwan would have been much more difficult had it not been for these local Taiwanese volunteers' guidance.

My suggestion is to provide more volunteer guides for future study abroad trips, more specifically one volunteer per designated groups of 3 to 4 study abroad participants. Study abroad participants can and should visit historical sites such as temples and forts as well as museums and the like. However, Taipei is one of the busiest cities in East Asia, and as such has a significant amount of activity outside of museums. In other words, our cultural excursions in and out of Taipei have mostly involved looking back on Taiwan's history. While we have had the chance to explore night markets on our own, we were never really accompanied by our local guides anywhere on their terms. Taiwan has a lot to offer, and as college students, I feel that future study abroad participants would greatly benefit from visiting the local places Taiwanese students most frequent. If, for example, our volunteers took us to where they like to go and eat what they and other students like them commonly eat, I feel we would have had a 

more complete experience.

Regarding our housing, I was not exactly thrilled about the idea of a curfew. As a UMD student, I am used to having free reign on how and when I return to provided living accommodations. I understand that this policy is not open to negotiation, as all building residents here must abide by it. Further, I actually really liked the location given its proximity to our class building and the MRT. However, even if we had more time to spend with our student volunteers, the curfew here forcefully cuts short any chance of spending an entire night together out as a group.

Lastly, the language component of the program was not an ideal situation for me as a beginner. Over the course of the three weeks I have been in Taiwan, I, and two other students, have had three different language instructors, meaning we have had relatively little consistency in what we have been taught. Our first few days, we had a crash course in Pinyin, the romanized system for correct pronunciation of Chinese sounds and characters. At the beginning of the second week, we were placed into a beginner course with a group of students who had already been studying together for weeks. I learned very little during this time, as the instructor primarily wrote on the board in characters and refrained from using English. Of course, language instructors are encouraged to speak in the language being taught. However, my lack of a foundation on which to learn Chinese resulted in a loss of two days where I could have otherwise learned material more appropriate for my level. I really enjoy my current class as we are learning substantive material at a quick but manageable pace. My only wish is to be provided with supplementary material such as character stroke instruction or lessons to study while home. I am forced to rely on class handouts and my own notes. In other words, the lack of homework, textbooks and quizzes means I am not learning outside class except for when I ask my friends for help.

I hope my last blog is not taken as a series of complaints, but rather a list of suggestions on how the program could be improved. Overall, I genuinely enjoyed my experience here. All of my instructors for language and culture have done their best to help us in the allotted time. I have made plenty of new friends and contacts for future social networking. Exploring on our own was sometimes difficult, but generally a successful endeavor. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone looking to improve their Chinese or experience a new culture.

Convenience Store Culture

One of the most visible aspects of Taiwan is probably the sheer amount of convenience stores. In our first few days of exploring Taipei, I was amazed at how common it is to see one or two convenience stores on almost every block. Sometimes, two convenience stores are even located across from one another on the same street! I have primarily noticed 7-Eleven, Hi-Life and FamilyMart, though it is certainly possible that some chains of convenience stores are more popular by region. I decided to do some digging and see if I could find an explanation for why there are so many convenience stores in Taiwan.

Taiwan's territory is composed of about 36,000 square kilometers. Within Taiwan, there are nearly 10,000 convenience stores, meaning one can bump into a convenience store every 500 meters, taking into account areas with low population density (logically, convenience stores are fewer in number where there are fewer people, but even then convenience stores are still a common sight). With these numbers in consideration, Taiwan has the highest density of convenience stores of any country in the world. As of 2009, Taiwan has one convenience store for every 2,500 people of its 23 million population.

The reason for convenience stores' popularity is due to the services they provide. In contrast to foreign counterparts, Taiwanese shoppers can rely on convenience stores to withdraw money, book train tickets, deposit trash, drop off and pick up laundry and pay bills. Indeed, over 80% of urban dwellers visit a convenience store at least once a week. In my own personal experience, convenience stores in the United States can only be used to buy snacks, tobacco products, lottery tickets and sometimes services such as filling a gas tank or dropping off recyclable products.

Please keep in mind, I have not found any specific numbers online to support the following. Taiwan has a population of 23 million while the United States has a population of 313.9 million. There are 4,790 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan and 8,200 7-Elevens in the United States. Hypothetically, if all 7-Elevens in the world had 7 employees at each location, then there would be 33,530 7-Eleven employees in Taiwan and 57,000 7-Eleven employees in the United States, which would mean that 0.15% of Taiwan's population are 7-Eleven employees while 0.018% of the United States' population are 7-Eleven employees, a ninefold difference. In other words, Taiwan's 7-Eleven industry accounts for a significant amount of its job market, specifically for people under the age of 30.

Based off my experience in walking around Taipei, the Taiwanese seem to be a people in transit. Mass amounts of people use the subway and roving bands of motor scooters are an equally common sight. Convenience stores in Taiwan are not simply convenient; they are a necessity. Without them, Taiwan would lack an avenue through which people can acquire many daily services.

My next blog post will be about societal orderliness, specifically in terms of how I have observed the people here to be quiet, organized and polite.

Contact

An interesting difference I noticed between the United States and Taiwan was the radically divergent attitude towards personal space. Since I have been in Taipei, I have met many people from my age or older who seem to not have any qualms about getting in close to have a conversation. For example, at the end of a guided tour of Taipei's National History Museum, our tour guide gave all of us a hug. In another case, a student a couple of years older than I kept patting my arm as we spoke to one another. In yet another instance, I met a Taiwanese man who lived in my hometown during my high school years. As soon as a friend pointed out that he lived in my hometown, this man immediately walked up to me and stood significantly closer than I would have expected to shake hands and have a conversation. Even in cases where I found myself subconsciously pulling back, the other person would only draw closer. While I was unfamiliar with such close contact with near strangers, I would not necessarily label it as an invasion of personal space, as it is something I have since grown accustomed to.

Pictured above: Photobombing
and infringement of personal space.

In my hometown and at UMD, such skin-to-skin contact with acquaintances would most likely be rebuffed. It is not common for near strangers to touch one another, even if it is with benign intentions. I have two thoughts as to why rings of personal space are tighter here than in the United States. First, I think that given the size of the country and the compact nature of cities, people are simply used to having less space, meaning people will stand close to one another in order to avoid becoming an obstacle.

In many night markets and shopping districts, walking space is competitive. People cannot afford to stand idly by lest they become a nuisance to other shoppers. In many smaller streets, it is very common to be forced off to the side in order to let a scooter or van pass through. I have noticed the latter problem in situations when we travel in large groups. Aside from night markets, any indoor shop or restaurant is usually quite small in comparison to the imposing shopping malls in the United States. In short, any visitor should be prepared to squeeze their ring of personal space into something more manageable for the bustling crowds of Taipei.

Compared to the famous "I ♥ NY" shirt,
this shirt mentions not a city, but a country.

My second explanation for why people here enjoy a less restrictive sense of individually assigned personal space is that, unlike the United States, the Taiwanese people can more readily identify as one people. The United States is a truly multicultural country whereas an overwhelming majority of Taiwan's population can trace its lineage back to Han Chinese roots. In fact, many of my Taiwanese acquaintances say they identify as Taiwanese over Chinese. In other words, people here feel more comfortable in close proximity due to a shared, collective identity.

In my next blog, I will discuss convenience store culture in Taipei. While we have traveled to other places in Taiwan, we have spent the majority of our time here in the capital. Though I have not done much research on the subject, I believe that Taipei has the highest amount of convenience stores per capita of any city I have ever visited. It is extraordinarily rare to walk a block in Taipei without seeing a 7-Eleven, Hi-Life, FamilyMart or some other convenience store.

"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us." -Winston Churchill

Taiwan's traditional architecture is one of its most noticeable cultural characteristics. Having been to historical sites in Seoul, I can note several distinct qualities in traditional Taiwanese buildings. Of the buildings I have seen, such as a temple in Tainan, I noticed that Taiwan's architecture commonly features very bright colors, ornate designs and steeply curved roofs.

Temple in Tainan

In contrast, South Korea's traditional architecture is more reserved. Rather than scarlet and gold, one will typically see a more rustic green and deep red, more akin to the colors found in nature. Furthermore, Korean architecture does not feature the steeply flared roof tips or fanciful designs found in Taiwanese columns.

Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul

Many factors can influence the design of architecture. Taiwan's historical connection to dynastic China most likely played a heavy influence in the design we see today. Given China's status as the center of East Asian commerce, religion and politics for centuries, it is of little surprise that Taiwan's architecture bears similar qualities to the architecture from mainland China's contemporary history. It is possible that Korea's historical status as China's "little brother" led to more humble architectural designs.

Modern factors of Taiwan's elaborate architecture can sometimes be tied to religion. Buddhism, while sometimes not considered to be a religion based on Western standards, nonetheless has a global following and is particularly popular in the East. Fo Guang Shan's big Buddha is one of the most impressive modern architectural feats I have seen. The symmetry of the pagodas and stupas and the colorful expanse before the primary temple space makes for a beautiful site.

Fo Guang Shan, Kaohsiung

Though I lack photos, South Korea's Buddhist Temples were quaint, typically featuring the aforementioned rustic colors and simple designs. Given that Buddhism is far more prevalent in Taiwan than South Korea, I am not surprised that Taiwan would hold such a tremendous Buddhist site.

Like the United States, South Korea has many self-identified Christians, meaning there exists a high number of churches in both countries, something that Taiwan also has, though not in great numbers. For my next blog, I will discuss personal space and how it differs between Taiwan and the United States.

Can you see me?

Yesterday morning, I had my first Mandarin lesson. While we are already cramming in a vast amount of material into a three-week time span, we are also playing catch up with a class that has been together for months now. In other words, yesterday's lesson was a crash course in Pinyin, greetings and numbers in order to get us to where we need to be to start learning more substantive material. One strange thing I noticed was our instructor's lack of eye contact. She would look down to point out the finer details on our Pinyin charts and would direct her eyes towards the ceiling when speaking from the whiteboard. Even when asked questions, she would deliberately avoid making eye contact with the speaker. Given the intensive nature our Mandarin coursework, we spent two and a half hours without looking our instructor in the eye. Cultural differences aside, averting eyes when speaking can be uncomfortable and distracting for someone who has grown up in a society where eye contact is an expected part of daily communication.

My apologies, it's the only photo I took that is relevant to this entry's topic.

One of our Taiwanese guides told me that typically school children will avoid making eye contact with their teachers and raising their hands in class out of a sense of embarrassment, meaning that there likely exists some kind of informal taboo against eye contact within Taiwan. In my travels to Japan, I learned it is common to keep one's eyes cast downwards when speaking to someone of superior status such as a teacher or a boss. I noticed that our instructor would specifically look upwards, so I am not sure if she did so out of a sense of superiority or because public speakers are sometimes trained to look out over a crowd when making a speech. Similarly, in Seoul, I found that people tend to avoid eye contact with unfamiliar people. As I already discussed, eye contact is a major aspect of western communication, especially the United States. One who avoids eye contact in the US might be described by some as shifty or untrustworthy. I understand that there are many cultural differences between my home country and Taiwan, so I do not distrust my instructor, although I do find the lack of eye contact to be a major distraction in the learning process.

Eye contact is not something I can change. I will not ask my instructor to look us in the eyes because I understand that doing so might cause her a measure of discomfort. I am accepting this unusual behavior as a minor feature in Taiwanese and broader Asian culture. For my next blog, I will discuss the differences in architecture between Taiwan, the United States and South Korea. I am no expert on architecture, but I have noticed significant differences in structure and color due to factors relating to philosophy, politics and classical influence.