Wai Guo Ren

Greetings from Taipei! I am here with family two weeks before my program begins, so this “pre-departure” post comes to you a day after stepping off the plane.

I wonder what is it about me exactly that marks me as a foreigner.

Despite sharing ethnic makeup with the local Taiwanese people, I am somehow set apart even before I open my mouth to reveal American-accented Chinese. Nobody is remotely rude, but I sense that people are at least vaguely aware that I am not from around here.

Perhaps it is because I seem to be melting in this humidity while local women can wear a full face of makeup without sweating it off. Or perhaps my accidentally-acquired California summer tan makes me unique in a place where Seven Eleven sells skin lightening cream. Or is it my clothing? The way I walk? My hesitation while navigating the MRT or crossing the street? My own awareness that being Taiwanese-American isn’t quite the same as being just Taiwanese?

I wonder because I hope that identifying that tell-tale factor will help me blend in better…but in the meantime I hear a bowl of shaved ice calling my name!


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