I have currently been living in Taiwan for seven months. When I first arrived, everything felt unfamiliar--from the language to the food to the smells. However, during my time spent here, I have grown more comfortable with the things that are different here compared to life in the United States.
For instance, the language barrier is one of the most challenging aspects of living abroad. Small tasks, such as ordering food at a restaurant, finding a bathroom and paying at a store are all made more complex when you can’t read, speak or understand what is being said to you. Furthermore, the Chinese language is not based on an alphabet. Instead, it uses "characters", with each character representing a syllable. It feels very intimidating to look at a piece of Chinese writing and not be familiar with any of the words on the page! Despite this intimidation, I knew that learning Chinese was one of the most important aspects of beginning to feel comfortable living in Taiwan. Luckily, I took a beginning Chinese class with the other English teachers in the area, which helped me learn basic phrases that help me get around every day!
