Day 1: Settling into Taipei

 

WE MADE IT!!

Today was our first full day all being in Taiwan, and it was certainly a busy one. We started with breakfast at 8am, and I could tell people were either excited for the day or still very jet lagged since there was a lot of energy for a Friday morning. After breakfast, we learned a lot about the history and development of the Taiwan Railway Museum from guest speaker Mr. Brian B.Y. Hsu, the lead architect who guided renovations of the museum. It was fascinating hearing his perspective, and it provided much useful context for when we proceeded to visit the museum. I think the idea of a visiting a railway museum may seem like an odd choice at first, but the real value that this railway museum has that ones in Boston or other areas of the U.S. do not is its unique cultural context. Given that Taiwan has changed occupation a lot in recent history, the development of the railway and associated infrastructure gives a lot of insight into what the culture was like during certain periods, for example Japanese occupation, and it also shows a lot about what the changes in occupation must have been like. 

Right after our tour, we wasted no time and went right back to a new dialogue; this one was about LGBT advocacy in Taiwan. As someone who is not very familiar with the social and political climate in Taiwan, I had not really known much about the LGBT movement here aside from Taiwan being the only country in Asia where gay marriage is legal. And as we learned, even though gay marriage is legal, people in the LGBT community still face many challenges here, both legally and culturally. The guest speakers we had did a great job contextualizing what they were trying to convey; they are obviously very knowledgeable in different public opinions surrounding LGBT issues as well as the perspectives of those who oppose the LGBT movement in Taiwan. In general, this gave us a good idea of where Taiwan stands regarding support of the LGBT community and also a better understanding of why what they advocate for is important.

After these talks, we finally had some free time for the day to get lunch, check out parts of the city, and get any tasks done. Today was the first time I found myself in situations where there was very limited English, such as when I was ordering lunch and when I was exchanging currency. What I learned is that there is a lot to gain from abandoning English and trying to fully communicate in Chinese, but it can be very intimidating at first. Regardless, the people here were very understanding, so overcoming that initial fear of using just Chinese was really the hardest part of it all.

To end the day's agenda, we had one last dialogue about g0v (gov-zero), a movement focused on using technology to have more civic engagements and government transparency. This was something I hadn't heard about before, so it was interesting learning about their story and impact. It also really helped to illustrate the importance of democracy in Taiwan, particularly in an era not far removed from its previous martial law and strict rule. 

Today definitely taught me that there is still so much to learn. Not only were there many aspects about the culture I had never considered, but there were many words or expressions in Chinese that I still had trouble communicating. Hopefully in the coming days I, along with everyone else in the program, will be able to improve significantly in these areas.

-David O'Brien