GRAPHIC: Y.C.CHEN

An expat reflects on his participation in a Hakka tomb sweeping activity and experiencing culture shock after 15 years in Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: May 17, 2015
By David Pendery  /  Contributing Reporter

I am an American who has lived in Taiwan for 15 years, and I have had lots of evocative experiences during this time. My problem is, where to begin? I have related my story in my book Something Super: Living, Learning and Teaching in Taiwan, which was kindly reviewed by this paper. So I have told most of my tales of teaching, interacting with students, learning language, participating in Taiwanese politics, going to school, volunteering and the like.

For this piece, I would like to focus on a small event that occurred a few weeks ago. This event, as many others I have attended in Taiwan, was a mixture of both cultural inspiration and a dose of culture shock.     [FULL  STORY]