Everyone has been so friendly during our visit. But, being a foreigner, there is often a slight formality, a barely perceptible filter, making the invitations kind yet slightly distanced. Then I met Andie. Andie has a wide smile, a contagious laugh, and a clear opinion on most things.
I met Andie when she came to my research methods guest lecture on participatory methods. A fellow social work professor, she had no qualms about sitting in the very front row and engaging me with her animated expressions (while some the social work students nodded off behind her). Before we'd had the chance to talk, I could tell that she valued learning from community members' lived experiences and that she didn't think it was fair that young people had to leave US-based shelters to be "productive" during work time hours. I suspected we might get along well.
The following week, she brought box lunches to my office so we could "have more time" and not be rushed at a restaurant. Four hours later, we were still talking Taiwan history, China, culture, politics, vegetarianism, academia, child protection, publishing, and social impact. She told me about the goddess, Mazu, who leads people in the direction they must go and provides healing, and she invited me on a pilgrimage in the spring where Mazu rides in her pink "supercar" being carried by the crowd long distances.
I mentioned being curious about, but intimated to approach, groups practicing Tai Chi in Da'an park. The next week, she invited me to join her weekly lessons with her Tai Chi master. She drove me from campus to her master's home, translated and modeled the warm up, sequence, and attack/defense moves. The master took such care to tell me the history of his practice, to send me a video of him moving through the sequence. I shared how much more difficult it is than it looks. He said you must practice. I asked Andie how often she practices. She grinned sheepishly.
Andie invited me to attend a talk by her colleague, Dr. Chen, from public health, and afterwards to join them for tea time. Little did I know, she planned an adventure to the top of a neighboring mountain overseeing Sanxia where the NTPU campus resides. A foggy day, her little car climbed higher and higher leaving civilization behind until, surprisingly, we came upon a small cafe that served tea and waffles!
Over tea, we shared about what it feels like to move to a new country. They had all spent time in the US - her colleagues in Baltimore & New Jersey and Andie in Iowa where she "loved to converse with the skies in the big open spaces". We discussed the pressure of academia and Andie's relief of working in a "countryside" university where there was less emphasis on quantitative impact factors. We shared about loss and questioned life priorities. And best of all - we laughed. They laughed at the fact that I was told we might hear deer on our summer camping trip in Northern Taiwan (when deer are not in those parts); they suggested perhaps the camp owner dressed a dog in antlers to entertain the foreigners! And they found my suprisingly bright blue tea hilarious. Here you can see their skeptism. Andie said it looked like mouth wash but was willing to give it a taste.
I am grateful for these opportunities Andie has created to join her in the day to day, to connect with her practices and her community. In being included in the struggles and especially in the jokes, I have felt most at home.
- Kim
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