Another update from Taiwan

My second vlog! In this segment, I talk about a particularly memorable experience in Taipei.

Zachary Haver is a Sigur Center 2017 Asian Language Fellow. A rising sophomore studying at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Zachary is majoring in International Affairs with a concentration in Asia and minoring in Mandarin Chinese.

Images & sounds from a summer in India

My summer research brought me to a good range of places in India. The above video contains some sights and sounds from Delhi, Hardoi, Gurgaon, and the train to Lucknow.  Sam Frantz

Typhoon Preparedness

Typhoon season is upon us all studying abroad in Taiwan! So, for those of you considering travelling to the island in the future, I would like to provide a few tips for surviving the storm.

1.       While not all typhoons are equally severe, treat each as if they were capable of equal damage. Typhoons can take you by surprise. Do not disregard the countless warnings you will receive from weather services and government offices. A typhoon is called a typhoon for a reason. The rains and wind that accompany this type of storm far exceed the usual rainy summer afternoon in Taiwan.

2.       With this in mind, DO NOT go outside during a typhoon unless absolutely necessary. And, make every effort to be safely indoors before one arrives. This past week, my friend and I had dinner plans on Saturday night. We were aware a typhoon was coming, but the rainfall throughout the day had been minimal. We wrongly assumed the typhoon had developed weaker than originally predicted by meteorologists. While we had dinner, we were unaware of the storm brewing outside. By the time we were heading home, the typhoon was in full force. Our umbrellas were rendered useless by the extreme wind and rain falling at a 45-degree angle. We nearly did not make it home, fighting the wind the whole way. We learned our lesson, and chose to hunker down indoors for the remainder of the storm.

3.       So how do you survive typhoon inflicted house arrest? RAMEN! While I use typhoons to justify my unhealthy desire for these cheap and incredibly unhealthy instant meals, any food that requires little to no preparation is great. Be prepared for potential power outages. I would also advise you to buy bottled drinks in case you lose access to clean water. If the typhoon is expected to last a few days, I suggest you buy prepackaged milk tea to prevent withdrawals!

4.       Hopefully you can ride out the typhoon with a friend, but if not, be sure to grab a good book and some movies to pass the time!

For those of you staying in Taiwan currently and those planning a to study abroad here in the future, have fun, but be safe!

Katelyn DeNap

George Washington University - Elliott School of International Affairs

M.A. Security Policy Studies

Organization of Asian Studies – Vice President

Sigur Center 2017 Asian Language Fellow

National Taiwan University - International Chinese Language Program, Taiwan

Floods, Displacement, and Everyday Life in Majuli

Majuli, the river island where my anthropological fieldwork is based, experiences the monsoon every year between June and August. During this time, the river Brahmaputra, which along with its tributaries girdles Majuli, floods the island, turning agricultural lands into lakes, and breaking the large 189-square mile island into smaller islets that are interconnected through a network of waterways. I first read about the floods in the news articles that populated the internet during the state elections in Assam in early 2016. Images, showing submerged houses and fields, people fleeing on boats or waiting for aid accompanied these news reports. However, when I first mentioned these floods to my interlocutors in Sitadhar Phuk, a village where people of the Mishing tribe live, they painted a very different picture. “We love the rain,” Kamalakant Kaman, a much respected village elder and my primary interlocutor told me. “We love the floods. We just go into our fields to catch fish.” He told me this shortly before the rains began in June 2016. By August 2016 several images of flooding and displacement once again populated the island. So, this summer, when I visited him, I posed the question once again. “How were the floods last year?” I asked. And to my surprise, he gave me the same response.

A day later, Kamalakant took me to his friend, Horen’s home in the neighborhood. As we drank tea that Horen made in his kitchen, his wife Momi and I had a long chat. I posed the question again, and Momi gave me a similar response. “We Mishing people love the rain,” she said. “We build our homes on stilts as you can see, and the water passes under the floor boards. So long as our animals are secure, we don’t have a problem from the floods.” Later she added, “We hang our clothes out to soak and use the water to wash and clean our homes. And fishing becomes so much easier.”

Caption: A typical Mishing home in Majuli

“I already told her,” Kamalakant said.

This time I was persistent. I told them about the pictures I had seen in the media. Several homes were completely under water, and had to be abandoned. People had become homeless.

“Yes, but is because of the flash floods and the erosion,” Kamalakant said. Then he began to explain that the weather conditions during the monsoon, turned the land in Majuli into flood plains, which filled up with water, allowing people who lived along these areas to fish in these waters during the rainy season. Once the water drained, these areas, rich with silt, would act as fertile grounds to grow rice and other vegetables that the Mishing needed. However, in the last century, and increasingly so in the last forty years, development projects as well as badly planned flood prevention plans had precipitated flash floods which destroyed homes and washed cattle away.

During my stay in Majuli, I visited areas in the South east of the island, where such flash floods had carried away massive areas of land in the year 2000, and caused people living in nearly 15 villages to lose their homes. Currently, these people live on the embankment, and are still waiting for aid. Several of these badly affected people were also from the Mishing tribe.

While explaining the difference between the floods that Sitadhar Phuk, which a short distance from the coast, and these other villages face, Kamalakant outlined to me the lifestyle that the Mishing had adopted to live in these floodplains. Their houses, as Momi had said, were built on stilts, and they always made raised shelters for their livestock and for storing their grains during the monsoon season. The villagers also repaired their boats, re-built their roofs before the rain in preparation for the downpour. The Mishing were therefore well adapted to the floods that the Brahmaputra valley was accustomed to. However, flashfloods resulting from other “unnatural reasons,” as Kamalakant termed the bad flood prevention methods and other development projects which had caused trouble in Majuli, were destructive and hard to adapt to.

This idea that the Mishing could adapt to their “natural” environment had both pros and cons. In conversations with one of the island’s administrative head, whose identity I would like to keep confidential, I discovered that this notion made the troubles faced by the Mishing invisible, or at least less visible, to the state. This assumption that anyone from the indigenous community could adapt to their “natural” surroundings only allowed the administration to look into the problems faced by other communities. There was no distinction in these conversation between the slow floods that allowed the Mishing to fish and silted their lands, and the flashfloods that destroyed the land, eroded entire villages, destroyed homes and displaced people.

As I advance my research, I plan to follow up on this summer’s findings. In the meantime, as I prepare to spend the year in George Washington University, I am also excited to read more about the environmental history of my field site, through accounts written by historians like Arupjyoti Saikia and Gunnel Cederlof, whose books on the topic I bought in Guwahati, the capital of Assam during my archival work there. Both researchers underline how everyday life is built around the capricious environment in the Brahmaputra valley and in the North Eastern states of India at large, and both underline the role of colonial rule in starting development projects that by the looks of it have been unsuccessful until today in controlling the water systems of the region. These histories, and my conversation with my interlocutors in Majuli, leave us with a question: what does living with the environment look, and how do we do this without making anyone’s problem invisible in the eyes of the State?

Cultural Excursions and Utilizing Language Skills

This past week I had the opportunity to learn how to make a traditional Taiwanese pastry: Pineapple Cake! One of my favorite things about coming to Taiwan is being able to eat pineapple cakes. So, when I was given this opportunity, I quickly accepted! What made this experience even greater was the fact that I would also be given the chance to learn about Taiwanese wedding culture. Currently engaged, I am in the process of planning my own wedding for next May! This excursion, organized by professors at the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University, was right up my alley.

Before our trip, students were given research assignments surrounding pineapple cakes, Taiwanese weddings, and holidays or festivals in general. This allowed, or forced, students to learn new vocabulary related to these topics. Beyond studying new vocabulary, we were able to examine the history behind the Taiwanese culture and cuisine we love!

While background research is helpful, there is nothing like hands on experience to solidify your studies. So, I was excited to get my hands dirty mixing and shaping pineapple cakes! Initially, I thought making these pastries would be difficult. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the process is quite simple! With only a little butter, sugar, egg, flour, and pineapple (of course), you can quickly whip up a batch of these signature Taiwanese pastries. While my pineapple cakes were baking, I was given the chance to try on traditional wedding dresses, and a couple of students even volunteered to have an impromptu mock wedding. (At least I hope it was not official!) Being able to compare the marriage process and culture in Taiwan to that in the United States was quite interesting. And this brings me to my point…Making connections to your surroundings, whether by recognizing parallels or differences with your own culture or interests, is key for learning a new language. The vocabulary which you can make a connection to is most successfully retained.

So, as you travel abroad or begin your own language training at home, be sure to explore your interests using the new language. You will gain a greater appreciation for your new language abilities and find yourself improving at a much quicker rate! As for me, there will be many pineapple cakes along the path to fluency in Mandarin!

Katelyn DeNap

George Washington University - Elliott School of International Affairs

M.A. Security Policy Studies

Organization of Asian Studies – Vice President

Sigur Center 2017 Asian Language Fellow

National Taiwan University - International Chinese Language Program, Taiwan

Overcoming Homesickness

As someone who suffers from homesickness, I understand the fear others have of travelling far from their loved ones or the place they call home. If your love for home has kept you from travelling to other countries and experiencing other cultures, I wish to share with you how to get the feeling of home half way around the world.

While it is tempting to rely on scheduled calls and video chats with friends and family to create a sense of home, doing so will prevent you from fully immersing yourself in your surroundings. If you made the decision to travel abroad, do not waste the opportunity to explore a new culture or meet new people. At first, it may be daunting, but you will soon find that anywhere you go there are people eager to share their culture and home with you!

Having traveled to Taiwan once before, I was excited to return. Four years ago, while studying in Tainan, I suffered from severe homesickness. So, when I made the decision to spend the summer studying in Taipei my family was shocked. But I knew this time would be different.

I chose to travel with a friend from school. If you are considering travelling or studying abroad, I highly recommend this! Having someone familiar to share your greatest experiences and frustrations with helps create a sense of home. If you are unable to travel with a friend, there are always opportunities to find host families or exchange partners. Choosing to either live or spend time with a host family or exchange partner is a quick way to discover local culture. Rather than only experiencing a foreign city as a tourist, you get an insider’s look at culture and cuisine. With a host family, you will find you can create a home away from home. Even if you do not enroll in an official host family or exchange partner program, do not be afraid to interact with the people you meet as you study or travel. Making such connections creates a sense of community, which you will appreciate on days you miss home.

Learning a language or studying a culture should not be limited to the confines of a classroom or a TripAdvisor “Top 10 Things to Do in….” list. Only through connecting with locals and allowing yourself to explore a city or country will you be able to overcome your homesickness and reinforce what you learn through unique and exciting experiences.

Katelyn DeNap

George Washington University - Elliott School of International Affairs

M.A. Security Policy Studies

Organization of Asian Studies – Vice President

Sigur Center 2017 Asian Language Fellow

National Taiwan University - International Chinese Language Program, Taiwan

National Taiwan Normal University's Mandarin Training Center

My experience at the Mandarin Training Center.

National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center (MTC) is one of the oldest language learning institutions in Taiwan. Founded in 1956, it’s program has attracted students from all around the world to study. In my two and half months studying at MTC, I can honestly say that I have been very satisfied with my experience. Not only have I greatly accelerated my language skills, but I have also connected with students from all around the world.

Personally there were two main reasons as to why I made my decision to apply to the Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University. One, the array of courses the program offers to it’s students and the diversity of the students. After doing some extensive research, I had been struggling between the Mandarin Training Center and National Taiwan University’s International Chinese Language Program (ICLP). After learning that students MTC comprised of students from all over Asia, Europe and Africa I was instantly sold. More importantly, as a heritage speaker the program at NTNU offers courses that are specifically geared towards students whose listening and speaking skills are advanced but reading skills are at the intermediate or beginner level. Naturally, upon enrolling in MTC I was placed into such a particular course. 

Currently I am in the intensive level program, a three month, three hour course that meets Monday through Friday. Although the work load can be a bit daunting the intensive course is well worth your time and money. The curriculum is fundamental and practical. Initially I was a bit daunted at the prospect of learning traditional Chinese characters. However, I have found that learning the historical context of each character and the radicals are really beneficial to memorizing the characters. Learning simplified Chinese may seem easier, but since the characters have been simplified to it’s base components the true context and meaning of the text is hard to remember and understand. Although it learning traditional Chinese writing seems arduous and daunting I think it is definitely worth it! 

Not only have I seen a great level of improvement in my reading and writing skills, but I have also made great connections with my classmates. Although we are all heritage speakers our class comes from an array countries with unique backgrounds. Within my class we have students from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Africa. It has been quite fascinating to hear the perspectives of my classmates who all have similar but unique stories on how and why their families immigrated to different parts of the world. 

Overall, I have really enjoyed my time at the Mandarin Training Center. If you are a perspective student I would highly recommend the intensive program as the course that yields the best results! 

Tracie M. Yang M.A Asian Studies, Class of 2018

Sigur Center 2017, Asian Language Fellow

National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC)

President, Organization of Asian Studies (OAS)