History Repeats Itself in the Heart of Taiwan

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Ahhhh, so this is what Taiwan is like!

This has been my most frequent sentiment while here in Taiwan. Stories and descriptions of the country, its culture, and my family's life here were a big part of my childhood experience. I was definitely excited to see this almost mythical land with my own two eyes.

As soon as I landed, I was taken around by my mom's good friend Leslie and her two daughters to check out the large variety of street-side snacks, one of Taiwan's claims to fame. I've enjoyed contrasting Chinese and Taiwanese culture, relative economic standing, and political tendencies. In many ways feel quite at home here.

I then met up with my aunt and uncle, termed GuGu and GuZhan, respectively. Most Asian cultures/languages have specific designations for different family members based on what side their on, relative age, order of birth, etc. Memorizing these terms has been an important part of my language learning.

I immediately began to learn more about my family's past, as well as Taiwanese/Chinese history. In particular, I've been discovering a lot about my father's childhood. My dad's kind of a serious dude and doesn't share much. So it was really interesting to learn things about him that he's never told me!

One of my first stops was to visit my grandmother (dad's side) in Nan Zhuang. I have not seen her in about 20 years. I'm happy to say that my Chinese was good enough for us to communicate pretty well, and I really enjoyed spending time with her. I relished the few pearls of wisdom she happened to share with me; she even gave me advice on girls! 😱

Through her, I learned even more about my family's history. Really, a central focus of this trip has been to strengthen my sense of identity. I've been able to better understand where my family has been, and in turn contextualize my own future and where I'm going.

My grandma lives just a few doors down from the humble home where my father grew up. He has had a much harder life than I have. Learning about the struggles he and my grandparents went through has helped me to further appreciate my own circumstances.

I was able to visit many of my father's old haunts including his schools and a sort of river/swimming hole he used to go to as a kid. As it was intensely hot, I ended up jumping in and enjoyed the river probably much the same way he did.

My next stop was to visit my aunt and cousins in Fongyuan. They have been wonderfully helpful and it's been great getting to know them. One cousin in particular, along with me the only other male Wu next in line, looks just like me!

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Photos

Gardening with my Aunt and Uncle
I look just the way my ancestors did har har har....

Taiwan Xiao Ci (Taiwanese Snacks)
We really went crazy on the food and it was great fun.

Aunt and Cousins
That handsome younger version of me is the only other person who may carry on our family name.