Entry 71: Two Lives

I was born in Taiwan and grew up here. I first went to local schools. There I was exposed to mostly Taiwanese culture. Outside of school I was totally immersed in Taiwanese culture. However, my family doesn't speak Taiwanese and so neither do I. Both my mother's and father's grandparents were from China, as a result my family is more Chinese than Taiwanese. I had a hard time in Taiwanese class in school because the teacher expected everyone to have already known the basics of the local language. Nevertheless, I still consider myself a Taiwanese. I think it was after third grade that I got in touch with some serious Western culture. The first step was my mother introducing English oldies to my sister and I as a way of learning English. I was never fond of Taiwanese pop music, but those English oldies paved the way for my music appreciation now. Later I came to PAS and I was submerged by all the Western-ness. I think after spending these years in PAS, I was influenced both in thoughts and actions. I started to grab the sense of individual and sought to express myself more, even though previously I had been a dancer and it was important to present yourself on stage. I became bilingual, but while my English improved I forgot some of my Chinese. Now I can't even write a Chinese sentence without using a dictionary.