Entry 72: Immigrant’s Journey

The biggest difference between my experience and Jhumpa's is that I have never immigrated to another country. I've stayed in Taiwan all my life. I guess in order to compare myself with her, I would count my transfer from local schools to PAS an immigration. Yeah, totally. I'm surprised there are actually some similarities. Her family in America still practiced Indian traditions at home. I attend an American school, but my family still speaks Chinese and follow some local customs. She talks about some confusion she had about her identity as an Indian-American. I have never had any ethnic questions about myself. I know exactly I'm Chinese/Taiwanese. The problem with that is not the same as an identity issue; it's political. The quote at first didn't spark any resonance in me. Then I thought if coming to PAS is an immigration, then yes. My sister would serve as the first immigrant generation here. She came to this school first and underwent the painful adaptation before I did. My first three years in PAS was accompanied by my mother and sister. Departure would be the three of us moving to Hsinchu in a small rental flat. Deprivation was how we gave up our comfort in Taichung to live in Hsinchu, and of course the money. I had to go through the adaptation myself, but I knew I could do it because my sister had done it. And during those years we went to school everyday together. So, yes, what Jhumpa said can pretty much apply to me as well.