MB Meets World

It is impossible to separate Taiwan from Ya-Huei. I was so lucky to meet her family, see where she went to high school, and see her and Johne thoroughly love this wonderful place.

Some particular things I loved:

1. The metro system (MRT) was great – clean, easy, fast, accessible for wheelchairs. I did get in trouble for not wearing a mask once – whoops! This is a picture of Crystal (with Ya-Huei and Johne) an extremely helpful MRT employee who not only helped us with routes when needed, but also greeted all three of us by name each time we saw her! And, after 2 weeks she even remembered when I was leaving and said goodbye a day early bc she wasn’t working on that day. Wow!

2. I had fun learning some words, though the Taiwanese were patient with foreigners and English was commonly spoken. And, well, Ya-Huei translated!!

I learned that mandarin has five tones and Taiwanese has nine tones. The words I learned (phonetically):

• nee-how (hello)
• shay-shay (thank you)
• tie-tie (wife)
• jay-jay (older sister – me!)
• dee-dee (younger brother- Johne!)
• may-may (younger sister – Ya-Huei!)
• jo-jo (uncle – mother’s younger brother)
• jo-ma (jo-jo’s wife)
• Baba (dad)
• Mama (mom)
• I learned uncle (father’s younger brother) but I forgot it! Here is a picture of dad’s younger brother (right), though, with Mr. Chen (left). Yes, Ya-Huei is her dad’s “mini-me”!

• 3. Johne calls Taiwan the “get shit done” country. He says they identify a problem and take care of it immediately!
• 4. night market: