Case B: 26 year-old female

4.1.2 Case B: 26 year-old female Current Location: Taipei

Relationship: Met at a mutual friend’s birthday party.

Case B is a bubbly, cute girl that is sweet and always has a smile on her face.

Running into my group of (foreign) friends at the same restaurant she would introduce herself as being from California. But when exactly was the last time she lived there? She can remember clearly as if it was yesterday— June 20^th, 1992, twenty-one years ago. Why did the date stay prevalent? She contributes remembering the day she left the United States for Taiwan because of her childhood friend’s birthday. In 1992, she was merely five years old, but it made such an unforgettable impact on her life.

Her childhood memories are quite mixed, she remembers the suburban lifestyle that California had to offer: her neighbors, family friends, birthday parties in the back yard, and watching the fireworks on the Fourth of July. In a way, the way she thought of her past, the hazy, but happy way she reminisced really showed her love and her happiness as a child.

Perhaps some of these memories are a bit contrived, as an indirect influence of looking over past photo albums, but the tendency to embellish upon past memories is simply a part of human nature.

However, her currently life is here, in Taiwan, and has been this way for most of her life. Although she is currently using her Taiwanese identity to leave and enter Taiwan, this was not always the case. In her younger years, when she first moved to Taiwan, she went to a normal school like any other locals would. Difference is, her Chinese was not up to level, as she was in an English dominant atmosphere for the first five years of her life. However, as she spent the next five years of her education in local Taiwanese facilities, she also had the same experience as her local peers. She was enrolled in a local kindergarten, put into her neighborhood elementary school, went to a branch of one of Taiwan’s largest English after school programs (cram schools), and had an experience similar to what any local Taiwanese child at the time would have had.

The turning moment came was in fifth grade. Perhaps it was that her scores were not as high, or her parents did not care for the atmosphere, but Case B has passed the entrance exam and was to complete middle school and high school in the international school, Taipei American School. Taipei American School, often referred to as TAS, is a private

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international school of which you must hold a foreign passport in order to enroll. Her parents decided that her time would be spent in this school, and upon entry, Case B was ironically placed into an “English as a second language” course program. Eventually by the beginning of high school at TAS, she was placed into the normal courses with offered academic support.

In order to maintain status and stay in the international school, during this period Case B only used her American identity and did not start using her Taiwanese identity until after college.

As with many international schools, the goal is to have the students study a

curriculum similar to that of the country that they plan on attending college. Case B, as with all other TAS students, knew that their end goal of their TAS career leaned towards an acceptation and enrollment at an American university or college. Case B did just that; she enrolled and finished a four-year college program in an accredited California college.

College was great for her, and she loved it. Surprisingly enough, as much as she embraces the American side of herself, she feels quite mixed, and home is not California.

Home is with her parents, in a popular night market district of Taipei. For her, the thought of staying in the U.S. after finishing college was not even plausible. College in California was merely a four-year educational vacation from the place she calls home, Taiwan. Being brought up in an English environment in Taiwan, she admits it is easier to read, write, and text message in English. However, she usually only reserves English speaking to other English speakers. Case B loves her hometown of San Matteo, but she is distant enough where it is merely a part of her history, not her future. Currently she is in Taiwan and has no future plans to go to the U.S. outside of vacation purposes.

Case B identifies with both aspects of her identity. She herself admits she feels like she is a mixed identity, akin to that of an American Born Chinese (ABC). However, she has more physical ties to Taiwan. Her parents both pursued higher educational in the United States, and lived there for quite a while, their return was based on the father’s new job. Case B’s mother currently teaches at a well-known university in Taipei. Case B is also happier in Taiwan, not just because her entire family is based here, but because of the medical care that Taiwan provides. Case B suffers from a specific extreme acid-reflux disorder and needs to be under lots of care. In the United States, the medical care she would need would not be

provided, and even if she had health insurance back in the States, it would cost more than she could pay for.

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Case B is also a part of the “boomerang” generation in youths of today. Commonly referred to as boomerang, these children have left their parents, only to go back to them because they have yet to build a life independent from their own. This can be seen as a part of the poor economic status in the United States. However, this is not a phenomenon in Taiwan, and is seen as part of the culture instead. Taiwanese families are not just the parents and children, but often consist of grandparents as well. The daughter in the household usually lives with the family until she is married, and then she moves into her husband’s household.

There are instances where the children of the household move out of the house due to job locations, but this is just a temporary leave. The idea that the family will always live in that house is also why household registration is so important, as in Case A. The household registration is usually passed down through the men in the family.

Although she graduated college several years ago, and has held several different jobs and/or internships in Taiwan, Case B does not see herself going back to the United States anytime soon. Her home is in Taipei, not California. Idealistically, she would love her children to have the same privilege of growing up with a dual identity as she has. She would love her children to have a part of their childhood in the United States, but leave early

enough to also set the foundation for their Chinese reading and writing abilities. Case B feels she is equal parts of both cultures, even though she has lived more than half of her life in Taiwan.

The drastic differences between Case A and Case B are two different worlds.

Whereas Case A had a negative feeling, an unwanted stress about his English capabilities and the summer of miscommunication in the states, Case B had positive feelings towards her experiences in both worlds, even though she admits to her own struggles with both languages.

Having a more positive experience with the United States allows Case B to feel like she can still identify more with the United States and what it means to be an American than Case A will ever feel.

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4.2.1 Case C: 24 year-old male

Current Location: Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Relationship: Met through mutual friends while he was on holiday in Taiwan.

Case C was born in Seattle, Washington, one November evening. Although he has no memories of where he was born, Case C’s older brother remembers vividly the great time he had in Seattle, thinking that every single family has their own park (or what we would call, a backyard). Case C was not even a year old when he was taken back to Taiwan. Although Case C’s mother did not use birth tourism, she did stay with a relative while in the United States. Outside of this one relative, the family has no other connections to the United States.

Case C is the beginning of my interest in this mixed identification studies.

Case C is wildly charismatic and can light up a room in an instant with his presence.

He has a million friends here in Taipei, and whenever he is back here, he is busy every single hour of the day seeing friends, and occasionally family. Case C has been away from Taiwan since he was 16 years old. Calculating the years, he has spent at least five years living in the United States. However, this does not mean he relates to anything American at all.

When asked where he’s from, he will always say without fail that he’s Taiwanese, from Taipei. That is who he is, no matter where he is located. However, since high school, he has not used his Taiwanese passport. This is because he is still in the age range of which military consignment is required. If he were to ever enter Taiwan with his Taiwanese identity, he will be forced to participate in mandatory army enlistment.

Although Case C’s family still has that one relative in Seattle, the second time that Case C ever returned to the States was in 2006, and he went to Rowland Heights, Los

Angeles. Rowland Heights is known for having a large Asian population, many of which are Taiwanese, to the extent of which it is known as “Little Taipei.” Case C’s mother found a

“host family” who runs the business of operating a house where foreign students can live.

This host family is Taiwanese, and they open their homes to other high school and/or college age children who come over alone to the United States.

If Case C has such a wonderful family and life here in Taiwan, why would he ever leave? Case C went to his local elementary and middle school, and tested into an Arts Vocational high school. However, as with all things in Taiwan, the test will mark what