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Bo-Lin Chang was extremely excited when his company offered him a transfer to Taiwan. Chang had been living in the Boston area for nearly 20 years after completing his education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And, although he was originally from Hong Kong, his family moved to Taipei when he was a young teenager, so the idea once again living among fellow Chinese was exciting and maybe a little frightening. But, Chang didn’t realize just how Americanized he had become. His language skills were well developed and, due to constant contact with Chinese living in America, he hadn’t lost the ability to converse in Mandarin at all. What he didn’t anticipate were all the subtle Americanisms he would miss once living in Taiwan. Some of these nuances were things he had taken for granted like not being able to find over-the-counter medications like Tylenol or Advil and others. Household cleansers were limited in choice as were personal items like shampoo, soaps and tooth paste. “I never gave it much consideration that I couldn’t just walk into a local grocery store and buy a jar of my favorite peanut butter,” Chang said. He said there were so many aspects about American culture that had crept silently into his normal routine that he had not considered when making the return to Taiwan. One area of Chinese, or specifically Taiwanese, culture Chang said he had thoroughly overlooked upon his return was the art of haggling. Negotiating was common everywhere whether in an open air vegetable market or in a traditional retail shop or store. Since he had lost any skills for negotiating, Chang said he was at the mercy of many merchants when buying the essentials for daily living. Other areas he said he had challenges were interaction with a single-culture society. Multi-cultural Boston life was quite more liberal than that experienced in Taipei and Chang said this took some getting used to.Although road transportation has improved recently throughout Taiwan, it doesn’t compare anywhere to what is available in the States. Furthermore, Chang noted, a great deal of transportation between the islands that make up the nation of Taiwan is conducted by ferry boat, a form of transportation many working Taiwanese use on a daily basis. However, Chang said using this form of transportation took a bit of getting used to after traveling by subway for the last 20 years.

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