A year ago, I sat in my apartment in Taiwan, staring out at the concrete jungle. Part of me felt completely at ease eating my Bento boxes, writing every morning before work, teaching kids English, but another part of me felt this pull back to America. Like I knew I needed to come back for my next chapter. Truthfully, I was homesick.
Fast forward to present day: living in Florida. Being home and appreciating loads of things I used to take for granted has been amazing. You know, things like having a mode of transportation bigger than a scooter, or being able to understand everything that I see, or even just knowing how to do something at the bank without asking a billion questions. Life, back home, was everything that I pictured leading up to my departure from Taiwan back in March.
Although, there are the lows. Sometimes, as silly as it sounds, I will have this amazing dream of eating shaved ice in the middle of Taichung, before hopping on my scooter and heading home to watch TV with my roommates. What’s even weirder is I will wake up after those dreams and think that I will be back in my apartment in Taichung, waking up to go to the gym before work.
Other times, I’ll have an intense craving for Taiwanese foods that are irreplaceable here. The Chinese food I have had here has been okay, but nothing compares to the authenticity of Taiwanese street food, which I do miss terribly.
Then there’s little simple activities that made Taiwan such an adventure, like driving a scooter in the chaos of the city streets, venturing to Wang Gao Liao with snacks and friends, or exploring a new city every month. All the little memories, the little cafe trips with my friends, or the brunch dates that cost half of what I pay for a meal here…they made me homesick.
Homesick used to be missing America for me, but I have realized what all expats who decide to move back home experience. It’s the reverse culture shock and at times, feeling like you stick out like a sore thumb. There are still many–so many–instances that someone will mention a pop culture related thing and I will look at them like they have eight heads, because I literally just don’t know. Ask me about K-Pop bands and I got you covered, but American pop culture from 2016-2018 is a complete blank.
Life in Florida is pretty swell, and the last couple of months have been nothing short of everything that I wanted all those months leading up to the move home. But sometimes, here and there, I have a little ache in my gut, remembering the time spent in Taiwan, my second home, and another place I am fortunate enough to miss.
