Find a group of people that challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life- Amy Poehler
I've lived in Taiwan almost 3 years and there's been many ups and downs. The one thing that truly makes it difficult to live here is the lack of communication I can have with Taiwanese people because I don't know the language. This weekend, I was able to hear stories and the history of Taiwanese people who spoke English which allowed me to have a new respect for the culture.
I went to an event sponsored by a group called Inside Taiwan which is a group of younger Taiwanese people who speak English and they create events that expose foreigners to various important events that occur in Taiwan.
This weekend I went to see the Mazu pilgrimage, which is the 3rd largest religious pilgrimage in the world that takes place throughout central Taiwan. It is based on the God Mazu, who is the goddess of the ocean. In order to give thanks to him, people walk over 200 miles in 9 days. It is amazing to see the will of the people both young and old who complete this journey.
I was amazed by the kindness of the Taiwanese people which was so great to see. Along the route every day, businesses give away free food and drinks to the walkers. People also offer their houses for people to sleep in. At the event, a kind Taiwanese woman showed me where over 100 people were sleeping in a local business. Through the Inside Taiwan event, we were offered a free buffet with unlimited food and drinks. Taiwanese were very happy celebrating and giving thanks to the God Mazu.
This truly gave me hope for humans and really opened my eyes to how kind Taiwanese people can be. It really helped me to understand the culture more and I feel very blessed to be able to experience this event.
If you are ever in Taiwan, please check out this group Inside Taiwan. They are an amazing group of young people who are not tour guides, but actual young adults living in the community and they have volunteers from local public schools who they teach history and then they present the information in events to foreigners. I had both middle and high schoolers teach me about their community today and it was beautiful to exchange information on our cultures. We can all learn from each other.
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