Finding Familiarity — Oberlin Shansi

By Nissa Berle ‘23, Taigu Fellow 2024-2026

On my flight to Bangkok last December to meet up with my cohort, I was served a lunch of spaghetti and beef. The meal came with a wooden fork, and one would think that using any utensil would be like riding a bike… untrue, at least for me. In my four months living in Taigu, I apparently became so accustomed to chopsticks, my fork skills have become rusty. My time away from Taigu during our winter break travels has helped me realize how familiar I’ve become with Taigu, sometimes in small ways I hadn’t expected.

These last six months I’ve learned just how much I thrive on familiar places, people, food, things, and customs. During my travels this winter I’ve come to miss drinking hot water, only wearing slippers in living spaces, and ordering 黑米粥(hēimǐzhōu —black rice porridge) from a lady who knows me so well at this point that she asks if it’s my order before I say anything. I miss 栲栳栳(kǎolǎolǎo) lady teasing us for almost always ordering the same things (what can we say, we know what we like, and that’s their 栲栳栳 and eggplant). I miss the cat cafe guy handing me his cats because he knows how obsessed with them I am. One of the things I miss the most is rest period—I’m dying out here without rest period. It took me a couple of days to realize that the reason I was always SO tired by 3pm while traveling with my cohort was because I needed to readjust to not having a nap time to relax and have introvert time.

I’ve also, of course, become familiar with my classes. Over the semester I got to know my students fairly well, from the comedians to the heartwarming friend groups—I even learned one student wanted to drive his motorcycle all the way through China. When classes ended for the fall, I was sad to say bye to my students, especially since many won’t have classes with us next semester. Over our vacation I’ve been plotting my first class of the spring semester, and I’m excited to get started with new and old classes.

One of my classes at the end of the semester

To communicate with the community, I’ve also become accustomed to a variety of communication methods: Speaking in Mandarin, slow English, into phones’ translation apps, and gestures. I’ve gotten so used to using Mandarin that in my very first interaction in Thailand, I said “谢谢”(xièxiè—thank you) to the immigration officer. Even weeks later I still slip up, recently in Banda Aceh I said “对” (duì —correct) to a taxi driver and had a long moment of amused embarrassment while I laughed at myself —and Haley and Tiff, my co-fellows, laughed at me too.

While traveling, I also seek familiarity. In Bangkok we found a lovely cafe with kind staff and a couple of dogs (and stickers of those dogs!), and I returned almost every day. While exploring with someone at my hostel, we found a beautiful park with a track I returned to days later to go running with Yana (and went to the cafe immediately afterwards). In Vietnam, I reconnected with an old classmate from our study abroad program in Sweden and we chatted for several hours. I returned to the hostel for a night of food poisoning (from breakfast earlier, not our cake!), made better by the pineapple juice my cohort brought me (thanks y’all <3).

Connecting with familiar people, places, and traditions back in the US is challenging, but I felt very peaceful the first time I realized they still reach me in Taigu, just in more creative ways. I’ve been sent photos and videos or called into family gatherings, sat down in the middle of the afternoon to text a friend because she needed a listening ear in the middle of her night, and I’m participating in the most typical-for-us (as in, we likely won’t be ready until March or April—sorry y’all, but it’s true) Secret Santa with one of my friend groups.

Building a sense of home in Taigu is one of my goals for my fellowship, and I’ve been surprised by how impactful the smallest things can be. I’m loving traveling around Asia and spending time with fellows outside of Taigu, and I also can’t wait to return to my now familiar Taigu home. I’m looking forward to exploring further and finding new things that will become familiar.