Fulbright Taiwan: My Thoughts

Disclaimer

These views are solely mine and do not reflect those of the U.S. State Department, Fulbright, IIE, the Embassies, and other government entities or organizations involved with the Fulbright Program.

Introduction

My name is Niang Thang and I have been serving as an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Kinmen, Taiwan for the 2024-25 grant year. I have had the privilege of teaching at an elementary school during this time alongside my cohort comprising of 11 ETAs and 1 ETF (English Teaching Fellowship recipient).

I want to preface that these are my true, raw, unfiltered thoughts throughout my time here in Taiwan to shed some light on the program as a whole and an idea of what being an ETA comprises of. Again, these views are told through my lens as I will carefully articulate my thoughts, feelings, and opinions without listing any events/names. Let your imagination run amok. You have my permission.

Fulbright Taiwan as a Program

Fulbright Taiwan is quite audibly roaring with the colors of red, white, and blue. Whether you take it as a good thing or a bad thing, I'll leave that up to you.

Remember to be Glocal. If you know, you know.

I honestly paid no mind to the political insinuations during our conferences despite their attempt to remain impartial. However, it has been increasingly palpable that the program heavily leans towards one side of the political spectrum whether you wish to admit it or not (or at least the vast majority of everyone I have interacted with). That's not to say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. It is just something to be aware of when you enter this sphere.

For some context, I come from an extremely right-winged institution where conversations of gender and sexuality were as common as people knowing about the civil war ongoing in Myanmar (slim chance to none). Most of my friends were republicans (including everybody in my family) and I happened to be acquaintances with someone who I eventually found out was a Zionist. Just because I came from and existed within this space within the last four years of my life doesn't necessarily mean I agree with everything that they believe in. But that doesn't mean I don't not support some aspects as well.

To arrive in Taiwan with this basis almost had my head turned upside down. It was quite a stark contrast from the red city of West Palm Beach, FL. Suddenly, it was quite evident that people only bled in shades of light blues and dark blues without a speckle of red to be seen. For me personally, it was quite overwhelming to experience such as a change. I'm not a republican perse but I sure did feel like one in some conversations I've had within my time here. Again, not to say that as a good or bad thing. But just something to be aware of.

That said, it really has been an eye-opening experience. And while this might sound off-putting or borderline offensive, I say it with genuine sincerity: I’ve never met so many gay people in my life. Not only was my perspective shaped, but I was beginning to have conversations that I could have never had back in my time in Florida. And apparently, I recently discovered that I have a really bad gaydar. Ironically, now most of my friends are part of the LGBTQ+ community and are liberal. Similar to my time in my undergraduate years, we have conversations and views on life that we agree on and we disagree on. And that's ok.

On the bright side, my political horizons were broadened. What does it mean to be a democrat? What does it mean to be a republican? What does it mean to be independent? I personally do not have the qualifications nor the experience to even engage in such a conversation. But it is now a concept that I have been starting to ponder on.

My Personal Life

@ future ETAs, gather your friends and besties and mark a date towards the end of June and ask each person this:

What is something you wish you could tell your past self on the day you received your Fulbright acceptance?

I fell for the Fulbright propaganda. Hard. If you're not familiar with this, allow me to explain. Fulbright is a prestigious international exchange program between the U.S. and other countries. It is an extremely competitive program to get accepted to (also depending on what country and the type of Fulbright award you're applying to).

From where I come from, getting a Fulbright is only for the brightest and the smartest people within your school. Getting the Fulbright guarantees recognition at graduation, a personalized email from the president, and a mild form of imposter syndrome.

One thing I wasn't prepared for after receiving the Fulbright was seeing how people perceived me differently. It was quite an abrupt change from people not believing in you to people seeing you as a success. Honestly, I'm still grappling with that to this day. Even now, my parents tell me about a person they've talked to who has mentioned me by name and how much I've been a success. THAT is the weight of the Fulbright name within my school and my community to give you an idea.

As I've mentioned before, I applied as an English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan. And before I continue, let me just preface that: no, I do not want to be a teacher, no, my major is not in English or in Education, no, I do not know anything about Taiwan, and no, this job does not prepare me for my future career in any way whatsoever. So why might I apply? Because it was Fulbright. And to a person like me, Fulbright opens doors.

Let's get back to the question: what would I tell my past self?

Don’t mistake prestige for purpose. And have this serve as a learning experience in learning the difference between investing time into what is SUBSTITUTING your passion versus what actually IS your passion.

Lord knows I'd be much happier doing chromatography in an orgo lab than teaching 4th graders how to ask what their friend had for lunch.

Lessons I've Learned

WARNING:

This will be intense.

Let me list some bullet points because Lord knows that I can't get into detail on all of them here (if I did, it would be longer than Pride and Prejudice). And if you're a Kinmen ETA reading this, maybe you can benefit from this too.

No one owes you a friendship. But you are owed empathy and respect.

I write this in BOLD, ITALICS, and UNDERLINE. You have the right to befriend anybody you want. But you aren't entitled to every single moment of their time as well as being invited to wherever they go. Granted, does it suck to not be invited? Of course. Does it suck when somebody doesn't want to be as close to you as you want to be to them? Of course. I definitely felt this way sometimes during my time here. BUT, one thing I did know, (1) why would I feel entitled to be invited to a dinner or event with people I'm not even that close to? (2) even if I have stronger fond feelings for this person than they do with me, I just have to live with that and get over it (aka it's not their problem but mine).

I have people I don't like in the cohort. That's fine. But I'm not outright showing the middle finger and blatantly ignoring these people whenever I see them. The most I will do is smile and say hi and if they talk to me, I will respond. And I expect the same treatment from people if they don't like me back either. We're grown adults. Let's act like it.

Have a problem? Communicate. If you don't want to, let it go.

Let's go back to elementary school everyone. Students! Let me ask you, do people have superpowers? No! Can people read each other's minds? No! Why not? Because we're human! But teacher teacher, what if this person made me really mad and I don't want to talk to them? Well little Sally, they won't know what the problem is unless you tell them!

Anyways, we're not in elementary school anymore. We're in Fulbright. One of the most competitive and prestigious cultural exchange programs out here with a <15% acceptance rate. Let's use our big girl mouths and have big girl conversations.

I cannot stress this enough: if you have an issue with someone, it is on you to TALK. I don't want to hear excuses. But I'm scared that they won't like me, I don't think they'll be receptive, I think it'll ruin the friendship, I've done this before but it didn't work, etc. Don't make me slap you. If you clearly care about the relationship and have enough respect for the person and the relationship, you will be able to put your uncomfortable feelings aside and address the situation. If not, YOU yourself are being selfish and prioritizing YOUR negative feelings over the possibility of talking it out and working towards a solution with the person you have an issue with. But nobody wants to hear that.

Age doesn't equal maturity.

I say this because I am a part of this. You really expect for people at the big age of being over 20 to be somewhat emotionally and intellectually mature. But that's not the truth. Granted, I learned a lot on how to be mature from people who are younger than me. Did it hurt my ego? Of course. But I learned a lot of important lessons from them because as much as I hated to admit it, they had the experience to back it up whereas for me, I didn't. Maturity doesn't come with age. If you didn't know that, you do now.

Actions have consequences whether you want to believe it or not.

Oh brother let me crack my knuckles for this. If you are over the age of 21 and still having trouble understanding this, I genuinely have no hope for you. If you are talking shit about people, there are consequences to that. If you are constantly bombarding somebody with your issues, there are consequences to that. If you are constantly rejecting everybody's advice yet continuing to complain about your issues, there are consequences to that. Do I need to go on?

Again, I am not immune to this either. Have I done things that I shouldn't have during my time here? 1000%. But I'm not surprised when I get dealt with the consequences of my actions. For instance, I did gossip. Consequence to that? The person I gossiped about found out and doesn't want to talk to me anymore. 100% valid. Was I in the wrong? 100%. But I should realize that these things have consequences and I should be prepared to deal with it when it comes my way.

Sometimes, you are the problem.

If this struck a nerve with you, you might want to want to reflect on some things. It's a hard pill to swallow. I get it. But there may come a time in your life where you are the problem whether you like it or not. It's not a nice feeling. But it is a path to improvement. First step is recognizing it. Next step is change. If you are the problem, take the steps towards improvement and don't take it personally. That's life.

Take this as you may. Call me Paul in the way I'm writing a strongly worded letter to the Church aka future ETAs. Thank you and you're welcome.

Final Thoughts

Surround yourself with good people. If you can't find any, be the good person. No matter whether you're a Democrat or Republican. Fulbright or no Fulbright.

Also, pray. Prayer works y'all.