How to Survive in Foreign Country
My experience of living in Taiwan
Most of us are afraid of the unknowns and rightly so. This is how we survived as a species in the prehistoric period.
But the time has changed and the world has evolved to a less scary place. We can go to almost any place in the world in a day which was not possible 100 years ago.
But even though the world is open to us, we are still limited by the fear of the unknown.
I also faced similar concerns when I first arrived in Taiwan for my higher studies. I was worried about the language. I had many questions coming to my head.
How will I communicate when I don’t know any Chinese?
How will I adjust to the food in Taiwan? I am from India and the food found in Taiwan is completely different from the food in India.
How will I travel within Taiwan when all the signs are written in Chinese?
After staying in Taiwan for 8 years, I can safely say that it was one of the best periods of my life. I found out that once you embrace the chaos that comes with the unknown, you will unlock something inside you that is far more precious than just sitting inside your known prison.
You will not be afraid of anything as you have conquered the unknown. So, the following are the tips that I would like to share which might help you if you want to go to a foreign country:
Be shameless in asking
Being an introvert, it was quite difficult for me to ask people on the street for help. But this is one of the most important skills that everyone should have if you are planning to travel to a foreign country.
It took me 1 month to be comfortable enough to ask people on the streets for help and after I unlocked this trick, I have been using it everywhere ever since.
How to navigate the language gap
If you are traveling to a foreign country then you will definitely need English.
The key thing that worked for me is to keep trying to communicate.
You might get unlucky when asking someone in English and they cannot respond back but the trick is to keep trying to ask as many people until you find someone who can give some decent response.
In my initial days in Taiwan, I survived using the Google Translator app and to my surprise, it worked quite well.
The Food Dilemma
When you are traveling to a foreign country, you would want to try the local cuisine. But the problem is how to choose the shop and how to order in a foreign language.
My suggestion will be to go to the shop that has a decent amount of people in it. This has 2 advantages: First, you know for sure that the food is good enough to be popular among the locals. Second, you will probably find people who might help you to order the food.
If everything fails then you can resort to sign language to show what you want to eat like maybe showing the picture of the food from Google.
The key thing to understand is that it is a business and they want your money in exchange for food and so it will not be too difficult to communicate for completing the transaction.
Conclusion
Traveling to a foreign country can be terrifying for people due to the fear of the unknown. But my experience tells me that once you embrace the chaos associated with the unknown, you will unlock your inner hero that is not afraid of the unknown.
The key to surviving in a foreign country is to keep trying. You will be surprised by the ingenious ideas that you come up with for a particular situation.
