How COVID19 changed my plans and how I deal with it

Not sure how many people do it, but every year I would have goals for work, travel, and life. I figured it's a good way to keep myself happy--having a purpose and making sure that I am on my way to achieve it.

However, at the beginning of the year, I knew that many of my plans would fail:
-A ski trip to Japan + visiting friends in Tokyo
-Business trips to Hong Kong + visiting friends and just being there
-A wedding trip to Seattle + visiting friends and just being there
-Meeting up with my Spanish boyfriend, whereever and just being together

ALL THESE PLANS FAILED

As soon as I knew that this year will not be the same, I shifted my focus. I went through a thought process to figure out what is it that I want for the longer run, and what I can do in the short term to achieve it. So I listed out a few goals:

-Keep the relationship with a Spanish partner

• Learn Spanish
• Start a business model that would work virtually, so Emilio and I can be more flexible and not bound to our jobs in Asia or Spain respectively

-Strengthen my career competency in international environmental work
-Climb 5.11s (6b+, 6c)

After I listed out my goals, I realized there's still a lot I can do during COVID19.

To climb and stay healthy

First off, I can still climb, luckily in Taiwan, we are never forbidden to go outdoors. The only problem is my swollen fingers. I probably still need to lose more weight. So I would stay controlled with my diet--not having carbs in breakfast and only eat when I am hungry. Snack on nuts & fruits, and no sugar in coffee or tea. Although as a Taiwanese person I still cannot resist tapioca and other chewy stuff we put in drinks or shaved ice. In order to enjoy the food we love, I would cut on added sugar, carbs on other foods, or fried food in general.

To strengthen my career competency in international environmental work

There are very, very few Taiwanese people who do environmental work, and even fewer that do it internationally. In the past years, I saw many of my previous colleagues who went on this path, though most of them would focus on ocean and fisheries.

I study geography and forest resources. I struggle to find work that suits perfectly with my career aspiration. I took on digital work because I knew the skills are much needed in the virtual-everything era, and it's fun and challenging to convert people online. You have to be convincing, strategic, and on top of the social/news trend. Believe me this work wears you out. There's not a moment you could rest and stop learning. At the same time it's immensely fun.

This year the challenge is tremendous. We have a goal to shift our fundraising more digital, and yet we are asking for donations when people are struggling to live comfortably. There are a lot of changes internally to transition. It's hard.

Sometimes I do feel like I am growing further away from my goal but I am still taking on relevant work to prepare myself to do global work in the future.

I went on counseling 2 times this year. It helped. The counselor encouraged me to ask myself what I want and if I am achieving it. It sets me on track.

Patience is everything.

To keep a relationship with a Spanish partner

I wonder how COVID19 is impacting long distance relationships.

For us, I am in a super strict country that still quarantines everyone from abroad for 14 days even though we have no confirmed cases for more than a month. Emilio is in one of the most severely impacted countries, and he actually is in Madrid where things were bad.

We talk everyday, though. When Spain was in lockdown, we set goals for our relationship that we can keep ourselves motivated. He is learning English and trying on Chinese (oh well), and I am learning Spanish.

I always love languages and am actually good at learning it so for me it's a goal I can easily follow through. I signed up for an excellent online Spanish course, where there are virtual teachers who would call your name in class to read things aloud and even chat with you. I can stay at home and be in my pajamas, and talk to the classmates and teachers I will never meet. I can choose any convenient timing for myself, and give feedback to teachers on questionnaires. It's great!

Emilio is using online apps and listening to podcasts. Thankfully the pandemic didn't stop any of these and even added more content to all materials we consume online.

We also set up a website where we write about health and wellness. Eventually I am hoping to sell some Taiwanese goodies especially tea to Spain, so whereever we choose to be later on we have a viable economic model for the one that cannot work in another country. At least that's how I hoped so far. It's still experimental.

Certainly the pandemic make us all more resilient, and patient. Setting goals is a good way to keep ourselves motivated and aware that we don't have to just sit and wait. There are things we can do on self-growth, relationships, and staying healthy. I certainly went through some ups and downs. But here I am sharing my experiences. What's yours? :)

The "health-first" mentality that controls the coronavirus outbreak in Taiwan

Everyday when I walk to work, I come across with these elderlies who do their morning exercise routines in this public space under the metro. It's perfectly shaded and convenient. At night, the space would turn into a kids' mini-soccer field, or dance practice arena for youths, and of course, like many cities with Chinese populations, there would always be aunties who do group dances.

The routines don't change as coronavirus hits the world. Yes for once the group gatherings were minimalized, but as soon as we knew that the situation is well controlled in Taiwan, people start gathering with reasonable distance and masks.

People always care about being healthy as a community

Yes, in many other places in the world people also exercise in public spaces. What is special here is that staying healthy is not just one's own business but a community practice. It is a group of people around you that keep the health habits with you. It is your friend who would always share health tips on chat apps (Line, for example in Taiwan), or it's our TV news, magazines, and newspapers that would always have a column about health tips that keep you informed (though inevitably there would be scams & misinformation).

In essence, staying healthy is everyone's business here. We keep each other healthy, and give warm reminders to our loved ones on what to eat, what to keep as "good habits", etc.

We are a culture that is already well prepared for what nobody would expect to happen-a global pandemic.

We chose a government that parents us

As you can imagine as the pandemic first breaks out in China, our government immediately act like everyone's mother, telling us to wear masks, measure our body temperatures, and banning all passengers from China and then other countries from entering Taiwan, and put the people coming from abroad in a 14-day quarantine if they do end up here, whether it's a citizen or else.

Our government is so strict, so much that it's gotten quite annoying. For example, now the situation is controlled with zero confirmed cases for more than 30 days straight, we still have quarantines if we travel overseas, and we still have to wear masks in metros in 36-degree hot days. Many pubic place still take your temperatures and register your name just in case if anything happens they can trace the source.

Yes it's annoying, but everyone accepts it. Just like you would take your moms advice reluctantly because you know it's "good for you".

There are no limits for personal advice

I remember having a reverse cultural shock where when I first came back from the US back in 2011, one of the relatives told me that I had gained weight and I should look out for it. In the US, almost no one would give such a comment to anyone because it is too personal and it would be considered as minding other people's business too much.

In Taiwan there's no such a thing. Because you have to know where those advice are coming from. Senior people love giving all kinds of advices to youngsters, from what you should study to who you should marry. This is how they express care and love.

As much as young people like me hate advice like these, we knew from the bottom of our hearts that these advice are well intended and that we should take it. We might not take it eventually, of course, but we would politely accept it because it's a well intended advise from a senior.

When our governments imposes rules on pandemic restrictions, everyone follows. We give our government our personal data on health so they can track it with our travel history. We would line up for masks, because we knew tens of millions of them, made by our super efficient supply chain, are donated to countries like USA, Holland, Poland, Australia, France, Japan, etc.

We are a small nation that is desperate for international recognition and support for our shrinking space to participate in anything globally. We are not part of the World Health Organization, nor are we part of the UN. Because of the pressure from China, Taiwan needs to work hard to find our place in the world.

Caring for each other, especially on health is an important value for Taiwanese. This is how far we are filling to go for it, and how we would like to be recognized in the world.

Indulgence VS abstinence on health

When we look at the ways the world behaves or acts around the pandemic, we get confused. We don't understand why people would not take precaution very early on. For instance, when coronavirus spread to Italy, the Spanish weren't even concerned, and the officials in Italy mocked at the the ones that got nervous and wore masks everywhere. Our TV news mentioned these stories like fictions because it's simply not comprehensible for us.

To stay healthy, people are willing to take on habits that are not always "enjoyable". There's a Chinese idiom that goes "take bitterness as betterness." If you have eaten Chinese medicine you will understand. It is so bitter, but people would still eat it for that it is good for us!

If you have met Taiwanese women you would know that we drink very little alcohol. Unlike Japanese or Koreans, few Taiwanese women rarely have the habit of drinking or smoking. We also have lots of other good habits to take care of ourselves during menstruation such as not having cold drinks or take cold showers. It's all because we grew up getting much health advice from our moms (and we take it).

I'd like to point out that in some other things such as driving habits, we are not as well mannered as in for instance European countries. But on staying healthy, we keep our good habits.

Will I become a Taiwanese mom?

We have a joke to call those who love giving people advice to have the "auntie personality". From my intimate interactions with foreign friends it does seem like I give more advice to people than they normally would with each other. For example, I have already asked my boyfriend to quit smoking cigarette, though it's a common practice among his friends in the filmmaking industry. I also would put on sunscreen always when I go out during the day, because it can block UV and pollutants so my skin doesn't age so fast.

Besides health habits I also have all these habits to be environmentally friendly from BYOB to not buying coffee or beverages if I don't bring my own mug.

It can be annoying, so overtime I try to learn how to be caring in a nicer and more acceptable manner. Many of my Taiwanese lady friends are quite self aware of the "auntie personality" we may grow up to have, so we take precautions not to annoy people around us while we want to give good advice.

So I started this blog. Hope I can share good tips in a fun and interesting way :)

Stay healthy and happy during COVID-19 pandemic

Greetings everyone,

This blog is written in a very difficult time for the world--the pandemic of COVID19. Hope you are healthy and mostly well.

I'm one of the lucky few right now that are not in quarantine. I live in Taiwan, where the government takes care of the people. We have a national health system. Before the crazy outbreak of COVID19, our government already was preparing for it. We had experiences from SARS, so people also are extra cautious of virus transmission.

In Taiwan, our government tracks our travel history, which is connected to our National ID, and health records in the national database. This way, we can make sure those who have traveled to places with infected cases can be quarantined for 14 days after returning to Taiwan. Also, they hold press conferences every day, send out alerts through news and tv commercials, as well as through a LINE (the most popular chat app in Taiwan) chatbot, which sends you the latest world outbreak number updates a few times a day.

The information has been very transparent. Our government takes pride of taking care of us. Our president, for example, visits health care workers and mask factories to make sure things are working for this fight against the epidemic.

Chilling out rockclimbing in the Northeast coast of Taiwan

I am lucky! So now I have a few times a week that I work from home; I can mostly still go to the office. Everyone wears masks in public places and trains. They also take your temperatures in public places. I can still travel to scenic outdoors for a break, visit family and friends. In essence, life is normal, except that you need to go line up for receiving masks every once in a while, and that we are avoiding traveling abroad.

I have friends abroad so I'm writing this blog for you :) In the coming few days I will share some tips on how to stay healthy, how to stay/feel connected during social distancing. I will also talk about different ways to express yourself, and find your expression outlet, going inside out to find and express yourself. Lastly, how we stay realistically optimistic. Being practical and realistic is part of our culture, it's what keeps things together now. Perhaps there's something to share about it to the world at this moment.

Being happy and healthy is important for me. I'd like to share how we do that in Taiwan to those of you who are interested :)

Take care,

歲末年初 心情點滴

今天是2017在香港的最後一天。晴朗的藍天和陽光一早就給人好心情，直到現在，我才感謝現在是在香港而不是在台北，其實也就只是因為天氣 :P 今年聖誕、新年假期是我開始工作以來第一個沒有出去旅行的歲末，為此心理不免還是不太平衡，還好工作與自己的理念相符，心裡才好過些。

在香港工作好累好累阿！不像在台灣，下班時間大家還是會有效率地和很有頭緒地趕出該有的東西，加班很正常，上班的時候也一刻都不得閒，想到在台灣還可以睡午覺跟按摩或者出去遛達，在香港簡直沒可能，但也可能是因為我的工作職責範圍增加，以及整個團隊處在一個快速成長期，一個人都要當兩個人用。

我的team超級年輕(2個22歲，1個24歲還有我和大我3歲的老板，現在又多了一個21歲的實習生美眉)，讓我覺得來香港整個青春就突然消失，立馬變熟女...獨處的時候經常懷念從前的自己，可以耍賴裝可愛跟朋友鬥嘴還可以亂嗆人，現在就是要穩重可靠講理還不可以意氣用事。跟年輕人熟了之後，偶而可以在辦公室「吹水」(講些有的沒的)，算是在平時緊繃的辦公室裡比較放鬆自在的時刻。

香港的數位行銷是走在台灣前面，原因大概是西化以及高競爭性，所以你可以努力做出很好的東西，但後勁通常不會超過兩三天，馬上就有新的trend要去追，學都學不完，trend有content也有tools, 在現在這個資訊爆炸且太多trend要追要學的時候，真的需要有一個健全的團隊，裡面有不同長處和focus的同事，才能做出最好的成績。沒有一個人可以很完美，因此借力使力、與人合作就顯得更加重要。

工作之外，我交了一些新朋友，大多都是透過攀岩，因為總是有理由再忙都會約出來見面嘛! 我也從西環搬到彩虹搬到深水埗，香港雖小，但每個地方各有特色。雖然我的朋友(外國人)幾乎都住港島，我卻某種程度對自己建立的九龍生活圈感到驕傲。不論買菜煮飯、游泳行山，攀岩、看電影、按摩都很方便。最近更加入瑜珈教室，還開始健身和做空中瑜珈，算是新的嘗試...也算是慢慢習慣怎麼把「練身體」這件事比較有系統目標化地展開，就像在台北時去學salsa一樣吧...(整個還在適應中...超累)

旅行，喘息。年初和家人去斯里蘭卡，搬到香港後拼命工作了一陣子，總算5月去了印尼潛水，因為太喜歡了，9月又去了一次不同的島，8月去越南探洞找朋友，9月也去了想都沒想過會去的賽普勒斯，然後就一路工作到現在終於可以藉表姊結婚之名請假返台，不知道因為工作跟運動崩很緊的皮能不能有機會鬆懈一下。

然後完全放縱自己享受台北的溫暖與好生活。See you~台灣 <3

香港 chop-suey

On Work

March 10 at 11:56pm

在美國要會做自己，在亞洲要會做人。學得會做自己又會做人，那應該是中西合併的極致吧！

記憶中上次工作量大到耗盡我的腦容量大概是在美國剛出社會時。除了運動，完全沒心想其他事。現在連下班之後都在想工作的事，怎麼把哪些事做更順更好、怎麼溝通相反意見、怎麼在粵語環境做好文字工作...假日不再想填滿活動，而是擠出時間放空、洗衣服、買菜、煮飯。放空完就是從事一些只要出席不用計畫的活動如攀岩，再來才會想跟家人朋友聯繫。我想這個狀態應該會持續至少到年底，還好找到離辦公室走路20分可到的家，有時間好好睡覺zzz

On Election & Languages 

March 26

今天香港舉行了特首選舉，99.97%的人無法投票。

我室友也開了電視收看選舉開票。她36歲，單身，在廣告公司工作，客戶都是外國人。我從來沒有聽過她講電話，也很少聽到她跟人說話。她看的電視全是英文，跟我溝通也幾乎都用英文。偶而，我們會挑戰用普通話/廣東話溝通，但太累的時候就直接用英文，對我們兩個來說都比較輕鬆。

今天新聞用英文播報選舉，我說: 好奇怪，應該要用廣東話阿。她說: 回歸以前英文是官方語言，所以選舉過程都有英文，她似乎覺得很正常。英國已經不殖民香港了，但有些香港人還是覺得英文是官方用語，即使是本地政治，用雙語進行是正常的 (現在是三語，加了普通話)。

更有些人，寧可用英文也不肯用普通話。因地而異、因人而異。甚至有幾次在菜市場買菜和搭計程車，有老闆和運jun說可以用閩南話溝通。即使身為臺灣人總會想要切割跟中國的關係，但在某些時候，卻又不可否認同身為華人，血緣、地緣的連結感。

我是說，當一個菜市場的店舖老闆用廣東腔的閩南話跟你攀談，你不會感到親切開心嗎? 老闆說: 你來香港做什麼? 嫁人? 找ㄤ? 
我笑了XD 找頭路。我說。老一輩的人不論兩岸三地總是愛催年輕人嫁娶吧。有些文化的本質，看來不管到哪、過了幾年總不會變。

On Language Challenges 

March 27

一直到現在，我在粵語會議裡還是非常掙扎；但這讓我回想起在美國開始工作的時候，那時候主管給的一個回饋就是「Kelly時常在會議裡迷失」，那完全是因為第二語言要是沒有專心去聽，真的很容易變成背景聲音。還記得我最討厭也最痛苦的工作就是打會議紀錄，因為光是聽懂全部就很困難，更何況要一字不錯、精簡摘要出會議內容呢。

現在英文不是問題了，但我又再次跨出舒適圈，在職場上技術面、語言障礙等等都是新挑戰。還好有寬容熱情的同事，也還好四月中可以開始上粵語課。環境工作總要接地氣，這是旅行的意義，旅居的挑戰，我感謝一路上幫助我成長的人們 :)

Up till now, Cantonese is still a big challenge. I get lost in meetings, just like how it was when I started working in Seattle. Betsey Curran gave me a feedback that I often got lost in meetings! It was such a problem and I hated typing meeting minutes because just having to understand the whole thing was a huge challenge. 
And now I'm in this challenge again--language barrier, just a different language. I can get totally lost in meetings and people had to ask if I understand or not. Certainly I feel frustrated and incompetent, but I also understand the need to immerse myself in the culture. Ultimately, if you're doing environmental work it matters how you connect to the land and people, so I believe.
I will grow, and thank you for those who support me along the way 

我很好奇香港人是怎麼選擇要用什麼語言跟我溝通。隨著我廣東話進步，越來越多人會自然地直接跟我說廣東話。但也有一些人包括餐廳服務生聽到我的廣東話會寧可跟我說普通話(哭) 1990後的後生仔幾乎都會用普通話(而且有些用詞或發音很中國)，30歲以上的例如我前室友會選擇用英文溝通。到底我可以從此判斷他們的普通話能力，或者變通程度，或者尊重我是台灣人，還很難說。

剛剛用廣東話夾雜普通話跟graphic designer溝通網頁用圖，還是有點痛苦。講完電話都要喘口氣+嘆口氣。

也覺得中英文+廣東話都通的香港人真的很厲害，也由衷感謝願意跟我溝通共事的同事們😌😊

Ongoing challenge 😂😂😂

On People

Aril 2 at 8:28pm

在香港各式各樣的華人

來到香港很明顯感受到與世界接軌。除了外國人很多以外，也有很多各式各樣的華人: 英國長大的、美國長大的、澳洲長大的、南非長大的、義大利長大的等等。其實很有趣，平平大家都是華人血統，卻有不同中、英文口音，身上也有不同文化影響的痕跡。相形之下，在台灣顯得比較「美式」的我在這裡好像也挺正常的。

來到這裡的人，都滿有野心跟目的性。香港房租貴、工作壓力大，不像在台灣生活相對輕鬆、物價低廉。才來兩個月，我已遇到不只一個來香港創業或在新創產業工作的青年。這些人身上充滿活力，跟他們談到事業與異地生活，都充滿熱誠與野心。更神奇的是，我是透過攀岩這項「休閒活動」跟岩友的朋友認識這些人的。

想到台灣政府花這麼多心力想吸引海外青年來台創業，即使我們的科技業比香港強大，但國際人士還是會選擇香港而不是台灣。推測主要應該是英文是香港官方語言，所以即使沒有中文網站還是可以做生意，另一個原因可能是廣大的中國市場就在旁邊。

其實在台灣創業的朋友不是沒有，對事業有熱誠的朋友也不是沒有，只是文化上整體顯得謙遜有禮，講到自己的「事業」很多人會以「不好意思」的態度來表達。相對來說正常的自信就會顯得突出。可以說，某種程度上我在香港覺得舒坦一些，也有一種被身邊的人和環境刺激成長的感覺。很好 

I miss our old office. It's so close to the waterfront so you can just walk over and clear your thoughts from the day. For an overthinker like me long walks, bike rides, cooking and solo exercises have helped take me away from reality. I can come back with a fresh mind for more intensive thinking, problem solving, sensitivity and an open mind.

So... where can I relax near our new office? :P In Cantonese chatting is 傾偈. I love this word! It implies a level of intimacy, connection, and good listening. If you find someone 好傾 that can also help clear thoughts and even gain perspectives. After a while working in the more intense Hong Kong office I found more ppl are opening up to me. I appreciate the kindness and connections! It all takes time :)

#sunset #hongkong

來說一下要電話這件事。

感覺來香港之後被要電話的機率增加了。在西雅圖時，男生都超懶喜歡女生主動，所以都是我跟男生要電話。在臺灣我幾乎沒被要過電話，好像男生都不太知道怎麼跟我互動。在香港很有趣。攀岩從來沒有香港男生會在岩場跟我說話，要電話的都是外地人。去跳騷莎就完全相反，都是香港男生。攀岩的男生厲害的都只顧自己爬，不厲害的都不敢跟人搭訕吧。跳騷莎本身男生就要邀舞，而且什麼國人都有，所以男生都有某種的程度的積極，也習慣跟不同國籍的女生互動。

所以我攀岩五年了都沒跟攀岩的男生交往過，還好有去學跳舞等於開了一扇窗😂😂😂 還有香港人是不是因為普通話不一定順口所以說起話來都顯得特別溫柔斯文呢？

"Nobody's ever said anything bad about Taiwan."

當台灣人是一件很幸福的事，尤其是在這個時候的香港。昨天去了人生第一次遊艇派對，不論香港人或其他國籍的新朋友聽到我是台灣人，都露出一臉極親切的微笑，所有話題都圍繞著台灣展開。確實，來到香港七個月了，沒聽過台灣一句壞話。昨天的香港女生一口同聲說台灣的國語好好聽、很卡哇伊，男生更是不用說自動會把刻板印象溫柔體貼放在台灣女生身上😂 住在香港的外國人對台灣都有食物很好吃、步調放鬆、人很親切的好印象 (卻還是因為高薪和英文環境住在香港)。

我最愛炫耀的還是婚姻平權和資源回收，當然還有民主。這些我們 take it for granted 的東西，其實得來不易。我現在就正經歷著人生第一次沒有回收的居住環境😑

辦公室裡，每個星期都有不同的同事去台灣玩。身為辦公室唯一的台灣人，心裡既感驕傲，也不免有點複雜矛盾。

跟香港的關係，還在摸索。挑戰、衝擊等等都令人疲憊，卻也給了很多成長的養分。

感謝老天老爸老媽把我生做台灣人🤩