I met Cheryl at a former job working for the Taitung County Government. Cheryl came to Taiwan after college to study Chinese. After working as an English teacher in the countryside, she moved to Taichung, the city she's lived in pretty much ever since. Shortly after moving, she met her husband in a local teahouse that she frequented with her friends. She then opened her own translation company and started a family. Her two sons went to local school and eventually stayed in Taiwan to go to college. Cheryl recognizes that women face certain challenges in Taiwan both personally, in terms of finding a partner, and professionally because leaving English teaching is quite difficult. According to Cheryl, you really have to forge your own path as a foreigner. In her case, she became a bilingual tour guide. At her first guiding job at the National Museum of Science, met had an indigenous colleague. After she went back to his village, Cheryl knew that other Westerners would also be interested in learning about Taiwanese indigenous culture. Since then she's written multiple books and given courses on how local guides should tailor tours to Western guests. For example, Westerners usually like a more relaxed pace, less structure, and less explanation that most Taiwanese travelers. Thanks to her efforts, Cheryl won a Taiwan Tourism Gold Award. She plans to use her award and apply for a Special Contribution Citizenship in the near future. Cheryl plans to stay in Taiwan indefinitely and keep promoting her new home to the world
2 окт 2024