At dinner, we eat fish, and pork with strips of salted ginger, and water spinach. It is the first day of our residency, and we are celebrating with a beer.
The table next door is boisterous. There’s a large group of customers drinking whiskey. They are talking loudly in Taiwanese. I have become used to the sounds of the language. It feels familiar, even though I can only understand snippets. “Guá kā lí kóng…” I tell you…. “Guá kám-kak…” I think… They are trading opinions about friends and colleagues and neighbours. They laugh loud, shake their heads at human foolishness.
We drink beer and eat. We talk about our plans for the residency. When it’s time to pay, the beer has made me bold. I take some 100 dollar bills from my wallet, and say to the boss, “To-siā！To-siā！Tsin hó-tsiah ê mi̍h-kiānn!” Thank you! Thank you! Very tasty things.
The boss looks at me, confused. It sounds almost like Taiwanese, but not quite. My tones are off. The rhythm is wrong. She inclines her head, looks at me intensely. “Tsin hó-tsiah ê mi̍h-kiānn!” I repeat.
Then she beams at me. “Òo!” she says. “Tsin hó-tsiah ê mi̍h-kiānn!”
We laugh together, passing the sentence back and forth between us, amazed at this small connection. “Tsin hó-tsiah ê mi̍h-kiānn! Tsin hó-tsiah ê mi̍h-kiānn!”
Already, Tainan feels like home.
Image: Illustration of salted fish. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
