Simons Sisters Dish on Expat Life in Taiwan

Shekinah and Shalom Simons were born into a family of nine siblings — five sisters and four brothers — in Baltimore, Maryland, before moving overseas to Thailand. In the years they’ve spent abroad, they relied on remote learning and cryptocurrency in order to travel around Southeast Asia and immerse themselves in foreign cultures and languages. The Simons siblings were vacationing in Taiwan when the coronavirus broke out in early 2020, forcing them to reevaluate the circumstances and settle down in Taipei instead of returning to Thailand.

I sat down with Shekinah and Shalom to discuss what it’s like as African Americans living in a new country during the pandemic — what made them stay, what culture shocks they’ve experienced both in America and abroad, where they see themselves in the future, and more.

Photo courtesy of Shalom Simons

First of all, it’s crazy that you both grew up in a family with a total of nine siblings. What’s that been like?

Shalom: Haha, definitely, it’s a lot to handle! There’s five sisters and four brothers total. When we left Baltimore in 2007, we moved to this village called Pattaya in Thailand, about two hours from Bangkok. We were all about 12 and under at the time and had the best of time growing up there. It was amazing. My siblings and I are all about two years apart — the oldest is now 27. I’m 23, Shekinah is 21, and the youngest sibling is eight.

Shekinah: We all grew up homeschooled, and some of us are still taking classes online because of the pandemic. But since none of us are attending any in-person classes, it’s just been so easy for us to stick together and take care of each other all this time. During covid, it’s been the easiest adjustment since we’ve been doing what everyone else is doing already for years. Online remote learning has been our main choice because we wanted the flexibility to travel and see the world.

How important is it for all of you to immerse yourself in a place you don’t know much about and meeting new people and understanding different perspectives?

Shekinah: It’s so important to us. We are definitely the types of people to want to jump in new situations. Shalom and I consider ourselves “third culture kids.”

V: Tell me if you feel the same the way — I’m so used to surrounding myself with diversity that hanging out with people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds is my natural comfort zone, not the other way around.

Shalom: Oh God, completely. I remember my siblings and I went to a cookout once, and everyone there was telling us that we weren’t acting “black” enough because we spent so much time abroad in Thailand.

Shekinah: That one time I really didn’t feel like we fit in at all was when we went back to Maryland, where most of us were born. I mean, people were looking at us weird when we started talking, and they were like, “Where are you from?” They just knew. From the accent, to the skin, to the way we walked and talked. Even the way we dressed!

V: I feel that way in Taipei, too, with my American mannerisms juxtaposed with the Taiwanese locals. Like I only halfway belonged.

Both: Yes, halfway belonged.

How did you all end up in Taipei? What was going on through your minds when you realized you were all going to be stuck here for a while?

Shalom: We came to Taiwan about a year ago for vacation actually. We’ve never planned on moving here! We literally got stuck here due to the pandemic. We had a roundtrip ticket booked to go back to Thailand, but we had to let those return tickets go to waste, because Taiwan went into lockdown. We were supposed to leave at the end of January 2020, and then it was like — nope, no, I guess we’re not!

Shekinah: When I realized we were going to be stuck here, I thought it was the end of the world. Like, this has been predicted, and it’s happening now. I was freaking out, at least during the first month into lockdown. My brothers were more chill about the whole situation, but they definitely were concerned about not being able to see old friends.

Shalom: Yeah, especially since we just moved to a new country where we don’t speak the language. Back in Thailand, we speak the language, we know the culture, everyone knows everybody! So coming here where everything was new to us was so weird. We were also living in Tamsui, the fishing village up north, where not many people even spoke English. So for a long time, we felt so isolated and didn’t know what to do. It was so strange.

How long did it take for you all to break the barrier and feel truly settled and comfortable here in Taipei? How has expat life been so far? What are some things you still struggle with?

Shekinah: For me, it took about six months. Culture shock was big here in Taipei! We’re so used to Thai culture, and it’s just another reminder that it doesn’t matter how near or far you go, different places do things differently. I also struggled with the weather. Summer was extremely hot here, a lot more humid and harsh on my skin. A lot of my expat friends here have also told me they experienced rashes from the moisture here.

Shalom: Hair was also an extreme adjustment itself here. We don’t even go to the salon — we braid our hair ourselves. We grew up in Asia, so when it comes to hair beauty, we know the options are limited and we don’t expect anyone to know how to do our hair here anymore. We know. If we grew up in America, it would have been different, we would have known where to go to get our hair done.

Shekinah: Learning Chinese has also still been a struggle. We’re learning at a slower pace than we anticipated just because most of us are still focused on online school and aren’t here to actually take Chinese lessons or work in a Chinese-speaking environment. I’ve made an active effort to make friends through expat groups on Facebook, too. That was definitely super helpful. My advice to anyone moving to a new country is to try to make new friends before you get there so you have something to fall back to.

Shalom: I’d say the expat community here is great. It’s easy to make friends once you know one or two foreigners here. And I haven’t met anyone here that I absolutely hate. They’re all wedding material. I would invite a lot of these people to my future wedding because expats here treat you as their own. I really like that.

What do you like most about Taiwan, now that you’ve lived here for about a year?

Shalom: The people. I stand by that 100%. They are the most generous, friendly, helpful people I’ve met in my entire life. Like, wow. I’ve traveled to a lot of Southeast Asian countries since I was nine — from Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, et cetera. I was not expecting so much kindness coming from the immigration officer when I first came to the airport.

Shekinah: Taiwanese people are so orderly, respectful, and kind. I also love how professional people are here. There’s tons of opportunity for anyone who wants to try something new. Taiwan offers so many scholarships to people of different nationalities to encourage them to learn Chinese and experience their culture.

Shalom: I also love the fact that Taiwanese people are so accepting and tolerant of other cultures, and above all, willing to learn. This isn’t the case for most other Asian countries, or any other country in general. Like, when we lived in Tamsui, people would look up bus arrival times and translate them into English for us. It was so nice.

V: Taiwanese people definitely don’t take diversity for granted the same way people do back in the States.

Shalom: They see color here, literally.

Shekinah: In America, when they see someone who’s different, they’re forced to adjust. But not here! They celebrate it. You can be yourself as who you are here, even in the expat community.

Tell me what foods you’ve grown to love here in Taiwan.

Shekinah: I thought scallion pancakes sounded absolutely disgusting at first. Like yuck, no! But it ended up being one of the best things I’ve ever had. You can get these anywhere, and it’s such a nice savory snack to have.

Shalom: For me, it’s a warm or cold bubble milk tea from 85C. I’m not crazy about the pearls though, they disrupt the experience a bit! I always forget to tell them to not put too much of those in my drink. But the one thing I can’t stand here — and I gotta say this — is that there’s way more tea options than juice!

Shekinah: Yes! Back in Thailand, we would have street vendors everywhere selling all kinds of freshly squeezed juice. On the spot. You could have any kind of juice you wanted. Orange, coconut, you name it. No ice and no added sugar. Here, not so much.

What was the craziest experience you’ve had in Taiwan so far?

Shekinah: For us, it was during Lunar New Year this year. We weren’t prepared at all — we expected all the restaurants to be open and see street fairs celebrating the holidays with parades and all this fanfare since Taiwan’s coronavirus numbers are so low, but during that week specifically, everything was closed. The streets in Taipei were just silent.

Shalom: And it was our other sister’s birthday, too. So we couldn’t even go out for dinner. Everything was locked up at the mall. I think we just ended up going to 7-11 to pick up something, but we didn’t even have a cake for our sister that day. It was just so underwhelming and hilarious.

Shekinah: There was also that time when we were in Tamsui looking for apartments. Back in Thailand, you literally can just walk into a complex and knock on the door asking if there’s a condo available for rent. Here, you can’t do that! They looked at us like we were crazy and told us we had to book an appointment beforehand!

Having lived in Taiwan for a year now during the pandemic, do you and your family still see yourselves staying in Taiwan long-term? Or is Taiwan just a stepping stone?

Shekinah: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. It’s hard to say right now. We’re just here on a tourist visa with constant exceptions. We’d love to start a business here if we can, a school, or something. But we’d love to stop asking for extensions and apply for a proper visa instead.

Shalom: Since we’re still in the process of getting our Bachelors, we have to worry about finishing that first before finding a job. Positions are open, there are lots of jobs here but they’re quite demanding here in terms of working hours and the pay is mediocre. I’m not considering teaching English full-time here. Starting a business as a family here seems more attractive of an option to me.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.