Being bilingual helps Katie to connect with people and cultures much different from those in her hometown. As a rising fifth-grader who speaks both English and Mandarin, she appreciates her ability to bridge language barriers and loves being a part of the EXPLO community.

A lot of people hear me speak Chinese and think I’m an international student, but I’m actually not. I was born in the U.S., but I’m bilingual because my mom is Taiwanese. She immigrated to Hawaii for high school with her three siblings and her mom, and right from the start she spoke Chinese to me, so I just grew up speaking both.

If you’re not bilingual, don’t be worried; but it’s definitely useful. If someone needs help translating, you can translate for them, and it’s nice to be able to help out. For example, if they needed a pencil but they weren’t comfortable asking, I would just ask for one and give it to them. It’s a cool feeling. 

I would say the biggest difference between here and Taiwan is that Taiwan is a lot more cooperative, more together. Yes, maybe everyone goes together to a restaurant in the U.S., but then they go home by themselves. In Taiwan, if they have dinner, they will always invite each other over for tea or something.  EXPLO is actually kind of similar to that. You can go to anyone’s door and knock and just go in. We play games and you talk with everyone every single day. It’s a big community.