Two years ago, Sarah Regn packed her bags in her Shamong home and hopped on a flight to Taiwan, advancing her career and her knowledge of the world.
A high school degree from Seneca High School in 2013, a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rutgers University in 2017 and a master’s in elementary and special education from the university was not enough for Regn. She felt a calling to East Asia.
“I heard about the Fulbright program and I thought it was a good opportunity and I applied to Taiwan,” she said, referring to the nationally funded international exchange program. “I had pretty good chances of getting Taiwan and I really wanted something totally different from America and Western culture that I’ve grown up with.”
The Fulbright program has provided Regn opportunities to meet new people, face new challenges and foster a love for exploration.
The 24-year-old said she teaches literacy full time to a classroom of 35 second graders at Wagor International School in Taichung City, Taiwan, helping the young learners grasp the English language.
Regn is one of nearly 50 other teachers at the international school who hail from different countries. She has her students learn by using visual aids, color coding, physically moving around and breaking big words down into smaller ones.
Above all else, Regn said her favorite lesson to date is the Kindness Project she asked of her students.
“The kids each found a rock in the community and on one side they wrote an affirmation in English, and then on the other side the Chinese translation,” she explained. “We painted them, decorated them and planted them outside and around our school.”
Outside of the classroom, Regn has been able to travel to Vietnam and also immerse herself in Taiwan’s culture. Thanks to adventurous fellow teachers and some citizens, she ate octopus on a stick and worms and roamed the mountain ranges.
With a laugh, Regn described the pigeon she ate in Vietnam as bony and displeasing.
“You need to be flexible and adaptable and I often find myself saying yes,” she mentioned. “Yes to new food, yes to new adventures and yes to people.
“When you live abroad, you have to trust the people around you and sometimes it gets a little scary, but usually it works out well.”
In regard to the country’s scenery, Regn noted how the Taiwanese are almost always outdoors running, hiking or feasting in the open restaurants. She has adapted even more by using a scooter as her primary use of transportation.
But there are a few things Regn misses.
“Every now and then I want a taco,” she joked. “There are a few places, as far as food, that I can get here that I’ll have many things that remind me of home, but it’s the (American comfort) food.”
Racing through the high of exploring a new country, Regn said her tenure was extended when the coronavirus caused Taiwan to close its schools for an additional week beyond the two weeks off for the Chinese New Year in January.
Feb. 25 was her kids’ first day back to school and they are constantly urged to wash their hands. Desks are farther apart and routine health checks continue. If Regn’s temperature rises above 37.5 degrees Celsius, she is asked to go home.
“All of our kids are so tired,” she noted. “They’re so sleepy and I think it’s because it’s a lot of stimulation right now.”
Regn’s plans to travel during the Chinese New Year break were thwarted by the outbreak, but she seized the time to prepare for her classes.
The teaching experience has caused some to question whether she is actually learning or “just having fun.”
“My schedule is really intense and I work night jobs here as well,” Regn emphasized. “I’m working a lot, but when you’re abroad, the simple day-to-day tasks that seem mundane at home, are thrilling and exciting when you’re abroad.”
Regn’s teaching will end in July, when she will have been away from home for two years. But it will not be the end of her manifest destiny of the world.
She’s eyeing opportunities in Europe or in the Peace Corps.
“I highly recommend and hope that everyone, at least once, can get this chance to experience something different,” the teacher said. “Whether it’s a different state or country, job, you learn a lot about yourself when you say yes to something really, really different.”
