By: Ashmar Mandou

In the third installment of author Daniel Nardini’s fascinating time abroad, My Taiwan, Seoul, and Guadalajara (Mexico) Memoirs, delves deeper into the cities that have made a profound impact on his life. “The motivation behind my books is to get my memories down while I’m still here,” said Nardini, who visited Lawndale Bilingual Newspaper recently to talk about his latest endeavor. “I don’t know what is going to happen in twenty year so that is why I am doing it now. I wrote this book in three parts so that they make a statement and gives each city its own space.”

Memoirs

My Taiwan, believe it or not, has been in the making for twenty years. I tried starting again and again and had to place it to the side. Eventually, a year ago, I decided to write it down, for good. And I did. I began with Taiwan, my experiences there during an important part of the nation’s history. The second portion of my book deals with a more persona level. My time in Seoul goes into my experiences with my wife and her family history. Lastly, I included my time in Guadalajara when I was on assignment there for Lawndale News.

Time

Well, you see, here is the thing. Taiwan was evolving when I started in 1995. The country started to show the first signs of democracy, but not yet. Another reason why it has taken me this long to write down my experiences was that I wanted to wait and really think about my time there. Now with twenty years passed that has helped me to finally set it down.

City Life

What I enjoyed most from each place is that they had their own character and their uniqueness. There is no other way to put it. That is one of the reasons why I decided to write to down and mixing the stories all together would lose the very character and essence of what they are and were. So that is why I dedicated a chapter to each city.

Mexico

What makes this important in my viewpoint, the whole issue with immigration and our feelings towards Mexico, is that Mexico is a friend, an ally, and a neighbor. Whatever Mexico does affects us one way or another and whatever we do affects Mexico. With this book, I want to make it clear is the one thing we don’t want to do is make things worse in Mexico because we don’t want them as an adversary.

Advice

My advice for travel writers is to head out there and talk with people. People are the best resource to help add to your experience. They know the country, they will guide you, and they will help you. Gain as much experiences as you can and let those experiences simmer within you. Give it time, you may see it in a different light. Learn from your experiences and from there you can begin to write them down.

Author Daniel Nardini currently resides in Chadwick, IL with his wife Jade Nardini.

My Taiwan, Seoul and Guadalajara (Mexico) Memoirs is on sale now.