Thursday, January 12, 2012
FINE. I'll blog again.
So, I'm back in America. It's a bitter-sweet thing, and I'm trying hard to be glad that I'm back but, truth be told, there are many times throughout the day where I wish my time in Taiwan was not yet quite over. Jet lag may or may not have something to do with this.
I have... a lot of pictures and things to blog about. December was quite the month for picture taking. So, because I don't want to overload you
too much, I'll be doing this in segments (however many it takes to get caught up).
First up, Christina and I attempted to take pictures with each of the little AK kids for Christmas. It took us three days to accomplish this, but I think it was worth it. Here are some of the little squirts that my heart is aching for:
Tiffany
Kevin getting the Teacher Look (but the tail end of it, so... doesn't look too intimidating here, does it?)
Group picture with Christina!
Group picture falling apart.
And Tim. How can you not miss this face? (Totally stole this shot from my partner in crime teaching)
Jay, trying to do a fish face. Perfect, because I'm the one that taught them that.
Now, the following three pictures tell a story. Kylie was trying to help us to take a class picture (unfortunately, not everyone was there, but you work with what you get in Taiwan). Nick was, well, being Nick. He was trying to cover his face, so I was holding his arms down.
Nick is now drooling. A lot. I haven't noticed. Yet:
I have now noticed the drool:
And declared picture time to be OVER!
Then there was Roommate Christmas (December 17). We had Christmas breakfast (pancakes and waffles), then opened presents. It was great fun. I'm going to let the pictures tell the story, though, because my brain is tired.
Immediately following Roommate Christmas, a few of us booked it to the bus station to make our way to Taichung for a Branch Christmas lunch (there was so much eating that day; I hate it when my whole day is centered around eating). For months I'd been wanting a good picture of one of the speaker trucks that drives by (usually advertising for the upcoming elections). How lucky was I when one not only drove by, but had a giant straw man on top? I'd say very lucky.
Christmas luncheon that turned out to be mostly the people I live with, but a few other dear friends from church as well.
Elias, Jenny, and the Listons
On the way home, Jenny wanted documentation of how crowded the bus can sometimes be. This isn't even close to the worst that I have experienced, but still is noteworthy.
Then there was the school Christmas Dinner. (Like I said. Nonstop eating All Day Long). There were these terribly delicious fruit mousse things, though, and I wish I could eat them always. They had strawberry (the flavor I chose) and mango (as pictured here, before Christina dived into it). SO FREAKING GOOD!
Kylie decided to sport a mustachustache for part of the evening, with a little help from Christina. Doesn't she look great?
Group picture with Kailey and Charlene. Man, I miss you guys! <3
Labels: children, Christmas, Friends, Holiday, Roommates, Taiwan, Teaching
Friday, December 23, 2011
I don't like change. The most obvious proof of this is staring you in the face: my blog, which has gone roughly unchanged for the past 5 years. I found a layout I loved, and I've stuck with it, despite the fact that it doesn't really cooperate so well with the "new" (or even "newest") version of Blogger.
Other examples to follow suit:
- When my BFFs KyleandFelix quit working at Disney. I didn't like that. It's not because I suddenly found myself with out an "in," but because it hit me that, hey, things really have changed and we will never go back to the way we were, hitting up B&N, snacking on Sprinkles, and gossiping about various cast members that we all associated with (even though I had already Moved On).
- When my friends, any friend (not limited to the BFF category), move. If it's just down the street, or a few miles away, fine. But when I suddenly find my friend moving to a completely different city or state (or, heaven-forbid-but-it-happened-anyway) country, I don't like it. I don't like that there is suddenly more distance between us and the difficulty this distance causes me in being able to visit my friend whenever I want to.
- And, finally, changes that involve saying Good-bye, possibly forever. This last one has been a pretty constant Theme in my life over the past two or three years, but this time feels different. This time I'm leaving another country that has come to feel like home to me. This time I'm leaving all my students that, while it took a lot of work on my part, I have really fallen in love with. This time it means leaving friends that have helped me to find doctors, fix my watch, and solve a variety of other problems. Friends that speak one of the most beautiful languages on the planet, yet were kind and loving enough to speak to me in my own language while, occasionally, trying to help me learn their own. It means saying goodbye to the nine other girls that I have shared a kitchen and a bathroom with, the girls that I have lived and been frustrated with from (but only frustrated from time to time, not often), the girls that I have stressed and worked with, and the girls that have had to endure a never-ending amount of rants and complaints from me. Some of them are staying on for another six months, some of us are returning to the States, and one of us is heading off on her next great adventure (Bulgaria!).
It's not so much Change itself that I don't like, I guess (change happens, it can't be helped; I mean, thank goodness for it, too, otherwise we'd still be living like the 80's with the big poofy bangs, and those blinding neon colors), it's the part where changing means saying goodbye to one thing so that you can move on to the next.
When they say "Taiwan will touch your heart," they're right. It has truly touched my heart. It has (ironically) changed me in many ways. It will always be a part of, me and the time I spent living here will always be one of my most treasured memories. Here's to hoping that, this time, it's not "good-bye" forever, but "until we meet again" on the beautiful Ilha Formosa.
P.S. Merry Christmas! This year, I'll be celebrating just with my Dad, and, when this posts, traveling around the Southern part of Taiwan before heading off to Hong Kong for adventures galore. If there are two weeks without you hearing from me, it's because I'm having far too much fun with my Daddy (and possibly no internet) to bother with blogs and things like email. If that's the case, then I'll catch you again sometime in January!
Labels: Friends, Roommates, Taiwan, Teaching, travel, work
Monday, November 21, 2011
Today, our Christina Joy turns 23. Tomorrow, in America, she will turn 23 again, except that she'll still be in Taiwan, so I guess that doesn't really count.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, I give you my favorite pictures of Christina, documenting the best five months we've ever spent together (don't worry, you've probably seen all of these picture before). (I was going to write you an ode, but .... it didn't turn out very flattering. Something about trying to use a madlib generator online.)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTINA JOY!!
Labels: Roommates, Taiwan
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Another fun adventure in the world of Taiwan.
Last night Heather and I went grocery shopping. We stopped at the bakery to buy some bread (there were only two loaves of wheat bread left, so we each bought one), and across the street from the bakery is the fruit stand, so Heather stopped there as well to get some apples. P.S. We were riding our bicycles. This is important.
After finishing up at the bakery, we rode our way over to the 24 hour store (a grocery store here in Taiwan). Heather made a comment that she didn't really want to carry her bread inside with her. "Just leave it in your basket," I said. "That's what I always do, and I've never had anything happen to it. Jenny is the one who taught me to do that." So, we both left our bread in our bike baskets and went inside. I think we were not in there for very long, maybe 20 minutes TOPS (but probably closer to 10 or 15). As we were approaching our bikes, Heather said something along the lines of "You have got to be kidding me!" ran over to her bike, and, yup. Her bread
and her apples were gone. But, don't worry, even though my bike was right next to hers, my bread was still in the basket. Also, Heather still had her pineapple.
I'm voting it was some homeless person that was
starving and saw her bread and apples. He didn't take the pineapple because he had no knife with which to slice it open, and he didn't steal my bread because, hey, one loaf is plenty for any person,
and I didn't have any other food in my basket.
Moral of the story? It's fine to leave groceries in your bicycle baskets, but if you're going to do that, then you should probably park on the street side of the store instead of the alley way..
Labels: food, Roommates, Shopping, Taiwan
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Once upon a time it was today, and Nica and I were coming home from church on a scooter. Sara and Christina were on another scooter (also coming home), and for a while we were basically traveling together. Then we hit this one intersection, and Nica and I sped ahead of Sara and Christina. Eventually, Sara and Christina must have taken a different turn, because suddenly they were no where in site; and, oh yeah. The scooter Nica and I were riding
died basically in the middle of an intersection, but we had enough momentum left to get us through the intersection and over to the side of the road. Sara and Christina did not pass us. Ever.
So we sat there, Nica repeatedly trying to get the scooter to turn on.
It didn't turn on.
It still didn't turn on.
I noticed a gas station on the next street corner, so we got off the scooter and started pushing it towards the gas station. The attendants there saw us coming and one of them came running over to us (at this point we were just across the way), thinking we needed more gas.
You know, despite English being a required course in schools here, it surprises me how many young people don't know a single word. They make up for their lack of knowledge in kindness, though, and it's not like I can really speak their language, either, so I can't complain.
Well, the kid tried getting our scooter to turn on. Wouldn't. He noticed that the gas meter said we still had about half a tank of gas left, so then he helped us push our scooter the rest of the way to the gas station. Then ALL the attendants came over and tried to help us. Finally, after a lot of discussion in Chinese and Nica and I just staring dumbly at the scooter not knowing what was going on, the female attended pointed to the scooter, to herself, and then to the street. "Follow you?" I asked, hoping they would understand. "Ah!! Follow you!" said a male attendant (I think the one that had first tried to help us). So she starts pushing the scooter down the street, and Nica and I trot after her for a ways. We arrived at what I am assuming is a scooter repair shop, and this short little man came and took a look at our scooter. He started unscrewing things, trying a few times to get the engine to turn over... Then he took out a part and replaced it (cost: $80NT) and tried to get the engine to turn over again. Still wouldn't work. Then he got the bright idea to actually look
in the gas tank and, oh. Guess what? No gas! The male gas attendant that had first tried to help us arrived on his scooter, words were exchanged in Chinese, he left, then came back with $20NT worth of gas in a water bottle. The engine turned over, the scooter turned on, it was glorious! A neighbor to the repair guy came over to us and was able to tell Nica and I what the trouble was. "The oil meter is not sensitive. You should get it replaced. For now, though, it is OK, only no gas." We said our thanks, then followed the gas attendants back to the gas station and had our scooter filled with gas. I told the female 谢谢 (xie xie: thank you) and she said, "Ah?" and then garbled off some Chinese to me, sounding really excited. I stared at her rather dumbly and then said,, in the most-used Chinese that I know, "Dui bu qi. Ting bu dong." (I'm sorry, I don't understand." "Ah. Ting bu dong," and she smiled, and Nica and I proceeded to follow the attendants back to the gas station. They filled our tank the rest of the way with gas, we expressed our sincere thanks once again, and made our merry way home without any more trouble.
Thing I learned from this experience:
- Always be prepared with phone numbers (check). By some stroke of genius that I can in no way attribute to myself, I had written down a bunch of Important Phone Numbers on my Berhan business card that I carry around with me at all times. Even though we didn't end up needing to call anyone, it brought me some comfort to know that we could if it became necessary.
- Never travel alone on a scooter. Or anywhere.
- People in Taiwan are basically good and will go out of their way to assist a Mei Guo Ren (an American) (this has actually been affirmed to me several times now, but never quite so obviously as with this experience).
- Prayer is powerful. Even though the miracle didn't happen in the way I expected, it still happened.
- God is great.
- You should always go to church and do everything in your power to remain worthy of the blessings that you seek after and/or ask for.
On that note, let's talk about Friday. If you haven't heard or gathered by now, I have been suffering from extremely severe insomnia for the last two months (give or take a week or two). Like, it's been really bad. I've averaged 4 hours of sleep a night (sometimes only 3 hours) and have been unable to even fall asleep for a nap. I haven't been able to get myself to fall asleep at night, and when I have fallen asleep, I've woken up to Every Little Sounds. It's ridiculous. I've never slept so poorly in my life. Recently it reached the point where I would burst into tears randomly at least once a day simply because I was so tired. My anxiety has shot through the roof, and I've had a fairly severe migraine almost every day due to lack of sleep. P.S. I have even been taking the Ambien that I brought with me, but it has done me little to no good.
Well, last week I mentioned my sleeping problem to Fenny when I was at her house. She, being the wonderful person that she is, offered to help me find a doctor and to take me to said doctor. This past Friday we were finally able to go. The doctor is a specialist, and actually a psychiatrist. He's also located right next-door to one of the supermarkets that I shop at. His English? Impeccable. Much better than Dr. Wong's (the ENT doctor that I saw back in September). We chatted for a while, Fenny occasionally clarifying somethings for him in Chinese that weren't coming across real well in English, and I came away with a week's supply of medications (Xanax, to help with the anxiety, a higher dosage of Zolpidem, and... something else that is also supposed to help me to sleep, but I don't remember the name of it right now). Fenny is going to take me back this coming Friday for an evaluation, but let me tell you. Wow. It has been so nice to sleep again! I've even taken
naps the past few days and
still have been able to fall asleep at night. Also, it only cost me $150NT for the visit, drugs included. For those of you not in the know with the conversion rate, that comes to about $4.97 USD.
I don't care what people say about national health care. Here in Taiwan? It works, and I have no complaints about it.
And... there are only 6 weeks of the semester left. That's only 24 more days of AK, 18 more days of Elementary, 6 more days of my writing class, and 5 more days of tutoring. In just 54 days, I will be home enjoying my parent's company, my mother's cooking, delicious restaurants that don't make me sick from all the MSG and onions, a room (and house) all to myself, and having my preciously adorable kitty cat following me around.
(What? Don't pretend like you didn't know a picture of my cat was coming.)
I anticipate, however, that I'll also be pining over lost friendships (or friendships with people that, really, who knows if I'll ever see them again?), never seeing my little kindergarten devils, and the kindness and generosity of people in Taiwan.
I love this country. I love the people. I love the children (most of them). Good-byes are always hard, but at least I
do have 54 more days to prolong the inevitable.
Also, hey. Fun fact: today Sara and I discovered that we had the same First Grade teacher, just two years apart. Awesome? I think yes. Note to self: when you get home, find your third grade yearbook and try to find Sara's picture.
Labels: Drawly, Family, Roommates, Taiwan, travel, work
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Yesterday we spent the day in Taichung. Besides hitting up Costco, we also went to a botanical garden and a few of us explored the National Museum of Science. Of course I took a million pictures, but I also finally managed to get three whole pictures of myself on my camera!
These tiles were really cool. You can't really see the picture that they form until you look in the mirror in the center. Jenny pointed it out to us as a little side-trip on our way to the botanical garden.
Can you see the picture? Butterflies!
This is a clock. There were a lot of people looking at the clock. We didn't really take the time to stop. (haha)
Another giant butterfly! And me. I really am here in Taiwan!
Kylie and Kendra.
Veronica and me
Biggest durian (I think that's what it is... Felix?) Ever.
Me again. Just in case you've forgotten what I look like.
Giant fish!
More of the giant fish! The biggest one I am pretty sure was bigger than me.
And this catfish reminded me of the ones at SeaWorld in the Manatee Rescue tank.
A ray for my sister
Dr. Harris, these dinosaurs are all for you. (Just ignore the date and time stamp; brand new camera and I, of course, did not read the manual so in playing with the settings, I somehow turned that feature on and didn't notice until a few pictures later. Fun fact: I actually set the date a day ahead on accident, so it's not completely accurate, anyway) The shirts say "Discover the Dinosaur" and are Chinglish free!
Some cute coconut pigs. I almost bought one because I think they are adorable, but I decided against it. The hot glue on this one makes it look like it is crying. Poor, sad pig.
I don't know. All the signs and exhibits were in Chinese, but I think it probably has something to do with the aborigines that first inhabited Taiwan.
Dandelion Fluff in a glass ball! I thought it was cool.
This was very ironic to my life for reasons that I can't really explain. But, hey, lanternfish! And other light-up sea creatures.
Kyle, this one is for you. You're welcome.
One exhibit that we were able to fully understand, even though everything explaining it was in Chinese. You know you've got a good illustration (can I use that word to describe our little water-filled friend here?) when it makes sense to people that can't understand your language.
A "nake" skeleton (Almost all of my AK students say "nake" instead of "snake." It's not actually adorable anymore.)
These dinosaurs moved. I actually took a couple videos of the moving dinos. They were awesome. Also, remember how I said all of the exhibits were in Chinese? That was totally true... until we came to the dinosaur exhibits! Then they started to be in Chinese and English, and it was fantastic. Most of the exhibits from here on out had English.
I took a picture of this feathered, flying dino (I'm sorry, I forgot the name. I am a terrible student.) without the flash, and then I took this one with flash and found the flash made it a lot creepier. I would not actually want this to come after me. That would not be awesome.
This giant beetle is chasing an elephant. I don't actually know why or what was going on with this display because it was one of the few in this part of the museum that was still only in Chinese.
Also, I thought this was disgusting. They have a display showing, basically, the circle of life. This dead bird is being eaten by maggots (they're not real, at least).
Anything can happen in Taiwan. Here, pigs fly!
I kind of loved the various archaeology related displays. Don't even worry, there is a mummy further on.
Can you see the number? It was constantly changing. At 3:42 PM in Taiwan on July 30th, 2011, the world's population was approximately 6,907,601,327 people.
They had this fun thing that you could do (same wall as the world population display) that showed about how many people had lived and died since you entered the museum. You enter in however many minutes you think you've been there and it does the calculations. In 30 minutes, it was estimated that 7,380 babies were born and 3,240 people died.
Sara, Me, and Heather. It sensed your body heat or something? I don't really remember very clearly. I was getting kind of tired by this point.
The real, dead mummy!
I want to go back sometime so that I can see the rest of the museum. It was HUGE and reminded me of some of the museums that I went to on my LA art trip this past semester.
Christina, Veronica, Kendra, Kaylee, Kylie, and Jessica. Jenny was on the phone and we were just waiting for Heather and Sara to finish looking in the final museum gift shop.
Also, for you, Mom. My first Taiwanese souvenir! I can't believe I went a whole month without buying anything souvenir related, but this was a real orchid, not too expensive, and I just couldn't pass it up, especially since it is tiny and should therefore be easy to take home.
Labels: Photography, plants, Roommates, Taiwan, travel, weekend plans
