How long does maintenance take?

I am seriously far too attached to my computer. I almost went into shock without it for the past 10 days.

On that note, dumplings are never allowed near my computer again. I don't know if I could make it through that again.

Long story short: I was eating dumplings a couple of weeks ago. My computer was sitting off on the chair next to me playing music and I reading a book. As I bit into one of those juicy (though not even that tasty) dumplings, the juice and grease from inside shot out across the room and landed on my keyboard!

I was momentarily frozen and then I kicked into high gear grabbing a towel and trying to sop up what I could.

My computer continued working for the next 30 minutes or so, but then the keys slowly stopped working. It started with the 3edc-row. Then the 2wsx-row started acting up and next thing I knew the 4rfv-row, the space bar and the Apple button all stopped working.

Unfortunately, there are something like 18 Studio As (Apple reseller in Taiwan) and only one service center for them to all go to. It took them three days to decide what was wrong with the computer (though it was obvious) and then another week to fix it.

But I have it back now and that's all behind me.

Things of note for the time that has passed:

Taipei in the middle of the day in the middle of the week is actually a lot of fun. I'm thinking I might make myself go into the city during the week more often so I can spend my one day off going somewhere a little more adventurous.

The weather here reminds me of Texas mostly in that it's cold and rainy one day and then 70º F, sunny and gorgeous the next. It's a little frustrating because it's difficult to make plans or to simply get dressed in the morning. (Well, if we're being serious then the afternoon...)

My Chinese is coming along really nicely. I've been pretty good about stuyding about four days a week for a couple of hours (but at least one hour) at a time. I'm almost all caught up on the homework exercises in the book. It's nice being able to read things and understand stuff when people talk to me. Oh and starting next week, Linda and I will be meeting twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays after my classes instead of just the one Wednesday. We should finish my book in about three weeks and then I think I'm going to shift gears into using a book once a week and having homework and then doing conversational stuff on the second class of the week.

I'm starting to get a pretty good grasp of the grammar, I just need to beef up my vocab. A lot of my kids are thoroughly impressed with the fact that I'm even trying to learn, specifically my students who like to talk Chinese a lot in class. I've gotten to the point that I'll just translate something I heard them say and then tell them to say it in English. They just look at me in shock.

Of course, now one of my classes just keeps calling me waiguo laoshr (foreign teacher) because Sam was talking about me to my co-teacher and I cut him off saying, "Waiguo laoshr did what?"

That class just likes to give me a hard time.

I've decided I need a hobby. Writing doesn't take up enough of my time and honestly I haven't been feeling all that inspired to write lately. I think I might take up scrap-booking.

Oh! Best news of all:

I'm going to Taroko Gorge for four days and then Kenting for four days for Chinese New Year. Also, I'm spending the actual Chinese New Year celebration days with one of my co-teachers and her family.

She said they basically spend the day cooking and playing games. I like both food and games, so I think that ought to be really interesting and fun. I'll finally get a little bit of that Taiwan perspective.

Where are you?

FYI, my computer is under maintenance and I won't have it back for another week or so.

I'm periodically checking my e-mail from friends' computers but I don't really have time to blog.

But, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth and as soon as I get my computer back I'll write up what's been going on.

Thanks for you patience!

Want to hear all about my vacation? (I know this is a week late)

So I guess I promised you information about my stellar North American vacation and I never gave it to you.

I'm sorry to have strung you along, but here we go (Warning: This is a long one).

Mei Guo, ahoy!

So getting to America was easy and great. I sat next to this Chinese girl and I had a window seat. The girl and I never talked because every time I so much as looked at her she turned the other way. Some people just aren't down for trying to talk to strangers.

My sister and her husband picked me up from the airport, immediately bought me coffee and then took me home where they made me eggs and bacon. Have I ever told you how much I love bacon (or my sister)?

You can buy bacon in Taiwan, but it's expensive and not the best quality. Meat in general is difficult to buy here. I think I just have particular expectations about how to buy meat. It's the Texan in me.

Anyway, I spent quite a bit of time reading and eating while in Seattle. When my niece came home she didn't immediately see me in the living room. Apparently she had "forgotten" I would be there, but when she finally saw me she pounced.

It was a hug I could not escape.

My second day in Seattle I got to meet a reader and his family. He is a very nice Taiwanese man married to a woman from Queens, NY and they have two very polite sons. We met for lunch and talked about Taiwan and living abroad and health care and China.

It was a very illuminating conversation to say the least. I find that many of the Taiwanese people I know here either don't care to talk about these things with a foreigner or simply aren't confident enough in their English ability to try. I always want to learn more about Taiwan (and especially Cross-Straight relations) but I'd like to hear it from people instead of Wiki.

The land of Tex-Mex, BBQ and Joy

Then I went to Texas for nine days. Oh how I missed Texas.

Madison (my sister's daughter) and I boarded a flight which headed for D/FW. From there we grabbed my niece Lauren (my brother's daughter) at the boarding gate and rushed onto the plane which took us to Austin.

Upon landing, we immediately went to Taco Cabana. Madi and I hadn't eaten since leaving Seattle that morning so we were starved. Beef tacos, queso, and flour tortillas never tasted so good. Oh!, did I mention the Dr. Pepper?

While in Texas, I replaced green tea with Dr. Pepper. Obviously slightly less healthy, but acceptable in the levels of caffeine and tastiness.

I spent the first four days in Texas with just my family. So Dec. 22 to Dec. 25 was just me, the girls, mom and dad and then Christmas Eve my brother, his wife and his son came as well as a family friend who I just consider family. Not sure if I would consider him more of a brother or an uncle, but it's family none the less.

I had a BLAST playing with the kids. Before I left Evan was only 8 months old and I was a little afraid to hold him because he was squirmy. The irony in this is that when Madison and my older two nephews were born I was 10 and 12 and had zero issues with holding a baby. The difference — I wasn't anywhere near the age of motherhood.

I think the fact that half my friends from high school are married or getting married and on the brink of childbearing kind of freaks me out.

But now Evan is 14 months old and I can throw him in the air and chase him around the room and tickle him and dance with him. Oh my goodness, can I just start with a toddler and skip all that infant nonsense? I know they're cute and all, but toddlers are way more entertaining.

But after four days with just the family, no matter how much I love them, I was a bit overwhelmed and I needed to get out of the house. Don't get me wrong, it was good to see everyone, but I'm not around people now nearly as often as I used to be. It gets to be too much.

So I went out with friends to one of our old hang out spots. It was weird being back at the Hole in the Wall just across the street from (old) The Daily Texan office again.

The next night, I couldn't hack it and I ended up staying in. I guess after just over a week of constantly being around people I was a bit exhausted. I passed out at something like 9 o'clock. The next few nights were off and on going out with friends, having drinks at our old hang outs, going to lunch at our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, etc.

Even hanging out with my friends got to be a little exhausting at times that we were in big groups though. Again, I love them, but I can't handle being around so many people at once anymore.

It was good to see everyone and thats when I realized I would be happy living in Austin again, but only if I had a real job that allowed and afforded me the time and ability to do enjoy myself. That said, there's only so much I can do to make someone give me a job, so until then, I'll keep doing this whole visiting thing.

I also went to Fredericksburg with Flannery where I bought Chili mix and raspberry jalapeno jelly. I have no idea what to do with raspberry jalapeno jelly, but it tastes awesome and I'll figure it out.

New Years Eve was great. It was like a Daily Texan staff party circa 2005. Half the people on staff from my first year or two at the Texan were there. Luckily, a lot of those people are really good friends of mine, so all in all, a great way to bring in the new year.

Back to traveling

Then it was back to traveling. Madison and I had to be at the airport bright and early (10 a.m.) New Years Day and we both insisted on eating breakfast. We grabbed some breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana on our way (mmm chorizo, egg and cheese...). We learned our lesson from the previous time and bought some Schlotzsky's (it's an Austin-born sandwich joint) for on the flight while we were waiting to board the plane.... which had mechanical issues.

Apparently there was something wrong with the air-conditioner so they spent an hour trying to fix it. Unfortunately, our lay-over in Houston was only supposed to be an hour so we were certain to miss out connecting flight which would make us late to Seattle which would make our subsequent drive to Whistler even later.

I panicked a little.

Luckily, our connecting flight also had maintenance problems (and so did several of the other flights that were also connecting to it). Doesn't that make you feel great about flying Continental Airlines?

We boarded the plane at the same time as the other passengers, but then the plane sat there waiting for a few passengers connecting from a flight coming from Atlanta. Now, my only comment about this is that if it had come down to it, they would not have asked the plane to wait for me, Madi and the other woman on our flight from Austin who was going to Seattle. We just would have been out of luck.

We ended up arriving in Seattle almost on time. I think the pilot seriously laid down on the accelerator here.

Then it was off the Canada!

Oh Canada!

We arrived at Whistler at around 10:30 or 11 p.m. New Years Day only to have to walk up a million stairs with all of out stuff. For the first time ever, Gwen found us a cute little ski-in-ski-out condo about a five minute walk from the Creekside Gondola. This was our first time at Whistler, but not our first time snowboarding.

We've been going skiing and snowboarding since I was 15 or 16.

I have to tell you, I think I prefer the snow in the Rockies. Don't get me wrong, I loved that there was so much terrain and all the paths were super wide open, but that snow hurt.

At the top of the mountain, it was a little powdery and it was pretty nice. In the middle of the mountain, you were surrounded by clouds — so visibility was low — and the snow was packed super hard. Since the snow in Canada is really wet (unlike the Rockies) it packed like ice.

Falling hurt. Falling hurt a lot. There were actually a couple times that I fell and just kept sliding because the side of my board wouldn't dig in enough to stop me.

I tried to have fun, but I ended up coming out exhausted and beat up instead. I will keep trying to like it though. No worries though, Gwenny and I spent the next day doing a Whistler pub crawl.

My sister and I don't get a whole lot of opportunities to go out drinking together and this in particular was unique because there was a bus that would take us back to the condo once we were sufficiently buzzed.

We went around to five or six bars including one that I think was supposed to be Texas-y (called The Longhorn, good burgers by the way) and an Irish pub I can't remember the name of. At the Irish pub, we listened to Celtic music (this guy with a guitar and this girl who was an amazing fiddler), ate perogies (OMG!), and talked to these old Irish and English men.

It was entertaining to say the least.

We spent the next day in Vancouver at China town. It was super exciting but we did get some Vietnamese food which I really enjoyed.

Traveling "home"

I've been using the word home sort of profusely. I think I generally use it for where I am at the time, but in all honesty, it's both Texas and Taiwan. "Home is where the heart is," but I think it's probably also where all your stuff is/where you spend all your time.

On January 5th, I went to the airport and boarded the plane like any other time. Only this time, I got to sit on the plane at the gate for three hours. After the first hour they told us there was a problem with the engine starter that they needed to fix and it would take about an hour.

OK, no biggie, I have a book and my iPod. I'm fine.

After they finished doing what they were doing, it still didn't work. Apparently it wasn't the starter, but "the box under the starter", which they also happen to have the part for, but it would also take an hour because they would have to remove the starter again.

Around hour three they decided to deboard the plane, at which point they handed us each a voucher for $5. Now you tell me, what the hell can you buy for $5 at an airport? Nothing.

I had a beer and put the $5 toward my quesadillas which cost $11. Thanks for nothing Northwest Airlines.

When deboarding they said we would be boarding another plane shortly. Well, two hours later they handed us vouchers for a hotel room and another $7 meal voucher to use at the restaurant next door to the hotel. Can you get anything there for $7? Nope, It's a steakhouse.

I arrived back at the airport at 5 a.m. waited two hours to board the plane, waited on the plane for another 1.5 hours and it finally took off at 8:30 a.m.

I was definitely going to miss my flight from Tokyo to Taipei not to mention my first night back to work.

Luckily I had already let my boss know that.

Upon arrival to Tokyo I found out they had put me on a China Airlines flight that didn't take off for another three hours so I was stuck there for quite a while. That flight ended up also taking off an hour late.

All in all, I got home at around 7 p.m. Thursday night in Taiwan. I took a shower, started to read and passed out to the garbage truck song around 8 p.m.

I was exhausted and that's why I'm never flying Northwest or Delta again... accept maybe to use that $100 voucher they gave me.

What's the plan?

I'm pretty proud of myself.

I know I've only been home five days or so, but I haven't slept passed 10 a.m. yet.

In fact, I've been waking up by 9 a.m. and then just kind of hanging out in bed until 9:30 checking the news and my e-mail. I think this is a good start to a new routine.

Going back to my Monday classes felt good and I'm really excited about my classes tonight. I get to see my babies! I love those kids.

I bought a new helmet the other day. It's blue (of course) and it covers my entire head and the visor covers my whole face so I don't have to worry about anymore rain-on-the-face-while-driving induced colds.

That said, it's only supposed to be around 9º C (48ishº F) and it's supposed to be raining all day. Somehow I don't think that's going to be the worst of it this season.

Even better, I was supposed to bring back my winter jacket with me, but in the flurry of over-night packing, I left it with all the rest of my ski stuff at my sister's. I'm debating asking her to send it to me or just buying a good jacket. I fear I'll end up getting one that's all puffy and some bright color with fur on it though. (Oh Taiwan fashion!)

So, a reader asked me if I would consider staying on at Gloria after my contract is up if I can't get a job at home and I thought I would answer here where I can really explain myself.

The answer is probably not, though keep in mind that's not a definitive no. I do love my students; it's a good job, I can't deny that; and I really like Taiwan, a lot.

That said, the point of coming here was to push myself outside the box (you know, aside from having an income that requires a degree). While I'm still learning things, I can already see that after six months, I'm comfortable here — really comfortable.

If I'm going to stay abroad — key word if — I think it would be valuable to keep pushing myself and keep learning. I've been toying with the idea of a 3-year around the world trip. Basically, living and working on every continent (except Antarctica, augh!).

I would pick a city in Europe where I could live and work and easily travel from — like the before mentioned Prague. Then do the same with Africa, then Australia (or New Zealand) and finally South America. Of course, I could abort that mission at any given time that I find a job or feel like I'm ready to come home.

The idea is that this is the best time of my life to travel. I have no major attachments to keep me in one place (husband, kids, etc).

This idea has it's positives (life experience, lots of travel, continued learning experiences, stories to tell my kids one day) and it's negatives (logistics, safety, stepping even further away from journalism) but nothing is set in stone yet and I will obviously weigh all my options and think really hard before I jump into anything.

Anyway, I hope that you all understand that I'm in my 20s and I'm trying to balance what is best for me in all the aspects of my life without turning myself into a tired old lady just yet.

Besides, if I keep going, you'll have something you can keep reading.

What are your New Years resolutions?

So I'm generally really bad at resolutions, but I see the ones I'm choosing for myself more as lifestyle choices. They're really less resolutions and more goals.

1. More exercising: OK, I know this is on everyone's list but I truly need to do this. I was happy to get home and find out that I haven't gained any weight, but I also haven't lost any.

I'm not saying I need to run so many times a week or do yoga this many days, but just getting up and doing something. A few push-ups. Walk around the park. Anything that gets my body moving a little.

This is less for weight control and more for getting myself on track to a healthier lifestyle. I eat way better than I used to, but I still worry about my future health. My extended family's health problems are ominous at the least.

2. Have some what of a sleep schedule: Being jet lagged is probably the best thing of my life right now. I woke up at 7 a.m. Saturday morning with absolutely zero problems and I have been super energetic in all of my classes. It's nice not to be dragging along every day. If I keep this up then it might help with my next goal.

3. Get out of the apartment more: By this, I mean during the day during the week. I want to make a goal of going and doing something each week, but I hesitate merely because sometimes it's nice just to sit and do nothing. As long as I go out and do something most of the time I'll be happy. This is also coupled with getting more exercise because walking around the park or neighborhood can count.

4. Drink less: This is for a number of reasons including the fact that it will help all of my above goals and it will help out with this whole money situation. Not that drinking in Taiwan is all that expensive, but it sure does add up. That and honestly I've been drinking less and less as the months have gone by anyway. I'm not cutting it out all together but I am going to stop drinking like a college student.

5. Practice Chinese more: OK, I guess this is actually kind of a resolution. I still speak quietly when it comes to Chinese; I don't study nearly as often as I should; and Tones just get kind of thrown out the window when it comes to basic survival sometimes.

Enough of that.

I'm feeling really good about being back in Taiwan. I bought a new (good quality) helmet today — for less than $30USD! — so driving in the rain shouldn't be quite as miserable.

I have been happy to see my kids and they've been happy to see me. That said, I'm glad I only have to work two days this week simply because it's a good way to transition back into everything.

I only intend to take one more vacation before my contract is up and that will be during Chinese New Year when we're all on break. I can't decide what I'm going to do yet, so if anyone has suggestions for things in Taiwan or things in countries that aren't very expensive, let me know.

Otherwise, I'm saving up for my big trip with my sister in July where she's coming to Taiwan and then we're going to Thailand and Cambodia together (and then I continue on to Vietnam and maybe Nepal).

From there I'm either moving to Europe to get my official TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certification OR I'm going back to the States. This all depends on the outcome of my job search that will commence around May/June-ish.

So that's the plan for now. Can you see the little OCDs coming out in me? :)

Are you jet lagged?

I'm glad to be back in Taiwan and my bed and with all my stuff.

I actually fell asleep to the garbage truck song last night. I got back, took a shower, read for a bit and as I could just barely hear the garbage truck song from the street, I started dozing off.

But despite all the things I missed (GREEN TEA!) I can't say I missed driving in the rain. In fact... I still kind of hate driving in the rain.

I still feel a little disconnected, but I also haven't seen any of my students yet and I'm not really back in the swing of things at all.

I just planned lessons again for the first time in about three weeks.

Later I'll give more details about my trip and my (ridiculously long) travels including why I will probably never fly Delta or Northwest again (at least after I've used the $100 voucher they gave me).

When will she go back to Taiwan?

Well to answer that question, from this moment I will be back in Taiwan in about 22 hours, give or take a few minutes.

I have to say I kind of miss Taiwan, but that doesn't mean that I miss America or my family any less. I know it has only been six months, but it took coming home for me to see how much I've really changed.

I went in pretty independent — despite the fact that I bawled like a baby for 12.5 hours and everyday for the first week I was in the R.O.C. — but now I'm almost detached. I have people that I'm around everyday in Taiwan, but not for more than a few hours at a time.

It was weird being constantly surrounded by people (actually I did have a couple of meltdowns related to this).

Also, I had heard people say it before, but it really is difficult to tell people what it's like. Granted I write this blog and that helps. Telling the story as I go is a whole lot easier. Maybe if I looked back at all my blogs I could sum it up a little better, but as it goes, could you tell me exactly what your life has been like for the past six months without leaving out some details?

The way I see it, everything there is so normal now. And while strange things stand out at the time (and some continue to) they eventually pile into the category of "once was strange but now is normal."

That and conversations tend to circle around Taiwan and teaching abroad and such. Sometimes, believe it or not, I don't want to be the center of attention. I know that's hard to believe, but sometimes I just want to talk to everyone exactly how I used to. That's not to say I don't want to talk about it at all, but it's really difficult to just shift really easily in and out of that conversation.

Of course, given that my entire life the past six months has taken place in a foreign country, it's hard even for me not to talk about it all the time. It's like when you spend every waking moment with a particular friend or boyfriend. Most or your stories begin with "Oh well we went and did such and such..." rather than "I did..."

You just can't take the Taiwan out of my life.

Probably my biggest thing was seeing my nieces and nephew again.

They're all growing up so much and, especially when I look at Evan, I freak out a little about what I'm missing and whether or not they'll remember me. I know the girls will remember, but Evan is still so young that will be more difficult.

That's why I love Skype. As soon as I have extra cash I'm buying Webcams for my family and sending them all back to them. Then there is NO excuse (except the time change I suppose).

This time is also a little more indefinite. I'm getting more and more used to being abroad not to mention, it would be stupid to go home without a job.

Until I find a job in the States, I'm going to have to stay abroad. Maybe not in Taiwan the whole time, but somewhere.

More on this later. I have to go shower and finish packing so I can drag myself to the airport.

See you in Taiwan!

What to do? (Texas, not Taiwan)

I'm starting to think that if I had a real job here (as opposed to the bartending job and internships that I had before I left) then I could be really happy here.

Austin is a totally different city when you have time to spend in it. I missed out on a lot considering I was working or at school all the time.

At the same time, I have this nagging voice in my head telling me to "Travel, Travel, Travel!"

I'm torn.

But I guess I have six or seven months to decide what to do, and really I suppose the job market will decide for me.

It would be nice to come back to my friends (and family). Of course it would also be nice to one day say that I've lived on every continent except Antarctica.

What's the difference?

My two days in Seattle are coming to an end.

I'm headed to Texas this afternoon and will arrive tonight.

I'm almost adjusted to the time here in the States... I say almost because I woke up at 6 a.m. today and couldn't go back to sleep. I think that's something like 11 p.m. in Taiwan.

Things that are "weird":

• Not feeling like I'm near death every second of driving
• Being in a car rather than a scooter
• Seat belts
• Throwing toilet paper in the toilet
• Not having to separate out every single little bit of my garbage
• The lack of a garbage truck song

Small list so far. I'm sure there's more.

I've been drinking a whole lot of chai and coffee to replace that fact that there are no tea shops that I can get a drink at for less than $1.

I can only imagine how many more differences I'm going to notice when I get to Texas.

Are you ready for this?

Saturday:

Pancake Party. Pizza Party. Pizza Party. Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Banana Sandwich Party.

I <3 being a teacher at times like these.

I received lots of little trinkets as gifts from my kids.

And I have the best Christmas cards ever!

Sunday:

I'm going to spend some time getting the my day back that Asia stole from me about 6 months ago.

Tokyo in 5.5 hours.

Seattle in 18 (ish) hours. It will be 6:50 a.m. when I arrive (translation... 11 p.m. Taiwan time).

America, here I come.

What do you know about Christmas?

天氣很冷, 我不喜歡!!!!

(The weather is really cold, I don't like it!)

I seriously felt like I was wet down to my bones today.

Tess and I drove to Yingge today to do some last minute Christmas shopping. It takes about 30 minutes to get there, so that's an hour round trip.

And then you add to it the fact that shopping in Taiwan means you're outside a lot, and while it was just drizzling a little, it didn't really help us warm up once we got off of those scooters.

Add to the the fact that I'm lacking a visor on my helmet right now... Ugh, I'm a cold just waiting to happen.

After Yingge I ran a million errands. I went to the bank, then the baking store, then the stationery store, then to grab some food (where I also grabbed a hot cocoa) and then to school. So pretty much since noon today I was out and about. It's now 10:25 and I just barely got home 15 minutes ago.

My gloves are soaked all the way through from driving around in the rain all day. They hold up pretty well when you have to go from Point A to Point B... but I just don't think they can deal with Point C, Point D, Point E, etc...

That said, today wasn't all miserable.

I did, after all, buy Christmas presents for my girls. AND we spent the entire second half in both of my classes listening to Christmas music and making Christmas cards.

I have a lot of Christmas cards now. :)

Now I have to feed myself and make pancakes for my early morning class and at least START to get a handle on my packing so I'm not running around like a completely crazy person tomorrow after all my classes..

Oh, and the kicker, tomorrow is supposed to be even colder than today was! I'm definitely bringing back my winter coat.

What's on the to do list?

I hate to say it, but I am always so happy once Wednesday and Thursday are over with. My classes are just so stubborn and behave so badly.

Actually, that's not entirely true. My new class that I took over two weeks ago is actually really great. They answer questions and they read and repeat things when they're told to.

And they're SUPER smart. I think they might now English grammar better than I do.

But, my other classes are jerks and that's pretty much all I can say about them without being really mean.

I have so much to do before I leave Sunday morning.

My room is the biggest mess right now. There are clothes every where and a million bags stuffed full of everyone's Christmas presents.

I have to figure out what I want to take with me and pack.

Tess and I went to see New Moon tonight and tomorrow we're going to Yingge. I still have to buy the girls' presents tomorrow.

And I have to go to the bank.

And I have to finish grading compositions.

And I have to make a million pancakes for my class Saturday morning.

And I have a parent conference on Saturday morning.

Augh!

It always gets so stressful right before it gets awesome, huh?

Well, at least I know it's going to get awesome.

Teacher, May I go home?

Today was a pretty easy day. The only productive thing I did was work on comments for my last parent conference that I have this Saturday.

I spent most of last night looking for new music to add to my iTunes library, so I decided to start listening to it today.

There really isn't a whole lot to note. I need to so some serious cleaning. I need to do laundry so I can pack stuff. And clean my room because some of Tess' family and friends are coming in town and they'll be staying in my room while I'm gone.

I also have a million presents to wrap (or at least wrap Tess and Katie's and then shove the rest into my suitcase).

My classes were awesome tonight. My first class just went pretty well. The kids in that class have always been brilliant.

They're my babies and I'm the first foreign teacher they've had which provides us this unique bond.

So at the end of class we had this awesome emotional little exchange:

Kids: Teacher, may I go home?
Me: Yes. WAIT! No!
Kids: Why?
Me: Guys, just so you know, I won't be here for the next THREE weeks! I'm going to America to see my family.
Kids: Jimmieeeeeeee, nooooo!!!!
Me: Guys, I promise I'll be back. I'll see you next year!

Then there was this frenzy of small children trying to give me as many hugs as possible before they left. It was the most adorable thing ever!

Those are the kinds of things that make you want to stay here forever.

My next class wasn't quite as attached. They really like me and we have a lot of fun, but they have known for awhile now that I'm going to America for a couple of weeks so it wasn't so shocking.

They actually asked me if I was really coming back.

I understand that they're so skeptical though. I mean, their last teacher didn't even tell them she was leaving. She just up and moved to Kaosiung without giving them warning.

Alas, I am coming back and I know I'll give them plenty of warning before I leave for good, whenever that ends up being.

How do I get it all home?

I have spoken to no one but strangers today except for the 30 seconds I spent inviting a friend to join me in Taipei if he felt like it.

It's weird not talking, and honestly I feel like I could burst at any moment.

Most of my friends went to Wulai today. I wanted to go, but I had neither the desire to get up after being out until dawn nor the desire to possibly stay overnight somewhere other than my home. That and I still didn't have most of the Christmas presents that will most likely be expected of me come Christmas Day.

The first person I talked to today was the barista at Starbucks and my whole day's worth of conversations have continued as such. I think I'm actually having people withdrawal. Even days I've spent by myself I've at least called and talked on the phone to someone I actually know.

On the bright side, I spoke a lot of Chinese today and I feel like I'm getting a lot more confident.

One thing Meghan pointed out when she visited was that every time I went to speak Chinese I would get quieter. I think that's improving.

I still love the shocked look on people's faces when the wai guo ren — foreigner — starts speaking Chinese.

But after talking to tons of shop owners and food vendors and exchanging tons of cash, I have Christmas presents. I just need to make a quick trip to Yingge this weekend for gifts for my nieces and I'll be all set.

Next challenge: How do I get it all home?

I've actually decided I'm going to pack a gigantic suitcase. It'll make getting presents home a little easier and getting my ski clothes back to Seattle a breeze considering I'll have essentially emptied my suitcase post-Christmas.

Should I wrap my presents before I leave or wait until I get home? I'm afraid if I wait then the girls will see them all. Not to mention I bought some really Taiwan-fabulous wrapping paper. I couldn't pass up that opportunity.

美國, 七天! (America in Seven Days!)

What's the weather like in Winter?

I'm secretly terrified to go back to America (in 9 days!) because I've acclimated to Taiwan's "weather."

Last week, I thought it was cold. It was around 15C which is like 50F, which is so not cold, especially compared to the numbers I've been seeing all over the States lately. My mom mentioned that I could go without packing much considering all of my winter clothes are in Austin.

I'm fairly certain that I will step off of that plane in Seattle and immediately become hypothermic.

I just hate wearing tons of clothes on planes because then you get hot and then cold and then hot and the cold... It's this ridiculous cycle of icy-hot.

This means I'm probably going to have to run to the airport bathroom to put on some clothes that are more suitable for the weather in Washington (which has been in the 20s and they're expecting snow this weekend!).

Hopefully my sister's car will be nice and warm for me.

The other thing I've been wondering about is getting in touch with people while I'm back home. Obviously I can use the land line at my parents' house, but I was considering getting a prepaid cellphone for the week that I'm in Austin so that we can get in touch with each other. I know my dad doesn't like phone calls after 9 p.m. at the house and my friends are almost exclusively night owls.

We'll see. Maybe I'll just have to do a lot of pre-planning or just show up places.

Until then, I have one parent conference down and two to go.

And I get to spend my last two days teaching having Christmas parties with my students!

What is an environmental message from children like?

Sunday and Monday could not have been more opposite of each other.

Sunday there was a birthday party at Bobo's house for herself and Joyce (her six-year-old daughter). My roomies and I arrived really late. It was fun though. We had a couple of drinks and sang karaoke.


Jamie, Joyce and a couple of their friends kept putting on these adorable shows.

It reminded me of how you were never really all that scared to perform when you were little — especially for your parents and even their friends.

This one was probably my favorite. Tess, Katie and I bought those flowers as Joyce's birthday present. They became props for all of their performances of the evening. In this case, they were crucial for the environmental message the girls were trying to send us.

If you weren't sure what Jamie was saying there at the end it was:

"Please don't take the flowers out or the Earth will be bad. Thank you."

They were just too adorable.

After the party, the roomies and I headed to Taipei for some shopping. It turned into shopping, drinking and eating.

Have a beer here, eat some street food there, buy something over there.

This place is called China Pizza. It's like tsong you bing with basil and amazing sauce.

Everything here is really different. Apparently it's perfectly OK to walk down the street with a beer in your hand. And so we did. Tess calls this phenomenon "drunk shopping."

Honestly, it was a lot of fun. We just kept buying food and beer and Christmas presents.

This is jianbao. It's a really big dumpling that's pan fried and steamed at the same time.

Luckily, I have great taste when I'm tipsy, so my Christmas shopping is much closer to done.

In the end, Katie, Graham (her friend who is visiting from America) and I ended up at this total dive bar close to the CKS Memorial.

I have to tell you, I love dive bars and I miss them so much.

Maybe they is one of the strangest things anyone has ever said, but I felt like I was back in America sitting in this little pub. Of course, I wasn't able to totally sink in and pretend we weren't in Taiwan.

Especially not after going to the bathroom.


Yes, my friends, there was no roof above the toilet in the bathroom. What do you do when there is no roof? You put an umbrella over the camode, naturally.

Now after that ridiculously long, productive and enjoyable Sunday, what was so bad about Monday?

Well, for starters, I slept forever. Then I forgot that I left my scooter at Bobo's. So I had to borrow one of my roommate's. Then I get to work just in time, as in the bell was ringing just in time.

Then I tried to go to 7-11 on break to get some tea and some chips, but I left my money in my purse which I don't take with me to school.

Luckily, it got a little better. I went to Carrefour after class and picked up my brand new contacts. Hopefully I'll be able to see again. I haven't even tried them on yet.

Also, I realized that I'm going home in TWELVE DAYS! (Ok, it was thirteen days yesterday, but yay!)

Now to just get everything in order before I head out. So much to do!

Does it have any meat in it?

I ate pigs blood last night.

I know that sounds disgusting and impossible all at the same time.

We went out in Taipei for another teacher's birthday last night and ended up at this club called Pasoul. (Pasoul sucks by the way. Stay far away.)

Afterward we're sitting out in front of the venue on some steps waiting around to make sure we didn't forget anyone. We're getting a lot better at this whole going out in groups and not leaving people behind thing.

There were two street food stands outside: one had the best smelling sausage in the world (maybe it was the slightly buzzed appetite) and one had other stuff... including pigs blood, but we didn't know that yet.

Essentially this is a Taiwanese delicacy (as I understand it at least). Ours was congealed and then mixed with rice. It was in a little block on a stick like you would see stinky tofu or pretty much anything else you buy at a street vendor.

The funny part is that my roommate, who is a vegetarian, was the one who ordered it. She went up to the stand and asked if there was any meat in it. The woman said no.

I guess that was technically true.

People here don't seem to understand the point of being a vegetarian. You just don't eat things that generally require you to kill the animal first. Somehow, I think blood falls into this category.

My roommate bought one and was talking about how it was so good and asked if I wanted a bite.

Me: Katie, does it have meat?
Katie: I don't think so. I asked the lady.
Me: Screw it. Why not?
Katie: It's really good.
Me: It's OK except for that weird gooey texture at the end. The rice really makes it edible.
Graham: Can I have some.

Katie and Graham ran off to buy another one and were halfway through it when Carson informed them that is was, in fact, congealed pigs blood on a stick. I kind of knew it was right after I ate it, but I didn't want to say anything that would freak her out.

She seemed to take it pretty well.

Today, we're going to Bobo's for her birthday (SO MANY DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS, OMG!) and then I think we're going to Taipei. I think the idea is to eat, drink and shop our way through the city. Pictures to come!

Welcome to McDonalds. May I help you?

I took 15 children between the ages of 8 and 11 to McDonalds tonight.

Apparently after lesson 65 in the red book, we get to switch things up a bit and take the kids off the McDs so they can have the experience of speaking English to someone outside of a school. It's all well and good if the people at McDs actually speak English.

The girl behind the counter did a fairly decent job. She kept saying "big" instead of "large" when she was asking the kids what size french fries they wanted. And I didn't realize that McDs here has spicy chicken (think KFC style chicken) and you can tell them if you want a chicken wing or a drumstick...

I didn't teach the kids about that before we went so there was a momentary panic where we ended up switching to Chinese for all of 30 seconds. Luckily there wasn't anyone there to yell at me for it.

Other things to note:

My roommate makes awesome stir-fry.

I'm in full Xmas swing. We have this tiny and adorable little Christmas tree. I also want to go and buy tons of Christmas presents but I have no idea what to buy for most people.

I know what to get my nieces. What should I get the adults in my family?

Ni zai zuo shenme?

So I'm sure it may have crossed some of your minds that I haven't posted any pictures in a really long time.

I stopped being a little shutter bug when I lost the USB cable to my camera and realized that no matter how many pictures I took, I couldn't get them off of my camera. That's really just an excuse though considering my memory card can hold something like 1000 photos.

Anyway, I thought that since nothing all that interesting has happened, I would just put up photos from Thanksgiving, plus a few extra random things.

Enjoy.

Be looking forward to a lot more of these. The rest of this month (and by month I mean the next 17 days!!!) is going to be extremely busy as I get ready to go home for Christmas. We have three birthdays and tons of fun things to look forward to, including a week of Christmas parties in our classes!

Of course the vegetarian took care of roasting the turkey.

I made 7 pies. I made all of the crusts from scratch and all but two
of the fillings from my own recipes. Goodness, I love pie.

Two apple pies.

One cherry pie.

One pecan pie. (My favorite!)

One blueberry pie.

And two pumpkin pies.

We also peeled and mashed 54 pounds of potatoes.

OK, now for a couple of random photos. I've talked about the events leading up to one of them already. I bought a rotisserie chicken from Costco a couple of weeks ago when and when I was trying to cut the wing off, I realized the head was tucked underneath it.

Brace yourself.

I am so not a fan of my food looking back at me.

Then there was the day I went shopping in Taipei with Tess. When we got to Ximending there were all these people dressed in what can only the described as purple body condoms... and they danced.

This was a Yahoo advertisement best described as a flashmob.

Is it really December?

Just a real quick post since I've been procrastinating.

We had Thanksgiving on Sunday. It was a lot of work, but it was so good. It made me feel a little better too. I just love Thanksigiving so much and it was really weird not being home for it.

I made seven pies from scratch. We had two turkeys, an amazing amount of homemade mac 'n' cheese (with over two pounds of sharp cheddar and parmesan cheeses in it), 5 cups of homemade cranberry sauce and 54 pounds of mashed potatoes. Joslyn and David made green bean casserole and cornbread. Katie made sweet potatoes.

I really don't think I could have thought of anything else we needed. It was a great dinner.

But now, it is Dec. 1!

I cannot believe it is already December. Twelve more days and it will be my 6-month anniversary of getting here. Twenty more days and I hop on a plane to head home for the Christmas and New Years holidays.

I'm so excited about seeing everyone.