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Published: March 11th 2008
Chinese New Year Party
Me with my new roommate Laura :)First of all, I want to apologize to all of my faithful subscribers for the lack of blog postings. It's been a crazy couple of months without much computer access, but I promise there will be more blogs in the future. You can especially look forward to July and August when I will be traveling around Asia 😊
So, I have been living in Taiwan for 8 months now, which means I will be leaving in about 4 more months. This has truly been a life-changing year. Living in another country combined with a physically limiting back problem has helped me to learn many valuable lessons about life and, most importantly, about myself. It has been exciting to wake up daily in a foreign country, learn a new language, meet amazing new people, and spend a lot of time being alone. Before I came to Taiwan, I thought of this year as my adventure, my chance to escape my life in the U.S. and learn about the world. However, the most important lesson I have learned this year is that this year is not my adventure. I know now that life is my adventure. I have been given many wonderful
Meeting New Friends
Zac, Devine and Andrea gifts, and I can do so many things. There is so much of this world to see, and I plan to continue traveling until I am no longer able to (although I really hope that doesn't happen!)
These past two months have been great. We had a 2-week vacation for Chinese New Year, which gave me the opportunity to really rest and take care of my back. I also had a lot of fun hosting a party and hanging out with my friends. Chinese New Year seems to be like Christmas in the West. It is a time to spend with your family and friends and to celebrate traditions. I was fortunate enough to be invited to a friend's for Chinese New Year Eve dinner. It was me along with three Western men and one Taiwanese. It was a really fun night, but I almost ran away when my Taiwanese friend PJ chopped the head off of a chicken! As Caleb says, I am a "hypocritical carnivore." I simply refuse to eat any meat if I can see it's owners eyeballs, legs, feet, or arms. Needless to say, I was not adventurous enough to eat the chicken. However, if
Group Shot
PJ, Craig, Angelina, Tammy & Laura my friend John is successful in convincing me to eat chicken butt during my remaining four months, I'm sure it will make for a hilarious blog entry 😊
A few weeks ago, I went to the Lantern Festival, which was located nearby in Tainan County. I was so excited to take the train by myself an venture to the show. However, when I stepped off of the crowded train, I was greeted by the sight of hundreds of Taiwanese people trying to make their way over the stairs to the festival. It took a lot of pushing and shoving my way through the crowd to make it to the festival in one piece, but I did make it. The lanterns were quite the sight, and I felt like I was taking part in a true Taiwanese festival. During the hour that I walked around looking at lanterns, I saw 3 fireworks shows. Yes, they are obsessed with fireworks here! Fortunately, every Taiwanese person stopped to watch each fireworks display, allowing me to weave my way around more easily. Highlights from the show: giant rat lantern (year of the rat,) orchestra playing Disney music, giant rotating Jesus lantern (quite the
The computer gals
Irene, Vicky & Andrea hanging out by the computer :) strange sight in this country,) watching the live TV show, and the beautiful pineapple lanterns. Although it was a little stressful worrying about being stampeded, it was a great experience overall.
I haven't had many more adventures, but my students get cuter every day. I just found out that one of them will be moving to America next year, so maybe we'll get to keep in touch. I really enjoy this job, and it is hard to imagine leaving these children. I think my feelings can be summed up by quoting my 4-year-old student Annie, who said the other day, "Teacher Alison, I love you every day!" Unconditional love is such a great gift! I hope you are all lucky enough to enjoy it as much as I do :-)
Other February and March highlights: Brent's birthday, Zac & Devine's party, and babysitting Mao Mao...
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