Getting Settled In

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Hello friends,

It has been awhile, so I wanted to give all of you an update.

I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I wanted to let all of you know that I finally bought a scooter! So, now I can zip around the city. Actually, I am confining myself to the area of the city I live in (Anping) for now. Once I get my scooter license and have more practice, I will begin to drive in the more crowded parts of the city. Driving a scooter is so fun for me! It's like driving a bike that goes fast 😊 I feel so much less-isolated now that I have transportation. If I want to go home during lunch or drive to the park, it is easy (plus, I don't have to worry about getting hot & sweaty 😊) Plus, I can drive to the grocery store to get more groceries!

In other news - I also received my ARC (Alien Resident Card) and health insurance card. The ARC makes me eligible for many things, plus I no longer have to carry around my passport everywhere. OH, I also got my first paycheck. The sad thing is that they take out 20% of my income for taxes, but the good thing is that I will get most of that money back when I leave. What else is new? Oh yeah, I also got a SIM card and cell phone, which gives me the ability to make and receive phone calls. All of these new things help me to feel a lot more settled here in Tainan. I guess after 2 months I should feel settled! Now, I just need to keep trying to learn Chinese :-)

For the past two weeks, I have been substitute teaching in the evenings for three nights a week. It is only for 6 additional hours every week, but the extra pay is very nice. Schools here pay very well hourly for substitute teachers (about $20/hour.) I hope to keep teaching for some extra hours or find some private tutoring jobs. That way I can make money to pay off all of my loans and travel!

Speaking of traveling, I am very excited to tell everyone that Caleb (my boyfriend) will be visiting me in about 2 weeks! As you can imagine, it has been difficult for us to have a relationship from over 7,000 miles away, so we both are excited to finally have some time together. While he is here, I am going to have a 5-day weekend, so we can travel somewhere in Taiwan. To satisfy Caleb's desire to surf, we hope to spend a few days down in the southern part of Taiwan. The city called Kenting is apparently a very fun place for surfers and beach-lovers. In early October the weather should be perfect. Even if I cannot surf, I will enjoy some relaxation on the beach. Caleb will be here for 2 1/2 weeks, so we will hopefully get to travel to the mountains too. It will also be fun to have Caleb come to school with me. I can't wait to see my little students climb all over him :-)

Well, that is about it for now. Soon I will post pictures from my tourist excursion last weekend, and I will also have someone take a picture of me on my scooter. I hope everyone is well! Please keep in touch. I want to know what all of you are doing too!

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