Talking to Strangers

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There are 31 days left in the year.

That means I have 31 days left with my family and friends here in the States. I have 31 days to eat all the Tex-Mex and BBQ I want (though I should seriously cut back). Best of all, I have 31 more days until I return to Prague.

Well, I won't actually get back to Prague until January 2 because of the time difference.Technicalities, meh.

When do you feel like a grown up?

It's nearly 2 a.m. on my last night in Taiwan and I'm no where near ready to go to bed. 

I should be but my brain is going too crazy for that, so I thought I would take this time to reflect a little on the past 14 months in Taiwan and the upcoming months of travel ahead of me.

Many of you may remember I cried when I left America and came to Taiwan. I was excited and nervous, but a lot of that was alleviated by the fact that I would at least know someone who was here already. 

Do you need a receipt?

I keep forgetting if I've been back in Taiwan for one week or two since Thailand. That's how blurry everything is. (It's been two by the way.)

There is just so much going on.

I told all my classes this week that I'm leaving. I've been reading my Southeast Asia on a Shoestring book like crazy. I actually read the entire Cambodia chapter and most of the Laos chapter. 

My first cooking camp is over. I loved it and hated it all at the same time. And I get to do it all over again next week. Yay!

I finally broke down and went to buy new luggage today. 

What's your name?

So I went to play Killer Pizza yesterday and found out that a girl in my class didn't have a name yet.

First things first, Killer Pizza is a super easy game in which you draw a circle on the board and divide it into slices like you would a pizza. Then you label each slice with a player's name. Then you throw a sticky ball at the circle. Whoever it hits is out (dead if you will) and the two people on either side have to paper-scissor-stone (rock-paper-scissors for all you Americans and Canadians out there). The loser now has a larger piece of pizza because they are occupying their own slice plus the dead person's slice.

Ok that made it sound overly complicated, but it's not. It's super easy. However, you have to have a name. Well, an English name because this is English class after all.

When are you nervous?

I woke up today not feeling very well. Initially, I thought I ate something bad last night at the movie theater. But considering it came and went all day, I think I've just got a huge case of the nerves.

As Leila said, it's only Monday and I've already had a crappy week.

Today I started my first of two cooking camps (I have one this week and one next week).

I love cooking and I love teaching so on the surface this sounds like the best camp ever. Well, looks aren't everything.

How does a person accumulate this much junk in just a year?

I hate packing.

I managed to get almost all of the clothes I want to keep in one bag along with two pairs of shoes, my documents and a Texas snuggie.

Unfortunately, my robe and my second favorite blanket of all time didn't make the cut. I'm currently debating the idea of a second, smaller, bag of luggage in which I can cram my blanket, my robe and all the other stuff I have. I just have all this extra miscellaneous stuff:

So what's your travel plan again?

I'm moving this week... out of my apartment that is.

Our lease agreement ends while I'm in Thailand on vacation next week so I have to move out now. I'm having trouble getting up the motivation to actually get my stuff together, though, so I'm blogging as procrastination.

My plan is to go ahead and pack everything as if I'm actually leaving the country. Since I will come back from Thailand and only be here for another three weeks, I figured I may as well not waste time moving things that I'm not keeping and since many of the things I am keeping won't be coming with me on my big vacation, I might as well shove them into a space bag and suck the life out of them now. Temporarily of course.

Was this your last time teaching our class?

So before Dragon Boat Festival we were having all this terrible weather and my co-teachers and Taiwanese friends all kept saying that once we got passed Dragon Boat Festival it would be super hot out and we would get all the sun we could handle plus some.

They weren't lying. Except I'm a Texas girl, so I can totally handle it.

What's that stinging feeling?

I woke up at 5 a.m. today.

Not because I wanted to. I wanted to wake up at about 5:40 a.m. That would have been plenty of time to get my stuff together. But the sun wanted to have its way, so I gave in.

What do they mean the road is broken?

After my adventure at Jade Mountain I'm not entirely sure where to begin, so I'll just go chronologically. 

Note: This is an exceptionally long post, but I assure you it is worth it.

 The weather looked like this pretty much the whole time.

When was the last time you used pen and paper?

I wrote my entire recollection of the "Jade Mountain" adventure with Leila with a pen on paper. It was weird actually writing something again and I think I actually prefer it.

What is a monsoon?

So just a quick update.

It's been raining pretty much constantly here in Taiwan. We're in the middle of a pretty heavy monsoon, I guess.

We thought it was going to be terrible weather last Sunday so we canceled our second trip to Fulong for our diving session. Of course, then the weather turned out to be amazing. We didn't know until it was too late to head out there and be productive though.

It's not a volcano is it?

It's funny the little tidbits of information that get home and how. 

When I lived in Austin I didn't see my mom every day even though she only lived 20 minutes away, but I talked to her almost every single day on the phone at least once. Sometimes multiple times per day. 

And despite being halfway around the world, we have the digital era to thank for the almost instantaneous assurance that all is well with our loved ones. We were talking constantly when I first got here, but now we pretty much just e-mail a few times a week.

Here's a little snippet of today's conversation:

When do you feel pressed for time?

I've had my nose in my Southeast Asia on a Shoestring from the Lonely Planet for about a week now. I actually lent it to a friend for the next few days so that I'll stop reading it constantly.

While doing my homework is a good idea, I get kind of obsessive and then really anxious. I don't know how I'm going to survive five weeks out of a backpack if I can't just go with the flow of things.

It got all sunny, warm and beautiful on Monday. Of course, it would since it rained on us all day Sunday while we were in the pool learning to dive. 

But, by Wednesday night it was pouring again. 

Can you SCUBA dive in the rain?

Today we went to Fulong to do our first dives of the dive course. 

Initially we intended to do the two pool dives and then one (mayyyybe two) dive in the ocean. 

Things didn't go quite as planned. I had some trouble with one of the exercises which put us behind schedule. But honestly that wouldn't have made a difference because by the time we were even considering going in the ocean we realized that the rain made the conditions far to crappy for us to deal with. 

So it was a pool day, and that's fine by me.

Things of note: 

When are you busy?

So I definitely dropped a big bomb on you guys and then haven't been back since. I apologize, but in my defense, I've been working a lot.

I picked up a lot of extra hours and privates, so I've been working something like 40 hours a week — nearly double my usual schedule.

It'll be like this until I leave. Especially once the summer camps kick in. Those alone will add another 15 hours to my week.

Do you have any secrets?

OK, I have to admit, I've been keeping a secret from you.

Don't hate me. It was honestly for the protection of my job, but now the cat is out of the bag, so I can tell you.

I'm moving. To Prague. In September.

When does the sun come up?

For the record, the sun comes up ridiculously early.

That's a good thing though. I can't really sleep when it's bright out, so I've been waking up a bit earlier lately. Granted I'll stay in my bed and read or play on the Internet until my stomach starts yelling at me furiously about food, but waking up earlier is better.

Who knows what is going on in this head of mine?

Let's play catch-up first. My birthday was super fun.

I went to Debbie's for breakfast with a few of the girls. Then I went home and researched vacations for about four hours. Then I went to the book store at Taipei 101, Page One, for three hours.

Why are these people paying so much attention to me just because it's my birthday?

This week has been one heck of a roller coaster ride.

I've been happy and the sad and angry and depressed and excited. I've experienced a plethora of emotions and I'm not even sure where all of them came from.

Though I think I have decided that I would suck at living alone. It's nice to have a little alone time, but I don't like having too much alone time. Honestly, that's kind of what I thought would happen.

This week had some rough patches, partly due to being alone all week and partly due to the fact that my birthday is tomorrow.

Believe me, I know that doesn't make any sense.

I never really thought I was that much of a birthday person. I mean, I enjoy birthdays, but I didn't think it meant all that much to me. (Granted there was that time I didn't talk to my best friend/prom date from my birthday until prom day because he forgot my birthday...) I like getting presents and it's fun having people say happy birthday and all, but honestly, most of the time when people wish me a happy birthday, I feel ridiculous.

"Why are these people paying so much attention to me just because it's my birthday?" is all that I can think.

Honestly, at first I wasn't even telling people it was my birthday because I felt like an attention whore. That lasted until I realized that if I didn't tell at least someone that I would be spending my birthday alone or doing something I had no interest doing. Let's face it, I haven't known these people very long so I can't just expect them to know when my birthday is.

Truth is, it's just nice to have a day where people really pay attention to you. Even if it is just because it's your birthday.

Anyhow, I was sad about my birthday coming up because it's the only birthday that I can ever remember not spending with my family. And I miss my friends so much. All I could think about it how I would have gone to dinner with my family. My mom and my sister would probably have made me cupcakes or something or we would have all baked something together since it's also Mother's Day.

Then I would have met up with my friends at one of my favorite watering holes where we would dominate the jukebox chit-chatting and singing along all night. 

I don't even know of a place in Taiwan that has a jukebox (even one of those digital ones would suffice).

But despite all the homesick blues I've been having this week things are looking up.

My kids all sang "Happy Birthday" to me today and my last class even got together and ordered a bunch of pizzas to celebrate. That was seriously the nicest thing (and totally solved the dilemma in my mind about what I should eat for dinner tonight).

Some friends and I are going to go to brunch and then JiuFen during the day tomorrow. Then we're going to try to have dinner at Chili's so I can have American-Mexican food (specifically fajitas and queso) and so I can get my margarita on. I definitely haven't had a margarita since I was home in December. I plan on teaching the bartender how to make a Mexican Martini (also known as a Texas Martini at some establishments). 

Then, I found out that I got approved to take a Monday off in June so that I can have another Taiwan adventure with Leila. 

In case you need a reminder, Leila is basically my Taiwan travel buddy. She's Brazilian-Canadian, loves scuba diving and has lived in Taiwan twice as long as me (maybe more?). Her Chinese rocks and she's super laid back which makes her super fun to travel with. You may remember her from trips such as Chinese New Year in Hualien, Taroko Gorge and Kenting, or from Tomb Sweeping Weekend at Sun Moon Lake.

Well, ladies and gents, it is officially time for me to ditch the elevator and start taking the stairs up to my fifteenth floor apartment because Leila and I are climbing Jade Mountain in about a month.

Jade Mountain (玉山, YuShan) is pretty much in the middle of Taiwan in the southern portion of Nantou county. It is the tallest mountain in Taiwan (and East Asia) and the fourth tallest mountain on an island. It rises to 3952 meters (or 12,996 feet).  (Ahem, thank you Wikipedia.)

We will begin the hike on a Sunday morning and stop for lodging a little more than half-way up. Then at 3 a.m. Monday morning we'll be waking up, chowing down some grub, and grabbing our flashlights to guide us to the peak to witness what will ultimately be the most gorgeous sunrise I've ever seen. (Not that I've seen many sunrises. I'm the kind of girl that cooperates more with sunsets, honestly). 

Believe me — I know I'm asking to get my butt kicked with this one, but I couldn't turn down the opportunity.

So that leads to the next new thing in my life. Starting this week, I plan to hike Tiger Head or run twice a week, as well as hike Yangmingshan once a week and then yoga twice a week. This will be a pretty good prep for Jade Mountain as well as make me feel less guilty and self conscious when I finally step into a swim suit this season. 

I'm also going to get a little more serious about cutting down the meat in my diet. I just don't feel like meats here are as high quality as they are at home and often I feel gross after eating meat these days. I'll hike up the fruits and veggies count.

I have two months until Thailand when I seriously need to be camera ready.

Now I'm going to go to TaiMall to watch Iron Man 2 with some of the ladies. That'll be a nice way to cruise into my birthday.