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.