Taiwan
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The Taiwan Diaries
Volume 13
(08.21.03)
I'm leaving Taiwan in a week and so I thought I would do the last diary a little differently. Each set of 10 is in no particular order.
10 Things I'll Miss about Taiwan
1. Fresh mango strawberry juice everyday
2. Cruising around town on my scooter, Barbie
3. The way my kids faces light up when I walk in the classroom and they know I am teaching instead of the Chinese teacher.
4. Sitting in a pub with all my South African friends watching rugby and cheering for the Springboks in a mixture of part Afrikaans, part Chinese and part English.
5. Having my hair washed.
6. Being able to drive for 2 hours and have beautiful mountain scenery or be at the beach.
7. The fact that everything is open until midnight.
8. Teppenyaki every Sunday night.
9. Having my fruit cut and chopped for me.
10. The laid-back lifestyle I have.
10 Things I Won't
1. Stinky tofu
2. Rainy Season
3. The pollution
4. Rice
5. The crazy 18 year old gang members zipping around on their scooters.
6. My street between 4 and 6 on Sunday afternoon. Think farmers market with tons of vendors and tons of people.
7. Grading homework
8. The lack of American football here
9. The lack of quality Mexican food
10. The dirt here. My hands and face are always filthy.
10 Things I've Learned
1. I should never have made fun of Mr. Ames in senior year physics for having chalk all over his butt. I learned that if you ever use a chalkboard it is inevitable.
2. Nobody can make a margarita quite like a Texan.
3. The Chinese language isn't nearly as difficult as everyone makes it out to be.
4. I now can peel a mango.
5. Kansas is actually flatter than a pancake. Seriously, some scientists did a study and the results were printed in our English newspaper!
6. Summer in Taiwan isn't as bad as a hot summer in Texas, even with all the humidity.
7. I can make a mean chimichanga even lacking crucial ingredients.
8. Taiwan has too many meats on sticks. America is doing great with sausage on a stick and corn dogs. They shouldn't branch out.
9. Don't assume that lifeguards can swim.
10. Teaching English is a really cool job! I'm really glad I did it.
Little Bob Fan
I couldn't do a diary though without at least one story so here it is! Sometimes I bring my CD player to work and listen to music while I grade homework. One day I was listening to my Lonelyland CD and one of my students came up and asked what I was listening to. I gave her the headphones and she listened to it. She told me his voice was very cool and she hadn't heard anything like it before. She said she really like it. I asked her if she liked western music. She said sometimes but not very often. She said she had an Eric Clapton CD and a Frank Sinatra CD, but that was all. The next week I burned her a copy of Bob (I didn't think he'd mind. If he does, let me know and I'll give him the $8). She said it is now her favorite CD and she listens to it all the time. So now Bob Schneider
has a 13 year old Taiwanese fan!
My Birthday Party
In the curriculum I use there is very little room for leeway. This is really nice because I never have to plan anything. It is all done for me. Sometimes though you have an activity you want to do but can't because there isn't time. Once every three months there is a
games day. Usually the Chinese teacher teaches this lesson, but sometimes I get to. My birthday was a few weeks ago (Go me! 24!!!) and I happened to have a games day the following day. So for my games day we had a birthday party for me! It was so much fun. We played pin the tail on the pig and I made a pinata of my head. It was hilarious to see kids whacking at my head with a broomstick. There are a few pictures on my website. Not many though because we were having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures!
http://www.killen.org/Shellie/
The Plan
As I mentioned above, I'm leaving Taiwan in one week. I know all of you are curious as to what I'm going to do. On September 1, I'm taking a quick trip around Taiwan to see the things I haven't seen yet. On September 7, I've got a one-way ticket to Cambodia. I'll be traveling through Cambodia, Vietnam and China for 3 and a half months. I'm going with good friend from home (Katie Hengstenberg) and a South African girl that I've become friends with here in Taiwan. I have a ticket to come home on Dec. 18. So I will be
home in time for Christmas. After Christmas, I hopefully will be packing up again and moving off to grad school to start working on my MBA. I'm not exactly sure which school I will attend yet. The letters will all arrive while I am traveling. I will try to keep you all updated on my quest through Asia.
I've really enjoyed all of your emails and support over the past year. This has been an extremely rewarding experience but I don't think I could have done it without all the cards, packages and emails I received from all the fabulous people back home. Thanks! And this time I can honestly say, see you soon!!