I am sitting in a café on the beach at 白沙灣, looking out over the cold ocean and shivering from the drafty wind that blows in the open door. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to endure sitting here, but for now, I’m very happy with my decision to lug my library books and heavy computer in a particularily cumbersome bookbag all the way out here to the beach. (:
Happy belated birthday to me. This weekend, Florence and I were supposed to go to Taichung and go to the night market, up the mountain to look out over the city, watch a movie and explore the city some more. But after everyone went out dancing the other night, and her general exhaustion after hosting so many guests at once at her house, the event fell thru. Needless to say, I was disappointed, but thought we could do something else in the city. Those plans later feel thru as well, so I spent most of yesterday cleaning my room, washing clothes, playing with my bunny and watching a movie in Chinese. In short, doing nothing of consequence, other than truly being my 22 years: adult chores, haha.
Today, I told myself that I would do something special, something cool. So, here I am at the café that Robby, Ben, Jorn and I came to several months ago. It’s amazing how time flies. It’s amazing how much time both does and doesn’t change you. This year has been so changing for me. So many incredible things have happened.
I’ve been in 3 different serious relationships. I had my heart broken, and broke a couple of hearts. My big sister got married. I became best friends with my young cousin Carolyn, who I now consider to be my little sister. I went to the NC mountains and the beach, I went to the SC beach, I went to LA to visit Liz and her friends and (at the time) future husband. I traveled to Amsterdam and Kenya, and all over Uganda. I’ve gotten seriously sick a couple of times, and been to both a Ugandan and Taiwanese hospital for sinus infections. I learned to drive a motorbike, I rafted the Nile, I moved to Asia. I started playing rugby in NC; I volunteered at the Botanical Gardens with their kids and family programs; I am employed next year for Teach for China, I got a travel scholarship and began talking with a Marine recruiter. I’ve swam in both the Indian and both sides of the Pacific ocean (in Cali and Taiwan), I ate meat a couple of times (ahh! gave in to the deliciousness of hamburgers, haha), and I finally own a pet again after all these years. I read countless good books, discovered an interest in law as well as international business, figured out what grad schools I’m interested in as well as discovered what I want to do as my long term goals.
Life has been….full of changes this past year. I don’t think my mind has even completely comprehended all that has happened in it. (: I’m very blessed to be surrounded by dear friends and family who love me and pray over my life. Life certainly is an interesting adventure.
I had to purchase a drink here at the café, and the lady just brought the most interesting drink to the table. It’s a pot of Rose Milk Tea (with Real rose petals and leaves) set over a little flame and a brought on a tray with an English teacup. So cute! There’s Italian music playing in the background, which is also of note. Maybe the café actually belongs to a European? I wouldn’t be too surprised. This seems like an area that an expat who’d been in Taiwan for long enough would discover and love.
For my studying and ‘enjoying me time’ purposes, this café is the best little spot right now. In the summer months, it’s packed with tourists and avid surfers, beach goers and dog owners. Right now, it’s abandoned except for myself, the teenage girl working the bar, the father surfing the internet, and what appears to be his mother (the grandma) reading a magazine. One lone surfer is out working the waves in his black wetsuit. Wow, power to ya! I don’t even want to know how cold that water is. Sometimes, it’s relaxing to find a ‘hole in the wall’ where one can just escape the constant hustle of the city. Living in Taipei has only reminded me how much of a country girl I can be, and how I need sunny skies and forests and big bodies of water to keep me grounded and happy as a June bug (how about those Southernisms! J )
I’ve never been up to the Maine seacoast, but I sure would love to. I wonder if this is what the weather is like in the fall, spring and winter there. Windy, cold, and beautiful. Being away from home in new places is wonderful, but it also makes you appreciate those places in your own ‘backyard’ that you’ve yet to explore. (: I’d also love to go back to Seattle, see more of California, and see more of the middle of the country. The USA itself would be quite the adventure.
My Chinese is improving more and more each day. I owe this mostly to Florence, and my daily Chinese class where my teacher only speaks Chinese. I can tell that I can understand more when I’m spoken to, and my friends keep telling me it’s improving. Yay!
Not much more to report right now. I’m totally procrastinating writing a Big term paper and doing some more research on our final law project. I’m ready for the semester to be done, because my mind is not ‘in the game’ when it comes to paper writing. I’d rather be in the real world, practicing my Chinese by traveling, watching Taiwanese movies, listening to Taiwanese music, and spending time with my Taiwanese friends who only speak to me in Chinese. That’s my plan for next semester: I’ve decided I’m done with the constant stress and busywork of Chinese class, and since I don’t need the credits to graduate, I’m not going to take more Chinese classes, but rather do an independent study, and take advantage of that time I’m not holed up in cafes with anxiety over my grades to get out in the real world and make big strides in my language. I’m excited about that!
Other random life updates: I have a baby pet bunny! For all those who didn’t know. (: She’s absolutely precious, black and white and precocious all over. Total adventurous rascal! I’m in love, hehe.
My great friend Nicole, from Cali, and I are trying to work it out so that we can be roomies together next semester (it will require some herculean haggling with the dorm desk people, as well as moving for one or both of us). I’m also going Tuesday night to a touch rugby team of locals and expats I found in Taipei city. Idk how it will go, but it’s worth checking out! I’ll be tutoring the Lai boys on Wednesday nights from now til Chinese New Year time when they’ll go to San Francisco to visit their grandmother, and I’ll go traveling around Taiwan with Florence and maybe Nicole, then go with Nicole and Ben Turman to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Very excited to be going back after so long away! It feels a bit like going home.
Well, enough procrastinating! I need to get cracking on these large tomes I insisted on lugging along with me. Love and peace to you all!
Becca
