Taiwan Round 2..Can you believe it? Neither can I..

September 4th, 2012

Ya know, I never thought I'd be sitting back at this desk with little mosquitoes biting at my feet in a humid office with people shouting Chinese at 8:30 am, but here I am! Day #2 of my 2nd year at Yu Ying Junior High. I should probably back track a bit for those of you who are question why I would ever in my right mind fly back to Taiwan for a second year (I'm still not sure if I'm fully aware of why so writing it out helps me justify it) and instead of back tracking with a series of entries, I think I'll do a sort of picture slideshow of events/summary leading up to it.

Started playing soccer on Wednesday nights as recommended by a few of the guys from spring scream..they weren't exaggerating when they said not many girls come..because I was the ONLY girl. I was so nervous to go on my first Wednesday that Shija came with me to just watch. I quickly realized that people usually don't bring fans to their soccer practice so a few of the guys commented on it but I was honest and said.."I was nervous to be the only girl..so I brought my friend to watch!" I played well that first practice and a few of the guys invited me out to 711 for a few beers because they go every Wednesday. I politely declined and said, maybe next week! And the rest is history, I was playing once a week and made some new friends. It eventually led me to playing on one of Taichung's teams, The Scunners, for a tournament held in June. The tournament was a great experience. Taichung has 3 teams, Compass, Tubbies, and the Scunners, and we invited teams from all over Taiwan. There was so much diversity at this tournament it was crazy! There was literally a team from Nigeria (but they were "from" Taipei) and a Japanese team (also from Taipei) and they were awesome! They had a big fan clubs following them and running around with their flag haha. Our team didn't do too great, but after every game we voted for a "man of the match" and we'd later hear the results at the bar that night. The guys decided that it was sexist to have it be called "man" of the match now that I'm playing, but I told them I don't care..they probably assume that a girl who plays soccer is also most likely a feminist..(or maybe even a lesbian) but I'm far from that..and most of my motivation to play well in this tournament is because of the mass amounts of attractive men surrounding me. Anyway, later on at the bar they gave away beers to the people who won man of the match and I won one! I tried playing it off all calm and cool when they called my name..but secretly I was super giddy about it. That night, all of the teams that weren't from Taichung were looking for a place to go party. We told a few of the players from the other teams that we're going to a club called X-Cube. One of the guys was worried he wouldn't get in with flip flops and we told him we weren't sure if they'd let him in..but maybe! By the time we got up to the doors of the club, he got turned away because of his shoes so he put on his soccer cleats and they let him in! haha. I ended up meeting a real cute boy from England! Me and Shija like to call him Trophy Tom because we're unsure of his real name but I stalked his team's website and found out.

Man of the match beers!

So burnt!!

He won the golden boot

Shija with the Nigerians

The bouncer did not want Gerwin up there!

Cute Trophy Tom

We're all burnt, but still had a good time!

Well there's no doubt that after you live somewhere considered undesirable at first and stay there for a decent amount of time, you do make it your home. Taichung slowly became a home away from home. I think after Boracay and Spring Scream, I really started to enjoy the convenience of traveling and the diversity of people that we would meet. My school also did a lot of begging and pleading for me to stay one more year. It got to the point where the principal started offering more things like..an extra week off for Christmas..or..I can stay in Chicago until September and skip the orientation. There's also a slight raise (pretty miniscule..but it's a raise) I'm not saying I've never felt appreciated in previous jobs, but to have the students, co teachers, and pretty much the entire faculty beg me to stay on a daily basis, was getting a little difficult to turn down. My last few weeks with the students was amazing! I honestly felt like I had made a difference and to have them write me notes begging me to stay was probably a cheap ploy instructed by the faculty..but dammit, it worked..I decided to create a little slide show to overview my year at YuYing!

 The uncertainty with the job situation back at home was beginning to bother me more and more as the time to leave Taiwan for GOOD was approaching. Shija and I started attending more events where a lot of foreigners were and made good friends with not only them, but more Taiwanese people as well. The Food and Music festival, Glitter Party, and Disco Party were all really fun events in which we became closer to our group of friends and could actually say we HAD a group of friends as opposed to just me and Shija. The Dewey company was pressuring me more and more to give my final answer because "another person in the company was interested.." and I apologized but my school gave me the leeway and time in order to get their answer (well the answer they wanted to hear) I also found out that the one guy I absolutely could NOT stand in the company, was the one gunning for my job! He would NOT fit in here. He's been in Taiwan for a billion years teaching at the same elementary school, his attitude and personality wouldn't mesh well with the students or the co-teachers. 3 weeks before I was supposed to be on a flight back to the states, I made my decision to stay for one more year.Wenli cried she was so happy. It was cute haha

Glitter Party with Gabby and Nika

Your picture is taken before you enter the club!

Ready for the glitter!

Food and Music festival!

Sake bombs with the girls!

Tequila face..take a shot of tequila, get your picture taken.

We left for Luxy shortly after.

Luxy!!

Another interesting event weekend consisted of Canada Day/America Day. Canada was actually supposed to fall on a Sunday, but because they needed an America day, they put that on a Sunday and Canada was pushed to a Saturday. The Canadians in Taiwan were rather angry about this and would say things like, "Ugh well TODAY is supposed to be Canada day, not America day.." and I would respond.."Well there is no such thing as 'America Day' and if you're referring to Independence Day, that's always held on the 4th"..so you don't see any of the American's complaining about not having the 4th of July off of work and you certainly don't see anyone pushing for a Sunday dedicated to them. Some people can get annoying out here when it comes to America..a lot of "haters" you could say..and they're usually from Canada or the UK or South Africa..I think everyone else just minds their own business, as they should. Most recently, you hear a lot of people discussing the election, which I think is rather amusing when they're from an entirely different country, but still act as if it's affecting them and they have so much knowledge about the election, but still claim to hate everything about America/Americans..how sad is your life to where you literally obsess and study every trait of someone else's country just so you have a justifiable reason to hate that country if it were to ever come up in a conversation. Maybe it's me being ignorant, but...I'm not even sure what the hell goes on in Canada or South Africa..nor do I care. If I ever decide to move there, I'll do some research..

America day with my friend Robert (who's Canadian..can we just say North America Day?)

Xcube

Disco Party with Zi

My last few months also consisted of yet ANOTHER K-pop concert (you can never have too much K-Pop..) and this concert was a 4 hour concert. No joke. Yet again I was probably the only foreigner in the crowd but Wenli loves that idea because it means there's a higher chance of her 19yr old dream boy to look in our direction in the crowd of 4 billion people..we were front row though! The concerts are actually pretty entertaining, but I think I'm SHINee'd out for the year.

All the singers together (The SM Family)

The finale!

The last week of school was good! Got a bunch of cute little gifts and cards from the kids.

So my final week in Taiwan consisted of my trying to find a new apartment/switch my flight to an earlier time to surprise my dad/losing my passport for a good 13 hours and having an anxiety attack/and of course some last minute partying and hanging out with friends that we might not see again. Although I had made my decision to return, Shija was still unsure about what her plan was for the next year so we were trying to squeeze in some last minute Shija/Diana bonding time before we possibly went our separate ways. I tried singing at the KTV for my first time. It's pretty fun, you just bring in all your booze and it's an all you can eat buffet and everyone gets drunk and sings all of those one hit wonders that you used to love (All Star from Smash Mouth and Total Eclipse of the Heart.) My last day in Taiwan consisted of this kid, Brett's birthday pool party at what people call the "Gay pool," and a night out at this club called Simba. The pool party was pretty crazy..there was a DJ and lots and lots of drinks. Sounds unsafe but I assure you that Taiwan does swimming like no other place I've seen. They have some strange rules and regulations before you get into the pool. First of all, everyone needs to wear a goofy black swim cap before they get in. When people were swimming "laps" in the pool, they were wearing floaties and life vests. It's not uncommon for every person to be holding onto one of these floatie devices. Here's a photo of people at Kenting Beach to give you an example.

Goin for a swim? Don't leave home without your floatie!

This is the gay pool..

Representing America..great

Entertainment at Simba

Going our separate ways : (

Last night at Simba!

My flight home was long, exhausting, and cramped. I was anxious to get home and 14 hours of flight plus 3 hours of layovers wasn't helping. Let's just say I made great use of the melotonin, xanax, and took advantage of those free mini chardonnays along the way. Slept like a baby! Arriving in Chicago was an amazing feeling. It made that awful plane ride seem like piddly squat, and seeing Kristen right after my baggage claim, was the best feeling ever. I can't imagine going any longer without seeing my family and I give so much credit for those of you who can hold out longer than a year! Gahhh tearing up as I'm even writing that. Being back is a good feeling, but I definitely cherished the summer home with my family. Ok there's the post that I procrastinated on for wayyyy too long. Gotta get back into the habit of writing about these crazy times in Taiwan, because believe it or not, there still is never a dull moment out here.