I am currently sitting in the Japan airport waiting for my connecting flight back to California.
I don't really know what to say...I really didn't want to leave Taiwan. It's really hard to describe my experience in Taiwan. I've been calling it a dream because life is just so relaxing there it's so surreal. While it wasn't what I expected and wanted it to be, I was still able to accomplish a lot of things. This experience has also helped me realize more about what I want for myself and where my future may end up in.
I'm really glad and grateful for all the new friends I've made. I'm also really thankful that all my old friends haven't forgotten me.
I've discovered that Taiwan is my safe haven. It's where I can go to escape the harshness of reality. I really do see it as a place that I will travel to often in the future. I am now seriously considering coming back for a year to work now.
To be completely honest, I'm super scared about returning to Cali. I'm scared to face all the life complications and stress that I left behind when I left California. But I guess I have to come back and face them eventually. So here I go.
Now that my study abroad is over...I suppose this blog is over too. I actually kind of like blogger...we'll see if I continue using this server.
Thank you Taiwan for giving me this break. As much as I don't want to...it's time for me to go back to reality.
Good-bye now. The End.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Coming to an End...
Aaaaah another week has passed since my last entry...and I'm going back to the states soon!!!
I'm actually quite sad about going back because now that I'm about to leave..I don't want to go back anymore. Haha.
So what have I been doing my last week in Taiwan? Well let's see...this week has been all about going out to eat with people (last meals...haha). Monday I had dinner with 小美. After almost two months of trying to find time to have dinner we finally set it up (though, I bet if I wasn't leaving Taiwan soon we probably still wouldn't have had dinner). He brought me to eat 酸菜白肉鍋, first time I've ever had that.
(top) the hotpot, (bottom) 小美
I'm actually quite sad about going back because now that I'm about to leave..I don't want to go back anymore. Haha.
So what have I been doing my last week in Taiwan? Well let's see...this week has been all about going out to eat with people (last meals...haha). Monday I had dinner with 小美. After almost two months of trying to find time to have dinner we finally set it up (though, I bet if I wasn't leaving Taiwan soon we probably still wouldn't have had dinner). He brought me to eat 酸菜白肉鍋, first time I've ever had that.
(top) the hotpot, (bottom) 小美
After dinner we walked to 師大 (which is apparently NTNU), 師大夜市, NTU, and then the dorms.
Tuesday I went to 淡水 to see my grandparents one last time before I leave. And once again had hotpot for dinner with them and my aunt. A different kind of hotpot.
Tuesday I went to 淡水 to see my grandparents one last time before I leave. And once again had hotpot for dinner with them and my aunt. A different kind of hotpot.
(top) our individual hot pots (bottom) grandmama eating
Wednesday was JK's birthday so he treated us to lunch at this super high-class restaurant called Mitsui. The lunch special was like a multi-course meal. And one of the courses was hotpot. LoL...I my third hotpot for the week.
Wednesday was JK's birthday so he treated us to lunch at this super high-class restaurant called Mitsui. The lunch special was like a multi-course meal. And one of the courses was hotpot. LoL...I my third hotpot for the week.
(top) waiter cooking hotpot for us (bottom) group pic
Wednesday was also my last day with my tutee. I got gifts and a bonus too! Haha.
Thursday was our (me, Sharleen, Sherry) good-bye dinner. Went to the Hello Kitty Restaurant. Super pink. And the funny thing was that there were more guys than girls. LoL.
Thursday was our (me, Sharleen, Sherry) good-bye dinner. Went to the Hello Kitty Restaurant. Super pink. And the funny thing was that there were more guys than girls. LoL.
(top) hello kitty placemat (bottom) the girls
I also got my hair permed in the afternoon. Now I have semi-curly hair again! Excitings.
And now it's Friday. Ended the weekday with a dinner with my student volunteer.
Me & My student volunteer, Yi-Chin
And now it's Friday. Ended the weekday with a dinner with my student volunteer.
Me & My student volunteer, Yi-Chin
And that ends the dinner blogs. Tomorrow's my last full day in Taiwan. Who should I eat with?
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Done and Alone
My roommate moved out and went back to Singapore last night. I now have a single. Even though we never really talked to each other much, it's still a little strange to have so much emptiness next to me. @@
I did move to her bed though. I discovered that there is like a mattress there so it's a lot softer and more comfortable than my bed. Can say that besides the paranoia with the mosquitoes, I definitely slept a lot better last night. And it's actually warmer up there. And I discovered that she had a bottle of insect repellent lotion up there too. So that's her secret with the mosquitoes at night. LoL.
Well...now that there's so much emptiness in the room, I guess it's time to pull out the suitcase and start packing. See how much space I have left to buy more stuff. xP
Besides that, today was also the last day of my NTU class. We made our final project presentations and then it was done. No clapping for the professor, no nothing. It was very anti-climatic and didn't feel like it was the last day of class.
That is all.
I did move to her bed though. I discovered that there is like a mattress there so it's a lot softer and more comfortable than my bed. Can say that besides the paranoia with the mosquitoes, I definitely slept a lot better last night. And it's actually warmer up there. And I discovered that she had a bottle of insect repellent lotion up there too. So that's her secret with the mosquitoes at night. LoL.
Well...now that there's so much emptiness in the room, I guess it's time to pull out the suitcase and start packing. See how much space I have left to buy more stuff. xP
Besides that, today was also the last day of my NTU class. We made our final project presentations and then it was done. No clapping for the professor, no nothing. It was very anti-climatic and didn't feel like it was the last day of class.
That is all.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Stuffs
So it's been a while since I've written a real blog entry. December and January so far has just been a mixture of seeing family, seeing US friends, and saying goodbye to Taiwan friends.
Saw and hung out with Jackie. Haven't seen him since whenever we can remember. Thanks for bringing my new camera over!
Saw and hung out with Yen. You still have another week left...let's hang out again! ^^
Saw and hung out with my Gracie poo. Miss you already!!!
And now JK is here on a sporadic trip to Taiwan. So it's time to play tour guide! And makes me miss Wenqi even more!!! ><
Anyways, this entry is mainly made for two reasons, to write about yesterday.
Yesterday marks the first day I've ever hung out with newly made local Taiwanese friends. Went singing with two local friends (from songwriters club) and two exchange friends. It was fun. And it helped me complete one of my goals here (to make friends and hang out with locals).
Yesterday also marked the worst mosquito night I've ever had in Taiwan. There were THREE..THREE!!! mosquitoes in my room last night. Effing A. I could not sleep at all. The first mosquito bites me right above the eye. Pisses me off. I didn't want to turn on the room or desk light because I was scared it would wake up my roommate. So I took out my DS and used that as a flashlight to hunt the mosquito down. After two tries, I killed that damn thing (smeared the blood all over the wall too). I'm okay, yay, peace. Time to sleep. Next thing you know...another effin bloodsucker is buzzing in my ear. DS comes out again. I see it on the wall. SMACK. another dead mosquito. It's like 5am now. I'm so pumped up with adrenalin because of all this mosquito hunting that I can't fall asleep. So I'm just in bed not knowing what to do. And lo and behold...mosquito number three decides to come bother me! FACK. So pissed. By this time...it's like 6am and it's starting to get light outside. I search for this annoying mosquito and can't find it. Once 7am came around I was super tired and finally fell asleep until JK called me at 10am to tell me he's almost at the dorms. I wake up to discover two bites on my forehead. Freakin mosquitoes. Cost me sleep. I think my roommate ended up killing the last mosquito though because when I came back to my room later I saw a new dead mosquito on the wall with blood splatters.
That was a long paragraph. But it was an awful night. And now I'm paranoid. And want to go back to the US to hide from the mosquitoes. That is one thing I will NOT miss at all when I leave Taiwan...the effin mosquitoes!
Saw and hung out with Jackie. Haven't seen him since whenever we can remember. Thanks for bringing my new camera over!
Saw and hung out with Yen. You still have another week left...let's hang out again! ^^
Saw and hung out with my Gracie poo. Miss you already!!!
And now JK is here on a sporadic trip to Taiwan. So it's time to play tour guide! And makes me miss Wenqi even more!!! ><
Anyways, this entry is mainly made for two reasons, to write about yesterday.
Yesterday marks the first day I've ever hung out with newly made local Taiwanese friends. Went singing with two local friends (from songwriters club) and two exchange friends. It was fun. And it helped me complete one of my goals here (to make friends and hang out with locals).
Yesterday also marked the worst mosquito night I've ever had in Taiwan. There were THREE..THREE!!! mosquitoes in my room last night. Effing A. I could not sleep at all. The first mosquito bites me right above the eye. Pisses me off. I didn't want to turn on the room or desk light because I was scared it would wake up my roommate. So I took out my DS and used that as a flashlight to hunt the mosquito down. After two tries, I killed that damn thing (smeared the blood all over the wall too). I'm okay, yay, peace. Time to sleep. Next thing you know...another effin bloodsucker is buzzing in my ear. DS comes out again. I see it on the wall. SMACK. another dead mosquito. It's like 5am now. I'm so pumped up with adrenalin because of all this mosquito hunting that I can't fall asleep. So I'm just in bed not knowing what to do. And lo and behold...mosquito number three decides to come bother me! FACK. So pissed. By this time...it's like 6am and it's starting to get light outside. I search for this annoying mosquito and can't find it. Once 7am came around I was super tired and finally fell asleep until JK called me at 10am to tell me he's almost at the dorms. I wake up to discover two bites on my forehead. Freakin mosquitoes. Cost me sleep. I think my roommate ended up killing the last mosquito though because when I came back to my room later I saw a new dead mosquito on the wall with blood splatters.
That was a long paragraph. But it was an awful night. And now I'm paranoid. And want to go back to the US to hide from the mosquitoes. That is one thing I will NOT miss at all when I leave Taiwan...the effin mosquitoes!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
ICLP = Over
So Tuesday marked the very last day of ICLP...meaning my UC EAP study abroad semester is officially over. I still have one NTU class every Thursday morning and tutoring twice a week but besides that my days are free free FREE!!!
Monday was pretty much the last day of ICLP classes. Got exams back. Gave teachers their gifts. And we treated our 3rd class teacher to afternoon tea. It was kind of weird hanging out with our teacher outside of the classroom. You would think that since he talked so much in the classroom that we could all have conversations outside of the classroom. Instead it felt a little awkward. And in the end we still had like a "lesson" on chinese slang at the afternoon tea place. Haha. Guess it's in his blood to teach...doesn't feel comfortable around students if he isn't teaching. xP
棋王class!!!
singing with the teachers
And then after that was the banquet at Sheraton Hotel. All you can eat Western style buffet!! The food was good but there wasn't a big selection. The dessert selection was pretty crazy though. Besides crepes, cakes, ice cream, etc...there was also a chocolate fountain AND a 抹茶 (green tea) fountain!!! crazy!!! Just like the last day of anything, we took tons of pictures.
抹茶fountain!!!
most of the ICLP girls
most of the ICLP guys
Monday was pretty much the last day of ICLP classes. Got exams back. Gave teachers their gifts. And we treated our 3rd class teacher to afternoon tea. It was kind of weird hanging out with our teacher outside of the classroom. You would think that since he talked so much in the classroom that we could all have conversations outside of the classroom. Instead it felt a little awkward. And in the end we still had like a "lesson" on chinese slang at the afternoon tea place. Haha. Guess it's in his blood to teach...doesn't feel comfortable around students if he isn't teaching. xP
The teacher opening his gift from us.
Tuesday was the last day of ICLP. Instead of class, we all went singing with our teachers! It was exciting...we had like around 40 people? Got a huge KTV room and tons of food.
棋王class!!!
singing with the teachers
抹茶fountain!!!
most of the ICLP girls
most of the ICLP guys
And that marks the end of ICLP. Some people from the program have already left for the US. And as December slowly comes to an end, more and more people will be leaving...then what do I do? @@
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