Living a life lost in translation

So... Today is Thanksgiving and I'm missing my family like crazy. I have been a little sick this week, and it feels like I just can't ever get back to 100% while working at this job. Even when I have to weekend to sleep and veg, I am so strung out. It sucks.

Pamela and Dan sent me cute portraits of the twins and it just makes me want to cry thinking I could be holding them right now... I feel so grateful that I have Lindsay and Bradley, and that I'm not completely alone... We're going to chill tomorrow and play Mah Jong here at my place. It will be nice.

I just really hope that my next job here is not like this one... If it is, I don't know that I can teach in Taiwan. Katie once told me that some people live to work, while others work to live. I immediately thought I was someone who lived to work. I would be happy to live only to teach. Teaching is who I am. But now I realize what living to work really is, and it's not who I am. The only thing that really gets me up to go to work is two of the girls I teach, Ilitta and JoJo. They are so amazing to me.

Since I was sick this week, they asked me how I was feeling, and gave me suggestions on how to feel better (like drinking more water). They are six years old! JoJo came back from nap-time yesterday to give me a big hug and ask, "How are you? Do you feel okay?" That a little girl would care about me in this manner makes this whole mess worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I miss you...

Here I am! Did you miss me? Things have been the same here. I don't have much news to report, but I'll share my latest Taiwan adventure with you.

For some reason lots of parades come down my street regularly. I know that one of them was a funeral for a very important Taiwanese millionaire that died recently. Yesterday there was a parade setting up on my street and I thought, "What the hay? I'll go take some fun pictures." It was definitely a funeral. It was a very cool funeral though. I would definitely love to have a Chinese funeral, because no one seems to be mourning. Every seemed somber but they also seemed to be celebrating. There were a few traditional things that went down, such as a dragon on sticks, a warrior dance, and the "giants" as I like to call them-- which I think represent death.

The dragon was very cool. It was made of a bunch of people carrying sticks that attached to a huge dragon. They ran in circles and in and out of the circle-- even did a cheerleader-like pose with a few people on others' shoulders. Very cool. After the dragon came a band and then a whole buttload of firecrackers. A random lady warned me to "find a place to hide" but of course I didn't take her too seriously. Taiwanese women here tend to be squeamish. Man, was I wrong! I got a picture but only at the expense of my hearing! Haha. Next was the warrior dance, which seemed to represent a water-carrier weaving his way through life. I was very impressed by these guys. Last was the huge giants that took a walk around the hearse. That's right. The hearse was in the parade.

I took pictures of everything, so check it out on my flickr page. I am not quite sure if it was appropriate or not to take pictures. There was a man taping it, so I think it was okay. Although, this man came up to me and asked, "You know this is a funeral?" Uhh... duh. The hearse is a dead give away (pun intended).

Here's a teaser:

So I gave my two months notice officially today. Let's hope everything works out for the best. I feel very confident right now, but I also have no ARC card (which means a no bank account and no scooter) and no job lined up. Oh, the trouble I get myself into.

Today I finally realized that I am indeed brave. Thanks to Lindsay's words: "Just because things aren't going so well doesn't mean you're not brave. You made the decision to come here. That's bravery all by itself." Yay :o) I am brave.

Yesterday, I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen (out of a cage). I thought it was dead because it had its legs curled and as I was being grossed out, it moved a leg. Lindsay was with me and jumped very high because I let out a huge scream. Srsly... biggest spider ever. I am sure I will have nightmares. Mom- you have seen me scream at tiny spiders. Imagine my scream for a huge one.

Hey hey hey! You were supposed to imagine me talking as Krusty the Clown there. I can't explain why that popped in my head.

This whole month our theme at the school has been Halloween. So we've been making Halloween crafts, talking about Halloween words, and we even went Trick-or-Treating for our field trip. It was... crazy. In previous years they went Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood the school is in, but I guess people were complaining, so this year we went to the biggest mall in town. The only way the mall agreed to this, was that the kids only Trick-or-Treated on the toy floor. LOL. Ahh, consumerism at its best. So everything went smoothly, although I'm not sure some of the people shopping were too happy about a bunch of kids shouting "TRICK OR TREAT!" at the top of their lungs.

I am going to have to look for another job. The problems with this school are numerous. The only problem is the contract I signed says that I have to wait until they find a replacement... up to two months! ...Why did I sign that, again? Once my contract is cancelled, I shouldn't have problems finding a job at a public school. Apparently, the public schools here are much better than private. Not to mention, I won't be taxed. Awesommmme.

I want to say a big I LOVE YOU to my grandma and mom. You two are the best :o) I miss you like crazy!

I went to a mormon church today! Several weeks ago I saw some missionaries on the street, and being the way I am, I went to talk to them. Being the way they are, they invited me to visit the church :o) So I finally went today and it was... interesting. I really couldn't understand anything being said, but one of the sisters was nice enough to translate for the second part of sacrament. I titled this blog bitter heart because I told her the ride to the church was much longer than I thought and, as always, it was very hot. She said she felt sorry and that in Taiwan they always say the word that means "bitter heart" to show their appriciation for my distress. I thought that was nice.

Anyways, part of what was translated to me was rather inspiring. One of the sisters was saying that oftentimes in life, we take pictures of our life. We look at those pictures and cherish those moments. Those moments help us get through hard times. What we cannot do is expect life to stay as they are in those pictures. We must accept that life will be hard sometimes, and that we will need help from others, and from Jesus. Recognizing this, we must all reach out and help each other because we will need the same help at some point in our life. There was a lot more about prayers and how we should ask Jesus about how to help others through their trials, and in turn Jesus will help us with our trials... but I like to take my own personal message out of any religious sermon-- I am UU :o)

Anyways, I just thought I'd share that. Things have been all right here. I got paid, so things look good right now. lol.

Hello there bloggers! I know its been a while since I posted but I've been very up and down lately. I'd rather just skip all the stupid drama that's happening at work and tell you about the festival I went to this weekend.

It was called Earth Festival 2008, and it was truly a hippie event. It was a concert that lasted 24 hours a day. I ended up camping out, and let me tell you, it's hard to sleep with loud music thumping in your ears! Everyone who had been to these festivals before were smart enough to bring ear plugs. Doh!

So I had quite and adventure on the way there. The person who asked me to come, Michelle, said she didn't have any room in her car. So I took a train and a taxi. It ended up costing more than I expected. I'm calling Michelle from the taxi thinking, "They're not going to let me in if I can't get Michelle down here" and she is just not answering her phone. Basically, out of the goodness of their hearts, the people running the ticket booth let me in on a student rate. I ended up having just enough money to pay the taxi. It was a close call. So I end up finding Michelle within ten minutes and she feels bad because it seems as though cell phones don't work in this remote location. Oh well! I got there okay.

So I had a lot of fun over Friday-Sunday. I met some awesome people that I hope I'll get to see again. I managed to step into a swamp and ruin my Asics on the first night, lol. What else... they had burritos! You people don't know how lucky you are to have mexican food. The view was just awesome. The weather was a little cold during the night, but during the day it was nice. I managed to get a wicked sunburn. My family genes showing through I guess :o)

All right, I'll try and update sooner next time. I miss you!