I was originally planning on writing up my second blog post sometime in August. But I guess there was some combination there, from my own laziness to wanting more experiences to share. Anyway…

It is already November 19th! Time really does fly. A year ago I was in a different timeline, working through my graduate program at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The 2010s are almost over, a decade that in some way represented me exploring my life as a new adult. Looking back — ten years ago when I was beginning university at the UMN TC, and beginning to learn Japanese, and a person who hadn’t ever left the United States. I’m not sure if I could have predicted this is where’d I be — I guess I would have imagined myself being in Japan for some extended period of time. And that could still be possible in the future. In many ways I’m proud of myself and what I have been through, and like any human, I have my number of regrets. Overall, what a crazy decade! Things never seem to get boring in the world. Moving from the recession towards new-tech optimism in the early half of the decade, to distrusting technology and looking at soft yet threatening geopolitical power struggles around the globe. Is that how the 2020s play out? A ebb towards optimism and a flow towards cynicism? Or maybe the world will descend into chaos! Hopefully not.

Anyway, here in Taichung, the weather for the last month has been sunny and 75~80 degrees. Today is actually a surprise because it’s cloudy and 70 and it feels a little cold. I’m certainly not reminded of Thanksgiving or Christmas in any concrete way.

I’ve been taking advantage of the weather in several ways. One way is by buying a bicycle. The summer here is unmercifully hot, and so riding a bike is not so smart then – but right now it is nearly the perfect season. The only thing is that it is well, almost winter, and the sun currently goes down at around 5pm. Living in rural-like suburbs with odd, congested roads and with the still worrying, wandering packs of wild dogs, I may have to wait a little bit until after the winter solstice to enjoy more weekday riding. The weekends have been pretty great though, and the city is fairly bike accessible in some areas. I haven’t timed myself too well but I estimate I could get downtown in 40 minutes, which is awesome compared to the 30 minute Ubers. Too bad back to school is all uphill.

Now you might be thinking of me as some sort of contrarian or hipster for talking about a bicycle in the land of scooters, well rest assured I have recently acquired one of those as well. I’m used to riding scooters from living in Shanghai, but this scooter packs a little more of a punch being 150cc, and the traffic here still feels more chaotic than organized. It is definitely a different feeling to be scootering through town, getting to a red light and then being surrounded by 20 other scooters fighting over one lane of traffic. Don’t worry too much about me though. I wear an expensive and sturdy helmet (required by law), pay attention to the roads and am generally a cautious fellow.

School is moving forward pretty well. We’re now in the “busy period” before Christmas where weeks are populated with more and more activities done outside of school. This last weekend we went to the city to pick up trash at a couple of parks — and when it is sunny and 70 degrees that is not too difficult to do. I can tell the kids are getting pretty exhausted between those activities and their already-heavy homework loads, and it’s completely reasonable. I found myself having to “press the brakes” in a couple of classes after students spoke out against the workload. I thought they were doing the “kids will complain about homework” thing out of reflex, but in truth I needed to slow things down, and I’m glad I opened up my class to form collected feedback to get more information from them. Let me tell you that it’s not easy to teach across three subject areas and then naturally want to reflect on it. In some ways my job feels like there is flexibility, and in some ways I feel like that episode of Spongebob (the Krusty Krab becoming a fine restaurant one) where his head and knowledge is organized into drawers and all hell breaks loose.

But the kids are still amazing. Some of them are spoiled to death, sure – but there are many of them who still have their fair share of problems. It’s interesting seeing kids grow up in an age of smart phones, especially at the school level. I have the power to basically take phones whenever I want, but it is really a part of who they are – probably to my detriment. As a teacher I try to be communicative and fair, and not trying to strong arm students too much – but it does happen. I am still most familiar with the middle school students, who are pretty adept at creating their own middle school memes and slogans. I find myself dumb phrases like “~~~ is good for you!”, a joking “don’t care!” and even “what the Huck!”

Over the past few months I haven’t done any particularly extraordinary travelling. I’ve visited Shanghai again to see friends, visited Taipei, been to Kaohsiung for a beach weekend, and visited South Korea for Halloween. Around Christmas I’ll be going to Vietnam for the first time, and I will likely be spending New Years in Taipei. One thing that is great about my current job is the fact that I get a two week Christmas break, followed in January by the lunar new year (another two week vacation), a spring break, and of course summer vacation. My plans for some of these periods are undecided, but I have to remind myself I’m on a teacher’s salary and repaying student debt. ;(

For more of what is going on here – there’s some really cool stuff. I went to a free rock festival in September, and a two week-long jazz festival that had nearly everyone in the city there. I’ve tried most of the local food, tried much of the not-local foreigner stuff, and visited most of the attractions here. I suppose my current ventures lie in nature, with more hiking and cycling. There are often things going on in Taipei and elsewhere, which is a bus or high speed rail (think bullet train) ride away – Taiwan isn’t too giant, and the trip costs $40 round trip, as opposed to the $200 or whatever it costs in Japan.

So I hope that string of photos and words is enough to satisfy your curiosity for the time being. My current focus in life is to improve myself as an educator and to become healthier (and to not be attacked by a pack of wild dogs.) Like with this blog post, time seems to magically trickle away.

Generally speaking, work-life balance can feel slow sometimes. In “tough” situations and times when you feel lonely, or lacking power – time seems to slow down a whole lot too. (Grad school and student teaching felt pretty difficult at times…and I would be thinking…this new thing is coming out! This vacation is coming up! If I hold on I can get there!)

Something important I’ve learned in the last decade is that you might think time moves slow, but in reality it passes right by.  I’m sorry this post took three months. There are so many people I wish I could see more of and spend more time with – family and friends, old and new – that I miss a lot. And there are good friends that I’ve lost touch with because that’s just what time and distance do sometimes.  I think of the Beatles’ Rubber Soul song “In My Life”. And so thanks to everyone, especially to you, if you read this blog post. Enjoy the time you spend with others! And I hope for the best in this upcoming decade.

Let’s try this out!

Time has been moving fast as I’m already 28 now, and 29 next January. I am looking for a place to consolidate thoughts and reflect on my experiences. Being younger (late teens/early 20s) I remember being stubborn and insistent that I could “remember the best things” but sadly that memory is a) not easily shared and b) not as good as it used to be!

So this is week three in Taichung, Taiwan.

Other than living in the (relative) boonies, I have been really happy with everything here. My workplace has been great so far, and everyone I’ve met has been pleasant. Things are convenient enough to be delivered to my doorstep within 24hrs (possible thanks to a handy dictionary app and my “kanji” senses) or bought at the local supermarket (20 minutes walking distance away,) and yet there is still a large enough language barrier and wilderness (like a pack of dogs roaming at night, weird birds, and maybe, eventually, the elusive cobras.) I can’t say I love extremely hot, humid weather or what it does to my hair, but I haven’t been too bothered by it, especially considering the frozen hell that was last year’s winter in Minnesota. I do feel regret leaving Minnesota during its second most comfortable season (the first obviously being fall,) and leaving friends and family.

Summer Camp

I’ve been working with summer camp for the month of July, with a few regular students of my school (7th-12th graders,) but also with a “wild card” of a dozen plus Korean 5th-6th graders who are each characters in their own ways. There’s Dave, who is in two of my classes, whose English speaking ability is very limited (single words and short sentences,) yet has the raw enthusiasm of three kids…in a good way. He’s a kid of few words, but today he was randomly quoting Shia Labeouf from his video a few years back…”JUST DO IT!!!”

Then there is Jenny, whose voice can be recognized from the opposite end of the hallway, and has created a ongoing caricature of me after doing a textbook fast food restaurant roleplay as “Mr. Yucky Huck Burger”, and told other teachers, in a classroom separate from mine, “…in my dreams I am punching Mr. Yuck!” The classroom is my prison, and I’m not allowed to leave it. Etc. Her willingness to play with these “story” shenanigans has made school a more fun place.

I could go on, but all of these younger kids have been hysterical and intelligent and unpredictable. I hear them talking about “battlegrounds” and “winner winner chicken dinner” in reference to the game PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds, a realistic shooter/ battle royale game predating Fortnite where you have to kill everyone else in order to be the last team standing. A big thing in Korea (with Overwatch.)

I’m also in charge of a board game club for our camp. Students have been having a blast using English and learning games like Catan, Dixit, and Skull (the only game I had available the first day of camp.) I tried to use cards from Werewolf for an unrelated activity and the class mutiny’d by the end to us playing Werewolf – and since we were done with everything I was cool with it.

I’m surprised by them, and yet they aren’t necessarily representative of the students I will be working with in the fall. I think I fondly look back at my time teaching ESL in Shanghai and Japan with similar age groups and similar unpredictable, dedicated children. While other teachers or staff might understandably be happy when they leave (a girl fell into the fish pond this morning trying to catch frogs,) I am really going to miss them when they go back.

My older students have been fantastic as well. Many of them playfully bemoan that they are stuck at this school for a month, and cry about their social lives. I think every single day I hear a joking story about a student being sad “about a break up,” with playful punches following up. It’s interesting to hear what teens from other cultures are interested in.

More to say on Taichung

Taichung as a city is (or at least seems) to sprawl out massively. It is growing at a rapid pace – they are establishing a new high speed rail line by 2020 and are encouraging people to move here with incentives like free bus transit within an 8km travel distance. I guess there’s also a Chili’s here.

I was told it was a city that combined with another county (or something to that extent) and as a settling foreigner I have a longing for a scooter to be exploring in my (for now existent) free time. There is also the part of me skeptical of driving here, as drivers seem simultaneously very aggressive and very defensive; I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been sitting anxiously in the front of Uber taxis wondering if we were going to scrape the cars or scooters next to us. Good thing helmets are mandatory!

People have also been wondrously kind. I fondly remember a Taiwan trip from less than two years ago, and worked with Taiwanese people at my workplace in Shanghai, but never thoroughly considered the cultural sphere of what it would be like to be doing everyday things in Taiwan.

Last week I waited an hour at the phone store to obtain an temporary SIM card for my phone. Firstly, I went to the wrong branch – and the branch members kindly pointed the direction of the next branch, which was walkable, 15 minutes away according to them. Then after waiting an hour (I watched a Taiwanese TV segment on Area 51 during this time) – this woman begins her shift at the desk (an hour before this place closes), and without complaint helps me obtain a SIM card, even replacing the one inside when I could have easily done so myself. Yesterday I went to an Indian restaurant for the first time and was lost at first. A stranger tells me, unprompted, “Are you looking for the Indian restaurant? It’s right over there.”

I’m still learning a lot about the culture, but it has really motivated me towards studying Mandarin harder (I have learned a bit which is useful, but is still lacking) – and still, I can’t give up on studying Japanese!

I’ve said a lot, and there’s so much more I could say about everything. I wish I could just write a dozen pages out but I don’t have the time for that and I’m imagining you don’t have the patience (at least from one blog post.)

Until next time,

Good night!