


Well, let's start back in January... The Chinese New Year was a big celebration again this year. The air is full of incense, fireworks, etc. All the bright, noisy, loud, smelly reminders that this is indeed a VERY foreign country with VERY foreign customs. I was able to celebrate the Chinese New Year with my co-worker Echo Cheng and her family this year. I learned a bit more about the customs and traditions of Chinese New Year from Echo and her family and thoroughly enjoyed the evening with lots of international students from the University where Carl teaches. We represented Taiwan, America, Canada, Ecuador, Russia, and Ukraine! It was a truly
international group!
February and March brought all the usual school events. We took a few field trips, studied and worked in our classroom, held special events like "Afternoon Tea", and in general kept plugging away at doing school. These months saw some real challenges with parents and students dealing with school issues. It is always a difficult position to be in as teacher telling people things they may not want to accept about their child's school performance.
April was an exciting month for me as I was able to take a much anticipated trip to London to visit a dear friend! It was my first trip ever to London, and we saw all the sights! It was really amazing to be in such a fascinating city with its long history and international flair! Some favorite memories include a day at Windsor, an Easter meditation in St. Paul's Cathedral, seeing the musical "Oliver", attending a performance of Handel's Messiah at Royal Albert Hall, and breakfast at the Wolsley! There were a million other wonderful things about my trip to London, but the highlights will have to do for this blog... I could write for ages if I let myself! Suffice to say, I loved London and I had the time of my life!!!
Which brings us to the present... the school year finishes in two weeks, and in two weeks and three days I'll be on a plane headed home for the summer. Looking back over the last 10 months of this school year I see many ups and downs. There were great moments of accomplishment, like Monica winning 50th place in a world wide math competition. There were also moments of great challenge and struggle with students and parents this year. There were goodbyes to friends leaving Taiwan for good, and some hellos as new people arrived. As I prepare to go home, I always have to think out my answer to the usual question, "How was Taiwan?" It is such a difficult question to answer! On any given day the answer may be quite different. Some days I would say, "Taiwan is wonderful! I'm so glad I live here! It is well worth the challenges to be having this amazing experience and meeting these interesting people!" On other days my answer would sound more like, "Taiwan drives me CRAZY! I don't understand these people. I don't like these people. I don't remember what posessed me to come here in the first place. WHAT WAS I THINKING???"
I wish I could love Taiwan more than I do... or hate it more than I do. It is much easier to explain either loving or hating a place entirely. As it stands I have a love/hate relationship with Taiwan. I suppose the answer to, "How is Taiwan?" is similar to much of the rest of life... sometimes it is amazing and wonderful, sometimes it is difficult and horrible, much of the time it is somewhere inbetween the two. So... getting ready to leave Taiwan for a brief respite at home I take the bad along with the good and pray that God continues to somehow weave it all together in my life to make me who he wants me to be.
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