Of Bangs and Whimpers: The End

Well, kids... we did it.

Monday was the last day of school for ETAs. We had a meeting in the afternoon, ETAs and LETs. The 1:00 meeting started at 2:30, with Irene telling us we could watch The Terminal or Babel. Terminal won, two votes to none. Wait-- weren't there 20 people or so? Yeah. We just didn't know why the hell were were supposed to be there watching a movie on our last day. ETAs needed to be busy packing to go home, and LETs needed to check final exams and figure grades and report cards. So Irene put the DVD on and promptly returned to work in her office...

That night, several of us ETAs had dinner at Jun in Luodong. It's a great place to eat Chinese/Taiwanese food with a group of five or more. I guess we were eight. We had a drink across the street, then came back to my apartment, where we continued drinking and had a karaoke lovefest via youtube, watching and singing all our favorite songs from the 90s. Some people drank a lot. One or two stayed over. One definitely threw up on my couch. Oops.

I spent Tuesday cleaning up a bit, then the rest of the week running a couple errands, but mostly relaxing. Had dinner with my host family. Denny came to see me for a day. We went to the beach in Dongao.

Friday I met Trace for a "utilities field trip," as Dr. Collins called it. We went to pay the power and water bills, because I'll be gone before they're due. Like a field trip, only not really.

Today, I spent the day frantically cleaning the apartment. Trace was going to come at 8 pm to check inspect the apartment and return my deposit. Fortunately, he texted me at 7:30 asking to do it tomorrow. Better for me anyway, because he can help me get to the train station after I leave my motorcycle. So now I'm leaving at 1 pm.

I just spent 15 minutes driving arond the sports park, looking for the mythical public trash cans. After finishing cleaning tonight, I had a bag of garbage. The garbage truck won't come again until tomorrow, so I'm not sure what to do with it. Luke told me he sometimes snuck to the sports park at night and left it in the trash can. There is no such thing as a dumpster or a garbage can in Taiwan. You have to take your garbage and recyclables out to throw them into two trucks. The trucks come here at 6 pm and 9 pm, Sunday-Friday. To make things worse, the recyclable truck only takes certain things on certain days... maybe paper and glass on Sunday, Tues, Thurs, and plastic and cans on the other days. Grr. Anyway, I drove around with a garbage bag strapped to my motorcycle... I checked all the lanes on the east, south and west sides. Nothing. So I brought my garbage back.

Okay, I'm beat. I'm leaving on July 3 and I'll be home late on July 4. Go America! Goodnight!

We did it! Over the four-day holiday weekend, four friends and I rode scooters/motorcycles around the island of Taiwan! I promise I will write this story soon, but right now I am so tired and busy. Monday is my last day of work, and I head back to the US shortly after, so I am stressed with a lot of end of the year stuff.

For now, you can see the photos here.

blah

yeah, i'm pretty blah lately. busy and somehow bored of everything i'm doing. stressing a little about the end of my time here. and stressing about how to get back. if i come back to study chinese, i'll be in class 4 hours/day, studying 4 hours/day, and probably working another 4 hours/day to pay for it all. seems like a busy, stressful, and broke lifestyle. i wonder if it would pay off...?
my mac is still in the shop. i probably won't get it back until sunday, june 24. it's hard to write much or write well without it.
i finally got my return ticket booked. it's later than i want. july 10. i'm on a waiting list to return on july 2. i hope they call me soon. i have to be out of my apt on july 1, so i won't have a place. i'd like to travel, but will probably be too broke. maybe i'll have to bide my time and try to find some temp work or tutoring for about 10 days.
anywho, ciao for now.

Plum Season

The whole of Taiwan is soaked in rain. This is what they call the "Plum Season," or the plum rain. It's a period of almost constant rain, beginning in May and ending in June. During this period, the plums ripen, hence the name. I don't even like plums. I'd gladly give them up if it meant the rain would stop.

My time here is winding down very quickly. My last day of work is June 26 and I'll be leaving in early July. I'm likely coming back to study Chinese in Taipei. Hey, it's not like I have anything better to do. But anyway, I'm very much ready to leave Yilan and go home for a while at least. Home. Home... Ah...

I haven't had much opportunity to write here lately. Sorry about that. I have plenty of news, good and bad.

My grandmother passed away two weeks ago. I decided to stay here, since I'll be home soon. There's plenty to say about it, but I'm not sure this is the place...

My computer developed a problem over the past month, just after my one year warranty expired. I took it to the shop for repair last weekend and I won't get it back until next weekend at the earliest. So I spent much of the past week being productive around the apartment and also getting plenty of sleep. Actually it's been nice, in that regard. It's easy to get distracted by the computer in the evenings. I won't be able to post any photos or videos until I get it back, but I have several I'd like to share, and also catch up on some writing... Three weeks ago, I joined the Blue Line Challenge, a sort of photo scavenger hunt one of my colleagues, Joel, organized in Taipei. It involved stopping at various subway stops around Taipei and taking photos as specified in a list. It was intended to get foreigners and locals together to make new friends, and I think it was successful. You can see my team's photos here. Hey, we got third place! It turned out to be a great night... After the after party, several of us went to Luxy and danced until the sun came up. Haven't done that in a while.

Two weeks ago, I went to Green Island with Ben and Luke... I'll write more later. And last weekend, we had our Fulbright farewell dinner in Taipei. Again, more later... This weekend, Gina, Luke, Ben and I went to a hot springs lodge in Rueishuei, in Hualien County. A nice, relaxing escape from the rain, but I'll write more later. I'm in a crappy internet cafe. This keyboard sucks, and I'm running out of time. More importantly, I'm running out of patience. This place is filled with teenagers, smoking and playing role playing games and music at full volume. Very annoying, trust me. I'm gonna trudge home through the rain and get some sleep. It's back to school tomorrow!

Cheers. Stay tuned!