We Moved to Taiwan!

So, I haven't posted anything in a while. This is due to my extreme laziness when it comes to most things in general, but I feel like I have a particular affinity for laziness when it comes to blogging or journaling or anything of the sort. I mean, how many times have I stopped posting for long periods of time on here, and then all of a sudden think, "I should do that again" just to have the cycle start all over again. It's like this with my journals, too. There are big gaps in time and I usually write some sort of a "catch up" post to document the last 3 years or so before I commit (and I mean it this time!) to writing once a day, or maybe a week, or a month... I have 6 maybe 7 of these journals, and all of them, literally ALL are unfinished. I hate leaving those big gaps of time, and I hate those TLDR "catch up" entries, so I just start over. Go to the stationary store (which I love the stationary stores here in Taiwan), find a cute new journal, and begin again. That is almost what I did here! I am literally sitting in my bed on my iPad trying to come up with a fancy name and a fancy cover for my new fancy blog when this one is sitting here abandoned. And so, I'm not going to start over or "catch up" anything.

For those of you who don't have Facebook, or haven't seen me in a while, or maybe have been living under a rock, I'm not going to fill you in. If you don't already know that I just moved to Taiwan, we have bigger problems than me not continuing to blog on a regular basis. If you don't know me at all, then welcome! I'm sorry you somehow came across my blog and have actually made it this far in reading it. You must have nothing better to do or are procrastinating writing your own blog by reading mine...

So, life in Taiwan is...different. There are things that I miss about the states, and things that I don't. There are things that I love about here, and things that I really don't love. Biggest thing I've noticed, and I knew this going into it, was the humidity. It's not really HOT here, but it is warm and humid. It's a tropical island, so it feels tropical...imagine that! It feels like I should be laying on a beach in my swimsuit at a resort, not riding around fully clothed on a bike. This will take some getting used to I guess. The thing is, I just spent the last 5 years living in Wichita, Kansas and while I think it's hotter there, it's not as humid as here. And the humid summer here lasts about 6 months... Already my least favorite season... The weather is also just stagnant. The high is 33°C and the low is 27°C for the entire week. So it doesn't get cool at night, at least not like Colorado does, or even Wichita. It's just the same temperature. During the day the sun beats down on you, so I guess it feels a little cooler at night, but you're still sweating at 9pm with no physical exertion... I shower twice a day here, at least. Most of them are what Jon and I call a "rinse" and I have never really taken a true cold shower on purpose before I moved here. Today I was actually upset that the water was too warm coming out and I needed to wait for it to cool down.

Okay enough about weather, Taiwan really is awesome. I do miss Amazon.com, Netflix, Braum's (milk and ice cream), and a bunch of other things, but this is a great place to live. Everyone is super helpful and kind. Yesterday I was pumping up my bike tires so I could go get some dinner. This girl saw me and asked me if I had a scooter or told me to get a scooter (I'm not entirely sure what she said... It was in Chinese and she pointed to her scooter...). I told her that my husband had the scooter and I had the bike. She looked a little sad for me, haha. She asked where I was going, and I told her I was going to get dinner. So she walks over to her scooter and offers me two beautiful ripe mangoes. I politely refused but I think she thought I didn't have any food or something, it was kind of comical because I had food I could eat, I just wanted to go out and get dinner. But really, the people here are so kind, and maybe it's because I'm white, but I like to think it's just because that's who they are. I've never felt more safe out on my own at night, walking through dark alleys. It's really nice to feel safe wherever you go.

The other thing I want you all to know is, in Taiwan they speak Chinese. Mandarin and Taiwanese actually. If you don't know one of these languages at least a little, good luck. I know a fair amount of words already but I cannot understand anyone! I spend 2-4 hours a day studying and I still struggle to get the most basic sentence out. It's really frustrating, but I have only been here a week, so I just tell myself it will get better.

My job starts mid-August, and I'm really excited for this. I'm going to be an English teacher at a private school here in Tainan. The cool thing is, it's elementary grades, and I won't only teach English, but I get to teach other subjects IN English, so it will be different. This has been a goal of mine for a long time and I'm really pumped to work with kids again. I think right now it's hard to find things to fill my time because I'm home all day while Jon is at work, but I keep busy with working out, reading, studying, exploring Tainan, mindlessly scrolling Facebook... I think I will enjoy myself much more once I'm working.

We've done a lot of fun things though. We went to see Jurassic World, we celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival; watched some races and flew a kite, and we go out and eat new things every day! We've also looked at apartments and put down a deposit on one. I don't have any pictures because they took it down from the internet, but we should be moving soon! Our lease here is up on the 4th of July, so less than 10 days. Right now we live in a 150 square foot room with a shared bathroom. It's okay, but sharing the bathroom with three other people isn't very glamorous. I think I will miss this location, but I will find things that I like about our new location too!

I think Jon is a little happy that I'm back with him permanently. We are pretty good at long distance, but it's nice to be home. And Taiwan is my new home!