The fact that tomorrow I leave for Taiwan for a year doesn't feel real. Sometimes it does, but in those moments I start crying and looking for family members to hug, so I've been trying not to think about it. After all, even if I stayed home, two of my remaining immediate family members are leaving for their respective countries in a few months, anyway.
I suppose it's just as well I'm leaving first, because this way I can say good-bye to everyone at once, instead of one at a time.
To all my friends whom I didn't get the chance to hang out with before I left, I'm sorry we didn't get a "last good-bye." I'll still be on Facebook, though, and I can actually Skype now that I have a computer with audio/visual capabilities, plus you can stalk me on this blog, so I'm not that far away, really. :)
The only thing I'm scared of about my new life in Taiwan is the "teaching job" part. New jobs always scare the hell out of me. Outside of that, though, I'm not that worried. I'll figure out the train thing, the food thing, the money thing, the language thing, all of the things. Heck, I'm hoping that hard work will result in my having a decent grasp of Mandarin by the time I come home (or sign a contract for another year or move to Japan or what-have-you). It's all going to be so different, make no mistake, but in the end, it's still just people. I can deal with people.
The humidity, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure is going to kill me.
And I am really not sure what to make of their food. If I ever accidentally buy blood pudding on a stick, believe me, you are going to hear about it.
If it's like black pudding it just tastes like a tangy, burnt McDonald's burger.
ReplyDeleteBut stay brave and, like you said, you're not far from anyone once you have the net. And I really am here for any rants or worries. You're very brave and you're going to do brilliantly.