rhythm

There's a recipe for How to Get Settled Into the Rhythm of a New Country. It's 1 part working to learn things about that country, and 1 part waiting. Great stretches of long, torturous waiting.

When you move to a new country, you're essentially trying to learn in the shortest amount of time possible what everyone else has been learning since they came out of the womb. It's not at all crazy to feel overwhelmed. Everyone else has had their whole lives to learn everything, and they've had people in their lives whose role it's been to teach them. You, on the other hand, hop off the plane and are immediately swept into the fray.

It's overwhelming, and frustrating, and scary, and it'll make you cry a lot from the sheer weight of what you're dealing with. That's perfectly normal. You'll spend plenty of time feeling stupid for not knowing what seems to come to everyone else naturally. It'll take so much time to adjust to everything you need to know just to fulfill your daily needs that you'll probably start thinking it'll never happen.

It will, though, I promise you. Keep on trucking and for goodness sake, find some friends who'll show you around and teach you some tricks. The knowledge of others is worth its weight in gold--and the familiar company of a fellow expat will be immeasurable.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this in a previous post, but having the courage to move to another country has honestly been the best thing I've ever done for myself. It proved to me that big goals are not impossible. Moving abroad sounds like an undertaking and a process so immense that, not knowing where to start or how to begin fathoming the potential results, you're better off ignoring it than trying.

Now I know that I can make these big things happen, and that as long as I keep working, it's all a matter of time. I have so much confidence in my ability to drive the direction of my life, I can't tell you.

Here's to another six months of Taiwan before (cross your fingers!) I repeat this whole experience in Japan!

we be cookin' up in here

Something new has come into creation. I call it... dinner.

As mentioned, I went out and bought a stovetop burner (with actual fire) so I could do more cooking for myself and have more control over what I eat. In 45 minutes I turned three ingredients into a symphony of yum.

We start at the dawn of time, with fire. I did not, in fact, burn down my apartment. Yay!

First I made the pasta, because it would have been the easiest to re-heat if I had wanted to.

Next came the meat, which I mashed and mixed with a little brown sugar and some pepper. I don't think I put in enough to make a difference, but I knew I'd prefer not tasting it to tasting it too much. After the pasta was drained and in a plastic tupperware container, I put some oil in the saucepan. I forgot that water droplets and oil aren't friends, and in heat they are deadly enemies. I had to wait for them to sort out their differences before I could put the meat in.

Once the meat was cooked I added it to the pasta, and then stirred in some Prego pasta sauce because yum.

Dinner was divine, and I have a lot left over for tomorrow's dinner. I'm so happy about this, I've been wanting to cook forever and now I finally can. The store right downstairs by my apartment building has pretty much everything you'd need to make almost anything, and it's not too expensive. I probably won't cook all my meals and likely I'll get sick of the work and go back to eating out for a while, but it's nice to know that when I want some control over the ingredients and nutritional quality of my food, I have it.

Bon appe-om nom nom nom!!!

food

You learn your priorities by looking at what you're willing to spend money on.
For example, any time I buy clothes I'm reluctant to part with any amount of cash. I go straight for sales racks and coupons and usually only buy anything full-price and verging on expensive if I've saved for it, am doing well financially, and/or need it.

On the other hand, I cannot give my money away fast enough when it comes to eating quality food.

Now that I'm on a good salary and able to afford a few luxuries, oh man, am I big on eating the good stuff. I've been eating most of my meals out of 7-Eleven and Family Mart for the past six months and I think I'm crystalizing with preservatives. When I went to France for Christmas (which I will... eventually blog about) my mother and sisters made dinner two nights in a row, and I made dinner for myself while they were away in Normandy, and it was nothing short of ambrosia. (There were genuine Italian noodles and some chorizo (cured sausage) in there, granted, but the point stands, home-cooked food is amazing.)

So when I came back from France, and hung out with a girlfriend of mine who has been making an effort to eat better, it suddenly occurred to me that I feel kinda gross eating all this store-bought food. Most of my meals are microwaved. This weekend I went out and bought cereal and bananas and ate those. Then I bought muesli (it's like granola) and raisins and wow, that was a nice change. Finally I broke down last night and bought pasta and Prego pasta sauce. I had to let the noodles sit in hot water for fifteen minutes to get them soft, but it was worth it.

Today I went back to work and had to eat 7-Eleven food again and just the thought of this food made me feel ill.

Therefore, we have come to the point of this, which is that I just bought a little gas stovetop thingie and a pot, and am about to go cook something. I have ground beef (I think) and pasta and pasta sauce. My body longs for this food. I need to stop typing now and go cook before the hunger is overwhelming and I turn to the muesli.

Btw wish me luck I don't set my apartment on fire.
(J/k)
((Mostly.))