around

The other day some friends and I went by train and bus to Jiufen, a north-east area in upper Taiwan that was, apparently, the inspiration for some scenery in Miyazaki's movie SPIRITED AWAY. It was an excellent day. First, Ariel (name not changed, I have officially given up b/c I can't keep track anymore :p) and I met up at Taipei Main Station to take the local train to Xike, which was where Katie would hop on and join us. The problem turned out to be that Ariel and I are great conversationalists and bad about paying attention, because instead of texting Katie to tell her we were almost  at Xike, we texted her with "We're stopping at Xike now, are you here?!" and the answer turned out to be that no, Katie was not on the platform, so we hopped off and waited for her. Then we all chatted until another local train came, which we took to Keelung. Keelung is not somewhere I've been before, but it's by the ocean and there was a harbor with an enormous cruise ...

I can't sleep, and I haven't been able to (well) for the last few nights, and my days have been spent somewhat strung out and tired and headache-y and completely losing my appetite (and shouldn't that  have been a tip-off, I haven't eaten much in three days). What I realized is that, with about four months left in my Taiwan contract, I am terrified--paralyzingly so--of not finding a job in Japan and having to a) go back to the States and find some other alternative, b) stay in Taiwan (at a new job, ain't staying at this school with this boss), or c) find a new country to move to. The fact is, after moving to Taiwan, after escaping what was, to me, a hellish nightmare and sure-deathbed-regret of a potential life in the States, I cannot go back to that. I can't not have my dream of living in Japan. I can't do anything else and not just... suffer a little bit. I cannot do anything else with my life  until I have not just been to Japan but lived there. I nee...

The full title ought to be "Longshan Temple and Other Adventures," but I didn't want to write all that. Today I had work. The first class had been cancelled, so I only had my CJ09 class (they talk, which is nice), and my 1hr private student Amber, who is the mother of two little boys who are also taking private classes at our school, with our two other teachers. After both classes were finished I went home and changed, since I had to meet a third potential Chinese tutor at 5. The distance between 1:10pm and 5pm sounds like a lot unless you are me, and you are tired, and then that time goes rather fast. I got to the meeting fine, though, and met the tutor. She was very nice, and wonderfully helpful, but I think she's looking for a more studious student than myself. My heart is set on Japanese, and although I'm very interested in Chinese, I know I won't be as vigorous learning Chinese as I would Japanese, so I'll probably go with the tutor whose slow, co...