It’s May, can you believe it? I’ve been in Taiwan for 8 months, and I only have two months until I come home. But as everyone in a school setting knows: the last two months of the semester tend to go by in the blink of an eye, while the world around you crams in as many events, ceremonies, and celebrations as possible. Speaking of such: Carsten graduated with his Math PhD last weekend and Eva graduates with her Psychology BA next weekend and I am SO PROUD!! All I can say is BYE Felicia and *tongue pop*
Now, I hate to bury the lede, but I also need to announce that I have applied, been accepted, and committed to staying another year with Fulbright Taiwan, placed at my same location again in Penghu! I’m really looking forward to deepening my connections here and continuing to embrace the challenges and joys of living abroad.
There are a few people here who make it easier to imagine more of the joys of the coming year. Here’s an incomplete list:
Wendy- my creative co-teacher with a shared interest in hard-to-find local snacks, eager to learn new things, office/desk mate!
Tinya- an incredibly thoughtful co-teacher who has shown me how to embrace 7th grade goofiness in its entirety. Also an amazing baker!
Ai- the older lady in my office who is great at gardening and taking care of shrimp (and me)
Tzi Chiao- the fashionable and lovely woman whose Thursday morning coffee chats have been a godsend for me each week
Hong Wei- the wood shop teacher who also loves 3D puzzles, coffee, and DIY things
Teresa- current Fulbright Penghu teacher who is also staying here next year, future roommate (!), going to change the world, kindred spirit
Lexi- another current Fulbright Penghu teacher who is staying here next year, DnD swagster/DM, knitting goddess, introduced me to Candyman
Reese- the final returning current Fulbright teacher and future roommate, music bro, cooking pro, Chinese class pengyou
Monroe- Youtuber and coworker who has been teaching me Taiwanese
Shirle- Chinese teacher who makes Monday and Wednesday evening classes FUN
Sophia- Hujing queen and co-teacher, empathetic educator with a knack for motivating teenagers, and a superb taste in tea
Yao Min- math teacher, table tennis level: expert, singer, and work bestie
David- Another champion of Hujing and my future surfing teacher!
My students- Chung Cheng Jr High + Hujing Jr High > > > >
OWEN- making every day worth it, full stop.
I think, for better or worse, I have this notion of how I want to spend my 20s, which is that I mean to spend it in such a way that I won’t regret anything by the time I reach my 30s, at which point I think I will want to attain some type of stability in my life. (An impossible goal, I know, but for now it’s just an ideal worth striving for.)
A big part of this “no regrets in my 20s” thing for me is living abroad. Since I don’t see myself living abroad long-term, I’ve felt an even stronger desire to kick (hug) this travel bug on the early side, while it’s (relatively) easier to do so. And, hey, the opportunity presented itself.
Lately, I’ve taught a few fun cooking classes, including ravioli (made with dumpling dough, filled with cheddar cheese and corn, topped with tomato sauce….I tried my best) and four more sections of s’mores cookies. I’ve also had a chance to go on another round-Penghu car journey and a round-Penghu BIKE journey. The car journey was me and 7 Indonesians, including my friend Gina who owns the amazing Toko Indo Johnny shop in town. With them, I finally got to see Penghu’s famous “whale cave,” which is an outcrop of rocks with a big archway in it that looks to be approximately the size of a whale. We also snacked on fried seafood meatballs at the Great Banyan Tree, as well as some type of deep-fried omelette, fresh icee lemon juice, a number of other crunchy Indonesian fried snacks that the group had brought along for the trip, fruit, and later, some squid soup.
Everyone on this excursion lives in Penghu, working various fishing/restaurant jobs, and everyone apart from Gina could not speak very much English, so the day felt like a cultural immersion that is quite different from my normal Taiwan experience of cultural immersion. In the group, I was a clear outsider amongst friends who regularly hang out and share a cultural background. Though everyone was from different places in Indonesia, they had all recently finished observing Ramadan and had all been in the mood to celebrate. I was glad to be around such fun energy, but I also wasn’t sure how to find my balance of being myself (aka not in the mood to be a big/loud/party personality) and also be polite and good company. I was grateful for the invite, but felt awkward at times, especially in situations where I tried to figure out how to politely decline repeated offerings of fried foods. No matter what I did, I felt like I was letting someone down each time I couldn’t finish the food that was thrust upon me, even though I had not asked for it. I realize this is more of a me problem, but it’s certainly exacerbated in unfamiliar contexts where it can be difficult to know how your actions are perceived/received. I also had not expected everyone in the group to be live-streaming/recording everything we did, using an app that I assume must be very popular in Indonesia. As such, I often had to put on a façade of smiling/dancing/waving for the camera, especially since I was a frequent subject for the videos (and often prodded to “wave to the camera, Maiya!”). It was all in good spirit, of course, but I will admit that it took a toll on me. I had a fun day, but was so exhausted by the evening that I ended up skipping their invitation for a group dinner and just headed home and straight to bed around 7pm. Everyone in the group was very welcoming and kind, though, and as it so turns out, I’ve been invited on a second excursion with the same group, this time by boat. I think it will be fun!
Anyway, just trying to keep it real. Some other things I’ve been up to lately have included learning how to play badminton, bingeing Outer Banks Season 3, making a fish stamp, building a terrarium, cheering on my students in a school-wide basketball tournament, teaching MASH (Mansion Apartment Shack House— if you know, you know), teaching Spoons (the card game), teaching animal idioms, attending a student bocce ball tournament, and getting approximately 12 mosquito bites per day. I’ll leave you with a photo dump. Enjoy!
Woah I never suspected there's that many Indonesians in Penghu!