Happy Sad Anniversary

One year ago today, I walked home from my last undergraduate final exam and opened my inbox to find the most important email of my life: the email announcing I had gotten the Fulbright. I was blown away.

Or, technically, what the letter said was that I should call Jonathan Akeley at my earliest convenience to discuss the status of my Fulbright grant; and, technically, what I was was frozen stiff, then spurred to frenetic energy as I dug through my drawers looking for older correspondence, and then frozen stiff again. But you get the picture.

I don't know if I've mentioned it on here before, but I was actually an alternate to come to Taiwan. That means that in April, when everyone else here was getting their life-changing letters, jumping up and down with joy and calling their friends and family to share the good news--and believe me, they all remember the precise moment they got their letters, we've compared notes--I got, instead, the deflating news that I had gone from "recommended candidate" to "alternate." That was all the information I was given--that I was an alternate, and that, if someone backed out or they got more funding, I might get to go. There was no mention of the likelihood of that happening; nor did they tell me whether I had a dozen people before me on the alternate list, or if I was the first.

As it happened, the latter. But the not-knowing that plagued my April-June was one of the biggest testings I've faced so far, and the pay-off was easily the best. One year later, I cannot fathom what my life would have been like if today had passed like any other, consigning me forever to the phantasmal status of alternate.

I suppose it's fitting, then, that today featured our unofficial LET-ETA Farewell Potluck. One year ago today, I learned that I would have the opportunity to come to Taiwan and meet and work with hundreds of wonderful people; today, I began to learn what it is to say goodbye to them.

The existence of the potluck, and the number of people who came, actually says a lot about our group. See, we had had an official farewell dinner planned for all the ETAs, LETs, and host families. Then it got cancelled, thanks to budget cuts. At our last Wednesday workshop, they gave us the microphones--and all anyone could talk about was how much we wanted a real goodbye, funded or not. So potluck it was!

And I'm so glad it was. For a strictly voluntary event on a weekend night, a huge number of people showed up--and, Taiwan being Taiwan, way more than enough food. I spent the night shifting around the room and chatting, and in addition to chilling with the other ETAs (which we've done surprisingly little of this year) and with Maggie, Alison and Patty (ALWAYS a pleasure), I got to catch up with several of the LETs, like Kiwi and Karen, with whom I'd loved to hang out back during orientation, but hadn't been able to see much of since then. And, of course, I ate myself sick.

Foooooooood

Pictured: Patty succeeding in getting Analicia to try the duck blood rice. Brittany is still being persuaded. I held strong.

Lovely people!...many of whom I didn't know were in the picture until I uploaded it. In a crowded room, pictures grow as soon as you start posing!

I love these people so much!

I can't help but think how perfect the timing was that our potluck should be today, exactly one year after I found out I was coming here. What a perfect way to celebrate, and to remind myself of the possible outcome of a period of intense uncertainty--which, incidentally, is also what I'm dealing with right now in regards to the coming year.

Today ushers in a new year for me, one with many goodbyes to be made, but also many hellos which I don't know about yet. And, as sad as the goodbyes are, and will be, the best possible way to look at them is in light of the fact that they can be made--that I met all these wonderful people in the first place. Thank you all for a fantastic year, and thank you, Fulbright, for changing my life with a single email sent one year ago today.

Reflections

I've been doing a lot of them lately, and I expect I'll be doing a lot more as my time here winds down. Some for Fulbright, some for myself; some big, some miniscule. Might as well get used to it. In any case, here are a few more.

Today was our last Fulbright workshop. For it, the new Director General of the Education Bureau turned up to present all of the ETAs and LETs with a Certificate of Appreciation, and to give the ETAs a faux-glass clear engraved award. Then we passed a microphone around praising each other (all well-deserved, truly, and at least 100 times over) for a bit. Then things devolved into what my brain kept telling me was best described as a s***storm. Honestly, I tried to think of better words for it to keep from writing that--but they're just not there.

See, our end-of-the-year banquet was unceremoniously cancelled last week. Everyone was disappointed, and disappointment soon turned into person after person saying the same thing--we need a time to hang out and say goodbye--and asking why we couldn't have it. And, while this might not be too bad if it were just a group of ETAs and LETs, it wasn't; rather, the group included the absolutely wonderful and sweet local Education Bureau--you know, those people who probably had to make this call, but without having any choice but to do so. It was awkward.

Eventually we quit complaining and pulled together a plan for something resembling a potluck--and why it took a good half hour to get to that conclusion, I'll never know--but the needlessly combative middle of the workshop was absurdly uncomfortable, though also in a way the "perfect" close to a year that began with such stress back in August. I'm sure the potluck will be fun, though.

On an entirely unrelated note, I've been thinking lately about NaNoWriMo. For those in the know, yes, I am aware we are nowhere near November; for those not in the know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it's an American-based community whose members devote themselves to completing a 50,000-word novel in the month of November.

I have never tried it; I've never considered that I would have time. I have friends who've done NaNoWriMo, and it's a lot of work; it's an understood thing among those who do that many people revert to copying song lyrics or other such text into their "novels" in order to keep up on the word count.

So what's my revelation on all this? Oh, only that I've essentially been doing a nonfiction version of NaNoWriMo for the past 10 months, that all. Seriously. In order to hit 50,000 words in a month, you have to write about 1,600 words a day--sound about like a blog post to you? OK, in all honesty I'm probably under 50,000 a month, but I bet I'm consistently hitting around 30,000, on average. Every. Single. Month. And, my occasionally pathetic asides aside, I have at least yet to resort to lyric copying!

So who knows, maybe this November I'll take up the fiction gauntlet for a bit. Can't be worse than finding material for a daily blog!

Back to Normal

Dan and Danny left this morning sometime after I did, and I was instantly plunged back into my occasionally unrelenting (oxymoron, I know) schedule. And today was one of the unrelenting ones.

I've often meant to detail my schedule on here to give you a glimpse into my actual day-to-day life, and I suppose I have done that in snippets so far, but now let me just give you the timetable I follow every other Wednesday.

6:45am -- Wake up and get ready for the day, assuming I remembered to shower the night before (otherwise, the alarm is set for 6:20am)
7:20am -- Leave for Han-Min, on the expectation that it will take a good 10 or 15 minutes longer than a normal day, as I will have to fight through the morning rush all trying to get to Siaogang by 8am
7:50am -- Arrive at Han-Min, with any luck
8:00am -- Begin Morning English! I switch off teaching this with Alison and Maggie, and we teach 5 classes of a single grade every week; by the end of the semester, we will have seen every class once and we'll start over again. Today Maggie and I taught a new dialogue for our first "middle grade" group of 4th graders; first times always have a few bumps, but overall, it went pretty well.
8:30am -- Begin the awkward hour break before my next class, usually rendered un-awkward by a coffee/tea trip with Maggie and/or Alison. Today it went by really quickly, thanks to a few great conversations with both of them and the fact that we used the time to plan for our Halloween lesson plans. Going to be great, by the way!
9:30am -- First *real* class of the day; all adorable 5th graders with Maggie on Wednesdays.
12:00pm -- Lunch. My last class of the three I teach on Wednesdays bring me my lunch in the teachers' office, where I thank them in English and they, without fail, giggle a response and run away. Love it. :) Another highlight of lunch is always sitting and talking with Maggie, Alison, and Fiona, the other English teacher at Hanmin; our desks are close together and we just sit and chat and teach each other new vocabulary. It's fantastic.
12:30pm ish -- Lesson plan time! Alison and Maggie and I plan for next week
1:00/1:30pm -- Go home to pick stuff up if I have time (I did today); if not, straight to Sanmin for our massive LET-ETA-Fonda-Alex-Education Bureau people-Dr. Sun meeting!
2:00pm -- Here begins our meeting.
4:00pm (if we're lucky) -- Here ends our meeting. Nothing much of importance happens in between.
4:25pm -- We (ETAs) finish our post-meeting meeting with Fonda and Alex, and either quickly run home for stuff if there wasn't time before (this option would make us late) or run out for food at the local market and/or 7-11. Oh, the nutritious dinners we eat on Wednesdays...
5:10pm -- Chinese class begins. "Surprisingly," we make horrible students on these days...
7:10pm ish -- Chinese class ends.
7:40pm ish -- Rachel and I reach the gym (if we coordinated and have managed to conquer our exhaustion--which didn't happen today)
8:40pm ish -- Rachel and I head home, where I drop exhausted onto whatever flat surface I see first.

I know that, in writing this, I'm inviting comparisons from people who routinely work 14 hour days etc, and I have no answer for that. I'm just sharing my day.

Who's Who in Kaohsiung

On special request, and since I did absolutely nothing today other than sit around and watch TV (and Skype with Lindsey for an hour an a half, which was wonderful), here's a brief run-down of the people I mention in my blog.

The Roommates
I currently live with Brittany, Rachel, and Karina, all of whom are other ETAs here in Kaohsiung. We choose schools tomorrow, so living arrangements may change, but I hope not--I love living with these ladies.

The Other ETAs
The other Fulbright ETAs here in Kaohsiung are Analicia, Andrew, Emily, Esther, Lydia, Samia, Steven, and Tiffiany. All wonderful people to hang out with. Right now we all live in the same apartment complex, but as I noted above, that will change soon.

Fulbright people
Fonda is our go-to person for just about everything; I think her official title is ETA Project Coordinator in Kaohsiung. She is absolutely amazing, and her patience with us is immense--I can't imagine having to take care of a fresh batch of full-grown infants every year until they get on their feet, but that is, essentially, her job description. Fonda plans everything and tells us what we're doing; sets up all the official stuff for ARCs, bank accounts, scooter licenses, rent and utility payment etc; provides scooters for us to practice on; checks up on us at home (and takes us to the hospital if we need it); and serves a general liaison for anything and everything that could go wrong. She also takes pictures all the time, which is fantastic.

Alex is the ETA Project Chief Coordinator; he lives and works in Taipei at the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (aka Fulbright Taiwan), I believe, and comes down to visit us on special occasions. He's a great guy, really helpful and friendly, and widely-traveled, which makes for some really fun conversations.

Dr. Vocke is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan) and he, like Alex, lives and works in Taipei and comes down to Kaohsiung when he's needed. Unlike Fonda and Alex, he's American, and he's been living in Taiwan for four or five years now. He's wonderful to talk to; he's part college professor (he used to be one; calls himself a recovering academic) and regulation stickler and part grandfatherly advice: the perfect combination.

Dr. Wu used to have Dr. Vocke's job; he's a Taiwanese Fulbrighter from a long time ago, and oversaw the Fulbright program in Taiwan for a very long time. He formerly studied and taught in the US, and he is willing to say whatever is on his mind. He's great.

Kaohsiung People in Education
Evelyn hangs out with us a lot; she's a total sweetheart and a friend of Fonda's, and she works at Sanmin as an English teacher . She's also a fantastic photographer and has a great smile. :)

Professor Spring teaches Education at National Kaohsiung Normal University; she is super athletic, independent, and fun to be around. She has been helping teach us the basics of teaching--she gave us a year-long course in theory in a single 3-hour session last week--and is helping set people up to play tennis and swim at NKNU. She's hilarious and free-spirited, and is one of the peoplehere in Kaohsiung who will help us with the teaching aspects.

Professor Lee also teaches Education at National Kaohsiung Normal University; she sometimes goes by "Triple L" because her full name is Lee-Lin Lee (I think? Or maybe Lin-Lee Lee?), and she is really sweet, helpful, and fun. She has been helping us with more classroom-oriented practices, and is great at being hands-on herself. She is our other resource for the teaching aspect of our grant.

Dr. Tsai is the Director General of Kaohsiung Education Bureau, the highest education authority in Kaohsiung. We have had the honor of meeting him twice so far.

Joanne, CJ, and Allen all work at Sanmin, and we have gotten to hang out with them a lot over the past few weeks. Joanne and Allen have gone on several of our outings with us (I rode in Joanne's car to dinner the other night, and she was great to talk to; she told us a lot about Ghost Month in Taiwan), and we get to see them every day in their office, which is right outside our conference room. CJ is the military presence at Sanmin; he speaks good English, has a great smile, and is a lot of fun to hang out with. He also lent us his scooter for the first day of scooter practice, which was great.

I'll add to this list as I think of more people; right now, it's late and I have to be up early tomorrow.