ETAs

Karina's at our apartment tonight--right now, she and Brittany are watching a horror movie in the living room, which bodes ill for my night's sleep, but oh well. This will be the last time Brittany, Karina, Rachel and I are in the same place in Taiwan at the same time. It's a fitting bookend to the year.

The time has come for ETA goodbyes. We said goodbye to Analicia Monday; Samia and Andrew are home; Lydia and Emily leave tomorrow; traveling schedules mean I've probably inadvertently said goodbye to Tiffiany, Steven, and Esther. Our little group is splitting up.

And I don't have time to talk about it. No eulogizing here, at least not now: it's 2am, and I actually have to get up at a decent hour. But I will say this: our group has been different from past groups, more individualistic, and sometimes frustrating, but I still feel like we've had an excellent bunch of people here, and a bunch I will be sad to no longer have as colleagues. It's been quite a year, and I'm sad to see it end.

The End

This is hard to write. Today was my last day in my schools. I am no longer an English teacher. Every sentence I put on here sounds stilted, unreal, and that's actually quite fitting: it doesn't feel real at all.

Today was one of the most chill days I've ever had at my schools. I arrived at Qingshan at regular time, 8:30, and discovered that, a) graduation had been moved from that night to that morning at 9:30, and, b) all the 5th graders had been instructed to sit in the courtyard for the next hour until the ceremony began. So, there went English class.

We hung around for an hour, then went to the ceremony, which included a very solemn march of the 6th graders around the courtyard, several speeches and awards, and, of course, Zoe's English speech. Fortunately for me, the Director forgot to ask me to introduce her, so I managed to make it through this graduation without taking the stage, apart from a generalized "thank you" to teachers. It was really a very nice ceremony, with lovely little moments like the 5th graders singing a farewell to the 6th graders, and the 6th graders singing a welcome to the 5th graders. Very sweet.

Afterwards, Patty and I went back up to our classroom to discover that our classes would continue to be cancelled, so that the kids could clean up the courtyard. In the end, we had our last class of the day for about 20 minutes, and that was it.

But of course, that couldn't be it! Patty was nice enough to postpone her lunch and take me around to the 5th grade homerooms, so I could get a picture with all of my students one last time, and give them each a lollipop. These visits also, of course, included an extraordinary amount of signing--not just of papers this time, but of pencil cases, bags, and desk mats. One boy gave me a massive bunch of balloons from the graduation ceremony; one girl, Kelly, gave me a note which read "Don't go back to America stay at 5th grade forever! Please! Please!!"

As I drove away, a small contingent of kiddos waved me off from the third story. But still, even now, it's impossible to believe the truth: that was the end.

My eyes threaten to close on their own accord and never open again (to be honest, I've typed the last several sentences with them closed anyway), but I would be remiss if I didn't mention our epic THIRD PLACE FINISH in dragon boat racing tonight! I should really just leave it at that: we got third pace in our heat. I really shouldn't go on to explain that there were a total of three boats in our heat, and we lost to the next slowest by a full 55 seconds. But that also happened.

Oh well, we did at least finish the race, and make it back without holding up the race schedule, as has happened in the past. And afterwards we all ate watermelons and took pictures while Esther, Lydia, Paul and Alex frolicked in the rain; after that, Fonda, Chialing, Rachel an I, along with Evelyn and some of her friends, went to Chialing's cousin's place for some delicious papaya milk. So that was good.

Denial

I don't want to talk about it. Scratch that, I don't want to think about it. Actually, I don't want it to have happened, and by somehow leaving it out of my mental processes, I can pretend that's so: today was not my last day of teaching at Hanmin. Today was not my farewell to all the absolutely wonderful 5th graders I've had the privilege of meeting there. And it was also not my last day working with Maggie.

Except it was.

They're unfathomable, these "lasts." They represent the ripping out of my life of things that have become wholly connected to who I am, and who I have been for the past 10--almost 11!--months. Teacher Bekah, Bekah 老師--it was a title that fit awkwardly at first, like a new shoe. Now, though, it's been worn into a second skin, and I'm reluctant to take it off, especially since doing so means saying goodbye to the nearly 1,000 students, teachers, and administrators I've been able to work with here.

I can't think too much about it. I can't. Especially since each day brings a new goodbye, a fresh "last" to add to the ever-growing list. Last day of 6th grade at Hanmin, last day of 6th grade at Qingshan, Hanmin graduation, last day of 5th grade at Hanmin, Teacher Appreciation Banquet...It's a blessing and a curse, having my endings stretched over a week and a half. I'm reminded of the lobsters who, being put in water before it's boiled, don't even realize the water is heating up until it's over.

OK, so that's a bit morbid, but the idea holds: I feel like I'm being eased into The End so gradually that I don't--can't--mourn properly for each new step. Sure, I keep writing emo-kid-worthy blog posts about it--(sorry about that)--but it's hard to let myself realize, really, that it's ending. In class, I look around and tell myself, this is the last time you'll be here, but I can't get a real sense of it. I read the mounds of cards piling up on my desk--all very sweet, all reminding me just how much I love my kids--and I think oh, well, you might still get to see them on Tuesday and Wednesday... And yes, I might: I'll be physically present at Hanmin tomorrow and the day after for various events. But even then, there are no guarantees! And after that--nothing.

I'd better end there--no sense taking that course any further down its inevitably Eeyore-ish way. I suppose there'll be plenty of time to deal with the gloom later on--and I doubt my as yet un-summoned tears will stay away once I'm actually on the plane headed home. After all, I'll have nearly 1,000 reasons to be sad.

In the mean time, here's a more pragmatic, pictoral look at my day: a day, as I've said, of goodbyes, but also of candy and cards and smiling faces.

Soooo many caaaaaards!

Not pictured: the Teacher Appreciation Banquet tonight. It was great--scrumptious food, saw several of my students (their parents were on the PTA and/or were teachers) and fun talking with Maggie and Alison--but my camera was dead. So...that happened.

That moment when...

Life is full of little moments. Usually, they end up in a Twitter hashtag. But I don't have Twitter. So, I give you, live from my blog, the little moments of my day. Including that moment when...

#you wake up with a sore throat, despite feeling fine the day before, and become terrified that you won't be allowed to SCUBA dive on your fast-approaching trip to Australia.

#you find yourself unexpectedly not that sore after a day of dragonboat practice.

#you go to dragonboat practice and realize your soreness was just hiding, waiting for the time when you'd ask the same muscles to do the same thing in front of dozens of people...because that's SO much more fun!

#you get shave ice with your dragonboat team and find yourself wondering how many more shave ices you'll get before you leave...

#you eat your last meal with a good friend who you might not see again before you leave...

#you have to say goodbye to a good friend who you might not see again before you leave...

#you finish writing 150 goodbye cards in just a few hours, and end up with exactly ONE card to spare.

#you actually have the TV on at the moment that the movie you'd wanted to remember to watch is playing.

#your dad is home at the same time that you're awake, and answers Skype, so you can wish him "Happy Father's Day."

#you hear a dog barking out of an apartment window and realize you just walked into a scene from Disney's animated 101 Dalmations.

#you go into a 7-11 and see it being used as a 7-11 in America would be: by big, burly men with late-night munchies, buying food from a bored-looking middle-aged man.

#you realize that writing daily blogs that are actually original and worthwhile is exhausting and impossible.

Love love love

As I pulled into the parking garage tonight and peeled my wet poncho off my back, I realized something: I had been "at school" for 12 hours. A long day, by most standards; especially coming as it did at the end of a busy week, I should have been exhausted and cranky. I smiled. Shortest 12 hours of my life.

The day began as has become the norm lately. As I get ready for the day, I look out my window: no rain. Right before heading out, I look out the window: no rain. I walk out my door, get in the elevator, and ride it the short 30 seconds or so to the bottom. The elevator doors open, and I walk out--to a perfectly timed downpour. Taiwanese weather takes Murphy's Law to new heights.

When I arrived, dripping, at Qingshan, I arrived to a day of little joys and good conversation--and a never-ending stream of Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen which made me realize, conclusively, that it is impossible to ever take yourself seriously again after leading a group of students in a call-and-repeat of "Hey, I just met you/ And this is crazy/ But here's my number/ So call me, maybe?" over and over again. In other news, the full lyrics to that song will ever again leave my consciousness.

Between classes, Patty arranged it so I could meet up with the 6th graders I didn't get to see yesterday, handing out cards and candy once in their home room--the first time since I first got here that I'd been to their homeroom, I realized, or met their teacher--and once in a tangle of 5th graders trying to come in for class, after the initial 6th grade showing was limited to just five boys. (They got their own special photo op, though!)

And don't they look thrilled about it.

Hey look, a homeroom!

Then, after a lunchtime radio session with Patty, I headed over to Hanmin to meet Alison for the 6th grade graduation that was going on there that afternoon.

The graduation...was...stupendous. It went on for over two hours; to spare you from reading and myself from writing the gritty details, here are the highlights:

• SO MANY AWARDS. Alison told me she'd heard they had 24 awards for each of the 11 classes; I lost track well before that, but they had, in addition to the top achiever awards by class (which I think went down to fifth place?), PTA choice awards, awards for special needs students, and awards for every class in every class subject--these awards featured a stage covered in an 11-by-6 grid of students, in between each two of which stood an award presenter, whose job it was to bow to them, hand them their award, bow again, step into the row for pictures, go back to their spot, and bow, after which the next row would step forward and the process would repeat. How do I know all this? Well, because I was called up to be a presenter for, not just one of these, but two; neither award set was for English, and neither Alison nor I knew what it was for. BUT, I did get to hand awards to my students! So, woo?

First prize: the smallest category of awards.

• FANTASTIC DANCING. To give the audience a much-needed break from all the awards, there were several intermission-type breaks which featured the many talents of Hanmin's students in other grades, predominantly the 5th graders. Which MEANS I got to watch my amazing 5th grade dance class in action once again, and this time photography was allowed! Pretty great, if you ask me.



Video forthcoming, whenever Youtube decides to stop hating me. But seriously, how many 5th graders do YOU know that can pull of Latin ballroom dancing?


 

• SUPERSTAR STATUS. Walking into the auditorium where the graduation was held, you'd think the kids had never seen me before (but somehow still knew my name). I posed for many, many a picture, and received many, many darling cards and gifts, including a fantastic neck pillow which will come in handy soon. I felt very loved, as all my wonderful students pressed around me telling me they would miss me. I'll miss them, too, more than they know.

After the graduation, Alison and I braved the renewed deluge in crossing the street back to Hanmin and our scooters, and then took off for a local restaurant for a graduation banquet with class 6-1, who'd invited us to join them first, much to the chagrin of the other classes who missed the ball. But it mattered little--within 20 minutes of us getting there, the entire restaurant was packed with Hanmin 6th graders there for their graduation banquets. It was a buffet, and it an absolute mad-house--in the absolute best way possible.

I spent the next few hours eating (DELICIOUS steak), chatting with Alison, posing for more pictures, and getting final wonderful moments with some of my favorite students, who kept pulling me aside just to say hi, or coming to my table for a picture, or coming en masse to toast me--my favorite moment of the night. There had been tears at the graduation ceremony, but here, it was all smiles and hugs and laughter: the perfect way to remember my great year with these kids.

I dare you not to smile.

So does Jay.

I hardly noticed time passing. By the time Alison and I left, the restaurant was all but cleared out, but I was still reluctant: leave my 6th graders for the last time? The thought was, and is, heart-wrenching. It can't possibly be that time yet.

The time has gone by so quickly. As the cascade of goodbye cards sitting on my desk attest, it doesn't seem possible that it's already been almost a year since I got here. But it has, and that means saying goodbye to all of my lovely students. And with so much love, and so many goodbyes to be made, 12 hours a day is far too short a time to spend at school.

Sixth Grade Surprises

I parked my scooter under the dripping tin cover, changed out of my flip flops and into the more teaching-appropriate flats I'd brought, and scurried across the open parking lot to the next bit of cover beneath the eaves of the faculty lunch room. I wasn't wearing my watch--no need for it to get wet--but I knew I probably had just a few minutes before the bell rang. When I arrived at the third floor English classroom at last, I was a little perplexed to hear noises coming from inside--it was nap time, after all!

I opened the door--and instantly the indeterminate voices solidified into a girl's squeal: "Noooo!!!!" One of my fifth graders came running across the classroom, gesticulating wildly, speaking quickly in Chinese with the occasional burst of English, and generally making me to realize I should not be there. Not yet, anyway. I clapped my hand over my eyes and stayed put, like she'd told me to.

 She was distraught, then, when she finally gave me leave to walk to my desk--only to discover Patty standing there with my surprise clearly visible in her hands, and which she proceeded to explain to me: the girls were filling a jar with 3,000 tiny stars for me, so I could have 3 wishes (one per thousand). I'm not sure if it's meant to be a belated birthday gift or early going-away present, but either way, it was absolutely supposed to be a secret, and it no longer is. Whoops.

The girls were fifth graders, but that experience was a fittingly strange beginning to my last day as a 6th grade teacher. Why, you ask? Precisely because they were fifth graders. See, on my last day as a sixth grade teacher, I saw remarkably few sixth graders--just one class of them, actually, and that the infamous class whose students I've mentioned on here before. After the first class, all the sixth graders were called away to a jump rope competition that Patty hadn't known about, so I actually spent most of the day sitting and talking with Patty, and helping grade worksheets.

The class I did have was pretty great, though. Handed out my cards and candy; Patty did the same, together the residual papers that always seem to accumulate over the course of the year--and then we taught them "Call Me Maybe" from this Youtube video:

So yeah, maybe it's a good thing we only taught the one class--that song is impossibly catchy, and will be stuck in my head plenty with just the one viewing...

And, of course, we did the photo-op thing. Except for the part where the boys were their typical selves when trying to get a picture with the girls...

Beginning to get frustrated...

Can you find the boys who are hiding?

Then I drove home in the rain, and that was that! No more sixth graders...except for the part where I'm still going to their graduations. So it's not really goodbye--not yet.

Goodbyes, Tea, Rain, and a Challenge!

Well, from here on out it's pretty much all goodbyes. Just reading over my last week of postings is depressing, and from here on out it's a downward slope. So, to counterbalance what could otherwise be a tidal wave of sadness, I've decided to split today's post (and possibly future posts, pending time and motivation) into two sections: the deep, dark and sad, and the light, bubbly and happy. And yes, they will be in that order, because who wants to end on a frown?

Today was my last day with my 6th graders at Hanmin. Ever. And it wasn't even supposed to be! See, the 6th graders graduate a week before everyone else finishes school, so they took their finals last week, and have graduation this Friday. Which, I thought, would work fine: I'd have one final class period with all of them; get a chance to say goodbye, take pictures, and hand out the little end-of-the-year gifts I had for them. And, today, that's precisely what I did. But tomorrow, when I'm supposed to have my other three sixth grade classes for the last time, they have graduation practice. I've always thought graduation practice was useless, but I've never before resented it quite so much as I do now.

So today was my last day. The kids were pretty checked out about it, as a result of the fact that this week seems to be the officially sanctioed bring-your-DS-or-iPad-to-class and watch-movies-all-day week, and because they knew I'd be at their graduation, but they did appreciate the lollipops and cards I made for each of them--and then mobbed me with their yearbooks to sign. And, of course, we took pictures.

The girls of 6-07 took a picture with me...

...while the boys of 6-07 did this.

Lollipops that had lost their wrappers...pretty, though!

Class 6-08 was more cooperative :)

So was Class 6-02.

In between classes, Alison, Maggie and I went down to the general assembly room we've been using all year for Morning English, and which had, yesterday, been emptied of most of its rows of tables, which had been replaced with white plastic deck furniture labeled and set around the room for teachers to sit at for the 6th Annual  Teacher Appreciation Tea Ceremony.

When I first heard we were having a Teacher Appreciation Tea, I pictured an English-style tea such as those that have made their way to America for special occasions and such among those who want to feel posh. Why this was my first logical conclusion  then is a complete mystery to my now. We are in Taiwan, after all!

When it was our shift (yes, everyone was given a shift), we entered the room with about 20 other teachers, and sat in front of a group of probably 70 or so students, plus the ones massing around the doors, whose purpose I didn't yet know. For tea, each teacher in  had an assigned seat and, after a short speech and with the onset of a musical cue, the masses of our students from around the doors flooded forward, one for each teacher, bearing a cup and saucer for each individual teacher. When they got to us, on another cue, they went down on one knee and waited while we drank our tea. So sweet, and so unexpected! And, as a Westerner, very, very foreign to have a student kneeling and waiting on me.

Maggie getting her tea

After the tea--which Alison sadly missed, since her student was late--they put on a slide show of all the kids from this year, together with a sad, anthem-y song which they invited everyone to sing along to. Very poignant--and then the lady who was announcing began commenting on each slide. My favorite moment was when she called out "BEKAH!"...and then the slide didn't have me on it. The next one did, though, and she was ready with her announcement once again!

I got a (really terrible) video of part of the slide show; maybe it will give more of a sense of setting:

It felt very pomp-and-circumstance-ish, though the sensation was somewhat lost when they released us late to our next class, where, after we escaped the clutches of the textbook salesmen, we just handed out cards and watched movies again.

The last class of the day was when the really interesting stuff began, though. In the middle of handing out cards, an announcement came over the intercom--and the whole room broke out in cheers. I turned to Alison. "School cancelled?" "Yes."

It's been raining torrentially all over Taiwan for days--my commute the last few days has been perpetually horrid, and it's flooding elsewhere--and as of this afternoon, the Kaohsiung government finally decided they had had enough, and shut down schools, so everyone could go home...right as the worst of the rain started again, of course.

Then, while walking back (early) from that last class, one of my sixth graders from last semester stepped out of her classroom to get my signature on her yearbook. The next thing I knew, I had every single kid from two classrooms surrounding me and wanting my signature all at once. This when I felt certain that every second I stayed at school would mean a worse drive home--they had closed the schools for a reason, after all, surely!

But, of course, I signed them. How could I not? And then I drove home, during which drive I discovered that the closure was not limited to Hanmin, as I had thougth before, but was, rather, a city-wide proclamation, which meant that the roads were absolutely packed with parents who had been called to come pick up their kids hours early. In the parking garage at home, I ran into one of my neighbors on her way out, and when I cautioned her about the rain, she just smiled and said she had to go pick up her kids. Everyone did, after all!

In light of buqiban culture, I cannot fully imagine the havoc wreaked on everyone's lives today. I didn't think much of it until I went walking to find lunch, and discovered that the vast majority of restaurants around were abnormally closed. Even after they picked up their kids, people are really just hunkering down for this one--Chialing closed up shop early, since, as she told Rachel, there was no one in the streets. And who can blame them?

And now, the lighter note!

Today, as I found myself sucked once again into the Youtube Wormhole, I began wondering what conclusions someone would draw about me if the only information they had available to them, for some strange reason, was my Youtube history and subscriptions. And no, they aren't allowed to look at the videos I've actually uploaded myself, that would be a MUCH more complete and, therefore, less fun view. So here's what they would learn about me, and what they would subsequently assume to be my entire personality:

1. I like comedy sketches
2. I like British things
3. Specifically, I like British accents
4. I like Doctor Who (which is both British and contains British accents)
5. I like the actors of Doctor Who (who are also British and use British accents)
6. I like watching male vloggers
7. Specifically, I like watching male vloggers WITH British accents
8. Most specifically of all, I like watching male vloggers with British accents TALK about Doctor Who (charlieissocoollike and nerimon)

Annnnnd that's pretty much all my Youtube history and subscriptions could tell you: that I like all things funny, British, male, and related to Doctor Who, and preferably several of those things in some combination with each other. But please, please don't think that's my entire personality. It's not. It just happens to be what I usually watch on Youtube. 

And now I'm curious. Based solely on your Youtube history and subscriptions, what would someone assume YOU to be like? Leave a comment if you're brave enough to reply!

Slow Wheels Turning

Several things happened today, all pointing, slowly but surely, to the conclusion that my time here is almost done.

1.) I booked my SCUBA class for my trip Down Under. And, with that, I'm locked in: my vacation is coming, and soon! Great Barrier Reef, here I come. And afterwards...home. 29 days.

2.) I began making goodbye cards for my students. I've been putting this off, partly because I didn't want to sit for hours writing "Have a GREAT summer" on 535 slips of colored paper (120 in now and my hand is already killing me...); partly because the incessant rain these past few days have made me less than thrilled to venture out to buy said papers; and, mostly, because I don't want it to be time for that yet. Rachel was nice enough to buy some lollipops for me at Costco a while back--also for goodbye gifts--and I put them on my desk chair and rolled it under the desk so I wouldn't have to look at them. I don't think I'm quite ready for this...10 days.

3.) Tiffiany began packing. Yes, I know, this is not me, per se, but it's begun: ETAs are taking their stuff off their walls, sorting it, folding it, wrapping it, and putting it in bags and boxes to go home. The process has started, and there's no going back now. Soon I'll need to join. 10 days.

I miss home. I miss my friends and family. I miss my dog. I miss lasagna. But now that the wheels sending me home are in motion, I don't know if I'm ready for them to turn...

Badminton and BBQs

I looked up to see the flickering underbelly of an airplane cross the night sky, headed West.

I turned to Maggie. "Planes make me homesick these days."

"You'll be going home soon," she said. "And we'll miss you!" added Fiona.

I turned to see Ingrid walking back towards the steep metal stairs that had brought us here, to Teacher Penguin's rooftop.

"I'll miss you, too," I said. "I wish everyone could just live in one place!"

It was hard not to think like that. We were at a BBQ at Teacher Penguin's gigantic family home--a BBQ designed as a going-away party for Ingrid.

It had been a lovely day, really. I had gotten an early start with plenty of work done; my 6th grade classes at Qingshan were happily engaged in their work of putting together their final plays; the weather was hot, but not oppressive.

After classes finished, I drove over to Hanmin, and we enacted what felt like the quintessential lazy summer day: Ingrid, Fiona and I joined Teacher Penguin and a plethora of other Hanmin teachers on the 4th floor to play badminton (NOT just a recreational sport here, as my glances to other courts confirmed). It was Ingrid and Fiona against Teacher Penguin and I, and we managed to win despite my many missed shots--Teacher Penguin is a great badminton player--and then we all sat down by a fan to cool down and chat. It was sunset, but still warm, and the camaraderie and empty school halls gave me the distinct impression of a late August evening with friends, or a particularly good afternoon at summer camp when I was a kid.

Then it was off to Teacher Penguin's home. We stopped by the house only briefly, though, before winding our way up "Penguin Mountain," a fully rural-looking hill complete with pineapple farms and banana trees JUST outside the Xiaogang area I thought I knew so well. It was gorgeous, and reminded me that I haven't been out in nature for ages, and I miss it. It felt like a camping trip back home.


And, of course, then there was the delicious--though vegetarian--BBQ that Teacher Penguin's mom had prepared for us. We sat around--a handful of Hanmin teachers and their kids and spouses, and as Teacher Penguin cracked jokes with Ingrid and everyone laughed, I thought of how amazing this community was, and how sad I was that it would soon no longer exist.

(Let's play a game called "spot the American...")

Teacher Penguin took Fiona and I back to our scooters, and I realized it was actually time to say goodbye to Ingrid. I hate goodbyes--so, so, so much. A hug, a few words, and then--Ingrid walked home, and I got on my scooter, hating that she wouldn't be at school on Monday and hating that, in a month, neither would I.

Today was indeed a glorious day--a glorious last day. Still, at the moment I can't help but hate airplanes...

300 Days

Today marks my 300th blog post. 300. Besides immediately calling to mind a certain big-budget film (THIS IS SPARTA!), 300 posts makes me realize just how close to a full year it is--just 65 days shy. And I won't even be here a full year; won't quite make that 65-day mark. Wow, the end is close.

It's fitting, then, that today Alison and I taught our 6th grade kids their graduation unit: words like "miss," and "graduation," and phrases like "Keep in touch!" and "This year was great!" and "Have a good summer!"

The classes themselves were less melancholy than that perhaps sounds--we're having them make posters for themselves and then having everyone sign each others' using the phrases we're teaching--but I can't think too hard about it, or I'll realize that we're on our last unit with the 6th graders. They graduate in three weeks, one of which will contain their final exam, rather than a class period. I only have them two more times. But I can't think about that.

To make matters even more melancholy, today was the last day that Ingrid and I were both at school: she's done with her program at the end of this week, and won't be there tomorrow because she's attending a concert. I will at least see her again Thursday--Teacher Penguin invited us to a BBQ--and I'm still hoping she'll change her mind and come to Australia with me, but all in all today was a day of choosing not to think about the many goodbyes to come.

...At least my students' posters were cheery.

...so yeah, those pictures' adorableness keeps me happy. As does the nail polish I put on today, which I just realized is SCENTED. So, my fingernails now smell like coconut deliciousness.

Goals for tomorrow:

1. Don't cry at the thought of goodbyes
2. Don't spend all day sniffing your fingernails

Goodbye

Today was Alex and Melanie's last in Taiwan and, all things considered, we managed to squeeze in a decent amount of culture before they left. The morning found Melanie and I at the HUGE local stationary store buying all sorts of cute Asian stationary. At noon, my lovely host family came to pick us up and took us to a DELICIOUS hot pot lunch, and then Alex, Melanie, Emily and I went to KTV for a few hours before I rushed them off to the HSR station and said goodbye.

Goodbyes are always hard. Today's was a rolling hardness: we were rushed to get to the station, rushed to buy tickets, and rushed to get Alex and Melanie to the train. All of a sudden we were at the gate, and it was just a quick hug for each, a last bit of yelled instruction and a wave, and they were gone. I turned and walked away. It took a few minutes, but with each passing step I missed them more. After being in constant company for the last few days, it felt odd to be suddenly alone.

It made me want to do something--activity gives my mind something to do other than dwell on my brother and sister-in-law moving steadily away from where I am. So I went grocery shopping for tomorrow's makeshift Easter brunch, successfully snagging some English muffins and ham from the store next to HSR.

Then it was home and alone yet more. Having Alex and Mel leave reminded me of how short and yet how long I have until I, too, will leave Taiwan. They were gracious enough to take a bag back for me, and as I packed it I realized that it will be just a few months before all of my stuff will be bagged up and plane-ready. Saying goodbye made me wish I were going with them, yet re-exploring Kaohsiung made me remember why I don't want to leave.

Lots of complicated emotions, today was. I drowned them in getting backlogged work done, sending emails, working on my resume, etc. But tomorrow is Easter, and despite my planned celebration with Karina and Grace, a friend we met in Chiang Mai who just moved to Tainan a few months ago, it will be yet another holiday spent away from my family. Yet I know it won't be long before I'm saying the same thing, from the banks of another continent.

*Sigh* Goodbye...such a loaded word.

Sleep deprived already

...and I'm not even on the plane yet. Oh, the joys of putting off packing until the last minute, combined with multiple loose ends to tie up from my old life (with some limited success). I'm in the Seattle airport now, gate S15, and we board in about 45 minutes; I figured I'd take advantage of the free wi-fi and post a final US-based blog before leaving--*really* leaving--for Taiwan.

Today was wonderful, but complicated. My parents and I got to the Eugene airport plenty early and began wrangling my massive heap of luggage to the ticket counter--which was, as it turned out, closed. When we finally did get an employee there, she informed us that, because my connecting flight in Seattle left 15 hours after I got in, rather than 12, I could not check my bags all the way through. In addition, she informed us that I would be re-charged baggage fees in Seattle as, contrary to the information I found on their websites, each airline charges individually, even though they're partnered. Unfortunately, that was to become a recurring theme.

So I said goodbye to my parents and set off for Seattle.

Once there, my dear friend Anna met me at the airport--fortunately sans bags, which I left in the unclaimed baggage area--and we set off. After a stop to see and say goodbye to Melanie and Marissa, we got stuck in traffic, and as Anna maneuvered through the black-coded freeway, I tried my hand at coordinating a pick-up for Flavia, and a meet-up with Lindsey. Eventually, after a long wait and a few false starts, we all ended up at a lovely little park overlooking the Puget Sound, with scrumptious Red Mill hamburgers. Because hey, if you're going to do American food, you've got to do it right!

After that we headed out to the place Anna is housesitting, to walk the dog up to Bustle for a great cup of coffee, where Mollie joined us. Then it was off to Theo Chocolates to meet Annika and buy a few last-minute gifts for my carry-on.

Annika, brilliant person that she is, then reminded us that it was a Saturday night, and that City Church had a service, so we drove off for Kirkland, where we had a great time. Then, after a quick stop to see Angie, we explored downtown Kirkland in search of a restaurant, before settling on a Mediterranean place which, while my food was delicious, was otherwise disappointing. We were there for waaaay to o long, but we finished in just enough time to go by Zoka's for one last coffee. :)

Then it was time for very sad goodbyes, and Mollie drove me to the airport, where I got to relocate and reload my luggage, and then discover that EVA has a weight limit on their carry-on items, and that mine was almost twice as heavy as the limit--meaning I had to either unload half my bag into one of my other bags, and pay the extra weight fee, or check it as ANOTHER extra bag. And, being overtired, I misunderstood the ticketing agent and thought he meant I had to put it ALL in my other bag, so I now have 4 checked bags! Talk about expensive. Thank goodness for extra first-month funds.

Overall, though, it was a fantastic last day in the US for a while--got to see some wonderful friends and do some great Seattle-y things one last time. And it was all at a pretty leisurely pace in beautiful weather--unheard of, at least around here! But,  beginning tomorrow/Tuesday (since I lose a day on this flight due to the time change), today's warmth will be ordinary, and maybe even a little cool.

Boarding in 15 minutes. This is surreal.