2 Months In!

I will kick off the blog with an apology for not having written in a while. It's been nearly a month since my last post, and I had certainly intended on keeping more up to date than that. The last two months have blown by Sara and I, leaving behind two heads full of more great memories and hard drive overflowing with pictures. I think part of the reason I haven't been chomping at the bit to get another post up is due to not being able to put up any new pictures. Apparently the overabundance of photo opportunities has been too much for my ancient (lol... not really, but computer technology sure does leave us in the dust these days) Macbook. We're planning on buying an external hard drive to help out with our upcoming paycheck. Along with that exciting purchase, we're looking to buy a relatively inexpensive scooter, which we're thrilled about. We've gotten the chance to see how they are both in Kenting (the beach town we went to for my birthday) and when our coworker left for two weeks and left us hers to use. Despite the ridicule many scooter riders receive in the States, I am quite unashamed in saying that they are a lot of fun to ride. It's hard to beat the sensation of driving down a palm tree lined road, skirting the coast of the ocean, with the salty air whipping your hair and clothes. I want to erase that last sentence for sounding like something out of a romance novel, but it's hard to describe the feeling in a way that doesn't sound corny. So I suppose I will happily accept the teasing that comes along with being a proud owner of a scooter.

We celebrated Sara's 26th birthday last weekend and took yet another adventure outside of Chia-yi. Sara has long been dropping hints that I've needed to take her horseback riding. Apparently I have little in the way of hint-picking-up abilities, as I was quite oblivious. However, she finally made it obvious enough that she wanted to do it for her birthday so with the help of our ever helpful Chinese teachers at school, I found a horse ranch in a nearby county. We hopped on a train the Saturday after Sara's birthday and got off where we were told to, only to find the scooter/bike rental shop closed and not a whole lot in the way of friendly strangers willing to point us in the right direction. Fortunately, one of the train station employees spoke enough English to get us on a local train (basically like a train in Chicago) to the next closest stop. As is our habit, once we arrived, we depended on patient strangers with any English at all, and ended up in a taxi of a guy who spoke a small amount and he drove us about five minutes to the ranch.

After a few more uncomfortable communication attempts, we eventually found the area where we got to ride horses in a large circular area. Despite our disappointment that we didn't get to do a bit more riding out in the open, it was still a very fun experience to feel like we had even a little control over these powerful and very intelligent animals (emphasis on little control... both of our horses kept stopping to munch on stray leaves and grass whenever they wanted). It helped that the country scenery was made that much more beautiful by the crisp fall air and the sun shining through all of the trees around us (I promise to post all of the pictures as soon as possible). After our ride we explored the ranch a bit more, and got to see the big area where the horses got to romp around. A few even started rolling around on their backs like gigantic dogs in the dirt, reminding me very much of a particular canine nephew of mine. It was definitely something I've never seen before. Later on, we tried out some archery, which was (for anyone who hasn't done it) a lot of fun. On our walk back through the little town to the train station (we had accidentally misplaced the taxi drivers card), a woman on a scooter with her two young children pulled up next to us and started speaking rapidly in Chinese. We were friendly but tried to convey that we didn't understand. After a few moments, we heard the word for teacher, and told her in Chinese that we were English teachers living in Chia-yi. She was very excited about our use of Chinese and went on to say in very broken English that I was handsome and Sara was very beautiful (remember: picture us walking along a rural road and this woman on a scooter with a child in front of her and a child behind her on the seat, riding along next to us). We both laughed (in a friendly way) and she drove off smiling. Just another example of how friendly people are everywhere we go on this beautiful island, I suppose.

Sara and I are both really enjoying slowly building our Chinese repertoires via our Chinese lessons once a week, and it really is exciting to use something we've learned and watch it actually sink in to the person we're communicating with. To the same effect, we are also picking up a lot more of what people say around us, generally being simple phrases between people, but occasionally we'll overhear a child say the word for American or tall. I successfully communicated how tall I was in centimeters to a man the other day in the elevator of our building (195 cm), and was quite proud of myself. The kids get quite a kick out of our Chinese as well, although I don't use it very often, seeing as a lot of the time I am trying to get them to stop using Chinese and I don't want to encourage them to by doing so myself.

The job is still going fine, and both of us have gotten in a good routine with most of our classes. Classes that were a challenge for me at first have become much more manageable and the time I have to spend making lessons plans is less and less. Sara and I have our three year anniversary coming up on Nov. 11th and we are planning a trip to Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) the following weekend. We're both really looking forward to experiencing what we have heard is an incredible city. As always, I guarantee more pictures to come soon. As a last note, I think that all of the longings for the Fall colors and weather back in the Midwest that Sara and I have had lately have brought a little Fall weather here. In the last week and a half or two weeks, the temperature has dropped dramatically. I even had to wear long pants and shoes to work instead of shorts and sandals! What a change! Regardless of my wishes to see the fall colors, every day when I check the weather back home and see that it's a few degrees colder, I am a little less upset that I am not walking to the bus stop or waiting for the train back in chilly Chicago. I suppose I'll have the rest of my life to make it through Midwest winters, and I have every intention of loving this "very cold" Taiwanese Fall/Winter to it's fullest extent. Till next time, our best to you!

So here I am, teetering on the tricky little edge known as the age of 25. The big quarter century! If you had asked me ten years ago what I'd be doing now, I guarantee my younger self's response would be quite different than the reality of where I am now. In no way am I complaining, however. I am traveling the world, stepping about as far out of my comfort zone as is possible; I have an incredible family who I am blessed to be in regular contact with; I have he best friends a person could ask for back in the States; I'm nearing, if not already in the best shape (physically and mentally) of my life; and finally, I have a gorgeous, supportive, adventurous woman beside me. In summary, I can confidently say that things are good!

I've heard of many people being unhappy with their inevitable approach to 25 years. It certainly isn't easy to look in the mirror and know that this moment is the youngest you'll ever be again. This thought is daunting for some and horrifying for others. I'd like to instead use it as motivation to ensure that for the next ten, twenty, fifty years, I don't waste time busy with endeavors or undertakings that aren't worthwhile.

I recently stumbled upon a very humorous (albeit crude) motivational video. It opens to a guy sitting with a placid lake behind him. He explains that he has discovered a series of three basic, fundamental quotes that, when combined, can be used in the most dire of situations or in the face of incredible opportunities:

This is it. (live in the present, as that is all that is in our control)

ex: When else will we get to try squid?

F*** it. (one way or another, there are very few things under our

control)

ex: We might as well try to surf in the

Pacific Ocean.

It is what it is. (why stress yourself about how things have panned out?)

ex: So what if it's raining while our only

mode of transportation is a scooter?

Despite the very apparent light tone taken in the video, Ive found myself reflecting on this mantra over the last month. This moment is all we should concern ourselves with. Don't overthink things and lose out on opportunities, or do things you feel you shouldn't. How things turn out is how they turn out... simply do what you can!

Take it as you will, but as I watch yet another very full year of my life saunter away from me, I can't help but smile to myself, take a deep breath of this semi-fresh Taiwanese air, and think:

This is it. F*** it. It is what it is.

In case you're interested, here is the video that I referenced in the blog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLFYx6xlhB0

Week #4: Our First Typhoon

I received a rather unpleasant wake up call this morning from the winds on the

forefront of Typhoon Fanapi banging on our windows. The powerful winds have continued

to whistle through the windows and sliding doors onto our patio area all morning, spraying

hard rain against the thin panes of glass. We had intended on jumping on a train yesterday to head to Kaoshiung (pronounced as if the K is a G), which is about an hour train ride south west of Chiayi and also happens to be the second biggest city in Taiwan. However, neither of us were particularly thrilled about the prospect of experiencing our first typhoon while traveling so we'll save that trip for a weekend with more ideal weather conditions.

Although our jobs continue to challenge our patience in terms of how unorganized the school is (at times), how little we have in the way of support with classes, and overall discipline with many of the classes (several of the kids are quite spoiled), we both feel that we have a pretty good handle on things. Each class, and even each individual student, has their own learning style and specific motivator(s), and it's taken an effort to discover these through trial and error. Emphasis on the error part. I have rarely felt as ridiculous as when I find myself in front of a class, feeling utterly incapable of trying to present material in a way that a confused student can find accessible. Keeping a class of tired (and very self-aware) teenagers interested in a story about Mud Volcanoes in Azerbaijan, which lacks any frame of reference for the students, while trying to encourage conversation, is about as close to impossible as I can imagine. I have found myself resorting to playing a lot of games to get the kids laughing and a little more comfortable with communicating, but you can only keep them speaking English for so long. One of my classes consists of four thirteen or fourteen year old boys who all tend to have a bit of an attitude and insist on chatting in Chinese all the time. I've told Sara a few times that I would love to pull a little "football coach" mentality with them and have them run until their too tired to chat, but unfortunately I don't think that's an option. Again, I feel obligated to send out an apology to all those teachers and coaches (and parents) to whom myself and my friends were infuriating at times. Your patience astonishes me. Please don't take these minor complaints as a message of overall frustration. We have certainly faced challenges so far but overall, our students are very intelligent, easily engaged, and quick to pick things up. I've found great pleasure in engaging in conversation with some of the higher level students, and it's hard to compare any other feeling to leaving a class with the knowledge that a lesson has sunk in for your students.

We continue to discover odd, hilarious, and beautiful things every day. For instance, we were at a nearby supermarket getting some groceries and other supplies (it's called Carrefour, but you can just think Meijer, minus any English), and I recieved an urgent call from nature. I hustled to find the nearest restroom and opened the stall door only to find this floor level toilet staring back up at me. I don't know if people don't go #2 in public restrooms here or if everyone simply has excellent balance, but I decided not to test my luck.

Another very interesting experience we have stumbled upon are the water refill stations. The tap water here in is unfit for consumption, so everyone simply purchases filtered jugs of water at the store. We had been doing this since we arrived, and although a five gallon jug is just over a dollar (American), it tends to add up. We were told to check out the refill station down the street from our apartment, so the other day we grabbed a few empty jugs and some coins and headed out. The refill station was indeed close to our apartment and literally looked like a small, coin operated gas station. There are three levels of purity, costing NT$5, 10, 15 each (less than 50 cents) for 5 gallons. We've been making trips ever since and certainly appreciate the extra money we've been saving.

It's hard to believe we've been here nearly a month now, and harder to believe that many of these very odd new experiences and sights are quickly becoming commonplace for us. I no longer laugh out loud when I see someone driving their scooter with their dog between their legs. I'm certainly growing accustomed to going out in public and not seeing any other foreigners. And I am getting used to deducing how to prepare food that is in a bag with zero English on it. Next up on our list of things to do: figure out how to pay bills, begin Chinese lessons, and make our first trip out of Chiayi. Until then, I hope you are all very happy and healthy, and I implore you to appreciate the overabundance of English cooking directions on your food!

The Female Perspective

For my first blog post, I would like to give you the Taiwan experience from the female perspective. Dave has covered a lot, however there are a few things that I think should be noted. First, I will share my feature presentation regarding the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of Taiwan as I have experienced it thus far. Then, so as not to end on a sad note, I will discuss the interesting differences that have stood out in my mind upon arriving here. Enjoy!

Now for my feature presentation...

Taiwan: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

-The black tea is absolutely AMAZING!! Dave and I are completely hooked. Iced black tea has become a daily indulgence for both of us. And it's so cheap! Only 15 NT$ (which is about $0.50 US). If you come here, you must try it!

-The people are extremely kind. The other night upon the closing of Ghost Month, a family who was eating dinner outside their home invited us to join in their feast. We did not partake, but this just goes to show how welcoming the people here truly are.

-The children at our school are adorable. I must admit the first few days of teaching were dreadful. All of the kids were testing the limits to see what they could get away with under the new teachers. But once I laid down the law, they straightened right up. Everyday gets better and I've been able to appreciate their wonderful/different personalities more and more.

-Our apartment building has a rooftop deck from which you can see the mountains in the very near distance. It's absolutely beautiful. It's also great for viewing sunsets. And as noted below, since there seem to be no electric driers, it's great for line drying our clothes.

The Bad:

-This humidity is killer! It's been really tough getting used to. Luckily the worst is over for now, and fall will bring much more temperate weather. I'm definitely missing the midwest fall colors and smells though. Especially since everyone on facebook is posting about the wonderful fall days they're having.

The Ugly:

-The stray dog and cat population is literally breaking my heart. On our first weekend here, we excitedly strolled over to the enormous park on the edge of the city only to be confronted by a stray puppy within minutes of entering the park. He was tiny, week, dirty, and obviously malnourished. I gave him some water, but had nothing more to share with him. Luckily for Dave we had not yet moved into our permanent apartment so I couldn't take him home with me. But mark my words if I could have, I would have taken him home in a second. I very reluctantly walked away from the puppy at Dave's urging and proceeded to cry my eyes out. It was just too much for my animal lover heart to handle. Then last weekend as we were walking home from the grocery store, there was an adult stray dog standing in the middle of a very busy intersection with his ears back and his tail between his legs. He was obviously terrified, but everyone that walked past him just walked by as if they didn't even see him. I was outraged! I desperately wanted to go help him, but Dave put the kabosh to that as we did not know the temperament of the stray population and I really can't afford to get bitten since we don't have our ARC card yet. Anyways, I made Dave stay and watch with me until he finally got out of the intersection and trotted down the street. I walked away from this situation in tears as well. I've decided I'm definitely going to start carrying dog treats with me for just such encounters. If I'd had treats I could have at least coerced the dog into crossing the street. I also would have had something to share with that stray puppy. The cat situation is not much better, however cats are at least more agile and independent. For some reason, they seem much more capable of caring for themselves. This doesn't make me ok with it by any means, but I'm at least comforted in knowing they have supreme hunting skills.

Now to lighten things up a bit...

The Different:

Here is a list of the things that are so different here than in the US that it is worth noting before they become the norm for us.

1. Garbage is picked up every day of the week, however there are no dumpsters. Every night the garbage truck drives around playing the same song over and over again, loud enough so that people in their homes/apartments can hear it and everyone comes out into the street and throws their trash in the truck as it slowly drives by. One could argue that your entire social life revolves around the garbage collection. (***see video at bottom***)

2. Urban Planning is nonexistent. There are beautiful mansions and expensive condos next door to run down shacks that look as though they are not fit for human habitation. It's quite interesting. I suppose it's kind of nice in the sense that there are no "bad" parts of town. Everywhere you go in the city is pretty much the same in terms of appearance and safety. And let me note, crime is extremely low here.

3. Apparently, staring at people is not considered rude. We get stared at constantly everywhere we go. Whether we are just walking down the street, are in a restaurant, or are grocery shopping, the people see so few foreigners here that they can't help but stare at us. Just the other night we were eating dinner at a restaurant we frequent (one of the few places with an English menu), and the two girls sitting behind us were giggling and "nonchalantly" taking pictures of us on their phones. We don't mind terribly, it's just very weird for us.

4. No matter how hot it is, almost everyone wears long sleeves (especially the women). I thought this was absolutely insane the first day we were here and we were sweating bullets in the lightest clothing we owned while everyone else was wearing long sleeves, and in some cases long pants. I asked our director that day if it was culturally ok for women to wear tank tops here as I had yet to see a single female revealing her shoulders and he said it was perfectly fine. Then I asked, "So why is everyone wearing long sleeves in this hot, humid weather?". He responded, "it's the same as people wearing a hat in the US." They do it to protect from sun exposure. I didn't say anything but my first thought was, "hasn't anyone heard of sunscreen over here?? This is madness!!" Anyways, I later found out that contrary to the tan standard of beauty in the US, the standard of beauty here is to be as pale as possible. The lighter the skin, the better. Therefore, rather than relying on sunscreen to protect them from the sun, they just completely cover their skin. I guess better safe than sorry. I, however, will not be joining the masses. It's just WAY to hot for this senorita!

5. Toilet paper does not get flushed down the toilet, it is always thrown in the garbage. It's really not as gross as you would think though because like I said in #1, the garbage goes out everyday. It's definitely been tough to get used to though.

6. There seems to be not a single electric clothes drier in the country. Every single apartment I've seen has a small outdoor area for drying clothes. Although I'm sure the wealthier population has them, the rest of us must line dry our clothes. This has resulted in some very stiff clothing, which is less than desirable when you put on a nice clean shirt. Oh how I miss the soft, wonderful smelling clothes that are fresh out of the dryer. We did however discover that our rooftop is a much more effective place to dry our clothes. They also come out minus the stiffness due to them flapping in the breeze.

Well that's all I can think of for now. I hope you've enjoyed the female perspective :-) Until next time.... Love and miss you all!

-Sara

Week #1: Standing out a bit...

It is the first Saturday after having started work, and I have been woken up by the sound of very loud, incessant drumming outside, which is accompanied by what sounds like a lot of people chanting. It turns out there is a temple across the street from our apartment building, and apparently Saturdays are their day of worship, as there are several tents in the square in front of the temple and it's pretty obvious that the sounds are coming from there. Not the greatest of wake up calls, but I had wanted a good chunk of time to write about this week anyways, so I'm not too devastated.

After spending the first five days here in Taiwan living in a temporary apartment equipped with a bathroom, bed, tv, and a mini-fridge (think: college dorm room), we have finally moved into our permanent apartment. The couple whom we've replaced worked up until the day we started and thus didn't move out until our actual start date, which was Wednesday. Although the two of them were very informative about the myriad of details that come with our jobs, Sara and I have been incredibly overwhelmed all week. Each of us teach several different skill levels and ages throughout each day, with very little time in between to gather materials (aka different reading, writing, vocab, and spelling books per class). We've both ended up working several additional hours every day just due to attempting to plan out each of our individual classes. Our schedules are as follows:

Sara:

9:30-11:30 - Elephant Class (the youngest students)

Dave:

11:30-12 - Elephant Class (I get to read a very easy mini-book with them and then play games)

Lunch/Lesson Planning

S&D:

2-5 - ESL classes (ages ranging from 1st to 4th grade levels)

S&D:

5:05-6:05 - Pre-teen classes who go to regular Chinese school during the day

Dinner break

D:

6:40-8:40 - Generally teenagers who are continuing English education after regular school (read: not very excited about still being in school at this time of day)

Needless to say, this has been a bit of a crash course in teaching for both of us, but we got through it relatively unscathed and having learned a number of fun games (including several very fun card games). Many of the classes and students are very fun, easily engaged, and excited to learn, but as with any class, there are a few that are not happy to be at school and have been pushed through the system without truly processing the information and are in levels above their actually abilities. That being said, I will never jump to conclusions about a teacher's abilities again. I hereby send out an unheard apology to all teachers who seemed to have gotten flustered and easily frustrated by any of the classes I've been in in my life.

Enough about school. We are apparently not only receiving a crash course in teaching, but in Asian culture and navigating this entirely new world. Let me start by saying that the driving here is absolutely crazy. Nearly everyone has scooters, and although for the most part traffic lights are obeyed, most other rules that we're used to are apparently nonexistent. I don't know if it's our city in particular or a Taiwan thing, but it is far from being a pedestrian friendly city. We have every intention of joining the masses on scooters as soon as we get our first paycheck, if for nothing more than to avoid having to shimmy along parked cars and scooters to avoid being blown past (I may be exaggerating here a bit, but in actuality there aren't many sidewalks). When someone wants to park, they simply squeeze into any open area. Double parking is apparently a non-issue, and people regularly pull right up to the many little food and tea stands and order from their scooter. I've seen what looks like parking tickets on peoples cars, but for the most part it doesn't seem to be that much a deterrent.

The rumors that eating out is significantly less expensive than buying your own food at the grocery stores is true, although about 1 in 10 restaurants have English menus or good enough pictures to convey what we want, so we've had to stick to a few places we've already found. Like with jumping on the scooter bandwagon, we have every intention of learning some functional Chinese as quickly as possible to help deal with this. The people have been every bit as warm and inviting as we had heard, and even without knowing a lick of Chinese (aside from hello and thank you), we have managed a few successful interactions when necessary. We've tried some very interesting food so far, as well as having vastly improved our chopstick skills. Among our food sampling has been: fully BBQed/steamed fish (head and everything), hot-pots (a bit like a fondue, with tons of veggies, fish, rice, tofu, and what we concluded was breaded fish testicle - NOTE: WAS NOT EATEN)

Also spotted along the way have been several octopi, squid, frogs (with the heads removed), egg crepes, waffle sandwiches, and eggs being served with just about anything to make the meal a *breakfast*. We've both tried to adopt very open minds to trying stuff, although I don't see myself going for any testicles or headless frogs any time in the foreseeable future.

Our first week here has been overwhelming, exciting, odd, shocking, and enjoyable all at the same time, and we're both thrilled to see where the next year here will take us. For more pictures, feel free to check out my facebook page, including some great ones of Chia-Yi Park, which is just a ten minute walk from our apartment!I look forward to any feedback about our adventures! I will end on a bit of a fun video of our trip last weekend to the park (at the bottom of the page).

Day #2-3: Oddities & a Few Life Lessons

The past few days have taught me several things. Among these is the realization that Asian airlines treat their customers considerably better than all of the various American airlines. Also, despite what airport you’re in (aside from Seoul, South Korea), there will always be some amount of pee dribble in front of the urinal. Another is to always take a close look at your food before trying new things, as I discovered on our flight over the Pacific when I tried what I thought were crispy green beans with my Bi-Bim-Bop (a mixed rice, meat, and veggie dish) turned out to be very crunchy little fish, complete with tiny eyes.

Interestingly, our most painful and stressful travel experience throughout the nearly 40 hours of travel time was the initial check-in at O’Hare International. We had to wait for nearly an hour in line, only to have the “do-it-yourself touch screens” not accept our information. When we attempted to get one of the very few employees scurrying back and forth to help us, we were either ignore or dismissed with a sarcastic remark (at one point Sara said, “we have a small problem”, to which the employee responded, “well I woke up this morning with a problem, too!” and proceeded to walk away). Eventually we were redirected to another line for people to have their issues figured out by an actual employee. Apparently, because our tickets were one-way, the machine couldn’t process it. Taiwan (in fact, many Asian countries) generally do not allow people visiting to come into the country without having already purchased a ticket to leave. Along the same line of thought, in order for someone to have an extended stay, they are required to apply for a travel Visa from a Taiwanese Consulate or Foreign Affairs Office. We had done this before leaving, as it was a requirement for our jobs. We were told to apply for a 60-day Visitor Visa, as applying for a Work Visa from the U.S. is expensive and takes very long time. In order for to get the Visitor Visa we had to show that we had tickets into and out of Taiwan within that time frame, as well as provide a brief letter saying that we’re here to do some sightseeing and other traveling before leaving for China. Due to this strange way of doing things, we have essentially been required to lie about our plans while in Taiwan to people in the airports (we had one scare at O’Hare when it didn’t look as if they were going to let us get on the plane without first having an itinerary showing we had tickets out of Taiwan. Fortunately, we pointed out that we needed to have this to even get the Visas in the first place, and we were allowed to continue). All of these minor headaches basically come down to the very backwards way that it seems the Taiwanese government goes about doing things, although come to think of it, I suppose the good ol’ U.S. of A. isn’t always particularly well organized either.

To our parents who are reading this, don’t freak out, but it is technically illegal in Taiwan to teach English to kindergarten-aged children. This has to do with people feeling that the children should have a very solid base knowledge of their own language and culture before another. Despite this, it is common knowledge and generally accepted that most children end up learning English at this age. In fact, we had lunch with some teachers from the school where we’ll be teaching and they said that some government officials made a visit recently. They called quite some time in advance with the exact day and time of their visit, which gave the school time to switch out all the books and materials from the kindergarten classroom, and on the day of the visit, the English teachers got to have the day off. It is common knowledge that many, if not almost all of the government officials who make these visits have their own children in similar schools. This is yet another example of the strange way things are done around here.

Day #1: Take-off

A few days ago, an old friend presented the opportunity to go cliff jumping at a lake that had formed in a rock quarry near my house. It was something that I’d never tried to do or had ever really considered as an enticing activity. However, I nonetheless soon found myself standing about twenty feet above the deep blue water, watching as my friend confidently threw himself out into the open air.

Looking back, two days later, I can’t help but draw very strong parallels to the journey that I am going to embark on in a few hours. There I stood on the very solid, predictable rock that is everything that I know. My entire physical being was fighting me to remaining planted here, safe and comfortable. However, a whispering yet very powerful voice in the back of my mind was urging me to fling myself into the unknown, unpredictable, and uncontrollable open space. That voice grew stronger and more confident, allowing me to overcome my reluctant body’s instinct to remain frozen in place. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and I pushed off. In a blink, the wind rushed over my body, and with blood pounding in my ears, I plunged deep into the warm water.

With each of my following jumps, I became more confident and comfortable with this new experience, eventually climbing to new heights on the wet rocks. With each increasingly confident jump, I had to overcome the still powerful instinct to remain where I was. But with each one, the voice in the back of my mind became stronger and I began to realize just what I might be capable of.

It is my sincerest hope that this same mentality of endlessly striving to reach new heights carries over into my approaching adventure to Taiwan (and beyond). I will do all I can to convey to those of you reading the sheer beauty and endless opportunities presented to us in the fascinating places we plan to travel to. I wouldn’t be making this journey without the inspiration, reassurance, and strength of my beautiful partner in crime (the strawberry jelly to my peanut butter), Sar-bear. We stand here, poised on the precipice, holding hands and our breath and preparing to make this first of many leaps into the unknown.