Approaching Departure

There are a lot of updates in the past week. Some of which I shall post here and some of which you will have to ask me personally if you want to know =D.

The most major update, and thus the first one, is regarding my return to North Carolina. I looked into extending my flight and it would cost me $400 US. Additionally, to avoid visa troubles, I would have to fly out of the country, stay a night, and then return, a trip that would also be fairly expensive. Thus, it is much more feasible for me to leave here at the end of the CIEE program on June 8th and just save up to come back here soon.

I have signed up for fall courses sufficient to attain my B.A. degree, so that I can graduate in December and return here as soon as January. While this may seem like a strange decision, I actually want to teach English here and most schools in China and Taiwan begin their year after the Chinese New Year (February 3rd next year) and thus pre-CNY is a good time to look for a teaching job. And I want to return to Taipei as soon as is possible, thus I WILL return here in January no matter what I have to do to attain that goal. I've seen too many of my good friends with big dreams get bogged down in North Carolina after graduation, working minimum-wage jobs at local food establishments, and I refuse to allow that to happen to me.

If I recall, my last post was some time last Tuesday. Classes since then have not been noteworthy at all. My grades remain the same regardless of how many or few errors I make on tests, but now we only have nine days of class left! As this semester has been an academic waste of time, I'm glad that it's nearly over, but I am really loath to leave Taipei. I've really come to love it here, and it feels so intimate, active, impulsive, friendly, and like home. I have met many wonderful friends here and learned so much (outside of the classroom). But goodbyes and reminiscence is for another time.

On Tuesday evening the CIEE group went to karaoke. Unfortunately, this sort of activity is best meant for a group of people smaller than ten. Otherwise, people pick songs and then have to wait upwards of 45 minutes to sing a song due to the backlog of requests. Moreover, karaoke here is such that people will pick songs they are good at and then sing solo to demonstrate their ability. I still really enjoyed myself, even singing multiple Mandarin songs! The first song I sang was "我要快樂" by A*Mei, a famous Taiwanese aboriginal singer, and everyone applauded my singing =).

On Thursday night I went out with my dame and a couple of other friends to celebrate one of their birthdays, or something like that. Only it was actually a secret plot to reunite a DIFFERENT friend with her boyfriend, who had flown in from the US without telling her so he could surprise visit her. Quite romantic and cute and sweet and all that =D.

On Friday night I went bowling with some of the Americans. I was surprised to find a bowling alley in Taipei, but I guess I should expect such an international city to contain almost anything imaginable. The computer and the pin setting-up device were both incredibly archaic, however, requiring manual reset of the pins at times. I won the second game, getting a strike and two or three spares. The first game I did not win though, as I had to remember how to throw the ball correctly. Or that's the story I'm sticking to, at least!

Tonight I baked cookies! The last time I tried to bake here, I was thwarted by an oven that looked functional but in fact was not. This time, I had to make do with baking in a toaster oven. While it took a few tries to find a method that worked, I finally began making batches of cookies to sell at a bake sale here that starts tomorrow. It was a lot of fun and I absolutely relished the chance to finally demonstrate my dessert-making abilities!

Impressions on gay acceptance: Yesterday I walked around Taipei for several hours, holding hands with another guy, without a single glare or snide comment directed at us. Even in Chapel Hill, when I held hands with my ex, we were glared at and more than once had rude comments shouted at us. This even in Chapel Hill, a supposed liberal paradise. I also recently saw a cute lesbian couple carrying a little boy in Taipei 101, with similar lack of reaction from passersby. The contrast with American attitudes is striking. Why can't Americans get this right?! It's alright by me if someone thinks gays are weird or whatever. Many older Taiwanese probably do, after all. But unlike their American counterparts, these Taiwanese are polite and civil, thus they don't make the public an unsafe place to be gay. This is an incredibly important concept. In the US I am afraid to hold hands with men I date because I instinctively try to avoid conflict. Thus I don't want to invite the blatant reproach and verbal attacks that so frequently come. I should not have to fear doing the same thing that straight couples do every day without a second thought, but the nature of American society mandates that I fear to show who I am. Taiwanese culture, which is conservative in many respects, does not instill such a deep fear in me, and thus I am freer. I cannot speak for Taiwanese gays but I get the sense from my friends here that they don't have to face this same fear.

Finally, pictures will come soon. I apologize for the lack of photos lately, I just don't carry my camera with me at most times because I like to go around Taipei without a bag of stuff, and it's begun to rain almost every day here and I don't want it to die of water exposure. However, my friends DO have cameras, and once they post pictures on facebook I shall grab them and put them here for you all!