I haven’t been able to bring myself to write in this blog for over a month. I keep wanting to, but ever present is the desire to keep my travel blog a tale of great adventures – one that reflects everything I had hoped this trip would be. When things no longer fit that fairy tale illusion it became difficult to bring myself to write.
People back home like to remind me that I can always return. This is a reality that I am very grateful for. I know how fortunate I am for having a home to go back to filled with loving family and friends.
That reminder stays in the back of my mind always, but the reality is I need to face these issues here, head on, before they follow me back home. There are lessons in these tough experiences that I need to learn; hard lessons I’ve avoided for years, always being far too used to having a safety net to rely on.
So, without further ado, here is what has been going on since I returned from Japan. No filtering the gory details or embellishing for matters of a fairy tale illusion.
Week 1 ~Sept. 9-16
I slept.
Japan took a lot out of me – financially, emotionally and physically.
For the most part, the trip was amazing. I truly did love seeing the sights and exploring nature.
What I didn’t love was the occasional foreigner price discrimination and complete lack of English/Chinese/Korean-friendliness. Hardly anything was in any language but Japanese. Even people working at the airport didn’t speak more than a few words of English. For parts of my trip I didn’t feel welcomed by the locals, which didn’t help the loneliness and depression that was creeping up on me at that point in time.
Japan was also more expensive than I had anticipated. A word of warning to those planning to travel there, consider bringing twice your budget. Thankfully by staying at cheap accommodation I ended up not too far in the red.
Week 2 ~Sept 17-24
After my week of sleep I met up with someone who would go on to become one of few friends I currently have in Asia. It was a great change of pace and really helped me break through my cyclical depression and emotional drainage.
Soon thereafter I decided it was time to actually get a job teaching English at a bushiban (Taiwanese cram school); you know, the thing I came overseas to do. One late night of many applications later I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. Then ringing again and again. Followed by buzzing with emails throughout the day. Immediately I had interviews lined up and people asking me to demo. A few days later I signed the contract for my first teaching job and had some very fast paced training.
Week 3 ~Sept 25-Oct 2
The school I’m working at has a few weeks all year with work on Saturday. Naturally, my first week had one of them. So my life went from 0 to 100 real fast. If you noticed me completely drop off the social media planet, this is when it started. And I’ve basically been off-planet since.
I don’t exactly remember when it was, but I went to a language exchange that my Texan friend told me about. Despite being privy to the terrible watered down frat house beer served at the foreigner hub of a bar, I did enjoy the night quite a lot. I basically sat down with a beer and was bombarded with conversations. There were other foreigners who’ve come here for the same reason as me and a plethora of local Taiwanese girls and guys who wanted to practice their English and make friends. Though I haven’t yet returned, I have made some friends from the experience.
October
One thing I never appreciated as a student: Teaching is hard.
It takes planning, organization, planning, scheduling, and more planning. And once you have your plan all hammered out, you have to deal with problems on the fly. Every day as I teach I am learning more and more. I am growing as an instructor and being tested against expectations from all sides. Some days go great and other days make me want to give up. But it’s a test of perseverance and the show must go on.
So here I am, writing these words, with several big successes and failures under my belt and a path in front of me with many hurdles. Each day gets easier but the road is a long one and I’ve only just begun.
FoodOut 