so i'm going to pay homage to veronica's stoic and effecient way of blogging and make a list. i have been in taiwan for 10 weeks, and i have to say that every second of those ten weeks has been an emotional rollercoaster. moving abroad to work is night and day compared to going abroad to study, where you are guaranteed almost instant friends and at least someone who is a native speaker of your language (or in my case, someone who grew up 5 minutes down the road from you...haha). there were times at first when i would look on expedia for the cheapest ticket home; there are times now when all i do is worry that the next ten months won't be enough time. at first, i found myself missing home so much...i often miss my family, but i rarely IF EVER miss shelby. but in the beginning of being in taiwan, i wanted to go back to shelby so bad. when i got homesick before in england, it was always for greensboro, and when i got homesick in greensboro, it was for england. it was freaking me out that i was homesick for shelby. usually, my homesickness consisted of dreaming of nando's, boots, primark, big ben, taking a train, walking through england and looking how beautiful it is, hearing british accents, blah blah. (don't get me wrong...i will feel homesickness for england until i'm back there for good!) anyway...now for that list...
the top 10 things i miss about america
1. my family. even though they are all certifiably insane, i really do miss them.
2. taking trips with my friends to places including but not limited to dc, nyc, the mountains, the beach, etc and terrorising all the citizens that we can get our hands on.
3. english books being everywhere. you know im going to take this a step further and go ahead and say barnes and noble (i agree with v-music, books (ALL IN ENGLISH!) and coffee all in one place? best idea everrrrr). and old navy. ok i miss the friendly center.
4. and also like v, wreaking havoc in greensboro with my friends. of course.
5. target. although taiwan is literally busting at the seams with cool stuff to buy, there will never be anything to compare with target. i miss the smell of popcorn when you walk in, all the red decorations, the thingssssssssss they sell...
6. ah yes, i miss north carolina in the fall MORE THAN ANYTHING. the leaves, the smells, the weather, football games, the holidays...oh my gosh, i misssssssssss it. fall has always been my favourite season...and taiwan doesn't have fall, haha.
7. uncg and the ihouse...really greensboro itself. enough said.
8. a few random restuarants. i love taiwanese food, don't get me wrong, but there's only so much food with eyes on it that a girl can take.
9. being able to buy shoes in my size. my feet arent really that big, maybe 9.5 at the biggest, but in taiwan everyone's feet are so bloody small that i doubt they go over size 7 (and even thats considered HUGE).
10. SALSA DANCING.
some things about america that i don't miss, you ask?
1. my car. don't miss driving, don't miss paying for gas, don't miss looking for parking.
2. stupid girls. i don't miss seeing girls with $5000 pocketbooks talking in really obnoxious voices about the latest epsiode of whatever stupid tv show they are watching or the next album thats coming out. i donttttttttttt miss american pop culture at all.
3. the vma's. yes, i heard what happened, yes i watched it on youtube, but i feel so disconnected from american culture now...i didnt know who half those people were and i didn't know any of the songs.
4. the celebrity obsession. i hate how america seems to worship them and they are somehow some sort of superhuman being. i like being able to stand in a checkout line now and not have to read about every single person who has ever been in a movie ever and what they ate for lunch today and why thats bad or how its going to save the world.
top ten things i miss about england
1. the weather. i know i know, thats strange, but i love the weather there! i love bundling up in a coat and scarf and wellies to go outside.
2. NANDOS. holy crap, i would give anything to go eat at nandos...............best restaruarnt ever
3. british accents, of course =)
4. english chocolate! i have to say that the chocolate in taiwan sucks.
5. being in europe...theres just something about being in europe that i love. the weather, the buildings, the pace of life. i miss it soooooooo much.
6. ok im going to state the obvious: everyone around me speaks english, no matter how bizarre it sounds and no matter how much at times i can't understand it....its still english.
7. my friendsssssssssssssssssssssss.
8. primark, boots, the body shop, m&s, weatherspoons, union square...that list could go on forever...
9. public transportation. does it exist in taiwan outside of taipei?
10. the culture. i really love england so much. i miss it.
top ten things i love about taiwan
1. the engrish. its everywhere and its 10x funnier in real life.
2. the teeeeeeeeeeea. i love tea shops! i love tea!
3. the people. they really are some of the nicest in the world, and to boot, they are hilarious without meaning to be.
4. i love how colourful everything is in taiwan. everything from the temples, to the lights at night, to the red stains of betelnut spit everywhere, taiwan is a very colourful place, which makes me very happy :)
5. fooood. even though some taiwanese food still really scares me, there is some that i could eat by the truckload, but since i am really bad at trying to romanise chinese words, i wont =)
6. the shopping. oooooooooooh my gosh, the shopping here is the best in the world!!!!!!!!
7. the dogs and scooters everywhere. sometimes i really feel like i'm in a different world.
8. the layout of cities. i know that sounds really strange, but in america cities are so spread out, and in england, if you can find a proper city (like london) its so huge that its hard to get a real feel for it, you just learn the parts of the city really well. but in taiwan, i feel like cities are more compact and just taller. its really cool.
9. asians. they're everywhere ;) oh and the music! i am obsessed with mtv taiwan!
10. the geography. taiwan is a GORGEOUS country.
so i have one class that is just hilarious, and i swear keeps me in stitches more often than not. everyday when i come in, i am greeted with a VERY LOUD chorus of 'happy birthday to you' in english. and everyday i say, 'its not my birthday.' and then everyday, one certain student says 'its MY happy birthday!' and then another certain one will shout 'its my birthday too!' it always feels like i'm in that episode of i love lucy where they are in italy and all those kids keep telling them that its their birthday. haha. it would have been funny if it had happened once or twice, but every single day we start class the same way, arguing about whose birthday it is and whose it isn't. the same kid who starts off the happy birthday argument has also been known to jump out of his seat at random intervals and start singing 'shake your bon bon' at the top of his lungs. can anyone ask for a better job? :) or at the very least, a more entertaining one? haha, didn't think so.
here is me in taiwan, eating fish head and whole octopu
s. just another day.
(and yes, i really did eat both of them)
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