"'Homeward Bound' is never one direction." -The Fugitives, "Greyhound"

Somehow I left for a year in Taiwan on the exact date that I left for a year in Israel one year ago. I guess in that case it is fitting that I use the same blog for Taiwan that I meant to use for Israel (subject to change).

It's amazing how much can change in a year. Instead of bothering with the 2+ hour drive to New York City, I am flying out of the Philadelphia airport. Instead of going to Israel, a place where I had at least some grasp of the language and was going to be in an established program, I am going to Taiwan, a place where I cannot currently speak the language and will be an official teacher. I have a whole new set of friends to keep in touch with, and another year's worth of memories to make me smile. I didn't work at camp this summer, opting instead to travel so I could see my wonderful friends, the people who over the years have essentially become my family. I have also made the decision to cancel the cell phone line that I have had since fifth grade (about twelve years, for those who are counting). Another big change is that I have a two-year plan for the first time in my life; school never counted as a plan, but since then everything has seemed to be quite up in the air. The biggest change of all, though, is that I truly do not know when I will be coming back to the US. But that is another post for another day.

It is also so interesting how much stays the same. I packed at the last minute while some of my favorite television shows played in the background, which is nearly always the case (also, I fulfilled my accidental tendency to watch Robert Downey, Jr. movies before and during long trips--side note: if someone can tell me how "Only You" ends, I would be forever grateful). Sitting in the airport, none of this seems real yet. The same nervous and excited butterflies I always get while traveling have been residing in my stomach for weeks. I managed to get through security pretty quickly (got to love being the least intimidating person EVER when it comes to border security), even though as usual I was unable to fully check in online. Airplane food is as tasty as usual (I am one of those weirdos who enjoys it once in a while; something about the simplicity of steak and potatoes gets me every time).

On my first flight, from Philadelphia to Houston, I offered to switch seats with a little boy because his dad told me it was his first time flying, and the boy had an aisle seat while I had a window seat. Definitely glad I did, because I slept for the whole flight, unlike the little boy.

I think there should be a program set up for people to meet their seatmates before boarding. Not that they would be able to switch their seats, but people should know what they are getting themselves into before the 13+ hour flight. Then again, I have no idea of what I am doing right now with anything, so we'll see how this all works out.

I slept through about half of my thirteen-hour flight from Houston to Tokyo, which was great. Since then I have been reading Harry Potter and listening to music. I restarted the Harry Potter books this year partially under the misguided perception that I needed more magic in my life, and partially because they are even more fantastic and captivating than I remembered them to be.

As we descended over Japan into the Narita Airport, I noticed something really cool--multicolored roofs in great shades of at least blue, green, and purple. Hopefully I will get to explore these in the future. Also, I just saw an airplane that seemed to be plastered in advertisements, giving it an almost paisley look. The United planes aren't nearly as fun on the outside. There are a few young kids speaking Spanish in the row in front of me on the airplane. They seem to be really excited about seeing the other planes, and it's adorable.

Being spot-on with cliches lately, the first thought that entered my mind when finally sitting in the airplane on the flight to Taipei was: "This is the first day of the rst of your life." That, plus, "Here goes nothing!"

I started to get worried when the stewardesses came around with Customs cards, because I tend to be wary when I am told that I will only need to get my passport stamped and that I will get my ARC (Resident card/number) through the school. However, I arrived in the airport, exchanged money (almost had an issue with a "broken" $20, but I "fixed" it by unfolding the missing piece), got my stamp, found my suitcases within two minutes of waiting by the baggage carousel, followed the arrows to the buses, asked a few transportation officials which bus to take, got my ticket, and went on my merry way. The only real issue I had was when I didn't know exactly which station I would be getting off at in Taichung, but then I found the address of the hostel I had written down in Chinese characters and in English, and was given a map with the correct station circled. This has all been too easy so far.

It's Philly-humid here, except that it also rains, which is nice. I'm sure I will get tired of it at some point, but I love the rain, and after a year in Israel it is *always* welcome.

Got on the bus, read a little bit, took a nap, kept trying to pay attention to hear my stop, but gave up after a while. Luckily the bus driver knew my stop, and pointed me in the right direction (and then quickly found me a taxi when I asked for one). The cab driver brought me two streets away from the bus to my hostel (a woman's apartment building with eight bunk beds and lockers inside), and a really sweet doorman helped me bring my suitcases to the right floor and got the hostel owner for me. She lives downstairs, and came up to show me my bed (complete with Minnie Mouse comforter--I'm in heaven) and keys. As it is only 12:30am, everything went more or less according to schedule. Awesome. Also the hallway smells like my apartment in Buenos Aires, which is quite homey--must be the same kind of smoke.

Goals for this year:
1. Improve my teaching skills! Learn effective classroom management and figure out what kind of teacher I want to be, and how to utilize my students' various learning types to be the best teacher that I can be for them.
2. Learn Mandarin, at least to a certain degree. Communication is key, y'all. Plus I could never forgive myself if I lived somewhere for a year and didn't learn at least some of the language. Even in university I learned a bit of French, although it was easy enough to get around without it.
3. Explore. I will have literally all of Asia at my fingertips (North Korea doesn't count, though I wouldn't turn down a tour of the DMZ tunnel if a non-sketchy person or organization offered). Not taking advantage of that would be insane.
4. Learn new cooking techniques. Learn how to cook Asian foods. Learn how to cook with little more than a hotplate, a toaster oven, and a rice cooker. Learn to cook with ingredients I have never seen before. So, basically, the usual.
5. "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold." (as opposed to "You'll never see your friends again" x4)
6. Have so much fun. But this is a given.