So much to say. I feel like I should start with where I left off, but the there are exciting things awaiting us, so I must start there. WE LEAVE TOMORROW FOR TAIWAN!
Today is the first day of our week-long vacation for China's National Day, and there was only one place I wanted to go this holiday. It's been 6 years since I've seen Julianna, Peiwen and their beautiful families. Six years since I arrived in Taiwan fresh from college and excited to explore a career in teaching and independence living on my own in a Chinese-speaking party of the word. I think everyone knows how special Taiwan is to me, but even so, it is very hard to put into words the profound impact that those two years had on me. I feel like I'm finally getting to visit the long-distance relatives I only get to see every few years; I feel like I'm going home.
Mike and I have no other plans than to spend as much time as possible with these wonderful people who were my family when I was so far away from my own. Julianna is going to pick us up Monday afternoon and take us to the Wenfu where she and Peiwen still teach. Peiwen is organizing a dinner that night, and I can't wait to hear all about what's happened at the school since I've been gone. Yuki, who is now 10 (10!), is a student at Wenfu and very involved in the environmental protection club. I've watched videos of her giving speeches, and she's really quite impressive. I haven't met yet little brother yet, but it excites me to think that he is just a little older than Yuki was when she and I first met. While everyone is at work, I have plans to take him to the neighborhood where I used to live and show him the places I know so well. I have been dreaming about the rose tea, pumpkin soup, and delicious pasta dishes at the little cafe that sits catty-cornered from my old apartment building, and if if we walk down a little further, I can show him the tea house where Professor Li and I met for Chinese lessons once a week. Around the corner and through an alley is the Bird's Nest Cafe, which is where I first saw the stunning fall landscape that is my second favorite piece of art I have ever bought (and as Mike can attest, there's a good amount to choose from). I asked the people at the cafe if they knew the artist's information, and they handed me a business card for a gallery. I called the owner, and because I didn't know the area very well, he offered to give me a ride to the gallery (as I type this I know my aunt is probably thinking, "oh, geez...", but Taiwanese people are just so friendly!). It was at the art gallery that I met his business partner Chel, a woman who would become a good friend of mine. I was so open when I went to Taiwan that I just met people everywhere I went and amassed this amazing group of friends. It's something I'm thankful for every day.
Speaking of building friendships, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival turned out to be an excellent celebration! The typhoons that hit Taiwan were making their way up the coast, so it rained non-stop for the first entire day of vacation. Luckily, Mike had figured out that we can access our Hulu account on our computers if we do it just right, so I spend THE WHOLE DAY catching up on the rest of the summer shows that I hadn't seen before we left. It was like being at the spa for a day. The next day, we took a cab over to Ben and Emily's to have a festive lunch with them and a few of their good friends. I immediately liked Josh because he looks a lot like Grant, Trisha's husband, who is like a brother to me, and his wife Inez is very laid-back and fun. I loved talking with Oli because he works in the chemical industry here and is the only foreign person at his company, and I was absolutely fascinated and stunned at all of the dangerous situations he finds himself in. We had a Harry Potter movie marathon, which was fun since Mike and I have never seen the movies or read the books though Mike has since decided he ought to read them and has made it through the first book. Emily and I played with baby Chloe who has really seemed to take a liking to me (I think she was confused by my appearance and newness at our first meeting), and then we played games and talked for the rest of the afternoon. Eventually it became dinner time, and although we had all gorged ourselves on the delicious spread that Ben and Emily had prepared, when Josh and Inez took it upon themselves to order hot pot delivery for the group, no one complained! It had begun raining quite hard again, and when the delivery guy arrived, the lighter and every single match he had brought was complete soaked through and wouldn't light. We all danced around the table trying to light both wicks and then successfully place them in bottom of the pot until someone saw there was a designated spot designed to do that very thing without burning yourself. We unpacked trays and trays of fresh meat, greens, other veggies, and noodles, and ate until we could eat no more. We watched more Harry Potter, passed around the leftover brownies Ben had made, which were seriously the best homemade brownies I've ever had, and snacked on a bag of gummy bears. It was such a chill day and the best one we'd had in a while.
The week that followed after was long since whenever you get a weekday off, you have to make it back up by working a full day on Sunday. Officially the worst policy ever. But, the students have continued to open up, we're almost through with Act 1 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet, clubs have gotten off to a good start (I supervise the Library Council and we're hosting a spooky story contest for Halloween this year!), and everyone is feeling a little more settled. I spent all of last Sunday preparing lessons at home, which made this week feel a lot less crazy, and when Ben and Emily invited me out for dinner and some games at a local sports complex/bar, I was able to say yes! It's amazing what a couple of rounds of batting cages, corn hole, and an authentic burger/beer/fries dinner can do for your soul!
We've got more comfort food on the menu, too! Mike and I have taken to having our groceries delivered, which allows us to easily purchase both Chinese and foreign products, and we got all of the ingredients to make hearty veggie nachos tonight. They were out of shredded cheese, so I'll be finely slicing mini Babybel cheeses into the closest I can get to shreds, but hey, cheese is cheese! Good ol' American tortilla chips topped with refried beans, black beans, avocado, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and even a green chili salsa! We purchased a rice cooker and we're slowly starting to build a mini pantry, but our cooking will be pretty simple here. Some spices and measuring spoons are a bit hard to come by, and our days are pretty long as it is, so we have less energy to experiment in the kitchen. Mike's been whipping up some excellent stirfrys and Japanese-style curries. Occasionally we'll do pasta and pick up some mini garlic loaves from the bakery on our way home. It's nice to be able to have some of the things we made together back home.
I'm off to get a pedicure (at this point you're probably thinking, "yeah, rough life, Nicki, rough life"), but at some point soon I'll try and upload some of the pictures we've taken on our phones! We've posted some on Facebook, but wouldn't want those without it to miss out!
Happy weekend, everyone!
