4ever Discovering
The Final Stretch: 1 Month To Go
I See the Light! And the Million Other Things To Do on My List Before I Leave!
Well, it’s that time again where I need to give you a little update on my life over here (I know, you’re all excited!). But please, hold the applause! We are almost at the end of our time living in Taiwan. Emily and I have just over one month to go before we pack up our lives into our suitcases again, and send them home for a while! All we need are our backpacks for the summer! This will be a summer to remember; I’m so excited to travel southeast asia (especially with some pretty amazing people). There will be so much to do and so much to see, the summer will fly by! 8 weeks will go by a lot faster than you think!
It’s scary to think about how fast a year can go. It only feels like I moved here a couple of months ago, and now I have to pack up everything again. A year passes so quickly, it makes me realize never to take any days for granted. I just spent a year living in Asia, and I still have so much more to see in the world. That means I only have like 50 more years of travelling before I’m crippled and can’t walk anymore. Then my days will be filled with mini putting and Bingo (which I wouldn’t be upset about lol). It just goes to show you how we need to make good use of our time. A year can pass in the blink of an eye; you want to make the most of it! At least I can say I accomplished a lot this year. I am finishing up my first professional year as a teacher; I will have traveled to over 10 countries in Asia; and I almost went an entire year without cooking a meal! God bless cheap street food and no kitchens!
As my days are dwindling down in Taipei, I have begun to think about what I will really miss about living abroad. Taipei is a great city to live in; everything is accessible by public transportation, making your life very convenient. I think coming to Taiwan was a good first step to transiting to an Asian lifestyle. It is clean, the people are friendly, and the food is amazing. I don’t think I could live in China for a year, but I could definitely do Taiwan again! Believe it or not, I wasn’t as culture shocked as I thought I would be moving here. Things aren’t really that different than living in Canada. Of course when you compare the little things it seems like a whole other world, but when you look at the big picture, I just adjusted to another way of life in a completely different time zone. No biggie.
Some of the main differences about Canada and Taiwan has a lot to do with the food. As I talk to more Taiwanese people and they ask me about Canada, I really start to realize what’s different (and what I miss about the western world). If you go to a restaurant over here, you usually will pay the bill before your food comes. As soon as you order, the servers will give you your check so you are free to leave whenever you please. I don’t mind this; you don’t have to wave down the server when you are finished. You can just walk out when you are ready. Of course some of the western restaurants here follow the same protocol as home, but for the most part, this is how it goes. But, something you should know is that you don’t leave a tip here. If you pay first, you don’t leave a tip based on the quality of service you had. If a restaurant does require tipping, a standard 10% is always added to your bill. Simple. Easy.
Another thing about restaurants is the food is delivered to your table in no particular order. If you go out to eat with 4 people, the 4 meals will all come at different times. Emily and I always feel bad when one of our meals is delivered first; we have been taught to wait until everyone has their meal to start eating. In Taiwan, you eat whenever your meal is brought to you; you don’t want to wait for it to get cold. This doesn’t always work well in our favour because I am a faster eater than Emily. If I get my meal before her, I will probably finish it before she even gets her. For the most part we usually don’t have to wait too long; it’s just something I’ve noticed is very different than ordering food back home.
As long as we are on the topic of food here, I just want to state I can’t believe I have lived for 9 months without a kitchen. Emily and I have a hot plate, so we can still make a box of kraft dinner every now and then, but it seems to crazy to think we don’t cook! And the weirdest part is, I kind of miss it. Now don’t get too excited mom, I’m not volunteering to cook when I get home; I’m just saying I don’t mind preparing the odd meal. You don’t realize what you take for granted when you don’t have access to it anymore. Who knew that being deprived of a stove would make me miss cooking. One thing I don’t miss is the dishes though! I was never a fan of washing them and I never will be. You would think living without a kitchen would mean we spend a lot of money of food every night, but I think we are saving money by eating out. A full meal here can cost under $5; when I tell Taiwanese people that the same meal would cost $20 in Canada they can’t believe it. That is just the culture here; they were brought up with cheap street food, we were brought up with sales at Walmart.
The best part about living abroad is being exposed to the different cultures around the world. As much as I miss things about the western lifestyle, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn about how other cultures live. It reminds you about the diversity in the world, and how sometimes we can get stuck in our own little bubble. We can be so focused on what is going on in our own lives, we forget about what else is out there in the world. We become so much more knowledgeable and sensitive to other cultures when we experience them first hand. That is one of the reasons why I love travelling so much. I love stepping outside of my comfort zone and immersing myself in a completely new world. Yes, it’s scary; terrifying sometimes. It’s like jumping into the unknown and not knowing where you are going to land. But that’s the beauty of life; the unpredictability of not knowing what your future holds. Who wants to live a life where they already know what is coming? Sometimes it’s more rewarding to be kept on your toes, and know you can accomplish any challenge that is thrown your way. I don’t know what path I’m being led down; all I know is I am loving the journey so far!
