Bike rides. Just being able to hop on a bike, ride for half an hour in one directions and assuming you stay on the right side of that big annoying river that was north of me, being able to find your way back. Here there's cold, potholes, piles of slush, and weirdly enough, I seem to get more lost here than I did in Taiwan. In Taiwan the mountains were always to your east. Except for those few days when the smog obliterated them, you had a built-in compass.
Pools. Cheap, plentiful, with hot tubs and plenty of people who swam slower than me.
Fruit. I saw a pomelo at Trader Joe's the other day and almost bought it. I never bought a pomelo in Taiwan- random people always gave them to me.
Fresh tofu. At the corner store.
The kids. I'm a substitute teacher here. I admit it now: those 6th-graders I taught in Taiwan were not rotten.
Filling up my tank for $4 and it lasted all week.
Topping up my pre-paid cell phone with a $9 card and it lasted more than a month.
Plenty I like about being back, of course. Those things include: ovens, furnaces, English!, driving a car on a rainy day, the Steelers, English!, my family, English!, snow, my friends, snow days, races that you can register for in English and hear the announcements in English... and did I mention I can read everything everywhere? Cause it's in English?
Posts
8 comments:
Your article about things I miss about Taiwan is fantastic
Sounds like Taiwan was wonderful :)
Nice post. I miss the kids the most. Their exuberance more than made up for the smog, lousy drivers, etc.
I just came across your blog when I clicked "next" and it caught my eye because I spent all of last summer (2010) in Taichung at Tung-Hai University. I was their for a research internship, but I too miss many aspects of being there. I just started this blog on Blogger, but I kept a blog on wordpress while I was in Taiwan.
I'm from PA, USA. (and I love Taiwan too! haha) Do you happen to be from PA too (Steelers)?
Haha yes I live in Pittsburgh now... go Stillers!
haha omg my boyfriend is a HUGE Steelers fan! (he actually looks a little like Hines Ward haha) Currently, I'm living in Johnstown (omg this place is boring! haha), but we are always in Pittsburgh (going to Rose Tea Cafe haha)
The fruit there is fantastic! And they got those awesome fruit stands where they will make you some fresh fruit smoothie like drinks. Yum, it's great!
Post a Comment