The Imagined Life

This was one of the things I feared most as a child: as well as my dollhouse being stolen, being "called by God" to be a missionary, and being murdered by someone who hides behind the shower curtain (that fear still remains). But yes, I am 27 now, and this is my first Christmas away from my family. It was a really really hard thing to swallow, and I wouldn't have been able to have gotten over it quickly without James' help. Lucky for me, I must have used some wily power to change a Grinch to a Mr. Christmas. He knew I was quite disappointed about not being able to go home, so he's done his best to try to make it really nice. We went and got a fake Christmas tree for his house, decorated it with loads of baubles and lights, and even hung other decorations in his house. We gave ourselves a Christmas budget and our Christmas lists, and off we went. We've planned a Christmas day meal with precision. (I will be doing the fun and easy things: gluten free sugar coo

Yes, it is true! I, this weekend, will be a hostess to an actual big event. I've shied away from being a real hostess my entire life, afraid of being represented as those women from the 1960's advertisements with pearls and a vacuum. I try to avoid all versions domesticity if possible, but I find that inside, I get the slightest bit of pleasure out of having people over and showing them a good time! So, I offered my lackluster hostessing services for a Thanksgiving dinner at my house. It was perfect because my roommate is away, and our house is pretty big compared to the rest of Taiwan. I mean, we have a living room and a balcony, and a separate room for a kitchen! Just imagine the possibilities. So, I will be scrounging together whatever I've got in the way of furniture: folding chairs, crusty tables and shelves, and dusting off the cat hair and will create an elongated Thanksgiving table of dreams. Now, for us traveling folk, that just means the table will be long enough

At last, with a whole lot of hoping, dreaming, and willing for it to happen, we have gotten a day off of work. For a typhoon! We are currently in the midst of it. It is like the snow days of yore--but without hot chocolate and the desire to go play outside. From inside, the park by the river has turned into a sea of white, sideways rain, and a turbulent flow of brown water slowly rising minute by minute. It has now overflowed to the point where it has covered the grassy park that lies beside it along with the bike trail and is close to lapping up to the edge of the highway bridge. On a certain weather app, you can watch the swirling mass of wind and rain head towards the island. So, it was a preemptive call off (of school), which comes as a welcome relief, but there is also the fear of those who get it the worst in the middle of the island. There are a lot of small towns there, and I don't know how they normally protect themselves against typhoons. In Akron, PA, things like this do

Chopsticks have now become my friend. No wonder there aren’t really any obese people here-you cannot eat food that quickly with chopsticks, so your body actually has the time to realize its full! What an amazing invention, and so effective. You also look so elegant and graceful, and around other Westerners, you feel pretty good. But, they have also provided many other issues. I feel as though I’ve turned into a slob and that my mother would not be proud of me. Because I’m a chopstick newbie, I must pick and pull, and lots of times food ends up on the table next to my plate! Some foods you just CAN’T eat with chopsticks. Tell me, how does one eat a drumstick with chopsticks? Try it. You almost feel like you could start a band, you’ve got so many tools. Also, think about eating a tough piece of pork. It hangs from my mouth because the chopsticks have no power to rip the meat from my teeth. So, my next question is, “Do I use my hands?” I don’t know! I do, but I feel really bad about it.

Lancaster County is such a wonderful place. It was a great place to grow up, and it is always a pleasure to come home to. Lucky for me, I have had long summer breaks ever since I graduated from college, so I get the chance to spend a delicious month or two in my home town. There's just something about the summer time in Lancaster; it conjures up all of the old memories: bonfires, fast motorcycles, camping trips, hiking, swimming in lakes, drinking Mike's hard on friends' back porches. I'm used to living in dusty, loud cities for the past few years, and so when I get to visit home, I like to go for a nice long walk to reintroduce myself back into life. When I first got back to Lancaster, I found a wonderful walking spot over a covered bridge and in between cornfields, and I couldn't help smiling as I watched the green hills and the sun setting behind the silos. I could breathe in as deeply as I wanted to, and this time it was tinged only with grass and cow manure and

I am a sentimental person. I think it comes from watching too many dramatic films, but it is also just me. And, I couldn't help but feel a warm fluttering as I drove away from our nation's capital with the Washington Monument in the background. I have been waiting for this day for a long time, and I remember the first day I drove all of my stuff down and saw it and kept saying to myself, "I did it! I did it!" I have this annoying habit of forgetting that I accomplish things I set my mind to. I don't set my mind intensely to too many things because disappointment is too shattering for me, but there are a few things that I have been able to achieve because of my drive and focus. I wanted to move to DC. So, therefore, I did it. It was a difficult year. Probably my hardest transition experience yet. And, after a long long LONG bout of self-pity and a daily tear-stained face, I was able to "buck up" and accept my situation. I think I'll change 'able t

You know that feeling when you happen to come across an old pair of shoes or an old piece of clothing that you just loved , was amazingly comfortable, and fit just right? You'd been missing them for so long, and you're so happy to have them back. You put them on again to try and get that exact feeling again that you used to have when you wore them and to fill that ache that's been inside of you ever since you lost them...They feel great, and you feel warm and fuzzy, but it isn't the same. You've changed; you've grown. The clothes or the shoes seem tattered or worn, and they're out of style now. The fit isn't quite right. You take them off and put them away to sell or give to someone else. You don't need them anymore. That's what it felt like to come back to the UAE. To come home. Hardly anyone has the chance to revisit an old place like I have. It was good for me. I needed to do it. I have been living a year of pining and aching. Or perhaps it&

I've just stumbled across some disturbing news. I only have two viewers to my last and previous blog posts! And when you think that one of those could potentially be yourself, that's when it really gets sad... So, here's to you, my two viewers: America cannot hold me for long! I will, to my extreme excitement and relief, be heading to Taiwan in August for another round of the ol' teaching! James will be doing the same. I know I am a stress head anyway, but I cannot express to you the deep stress that comes when trying desperately to find a solution to a long distance relationship (meaning move to the same place) and trying to find something that works for each person! But, James and I have been so lucky as to find a wonderful school that we are extremely excited to join! I've realized that I'm a bit of an overdoser on exclamation points. I have become the resident email writer for special events for my office because they know I enjoy constructing them in a s

Oh, so I see that my last post was written in January, so I'm not doing TOO bad on blog upkeep, but it's still not ideal. I'm an aspiring writer but also a perfectionist and a little afraid of success or failure (who knows), so I do not write as much as I ought. I have a lot of exciting things on my plate at the moment, and I'm a bit in a tizzy on how to handle them all! I'm looking for my next step come this fall as well as trying to maintain an active teaching certificate, searching for a lucrative part time job, and trying to pursue my dream of being paid to write (AT LAST!) If I've learned anything from these past months of return and reassimilation, it is this cliche: C'est la vie: Thus is life. It took a lot of hard accepting and understanding to come to this realization, but it has given me such an unbelievable freedom, that I don't quite know how to proceed with it. (typical me: at a loss). I used to think, and sometimes still do, that one day

And so it begins--the repeated cliches bang around your brain: "Back to the grind, back into the swing of things." My vacation has now come to an end. I've returned from Cloud 9 in the far off land of South Africa to about a bajillion miles west and about 50 degrees colder and to 50 boxes on my desk. I had the amazing opportunity to visit my wonderfully generous South African boyfriend (James) in his hometown, once again, to attend his brother's wedding and generally meet and hang out with the extended family. It was a beautiful time. It was just what I needed to cure the ailments of 4 months of long-distance relationship as well as the general life-changing events of moving, getting a new job, etc. Side note: I've been given the strict explanation of how Africa should not be used in the context of it being one whole country that's all the same. For example, "In Africa, people do this...blah blah blah" doesn't make sense. Africa is HUGE as is e