The Imagined Life

Forgive me! I've been incredibly remiss in my posting of late, having missed an entire month! Although not too much has happened, I had such high hopes for my consistency. Let's see what I can update you with this time. FINALLY, the rains have come. That sounds so beautiful, doesn't it? And when they're African rains, why it's positively poetic! I am currently sitting on my famous veranda, with a glass of wine, typing away, and listening to the rain on the large green leaves. Still working on my tree identification. I feel like I have to have a thing. Everyone has a thing these days. And, since I absolutely refuse to be interested in birds, I thought trees would be a cool, yet youthful thing to get interested in. But, I have yet to begin my tree studies. Therefore, I call them large green leaves, but they could actually be banana leaves. Isn't this description of my garden fascinating? Either way, the rains have come and cut that horrible heat intensely, so ...

Everything seems to be falling into place in just the way that we'd hoped. I'm praying that James won't give me the old "I told you so." That would be just too annoying. When I had been crying maniacally at the beginning of our time in Lilongwe, I remember pleading with him to not say it when it eventually worked out. Because deep down, I knew it would. It always does, but that's not a convenient thought when you feel like drowning in despair. But, both of us feel like it's been a lot smoother and an easier transition than we had in Taipei. In Taipei when we first moved there, we were renting a bedroom, basically, for an exorbitant amount of money and had no place to escape from each other, and there wasn't really any English in our part of town. We still don't quite have a place to escape from each other in the evenings because the sun goes down at 6 and all evening activities we're involved in on weekdays end at 6. But, we do have two roo...

Blog is back in business! Now you get to find out about my adventures from across the sea! And, it's fun to move to a new spot, since then I will have a lot more stories to tell you! Moving to a new country is a similar feeling to tapping a stranger on the shoulder and asking, "Will you be my friend?" It's definitely many different shades of awkward, but at least you meet a bunch of other people who are also doing the stranger shoulder-tapping, so it's some comfort. After a very long journey, we finally landed in dusty Malawi. The reason it was so long is that we took a long way around and had a four-hour delay. We flew to Qatar, were delayed, and then flew to Johannesburg, and then flew to Malawi. If you are among those who would like to visit, I would recommend the nonstop flight from New York to Johannesburg, and then you only have a 2-hour flight to Lilongwe, Malawi. Unfortunately, at each point of check-in (in Philly and in Johannesburg) we were questio...

November was my first real full month as a freelance writer, and it's gone by so quickly and has been quite the adventure! I've had a few disappointments such as rejections or some writing jobs not working out or being what I hoped, but they're nothing in comparison to what lovely success I've had! At this point, I'm defining success in making enough money to support myself with my writing work! I work for two main websites: Skyscanner Singapore and Free Homeschool Deals, but I am also the lucky recipient of two recent jobs: one with a cat blog, and one with a women's dating online magazine! I have been very blessed to be able to get these chances. I'm learning a lot about how to deal with people (virtually--real life is too scary! ;)), and I'm learning a lot about myself and my style. Well, when your "business" is a population of one, you get a lot of 'me' time--no complaints there. Fun facts I've gleaned working as a freelance ...

It's true everyone! All you doubters out there. Jet lag is a very real and horrible thing. It feels like your skull has doubled in size, and is trying to push its way out through your eyeballs. And, your eyelids suddenly weigh 100 pounds each and your pupils have no choice but to cross and leave you incapacitated for many days. It has now finally passed, but boy was it a bit rough there in the beginning. Going ahead in time by 12 hours AND arriving in the morning (so you can't go to sleep yet) is the worst. This was probably my least favorite bout of jet laggishness yet. And, a couple days after I landed, we flew off to Vietnam for the weekend since it was a school holiday for James. So, I feel as though I deserve the Jet Lag struggle and victory award of the year! Back in Taipei. It feels good to be back. I was loving my vacation, don't get me wrong, but there's something about being in your own house and doing your own tasks that's just so restorative. I feel ...

Hello all! Almost exactly one year later, I am back in the business of writing this blog. Aren't you all excited? Get ready to enjoy sometimes dull yet sometimes slightly humorous blog posts that will just keep everyone informed of the goings on over here in Taiwan with no more teaching! It's my way of connecting to you from afar :) But, as of right now, I'm out at the beach with Mom and Dad. And Katie and her new boyfriend Billy are in the area, so we've gotten to hang out with them sometimes. It's been a wonderful time of speed reading books (me and Mom), riding bikes, jogging on the boardwalk, birdwatching (Dad, NOT me), swimming, and having dinner by the water (all of us!). It's been amazing weather, and each day has been lovely to relax and enjoy our time together. But, today we got swarmed by flies, and as others are sitting casually on the sand in their beach chairs, mom and I are being feasted upon hungrily by angry flies who appear to look just like...

I am resolved. I would like to publish a blog at least once a month despite my crazy chock full brain at the moment. It needs to happen. Not only is it cathartic, but it also keeps you all updated since I hardly ever get to speak to you all! And, now that I am finally teaching 7th graders, I will now have boatloads of stories to tell. Yay! Yes, I have moved on from the comatose 8th graders to the mentally insane and energetic 7th graders, hoity toiter honors 8th graders, and the slowly leaving their comatose state 9th graders. I never thought I'd get the opportunity to teach this subject since my degree is in Elementary Ed. and English. Who knew that Kerilee Nickles would be pondering the skills of geography and the woes of history and talking away to groups of young people who have no idea that in reality, I'm just a regular girl who doesn't feel like an adult, and who doesn't actually know everything. One of my classes is World History. Ok, so I have to know the his...