Another sentimental thought

In three days, I'll be leaving the island that has become my "home" for the past week+. I'll definitely miss its rural-ness and serene like features. I love how you can see so many birds here....they fly all over the place. Everything is so green, too. The people that I have come to known and live with have made this experience much better than I had expected. Brian is hilarious, even though he's pretty gross at times too. Lydia is so chill and "badass"; I love gossiping with her at night. Grace is unique and funny in her own quirky way. Joe is calm and very easy to get along with. Chyi Shin has a personality that I have never enountered before (with her no sharing spit and boy dilemna), but she's very aimable. Too bad she had to leave early though ): I miss my teaching partner. And last but not least, our two ti dai yi ge ge's. They are defnitely the best baby-sitters in the world. After all, they bought us gao liang (Kinmen liquor) to try. HAHA jkjk. I think they fit in really well with us. We always joke together as a group. Andrew can play the guitar and has pierced ears. Wu can dance and has a tattoo on his chest which we made him show. So even with the unfortunate occurence of Chyi-Shin's accident and the constant feeling of exhaustion from teaching, I know that I will never forget summer 2009.

Strangely I find myself missing my mom these past few days. Maybe it's because I've been gone for a longer period of time for this trip, or maybe because I'm beginning to realize that I'm growing up and college is approaching--that once I return I will have but five days to spend with her before going away again. I use to love the thought of freedom...the thought that she wouldn't be around me to care and pick on just about everything that I do. But lately I've been feeling quite apprehensive about a life without her around me 24/7. There will be nobody who pesters me about eating, about homework, about my mistakes, about my flaws, about my actions the way a mother does. Yes it is amazingly irritating and difficult to withstand most of the time, but this trip has taught me that I need her annoyingness, even if it drives me crazy. I guess this is one of those "sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone" type of moments.

Five Days

Today was much better compared to yesterday, most likely because it's Friday and everyone (including us the teachers) just wanted to relax and have some fun. Even the annoying and mischevious boys were oddly more adorable than usual. We made ice cream and traded their stamps for junk food, hahaha. They liked it, as reflected through the extra hype I felt. I showed them my prom pictures by request and they thought I got married. Now they are asking to drink my marriage wine (xi jiou) in the future. Funny thought. Anyhow I'm troubled still by their lack of enthusiasm to learn English--seems more like they only want to play. Kids are kids I suppose, but it renders me with the feeling of uselessness, as if I've come here simply to amuse and entertain them rather than to teach. I find myself using way too much Chinese rather than English, which is very very bad.

I feel like a kid here again. I guess being as tall as some of them plays as a factor, but other activities like playing dodgeball and capture the flag reminds me of the days when I liked running around a lot. Some people (like me) start to lack motivation for moving excessively after aging a bit. :D It amazes me how lazy I've gotten....especially after not swimming for a whole entire year. Most of my groupmates got up earlier today to jog or take a walk but I just kept sleeping cause I was tired....even though I was the first one to go to bed last night. /fail.

Anyways, I'm looking very forward to the weekend...heard that we were going on a tour around the island. That should be fun, since it's a really beautiful one!

A week ago, I was feeling ridiculously miserable. After all, spending your very last summer of freedom locked up inside a building located within a city filled with exciting places to visit (such as the shopping malls) is most definitely not ideal at all. I think the only thing that kept me going were the new friends I made, and the new people I met. And even more so, the constant reminder that I would be at least doing some good in this world during vacation, even though my mom was the one who really pushed for me to teach. Nevertheless deep down, I wanted a sense of productivity, and thus I didn't put up much of a fight. My only form of counterance towards her demand was submitting my application a day before it was due. Procrastination ftw. Actually, AID has far exceeded my expectations and has turned out to be such a spectacular program....filled with brilliant individuals, all so very accomplished in multiple aspects. I remember complaining about being sent to an island so close to communism China, but my opinions have changed much since. Not only is the school nice, but the staff here are so heartwarming and cordial that it is impossible to feel touched by their enthusiasm and flattered by their high anticipations of my capabilities to make a difference here for the children. Of course, I think otherwise. I have no patience, and a terrible work habit that I need to fix before college starts (i.e wait until last minute to do things). But when I see the smiling faces of the kids, a will develops within me to do whatever I can to make their futures brighter, and better. So even though I could be back in Taiwan relaxing in AC everyday, shopping, and doing other fun things like going to nightmarkets or watching Harry Potter, I've come to deeply appreciate this priceless opportunity-- to teach somewhere isolated from large populations of humanity, somewhere peaceful and quiet. I'm even getting used to seeing cockroaches everywhere, even though I'll still freak out. And the people I'm teaching with are all super awesome (: I'm so relieved to be comfortable around them. Everyone has their own quirky weirdness.....which combined equals lots of laughter. Brian is making us all go back to the hotel now....so I will continue my rambling thoughts later.