Wednesday March 29th, 2006

Time flies when you are working hard ... or would that be hardly working?! I've picked up three new privates and I'm meeting someone on Sunday am for a possible fourth. I'm not sure I want to spend the extra time but I am focusing to save up for a one month holiday in August. My wish is that the one month could be spent starting in Cambodia and heading up the Mekong River into Laos but, unfortunately, that will have to wait until 2007 ... if I can swing it! Cat sitters?? Anyone?? Anyone??

I think the next few years are going to prove interesting. I have more opportunity going on then I'd like at the moment. It's hard to pick and choose where I want to be. For now ... I am content to be exactly where I am. It's four days to the date that I arrived in Taiwan ... three years ago. It seems like only yesterday, yet it feels it's a world behind me.

My seven years in Vancouver was an amazing thing, however, it was about three years too long. I don't want to make the same mistake here ... I want to get out while the getting is good!

I will need to allow myself another year and a half, but I am seriously considering making the jump over to China ... just to shake it up a little ... test what I've learned in this country here ... to confirm the fact that I really can communicate in Chinese.

China studies the pinyin, which is a bonus, but they also study the simplified characters, which isn't a bonus. I've been studying the traditional characters and I'd love for that to remain ... I am currently looking into whether studying traditional will be an option in China. School is definitely a heck of a lot cheaper as is cost of living. I hope Datz and Levi are up for the change!

I figure it's time to get in there and get my uni down ... I'm not getting any younger and a bachelors in Chinese, I would assume, will open doors in many countries. For the moment, that's what I am looking for ... open doors ... the ability to work in many countries would be this sweet added bonus.

My new privates have been real eye-opening for me. Two of them are sisters ... they don't speak English very well so it is teaching mostly in English, however, a lot of bad Chinese is being spoken ... all on my part, of course. The thing is, they can understand what I say and that brings this feeling unlike anything I can describe. That I am able to communicate in this foreign language to help them understand my own is a cool thing. It makes my job much easier, but it also raises my hopes in believing that you can achieve anything you want to in life. It really is simple. It's the hesitations that make it not so simple.

In saying that ... I sign off for the night ... it's been overly rainy, but I hope to get out soon for some pics that will show you what Taiwan is really made of.

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