End of an era

Postcard, originally uploaded by Fat Mike.

As my time in Taiwan comes to an end, so too must Dr. Strangeland. Though my posting has become less and less frequent it is time to officially call an end to my tales of love, laughter, sadness, fear, anger, and fun in the beautiful island of Formosa.

I came to Taiwan 5 years ago. At that time I could barely find it on a map. I had no idea what I was getting into. There have been ups and downs. Thankfully more ups than downs.

In the past five years I have had a plethora of experiences. Here are some of my favorites:

- Driving my scooter around Northern Taiwan. It was supposed to be a 5 hour day of driving. Turned into 10.5. It was a hell of a drive and included two near-death experiences.

- Witnessing my friend of 30 someodd years admit that he had just shit his pants because the food we'd eaten the night before was too spicy.

- Meeting Louise.

- Teaching the words head and fishing, among otheres, in the same week. Assigning students to write one sentence for each word. Getting a student's homework that said.
"I like fishing."
"I like head."

- Visiting so many cities it's hard to list them all.

- Eating snake.

- After teaching a class of 3-4 year olds week after week, I walked in to hear them say a sentence perfectly in English.

- Teaching a topic on how weather affects our mood the article pointed out that a lack of sunlight can reduce libido. One of my adult students then pointed out that if a woman has a high libido she can use a dildo to solve her problem.

- Going to see fields of sunflowers out near the West coast.

- Playing with Louise's niece Yen-Yen.

- Oddly, my first and worst accident. It was an eyeopener.

- Finally finding my feet as a teacher and realizing that I have the ability, confidence and courage in order to teach any topic to any class.

- Each new Chinese word learned and used effectively.

Taiwan has been a growing experience and has been nothing short of a perfect life changing experience. I have no regrets of my coming here, or the amount of time that I spent here. Taiwan has become a second home to me and I will always look forward to coming back.

To help you understand the relationship I have with this country, I want to think of the last catchy pop song you heard on the radio. You hear it, you don't mind it. In fact you can't get it out of your head. Now, at first you hear the song and don't want to admit that you like it. You may actually tell people that you hate it. But listen to it enough - in bars, stores, cars.... wherever - and you will come to find yourself humming it under your breath as you do the dishes.

Taiwan does this to foreigners. You come here and the culture shock hits you like a wet leather glove. You don't like the food. You can't understand the language. You can barely tolerate the heat. You don't really know how to teach your classes. In the first few weeks you will seriously consider heading home at the next available moment. But, if you stick it out you will find that, just like the song, Taiwan gets to you. It gets in your mind and in your heart and one day you find yourself loving life here and rolling with the cultural punches. Things that used to fade you no longer shock you.

As I leave Taiwan I look back and know that I am leaving a part of myself, but I am also taking apart of it's culture with me. I hope that both of us are better for my time here.

Goodbye Taiwan, I love you.