I have never written a blog, but Molly and I plan to collaborate on a novel in the not too distant future. Not to toot mine or Molly's horns here, but we are both pretttty exceptional writers. It shouldn't be too much of a feat. What I need is a place to put my thoughts on paper. I have let too many months go by post graduation without recording anything. It's a shame too, because life since October have been ridiculous as in an extended episode of The Office meets The Devil Wears Prada (minus the Jimmy Choo and Valentino of course). Here are a couple excerpts from my quickly written journal in the last few months. Two tiny paragraphs since October? Pathetic. I'm going to start taking a notebook to work with my and jotting down all the ridiculousness that ensues on a daily basis. I wonder if I can get sued for some of the things that I will most certainly say about a life lived in a Walmart pod. I sure hope so ;)
I graduated. I’m unemployed. I’m overqualified. And now I'm in Taiwan for no apparent reason except to just be here. And I'm okay with that.
This teaching has been quite an experience. Six sessions of three hours once a week…sounds easy, but sometimes it is difficult. For example. Session one. Stone says, “In Taiwan, we think that girls with large breasts have small brains.” He said this in broken Chinglish of course. Direct, to the point, and ever so stereotypical. But Stone has a point, most girls with large breasts are lumped into the category of stupid. Lucky me, I get to be the outlier…like a rare bird in a zoo. Henry, Kay, Greta, Stone and I touch on all the big topics. Religion (do I believe in Karma and reincarnation even though I am Christian), politics, the American family, what it means to be black in the south, hair color, body types in Asia vs. America, typhoons. We find some way to hit it all in a short period of time. This afternoon, we discussed religion and the classroom setting in America. We discussed respect and food. I made them peanut butter and jelly, and they gave me a moon cake. This social exchange has been the most beneficial for me, far more impacting than any class I have taken in Taiwan or elsewhere. The struggle to communicate effectively in a mixture of Chinese and English is always an issue, but we somehow manage. My students watch every gesture I make. They emulate my words, and Greta has started wearing heels and mascara. I am flattered, but why do they have this idea in their heads that I am worthy of such efforts? They seem to love the thought of America, and here I am, direct to them from Hot Springs, Arkansas…completely different than anything they have seen in an American movie and TV show. We actually discussed the youtube video Charlie the Unicorn. They love it. How is it that we like the same stupid cartoons and discuss the same nonsense pop-culture but be so entirely different? It really is astounding to actually see and feel the deep chasm between the east and the west.
