Honeymoon's Over

This past week I found myself facing several frustrations (listed below) that made it clear that there are some challenges with living in a foreign country. Here are some of the realities I faced this week. I fully realize that these are very much first world problems.

1. First, my bank issued new debit cards with chips in them. They sent mine to my former address, even though I had given them my parent's address as a forwarding address. They cancelled all the old debit cards, so I no longer have a working debit card. I just got paid, so I have money. It is annoying that I am without one. I will need it by the time I go to South Korea in less than a month. My parents are planning on mailing it to me when they get back from vacation. 
2. My schedule at work changed in September. Since the students have started Chinese school, I see them afterward. This means I go into work a lot later and get done at 7:00 pm. I am someone who wakes up early, so this has been an adjustment for me. I would rather go into work earlier and get done earlier. At times it feels like I am just waiting around until work. I am still figuring out things to do here during the day and how to productively use my time. Also, see below. 
3. In August, I would ride my bike to work when it wasn't raining. With my change in schedule, by the time I get off work it is rush hour and dark. So I have been taking the bus and getting rides from people. The buses do not seem to run as frequently at night and it takes me a lot longer to get home because of rush hour.  On two occasions, I have waited about 40 minutes for a bus. This happens at night when I am tired from work and just want to get home and eat dinner. At this point it is really convenient not having a scooter. 

These things are all pretty small. Together though, they made me a little cranky, a little bummed, and a little irritable the past week. It made me realize that sadly my honeymoon in Taiwan is over. When I first came to Taiwan, one of the administrators said that we would eventually come down from the high of being here. I kind of shrugged it off. Now I completely understand. Everything is not shiny, bright, and new. I am not just on vacation. I am living in a foreign country and there are definitely aspects of my life that are more difficult abroad. 

Leslie Knope asks her constituents, "Are you better off than a year ago?" 

To get some perspective, I turned to the wonderful Leslie Knope. After her first year as a city councilwoman, she faced being recalled. She asked her constituents,"are you better off than a year ago?" This is a question that I posed to myself too. Am I better off than I was a year ago? Absolutely. At this time last year, I was working as a long-term substitute in a school that I would dread going to each day. I was working with people that I did not particularly care for. Here I am still enjoying my job, I am surrounded by wonderful people, and I get to experience living in a wonderful country. I recognize that I am very privliged to be able to do these things. Also, many of my frustrations are small and very fixable. The debit card will get sent to me. I can research more what to do during the day and spend more time developing good writing habits. I can inquire more about scooters that are for sale, instead of waiting for one to magically appear. 

An event this weekend also gave me some perspective. We had a four-day weekend and were originally going to go down south to go to a yacht party. The party ending up getting cancelled because there were not one, but two typhoons. So instead of going south, my roommate and I took a day trip to Taipei (more on this later). As we were taking the bus back, we both were pretty wiped out. I mentioned that I would probably go to bed almost right away after getting home. We had not been gone long, but I still looked forward to returning home. Without even thinking about it, I called Taiwan home.  Even though my honeymoon period is over with living in Taiwan, calling Taiwan home is better than the honeymoon, vacation stage. 

Since this post is kind of a bummer, I want to end on a positive note. Here are a couple of recommendations of things I watched, listened to, read, and did this week that made me happy. 

Watch/Listen: 
The music video for the song "Soy Yo" by Bomba Estéreo. The song itself is very catchy and features interludes of recorder. The music video makes me love this song even more. It shows a Latina girl shutting down various haters throughout her city. I have watched it on repeat this week, as did my friends after I played it for them. 

Listen:
I recently took a four hour walk and binged on this podcast. The podcast is put on by two long-distance best friends who talk about the news, feminism, and what it is like to be a woman today. There have been so many moments while listening that I found myself thinking, "this is something other women experience too?"  
http://www.callyourgirlfriend.com/episodes

Read: 
Neil Gaiman's 2012 Keynote to the University of the Arts
This is something that I reread every couple of months. Neil Gaiman always gives fantastic advice and wisdom. His speech here focuses on the importance of making good art no matter what is happening in your life.  
http://www.uarts.edu/neil-gaiman-keynote-address-2012

Do: 
The workout videos from the Fitness Marshall's YouTube Channel. He does dance workouts to current pop hits. My friend Tyler introduced me to the channel and we have done the workouts a couple of times this week. Dancing it out really helped my mood this week. My favorite is to Justin Bieber's "Cold Water," which is below.