May/June

Hello everyone! (well... anyone who is still reading this sparsely posted blog... : ) It's been a while since the last post -- things have been pretty busy. But, that just means I have more to tell you now!

May
May went by like the blink of an eye. It seems like now that it's getting closer to the end, time is going even faster than before. I worked a whole lot and had to start planning my 9 week summer camp/summer school schedule (that is still a work in progress). Nick and I also finished up our Chinese class. While I enjoyed the class, it's nice to have my Tuesday and Thursday mornings back. Nick and I made a short weekend trip to Taipei, just to get out of Chiayi and eat some American food (a.k.a. Chilis and Subway). It was a relaxing and welcome break for both of us. We were able to get our hair cut which was GREAT! : ) Taipei has several Aveda salons, and their haircuts are so much more... Think head and shoulder massage and essential oils. That was about all May had to offer me, actually (work, work, and more work). ...maybe that's why I didn't post anything...

June
I really can't believe it's almost the end of June already. That is pure craziness. Being half way around the world, I have really lost all concept of what time of year it is (except for the fact that it's been un-godly hot here). I nearly missed the fact that Memorial Day existed, and am just now coming to realize that kids in the US have been out of school for almost a month now. As I mentioned up there in "May", we have a summer camp/school at my cram school, but that doesn't start until June 30th. The kids in Taiwan go to school from September through the end of June and only get national holidays, a couple of weeks and Chinese New Year, and two months in the summer "off". They spend the majority of their time "off" doing homework or going to some type of cram school, whether English, math, or another subject that their parents feel they should be doing better at. Some of the lucky ones get to do stuff like sports camps or magic camp (I laugh every time I say that... if you watch "The Office", you'll know why). At our summer camp/school, the kids get to go do fun stuff, like see movies and go swimming in the mornings, then come to "class" in the afternoons. The difference between the school year and the summer, is that the teacher of each class gets to plan their own curriculum. We can teach about nearly anything we want, and try to make it as fun and interesting as possible. I don't think any of you will be surprised to hear that some of my weeks are "Exercise/Nutrition", "Maps and Geography", "Food" (NO ONE will be surprised about that one!), and "Global Warming". I think we'll have a great time, but it sure is a HELL of a lot of work for me (excuse the superlative).
Aside from school... Nick and I took a weekend trip to Beitou (a small mountain town just north of Taipei) and stayed in a resort/spa. It was wonderfully amazing and beautiful up there. We laid by the pool (overlooking the mountains), had massages : ), and enjoyed the natural hot spring hot tub that came right into our own hotel room! After we checked out on Sunday, we went into Taipei and wandered around for a while, of course stopping for dinner at the Macaroni Grill.
The following weekend, our friend Chris from Hastings flew into Taipei, so we went back up to show him the sights there and ease him in to his Taiwan experience... He'll be staying with us for about a month, and although Nick and I will be working most of the time, luckily Nick's adult students have been MORE than anxious to take him out and show him around (they're all women, too, so he's a lucky man).
As of today, I've got just a little less than two months before I come home. It is really a bitter-sweet feeling... I am SO excited to start grad school and will be very happy to come home to my friends and family (and cats... oh, and the food). But, things have never been better in my relationship and it's going to be ridiculously hard to leave Nick. I am so incredibly happy with him, it's hard to put into words. (I may have said all of this in my last post, or my last two posts, or my last however many posts, but it's still true, and is becoming much more real to me as the time to go approaches.) I have also made some great friends here and met some wonderful people. As difficult as it's been at times over the last year, Taiwan is a good place to live, and somewhere I hope to come back to visit more than once. There are incredible sights to see, EXTREMELY interesting customs (top 10 lists coming soon), and some truly genuine and caring people.
Anyway, I think I've got you mostly up to date with what's going on in my life. I hope to hear from you soon, and would LOVE to see as many of you as possible when I get home!
OH -- forgot to mention: My flight will be arriving in Omaha on Monday, August 18th at around 4:00 p.m. I plan on making my mom drive me through either Runza or Amigos on my way home. : )

Best wishes, and more to come SOONER THAN LATER!

Katie