Goodbye, Taiwan : (

As we sit here in the Hong Kong airport, awaiting our flight to London, Luke and I are thinking through and contemplating what it means for us to leave Taiwan after making it our home for the past year.

The last few days have been a whirlwind of dinners, packing and goodbyes that have all been much more difficult than we were expecting. Finally, we have a chance to sit and think about how we feel about our crazy, year-long adventure abroad.

Looking back to a year and a couple months ago, we have realized we had no idea what we were getting into. When it came to teaching Taiwanese kindergartners the farthest along our thought process got was, “Huh…that could be funny.” How right and how wrong we were. I have to say and I think Luke would too, that I have never smiled and laughed and had a job as entertaining as this one. The kids are ready for you, every day, whether you’re ready for them and most of the time, hilariousness will ensue.

But, on the flip side, I also have to say I have never worked harder or felt more frustrated at times as I have at this job. We thought teaching English to kindergartners would consist of showing them a few flashcards, singing the ABC song and calling it a day. How wrong we were…but also how unsatisfied would we have been if this had actually been the case? We can both say that we taught kids how to read in a second language and connected with and loved these kids more than we ever thought possible. Much of our sadness upon leaving is leaving these kids that we have grown so close to and felt so much responsibility for over the past year. We will miss them dearly.

Now, rewind to our first day in Taiwan. We landed in Taipei in the middle of the summer. One-hundred degrees and one-hundred percent humidity makes Luke and Katie very dull indeed. Add to that a never-ending hunt through an underground mall for food and you had our first day. Thankfully, things improved, we went through our training, got settled in to our apartment and started work.

Soon after that, we got our dear and faithful Duke (our scooter) and were off to the mountains to explore. This is where we discovered and fell in love with Taiwan’s real and rugged beauty. As soon as you’re out of the cities, there are mountains and beaches and coastlines and beautiful things abound.

We spend almost every weekend in Taiwan exploring the country and seeing how far we could get. With everything being so close and convenient with the train system we found that we could do a lot and can honestly say that we have seen just about all of Taiwan. This is another thing that we will miss…how convenient and how cheap it is to go anywhere in Taiwan.

Another pastime that will be missed will be just walking around and spending time in the cities. Walking around any city provided endless hours of entertainment. Whether we were shopping for funny t-shirts, checking out a temple or just people watching there was always something new/funny/interesting going on.

Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. We had many moments where we definitely felt like we were ready to go. Maybe it was a difficult class after a particularly sleepless night on our rock-hard bed (yup, not gonna miss that thing). Or maybe it was feeling hungry and just not in the mood to hunt for something new but not wanting to eat the same old thing. Or maybe it was the noise, the crowds, the smells, the stares that all just seemed too much to handle sometimes.

But, as we’ve been saying goodbye these past few days these negative things haven’t taken up too much time in our reminiscing. We have been thinking about the kids, the Chinese staff, our friends, our fulfilling work, the uniqueness of and ease about so many things in Taiwan and how much we have learned and grown since we’ve been here.

All of these things have made this goodbye very bittersweet indeed. Sitting here in the airport, looking around and seeing so many white faces I feel strangely uncomfortable. Like I’m suddenly in a new environment and don’t know quite what to do. I’m sure this feeling will fade quickly as we venture forth into our Europe travels.

But there are a few things from this year that I always want to carry with me:

1) Always be positive, no matter how much fun it is to be negative and complain.

2) Be gracious to everyone, even if you don’t understand what is happening. Kindness goes a long way.

3) Try new things even if they are scary or uncomfortable.

4) Don’t settle for what is easy especially if it isn't fulfilling.

5) Don't get stuck somewhere or in something if you don’t want to be, work can be fun and live your life the way you want to.

Those are a list of ideas that Luke and I have been talking through these past few hours and we are hoping to hang on to them so they won't fade with the change of scenery.

We are comforted to know that where ever we go, Hello Kitty will be there to welcome us with open arms.