I have been living in Taiwan since August 24, 2001. What should I do to celebrate this milestone? What have you done on your anniversaries? I have already spent the first few moments of it thinking that if I do as many renovations on my apartment as I plan, I might as well stay for a 4th year so I can enjoy it further. My excuse for planning to be here for a third year was that if I left after two years I’d lose my Mandarin quickly.
Man, I don’t think I’m ever going to leave this island.
:shock:
wow…you’ve been here a year and a half and you’re still excited about being here! that’s amazing…
you seem to be the rare person that can make your experience exciting and invigorating, rather than waiting for the experience - or the island - or all the island’s men and women - to come to offer a great experience to you. may your happiness continue.
You’ve been here for 18 months and now you’re wondering whether you should stay for a 4th year? Do you use a special calendar with 6-month years, or is there some other explanation?
I look forward in years. I will be here for next school year. I am still toying around with the idea of sticking around for another year after that. Of course, in that time, my French/North African man (francophonic man in general) may have found another American to bestow his EU privileges on.
Oh, decisions, decisions…
I look at this 18-month anniversary as being my halfway point on my time in Taiwan because if I am only going to be here for three years, then my time is half gone (I know, rather pessimistic of me to say). Today, on my Taiwan anniversary, I reflected back on what I had accomplished since I first stepped off that plane and into my boss’ chauffeured car (yes, I got a chauffered ride in my school owner’s black Mercedes from CKS Airport to Taipei the day I arrived in Taiwan). My gosh that seems so long ago. Anyways, I thought back on the fact that I have not accomplished a whole lot except picking up enough Mandarin to function day-to-day without using any English, but not enough to hold interesting conversations with anyone. I would like to be a little more productive in my learning Mandarin for the second half of my stay here. And then I had Chicken Tikki Masala for dinner…the best meal on a day like today, I think.
I would love to hold a games club shindiggery chez moi, but first I have to move in. I have already started sending my new address to people back home. I guess I’ll have to finally change my location on here as well. No more mountain dwelling for me:
Sorry for the double post and the waste, but what better place to celebrate my 200th post (and the end of my peasantry) than to post on my thread about my 18-month anniversary in Taiwan…So this day that I am posting my 200th post is the day after my first 18 months in Taiwan. A milestone right after a milestone!
Go me, it’s my half birthday!
I wish I could feel the same way you do. I never celebrated anything in Taiwan because I don’t find anything exciting enough in Taiwan. I stopped celebrating Birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc. when I came to Taiwan.
I don’t celebrate my Taipei anniversaries either. I just let them pile up, but when I have been here for 20 years, I might buy myself a beer and wonder why I am here.
I arrived for my second tour about the same time you arrived for your first, ImaniOU. I generally celebrate life one or two nights a week with friends. If I were looking for something special, I’d go for a foot massage, foot scraping, and bath with Chinese medicinal herbs. I did that in Tainan a few weeks ago and it was incredibly refreshing. If you have the chance to go out with friends, you might want to catch some of the great live music available at EZ5 on An He Road, or Zee Live on Dun Hua South Road, near SOGO.
i count my anniverseries in fractions of my life that i have spent here, closing in on the big 1/2