100 days. That's how long I've now been in Southeast Asia. In fact, if my math is correct (it may indeed be incorrect... math never was my strongest subject), I've now been here exactly 101 days. And when I say "here", I of course mean in the greater Asia area and more importantly, away from the good old US of A. After all, ever since leaving home I've hardly stayed in just one place. I temporarily made stops in Hong Kong, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, and Saigon before I finally settled down here in Taipei. I feel I've traveled around enough here to make my own remix to Lupe's "Paris Tokyo"--except in my version, instead of going to sleep in Paris and waking up in Tokyo, or having a dream in New Orleans and falling in love in Chicago, I'd say I've had a brief panic attack in Hong Kong, been assaulted by a young boy and a book in Phnom Penh, partied in the rain and explored ancient runs in Siem Reap, stepped on an evil sea urchin (and subsequently been urinated on) in Sihanoukville, experienced live music bliss in Saigon, and taken Sunday adventures to Shihlin, Danshui, Beitou, Dahu Park, and Elephant Mountain here in Taipei.
And this song is far from completed. There is still much traveling and much living to be done. Over Christmas I will be getting the chance to explore Hualien and Taroko Gorge. And then over Chinese New Year, I'll be visiting Thailand to quickly see Bangkok and then head to the water to live to the beach bum lifestyle for a week. But my intention here is not to fantasize about these upcoming adventures, though surely I am excited for them.
Today as I was exploring Danshui for this Sunday's adventure, I was thinking about the possible things I could write about for this blog post. Surely Danshui was pretty sweet. The weather was amazing (especially considering it's December 5th), the food was delectable, and the view across the river was magnificent. But as I looked around, I realized that many things I once found foreign and strange about Taiwan--the crowded streets, the exotic cuisine, the constant eating and savory aroma of food, the strange music and dancing--had all become part of normal life for me. There was nothing all that new and interesting to share about. Perhaps I had become assimilated. And more than that, I was amazed at how comfortable I felt. Here I was, in a completely different part of the world, spending time in a place quite far from my new "home" here, with a group of friends I've developed friendships with just in the past 2 months. And that's when it hit me--oddly enough almost at the same time it hit me that I'd been gone for 100 days--that instead of using this post to talk about an exciting new discovery on my Sunday adventure (as I normally would), I should talk about how I got to this point; how I managed to establish such a content frame of mind regarding my current situation. And while I was thinking about this, one word kept coming to mind: Cambodia. Of course Cambodia and Taiwan are very different places in so many different ways. But somehow I don't feel I did Cambodia justice with this blog. Perhaps because the internet was so slow there, or because when I was there I hadn't really started making the conscientious effort to regularly update this thing, I only wrote 1 post while I was there. But Cambodia had an amazingly significant impact on me. And indeed I firmly believe my time and experience there are what have made my time in Taiwan mostly enjoyable and not very overwhelming. But in order to try and explain this, I'll have to start from the beginning. Brace yourself for another reflective post.....
The day was August 25th. I woke up around 7 a.m. And when I say "woke up", I mean that's when I got out of bed. Surely there was way too much racing through my mind on the night of the 24th to get anything close to a deep R.E.M.-filled sleep. I wasn't stressed about packing or preparing physically. I had been diligent enough to get that all situated days in advance. But mentally, I thought I was going insane. The idea of teaching in Southeast Asia had always excited me right up until the point I was about to leave. I was second-guessing and even third-guessing my actions. I figured all along that this move was the right one for me, and that it was exactly what I needed at that point in life. But then doubt started to creep in. Add to the mix that I started to think about all the family and friends that I wouldn't be seeing for over a year; how this would be the last time I saw my home or beloved dog before late 2011. I went for a run to calm my nerves and hopefully exhaust myself so I could sleep for some of my 14 hour plane trip, which departed at 1 a.m. on August 26th. And while the run tired my body out, the endeavor was nevertheless fruitless as my nerves were still sky-high and I stayed awake for the duration of my plane ride. Then I finally landed in Hong Kong, where after about 38 hours of not sleeping, I wrote my first scatter-brained blog entry detailing all the emotions that were rushing over me. After a long layover, I was off to Phnom Penh. And so it began.
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| picture taken from Hong Kong airport...the first one captured of over 1,000 so far. for that reason alone it holds special sentimental value |
It's hard to think I left Cambodia over 2 months ago; that LanguageCorps is now training its third set of students after our group graduated. Despite the fact that by the time I'll be finished here, Cambodia will be just a blip on my Asia time-line, that place will always hold a special significance to me. In the less than a month I spent there, I developed friendships with some truly awesome individuals, made countless memories, and snapped some amazing photos of breathtaking sights like the ruins at Angkor Wat and the sunset at Sihanoukville, among many many others. But I think that as amazing as all these things were, the aspect that I loved about Cambodia the most was how it gave the confidence to move forward in my journey. If there was any doubt about the decision I'd made, it ended there. Any and all reservations I had flew out the window. Not only had I convinced myself that I was capable of meeting and interacting with new people on my own, I'd also gained absolutely invaluable experience as a teacher. Truly Lin, Leak, Nita, and Lyly and will never have an understanding of the impact they had on my confidence as a teacher. If I continue down this career path, the memories of teaching those 4 girls for that very brief 2 week period will always be vivid; and the lessons I learned from teaching them will remain with me.
I came out here for a radically new experience; to reinvent myself. And while I had my doubts before departing, I truthfully couldn't have imagined a more reassuring and eventful start to my Asia tour than the one I received there. Without that experience, I very well may not have been the same person I am right now. I'm not saying I've completely changed who I am in a mere 3 months, but maybe I would have remained the often timid, shy, and hesitant-to-put-himself-out-there A.J. from back home had Cambodia never happened. Instead I'm the confident, adventurous, and ready-for-new-things Teacher Andrew.
And all this reflection on Cambodia isn't to give the impression I'm not enjoying Taiwan, because that would be so incredibly far from the truth. But it is safe to say that I may not have been getting as fulfilling of an experience here had it not been for the first 28 days of my journey (maybe I wouldn't even have the motivation/desire to go on these awesome Sunday adventures). So with respect to Hong Kong, Saigon, and Taipei, Cambodia has been the most significant and meaningful stop for me. Cambodia was my genesis.
