Taking over this town, they should worry.
If I could just keep receiving funds to stay here and continue blogging, I would accept that offer hands down!! Till two months ago, I have literally been trapped in a pigskin-lined box (college town) in what used to be my educational institution. I feel no uncertainty about where I currently stand in my life right now. Without this moment, I may just as well have been lost in the stadium. At last, I am feeling what education is REALLY all about. With every week, day, and MOMENT, I’m realizing who I am while I’m touching base with this culture in every aspect possible.
Language courses are moving along wonderfully, high B’s to high A’s in my courses. My extracurricular activities are ever so invigorating to the mind and body. This past week during the TCM club meeting, we experimented with massage and were provided methods that I would have never imagined to be therapeutic. Imagine letting your body go, face forward, towards a wall with your arms outstretched above your head, but it serves as an excellent backstretch!! Then to have someone practically pry their fingers into the shallow spots on the back of your head/neck and push your cranium upwards, painful but oh so relaxing. Now, I feel pretty equipped with a knowledge of massage that I could charge someone on the side of the street if my funds were to run low J.
Without question, my Taiwanese friends are the shining stars in this cultural galaxy that I’m immersed in. Either it be the lack of stability or extensive soul searching, I have never felt so cushioned and comforted by the support of others as I do now. It could be the need to have a friend help me find a chiropractor to mend my sprained wrist (L..but dance comes at all costs..), or to simply to have a friend an instant message away to meet me for lunch (with bells on, may I add). Taiwanese people prove that dreams can be accomplished as all the activities on the side are also equally required. For instance, not one of my Taiwanese friends/exchange partners miss an opportunity to exchange languages but also salvage seconds of their day to still participate in the local Jazz Festival that was held this past week. It really shows me that laziness is NOT an option. I have been inspired to believe that as long as I’ve got the breath to breathe, I will inhale it with every cell of my body.
Just last weekend, I got to experience my first ever PRIDE, and Taiwanese style at that! It was a colorful collaboration of all different types of people, Taiwanese and every other ethnicity imaginable! It sort of just reconfirmed my position in this world as a homosexual. If you weren’t one of the thousands marching along for the cause, you were on the sidelines to document the largest Pride there is in Asia. It was satisfying that the previous butt of jokes at home is currently able to turn his rear end towards the degradation. I felt so empowered while sporting my tie-dye shirt, pink shorts, rainbow bandana, and rainbow tattoos; whereas, the simplest of attire would cause shame at home. Then, I took my proud self on over to the east coast where the beautiful island of Hualien awaited me and my Panamanian friend, Roxanna. A lovely 36 hours or so were spent there before we had to haul butt back to the Midwestern region for another installment of Chinese language class.
So, these current days are kept to a simmer as my wrist isn’t fully functional, but I consistently look over at Dance or Die’s dance schedule and imagine the next chance to move that way again!! I fortunately was able to film some of my prior dancing the morning that I sprained my wrist, attached to the blog J. I will conclude this week with another THANK YOU to FEA and all its affiliates. P.S. Just within two months, I’ve already landed myself in the local news for the first of many excellent additions to the Taiwanese media (https://udn.com/NEWS/DOMESTIC/DOM1/8233593.shtml?ch=fb_share_photo). I was part of a selected group to taste test coffee in a town called Nantou, simply amazing. It was an hour of a constant caffeine drip with a touch of paparazzi and an amazing buffet, just fantastic!!!! Plans for the coming weekend: Halloween Massive (Google it) in Taipei, I’ll be a pharaoh J . Till next time!! 下一次å†è¦‹ï¼