Things change too quickly in Taiwan…

A lot has changed since I last wrote here. I changed teaching jobs last month right before Chinese New Year. This was stressful and a major change in a lot of ways. However, I managed to make a fairly smooth transition into my new job.

Basically, my old position was really ruining my experience in Taiwan. Working late nights for unpaid work was really getting to me. So I found a better job with normal working hours and more stability. I’m really happy with this choice and I know I did the right thing.

Since I quit my job at Hess, I’ve been able to work on one of my major goals in coming to Taiwan. To study Kung Fu. I’m studying Jeet Kune Do at a small studio right near my apartment. Jeet Kune Do is Bruce Lee’s version of Kung Fu. The studio is covered of pictures of Bruce Lee and we bow to a large picture of him at the end of every lesson. The lessons are almost completely in Chinese and my teacher learned from a man who studied directly under Bruce Lee. I’m really enjoying this and so glad that I have this opportunity to study Kung Fu so close to its origins.

Also my Chinese is getting much better. I’m still far from fluent but I mostly communicate things within necessity. Reading characters is still extremely difficult but I recognize a few. Mainly “woman”. This is VERY useful when looking for the lady’s room in public.

Overall, I’m keeping myself very busy. I work full-time and study Kung Fu and Chinese in my spare time. I don’t feel like I’m on vacation mode anymore so sorry for the lack of posting. I will get up some pictures soon that I’ve been meaning to post of things I see around town.