the offWhites

Oh, my - I’d forgotten how good real diet Coke is! Coke light has been an okay substitute, but real, honest-to-God diet Coke is so, so, much better.

Oh, man! I fell asleep yesterday before I could post, and then I forgot to post an item in my series on Friday, and now, holy crap, we leave tomorrow.

So. Most of our stuff is packed - what remains is to pack today’s clothing tomorrow morning, and make sure all of our bags squeeze in under the weight limit. I’ve tried my best to be ruthless, but we’ve accumulated some things, lots of it gifts or souveniers that I can’t bring myself to leave behind. We’re going to have to ship a few boxes, but only two, and we might be able to get it down to one.

Tomorrow, we have to return our internet modem thingie, drop off a few things for people at the kindy, take the boxes to the post office to send home, and be ready to go at 11:00am. We’ve got a cab coming to take us to the airport, and we leave then around 6pm. In 24 hours, we’ll be in the air, on our way home.

Things I Can Do In The US That I Can’t Do In Taiwan:

13. See spring coming, in the form of longer days. For six months, the sun has set between 5:30 and 7:00pm. It’s strange and unnerving, and it almost feels like natures trying to play some sort of practical joke. The visuals just don’t match up with the calendar and the smells in the air, not to mention the teasing bits of warmth.
14. Drive from point A to point B without the need to put my hair back so it doesn’t get all tangled as it whips around in the open air atop a scooter. Don’t get me wrong - I have loved driving a scooter. But I’m excited to drive a car again.
15. Drink tap water without worrying that I might get some strange stomach bug that’ll put me in the hospital.

The packing continues.  We’re getting visibly closer, but of course, it still feels like we’re miles away from being finished.  But, eh.  It’ll get there.

So, I’ve had to set aside a bunch of knitting projects recently - nothing has really been quite working out for me.  So, I was thinking I need something pretty simple for plane knitting, but not so complicated that I’d fall asleep knitting.  I’ve been doing some swatching for the project I’m thinking of, and it’s looking pretty good so far, but I’m only a few rows in, so I’m reserving judgement a bit longer.  When I’m sure (tomorrow evening, I hope), I’ll share.  I promise.  No, really - pinky swear!

Packing, along with the requisite procrastination, is really pretty boring. Well, maybe not always. But it was today. For me. So, I’ve really got nothing today. I’m sorry. I really hate coming here and not actually posting any content. It’s boring for you. But I also hate not posting at all. I’ve gotten into a groove, and I’m actually posting regularly, and I’m afraid to miss a day for the fear that it might just spiral into a week that morphs into a month and all of a sudden, I’m just some girl with a dead blog.

So. The boring post in which I write about how I have nothing to write about. So boring. So meta.

Things I Can Do In The US That I Can’t Do In Taiwan:

12. Speak the native language. Oh, what joy, to be able to ask where things are, to be able to know that I can go do whatever needs doing without worrying if I know enough words or if the person working knows any English or if there are picture menus or whatever.  Kato tells me that I’ll be overwhelmed with all the conversations I’ll be able to hear and understand, but I think it’s an okay trade.  I may think differently in a week or so.

Uumph. Last day of teaching - you’d think I’d be jumping for joy. Instead, I’m tired down to my bones, and plan to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Things I Can Do In The US That I Can’t Do In Taiwan:

11. Read nutrition labels and get back to eating better using foods I know and love. Mmm….

Only one more teaching day left - then it’s 4 days to pack, a day (give or take a few time zones) to fly, and we’ll be home!

Our tickets came today, so we’re sure (well, almost sure) to at least have seats on a series of three planes that will take us home. What we’re not so sure of is whether or not we’ll be seated together, since there are no seat designations on these retro-style paper tickets.

I guess we’ll be headed to the airport extra early in hopes of snagging some good seats.

Things I Can Do In The US That I Can’t Do In Taiwan:

10. Drive along a flat, open stretch of highway, where the sky is big and blue, the land is green all the way to the horizon, and I don’t feel boxed in by hills and clouds and rain and smog.

Only 2 more working days left! Woooo!

Not much else to say now, though. Still no tickets (eep!), more and more excitement as the trip home draws near. Also, I’m re-reading a fantastic book, so I’m sort of pre-occupied with that. So, yeah. Back to reading.

Things I Can Do In The US That I Can’t Do In Taiwan:

9. Buy shoes without the need to visit a specialty shop.  My size 10s are way past biggish and well into freakish territory here.

We saw CJ7 today (IMDB page, Wiki page). It was a fun movie. We didn’t really know what to expect; Seth’s students had said it was an action movie, while the girl who sold us the tickets said it was a little bit of everything. It was fun, but since it’s not available in the states yet, I’m not going to say anything more. Well, except that we liked it and I recommend it if you can find it.

Things I Can Do In The US That I Can’t Do In Taiwan:

8. Cook in a spacious, midwestern kitchen. Where there are big fridges, 4-burner stovetop ovens, lots of counter and cabinent space, and room to move around.

I woke up this morning with a pounding headache, my sinuses all crammed with congestion. Teaching one class was exhausting, and so I came home afterwards and took a nap before Seth and I headed south for Caleb’s birthday party. We had dinner with everyone, said a few goodbyes (real goodbyes, not just “See you later”), and then got on the train to come back home. We’ve got plans tomorrow to help another friend finish packing up her apartment - she’s leaving a few days before we are. It’s been a pretty uneventful day, but each day’s passing means we’re that much closer to coming home. I’m really excited - this is so clearly the right decision for us. Someone at dinner - I forget who it was - even noticed and commented on how happy I looked.

It’s strange. By all rights, I should be completely freaking out, since we’re not packed, I don’t have a job lined up, we still don’t have tickets in hand, and we leave in just over a week. Make no mistake - there is some freaking out. But the worry is outweighed by the relief and anticipation of going home. Seth and I hadn’t realized, and never would have guessed, just how much we’d miss boring old Kansas. I guess I should have paid more attention all those time I watched The Wizard of Oz - Dorothy’s joy to be home after her Technicolor adventure is a pretty good approximation of how I feel.

Things I Can Do In The US That I Can’t Do In Taiwan:

7. Buy some new bras. I’ve been making do with ill-fitting ones for a while, and I’m excited to be able to fo into a store and know they’ll carry my size, and not just the teeny-tiny, padded, frou-frou confections they carry in the multitudes of lingerie stores here.

So, I decided to make some no-bake cookies tonight.¹ I used my regular recipe, and then added a scant cup of pistachios (mmmmmm………). They’re awesome, sure, but I overboiled the chocolate before I added the oatmeal and the pistachio, so they cookies are dry and crumbly, which just bugs me to no end. Seth sees no problem (chocolate? yup. oatmeal? uh-huh. pistachios? check. awesome? you betcha.), and yeah, sure, they taste good, but they’re just. not. right. So, no recipe, since I want to make a pretty post with pictures (of proper-looking no-bakes, not dull, crumbly piles).

Anyway, we had some (very) minor issues with our tickets. We bought them through a consolidator (or something, I dunno really), and as it turns out, they’re paper tickets. Paper. I had no idea paper tickets even still existed. So, of course, those tickets need to be shipped, which brings the cost up such that any savings we realized from going through this place initially is pretty much completely obliterated. Bah. They’re on their way now, anyway (well, I think - I asked that they hold off on shipping them until Friday so that they’d be sure to arrive on a work day, since our mailing address is, uh, our work address), so it’s done.

And, yeah, that’s the news. Since I completely forgot to post yesterday, today we’ve got a double header:

Things I Can Do In The US That I Can’t Do In Taiwan:

5. Wash my clothes, and then dry them. In a dryer. In under 48 hours per load. Oh, technology! You are wonderful indeed.
6. Attend multiple events we thought we’d miss:
   • Seth’s cousin’s wedding
   • My grandpa’s wedding
   • Special Olympics events (okay, this one is completely Seth’s - I’ll likely spend that weekend hanging out with my parents)
   • Winfield! 

1. In related news, I’ve gained about, oh, 10 pounds since Christmas. Holy moly, folks, I’m so clearly stress eating lately it’s not even funny. [↩]