In the span of the three months since I last updated, my travel plans in Taiwan have changed. A lot.
The most noticeable of which is the reduction of my previously 3 month-stay in Taiwan to a 1-month, no, make that a 2-week backpacking stint in Taiwan. Still, this blog will do its best to highlight the heat and chaos of the Taipei night markets and the lush, tropical jewels in the forests of Yangmingshan from the perspective of yet another, Taiwanese-American returned to Taiwan. I can't wait to taste a freshly fried oyster omelet and soak my jet-lagged body into a geo-thermal hot spring. Mmm...
But there is another update worth noting. I've been accepted, now with significantly less relish, to the A.I.D Summer Program. For two weeks, I, with a few other American students, will be "teaching" English to Taiwanese schoolchildren. However, whether or not this is a program aimed at benefiting underprivileged Taiwanese schoolchildren or if it is a glorified "resume-friendly" volunteer vacation for underqualified American high schoolers and college students is a question I'm very skeptical about.
Regardless, I am going, I am packing, and I will be leaving from the SEA airport boarding a China Airlines plane on June 30th due to arrive at TPE at the ungodly hour of 5:20 AM on July 1st...jetlagged and wearily fumbling my way to the nearest hostel.
