As a naive, innocent 16 year old, I would never have imagined myself to be in this spot 5 years later.
I would never have imagined myself to be already going into my last year of college, preparing for what's going to come next. To be in InterVarsity. To have gone to Taiwan twice and even studied abroad there. To have met all these people throughout these years.
To be a dreamer still.
I finally told my mom last night that I'm praying about moving to Taiwan, to get a teaching job there after grad school. Take it slow, she responded.
Pray.
My anxious heart tells me otherwise as now I want to rush through the preparation, the entrance into grad school, to graduate from grad school and then fly across the oceans so I can be finally one with the land that has taken hold of my heart 4 years ago and last summer. One year has already passed. I don't know what it is about that hot, small, tropical island that attracts me. I long to see the people, the business and the loud, obnoxious sounds of grandmas talking in Taiwanese as they exercise in the little parks. Uneven sidewalks, cockroaches as many as squirrels here in the US, mosquitoes that gave me allergic reactions, smell of gasoline everywhere, polluted air that left your face grey at the end of the day, buses that took 45 minutes to get to your stop, etc. etc. etc.
As I sit in this comfortable, quiet library located in a town where everything is orderly, organized, even, and clean... my heart sinks. I miss that terrible and loud island. I miss the warmth the people there gave you, the care, the love; the adventures I had exploring all the night markets in Kaohsiung, the malls with never ending floors; the bian dangs (lunchboxes), the 7-elevens; the mo pads and the subways.
What can I say?
Taiwan won my heart.
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