What is there to say?

My weekend overview: Friday night card games, ring of death, Taiwan beer, good friends, no sleep, music, photographs, laughing until I cry, hugs, acting a fool, dancing, teaching, reading, trains, work, beach, sand, swimming, getting knocked about by waves, deep talks, horror movies, jokes, kisses, pizza, group grocery excursions, laundry, walla-walla moose, singing.

The consensus? Quite possibly the best weekend I’ve had in Taiwan. Maybe one of the best weekends I’ve had since I went abroad.

And par for the course, lately.

With just a little under three months left in this country, life has been moving forward at a breakneck pace. It has been so busy that there has been little to no time to keep up with family and friends. (Sorry about that, everyone).

But in the last two and a half months, I’ve done some awesome things.

I went to the beach three times.

Fulong 🙂

🙂

I spent far too many nights dancing until nearly dawn.

I saw LMFAO in concert.

Party rockin’.

I visited the Taipei Zoo.

Wo ai elephants.

I said goodbye to one of my favorite yo-yo babies.

My “monkey,” Stanley.

Silly face.

All in all, the last two months have been nothing short of amazing. I nearly lost it every single day in May, what with having to practice with my kindy class for a Mother’s Day performance. But I got past it, and more importantly, my kiddos rocked it.

I can’t quite believe that June, my birthday month, is HERE. My departure date (August 28) is rapidly approaching. Quite honestly, my heart is hurting at the thought of leaving.

I work a lot. I get frustrated about that, and a lot of the time it puts me in a bad mood because I’m so tired. But my days are full. They are full of laughter, hugs, friends, new sights, joy, wonder. I didn’t have that at my job in the States. I plodded through each day, always looking ahead to when I would be finished and on my way to something new.

I’m not doing that now. I’m happy here — more than happy most days. I have so many moments of “I live here. I live here.” Rather than urging the days to pass by, I’m holding on tightly, hoping they quit slipping by so quickly. I’m making memories, letting go and living more fully.

Leaving will be hard, and it will hurt. It will hurt a lot. There’s things I don’t want to give up yet.

But once again, I will be starting a new adventure: Backpacking. I don’t know where my friend and I are going yet, I don’t know where we will end up. But it will be a grand adventure, and I look forward to it.

I still have two months and 25 days left. And there’s so much I have to look forward to: bungee jumping, my birthday, trips to the South, my best friend visiting. It will be a busy time, and I’m ready to welcome it with everything that I have. If this weekend is any indication, this summer will be the best yet.

I am happy. I am happy. I am happy. That’s all I wanted out of this experience.

We are not the center of the universe.

All right. Time for a rant.

I’ve been abroad for three months now. And it has been, hands down, the most humbling experience of my life thus far.

The no. 1 reason for this? Because of how eager most people in Taiwan are to learn English. To read English. Or simply to communicate with me, whether it be through one-word sentences or gestures.

Here, there’s no attitude of “White girl, you don’t speak Chinese. Get out of here.” No one has ever treated me that way. All they want is a smile and some friendliness. If anyone treated me that way, I’d be completely screwed.

A smile can take you so far in life. So very far. My dad was right.

And yet, back home, (I’ve seen it a lot in Texas, much as I hate to admit it) there are pictures like this floating around:

Really, people? Really?

Is this really how you want to portray our country?

People see this. People around the world see this.

And it’s embarrassing.

It’s shameful.

And it’s not improving the world’s opinion of Americans…believe me.

I have met so many wonderful, amazing people in my time abroad: People who, while maybe they didn’t speak English perfectly, can communicate. And they made it clear they wanted to learn more.

Yet there I was, unable to speak a word of their language. And sitting there, a foreigner, listening to them talk about how much they wanted to learn English, all I felt was shame.

Shame for the attitudes that abound in my country. Shame for the people who feel that way toward others. Shame for people who are so narrow-minded as to look down on those who don’t speak their language.

But mostly, shame that some people can be so inconvenienced at having to push a button.

The world is filled with so many good people. So many decent people. And it’s a damn shame that some of you out there are so unwilling to realize this.

You’re missing out. You’re missing out on learning a new worldview. You’re missing out on the privilege of observing another culture, and learning how other people live their lives. You’re missing out on knowing some really, really interesting people.

Trust me: They have stories to share. You should listen. Just listen.

America used to pride itself on being a “melting pot” of cultures: A mix of different races, ethnicities and nationalities all blended to become one distinct, functioning community. A society built upon different lifestyles, languages and beliefs.

If America is a blend of different nationalities, why should anyone expect English to be the primary language? Shouldn’t it be some of everything?

What happened to that attitude? That was a good attitude.

The world is not just the United States. The United States is not the center of the universe.

It’s time some of you out there learned that.