6 Days til Taiwan: Still Not Getting Any Better

So, I'm still not getting any better at keeping up with thing!!! Gah!!! Well, I hope I get in a better habit of it while in Taiwan!

Things that have happened since my last post?

Well first off, I forgot to mention that I sold my car. My beautiful bright red Mazda3 will have a new person to call its owner soon. I sold it to the Toyota dealership in San Marcos. They took it for $10,500 when Carmax was only going to give me like $9,000. I made a profit from it! That's all that really matters! Now I have money to fall back on in Taiwan if I need it. Previously, I was about to head over there with only $30 to my name! So I feel a lot better now that I'm more financially stable.


Hmmmm... I also got my loan deferment!!! So now I won't have to worry about paying that off while I'm trying to live on the stipend they are going to be giving us while we teach.

I wanted to share some of the AWESOME fortune cookies I have been getting recently in my pre-Asia Asian food expoilts!!! I really teared up at the one about being on people's minds!

Also, since I got back from Washington D.C., my main focus has been on meeting up with friends and family before I head out! Things I've done so far:

July 16-18: Raeha came to visit me from Oklahoma! (I also got to see Rick and Josh again before I left that weekend!)

July 18: My new cousin Jason Wesley Rogers was born and I went to see him!

July 20: Went into SA to visit my online friend and now real life friend King and she helped me with my computer!

July 22: Went Tubing with friends and then saw Harry Potter at the IMAX!!! Life is so much better at the IMAX! =)

July 23: Took one of my cousins and his family to the airport to travel to Jamaica. And later that evening went to Saltlick with my mom and Mary! We had a blast and bought some new wine!

July 24: Had a dimsum brunch at Golden Wok with Amira and James then spent the rest of the day with my dad and step-mom.

Jason Wesley Rogers

And now we're on today! I have done NOTHING all day except for complete my powerpoint for our introductions in Kaohsiung.

Tonight I'm planning on completing my packing journey. I plan on going from two overweight bags to 3 manageable bags for check-in. I know this is going to be a lot of money in the end. I'm so not looking forward to it.

I've been kind of freaking out today about how comfortable I'm going to be on the plane to Taiwan. Apparently, the seats on the plane are only 17 inches. I just flew to Washington D.C. on a flight where the seats were 18 inches and I was extremely uncomfortable. I can't imagine having to do that for 13 1/2 hours!!! I'm going to have to take a lot of sleeping pills and just hope that my girth doesn't bother the two people sitting on either side of me!

Anyway, overall, I'm really excited about this experience, and I'm looking forward to spending time with all my friends and family before I leave! My schedule is quite packed! It's like I'm popular for the first time in my life! ;)

Until next time, I'm signing out!

Random Fun Fact: I spent about 5 days working on my PowerPoint Presentation for Taiwan... I think in total I spent about 8-10 hours on it. In my opinion, I think it looks really nice!

13 Days Til Taiwan: Washington D.C. and Stuff

So I finally got my Visa last week!!! I can get into Taiwan with no problem! YAY!!!

Also, guess what?!?!?! I finished packing!!! I actually finished last Tuesday. I have two check-in bags that are practically impossible to pick up, one carry-on roller bag, and my laptop bag!

Today I had to research what would be better: bring 2 overweight bags on the plane or bring 3 acceptable weight bags (you only get to check-in 2 bags for free). Seeing as I can barely pick up my two check-in bags, I'm leaning toward having 3 lighter bags. Well, it's $32 a bag if they're over 50 lbs, and it's $89 for an extra bag. I will try and weigh my bags on a scale tomorrow to see how much over they are.

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Anyway, I went to Washington D.C. last week (July 13th-15th). People keep asking me how I enjoyed Washington, but I don't really think I can adequately answer them. Most of my time there was spent in a hotel's conference room. We spent hours on end sitting in rooms being instructed about TESL and classroom management instruction. Being a MA-TESL student, much of it was a repeat of the general information I had drilled into me in Grad school. The facilitators did an AMAZING job at synthesizing the essential information of the TESL field, but because it was so generalized it became even more un-applicable. And us MA-TESL people thought all the theory we learned was hard to translate into our real world classrooms, but it's nothing compared to sitting in a room for 3 hours straight getting a simplistic overview of pronunciation and CLT instruction.

However, we did get a certain amount of time where we spent time with returners of the program and we got to ask all of our questions concerning the program in Taiwan and what to expect in the classroom, daily living, transportation, eating, etc. That was really the most beneficial part of the entire orientation!

Things I learned:

•  I will be in Kaohsiung County not specifically Kaohsiung City so I might be placed in an Aboriginal school and not the main city. (This really disappointed me, I thought it was certain I would be in the city)
• Most everyone in past Taiwan trips got a scooter or motorcycle as transportation... I really didn't want to get one. I think I would be extremely dangerous on it. I really hope I get to use public transportation instead.
• I will have my own room in my apartment but sharing the living spaces with my flatmates. 
• Allergies are magnified in Taiwan because strains/allergens are different there so you have to build up the anti-bodies all over again.
• There will be racism, sexism, discrimination and prejudice for us while in Taiwan... From what was said, the only problem I will probably have is people being rude about my weight. Hopefully I just lose a lot while I'm there!
• There's A LOT more, but I can't remember right now

Also, meeting all the other Taiwan grantees and actually all the East Asia ETA's was the most AWESOME part of the trip. It's crazy how easily we all got along. I feel that as long as we have each other while we're there in Taiwan we'll have support and friendship the entire time we're there! Everyone is just so excited to go and teach! The fact that we all have such diverse backgrounds is really great as well! They're all people I'm proud to experience this with! Even if I am the oldest of them all! =)

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Raeha (best friend from Central Christian College of Kansas) was here this past weekend! We didn't do a whole lot, we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, had dinner at Kim Wah, had a cookout at Mary's, and watched stuff on my computer and TV! Just spending time with her is the BEST!!! I needed a Raeha fix before I left!

And Harry Potter!!! OMG!!! I was crying the WHOLE time!!! I wish I had taken a picture of myself after I left the theater... my eyes were SOOOO bloodshot from crying so much! The movie was brilliant in so many ways. Of course it had it's cliche and corny moments, and I think the editor could have done a MUCH better job, but overall... It was SHEER BRILLIANCE!!! I'm so depressed now... There's no more Harry Potter in my life anymore. I'm so gonna watch HPDH2 at the IMAX before I leave.

Oh yeah, I was in Washington when the premiere for HPDH2 happened, so I wasn't able to watch it opening night. I haven't missed an opening night premiere of HP since Prisoner of Azkaban... to say that the disappointment was soul crushing is an understatement. There is something so magical (excuse the pun) about watching HP opening night. You're surrounded by all the fans who love the series as much as you, and the majority of them are the BOOK fans. Watching it after the premiere night never has that same feeling where you're one big family watching the film together. I'm so upset I missed that for the LAST film. I can't wait until I come back to the U.S. and the Alamo Drafthouse has an HP marathon and they play all the movies at once like they did for the premiere because I would so do it!!!


Gah, Ok, I wrote A LOT!!!!!! I'm gonna go now, but I will try to post more often before I leave!! <333

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RANDOM FUN FACT: "Although DC residents pay taxes to the federal government, they do not have a voting representative in Congress. That's why you may see license plates on cars that say “No Taxation without Representation."

I actually learned that while I was there. I thought I was in Virginia... but was told that D.C. would actually be in Maryland, but it's really the District of Columbia and it is a principality or something like that. So it's not represented in the house of representatives or congress!

26 Days til Taiwan: Connections

I got a new camera the other day!!!

I'm actually REALLY upset with it right now. It's the Samsung Wifi sh100. Which means it should be able to upload all the pics I take straight to my photobucket or Picasa as soon as I take them if I have wifi where I am taking the pics. HOWEVER!!! I can get the camera to access my Photobucket account, but it won't actually upload the pictures to photobucket, and I can't even get the camera to access my Picasa account! It's so frustrating when things don't work out the way you want!










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SKYPE

Also if you want to keep in verbal contact with me while I'm in Taiwan, I started up a Skype account! My info is:

tiffiany_45

or

tiffiany.hargis@gmail.com

Add me!!!

Of course I will also be on Facebook, Blogger, Tumblr, gchat, etc. But, you know, just one more way to keep in contact!

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So the packing situation has gotten a little out of control...

I really hope I get to spend some time organizing next week, bc next Wednesday I will be heading to Washington D.C.!!!!!!

My 'Activities Before I Leave' so-to-speak are:

• July 6 - Apply for Resident Visa in Houston
• Clean and detail my car completely
• July 8 - Spend all day attempting to sale my car (hopefully at a profit)
• July 9 - Baby Shower for my 2nd Cousin Baby Jason
• July 13-15:  Washington D.C. Fulbright Orientation
• July 16-18: Raeha comes to visit me! (HP-DH part 2!!!)
• Sometime btn July 22-July 25: Kemah/Galveston Yacht trip with Mary & Gabe
• July 29: Leave for LAX (spend 29th & 30th with Cali friends Tina, Lisa, and maybe Jess)
• July 31: at 1am I will leave LAX in time to get to Taipei, Taiwan at 6am on August 1st
• August 1: Then I take a short flight from Taipei to Kaohsiung to start my new life for a year

 I'm kind of busy... At least it won't give me too much time to dwell on the fact that I'm going to be living in a foreign country for a year! I need to find time to do my final packing sometime in there!!!

I'm in the home stretch!

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RANDOM FUN FACT: It is about 200 miles between Taipei and Kaohsiung (about the same btn San Antonio and Houston)! I hope to frequent the trail btn the two cities as often as possible!!!

Kaohsiung

Taipei

26 Days til Taiwan: Bad at This

(My most favorite fortune I've ever gotten from a fortune cookie)

Sooo... As you can tell, I'm not really used to bloging very often! It's been over 10 days since my last one! A LOT has happened in these past days too!

I'm starting to get a little nervous because the date of my departure is ever so speedily approaching. But as I was cleaning out my car, I found this saved fortune cookie, and I had to admit that it suited my situation quite well! So I'm gonna focus as much as I can on the bright side of things!

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That being said...

Apparently it's nigh impossible to get a "Hansen's Disease" check-up in San Antonio!!! Hansen's Disease is another name for Leprosy. I, of course, do not have leprosy, but getting a doctor/clinic to sign off on me confirming that fact is like I actually do have the disease and all want to stay far away from me and everyone is adverse to helping out this deformed creature. REALLY?!?!?! COME ON!!! THIS IS FOR A VISA!!! THERE HAS TO BE SOMEWHERE THEY DO THESE KINDS OF EVALUATIONS!!! IT SHOULDN'T BE THIS DIFFICULT!!!

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So another fun fact about when you're applying for a Resident Visa, you have to get tested for STD's!!! That's right, kids! HIV and Syphilis tests are required to enter Taiwan! When I went to get those tests done at the San Antonio Metro Health Clinic, they threw in Gonorrhea and Chlamydia tests for free! So in-case you were all wondering (which all of you who really know me weren't), I do not have HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, or Chlamydia! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!



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I will be going to the doctor who did my physical for the Fulbright program tomorrow and bringing my shot record and STD tests with me, and hopefully he'll just sign off on me saying I don't have Leprosy, and then my Medical form for my Resident Visa will be complete!

If that's the case, then tomorrow I will be heading to Houston to register for my visa! I will need:

• Application form
• Health Certificate
• Passport
• Birth Certificate
• Two 2x2 photos
• Fulbright Name List
• MOFA Letter

I have everything except the stupid completed Health Form. >:(

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RANDOM FUN FACTS: Did you know there are over 6,000 cases of Leprosy in the U.S., and that the disease is treatable, and that it's not easily spread because most people have a natural immunity to the bacteria!

Every single one of these facts shocked me as I read up on Hansen's Disease.

(Link to info)