Some of my goals for the next two months. 

Get more plugged into my cell group + start making more friends from church. (This will definitely become easier as many of my good friends are exchange students that will be leaving at the end of the semester.)

Start painting again. My goal is to have two medium sized paintings done for the living room. 

Become better at blogging. I think I’m going to revive my thousandthgirltravels.blogspot.com blog + start posting in there about experiences, restaurants I go to, etc. This blog will still be for thoughts, dreams, wishes…

Reach out to more people. This is one of my biggest goals of the month. Even here in Taipei, most of my close friends are still either ABCs or Europeans. I hardly have any local friends, and I want to change that! This is a topic for another post, but a part of me is still really intimidated by locals + I still feel that language/cultural barrier. 

Go on a diet. I think this one doesn’t need explanation. Oh, and one more word: bikini. Yeah, I think that’s sufficient. 

Start exercising + hiking more. The weather’s been horrible in Taipei recently, but once the weather starts clearing up consistently I want to start going on hikes every weekend, whether it’s with a group of friends I’ve gathered or going along with some groups. I think it’ll be a great way to get fit + get friends. Fit, friends, what more could I want? 

church searching in taipei (part one)

I’m truly so blessed to have amazing women around me, both physically & via that handy little tool known as the internet. though they can’t be there with me to discover new restaurants & explore the alleyways of Taipei, I’ve spent hours with my best girls, forming concrete goals, visions & spinning the occasional fantastical dream. 

One of my largest goals this year, without a doubt, is to find a spiritual community where I can both be fed & serve in ministry. My four months in New York were a scary time of my life, a time that I often try to remember, but simply can’t. I don’t remember a single thing I did there, besides long, exhausting rides home on the D train after work, metal rattling & people sighting. I don’t think I had more than one spiritual conversation in the entire season I was there. I felt so lost, so adrift, as if I wasn’t really present in the world. Every morning seemed like a nightmare that I desperately needed to awake from. I can’t really explain it, but I do know that much of it was because I had no community. As much as I’d like to say I’m some Saint Teresa of Avila-esque spiritual warrior that can form a vibrant, thriving life on my own, I know I need community. I’m so weak. 

No one likes going to unfamiliar churches & seeing a sea of strange faces week after week; me the least. I’d rather hide out in the confines of my room with the IHOP webcast & a bowl of cereal. But this is the truth: that He’s gone before me, and He’s calling me to follow Him. I’m embarking on a quest to find a ministry that I know is going to form a large part of my life here in Taipei. I’m asking for solid, Bible-based messages that stir up my heart to live in holiness rather than feeding me feel-good platitudes that I’d like to hear. I’m asking for a tight-knit community of believers that do all things together: not just praying for each other on Sundays; not just Thursday night cell-group, but plays together, laughs together, eats together. And one more thing: I’m asking to be stretched in this season by the people I’m surrounded with. I want to hear different stories: people of all walks of life, all ages, all backgrounds, all gathered together to lift up their hands to the One that makes life in beautiful Taipei worthwhile. 

I’ve already began going to a few churches; one, the tiny, tiny church of a family friend with a dual English-Chinese service, & the newly-planted all-English service at one of Taipei’s largest mega-churches: Taipei Bread of Life. To be honest, I’m still searching, still waiting, still hoping. 

But thank God, thank God, thank God—that He goes before me. 

no safety nets (more late night thoughts, on the move.)

Dear all, I must confess. Up until tonight, I was still wavering with my decision to stay in Taipei. I always had, in the back of my mind, that safety net of the American schooling system. I had, in fact, already started the application for transfer to Brown/William & Mary (my American dream-schools, previously), just in case. 

Just in case, despite the fact that my heart finds a home in Taipei, and going back to American & doling out 50k per year for its schooling would make it sick. Just in case, despite the fact that there has been a wealth of prophetic insight & words about this move, a story that started long, long before I even came to Taiwan this past summer. Just in case, just in case. 

My best friend had let me know that she was always there for me in case I had any questions about my Brown transfer application. Tonight, I sent her an email, and this is what it said: 

“Actually, I’m not applying to Brown or any other American school. I really can’t take anymore change in my life. I need some kind of stability to where I’m going to be.  I’ve already missed out on the American undergrad experience, I’ll never have that window again—and to be honest, I’m glad that I did miss out on it. 

and there she goes, again (how I moved to Taiwan on a whim, part two.)

As I wrote in my last installment of this strange journey, starting school in Taiwan isn’t something I could have possibly imagined doing even a month ago. 

Now, I’ve got a whole future to construct, a whole new game plan to map out. It’s easy and fun to log onto Skype & hear the envious exclamations from friends: No way, I can’t believe you did that! That sounds so fun, that’s totally insane, but I bet you love it! 

I do love it, but at the same time, I am insanely scared. Currently, I’m enrolled in a rather…mediocre institution in Taipei. Though I am eternally grateful that they decided to receive my application more than a month and half after the closing deadline, thus enabling me to stay in Taiwan rather than returning to the US, I know that, as things stand, I’m unable to stay there for long. Though currently boasting the most well-developed international/English programs in Taiwan and the distinction of being the first American-accredited university in all of Asia, Ming Chuan University, even now, is looked down upon for its past as an all-girls school known for producing two things: good secretaries & good wives.

what that one guy said in that one cab (adventures at ming chuan, for now.)

I was having another life-affirming, 10-minute conversation with a chatty cab driver when I mentioned that I was enrolling in school in Taipei. Upon ascertaining that I had moved from a school in New York (which he assumes to be NYU, as that’s the only school in New York recognized by anyone in Taipei) to come to Ming Chuan, he nearly choked on his betel-nut, exclaiming: What, honey, did you meet a rich banker’s son in Taipei? Because that’s the only time I’d recommend a girl like you to go to Ming Chuan. Otherwise, you’re better off driving a cab, like me!

I’ve heard various things from friends & family in Taipei, about Ming Chuan. But in the end, I didn’t move here to get a stellar education. I was talking to my dad about my worries and he promptly dispensed some good advice. “Stephanie,” he said, “nothing in your life will ever be perfect. You’ve just got to weight the pros & cons, the sacrifices & the gains, and make your choice from there. It’ll never be exactly the way you want it to be, and the sooner you learn that, the happier you’ll be.” 

I’m not sure how going to Ming Chuan University will be. I visited it on the first day of the Chinese New Year break. It has a breathtaking view of the eastern side of the city, and by the time I climbed all the way up to the communications building where my classes are to be (oh, did I mention that Ming Chuan is built entirely on the side of a mountain?) the sun had hit the city and the entire school at just the right angle, flooding it with light. Whether Ming Chuan be my shining city on a hill, or merely another prison, like Fordham, I can’t possibly yet know. But in the end, for $900 per semester (yes, sir. 900 bucks. one semester), the classes I want in English, the chance to live in the city I adore & easy access to the beautiful, beautiful world (Sri Lanka? Tokyo? Bali?); I suppose that it’s a risk I’ll be wiling to take. 

and how did this all happen, again? (part one)

I left New York with absolutely no idea that I wouldn’t be returning. My move to Taipei, my enrollment in a Taiwanese university, the factors surrounding it all: it all happened so quickly. I landed in Taipei on December 17th, and by the following week, I had moved to Taipei. 

I arrived in Taipei on December 17th, ready to fall down & kiss the ground beneath my feet as I walked into Taoyuan Airport. I boarded the bus that would take my home to Taipei (is it strange that it seems like a lifetime before, though it’s only been a month?), grinning like a foolish little girl—and as I slowly began to see the greenery-clad, bustling streets of Taipei, I finally felt that I could rest, after the most hectic & trying season I’ve ever experienced. 

And certainly I didn’t rest, but it’s not a burden exploring & treading through the city you love, and doing such delightful things!  Afternoon tea, hours of browsing through Sogo & Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, lunch at little random cafes in Shida, people watching at Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall. But the thrill and excitement was always tinged with a bit of sadness, with the grey streets of New York; the stink of the subways & the iron gates of Fordham still floating in the back of my mind: Remember us? 

About a week in, I dashed out the door to meet a complete stranger & explore Huashan 1914 Cultural Park; a re-modelled factory that had been turned into an arts exhibition center. Though I feel like I’m hardly prone to flights of fancy & turning my life into some sort of epic tangle of fate, I do clearly remember thinking as I dashed out the door (I was extremely late, typical), completely out of the blue: What if this random meeting is the beginning of something…big? I brushed off the thought as a silly thought that was the result of watching too many indie movies in high school. 

Turns out, I met someone who was looking to transfer to school in Taiwan, and needed someone to go with him & do a bit of translation. When I told my mom, she merely smiled & suggested: Why don’t you go and ask about some programs for yourself as well? Figuring it couldn’t hurt, I went & spent an afternoon at one college; morning at another. Things seemed positive, and I decided that I’d definitely be interested in continuing my education at a Taiwanese college—-in September, that is. After all, all the deadlines were past, & while all the colleges’ ears perked up at the thought of an international student joining their ranks, they informed me that I’d be applying for fall. 

But the thought of leaving Taipei, from its magical alleyways to my two adorable cats, from the plethora of cafes to the bustling excitement of the night markets—even if only for a few months, made my heart sink. I wanted to be in Taipei. I didn’t want to go back to New York. But no. I couldn’t just leave a university in the middle of the school year. I hadn’t made any plans! I hadn’t packed up all my things! I had already registered for classes in the fall. But to leave Taiwan…what could be worse? It all culminated in a mini-breakdown on the beach in the south of Taiwan (a rather good place, as far as breakdown locations go)—where I decided, well, I want to be in Taipei. And that’s that. I’ve only got one life, and one heart—and my heart was in Taipei. 

& what happened next? a story for another post, another day.