Intro & All my ducks are lined! (In a row, that is)

I went to the post office today and received a wonderful package!  I got my passport back and it had a visa in it!  WOO!  That means I can go to Taiwan and not be illegal!  Such a relief. 

And inspired by Andrew's first post, I figured I should do some kind of introduction since you might not know who I am. 

Hi!  I'm Mei.  (Pronounced "May")  My mom's Chinese and from Taiwan, which would be why I'm fluent in spoken Mandarin.  Notice I said "spoken" because I'm an illiterate Chinese person, but I hope to correct this while in Taiwan.  It'll be interesting trying to figure out transportation and be Andrew & Todd's "tour guide."  I'm looking foward to the challenge.

No, I've never been a teacher, my friends know that I'm not the best person with children either, and I'm usually a quiet talker.  I think I'll be the best teacher ever!  Ok, not really, but I'm gonna try really hard to be.  I graduated from UCD with a B.S. in Evolution & Ecology, but I have a feeling I'll be using the skills I got from my Comparative Literature minor more so than my major.

I can't wait to go to Taiwan, I think it's going to be an awesome, adventure filled year.  As August 22nd gets closer, I poop my pants more and more often.

But I will definitely miss my beautiful friends and family, with a special shout-out to my Davis girls and Kiff kids! 

While I'm away, e-mail me, or put a comment down, even if it's just to say hi, in fact, I encourage it!  (I sound like a teacher already!)  Especially if you have questions or one of our posts inspires the spoken word in you.

Only 29 days to go!  Holy Monkey!

The Intro: Part I

Hello!

I'm the first half of the "Andrew and Mei" component that is going to Taiwan.

I was wondering how best to explain my trepidations about going to a foreign country to teach English, and I think that first sentence nailed it on the head. Is that even grammatically correct? "The 'Andrew and Mei' component" implies singularity, which means that I am correct in saying 'is going to Taiwan.' However, the fact that I am confused about this speaks volumes about why I am, oh, a little bit cautious about my upcoming trip. I have tutored math, I have tutored chemistry… but those are subjects that I did well in. Those are subjects that I know. English… I mean, what the hell is a preposition? Good luck, kid.

As for the fact that I am going to Taiwan in general, that part doesn't scare me. I'll have a great tour-guide/translator in Mei, and great company with her (and Todd? To be determined!). That part doesn't worry me. What worries me is how they'll respond to living with me for a year. A year is a long time. Bad news for them, but good news for you blog-readers who will be looking for a good laugh!

I was also wondering how best to explain myself to you all, half of you who are likely to be Mei's friends, and half of you who are likely to be faithful readers of my much anticipated (haha?) sequels to my mass emails regarding my South African exploits. And I think the second and third paragraphs nailed THAT on the head as well. I'm a little bit nerdy and a little bit spazy, and that about sums me up. Additional thoughts on that matter can be shared on that little comment section on the bottom of this blog.

But I'm excited to have this space to write about. And be sure I'll use it! I even think we can upload some pictures, which will be very exciting. Thanks for the space, Loren! I had fun writing emails for South Africa, but with a blog I can post it whenever, and people can read it at their leisure. I'll still send mass emails every now and then saying when (I think) a particularly good blog is up, but otherwise there will be less pestering this time.

So that's about it. I have three weeks to study for my test, and then one week until I leave. August 22nd at 01:30. That's 1:30 am. So expect to have one last party/get together before I head out after my test, but before we leave. Not excluding the party my parents will be throwing for having me out of the house (again, just like when I left for college). I'm sure they will send out their OWN invite for that.

And then it's on. 

Wish us luck.

Ni Hao!

Hey! This is my first official post, and the first thing I want to do is thank Loren for his extreme awesome-ness in setting the blog up for me. If you would like to thank him as well, you can send him steak. He can be found at sixq.net.
The official countdown is 32 days until we leave. Our plane leaves on Aug. 22nd at 1:30am, how exciting!

For right now, keep your fingers crossed that our visa applications go through. It's the last piece of the puzzle that will hopefully fall right into place!

Yay Taiwan!