Routine

Life is pretty much back to normal for me here in Canada. Living at home, I am back working at Great Wolf Lodge, and hanging out with my friends. Only thing that is missing is Rick. Some days, it is easy to not see him but I am always reminded of how much I miss him whenever I send him a message knowing that he can't respond for at least eight hours because he is asleep. What scares me is that even though we have been talking at least twice a day, some things are still hard without him here. We went from seeing each other all day every day for over a year to talking on the phone twice a day and texting in between. This scares me because soon he will be leaving the comfort of a friend's couch in Taiwan to actually start his travels. On February 26th, he leaves Taiwan. He comes back to Canada on April 3rd.

I've been thinking a lot about this blog and how much I actually enjoyed writing in it, and whether or not I should continue to write in it. Or maybe if I should start a new blog, we really aren't a couple living abroad anymore. We are now half a couple living abroad and half a couple living in Canada. Lots to think about.

For now, I have my routine here. Work. Hanging out with my mom. Watching my favourite TV shows. Babysitting Aberdeen. Cuddling Atlas. Hanging out with Saher. Planning our next vacation! Repeat. 

I leave you with a picture of my soon to be goddaughter (Aberdeen) and my baby Atlas:

Cutest freakin' kids alive

Home Sweet Home

Now that I've been home for a week I figured it was time to update the blog. My last few days in Taiwan were filled with lots of goodbyes to my last classes and to Rick. Leaving him behind was one of the saddest things and I think it is because, for the moment, I don't know when I will see him again. When I left Canada to go to Taiwan, I knew I would be back in a year. The same went for saying goodbye to my parents, I knew they would visit me in Taiwan and after their visit, I knew I'd be back in Canada. 

My flight home felt longer than our trip to Taiwan even though it was ten hours less. My direct flight was comfortable and yet filled with worry about my baby Atlas, sadness about leaving Rick behind, and excitement to see my family and friends. I took off from Taiwan at 7:40 PM on January 30th and I arrived in Canada at 8:30 PM on January 30th. I may, or may not, have traveled through time. Be jealous.

I struggled to get my three massive bags, one small suitcase, and one small dog and we were off. It was actually relatively easy to bring Atlas back, a lot of people said it would be so difficult but it wasn't at all. And he was perfectly fine after the flight! A little scared but as soon as I got him out of his crate, he was the same cute dog who was super excited to see me and to meet so many new people.

Being home has been pretty weird so far. The second day I was back, I already felt like I had never left. The jet lag didn't hit me until this Saturday when I fell asleep from 7-10, woke up and couldn't sleep until 2am and then woke up again at 5am. I think I've got a handle on the jet lag now, my sleep is pretty normal. But it is still weird getting used to life in Canada. The cold, the snow, English, my family and friends so close by, English, English, English, high prices, English.

I had planned to stop this blog upon returning to Canada but Rick is trying to convince me otherwise. But I don't think my life is all that exciting enough to write about here. I guess we'll see what happens.

For now, I am home. Rick is in Taiwan. 

13 Things I Won't Miss About Taiwan

So I have been getting a little sad lately about leaving Taiwan. Leaving the place I've lived for a year. Leaving all these people and places that I see on a daily basis and will probably never see again. I have decided to combat this sadness I will make a list of things about Taiwan that drive me crazy aka 13 things that I won't miss.. one for each month that I have been here!

1. Driving a scooter in the rain

2. Not being able to just order what I want at a restaurant without some kind of language barrier

3. How much it rains

4. The amount of times I have been sick in the past year

5. Lunch boxes, pig's blood, chicken butt, red bean soup, red bean anything, taro, squid balls, fish ball soup; Taiwanese food dishes that I do not understand

6. Mosquitoes

7. Eating dinner every single night at 9:30 or even later

8. The complete disregard that drivers have for each other

9. Not being able to properly discipline children because they don't speak enough English

10. Scaring children in stores simply because I am a foreigner and they've never seen a foreigner before

11. Knowing enough Chinese to know that people are talking about me but not what they are saying

12. Learning the frustrating language that is Chinese

13. "You're Canadian.. why are you cold?"