taiwan tiger 台灣的老虎

Frustration and Excitement

A few days ago I was trying to upload a lot of pictures onto this site of when my sister was here in Taiwan.  I spent a good hour on the whole process, and then Netscape crashed and destroyed all my hard work.  Nothing to do.  I haven't had the heart to try again.

I also haven't had much time, either.  I have spent a lot of time recently preparing for my first trip back to the U.S. since I moved here over a year ago.  Tonight is the big night.  My girlfriend and I catch a midnight bus to Taipei, where we fly to Detroit (via Osaka), then on to Des Moines, Iowa.  My family might be attending the Iowa-Wisconsin football game, so I don't know if there will be anyone there to pick us up yet, but after 18 hours of flying and 6 of bus travel, what is another few hours waiting?

The plan is to drive to Kansas City to pick up my return visa, then drive up to Orange City, Iowa to visit my extended family on the occasion of my grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary, then drive up to Minneapolis to see my sister and her family.  A lot of travel, all said.

Sick, sick, sick

So I have bronchitis again.  During college, I was sure to get it once every year, and it has come back to haunt me.  I am pretty sure it is the combination of these three things:  1.  I am teaching at a new elementary school.  Lots of germs everywhere.  2.  I am teaching students who have absolutely no discipline at a new elementary school.  I have to yell at them to be quiet numerous times a day, which strains my voice.  3.  I am teaching at an elementary school with disciplineless students that is 45-60 minutes from Kaohsiung.  I scooter to work through a diesel fume-laden corridor, the air swirling with grit.  Even wearing the mask that covers my mouth, I am sure that I suck in enough bad stuff to keep me sick.

I have to tell them tomorrow whether or not I want to stay on full-time.

But here's some good news.  I went to a clinic yesterday to see a doctor.  Since I have the national health care thing going (about US$15/month), it is good and cheap to see a doctor.  The consultation and medicine together cost a whopping NT$100 (about US$3.30)!  Yeah!

And so the nightmare begins...

And so the four year nightmare begins.

Things that worry me: the Supreme Court. With Rehnquist soon to depart, as well as a number of others, this administration will have the opportunity to change the face of the court, even to the point of overturning Roe v. Wade. Yes, that is right. Prepare to return to the 1940s, when a woman knew her place.

Another thing that worries me. Apparently, many folks in the U.S. don't seem to care about the changes the U.S. administration has wrought upon the world. Outside of the U.S., hardly anyone likes Bush. If you read the international press, this is what you get: Europe doesn't like him, Britain hates him, Asia doesn't like Bush, China likes Bush--because Kerry would have made them clean up their deplorable human rights record. What I have found here in Taiwan among the people I have met and talked about politics with: the Taiwanese are increasingly distrustful of Bush. The Brits, Australians, Thais, Singaporeans, Indonesians, Germans, Dutch, South Africans, Canadians, Japanese and Koreans dislike Bush and think he is an idiot.

I am worried about the environment under Bush. I am worried about the active denial of human rights that 11 states added to their constitutions under the guise of saving moral values. I am frustrated as well because the poliicies of the Bush administration has actually made life for an American abroad MORE dangerous, not less.

But mostly, I am worried that America is becoming less and less of a place that I want to call home.