Update (#12)

Ok, so I kind of fell off the 30 before 30 wagon, but I still have almost 7 months!!
There are a number of things I was going to post about or wanted to post about... but it just didn't happen.
I achieved two of my 30 before 30 goals, going to Hollywood (see pics here), and swimming across Sun Moon Lake which really does deserve a post of its own.
I also had a very eventful trip home, which included a trip to Banff with my sweet nephew, my grandparents' 50th anniversary, and my great grandmother's funeral (she also has a tribute post all written in my head)
One of the reasons I haven't been posting is that I've been having issues with Chrome, which is the browser I normally use, not working, causing me to lose a couple of entries :S
But I just set up email posting, so if I can get that figured out, maybe you'll suddenly see a lot more posts!

This semester, I got a huge surprise when I found out I wouldn't be continuing my weekly commute to Taipei. Instead, I'm teaching twice a week at an elementary school, going to Hualian once a month, and teaching on the radio! This last one is really exciting for me, since I'm cohosting a bilingual program. It's taking my Chinese to a whole new level... this is very different from a speech contest!! But honestly, I'm just so thankful. God has continually given me opportunities to learn, often under the ideal circumstances, like the year I spent in Yuli. I believe that without the ability and motivation from him, I would definitely not be where I am today in my language. Doing an MA level course on second language acquisition  last semester really impressed on me how difficult it is for adult learners to master a language, and while I wouldn't say I've mastered Chinese, (and will probably always struggle with characters in particular), I'm so thankful that I've been able to get to this point. With that said... you can listen to me here. At 8:00pm or 5:00am Taiwan time (add 15 hours for Pacific time). It is a lot in Chinese, just to warn you all.... but hey I make my debut tomorrow: topic Yilan!