Sans Kansas

In the past week I’ve done the entire train circuit of Taiwan - heading to Hualien, down to Kaohsiung and Tainan and now back in Taipei where my Teacher Training begins tomorrow. It’s been a search for a place that I can call home for the next year.

The journey so far has certainly had its moments. In my search for something that felt a little bit normal I reached out for McDonalds and KFC – anything to comfort me from the feeling of ‘We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.’

My time in Bali was like living in an Ashram in many ways – all the physical world elements taken care of. Someone to clean up after you, wonderful food everywhere that would be delivered to your house for very little money. With the outer world taken care of so sweetly it left plenty of time for inner exploration.

Dealing with the shock from being pulled out of that world has been a struggle. Turning to KFC was a mistake. I think I found the Colonel’s secret ingredient – laxatives. The Colonel’s colon cleanse put me in the position every traveller knows – the mad dash for the nearest toilet.

Still, after this I knew beyond any chance of mistaking it that I was travelling again… Funny how the old dire rear marks the start of a new journey for me.

That day, feeling worse for wear, I went out in Kaohsing to check out a movie. If the Colonel wasn’t going to help me I knew Hollywood would. At the cinema I had a couple of hours to kill before anything was showing and ran into a couple of American baseball players. These two were like giants, especially against the backdrop of the Taiwanese.

Jay, a big black bald man from Mississipi and Nate, a big white diesel engine from Utah. The 3 of us shared pizzas, pasta and red wine and some laughs before heading into check out… ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’… Hmmm... Another look at glorified relational neuroses. And a chick flick for sure. But just what I needed to switch off my busy, tired mind.

Tainan has been one of the highlights so far. The old capital of Taiwan before Taipei took over at the turn of the century. Confucius Hotel was my sanctuary as I learned from the mistake of a sleepless night in a 6 bed dorm room. Before you pass Go, sometimes you’ve gotta stay at Park Avenue.