Taiwan and belated thanks givings...

Here I am, home again, after a whirlwind of adventure in Taiwan to celebrate the engagement of my brother, Cory, and his girlfriend (who is now his fiance!), Hsaio-Han.  I had a great time on my trip and I learned a lot about Taiwanese and Chinese culture, which I have had limited experience with in my adventures thus far.  We had many family meals with Hsiao-Han and her extended family, including lots of authentic Taiwanese food, Japanese food, Thai food, and more.  I continue to be blown away by the hospitality and generosity of each new culture that I experience.  I had a wonderful time getting to know everyone and was very glad for our gracious hosts who translated for us, showed us around, and right from day one, treated us like family.  We'll have some big shoes to fill this spring when it is our family's turn to host them.  It is customary in their culture for members of the family, such as uncles, aunts, and cousins, to want to treat the guests of their family members to a meal during their stay.  We were spoiled, truly spoiled, during this trip and when it was time to leave I had no words that were worthy of the thank you I wish that I had been able to articulate.

In my travels and adventures through life thus far I have seen families in Africa host friends and family members to the point that they could barely afford to feed themselves, go miles out of their way to walk me to work when they had only to walk half that distance to get to their own, give up their own plans to help keep me safe in mine.  In Taiwan I watched family help family by loaning an apartment for us to stay in, loaning our hosting family a van for our transportation, treating us to dinner, helping cart us all around, and most of all never making us feel like an imposition.  In Saint Thomas friends brought me fresh fruit and veggies while I was working the desk, gave me rides or allowed me to borrow a car to get anywhere I needed to go, treated me to many meals and drinks when money became tight for me, and generally appreciated and treated me like family, all by people I had known for all of a month (and also by Nicole, whom I have known and loved since we were assigned to be roommates freshman year in college...love you apple-bottom-whiskers!)  In California I was offered several different home-stays while searching for a place to live, I was picked up and put up by friends when my car broke down in the middle of the road, I was given rides and places to stay, taught the area and shown around by almost strangers just because I was new and had no one else to rely on.

Traveling never fails to remind me how lucky I am in all ways - I have fantastic parents who will take me in whenever I run low on money and want to live without rent for a bit.  I have fantastic family members who will get up at 4 am to drive us to the airport without batting an eye.  I have fantastic friends who have taken care of me so many times and in so many ways I don't even begin to know how to list them all.  I have had the opportunity and the freedom to go to college, get an education, find what I am good at and find what makes me happy.  I have the freedom to live at home and bar tend on the weekends for a few months in order to be able to turn down high paying jobs that bring in to question my moral values.  I have created a life for myself that allows me to move and travel and try new things whenever I want to, that has allowed me to find my passion, and to work my way towards it.  Sometimes I take that for granted, I try to reach beyond my means because I am so used to being caught before I fall, so its important that every once in a while I stop and take a look around and realize how much I have been given, and how much I should be thankful for.  This Thanksgiving I was on the opposite side of the world, so far removed from all the "normal" Thanksgiving traditions, and yet the day still managed to remind me to give thanks for all that I have.  So thank you, to my hosts, my family, my friends, and to everyone who has helped me along my way.  I know that I never hesitate to ask for help from friends and family when I need it and I hope none of you will ever hesitate to ask me for anything either.

Some pictures of my fabulous trip to Taiwan: