Half Time break, and statistics

It's been a little more than 50 days since I first got sick on April 1st. Although I'm feeling alot better than when I was at my worst, I still dont feel like Im 100 percent healthy. This feeling successfully persuaded me to cancel my two week, free airfare vacation to Israel in favour of returning back home to beautiful, hot, exotic...Toronto. I am home, settled, and hot on the trail of doctors who will hopefully be able to tell me exactly whats going on and treat me accordingly in a timely manner. Time is a key factor here seeing as technically this is a "vacation" and I'm expected to be back at work June 4th. Ive explained to work that I will not return to work unless I feel confident that I am 100 percent healthy. Being the kind, compassionate, caring company that they are, they havent taken to kindly to this idea. Instead they have threatened me with fines if i am unable to return to Taiwan and possible blacklisting if I am unable to sign some tax sheet. The fine thing is most likely an empty threat in attempt to intimidate me to coming back. As for the taxes thing, Ive taken measures to get my name on a stamp (which is as legal as a signature) in case i cant return for a while. That way my roommate (if he feels like being a good guy) can pick up the form for me, stamp my name, and hopefully prevent any major problems from occuring. As usual, I am very disapointed and displeased with my company this time for their lack of compassion and concern towards my circumstances. I am obviously in no hurry to get back to Taiwan, and will stay in Toronto as long as I need to until healthy. I hope they can actually understand that my health is a priority if it gets to that point. Aside from the terrible company I work for, my six months in Taiwan were a great experience and genuinely enjoyed until I had the misfortune of getting ill. I got to see some crazy things and experience first hand a very different way of living on the other side of the world. I rode a scooter around a tropical island, made some lifelong friends, learned alot about myself, and may have found a profession(teaching) which I enjoy and am pretty good at although I am still not 100 percent sure it's what I want to do forever. I would like to return to Taiwan when I get healthy as I was just finding my niche and there are things still left unaccomplished like saving alot of money for school and traveling around Asia. This unexpected trip home has come exactly 6 months to the day of me leaving for my scheduled year long adventure. Here are some half time statistics for my adventure so far.



HALF TIME STATISTICS

Days in Taiwan- 182

Chinese Name- Fay Dan Ray

Kms Driven on Scooter: about 2300

Scooter accidents/wipeouts: 2

Most people seen on a scooter at once- 4

Other countries visited: 0 aside from airports

Biggest musical attraction in 6 monts: Muse

Best single moment: Standing up on a surfboard

Best 7 sylable line in a Heiku- Set up demo do me now

Best Food Eaten in Taiwan- Defineately the dumplings.

Wierdest Food Eaten: Congealed pig's blood or cow intestines, you decide.

Mysterious stomach infections- 1

Trips to the Hospital: 9 (including initial health check) Although the national avg. is supposedly 13 so i guess im still a little behind the curve.

Best Chinese Saying: Ma-Ma Hu-Hu which means horse horse tiger tiger which means so so. This was my frequent answer to the question of how I was feeling for the last 1.5 months.

Interesting Fact: Women use umbrellas to protect themselves from not only the rain but also the sun

Amount of girls I lived with/worked with who got pregnant: 2

Amount of girls I impregnated: 0

I guess thats about it. I will continue to post on this blogg for my friends in Taiwan (ni-how!) to let you know how I am doing, my thoughts on being thrown back into Western culture, and when I intend to return to forumosa.