The past couple weeks have involved many goodbyes - it is bittersweet. We are excited for new travel adventures but sad to leave what has become a comfortable home and community. We visited Grayson's buddy, Tomo's, home. The kids shot hoops and played video games while Trae and I talked with Tomo's mom, Jasmine, about her travels and their plan to move back to Japan at the end of the school year. Tomo and Grayson shared a love of sports - he has truly been a perfect compliment to Grayson's endless interest in throwing a ball.
Poppy's friends and their families gathered for a night out at a local restaurant and market. Grayson found it funny that some of the girls cried - mourning the end of relatively new but very deep friendships. The girls took photos in the Photo Booth and signed the back for each other. As a goodbye gift, Poppy drew pictures for her friends, Aniya and Amerie, and gifted them trinkets from her travels.
Her friends sent her home with lots of handmade crafts - puff balls, drawings, and the most intricate origami creatures.
Nick, the host at our breakfast place, gifted us a dart board and plain t-shirts. He surprised us with an intense google translate conversation and a friendship on Facebook to stay in touch. This new access to Nick's world introduced Trae and I to the dark underbelly of employee resentments in our serene eatery.
I had my last Tai Chi lesson with Master Chou. Unfortunately he is going into the hospital for treatment and it was a last class for all of us. We had a really special conversation about the philosophy behind Tai Chi. He told me to keep practicing upon returning home - to go slower and feel my way through rather than frantically using my mind to memorize the routine. He reminded me to have my body lead my hands, rather than my hands lead by body. Good lessons for life.
As a conclusion to our semester long photovoice project in the local afterschool program, we hosted a photo exhibition. Each student could share stories about the photos they selected and present them to the high school students in their community. The students were very very nervous as they rehearsed in the days leading up to the exhibit. I felt my pulse quicken in empathy as they struggled through their presentations the night of the event. Yiting, their social worker, stood behind some of them with an arm on their shoulder in support. One young person who always clowns around in class was so nervous he couldn't stop laughing through his entire presentation.
After we all made it through, we went upstairs to the boxing room, and the team taught Trae and the kids some boxing moves. It was like a switch turned on, as they transitioned from nervous students to expert teachers with confident voices and lots of encouragement.
A group of girls surrounded Trae who sweated profusely while they counted in Chinese and cheered him on. Poppy and I laughed as these girls turned their attention to Grayson. All semester they had shown no romantic interest in anyone, but they literally fell out of their chairs in meeting Grayson and took involuntary selfies with him on our way out.
I met for a final reflection meeting with Yiting. She shared more about her approach to supporting young people in the community, her interest in highlighting the tribe's strengths and preserving their traditions rather than only focusing on the challenges they face. She shared insights about her need to work alongside the education system rather than confronting it directly. I felt grateful for the learning she offered me. I awkwardly gave her a t-shirt of a cat in boxing gloves that I'd made for her on the beach boardwalk. She put it on, and I asked for a photo. I tried to put my arm around her, and she got into boxing stance, and we awkwardly posed for a final goodbye photo with Hsi-sheng and the agency CEO.
We also had final goodbyes with our friends, Ellen, Rube, Sofia and Charlie. It has been surprisingly easy to connect and very hard to leave. We all went out for a night of Karaoke - so many songs with crass and sexist lyrics. And so funny to hear them sung by awkward pre-teens.
We grabbed a dinner at the local quick-fry restaurant with frenetic energy - the messy table shows scraps from shared plates of greens, oysters, squid, and 3 cup chicken along with large bottles of shared beer with tiny drinking glasses. You can even see the tissue box meant to offer napkins - Grayson's one critique of the Taiwan food scene is flimsy paper goods. The place was filled with a chaotic flow of good energy. The kids' rowdiness blended right in with the surrounding chatter and laughter of other diners and our adult story telling about our early lives.
We walked through the lantern festival and stopped for a photo on a bridge overlooking the lights. I looked down to see the Green World Hotel - our landing place upon first arriving in Taipei 7 months ago. I paused for a moment, thinking about how different I feel from when we first arrived. So much more comfortable and familiar with this place. So much more willing to try things without knowing entirely how they would go, taking risks and hoping for the best. How we have grown our traveling habits - always finding a public park or gathering space to visit and agreeing to always answer "do you want to try..." with "yes".
Feeling a bit sentimental and contemplative over breakfast, I asked everyone else to reflect on the ways they have changed or grown since being here.
Poppy took it quite literally. She had learned a new language, developed a taste for new foods, and outgrown her clothes.
Grayson simply pointed to the fine line of hair sprouting on his upper lip.
Trae, tired from the night before, paused and then said...what was the question?
We will miss this place and are grateful we'll get to stop through here a couple more times as a home base amongst our upcoming travels. But we will really miss this time - to be together in exploration and adventure and to be in relationship with these special people.
We loaded up our belongings accumulated over the past 7 months. Many items could be passed on to friends, a bamboo plant, yoga mat, pots and pans. Some, including my glorious plant painting, had to be trashed. Upon another trip to the dumpster, Grayson excitedly reported someone had rescued the painting and installed in it in my own private exhibit.
Friendly über drivers helped us to unload our discarded items to various friends and then to cram into a tight trip to the airport. "Unbelievable" they said when we stuffed ourselves and all of our things inside.
Comments