It was a long time coming, try as I might to plan my own moves, fate has other ideas for me.
I cannot tell you how many times my plans have changed in the months since I graduated. From staying 3 months to 6 to 5 to 10. From planning to move here and there and everywhere in between. I believe I have learnt a lot about myself and what I wish to pursue.
My decisions keep on changing, I believe, because I am uncomfortable with the decision my conscious part of my brain has made. Perhaps it is my unconscious part of my brain that really knows what to do but is unable to express itself fully so I am stuck with incredible indecisiveness. For example: since my Birthday a mere 3 weeks ago, I have already gone from…I will stay for one more semester (late-Feb) to until Chinese New Year (mid-Feb) to end of Jan and now today to switch schools and just till the end of the year.
Well, the Late-Feb and CNY decision was just because it made sense for me to spend CNY with family, so that was a logical decision. Late January was because I believe my unconscious part of my brain was signally me that it didn’t believe that was a good decision. Finally, till end of Dec was due to several factors, but my brain at last feels like it made a right decision.
Why I am staying with TLI…
1) given that I had decided I was going to stay till Jan 31st, that would give me 9 weeks of classes starting in December. I was going to go to ShiDa for 9 weeks intensive + 6 hours/week private lessons (33000NT + (430x6x9)= 56220NT. However today in class I worked out that 15 hours/week = (400x15x9)= 54000NT private lessons were cheaper than the first option. Clearly one-one is beneficial to waiting around listening to other students talk with poor accents. While my social group might be bigger, I already process a comfortable group of friends and social life.
2) So the reason I am leaving a month earlier is due to Visa issues. This is what I call fate deciding my route. Since I did not get a new Visa last time in HK, I can only remain in Taipei for 60 straight days, this started on Nov 1st. This means I have to leave on Jan 1st . I could do a visa hop again, but truthfully, I am tired of it.
Before I cam to Taiwan, I seriously thought my Chinese would be almost pro- by the time the 3 months was over. I was quickly proved wrong. Then I thought, another 3 months, I will be much better as I would have done the first 4 Shida Books (almost) , so much Chinese level must be pro. Again, only to be proved wrong. While my Chinese has gotten exceptionally better, I will need to stay at least another year to be considered very good and understand the newspaper. I understand that now, and am ready to finally accept my naivety and will return home (which is to be decided in a next blog) to continue my studies. The reason I am staying in Taipei for 30 more days is because even though I know my Chinese level will not improve drastically, I am going to be attending 18 hours of 1-1 for a month. Hopefully, my tones will be better and more vocab won’t hurt. I work hard here, that , is the truth. And of course, I want to spend my last few weeks with my friends here, they have made my time here pass quickly and happily. True friends, they are.
Final cost of one month. (30x3x400)=36000nt
No comments:
Post a Comment