Then we Traveled to Teach in Taiwan

What?? Taiwan??

Yes!

Here are some of my thoughts based on what I think you may be thinking or wondering:

1. The American Dream is different for everyone.
2.  You might wonder why we up and left all of our family and friends again after being gone for a year.
3.  Sometimes I wonder too :)
4.  The simple answer is that it's now or never.  We taught and explored for a year, so why not try for two, right?  I grew up hearing, "If you want to do it...find a way to do it." Sometimes we have to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and try new things.  *Thanks Trent for pushing me to be the best me*
5.  Soooo, in about a week we packed up our lives again and grabbed a buddy pass *Thanks Tasha and Natalie* and flew halfway across the globe.  I apologize for the lack of communication as this moving business is crazy and hectic, especially when going through some culture shock.
6.  I challenge you:  Step off a plane in a country where you cannot read any signs, you don't know where to go, and you can barely feed yourself because of a lack of knowing how to order something in a different language.
7.  One word: Chopsticks.
8. Try this:  Walk through a store and try to convert the price for every item...SO MUCH WORK!
9.  In the past week we've had to use funny gestures, pictures, and translators to get a SIM card, feed ourselves, use the bus and train, and read the map. It's a fun game :-)
10.  My advice to everyone: Have fun and be proud of yourself for doing it! (It = whatever goal you have for yourself)

Cheers!  To another year of attempting to see, immerse, explore, share, teach, learn and live each day as if it were our last.

-Jessa and Trent

 Milk Tea

 Spicy Beef Noodles

 Taipei 101

 Sausage inside a sausage

Venice, Italy

17/06 18:15 - 20:08 Firenze S.M.N. to Venezia Mestre

A tale of our time in Venice, Italy:

Before I begin this post I'd just like to say that I apologize for not posting more while we were traveling, but hopefully these series of posts will give you a little insight into what it's like to travel by train for three months.  It's a very daunting task to peruse and share pictures and stories from each place we visited in order so I decided to go with places that stood out and memories I would like to keep.  Thus, I will start with Venice.

One day when I was walking around the UMaine campus I stumbled upon an artwork sale and I bought this really cheesy poster of a couple kissing by the water in Venice.  Thus, of course, I had to make this a stop and mission on my trip, not to mention, can you imagine a city that has no cars?

As we arrived at the train station outside of Venice we stayed at a hostel close by and ventured into the city the next day.  As with most cities we read about and made sure to download the best and cheapest things to do in each city before we got there (we didn't have cell phone data from May-August).  The first thing on the ticket was to ride the ferry boat down the grand canal to the main square (Piazza San Marco). From here we did what we always did...walked.  We watched many gondolas wind through the canals, ate chocolate gelato, and almost fell into the water a couple of times.  My favorite part of the day was when we lost the tourist crowd by winding through the streets and found ourselves at the end of a long skinny alleyway where we could chill on a dock and watch all the boats go by.  If I could go back:  I'd pay the money to take a gondola ride. If you follow the link below you can see a snapshot of our day.

 https://youtu.be/1TTnewN9Ap0

19/06 11:24 - 18:58 Venezia Mestre - Verona Porta Nuova - Innsbruck HBF - Salzburg HBF

To Chile and Beyond!

To Chile and Beyond!

Keep in mind that the goal for this year was to not only explore but to teach English and try to learn some Spanish by immersion.  Both of which will help improve our job opportunities as we come back to the U.S. As well as instill a more culturally open mind for us.  As our adventure took us to South America we really wanted to immerse ourselves more and try to enjoy our time in a new environment.

1.  We lived in a really cool house for five and a half months that contained three floors filled with nine rooms and an awesome rooftop terrace.  I'll miss being able to wake up and have a coffee with different people every morning as well as a drink and conversation at night.

2.  Living with people from Spain, Ireland, France, Germany, Sweden, Holland, and Chile was an interesting and amazing experience because I got to see a little bit of each culture come out including my own.

3.  We went to the "end of the earth" or simply Patagonia.  We touched the Strait of Magellan and hiked for four days in Torres del Paine National Park.  Words can not describe the natural beauty we encountered there.  It also tested our physical and mental capabilities because we had never done a four day hike together, but we encouraged each other and pushed through to meet our goals.

4.  The beauty of walking to work everyday is astounding.  I've spent so much of my time driving in a car to work and at the end of the day being so exhausted I just wanted to go home and take a nap.  Before our time away I was not getting consistent exercise and had little motivation to take care of my body.  So, although teaching English in Santiago was not the best paying job, it rewarded me with consistent exercise, a new group of friends, and a skill I had never done before.

5.  The one thing I truly enjoyed about Santiago was the view of the mountains surrounding the city, especially at sunset.  As most of you know the one thing I missed while living in Florida was being about to see and hike up mountains.  One weekend we rented a truck and went camping and exploring in Cajon del Maipo, a region an hour outside of Santiago.  We saw a volcano, swam in natural hot springs, drove around a lake with spectacular views, camped on a river, and hiked to a glacier.

6. We also spent a couple days exploring Buenos Aires, Argentina.  There was a lot to see and do here that I feel we walked for four days straight!  If anyone goes here I recommend the free walking tour as it gave us a good history of the city and took us to the most relevant places.  Oh, and the market was really cool.

7.  Just so you know I do miss home sometimes and I think about all of the people and experiences I have had so far in my life often.  You never know when there is a connection to a memory or person while you are walking around exploring different places in the world.

I had hoped to write more blogs before this trip, but as you know life gets in the way or other things take priority.  Like now, I should be booking hostels or planning the next leg of our train journey in case we have to reserve seats.

8.  So, what are we doing now? Well, we purchased a three month continuous train ticket that takes us around all of Europe.  So, we are spending our days exploring new places, riding through the countryside, eating sandwiches, finding places to do laundry, staying up late and getting up early.

We will try to post more pictures, but it is a daunting task as we have pictures to compile from 4 devices as we are also continuously playing the "where can I charge my device?" game :-)

9.  As for the future I cannot say, I know we will be missing big events in our friends lives from graduations, weddings, births, and birthday, just know that you are with us on this journey too.  Live each day as if it were your last, right?

January/February - Joining, Focus, Jelly, Friendships

January/February - Joining, Focus, Jelly, Friendships

Joining - The coolest thing about living in different countries is really having the time to experience different cultures.  Two weeks in one place is just not enough because you spend so much time trying to find your way around and seeing as much as possible, you often don't have time to relax into the lifestyle.  Based on my experiences living in Chile I can see that Chilean's love to be around people. Their families tend to be large and spend lots of time together.  I always see people, friends, and families hanging out in the parks, at restaurants, or simply on the street.  There is also a large culture of people selling things on the street that is very interesting to me.  You can find anything from jewelry, fruit, avocado, cards, cell phone cases, clothes, and coloring books.  How do all of these people have time everyday to find products and then try to get people walking by to purchase things from their blanket of goodies?

Focus - It feels so great to be done with schooling after twenty years, but I find myself wondering what I should be doing with my time.  I no longer have homework, tests, and papers to write by a certain date and time.  Now I only have my own deadlines.  What will bring me the same satisfaction as getting a grade back or passing that paper in at the last minute.  I now wake up every morning thinking about what I will feel good about doing with my day.  Go for a run, play on the computer, watch television, read a book, make delicious food, get back into things I used to do like skating or climbing, arts and crafts??? Only time will tell I guess.

Jelly -  Some may use "Jelly" as slang for "Jealous."  Although, for many years I was jealous of people who got to travel and go places in life, I now realize that we shouldn't be jealous of others because we can make our dreams come true if we really put our mind to it.  I know it was a risk to leave my known world behind, but every new experience brings with it new memories to last forever.  So whatever your dream is, work towards making it come true and don't be jealous of others.

Friendships -  The craziest thing about living in a place for only one night or five months is the friendships you make.  They may not be the lasting friendships you have from your younger years, your time in school, or your first professional friends, but each friendship comes with experiences and memories that will affect our lives in any way.