Taiwan-Bound!

Today I bought my airplane tickets to Taipei. I am so excited! Also slightly terrified because I am going by myself, and I know nothing about Taiwan; I don't even know how to say "Hi" in Mandarin and/or Taiwanese (both are spoken in Taiwan). Guess I will have to learn. It's also a bit scary because it's not like I am staying with a friend. I have traveled a lot, but I usually had a friend/family member I was always with, or I was staying with a friend who could give me suggestions and their house served as my home base, etc. This time I have nothing of the sort. The good thing is that a high school friend from back home used to live in Taiwan and she still has friends there. She is going to give me their contact information so that in case I ever need help or anything happens I have someone to contact. I am grateful for this. I also have a college friend who goes to medical school in Singapore, and his girlfriend is Taiwanese, so he's been helping me out, too.

This Friday I will be taking the Foreign Service exam. I received permission from work to leave at noon to take the test in Seoul (I have to be there by 1:30pm, and it will take me roughly an hour to arrive to the site. I would like to have time for a quick lunch in Seoul before such a long and arduous test). It is estimated about 80% of people do not pass their first time. I do not expect to pass, but I see this as a way to see what my strengths and weaknesses are so that when I take the test again next year I am prepared. I joined a Yahoo study group and it is funny how much people are stressing, and want to know every minute detail about the test. It reminds me of college: these are the major overachievers. But not overachievers in a good way; they are the annoying ones. It gets a little irritating when my inbox is inundated with "I just took the test. This section went smoothly, but the other one I should have answered this way..." or "I'm sure I did well. I know I'm going to go on to the next step" blah blah blah; as in they give no useful information, and actually think we all care how they did. Not to sound mean, but I don't know these people, and I could care less whether they think they passed or not. It is me I am most concerned about. This test and this career are super competitive. Thankfully, I have my job in Korea to fall back on for a while should it take me a while to pass the test.

Alright, time to get back to work. There is so much to be done before the weekend!

-AALA