A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

“The thing I remember best about successful people I've met all through the years is their obvious delight in what they're doing, and it seems to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what they're doing, and they love it in front of others.”  – Fred Rogers

 

Read this this morning in my “Inspiring Quotes” e-mails and it well describes my joyful day yesterday working with some 25 International School teachers. Teaching a 6-hour Saturday workshop (and 2 hours on Friday night) after five days of working with kids doesn’t sound from the outside like a good plan, but Mr. Rogers got it right. I love what I do and I love doing it in front of (and side-by-side with) others. 

So at the end of the day, I was yet more energized and happy than I was at the beginning. My worldly success is modest, but just right to allow me do keep doing more of it. Some part of me has waited my whole life for my ship to come in and imagined it as a big luxury cruiser. But it’s time to accept that it’s a kayak or canoe or rowboat and that this not only is enough, but probably preferable. Intimate, slow, keeping me exercised as I paddle myself and allowing me sometimes to just drift and put my hands in the cool, refreshing water.

 

Now it’s Sunday and I have an unexpected day all to myself. (I actually thought my weekend workshop was going to be two days, so a nice surprise!). Time to get out into the Taipei neighborhood and wander aimlessly as I love to do. Besides one walk up and down 3,000 stairs and another ramble along a canal path, my cultural immersion in Taipei has been limited to a three block walk to and from the school, where I’m doing work in English that I could be doing anywhere. 

 

If any armchair traveler was hoping for some vicarious refreshment being in another place through my descriptions, I understand your disappointment. I can extoll an amazing health care system that gave me an appointment with no wait, diagnosed my Meniere’s syndrome attack, gave me medicine and the whole package (medicine included) costs about $33.00! (And seems to have worked, as I finally feel wholly myself—no jet lag, no dizziness or lightheadedness, no back pain. Such a relief!) The workshop folks and I had a wonderful dinner Lazy Susan style with excellent Chinese dishes circulating around. I’m on my own for dinner each night and have tried a few Taiwanese restaurants, but also confess that I’ve gone twice to a Middle Eastern restaurant with falafel, tabouli, Greek salad, chicken shwarma and more. There is a Starbucks one block away, but I have not entered its doors. I’m finding myself missing IPA beer. 

 

The city itself isn’t aesthetically pleasing by my standards, doesn’t lift me up with well-laid out streets and intriguing neighborhoods, lovely parks and beautiful buildings and storefronts. Everything feels a bit helter-skelter, at least where I am. However, it is impeccably clean and haven’t seen a single homeless person—pay attention, San Francisco! I’m surprised how many signs are only in Chinese without English translations. And as mentioned, the weather has been unseasonably cold and overcast and rainy. Literally have not seen the sun in my eight days here, though I’ve heard promises that it’s on its way. Today I hope to be a full-blooded tourist and take the Metro to the Chiang Kai-shek center. 

 

Whether or not the sun decides to make an appearance, this happy traveler agrees with Mr. Rogers— it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.