Taking on Taiwan: The Buzz About Buxibans

Not less than twenty-four hours after touching down in Taipei the second time, I was sitting in a lecture hall among forty other men and women.  Some of them were the same age as I was, while others were older with far more teaching credentials than I had.  Exhaustion filled me, mostly because I’d spent much of the night chatting with my roommate and one of my now good friends, Rona, after she arrived as well.  We awaited our training leaders to start what would be a week’s worth of learning how to teach and more about the HESS curriculum.

What Happens After Your Last Game

I remember the first time I stepped foot on the ice in hockey skates.  At nine years old, I had donned figure skates for six years leading up to that, but nothing could prepare me for the dozens of bruises and bumps I had all over my body as I got used to life without toe picks.  But yet, despite every fall and a few stifled laughs from my teammates that summer, I kept on trying.  Thirteen years later, I would step on the ice for the last time, wearing my collegiate uniform and equipment way larger than the first set of pads I wore way back when.