Things just kinda.. happen.: First full day

Today was my first full day in Taiwan. A bit about the journey here though...

I took three flights to get to Taiwan: From NYC to Washington D.C., from D.C. to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Taipei. I almost missed my first flight - got to the terminal two hours early and decided at some point that it would be a good idea to take a nap. The scheduled departure time was at 11:26 AM. I passed out at the gate and woke up at 11:40 AM. Luckily, I woke up to them calling my name on the intercom and I sprinted to the front, apologizing profusely. Missing that flight would've meant missing all of my flights and that would have been all sorts of buhao.

On all three of the flights I took, I sat next to no one. Which is sad. I enjoy meeting people on airplanes, partially because I know I'll never see them again. Or maybe I will, and it would be awesome. But most likely not. So I just slept a lot. 18 hours in the air is a lot of time for nothing. On the 13 hour trip from D.C. to Tokyo, each seat had its own touchscreen entertainment center and I watched the bollywood film 3 Idiots, which was, as is with any Aamir Khan film, an awesome movie and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone else.

Anyway, back to Taiwan. It's been thirteen years since I have last been in Taiwan; I was in second grade, and attended elementary school in Taipei for two months. My parents and my little brother now live in Hsinchu, which is about an hour's drive southwest of Taipei.

My day started off bight and early at 8AM. I went with Harrison to get breakfast from some local shops. It cost $5 total to feed the both of us; we ordered dan bing jia rou song, dan bing jia you tiao, xiao long bao, dou jiang, and shao bing you tiao. I didn't bring my camera so unfortunately there aren't any pictures. It was all delicious, except for the rou song; that was a little dry and I didn't have any drinks to complement this meal.

So the apartment is pretty nice, but has a lot of security. You need a key to get in AND out, so at this point, I couldn't really leave the place by myself. I also didn't have a phone, so I couldn't call people to let me in either. So we headed back, and Harrison went off to take care of some stuff, and I took a nap for a couple hours. For lunch, Dad took us to his workplace where he ate with us at the cafeteria with his co-workers. I had some sort of pork chop over rice (with other things). It was pretty good and cheap ($2). I realized how hard it is to tell Asian peoples' ages here... one of my dad's coworkers is in her 30s and about to have a second child. I thought she was in her mid-20s. Some employees who walked by (they were wearing employee ID cards) looked like they could be in middle school. You really can't tell.

Afterwards, we went to Winston's school so I could ask if I could sit in some classes the next week. They were fine with it. The school is an international school, and had a bit of a weird atmosphere; I can't really pinpoint what made me feel so awkward. Next, Harrison and I took a bus to Taipei. Even the bus was cheap! For an hour-long trip, we only paid ~$3.25. We went to Taipei to visit my mom at her workplace; she also wanted to buy us shoes and show us a bakery. Then we went to the old apartment, where my uncle's family and grandparents lived.

We took a road that passed by the old elementary school. Now I don't remember much, and I'm sure my friends can attest to my horrific memory, but I do have very vivid memories from going to school here in Taipei. I remember the courtyard in the school, where we all ran around being kids. I remember the school shop, where we bought plastic model airplanes to fly around. I remember the supermarket on the way to school, where we bought Kinder chocolate eggs with plastic toys in the middle (assembly required). I remember how to get to the school from the apartment, and vice versa. Dude, I even remember where my 2nd grade crush lives - no, I was not a creeper at age 7, I did walk her back home once. She lived along the path to school. Everything I saw in this area sparked memories hidden in the back of my head. Everything, including the door to the apartment to the damp smell of the streets.

When we entered the apartment (Harrison had keys), no one was home. I was pretty bored so I picked up a guitar and started playing for the first time. Tried playing various segments of various Kina Grannis songs, some successful and some not. Slowly, in groups, the rest of the household came home, and things were fairly lively. I had not seen one of my cousins, Yu Hang, in thirteen years. He's fourteen years old now and I didn't even recognize him. He has a little brother, nicknamed "Ai-di-gu", who is a cute little ball filled with energy. I thought Aidigu was Yu Hang at first, until he walked in, and I was confused and had to ask my grandma in a low voice "shei shi shei?" (who is who?)

We ate, talked, my mom joined us after she got out of work (in Taipei), and it was a very comfortable family setting. I realized that I haven't had this type of feeling in a long time, mostly because my cousins within the US are all grown up, as I will be soon. Having a little kid around the house just makes the atmosphere so much more different. I spent a lot more time with Aidigu than I did with Yu Hang, simply because communicating with Aidigu didn't require a strong understanding of Chinese. I could easily handle such low level communication with my broken Chinese, but since Yu Hang, didn't speak much English, I couldn't hold much of a conversation with him.

After some time, I went back to Hsinchu with my mom. Took the high speed rail. Opted for a taxi instead of a bus for the final stretch back to the apartment complex. I'm glad too, since it started pouring right after we got into the taxi. Sucks, because I wanted to get some food from the local nightmarket.

I can't promise posts of this length for every day, but I'll try to keep up with what I do during my time here.

Apartment in Hsinchu