Of Typhoons and Taiwan
I just got back from Taipei at around 6 this evening after a typhoon. The weather almost did me in, because 1) It could have delayed our flight, and 2) It nearly cost me valuable time with friends on my last day in Taiwan.
An update on the trip:
7/24 Thursday, my brother and I got to Taipei airport around 10 at night. We took the shuttle to the hotel, checked in, and conked out on the stiff-as-wood beds.
7/25 Friday, Nathan and I went out and explored the area around Taipei Main Station. We (re-)discovered the addicting fetish that is basketball hoop-shooting, a game that almost everybody plays, girls and guys alike. We witnessed some pretty amazing feats of double-hand throwing basketballs, and afterwards splurged our money on crane games. That night, I met up with Michelle (yay, Michelle!) after a near disaster with my cell phone not working and me having no way to contact her, and she took me around Gongguan to look at the shops. Afterwards, we stopped by her dorm at Taipei University, where I briefly met a few of her friends and we exchanged the latest study-abroad gossip. I caught the last train at midnight back to my place, but not before I had a good old embarrassing encounter with a member of the Men's Octet, who I recognized on sight (being a member of chorale and all) but didn't know. Cue conk out.
7/26 Saturday, marked more than a year since I last saw Hank--one year and two days, to be exact. We met at 12:30 at the Taipei Main Station North Exit, but I was so nervous about missing him (because my phone still wasn't working) that it wasn't until about 1 that I actually found him standing inside, same as ever. It was a strange but satisfying reunion, and we got into the swing of things fast. After ditching out on the first guy who reeled us into his restaurant (the wait was about 15 minutes), we ended up eating at a place where you cook the meat on the hot plates (the other guy called Hank's cell as we were being seated--很尷尬--"embarrassing," he said :p). It was nice just being able to talk to him again, after so many months of only online chatting and microphone. There were moments (after so long) where I we would pause and look for something to say, but then we started talking about anything and everything without having to worry about what we would say next, something that I haven't been able to do with anybody for a long time since HK or even at home or at school. We talked about life, about the food and service, about the waitress who found out I wasn't native and had a field day with questions ^^
When we finished, we left to walk around the area, and ended up settling down at a coffee shop, where we drank milk tea instead of coffee (because I've never had it and he says it makes him stay awake--sound irrelevant? Ehh, s'okay haha...) and chatted up a storm for about two hours. By the time we finished, not only had we gone over the finest details of life in different countries, talked about Pokemon, reminisced about the year before, and discussed the niceties of our languages and signatures, I had also had a very interesting talk on the phone with his classmate James, who Hank had apparently mentioned me to and who had expressed interest in practicing his English :p I don't think scaring him with picking up the phone in English helped much, although it definitely was...interesting.
After all of this, we made our way by foot towards Xi Men, where he was due for calculating taxes at his workplace in an hour or so. We walked around, not really looking at shops and just strolling and trying to figure out (or at least I was) which fliers to take from whom. Then six o' clock came, we made arrangements for the next time and date to meet--and he went off into his theater to work. At the doorway, we also met up with one of his co-workers, and it was an interesting encounter to see, because I almost never get to see him or anybody "native" chatting with another. They said hello, yadayada, and I made my way back outside to figure out what I was going to do.
But what could I do? I hadn't been told until that afternoon that he was working, and I hadn't made plans for the night. So of course, I call up my trusty (did I mention great?) friend Michelle, and she invites me to dinner with the relatives of hers that I met last summer. We eat beef noodles that are delicious, especially for their price. Then we go to Sogo's, where we look at the most ridiculously overpriced merchandise ever, mess around with their fluffy heart pillows, take some pictures, and make our way down at last to the lowest level, where all of the shopkeepers are bowing us out with their "please come again's."
After a movie at the hotel...conk.
7/27 Sunday, the original plans were beach with Michelle and her relatives--but of course, I always bring the bad weather with me wherever I go. Typhoon is here and the winds are up, which means that the beach is dangerous. Looks like plans are canceled, and I'm in for a day of meandering.
I get a conflicting call from Michelle, who informs me that Wu Zun--a band member of the popular group Fahrenheit--is doing a promotion somewhere near Jiantan. On the one hand, I really want to go--after all, how often do you get to see celebrities? On the other hand, I'm 1) extremely lazy, 2) afraid of getting lost, and 3) not sure what the event is about anyway. I decide not to go, and skip out by shooting hoops with my brother and heading to the internet cafe for an hour or two, where I am stuck in a room with about twenty-odd local guys all playing WOW on their computers. And we were like, "Wow...aren't they cool?" And then we laugh at our own witty pun and continue with our own business. That's the highest ratio of guys:girls that I've probably ever seen in my life at one time.
Then I call Michelle. After all, shouldn't be making qualms about propriety when there are only four days to be had in a place so far away, right? I ask her if she and her relatives have plans, and she says she'll let me know. We end up meeting at the MRT, and we go on to meet up with Lee (her older cousin) and his girlfriend, Rouja (sp?). We eat at this pretty sweet place where they cook the meal on the hot plates right in front of you, no extra charge (so Lee kept saying, comparing it to America's ridiculous rates charged for cooking displays), and we all got goggled a lot at for being so nice and "foreign." Afterwards, we walked around the shops for about an hour or two--stopped by a Dante's coffee shop, where I got a caramel milk tea for the first time in my life (and was sorely disappointed by the lack of sweetness--it smelled sweet) and we all chatted for a long time.
Then came the highlight of the night.
Okay, maybe I overreacted a little. Probably acted a bit annoying, but I was genuinely excited beyond anything else in the world! I got to ride a motorcycle. One of those neat little scooter thingies that Lee and his family had. His girlfriend drove me first down the street, then around the entire few blocks in the area for a total of about four or five minutes of sheer bliss. Then, I got to drive the motorcycle myself! It wasn't too bad at all, and I was nearly shaking with excitement, because it's always been one of my dreams to drive a motorcycle. The turning was a pain, but I got up and down the street all right in the end ^^ After that, Lee suggested that they grab two bikes so that we could head over to Gong Guan and shop some more, and so after a while they came back for us and--yup!--Michelle and I got more riding time. I hopped on with Lee's gf, Michelle with Lee, and off we went! I couldn't stop grinning like the idiot that I was until about 5 minutes after getting off. It was exhilarating. I swear we were nearly knocked over five times and counting.
And that was about it. We went shopping for a while after that, had some delicious red bean pastries, and headed back for our respective homes. They're all so nice, it's strange to think that it's been a year since I've last seen them, and that it will probably be that much time--or longer--before I see them again. But we all had an enjoyable time, and that's most definitely what counts!
7/28 Monday, this morning we arranged the meeting time at 9:30 at Xi Men exit 4. I think I must have turned off my alarm clock, but I was so excited that I woke up in time anyway--with 45 minutes to spare to get ready before heading out. I mean, how do you prepare to see somebody that you've been waiting for months to see and get to see twice before leaving again? At any rate, I somehow managed to get my shoes on the right feet (right and left, for clarification, although I was probably nervous and clumsy enough to have two right feet), and headed out.
They were both late.
At any rate, I'm only kidding! They were, but what did it matter? It was typhoon-ing like crazy outside, and on my way over to the train station my umbrella broke in this wind tunnel sort of street; just clean snapped right on the right half. There was a guy at the very end of the street with the sort of video camera you see the professionals using, so I pulled my flopping umbrella down further and hoped he wouldn't catch me on candid camera for goodness-knows what news station (Hank mused afterwards about me being on Taiwanese news, which would be embarrassing! I later saw at the plane station a picture of two girls getting nearly blown away by the wind, and thanked goodness it wasn't me). Hank got there at around 9:50, and we headed out to find a movie theater so that we could watch WALL-E. Of course, nearly every shop was closed in the typhoon, and with me and my broken umbrella, we had to share in the pouring rain looking for a movie place. Good thing we like each other so well, it didn't turn out to be a complete disaster. In the end, Michelle called and told us she had arrived, and so we turned around to get her. ^^ It was a cutely awkward reunion between the three of us. After a while, though, I'd like to think that we all got comfortable and headed off to find a place to watch the movie--the third theater we went to--and so we bought our tickets and grabbed some breakfast at 7/11 before heading in.
WALL-E was. Supremely. Cute!!! A must-see--extremely cute and touching and moving, even if not entirely memorable for its story. But the whole time during the movie, I just got thinking so much--about the love and the relationship and everything that was/is happening around me--and I do have to commend Pixar for being able to evoke that sort of effect from a member of the audience; and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
Memorable moment: Hank leans over in the middle of the film and asks in a hushed sort of voice, "What's...a hoe-down?"
"It's a kind of dance."
"Ohh. ...我懂了."
Ending, and romance scenes--to die for.
After that, all three of us headed out to a nearby restaurant to catch lunch before I left for the airport. Me, being the ditz that I am, I spot a couple of prize machines that I really, really want to play with the money I have left over (and won't be using anyway). We exchange them for tokens--and just as I'm examining the machines (2 tokens/tries per person!), I notice a poster. A really cute poster. A really cute poster of one of my favorite celebrities. And I'm about to pull out my camera when I realize that the sign says you can't take pictures, and I ask in a quiet voice, "Can we go in and look?"
Michelle and Hank probably think I'm the world's biggest dork. :)
We shop in there for a while, and Hank's asking all of my questions for me, and he's mildly embarrassed because it looks like he's shopping for posters (and pillows, and mugs, and mirrors, and...and everything!!) of cute Asian guys. We decide on a set of posters that might be up for consideration, and head back out to grab lunch.
Of course, there are still the tokens.
So we obviously have to play the machines.
I try my luck first (why does it seem like I'm always the one breaking the awkward ice?) at a game with a really, really cute baby chick inside. I miss. Completely.
Then Hank, who swears he's never won anything before, gives it a go--the claw barely grasps the chick, and we're all thinking how it'll drop when the claw hits the top. Well, we were sort of right. The claw swung at the last moment, and the chick toppled into the prize hole. ^^ So now he has his first prize ever, and it's now sitting stuck to my window--it's coming into bed with me tonight, my own bed buddy! <3
The rest of the tokens are spent in great wastefulness. :)
Then we head downstairs to grab dinner. For about the fifth time this trip (more than I ever got in HK, or when we're not with locals), we get asked where we're from--because obviously, we have issues with our native-looking abilities. I grab a dish that I can't finish even halfway (and feel really bad about, because 1) it's wasteful, and 2) I didn't pay for it, Hank did...), but I'm nervous about leaving Taiwan. We're all chatting--I still look like an idiot, I swear, throughout the entire meal...how do I do it? At one point, I was trying to talk about the baby chick that Hank had won, and I ended up making a Freudian slip--we'll just leave it at that--and the whole table bursts into laughter, and I am SO...
...yeah...humiliation to the max with the friends I love best...good fun...
^^ Anyway, we finished eating and headed over to the MRT. And there, we took a few pictures, and, after a hug and some see-you's, each headed our own way.
And now? Now I'm sitting in my room, having not done anything productive for the past five hours while trying to catch up on my internet time, with my little chick stuck to the window next to me, listening to Wu Yue Tian (mostly), and trying to get myself motivated enough to do some Chinese homework.
And were the four days in Taiwan worth the trouble and the cost?
Most definitely.
<3 Thank you, Hank. I always feel so warm and special around you, and I hope we can go on this way forever.
<3 Thank you, Michelle. You're the best kind of friend a girl could ask for.
<3 Thank you, Nathan and Lee and [Michelle's relatives] and everybody who made my weekend one of the most memorable ever.
Thank you. You guys are all I could ever ask for, and more.
An update on the trip:
7/24 Thursday, my brother and I got to Taipei airport around 10 at night. We took the shuttle to the hotel, checked in, and conked out on the stiff-as-wood beds.
7/25 Friday, Nathan and I went out and explored the area around Taipei Main Station. We (re-)discovered the addicting fetish that is basketball hoop-shooting, a game that almost everybody plays, girls and guys alike. We witnessed some pretty amazing feats of double-hand throwing basketballs, and afterwards splurged our money on crane games. That night, I met up with Michelle (yay, Michelle!) after a near disaster with my cell phone not working and me having no way to contact her, and she took me around Gongguan to look at the shops. Afterwards, we stopped by her dorm at Taipei University, where I briefly met a few of her friends and we exchanged the latest study-abroad gossip. I caught the last train at midnight back to my place, but not before I had a good old embarrassing encounter with a member of the Men's Octet, who I recognized on sight (being a member of chorale and all) but didn't know. Cue conk out.
7/26 Saturday, marked more than a year since I last saw Hank--one year and two days, to be exact. We met at 12:30 at the Taipei Main Station North Exit, but I was so nervous about missing him (because my phone still wasn't working) that it wasn't until about 1 that I actually found him standing inside, same as ever. It was a strange but satisfying reunion, and we got into the swing of things fast. After ditching out on the first guy who reeled us into his restaurant (the wait was about 15 minutes), we ended up eating at a place where you cook the meat on the hot plates (the other guy called Hank's cell as we were being seated--很尷尬--"embarrassing," he said :p). It was nice just being able to talk to him again, after so many months of only online chatting and microphone. There were moments (after so long) where I we would pause and look for something to say, but then we started talking about anything and everything without having to worry about what we would say next, something that I haven't been able to do with anybody for a long time since HK or even at home or at school. We talked about life, about the food and service, about the waitress who found out I wasn't native and had a field day with questions ^^
When we finished, we left to walk around the area, and ended up settling down at a coffee shop, where we drank milk tea instead of coffee (because I've never had it and he says it makes him stay awake--sound irrelevant? Ehh, s'okay haha...) and chatted up a storm for about two hours. By the time we finished, not only had we gone over the finest details of life in different countries, talked about Pokemon, reminisced about the year before, and discussed the niceties of our languages and signatures, I had also had a very interesting talk on the phone with his classmate James, who Hank had apparently mentioned me to and who had expressed interest in practicing his English :p I don't think scaring him with picking up the phone in English helped much, although it definitely was...interesting.
After all of this, we made our way by foot towards Xi Men, where he was due for calculating taxes at his workplace in an hour or so. We walked around, not really looking at shops and just strolling and trying to figure out (or at least I was) which fliers to take from whom. Then six o' clock came, we made arrangements for the next time and date to meet--and he went off into his theater to work. At the doorway, we also met up with one of his co-workers, and it was an interesting encounter to see, because I almost never get to see him or anybody "native" chatting with another. They said hello, yadayada, and I made my way back outside to figure out what I was going to do.
But what could I do? I hadn't been told until that afternoon that he was working, and I hadn't made plans for the night. So of course, I call up my trusty (did I mention great?) friend Michelle, and she invites me to dinner with the relatives of hers that I met last summer. We eat beef noodles that are delicious, especially for their price. Then we go to Sogo's, where we look at the most ridiculously overpriced merchandise ever, mess around with their fluffy heart pillows, take some pictures, and make our way down at last to the lowest level, where all of the shopkeepers are bowing us out with their "please come again's."
After a movie at the hotel...conk.
7/27 Sunday, the original plans were beach with Michelle and her relatives--but of course, I always bring the bad weather with me wherever I go. Typhoon is here and the winds are up, which means that the beach is dangerous. Looks like plans are canceled, and I'm in for a day of meandering.
I get a conflicting call from Michelle, who informs me that Wu Zun--a band member of the popular group Fahrenheit--is doing a promotion somewhere near Jiantan. On the one hand, I really want to go--after all, how often do you get to see celebrities? On the other hand, I'm 1) extremely lazy, 2) afraid of getting lost, and 3) not sure what the event is about anyway. I decide not to go, and skip out by shooting hoops with my brother and heading to the internet cafe for an hour or two, where I am stuck in a room with about twenty-odd local guys all playing WOW on their computers. And we were like, "Wow...aren't they cool?" And then we laugh at our own witty pun and continue with our own business. That's the highest ratio of guys:girls that I've probably ever seen in my life at one time.
Then I call Michelle. After all, shouldn't be making qualms about propriety when there are only four days to be had in a place so far away, right? I ask her if she and her relatives have plans, and she says she'll let me know. We end up meeting at the MRT, and we go on to meet up with Lee (her older cousin) and his girlfriend, Rouja (sp?). We eat at this pretty sweet place where they cook the meal on the hot plates right in front of you, no extra charge (so Lee kept saying, comparing it to America's ridiculous rates charged for cooking displays), and we all got goggled a lot at for being so nice and "foreign." Afterwards, we walked around the shops for about an hour or two--stopped by a Dante's coffee shop, where I got a caramel milk tea for the first time in my life (and was sorely disappointed by the lack of sweetness--it smelled sweet) and we all chatted for a long time.
Then came the highlight of the night.
Okay, maybe I overreacted a little. Probably acted a bit annoying, but I was genuinely excited beyond anything else in the world! I got to ride a motorcycle. One of those neat little scooter thingies that Lee and his family had. His girlfriend drove me first down the street, then around the entire few blocks in the area for a total of about four or five minutes of sheer bliss. Then, I got to drive the motorcycle myself! It wasn't too bad at all, and I was nearly shaking with excitement, because it's always been one of my dreams to drive a motorcycle. The turning was a pain, but I got up and down the street all right in the end ^^ After that, Lee suggested that they grab two bikes so that we could head over to Gong Guan and shop some more, and so after a while they came back for us and--yup!--Michelle and I got more riding time. I hopped on with Lee's gf, Michelle with Lee, and off we went! I couldn't stop grinning like the idiot that I was until about 5 minutes after getting off. It was exhilarating. I swear we were nearly knocked over five times and counting.
And that was about it. We went shopping for a while after that, had some delicious red bean pastries, and headed back for our respective homes. They're all so nice, it's strange to think that it's been a year since I've last seen them, and that it will probably be that much time--or longer--before I see them again. But we all had an enjoyable time, and that's most definitely what counts!
7/28 Monday, this morning we arranged the meeting time at 9:30 at Xi Men exit 4. I think I must have turned off my alarm clock, but I was so excited that I woke up in time anyway--with 45 minutes to spare to get ready before heading out. I mean, how do you prepare to see somebody that you've been waiting for months to see and get to see twice before leaving again? At any rate, I somehow managed to get my shoes on the right feet (right and left, for clarification, although I was probably nervous and clumsy enough to have two right feet), and headed out.
They were both late.
At any rate, I'm only kidding! They were, but what did it matter? It was typhoon-ing like crazy outside, and on my way over to the train station my umbrella broke in this wind tunnel sort of street; just clean snapped right on the right half. There was a guy at the very end of the street with the sort of video camera you see the professionals using, so I pulled my flopping umbrella down further and hoped he wouldn't catch me on candid camera for goodness-knows what news station (Hank mused afterwards about me being on Taiwanese news, which would be embarrassing! I later saw at the plane station a picture of two girls getting nearly blown away by the wind, and thanked goodness it wasn't me). Hank got there at around 9:50, and we headed out to find a movie theater so that we could watch WALL-E. Of course, nearly every shop was closed in the typhoon, and with me and my broken umbrella, we had to share in the pouring rain looking for a movie place. Good thing we like each other so well, it didn't turn out to be a complete disaster. In the end, Michelle called and told us she had arrived, and so we turned around to get her. ^^ It was a cutely awkward reunion between the three of us. After a while, though, I'd like to think that we all got comfortable and headed off to find a place to watch the movie--the third theater we went to--and so we bought our tickets and grabbed some breakfast at 7/11 before heading in.
WALL-E was. Supremely. Cute!!! A must-see--extremely cute and touching and moving, even if not entirely memorable for its story. But the whole time during the movie, I just got thinking so much--about the love and the relationship and everything that was/is happening around me--and I do have to commend Pixar for being able to evoke that sort of effect from a member of the audience; and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
Memorable moment: Hank leans over in the middle of the film and asks in a hushed sort of voice, "What's...a hoe-down?"
"It's a kind of dance."
"Ohh. ...我懂了."
Ending, and romance scenes--to die for.
After that, all three of us headed out to a nearby restaurant to catch lunch before I left for the airport. Me, being the ditz that I am, I spot a couple of prize machines that I really, really want to play with the money I have left over (and won't be using anyway). We exchange them for tokens--and just as I'm examining the machines (2 tokens/tries per person!), I notice a poster. A really cute poster. A really cute poster of one of my favorite celebrities. And I'm about to pull out my camera when I realize that the sign says you can't take pictures, and I ask in a quiet voice, "Can we go in and look?"
Michelle and Hank probably think I'm the world's biggest dork. :)
We shop in there for a while, and Hank's asking all of my questions for me, and he's mildly embarrassed because it looks like he's shopping for posters (and pillows, and mugs, and mirrors, and...and everything!!) of cute Asian guys. We decide on a set of posters that might be up for consideration, and head back out to grab lunch.
Of course, there are still the tokens.
So we obviously have to play the machines.
I try my luck first (why does it seem like I'm always the one breaking the awkward ice?) at a game with a really, really cute baby chick inside. I miss. Completely.
Then Hank, who swears he's never won anything before, gives it a go--the claw barely grasps the chick, and we're all thinking how it'll drop when the claw hits the top. Well, we were sort of right. The claw swung at the last moment, and the chick toppled into the prize hole. ^^ So now he has his first prize ever, and it's now sitting stuck to my window--it's coming into bed with me tonight, my own bed buddy! <3
The rest of the tokens are spent in great wastefulness. :)
Then we head downstairs to grab dinner. For about the fifth time this trip (more than I ever got in HK, or when we're not with locals), we get asked where we're from--because obviously, we have issues with our native-looking abilities. I grab a dish that I can't finish even halfway (and feel really bad about, because 1) it's wasteful, and 2) I didn't pay for it, Hank did...), but I'm nervous about leaving Taiwan. We're all chatting--I still look like an idiot, I swear, throughout the entire meal...how do I do it? At one point, I was trying to talk about the baby chick that Hank had won, and I ended up making a Freudian slip--we'll just leave it at that--and the whole table bursts into laughter, and I am SO...
...yeah...humiliation to the max with the friends I love best...good fun...
^^ Anyway, we finished eating and headed over to the MRT. And there, we took a few pictures, and, after a hug and some see-you's, each headed our own way.
And now? Now I'm sitting in my room, having not done anything productive for the past five hours while trying to catch up on my internet time, with my little chick stuck to the window next to me, listening to Wu Yue Tian (mostly), and trying to get myself motivated enough to do some Chinese homework.
And were the four days in Taiwan worth the trouble and the cost?
Most definitely.
<3 Thank you, Hank. I always feel so warm and special around you, and I hope we can go on this way forever.
<3 Thank you, Michelle. You're the best kind of friend a girl could ask for.
<3 Thank you, Nathan and Lee and [Michelle's relatives] and everybody who made my weekend one of the most memorable ever.
Thank you. You guys are all I could ever ask for, and more.