Taiwan, Taiwan! (& other)
I'm going back to Taiwan from Nov. 21-26, hopefully armed with a fancy-schmancy camera borrowed from work, gobs of energy & determination, and a cheerful outlook on the trip. I'll eat much delicious food (night market stuff, meat buns, noodles with big Fuzhou-style fishballs - I may refuse to waste my time & stomach eating anything I don't really like there), take pictures of everything, maybe hang out with one or two random people, practice my Chinese, be dragged around by the arm by my aunt (who hasn't seen me in two years), see what's going on at home with my parents - see how well we can live with each other for 5-6 days. Is my aunt going to pinch me? Complain now about how I'm too skinny?
I am excited to be going somewhere, to be going out of Japan for the first time in over a year.
And I am going to learn Taipei for myself now, if only briefly. I'm not sure why, but I sense that now I will see and feel everything differently, that Taiwan will take on new meanings for me.
It's unlikely that I will go back to Boston or elsewhere in the U.S. over my New Year break. I realized that I no longer think of Boston as the closest thing to "home" for me. So where do I belong now?
Floating in pieces, caught in the air between half a dozen different past homes.
I have memories of times spent with friends sharing juicy burgers at Bartley's and big dishes at Cheesecake Factory [Everything really does go back to food - It's hard to go without it], I still want to somehow conquer Tokyo and Japan. Of course, Taiwan is there. And China awaits. In January, I may head over to Beijing for a couple days - my first trip to mainland China. It has to be beautiful, and gritty. But really, the last is what comes closest to exciting me the most - something in me thrills at thinking that there are places waiting to be mine. I can't belong anywhere, but I will turn it around and belong everywhere.
You don't recognize my face in Japan, the U.S., Taiwan, Europe, anywhere. You don't think that I'm a real American, or one at all (you immediately pounce on the "my parents are from Taiwan" after I state that I'm American). You don't think I can speak Chinese, you wanna know what sort of mix I am, when it's too complex and hazy for me to bother.
But I'm going to get over being bitter. Someday I'm going to smile at you and tell you about myself. I have friends in multiple countries who I've met through luck or fate, I even have a few people who love me scattered around.
See you soon.
I am excited to be going somewhere, to be going out of Japan for the first time in over a year.
And I am going to learn Taipei for myself now, if only briefly. I'm not sure why, but I sense that now I will see and feel everything differently, that Taiwan will take on new meanings for me.
It's unlikely that I will go back to Boston or elsewhere in the U.S. over my New Year break. I realized that I no longer think of Boston as the closest thing to "home" for me. So where do I belong now?
Floating in pieces, caught in the air between half a dozen different past homes.
I have memories of times spent with friends sharing juicy burgers at Bartley's and big dishes at Cheesecake Factory [Everything really does go back to food - It's hard to go without it], I still want to somehow conquer Tokyo and Japan. Of course, Taiwan is there. And China awaits. In January, I may head over to Beijing for a couple days - my first trip to mainland China. It has to be beautiful, and gritty. But really, the last is what comes closest to exciting me the most - something in me thrills at thinking that there are places waiting to be mine. I can't belong anywhere, but I will turn it around and belong everywhere.
You don't recognize my face in Japan, the U.S., Taiwan, Europe, anywhere. You don't think that I'm a real American, or one at all (you immediately pounce on the "my parents are from Taiwan" after I state that I'm American). You don't think I can speak Chinese, you wanna know what sort of mix I am, when it's too complex and hazy for me to bother.
But I'm going to get over being bitter. Someday I'm going to smile at you and tell you about myself. I have friends in multiple countries who I've met through luck or fate, I even have a few people who love me scattered around.
See you soon.