Update #1
Hello from Taipei! I'm sitting here completely jetlagged, so I thought I'd write my first update.
Ohhh where to start, where to start?
My flight was not dreadful, but not wonderful either. Boarding sucked. We left Detroit late because a flight that connected to Detroit from Newark was delayed and like, 25 people were supposed to be on it. I probably could have taken a nap and woken up and we'd still be on Earth.
On the flight, I sat by two Americans: Allison and another kid whose name I never learned. I made pretty good friends with Allison who is moving to Taiwan for a year to teach English. Between her, the white kid, and myself, we had some nice conversations, traded food we didn't like ("You want my shrimp?" "Yeah. You want my tomatoes?" "Sure."), and made fun of this old, man flight attendant who would reply stuff like "rock on dudes" when we'd thank him for our pepsi and pretzels.
Foodwise: beef with mashed potatoes and green beans, sandwiches and twix (yessss for the twix), rubbery omlets with potatoes and sausages (bleh), and curry chicken with rice.
Movies/TV: George Lopez, The Pacifier, Guess Who (I think that's what it's called, it has Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher and I think Jada Pinkett Smith?), and Because of Winnie Dixon (a cheesy kids movie about a girl who loses their dog)
Me? Read up to page 88 in Dusan's poker book (taught myself how to calulate poker percentages), slept, listened to this amazing jazz station on my sucky headphones.
Got off at Osaka, went through really slow security with half of the plane, got back on at Osaka boarding late. Aside from sitting next to Allison, I sat next to this old Taiwanese man who reminds me of my grandpa kinda. He pulled out a little box and I thought they were cigarettes, but they were actually cards. I asked if he knew how to play poker but I don't think he even knew what poker was! He shuffled the cards and looked at 10 at a time probably rearranging them in his head for something, and then he fell asleep shuffling the cards. 3ish hours after the departure from Osaka, we got to Taipei. It was almost an hour to get off the plane, go through money exchange, go through customs, and find my luggage.
My Aunt Joyce, Uncle Bill, Hans, and Tim picked me up for the hourish drive back to their apartment in Taipei where Uncle Kevin, his new wife Aunt Demi, and new baby who has no English name were waiting. I love my Aunt Joyce to bits and pieces! She was so excited when picking me up, and on top of that she's set up my air condition in a room where I have two beds and all the privacy I want. And then on top of that, she cut up some really juicy mango and is taking me shopping at nightmarkets, shopping in department stores, out for good food, and to awesome parks and mountains.
It is so hot here I am sweating from just blinking and typing, and on top of that it's nighttime so I can't imagine what tommorrow will be like when the sun is out. My Uncle Bill says that the best time of the year is September through December when the temperatures are warm, but not hot. I have also realized that my Chinese is much worse than I thought, and I find that even though I know words, I can't think of them when I hear them.
Renting a typical movie here from Blockbuster is $3NT for two days. That's like 10 cents in America. I asked my Aunt Joyce three times if she really meant $3NT or $3 US dollars but I think I'm going to verify that fact with her again tomorrow.
The downside: missed a wedding I really wanted to be at and am missing a reunion type thing.
The upside: my uncle has a reeeally nice Nikon that's 5.0 Megapixels, so lucky for you that means pictures :)