05/28/11: 6:28 AM, Location: Taipei, Taiwan (2)

05/28/11: 6:28 AM, Location: Taipei, Taiwan

Just landed in Taiwan. It’s pouring sheets of rain and it’s already 70 degrees F at 6:30 AM in the morning. However, this is cool and “comfortable” by Taiwan standards (I’m quoting off the weather update billboard. I let out a very attractive snort when I walked past it). I got held back in Customs and shadily ushered into a separate corner because apparently, someone has a fake Philippines Passport under my name. Awesome. This trip is off to an auspicious start. The lady behind the counter gave me a very shifty-eyed “Sorry, the computer is running slow this morning” before a man in an official-looking uniform came to take me away. Then at the counter the dialogue went something like this.

“Do you have a Phillippines passport?”

“…What?”

“I said, do you, or have you ever, held a Phillippines passport?”

“Umm…Not that I know of.”

“Hmm…”

(Shady whisperings between official and three other officials behind desk)

“May I see your passport?”

(I hand it over)

“It’s AMERICAN.” (More whispering)

After about five minutes, they handed back my passport and said, “Just the same name.” and then they let me take the diplomat shortcut to the luggage carousel. SCORE.

I slept through most of the thirteen-hour flight. As it turns out, Seat 55 H was actually an aisle seat. Praise the Lord. I ended up sitting next to two very nice young people: one lady from Ireland who is currently working/studying in San Francisco and on her way to Bangkok to rendez-vous with her younger sisters, and one young man who is a Vietnamese international student studying at Mission College. We had very interesting conversation and I am pleased to report that only once did either of them need to step over me to use the lavatories (Unless this happened at any time while I was sleeping. Then that’d be kinda creepy.)

Right now, I’m on a bus to Yuan Shan MRT station. The ticket cost 125 NT, which is close to $4. Way cheaper than BART, that’s for sure. Then, I’ll be taking the MRT (which is the cleaner Taiwanese version of BART) to Danshui where my grandparents live. After that, I will be taking the red 38 bus up to my grandparent’s apartment. All this shall be done with me lugging around a 4 pound backpack and a 19 pound suitcase. I’m going to get so FIT in Taiwan, YES. My uncle is out of town so my grandparents were unable to pick me up. But regardless, I wouldn’t want them waking up early to take the two-hour drive down to the airport to pick me up from a flight that lands at 5:50 AM. You just don’t do that to old people. My grandma was all worried that I would get kidnapped. My Mom laughed and was far too nonchalant when she said, “No way.” I think I should be flattered by her vote of confidence. Anyways, I love traveling alone because it means that there’s no time crunch or inability to leave people behind. I can spend as much time doing whatever I want and spend as little time doing things I don’t want. I’m a speedy tourist. Haha. THIS IS SO TOTALLY AWESOME. :D

I’m going to be budgeting and tracking my expenses through this blog. It is my goal to spend as little money as possible while having as much fun as possible. My Mom said it was impossible. WATCH ME. D: Last summer, my sister and I unwittingly spent over $1000 in souvenirs and food (mostly food). I am determined to compensate this year by being as miserly as possible to myself. Still, I can’t wait to lavish my attention on the patients and students this year. One of the things I’ve been praying for the most is love. Not (just) in the romantic sense. Haha. I feel that in the past years, I’ve been operating at increasing levels of apathy with my students. This year, I hope to become so attached that I WEEP when I have to leave them. No joke. WEEP. Also, I hope to be one of those hospital volunteers who calls everyone by name and knows all their life stories. Ambitious? Yes. Possible? By God’s grace, definitely.

OK. I hope to be blogging regularly, but I won’t have internet access all the time. This may be a problem because I need to write a time-sensitive email to a professor this weekend. Still, I’ll pray for some sort of internet café or something. Anyways, I’ll probably upload in huge chunks at a time. Until then, you may breathlessly await my next cyber logorrhea.

Expenditures:

Bus Ride to Taipei: 125 NT

MRT to Danshui: 45 NT

Bus ride to Grandparent’s House: 15 NT