Filed under: Home
Arrived at around 5:15 AM. We were lucky enough to get a direct bus to 彰化 for a change. Now I know which buses have the private equipment. The amenities on the bus were way better than those on the plane, which is pretty pathetic. What kind of plane doesn’t offer a personal screen for movies, video games, and music while flying international? You can get all of that on a two-hour ride on a bus. Sad.
I had a major culture shock once we got off. Technically, Loveboat impaired my last trip, so I haven’t truly been back in five years. Mandarin isn’t spoken often in this part of the country, and the Taiwanese I learned this past semester only helps my ears. My mouth is as mute as a rock. Nevertheless, my first day was booked with stuff. Took a taxi, walked in the pouring rain, drew blood at a hospital, took an x-ray, went to a grand opening of a market, saw some old faces, saw a white guy, met a group of Indonesians, ate 肉圓 & 碗粿, got honked at a billion times, shopped, etc. Some of that stuff is pretty unusual though. I hate how there is almost no regard for pedestrians here. Foreigners are a very uncommon sight where I’m at. And if you have to see a doctor, go to a legit hospital.
Apparently, a lot of businesses here will be closed for the weekend beginning tomorrow for 端午節. I think I’ve only been here once or twice for that previously, and I was only in grade school, so I don’t remember much from it. Hopefully, I’ll get to see some sort of celebrating here.
10:29 PM. I’m so tired from that red eye flight.
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – St. Augustine
Filed under: Home | Tags: ears, exam, finals, juvenile delinquency, sleep, summer, Taiwan, withdrawal
At last. The moment has arrived. It is so nice to be able to sleep in and not worry about anything. I wish life was always like this.
The last few days of the semester were excruciating painful. I racked up many hours of sleep debt. Still, I haven’t pulled an all-nighter yet. I filled up an entire blue book, front and back, for my last final. If only juvenile delinquency didn’t exist, then I wouldn’t have to endure right hand pains for the kids. When they called time, my right pinky was entirely gray. Flipping through the pages of the blue book, I saw my handwriting slowly evolve (or simplify?) from a mature college student to an uncontrollable kindergartner. Yeah, my hand pretty much died.
Nevertheless, I’m glad I didn’t withdraw from Berkeley. When I got really sick last month, I didn’t make it to most of my classes. And when you miss one lecture, you miss a lot. At least that’s the case for my classes. So I stared at the page for more than half an hour before deciding against it. I figured that with three weeks left, it was worth the drive to keep going.
I finally got my ears pierced after that final. It’s been almost two years since I first thought about it. It was really a decision from a whim of now or never, since I was leaving for Taiwan in a few days. I’m glad I went through with it that day, even though I was running on two hours of sleep from the night before and felt really lightheaded from not eating anything before the exam. The pain wasn’t bad at all. I think I thought it was going to be really painful and prepped myself for it. I’m totally going back. And I’m probably going to be chided for it.
I’m leaving for Taiwan tomorrow night. If you will be there, please let me know! I’d love to meet up. (09) 8163-9419. Good for 5/26 to 6/21.
I should get packing. Have a wonderful summer!
