my life as it is

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