There Goes the Dream...

Well, people, after all most 4 months of living the good life, it is going to come to an end. On Monday.

What I mean is, I will be starting "work" on Monday. And by work, I mean an internship. With no pay, of course. JOY.

I guess I can't really complain, since I don't need the money anyway (thanks Mom & Dad!), but still, it would be nice to work for something other than the few lines that will be added to my resume.. but I won't get started on un-paid internships because that is a whole other topic that I could rant for days about.

Anyway, the wheels started turning on this little plan long before I even landed in Taipei. My parents decided that I could not spend a whole year in Taiwan doing nothing but learning Chinese (because, you know, Chinese is such an easy language to learn and all..............) so they decided to call up a distant relative and offer them my free labor.

Now, call me naive, but I kind of thought I would just stroll into the office one day, be shown to an office, given a couple of the standard office supplies and be put to work, but no, no. I assure you I was quite mistaken.. and quite surprised when I was asked for my resume. And then told it was going through HR. And then called to come in for an interview.

So much for the "casual internship" I thought I was signing up for.

So anyway, no big deal, played dress up and put on some business casual outfit that hasn't seen the light of day since last Spring, practiced some Chinese phrases on the walk over to the office ("Hello, I'm Jessica. Wait.. what do I say after that? And how do I say it in Chinese? Ok, calm down, this will be fine. Just be yourself. How do I be myself in CHINESE??? Hello, I'm Jessica. Hello, I'm Jessica......."), showed up 10 minutes early ("YES! good move, me."), got put in a conference room to wait for the HR lady, politely made tiny sips at the water given to me (I mean, hello, I don't want to have to pee during the interview), looked around at brochures on Guam ("excellent.. they do tourism. this is looking up.")...

then a lady walks in and says: "Can you please start by translating these two articles?"

me (in Chinese): "....................um, the thing is, I don't know if my Chinese is good enough........."

interviewer lady: ".........................."

me: "Ok, I'll try!"

OH. MY. GOD. You have to be kidding me. At this exact moment I'm silently cursing myself and my parents and the situation because, let's face it guys, if someone showed you an article in Chinese I'm pretty sure you'd be like What. The. F***. Do. You. Expect. Me. To. Do. With. This. which is exactly how I felt. Surprisingly, I found that I recognized most characters in the article. The only thing about Chinese is, even if you recognize one character, once you put two or three characters together, it means a totally. different. thing. So I did what any smart kid in my situation would do: the most general and probably RETARDED summary I've ever done.

Oh, and have I mentioned the article was about environmentalism, the UN, and the COPENHAGEN MEETING ON GREENHOUSE EMISSION GASSES. In a very fortunate turn of events for me (thank you Big Man Upstairs), I had just learned how to say UN quite literally the day before. But of course, I had no idea that a certain four characters meant "greenhouse emission gasses" or "Copenhagen" for that matter, so that was really fun.

Anyway, after the article episode, a lady walks in with my application (which I also had to fill out in Chinese--what do these people not get about me NOT BEING ABLE TO READ CHINESE) and my summaries and I'm so embarrassed because by now I know she's read it and probably thinks I'm one of the dumbest people she's ever met. But to my surprise she pretty much tried to sell me the internship (it's like my parents said after all: I'm not completely stupid, and more importantly, nobody turns down free help).

After a lot of hoo-haw and boring nonsense that you really don't need to know about, she basically asked me to re-email my resume to her once more as well as a writing sample. I got an email today saying they want me on the team and I will be starting Monday.

Goodbye dream life.

Day Trip to JiuFen!

Finally a day out of Taipei! My friend Lucia and I decided to check out JiuFen, an old city north of Taipei because our teacher told us about the old streets and good food (of course, what else would motivate me to move??) there.

40 minutes on the train and a short (but crowded) bus ride later, we were there! At the top of a hill, where the old streets are. As soon as we entered the old streets, it was like food left and right, and all kinds of yummy things to eat! Noodles, wontons, buns, tofu, desserts, drinks, everything everywhere!

Before the masses of people showed up

SNAILS. Yes, someone eats this stuff. Who, I have no idea... but apparently someone does.

So of course, we started eating right away, and the day passed as basically a "gastronomical adventure" as Lu called it. We just sampled and shared our way through the whole market. Continuously eating and "window" shopping (minus the windows...) It was like a maze in there, the old streets were fairly narrow, and all looked the same. As it got later in the day, more and more people started showing up, until it was super crowded (yes, you guessed it: more tour groups. kill me.)

The day started out so beautiful: a sunny day with clear skies and a perfectly cool but not too cool breeze, but in about 15 minutes at around 2:30 PM, the weather changed completely! All of a sudden the fog rolled in and it was SO windy, like a freaking monsoon! So we ducked into a small coffee shop and had afternoon tea!

When we started our return journey home, I ran over to the bus stop to ask the driver which bus we were looking for and he snapped at me in his answer! I asked again just to make sure, which number we were looking for? And he YELLED at me: just go over by the 7-11!!! I was in total shock, I've never been yelled at by a stranger before!

Anyway, in the end, we found a bus that took us directly back to Taipei, so we hopped on and listened to Chinese music and slept the whole way back :) What a yummy day!

National Palace Museum

So this week I've been on vacation from classes, because the school gives us a week and a half's worth of break before the next quarter starts! I can't believe I'll already be starting my second quarter of class, and I can't believe I've been here three months now! Time flies...

Anyway, after vegging and being a hermit in my apartment for a few days, I decided to finally get my butt out and check out the National Palace Museum. The collection is pretty big and it's one of the tourist destinations in Taipei!

It was really fun, actually, even though I went by myself! My favorite exhibit was one that showed these curio boxes, they're basically like keepsake boxes, except they have a ton of little drawers and pull-outs and hidden compartments. Apparently, the kings used to like keeping their most precious knick knacks in these boxes, so the whole process of looking at their treasures was a cool thing in itself!

There was also another exhibit that showed precious stones carved into weird things... like a chinese cabbage, or a piece of meat. Sounds weird, but.. actually, it was weird. haha

The only damper on my day was in this weird stone exhibit. The tour groups (god, I hate them, gives me bad memories of all the museums we went to in Europe...). Need I say more?? Except, and I hate to come down on my people like this, but they were Asian tour groups, which is possibly worse. This old Chinese lady literally shoved me against the wall in order to get to the front and see the meat-looking rock. And then once she pushed me out of the way, all the other old people in her tour group seemed to think it was ok too, because next thing I know, I'm pushed up against the wall with a bunch of 5-foot tall Asian elderly folk pushing their way past me to see the meat rock.

True story. What is my life coming to?? Being shoved up against a wall by an 80+ year old woman?? Sad sad day.

Anyways, after wandering around the museum I decided to check out the "traditional chinese gardens" on site as well. But sadly some of the ponds had been drained of their water! So it didn't feel very traditional or authentic at all :( it was still really pretty though, and peaceful and serene..

I will say, however, that I don't know what they're feeding the fish there because I have never seen bigger koi fish in my ENTIRE. LIFE. It could probably eat a small child. Actually it definitely could.

see?? Wouldn't you be frightened? They should put up signs that say "Please watch your children" as a safety precaution. really.

Hot Hot Heat in November... Am I Still in LA???

Yeah, who woulda thunk.

31C in November. What the Hell.

31 may not seem that hot, but given the fact that a) it's November and b) it's not just hot in Taipei, but HUMID as well... well, it sucks.

I was just starting to get excited about wearing jeans, closed-toed shoes, and shirts with sleeves again, and then wham bam! The heat wave hits. And this is right after 2 earthquakes in one day. (side note: I was so deliriously tired when the first earthquake hit that I was sitting in my chair and I thought I was going crazy... until I looked at my closet and saw all my clothes shaking.. then I wondered if I should move under my doorway or not... and decided I was going to be fine. Oh, and I entirely didn't know there was a second one. haha)

What is this world coming to?!?! An end, that's what I think.

This is not normal. I'm convinced.

Just another reason why we need to take care of Mother Earth people! Please start recycling, turning off lights, stop wasting water and littering, and go plant a freaking tree because I can't handle fitting both my summer and winter clothes into this tiny closet.

On another note, I miss In-n-Out.

It's Only Wednesday!!!

Wow, this is definitely the longest week I've ever had (since being in Taipei)!!!

Not only is this Halloween week (which means I have to be creative and find a costume...) but I also had TOP tests this week (see below) AND the USC Global Conference is this week!!!

To be honest, Halloween is not a big deal in Taipei (did you see that one coming??). However, since I am a foreigner, I am still allowed to get excited about these things. Since this holiday isn't that big here, there are only a few places to *rent* (yes, rent) Halloween costumes. Now, you may think this is really gross and unsanitary (like myself) but Taiwanese people apparently don't mind sharing (everything) at all... but can you believe it, it was like $60US (which is like $2,000NT... to give you a point of comparison, I can get a full meal, and be full off of about $50NT)!!!

TOP tests are like standardized tests to gage your level of Chinese fluency. The test was given over three sessions on three separate days: listening/reading, speaking, and writing. The listening/reading was easy, the speaking harder than I thought (they asked what kind of animal I'd be and why... I don't even know how to answer that in English!!!), and the writing was OK... It wasn't a big deal until this morning when I had to get to school at 8:10 to take the two-hour writing test. Yuck. But now it's over (thank God) and I'll get my results (hopefully) soon!

The USC Global Conference--ahhh!! So excited! I'm helping out behind the scenes of the USCGC, which is being held in Taipei this year! Basically it's a bunch of lectures by USC professors and Taiwanese professionals on a variety of hot topics--business in Asia, business's affect on the environment, etc. and a great opportunity to meet people! All fine and dandy till they told me I have to wear a suit tomorrow... and I, the genius that I am, left ALL my business clothes at home in Saratoga. GENIUS.

So anyway, since it's the longest week of my life, I'm missing all my friends from back home!!! Here are a couple reasons why:

From Saaya, sent at 1 PM:

dear jessica li,

please send me some hotpot. weekly is preferred, but bi-monthly is also acceptable. i trust that your asian-ness will allow you to figure out the logistics of sending warm liquids in the mail in record time.

k great thanks bye.

oh ps. and some 小龍包 too. 一，二，三！

My reply, sent at 6 PM:

dear miss sorrells-weatherford,

unfortunately, no amount of "asian-ness" will permit me to send you liquids (hot, warm, cool, or room temperature) through the mail. i'm afraid if i attempt such a dangerous act i will be attacked by all four corners by little taiwanese men--i mean police guards--and subsequently put into a taiwanese jail. neither of which sound remotely appealing to me. looks like you'll have to fly over here if you want some real (did i mention all-you-can-eat?) hotpot. oh, and 小龍包. which, by the way, are delicious.

ps: GET YOUR HARAJYUKU BUTT OVER HERE!!!

yours affectionately,

jessica li

From Saaya, sent at 7 PM:

dear ms. li,

i guess i have no choice but to go to taiwan to enjoy the hot-potness and 小龍包. *sigh* while my wallet may not enjoy this new arrangement, no doubt my stomach and general well-being* will enjoy this very much. let me peruse my incredibly packed calender (ie see which ten days out of the month i am working) and perhaps convince my parents that this would be a phenomenal... late halloween present.

*excluding my waistline. i have no doubt this area will be unhappy with me. but TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Miss you Saaya Baaya!!

Haha... remember this???

(Just chugged a LITER of water to not waste my water and get through security, only to realize we had to wait 30 minutes to board the plane anyway...)

FIELD TRIP!!!

So last week my class and another class took a field trip to 淡水 or DanShui! The purpose of the field trip was actually to visit three specific locations so that we could go home and write about our trip (in Chinese obviously) and present it in class, powerpoint included. We were all paired off with a person from the other class, so it was nice to make new friends!

Of course, I meant to arrive on time, but was 20 minutes late. How embarrassing... as soon as I arrived (last one of course) we all headed off to the first stop: a shop selling all kinds of traditional goodies from DanShui!

This store specialized in cakes filled with all kinds of different fillings: sweet and savory, including pineapple, curry, pork, red bean paste (not like kidney beans haha, red beans are a kind of popular bean in Asia, and when you mash it up to make paste it's sweet. same with "green beans." We don't eating mashed up American green beans, I promise you.)!

Carol & all the free samples :)

David, 老師 (my teacher), and Carol!

We were supposed to interview to shop workers about the history of the place, because it's apparently famous, but none of them would give us the time of day because we were obviously students with no money to buy products haha!

Our next stop was a very, very old temple:

outside

inside

it was pretty boring inside... not much to report. except these weird red wooden pieces that you are supposed to throw on the floor and ask yes/no questions to the gods, pretty crazy. if one lands face up and the other face down, it means yes... i forget what the "no" was...

Next Stop: weird statue, but i'm going to skip over that because it was so lame, and go straight to the fun stuff, aka lunch.

this is called ah-gei, and it's basically a tofu box with yummy yummy clear noodles inside, and covered in this sweet and salty sauce, and it's delicious. And did I mention this was only $1??? It was so good I'm contemplating going all the way back to DanShui (an hour and a half ride on the MRT) just to eat it again!!!

Carol & Eric copying answers. cheaters. hahaha

After lunch we walked around, bought some more traditional snacks, and then headed to 紅樓, quite literally translated as Red Multi-Story building. hahaha! Anyway, it's an old three-story building that is now a cafe/restaurant at the top of a hill in DanShui, and you can sit up there and drink (really yummy) fruit tea, and eat, and take in the beautiful view!

We all sat down, ate, and relaxed for a bit (aka my favorite part of the field trip) and afterwards everyone wanted to go home, but since it took me SO long to get there, my friend Lucia and I decided to stay on. We basically just wandered along the water, and walked back to the MRT stop, shopped, ate, talked :) along the water there were a bunch of little snack stands as well as like carnival games!

DanShui was beautiful, definitely going back. Especially because word on the street is there's a great MEXICAN FOOD place there!!!!!

Things I miss about America V.1

*note: I realize the "version 1" may seem unnecessary now, but I foresee many more of these posts, so I also foresee the need to make this the official first one, because you know, it could get confusing later if this is just blank, then it's like "should I make the next one 1? since the last one was technically 0? or should this one be 2?" so, to avoid all confusion later, V.1 it is.

I realize it may seem to a lot of you that I've "only" been out of the country for two months, but there are a lot of things I very quickly realized that I miss about the USA. Some of these things I took for granted, most of them not. Most of them I really loved back then and I really wish I had now. So, yes, all you people back in America, feel free to laugh with pleasure at my misery.

1. SEXY LEXY

Ah, my sexy Lexy. I always (lovingly) called her a BIG GIRL, which she is, but oh, how I miss her sleek black body (with the occasional scratch here and there, and the BIG scratch thanks to Mom), worn leather interior, and even the Yosemite license plate. Such good memories in my very first car!! But not only for that reason... I miss driving. I mean, the MRT and the busses are impressively organized and clean and on-time (sadly this still does not guarantee my own punctuality... since even if they run on time, I tend not to...), but try as I might to replicate the joy of blasting music in my car, dancing to my iPod in public just somehow isn't the same.

2. T-Bell, Chipotle, and Mexican food in general

Every time I think about a chicken chalupa, cinnamon twisties, lime&salt tortilla chips, and/or a chicken burrito (or burrito bowl) with rice, a little bit if pinto beans, mild salsa, lettuce and guacamole I'm pretty sure I start to drool and even hallucinate a little. It drives me crazy. Asian people don't like cheese, it's the weirdest thing in the WORLD. My friend Lu said today that cheese to Westerners is like tofu to the Asians: we have so many different kinds! hahaaa I had "nachos" today--it was Nacho Cheese Doritos w/ nacho cheese & salsa. Actually, though to be honest, not half bad. Bottom line, it literally kills me a little inside that I won't be tasting the aforementioned items for another 10 months.

3. Good TV

Chinese TV is WHACK. There are approximately 15 channels that like only show news. Seriously. They just replay the same news throughout the day with minor, minor updates. For example: actually, I can't really think of a good example since I actually don't really watch the news...... yeahhh.... I probably should. My grandparents in LA love to watch it, I don't understand how they don't get even a LITTLE tired of it by like 6 PM.

Other than the news, game shows are really popular here, but not like Jeopardy or the Price is Right, they're do weird and crazy things and there's always an audience of all Asian people. haha again, I would love to tell you about it, but I never stay on the channel long enough to watch. Although I did watch one where a bunch of girls made up their own dances to Rihanna songs, and it was terrible. One *cringe* moment after another...

4. Normal fashion

Asian girls LOVE their bows. Bows on everything: belts, dresses, shirts, purses, scarves, earrings--it's like bow overload over here. and not just little discreet cute bows but BIG FREAKING BOWS that are all up in your face. Continuing on this theme, the super girly stuff is really in: kind of like shabby chic, with like lace and pearls and plaid and little flowers everywhere. I love shabby chic, but mostly for my bedding, not covering every inch of my body.

Also, girls here are of two extremes: really slutty or really nerdy. I've seen multiple girls wearing "long shirts" or "short dresses" (your pick) to the point where you look at them and you think "oh my GOD....." but then you'll see the TINIEST sliver of denim or something under it, as if it's ok to wear something that scandalous as long as there's something (even if it's close to nonexistent as well) under there. haha

5. MY BLACKBERRY

This should probably actually be numero uno because for some reason I've had the worst luck with phones here, it's not even funny. First I lost my Dad's company blackberry (good going) when I accidentally left it in a cab one night. Then, my uncle gave me a PDA phone to use till my Dad gets here in November to give me another phone, and... let me just say I hate PDAs. It's also got Windows technology........ hey, I'm just saying...

It freezes all the time, and now it has decided to just turn off on it's own, at it's own will. And sometimes it will turn back on, and sometimes it won't. When it turns off I literally have to baby talk it and like wish with every part of my body that it will turn back on, for example: "please baby, please turn back on, you can do it, please please pleasee turn back on!!" I. *love*. it. It has a little pen thingy you know, like all PDAs do, and it's just so freaking annoying. My question is, why would a phone that has a touch screen (like a PDA for example) NOT have a button that allows you to lock the damn screen?!?!!?

I'm. just. saying. I miss my crackberry, with my stretchy green cover. My fingers itch for it, and I would probably do anything to get BBM back. Oh, and brickbreaker of course.

6. gyms

Gyms here are so expensive it's ridiculous. Apparently Asian people don't like working out (my lack of exercise/laziness: oh so that explains it.) because gyms here are like close to $40 USD per month!! In the states I was paying like $12 a month for 24 hr fitness. So I've been running around the courtyard of my apartment complex (when I say I've been running, it really means it's happened twice so far. tonight being one of the two. haha) which is REALLY AWESOME because apparently mosquitoes are attracted to sweat--yeah, did you know that? Bet you didn't. So you can bet every time (both times) I'm done working out I acquire new, very itchy bug bites. LOVE IT! Also, a lot of people like to walk around the courtyard at night, but very few actually break into anything faster than a stroll, so you can imagine the thoughts going through people's minds when they see me panting for air, running in circles... I really miss the big bouncy balls. And elliptical machines. And mats.

And of course, last but not least (on this list):

7. MY PEEPS

My friends and family, I miss you guys so so so so so so so much!!! There's obviously no replacement for you guys here!!! xoxoxoxxxxx

Facebook Games?

One thing that I find particularly strange about people in Taiwan is that they love--and I mean LOVE--their Facebook games.

Now let me just say that till about... a week ago, I didn't even know Facebook had games. But then, having since then added some local friends (yes, I have local friends! so exciting!) my home page has been LITTERED with updates like "... is playing Happy Farms" or "... is now a Cooking Wizard in CafeMaster" or "... just stole 10 chickens from their neighbor's farm and has won the 'Plumpest Chicken' award at the county fair" oh, and did I mention that most of this is in Chinese, and accompanied by cheesy colorful cartoons?

WHAT THE HELLLLLL?!??!?

Apparently, these games are like, SUPER popular. Go figure, right? Asians and their computer games. This is doing absolutely nothing to fight the stereotype.

Typhoon Season Has Arrived.

UUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....

The rain is here. And it won't go away.

In fact, I can't even remember the last time we had a sunny day around here. Seriouslyyyyy... having spent the last four Fall seasons in LA, this is definitely not something this California girl is used to. Even at home in Nor Cal, the rain isn't this bad so early in the Fall! At least... not from what I can remember anyway.

It started raining late Sunday evening, and literally did not stop raining continuously until Tuesday morning. And it wasn't just a little drizzle or light fuzzy rain, it was pouring. All day. There was a cat outside my window that didn't sound so happy, and you bet I was glad to be indoors on such a rainy day!

Shamefully, I admit that when it comes to rainy weather, I'm a California girl through and through, and, as I usually did in LA, rainy days meant no class for me :) but since it seems that the rainy days here will happen much more often than in LA, skipping class every time the weather isn't to my liking isn't an option...

Time to invest in some rainboots!

中秋節: Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival was this past Saturday, and to celebrate I went to a BBQ! Yes, Chinese people barbeque too.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the biggest holidays in Taiwan, coming in third right after New Year's, and... I believe my teacher said it was like.. a day of celebration for the dead, like your ancestors and stuff. But I'm not quite clear on what this holiday is called. So let's just say it's a big deal. And apparently it's tradition to have a BBQ! And not just any BBQ, we had a BBQ on the sidewalk--yes, under my friends' apartment building, next to a line of mopeds, across the street from a Hi-Life (Taiwanese 7-11). It was freaking AWESOME!!!

Now let me just say, that barbeque-ing is really not as easy as it looks. Sure, it sounds simple enough: put some coal into the grill, light it up, let it get hot, put the food on it, and grill away! But what they don't tell you is just how long it takes for the "getting hot" part to happen. We had to fan away at the coals for what seemed like forever in the hopes that the coals would actually light on fire... and we could see a flame.

taking my turn fanning the coals... don't worry guys, my turn was short :)

It was a great BBQ--once we got the grills working :) there was SO much food!!! My friend Eric (in the black t-shirt above) met some local girls at a club the other week, so they came and brought friends, and--get this--brought A TON of food! There was fatty marbled meat, korean BBQ style, chicken, clams, squid, tofu, bell peppers, mushrooms, and a ton of other things I don't even think I got to eat because I got so full so fast! But these local kids--damn, they can eat. We started eating around 9, and they were still eating at like 12:30 AM! I mean, I thought I could eat, but wow. I was so impressed.

But let me get back to the Mid-Autumn Festival... it's a national holiday (unfortunately it landed on a Saturday this year, so no missing classes for me!), and it always occurs in late September or early October. The date isn't set because the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival goes by the Chinese lunar calendar (that's a whole nother blog entry, so google it if you're curious haha). The importance of this holiday is that it celebrates the Fall Harvest, and on this holiday, it's tradition to eat Mooncakes, or desserts that are called mooncakes.

Now, in order to explain the importance of the mooncakes, it's story time :) Back during the Yuan dynasty, in the 1200s-1300s, China was ruled by Mongolians. This made the Chinese people pissed, obviously, they were like we wanna rule ourselves yo! So the leaders from the Sung dynasty (the dynasty right before the Mongol one) started to organize a rebellion to kick out the Mongols. Since they knew the Mid-Autumn Festival was coming up, they decided to make a TON of special cakes, and they stuffed the plan of attack into each cake and baked them! The rebels attacked on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Mongols got owned and were thrown out. Then came the Ming dynasty, yay! So now, we eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn festival to remember this story :)

Hm, what else. Oh yes, there are many variations of this story, but this seems to be the most popular one. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, we celebrate the moon. I'm not really quite sure why (maybe this is why they call them mooncakes? haha), but there's this sweet little story that goes along with it, so here goes: Back in the day (I'm not really quite sure which day this is, but a long long time ago), there was this hero, and his name was Huo Yi, and he was an archer! He was a hero because back during this time, there used to be 10 suns! (shocker) Because there were 10 suns, the peoples' crops would always burn and die. Huo Yi saw that the people were suffering, and so he managed to shoot down 9 of the suns, and left one to help the people. Everyone loved him so much for saving their crops, and the Goddess of Heaven saw this, and as a gift, decided to give him an elixir for immortality, but only enough for one person. Huo Yi had a beautiful wife named Chang'e, and he loved her very much, so he wanted to stay on Earth with her, so he asked her to keep the elixir for him. After Huo Yi became famous, there were many young men who approached him and wanted to learn his archery techniques; of the many, there was one named Peng, who turned out to be a huge jerk because he wanted to steal the elixir of immortality! He went into Chang'e's room one day and was going to steal it!! In order to keep this VILLAIN from gaining immortality, Chang'e quickly drank the elixir herself. And then she began to float!! She floated farther and farther away, but stopped at the moon--the closest she could be to her husband, whom she loved very much. And to this day, Chang'e lives in the moon!

Yeah, I'm not really sure what the purpose of the story is, but there you go. Some Chinese culture for ya!

Happy belated Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!! :)

家人: Family.

The thing about being Chinese, when it comes to family, is that it seems to never end. Now, this is--for the most part--a great thing. Being around family gives you the feeling of belonging, and a sense of safety somehow. But at the same time, being with distant relatives even if we are "family" just isn't the same as being with family from home.

I spent my lazy Sunday with family, to be specific: my Mother's aunts, cousins and their families, and in the evening my Dad's cousin and his girlfriend and their friends. I overslept by accident :) so I got to my great-aunts' house at around noon. My great aunts still live in the house my mother grew up in, which was really cool to see. There was a big yard with a bunch of trees, the same trees (I'm guessing) my Mom told me she used to climb as a kid. The house is pretty big, so I guess everyone used to live together? As a kid Mom told me she used to drag her younger cousin Paul around with her whenever she went to play baseball or climb nearby trees--I obviously did not inherit any of her athletic/tomboy genes... I call all my mom's cousins, including Paul, my "Uncles" in an effort to avoid the complicated Chinese family tree terminology (there are different terms for EVERYONE depending on their relation to you, including whether they are from your Dad's or your Mom's side of the family!!).

So anyway, I had a very healthy lunch with my Uncles Paul and Henry, Paul's wife, Paul's 5-year-old daughter, and my two great aunts. One of my great aunts is like a yoga/meditation master, but I think I may have mentioned this in one of my earlier posts (God... I'm turning into my Mom, repeating all my stories 3-5 times to the same listeners... haha). Then I went to the park with my little "niece" ? Ting An haha and my yoga master great aunt. She climbed trees with me and Ting An like it was NO BIG DEAL!!! I gotta ask her for a lesson or two! After running around and sweating bullets in the park all afternoon, we stopped in the Astronomy museum to cool off, and Ting An played with all the gadgets. When we got back home, Enchanted was on, so we watched it, and I helped translate what was going on to Ting An :) then we had some cake, and Ting An ate a whole slice of her favorite, strawberry cream vanilla cake with pink frosting! She had her first experience writing Chinese characters with a brush, and the silly little girl spilled literally half the ink bottle (of VERY VERY THICK AND BLACK INK) all over: my legs, the chair cushions, and the floor. Haha

After I left my Mom's family, I went straight to a BBQ with my Dad's cousin. At first I felt really awkward because I didn't know anyone else at the BBQ except my "uncle" and his girlfriend. But then he gave me a glass of wine and of course conversing and meeting people became easier after that. His girlfriend's daughter, who's 16, and her friend overheard me speaking in English to a friend on the phone, and looked like they were SO in awe of me haha! So then they sat by me at the dinner table, and they were so cute! They kept whispering to each other in Chinese, like "does she speak Chinese?" and then they asked me and I said yes and they whispered back to each other like "oh my god! she can speak!" and then they looked at each other and were like "i wonder if she understands" and then before they could ask me i answered "yes, i can" haha so cute. Then I met some other people who I can speak Chinese ONLY with! Success. I need to meet more non-English speakers so I can practice my Chinese, even it WILL be so hard to converse with them..

Anyway, my Sunday passed by very enjoyably :) meeting and hanging out with my "new" family here in Taipei makes my life here a little more familiar and comfortable, and safe. Even if there is still a little wall between us. But being with distant relatives here made me miss my aunts (hi Auntie Olivia & Auntie Nancy!!!) from home, and all my cousins that I grew up with, and my mommy, daddy, and Sam. It's always nice to meet new family, and expand my family tree, but there's no replacement for the original :)

I love and miss all you guys! Big Hug & Kiss from Taipei!!

The Swiney in Taipei.

So apparently H1N1 is like frighteningly rampant here in Taipei. NBD right?

Until I started getting a sore throat and other BS last Sunday. Then I woke up Monday morning, not feeling too bad, and made the poor decision of googling "H1N1 symptoms." Like I said, bad idea.

As my eyes moved down the screen, I got more and more scared: sore throat? yes. headache? yes. coughing? yes. HOLY CRAP I HAVE H1N1 WHAT AM I GOING TO DO OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. This is exactly what was going through my head at that exact moment. But I stupidly decided to read on: "Doctors suggest staying indoors, and staying away from others for at least 24 hours until your fever goes down." Fever?!?!?! OH MY GOD I DON'T HAVE A THERMOMETER WHAT AM I GOING TO DO. So obviously, I googled "how to tell if you have a fever without a thermometer" duh, I mean I DID go to USC.

Unfortunately, the people who answered all the Yahoo! message boards didn't seem to have gotten the same education I did... because answers ranged from: "put a cold glass of milk on your stomach, I say milk because afterwards if you still can't tell at least you'll have a cold glass of milk to drink" to "THERE IS NO WAY TO TELL. THE HAND ON THE FOREHEAD DOESN'T WORK" to "put the back of your hand against your forehead." Bottom line: there is no way to tell without a thermometer, jokes on you retards!!!!

So, freaking out, I made some quick calls to excuse myself from class--I mean, they should be THANKFUL I wasn't going to infect them, right?? And decided to spend the whole rest of the day indoors. The only time I left my tiny, tiny "apartment" was to get food & ravish the nearby 7-11 for any vitamins I could find... and also look for something, ANYTHING, resembling emergenC (oh, how I miss you, Pink Lemonade EmergenC...).

Totally thought this was a good idea.. until two hours later, at 12:00 PM when I flipped through all the channels on my TV and realized there was NOTHING GOOD ON TV BECAUSE IT WAS A MONDAY AT NOON. I subsequently had nothing else to do. for the whole freaking rest of the day. AWESOMEEEEEE, can you say cabin fever??

Anyway, the rest of the day was extremely boring: I took a nap because I literally had nothing else to do, woke up, watched the last half of Braveheart on TV, watched some CSI:NY, ate, went online... ate again.. slept..

Update: one week, a lot of rest, and lots of medicine, and NO PARTYING later, I feel much better. I found out later I did NOT have the Swiney, aka H1N1, because I never had a fever. This would have been useful information at around 9:30 last Monday morning, but ah well. C'est la vie. It was just a cold... actually more just a cough than anything else... Thanks to all my friends for enduring the coughing sounds coming from my body.. that sounded like I was going to cough up a lung... :)

David with his safety mask

*fun fact: these masks don't prevent you from GETTING anything, it is actually to keep you from SPREADING anything. So I suppose I should have been wearing it..... haha

I Miss You, beaches of California...

Today I went to a beach near DanShui (pronounced "dan shuay"), about 2 hrs north of Taipei. It was so nice to get out of the city and see the water, and be around fresh, clean air!!! The beach was beautiful, and there was a small crowd, but funnily enough, most people were clothed (because you know how much we Asians HATE tanned/dark skin, it's all about the white here)! It was a perfect day to go to the beach because it was sunny but a little windy so it wasn't too hot. The water here is the perfect temperature, though the waves were a little big for my liking, since I just like to float around in calm, still(er) water, so I only went in about butt-deep. haha

Even though I had so much fun at the beach today, it was still so different from our beaches in California! First of all, Santa Cruz is like a 30-minute drive from my house, and here it took me 45 minutes on the MRT (Metro) and another 45 on a bus to get to the beach! What a tiresome journey! There were lots of beached logs on shore, and some garbage, too, which was disappointing. But even though it still doesn't compare to my beloved California, it was much better than expected. The water and the beach in general was cleaner than I expected! I can't wait to go back to enjoy fresh, sea air again sometime soon! :)

The Deets.

For those of you who aren't familiar with abrevs, The Details.

It will be Week 3 in Taipei on Tuesday, I can't believe it! I've been accused of being vague in my blogs about Taiwan so far (sorry Nik haha) so I will do my best to now write down all the Deets about life in Taipei :)

School

So right now I'm attending Shi Fan Da Xue, which means Shi Fan University, or ShiDa for short. I have classes every day from 10:20-1:10! To be honest, being in class for three hours is kind of straining, just like the 3 hour classes I had to take at USC, but I'm actually really enjoying learning Chinese. We started on Lesson 5 and we're already at Lesson 7, only a week and a half into classes!! So, as you can tell, the teacher is moving our class pretty fast through the textbook, which is also a struggle--to keep up and learn all the vocabulary. We have a quiz every day; the teacher will say a sentence out loud and we have to write the whole sentence down. The sentences are getting longer and longer, and harder and harder! And then every couple days we have a chapter test... But even though the class is harder than I expected, I really enjoy the challenge! During class, after our quizzes, we usually go over the vocabulary from the chapter. There are 8 students in my class, including me, 4 girls and 4 boys, and we all rotate reading the vocabulary and the examples out loud (which is actually kind of hard because in the beginning they put the zu ing fu hao next to each character, but now they don't. Zu in fu hao is like the Chinese alphabet that all kids learn in the beginning when they're learning Chinese to help them sound out the characters). After the vocab we go over the grammar and the examples as well. We do all this.... for THREE HOURS.... :)

Night Markets

The night markets are a HUGE thing here in Taipei. Let me explain what they are... it's kind of like a farmer's market, but at night, with a LOT more stalls, and a LOT more people. Thing is, here in Taipei, the apartments are all really small, few have kitchens. In the States, we think of home as a safe haven and a place to relax and hang out, but here in Taipei, people don't spend that much time in their own places bc they're so small! So everyone goes out at night to these night markets to eat, shop, walk around, and hang out with friends... well, young people at least haha! At the night markets there are ALL KINDS of different foods: buns with meat and veggies inside, fried anything and everything, steamed, boiled, sauteed things of all different kinds! There are also lots of clothing stores, too, that sell clothes for cheaper than you'd find in a regular mall. There's stationary stores, pet stores (where they apparently they sell baby baby animals that shouldn't be separated from their moms yet!!!), seriously, stores of ALL different kinds. The night markets are really fun, and just filled with people!

Transportation

I'm not really sure what the local people use most, but I wanna say the bus and the MRT (Metro) system. Even though taxis are really cheap here for US standards, most locals can't afford to take taxis anytime they want, so if you use the taxis it means you're really spoiled. And/or rich. The bus system is something I'm getting used to, since I've always had my own car back home, but they're all air-conditioned (thank goodness!!) and fairly straightforward. The MRT is also really convenient, and fast, and much cleaner than I was expecting!

Exchange Rate

1 US dollar = about 32 NT, or Taiwan money

But, don't misunderstand and think everything is like 1/32 of the prices we pay in the states. For example, an iced tea at the 7/11 is 20 NT, and a cab ride from my apartment to school is like 85NT. So it's just annoying because every time I buy something I have to divide it by 32, and that's not quite as easy as dividing it in 1.5 like I did in Europe.

My Apartment

I live in a "studio" ?? on my own in an apartment complex called Chung Gong Guo Zai, which is just a couple bus stops down the street from school, and really close to the Taipei branch of my Dad's office. I have my own bathroom (thank God!) and then just one room with a bed, a closet, a desk, a bookcase, a small tv, and a small fridge. My bed is SUPER hard, nothing at all compared to my super comfy memory foam back home *sigh*, but it's pretty clean and pretty big compared to a lot of the other ones my Dad and I looked at while he was here. The bathroom is pretty standard: sink, toilet... but get this: there's no shower! Well, I mean, there's a shower head and tile floors... so it's pretty weird showering because I have to stand butt naked in my whole bathroom haha! So... I either have no shower... or I technically have a really BIG shower! :) All the buildings in this complex also have elevators, which is a rare thing here in Taipei! There's also a lot of old people and young families living here, because it's mostly government housing for veterans. My landlady just divided up her apartment to 5 rooms that she lets out to all females. It's pretty safe here, I believe, and in a good area.

Going Out!

Is a HUGE thing here, like really. The big nights to go out here are Wednesday (ladies night at a lot of places), Friday and Saturday. But you can pretty much go out anytime you want haha. I'd say the living standard here is pretty cheap, but going out is SO expensive. The nicest club in Taipei, called Primo, costs 1,000NT to get inside (unless you know people, and thankfully I have met people!), which is about $30!!! Drinks are also expensive, so basically going out in general will cost a good amount. Girls here are also pretty slutty, I heard from a friend that they sometimes go out in bikinis and high heels!!!! Isn't that ridiculous?!!? It's like WHO ARE YOU. Oh, and they're all really freaking skinny. FML. Whatever.

MTV Asia

I've been watching it like 24/7, listening to songs in Chinese and trying to read the subtitles to get myself to learn more Chinese. It really helps! It's helping with recognizing characters, plus, the music is pretty :) all girly love songs of course haha! I'm scared that I'm going to turn totally fobby in the year that I'll be here, singing Chinese songs, wearing Chinese style fashion.... YIKES!!!

Ok, this is all I can think of for now... will update again soon! :)

Some Semblance of Normalcy?

For everyone who's been wondering how I'm doing, don't worry :) I'm doing fine here in Taipei!

Classes started for me last Thursday, so from here on out I'll be going to class every day from 10:20 am - 1:10 pm. Kinda like SC, except, well, everything's in Chinese! haha this is my GRAND PLAN for daily life:

9:30- wake up

10:00- out the door

10:05- on the bus

10:20-1:10- class

1:10-grab a quick bite

1:30-library/hw

2:30- gym

3:30- home/shower

4:30- go out and play with friends! :)

however... I am extremely lazy so we'll see if my life goes according to plan... which it rarely does!

For those of you who have been worrying, do not despair, I have found some friends! Haha ah, thank goodness. I was getting cabin fever sitting in my apartment all by myself all day every day, and yes, that is the sad, sad truth. There are students here from all over, but I'm mostly making friends with people who are like me: can speak and understand, but not read or write. So mostly Asian kids from the states... aka California. Haha

I'm hoping to get acquainted with the city while I'm here: doing all the touristy things as well! I went to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall yesterday, took some pictures (it was actually quite boring...) felt nice to be a tourist again! :) There's also a zoo, which I'm extremely excited about!! I'll finally get to see a panda!! :)

I've been watching Chinese television, and listening to Chinese music on MTV Asia, haha, which, although embarrassing, is helping me quite a lot! The class I'll be in is an intensive course, so we're moving fairly quickly through the textbook, which is great! I'm excited about the challenge, even though I know it will be more work than I'd like at certain times.

Life here is really great so far, apart from missing all my friends and family and everyone back home. It's exciting to see and experience new things everyday, and even living on my own is better than I thought it would be, but sometimes I just long for the familiarity of home, and coming home to an empty apartment is something I'm just not used to yet!

That's all for now! :)

An American in Taipei

Oh my LORD it is hot here.

It's my first official day alone here in Taipei! It's strange to think it's the first of many that I'll be spending here alone. Dad left on Friday morning, so early that I was half asleep and didn't have the time, energy, or clarity to fully take in what was happening and be sad. The few days we spent together here in Taipei were such a whirlwind! As soon as I landed and found the hotel on day 1, we went straight to the University for registration, and spent the rest of the day there, mostly waiting in lines, though they did give us a break from waiting in line to pay them, and then to take placement exams. The oral exam went fairly smoothly, as expected, but the written test I'm pretty sure I failed, also as expected. I don't even find out what classes I'll be in till the day before classes start, at orientation! I really hope I make the intensive course because then I'll be able to spend more time at school every day in class, and hopefully learn faster. But it will be whatever it will be, and I don't have much control over it at this point, so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed.

That night we went to go see my Dad's aunt, so I guess my great aunt (?) who lives in a different district in Taipei called Shi Ling, in a place called Yang Ming Mountain. I better explain the geography of Taipei... Taipei City is split up into different "areas" called "chu" in Chinese. The area that I'm located in, and the school, and my Dad's office, is called Da An Chu, or Big Peace Area. My great aunt is located in Shi Ling Chu, which means Forest Area, which is just north of where I am, but it's like a $12 cab ride to her house, which is about $400 in Taiwan currency, more or less. Anyway, she was the sweetest old lady you've ever met, and in such great shape it was amazing! It was a rushed meeting, though, because we had an apartment to look at that evening, near the school, so we caught a taxi back towards the school and looked at the apartment. I was pretty much falling asleep on my two feet after this, since I didn't sleep much on the plane, had been up since about 5:30 am Taiwan time, and didn't take a nap all day, so I passed out immediately :)

The next day we were pretty much apartment hunting all day. Man you should have seen some of these places! They're tiny! The place I'm living in now isn't that big, but compared to some of the others we've seen, it's quite spacious... sad. Most of these places are small and simple: just enough room for a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, a bookshelf, a mini fridge, and a TV, and barely enough room to walk around everything! The bathrooms here are also really funny: there's no shower! Just a shower head and tile floors with a drain in the middle of the floor. Haha! So technically I guess I have a really big shower :)

On our last full day together we signed the lease for the apartment we chose, walked around the surrounding area--which is actually pretty nice; I'm living in something like a complex, with a bunch of high rises, so there's a central courtyard and a supermarket like 1 minute walking distance from my apartment! And the main street where I'll catch the bus to go to school is like 4 minutes from here, and there's food everywhere haha :) so much for losing weight here. After we ate and walked around, we went to the bank to open an account for me, and then went and got me a cell phone yay!! :) That evening we went to go see my Mom's aunts, who also live in Shi Ling Chu (Forest Area) but closer, so we took the subway there. My great aunts actually still live in the house that my mother grew up in, so it was really cool to see! One of my great aunts is actually a certified TM teacher, which is like meditation I believe. It was so surreal, Dad and I were sitting in a small but quaint living room in white wicker chairs, with a shrine on the left-hand side to make offerings and prayers to ancestors and gods (I think) listening to my great aunt talk about finding yourself through meditation. Haha, definitely surreal.

Dad left the next morning but I spent the whole day with his cousin, who I call my uncle because I don't really know how else to address him. Chinese is really confusing in this way because you address all your elders differently depending on whether they come from your Mom's side of the family, or your Dad's, and also what order they were born in. His wife owns a hair salon so I got my hair washed and curled, and then we pretty much went and shopped for things I needed the rest of the day. I got back really late last night and tried to organize a little before getting too tired and heading for bed.

The night markets here are insane!! I mean, I knew they had all kinds of snacks and yummy things to eat, but there were like carnival games (I guess a good date spot?) and shops selling everything you can imagine! From clothes, to ashtrays of all different sizes and shapes, to fans, to a dollar store, to lingerie, even umbrellas and puzzles, and packed full of people! My Dad told me it's because everyone's house is so small, and hardly anyone has a kitchen, everyone comes out to the night markets to hang out with friends and eat. Good thing I am still friendless... the only sucky thing about my apartment is that it's not near the school so I'm not like right in the action with students from my school. The area around the school isn't that great, there's a night market pretty much right across the street, so there's all kinds of people around till late every night, and apparently there's a lot of drug dealing in the area (crazy Asians!). I'm living in a nicer part of town, closer to my Dad's office, and my other uncle's office where I'll hopefully get to intern once my Chinese gets better.

Today I spent the whole day moving in and hanging out in my apartment. It was a bit challenging getting all my clothes to fit in one wardrobe, and all my things into one small bookshelf and two small desk drawers, but you gotta do what you gotta do! I went out around dinnertime to get some food to eat and pick up some last-minute things I forgot the day before. For dinner I stopped at this vendor on the side of the street and basically ate fried food haha. You basically pick out all the things you want, like tofu, chicken, green beans, squid, etc. and they deep fry it for you and then put seasoning on it. I thought it was going to be like a spicy soup kind of deal but by the time I realized it was actually all fried, I had already stood there a long time and I felt bad so I didn't walk away. It was delicious but not good for me :(

I have a couple more days to relax and just hang out before orientation on Tuesday... and then maybe reality will hit that I'm here to stay.

Goodbye California, Hello Taipei

Do you ever feel like everyone is looking at you at the airport?

Well that’s exactly what I feel right now… I mean, granted, I did just spend the last 30 minutes crying into a payphone at my gate in SFO, and granted the payphone probably hasn’t seen a customer since like 1998, but whatever! It still does not give people the right to stare… hasn’t anyone ever taught them that staring is rude? I’m sitting here thinking I’ve probably got boogers hanging out of my nose… which, come to think of it, I probably do since I’ve been crying… Ooohh, so maybe that’s why.

Still.

I’ve been sitting at this gate for about an hour now. I must say my experience with China Airlines has thus far been unsatisfactory. And yes, we haven’t left the ground yet. After all the packing, measuring of the bags, weighing of the bags, re-packing, and re-weighing of the bags, my two check-in luggages got through alright (yes, an ode to my excellent packing skills, thank you!) but in an unexpected turn of events, my carry-on luggage was the problem. Now I have traveled far and wide with my trusty cheerleading duffel bag. It has never failed to pass the carry-on test, so this immediately tells me that it is in fact China Airlines that is quite mistaken, and not me. Or my bag.

Also… why does it cost 25 cents for TWO MINUTES of phone time on a public telephone??? Is this the phone company’s (“Pelican Communications, Inc.” haha, right.) idea of a way to earn money? Because I’m pretty sure the population who would actually use a payphone (aka the percentage of the population that doesn’t own a cell phone) can’t actually afford a phone call at 25 cents/2 minutes. It just makes no logical sense. Someone needs to write a letter… like my mother, who does these things quite often.

I’m not ready to go. Though, even if I had another week, I don’t think I’d ever be ready to go. I can’t help but feel that I’m leaving so much behind… even though I know I’m supposed to think about what lies ahead. I know in my head that this will be a great adventure, and a great experience for me, but, like so many things in life, it’s easier said than done. In my heart, all I can see and feel is how badly I want to stay—for my family, for my friends, for familiarity and comfort, and avoidance of the unknown and uncomfortable, something I’ve had the luxury to bypass till now.

They're calling for boarding now, over the intercom... Though I may not be ready to leave, it looks like I don't have a choice. Goodbye California!!!

Home is Where the Heart is

I hated that movie. Well, hate is a strong word. It just wasn't one of my favorites, except who can forget the memorable scene where Natalie Portman gives birth to her baby in a WalMart on (you guessed it!) a rainy, thunder-y, lightning-y full on stormy night?? But, you have to admit, it's one heck of a movie title.

I leave for my overseas adventure in exactly 6 days--well, 6 days and 11 hours. It's hard to believe that this moment is finally coming, and after months and months of telling people all about my exciting plans, I'm all of a sudden a little less brave than I thought I was. That is, I always knew I was a scaredy-cat, which is why I was so surprised and proud of myself for agreeing to this crazy deal of Dad's in the first place, but then I began to think, "I can totally do this! This is going to be great: a big adventure!" Until I was staring at my half-packed suitcase (which, by the way, is probably the largest suitcase I have ever seen.. I could definitely fit inside it.. Ironically, all my stuff can't...) and wondering just how the hell I was going to survive for a year cooking for myself when I barely survived Sophomore year of college, from which I emerged 5 pounds heavier, thanks to my staple diet of pasta, pasta, and more pasta. And I don't think Taiwan has pasta. Well, not good pasta anyway.

I've been picturing myself, sitting alone in a small and empty apartment, unable to cook anything, unable to understand anything on television, unable read anything in the paper, basically unable to do anything a productive young person should be able to do. And then going absolutely out of my mind, cursing to the walls surrounding me, and wondering if there's any way I can escape to somewhere where they at least speak English and Dad won't find out so I can continue to live on his support. I'm thinking it's too late to back out on our deal now... you know, especially since I just went on a 5-week vacation and all that.

On the bright side, I think I might enjoy myself for the first 12-24 hours that I'm alone. Dad's going to be meeting me in Taipei (at a location that has yet to be determined....) and then (haha! Joke's on me!) spending THREE. DAYS. helping me sort out the following things: finding an apartment, moving into said apartment, finding the grocery store, helping me navigate around said grocery store, helping me find the University, helping me navigate around said University, meeting all of my distant relatives whom I've never met, sorting out official documentation so I'm not like a fugitive or anything... the list goes on, unfortunately. And we only have three days to do it. This is my mission impossible.

With all this going on in my head, I've come to the conclusion that I would like to stay here, thank you very much. Home is the absolute best place on Earth. My mom makes great food, my mom does my laundry, I have my own bed to sleep in, with my own pillows, and my own stuffed animals, and all my things are in their right places. Oh, and I can jump in my pool whenever I want. And even though I no longer have a car (it's now gone to my little sister), nor a phone (it's been cancelled since I left for Europe) it's OK. Actually I take that back. Not OK. I feel like I'm 12. Because I think that was literally the last time I didn't own a cell phone. But still. Saratoga is a small but safe neighborhood, we have a kick-ass library (I mean it, it's great, I love it) and, I mean, it's just home.

So even though I'm preparing to move myself across the Pacific Ocean, to a whole different culture, time zone, and climate (maybe I'll sweat off all the extra pounds I gained in college?), home is always where my heart will be.

Homeward Bound

Can't believe it, I'm going home!!! 

The next morning I got up and showered, packed, and checked out of the hotel. I purposely gave myself LOTS of time knowing that Charles de Gaulle was a nightmare the last time I was there, so I didn't have to rush. I got in line, checked in, and played Sudoku at my gate while I waited for boarding. I got a packet of sour gummy worms since I didn't see a cafe and I only had about 3 Euro left, so imagine how angry I was when I saw a cafe right in front of my gate and I was stuck with the stupid gummy worms! Oh well. 

The flight was good, a lot of turbulence, but I wasn't scared because I was watching movies! And, they totally fed us (thank God) so I was happy. When I got into Montreal, I only had about 2 hours to pick up my bags, get through Canadian customs, get through US customs, drop off my checked-in luggage again, and get to my gate. Thankfully everything went smoothly and I had time to catch my breath before getting on the plane. Oh, and I saw the airport people physically put my bag into the plane, so I could rest easy on no lost luggage for me!! Unfortunately for me, I was starving at this point and exhausted, since on Paris time I should have been in bed. There was no food on this flight so I downed two cups of coffee in the hopes that I could stay awake till I got home and go to bed on US time. It worked, though I was mildly nauseated... 

It wasn't until I landed in SFO that I realized it might be hard getting in touch with my Mom and Sam as to where they were going to pick me up, so I borrowed someone's cell phone and they said they were on their way. I guess the latest airport information was incorrect, since they thought I was getting in much later than I actually did. But even though I had to wait for a little, it didn't phase me because I was HOME!!!

PARIS 2.0

Back to beautiful Paris :)

It was mid-flight that I mildly freaked out when I realized that I didn't actually know the name or the address of the hotel Saaya and I were staying at... Good job me. So after we landed and picked up our luggage from baggage claim, we tried to find a public computer with Internet in the airport to look up my e-mail and write it down. With our luck, though, the first three out of four computers we checked were either broken or malfunctioning, so when we got to the last computer and it worked, it felt like a miracle. Unlike the Athens airport, which had free Internet (nice one, Athens!), the Charles de Gaulle charged like .10 Euro per minute so we speedily copied down the name of the hotel, grabbed some lunch, and looked for a taxi to get there. Now you'd think finding a taxi at an airport would be an extremely easy task, but of course, it wasn't. I assumed Charles de Gaulle would be a cinch to navigate, being such a big airport, but in fact, it was the reverse. So after what seemed like ages, we finally found a taxi and got inside. When we told the man the name that we had written down, he insisted that "Roissy en France" was a district, not a hotel, to which we replied, "It's called Hotel Roissy en France, and the address is 309 Rue de Belle Etoile, can you just take us there???" He put it into his navigation system (thank you, Prius) but even so kept lecturing us on the incorrectness of the name of the hotel, and then somehow even got lost, so we had him drop us off on the side of the road. For about two minutes we wanted to cry, until we decided to walk to the nearest hotel and ask them for directions. And much to our surprise, the first hotel we stopped in, "Hotel Premiere Class" (which was actually anything but a premiere class hotel) was the one we were looking for! I was too exhausted to put up a fight with anyone at reception so we got our key and went straight to our room for a much-needed nap, since sleeping on the floor of the Athens airport wasn't exactly our idea of a good night's rest.

We woke up and got out of the hotel at around 5 PM. It took us awhile to navigate getting into Paris itself, since we had decided to stay close to the airport so that it would be less complicated (and a cheaper cab fare) for each of us when we had to leave (this turned out to pretty much even out with the complicated route we had to take to get into and out of Paris everyday, but oh well). This was our daily routine: the hotel had a shuttle that took us to the airport, where there was a train station. We got dropped off at the train station, where we would find the train that took us into Paris, and mind you these are not nice, pretty, clean trains. The train into Paris, depending on the one we took and depending on where we wanted to go, took about 40 minutes to an hour and 15. And the whole process was reversed on the way back, except that the hotel shuttle that picked people up from the airport was like a black cat in the night: something you think should be there, but you've never actually seen. So we mostly ended up cabbing it home. Yeah, I don't want to talk about it.

Anyway, on our first afternoon we headed into Paris and ate dinner at our favorite, Au Chien Qui Fume. After sipping on wine and chatting for awhile, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower for a lovely nighttime view. Having been so out of practice with the Metro system (the last time we used the Metro was in... Paris? Dang.), we got a little lost, but we finally got to the Eiffel Tower and took some great photos before heading back for our long journey home. Being our first time on the long route, we missed the last train that headed for the airport in the evening, the 11:30 train I think, so we had to wait till 12:15 for the next one. We also happened to be waiting in the Paris Nord station, which may have been the sketchiest and dirtiest train stop I've ever been in. There was puke in the elevator at 11:55 if that gives you any idea, and pigeons flying around, though I have no idea how they got there... Oh, and to top it all off, there happened to be a Jehovah's Witness convention in Paris while we were there, so they were everywhere, and it was all Saaya and I could do to keep from being recruited. Haha, so as you can imagine, I was not in the best mood. When the 12:15 train finally got to us, we literally had to CRAM into the train car, waaaaaaay to close for my comfort if you know what I mean. The whole time I kept thinking "this is my nightmare. this is my Hell" in my head. At one stop a drunken man with toothpicks in his hair got onto the train and I was like "Oh Hellllllllll no." because he totally looked like he was going to puke and believe you me it was NOT going to be on me. Good news: he didn't puke on me! Bad news: Saaya and I got spit on (accidentally? I don't know) by an old Jehovah's Witness. Ew, it still gives me shivers just thinking about it. Anyway, when we get back to the airport, it's pouring rain and I don't even care at this point how much the cab cost to get back to the hotel, I just wanted to get there. Getting in bad that night was heaven.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to go to DISNEYLAND PARIS!!!!!!!!!!! :):):):):) We once again underestimated the amount of time it would take us to get there, but no big deal, because this day was bound to be better than the last, even despite the sprinkles of rain we saw outside the window. Saaya and I made our first stop at a cafe to pick up our much-needed coffees before we headed to Space Mountain! I will say that the Space Mountain in Paris was much crazier than the one in LA, but because of poorly made headrests, it was awful! Our heads got shaken around, and not in a good way. So that was disappointing. The Buzz Lightyear ride was pretty much the same, except I got a malfunctioning laser gun, but it's OK because I was just glad we were at Disneyland!!! :) After this we headed to get lunch in Adventureland and we ended up getting Mexican food because we were both craving it! And I gotta say, really not bad! After lunch we went to the Haunted "Manor" which was actually scary!! It probably didn't help that one of the workers jumped out at us at the last minute before the ride started to check our seat belts (or scare us intentionally, in my opinion) and my heart felt like it jumped out of my chest. But the ghosts were actually scary skeletons, not friendly ghosts like in LA! Then we made our way to Indiana Jones, which is actually a roller coaster in Paris, kind of like Tokyo's Raging Spirits. Pirates of the Caribbean SUCKED, like really bad. You could totally see the ceiling inside the ride, and the whole thing was backwards! After this we headed to Fantasyland. The Peter Pan ride (one of my favorites) was OK, but needed oil on some of the joints because it sounded super squeaky. It's a Small World was actually really cool because I got to see a portrayal of the USA for the first time! Get this: it was football and cheerleaders, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the Hollywood sign, and yellow cabs! haha Then we headed back to Main Street to watch the Parade. I, being easily impressed, thought the parade was pretty standard, Saaya thought there wasn't enough dancing. But Tigger fell on his ass which was funny... and sad. Then we got on Thunder Mountain, which was actually the best ride because it started out going underneath a lake, and the whole ride was on its own island in the middle of the lake! After this, we got dinner which was again, pretty good, and then we shopped along Main Street, got our souvenirs, and headed home. We missed the last train back to the airport (again!), so we stopped at a pretty shady train stop in the middle of nowhere. We got out of the train station and tried to hail a cab in desperation to get home, but there were none, and there were a lot of scary people around so we went back into the train station and waited for the train. Another swearing cab driver, and another late night getting in.

On our last day in Paris (sad!!!), we slept in and then headed out to the Jardin du Luxembourg. When we arrived, it seemed like the whole garden was just waking up, as the sun was just starting to hit the leaves. The whole place was quiet, despite the few people that were reading their newspapers or people-watching. It was beautiful. But we were hungry, so we went to a cafe across the street and ate Croque Madames (so yummy!) and had espresso. After eating we went back into the gardens and found two lawn chairs. Saaya tried to study the map and figure out how to get to the shopping mall, while I fell asleep, it was such a perfect moment, sleeping in the sun in Paris! I reluctantly got up when I realized it was already 1 and we still had a lot of last-minute souvenir shopping to do! We headed out of the Jardin du Luxembourg and managed to stumble across a small gourmet chocolate shop! It was SO cute and the chocolates were SO good that we pretty much bought all our souvenirs here, but since we had planned to hit up the mall, we decided to check it out anyway. Thank goodness we hadn't relied on the mall because it was such a letdown! So we decided to just head home and relax for a little before Saaya had to go back to the airport to fly home. I bought a sandwich, apricot pastry, and apple juice for my dinner back in the hotel and we walked back the way we came, back to the Metro station. Even though we thought we were early, we ended up being late because the train ran late, so we missed our hotel shuttle getting back to the hotel. 0 out of 3 for us now!!! Thankfully we met a guy who was staying at our hotel and he split a cab with us back so it was cheap, but still, that damn hotel shuttle SUCKS. Because we had waited for the shuttle for so long, by the time we got back, Saaya pretty much had to leave right away, so we said our goodbyes (very sad) and I was alone.

For the rest of the evening, I switched on the television and watched: Law and Order and CSI: Miami in French, a French cooking show, and finally CNN because it was the only thing I could find in English while playing Sudoku and finally falling asleep. Goodbye Europe... :(

SANTORINI

One word: heaven. Absolute heaven!

Hanna and I arrived in Santorini at about 3:30, and we got picked up by a shuttle from our house--yes, HOUSE! Since I was in charge of booking the accommodation for Santorini, I of course went for the traditional houses for rent!!--at around 4 because of a miscommunication on our arrival time. No biggie :) So we were in the van, chatting with the manager, Maria, who was really, really nice, when the van stopped in a dirt parking lot, overlooking the ugly side of Santorini, and I totally freaked out!! In my head I was like "crap, crap crap!!!! The girls are going to kill me!" but we dutifully followed Maria and the driver towards some steps, and when we reached the top, I think both of us gasped with amazement! We were overlooking the Santorini you see in postcards, with the white buildings and ocean view. It was breathtaking, and I'll never forget it my whole life! When we got to our house, and after Maria left, Hanna and I literally started jumping up and down and screaming because we were SO excited: our house was quaint and so cute, with its own kitchen and washing machine, and pool and patio with pool chairs! So of course as soon as we put our stuff down we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the patio to lie out. Ah, it was so nice, honestly like a vacation for our vacation! After getting some sun and watching the beautiful and famous Santorini sunset (during which time we shared a bottle of awful Greek red wine, but also saw a wedding!!!!!), we climbed into our bathtub and soaked and chatted for awhile since we were waiting for Sarah and Saaya to get in before heading to dinner! We got out of the tub at around 9:30 PM, at which point we were getting a little worried because the girls were supposed to get in at like 8, so we called Maria and she told us that the girls had called her telling her that they had missed their flight and wouldn't be in till the next morning!!

So Hanna and I, starved and famished at this point, headed into Firostefani (where we were staying, a suburb of Fira, the main city of Santorini) for a traditional Greek dinner at a place called Aktaion. SO yummy! We split pork with rice and mousaka, a traditional Greek dish made like a lasagna out of potato, eggplant, cheese, and ground pork. SOOOOOOO DELICIOUS!! We also got a free shot of Mextaca (I think?), which is like Greek rum at the end of our meal. We walked around Firostefani for a little but it was chilly so we went back for an early night.

The next day, bright and early, we heard Sarah and Saaya get in while we were half asleep at like 7 AM. We all slept till about 10, when we woke up for breakfast, which Maria brought down for us to our patio table. We ate with a gorgeous view in the background, and afterwards we just hung out by our pool all day, tanning and swimming and listening to music :) It was so relaxing! We went to Aktaion again for dinner, but afterwards, since it was Sarah's last night and she loves to party, we went into Fira and went to some dance clubs! We met these really weird guys, one who danced like he was a hamster on crack, and Hanna and I just laughed and laughed at him! When we tried to imitate his moves, though, he shook his head at us and basically told us we sucked. Haha!

We started the next day pretty much same as the last, breakfast at our table, tanning in the patio, but then we wanted to check out the beaches of Santorini, Perivolos, a suggestion from Maria. It took a 20 minute cab ride to get there, but it was worth it! It was a black sand beach, so it was really hot on our feet, but the water was soooooooo beautiful and perfect temperature! Also it was REALLY salty, so I was able to float! :) It was kind of hard finding a cab back to Firostefani, but we finally got one like 30 minutes after we started looking for one (we had to ask a bartender to call a cab for us!) and headed home. But this was again, a very interesting cab ride for me sitting in the passenger seat! One, he stopped for gas... this had never happened to me in a cab before... haha! Two, I started falling asleep and he (an old man) thought he was being funny when he said if I wanted to sleep there I had to pay him 200 Euro and I laughed nervously and tried not to fall asleep :) we got back to the house and watched the sunset and then Sarah had to pack and then leave for the airport!! :(:(:( Hanna, Saaya, and I spent the rest of the evening sitting at our table chatting. For dinner we got 2 Euro gyros from a little place we found in Firostefani that we fell in love with! We watched National Geographic and Animal Planet the rest of the night before we all fell asleep.

The next day, the three of us had our usual breakfast before Hanna had to get ready and leave as well for the airport :( After our goodbyes Saaya and I got into our swimsuits and tanned one last time :( in the afternoon we decided to head to Fira to check out the souvenir shopping and the main city we had only seen in the dark. We got some souvenirs and got a very filling dinner in Fira before we headed back to the house to pack our things and head to the airport. Our flight back to Athens was fairly short and sweet, nothing too bad, but then we spent a VERY LONG NIGHT in the airport, we actually slept on the floor, ughh!! It was awful to say the least... but then we hopped on the plane at 7 AM and headed back to Paris :)

ATHENS

Athens, on the contrary to what I had heard before getting there, was perfect. Possibly because we only had one full day there...?

We arrived in Athens at about 1:00 AM since our stupid flight was SO. DELAYED. When we arrived the airport was pretty much empty, which was only a little bit scary, but we headed out to the bus stop for bus X95, which took us straight to Syntagma Square (the main square in the heart of Athens). We had JUST missed the 1:15 bus (yes, very infuriating) because we were buying our tickets like the honest girls we are, so we had to wait for the 1:45 bus. By the time we arrived at our hostel it was about 3 in the morning. Ugh. Not to mention upon arrival we were greeted by a jerk who told us we had overpaid for our cab, to which I snappily replied, "Well seeing as how it's 3 in the morning we just wanted to get here." JERK. So anyway, we checked in and finally got to bed around 3:30!

The next morning, Hanna and I woke up bright and early to join a walking tour that was set up by our hostel. The check-in guy, Peter, told us about the walking tour the night before: "You vill see all of Athens hot spot, have snack break, maybe if you tell the guide and get other walkers to join you." Then his friend blew his cover and said, "Wait, aren't you guiding the tour tomorrow???" HAHA Did I mention Peter is actually from Hungary? So anyway, the other girls decided to sleep in and avoid the 13 euro fee and 12 euro entrance tickets so it was just me and Hanna, and we were not happy campers, having only gotten about 5 hours of bad sleep, since the air conditioning kept waking us up. But, the walking tour was AMAZING! It gave us a good chance to see ALL the sights in an efficient amount of time, and we also met a couple really cool people from our hostel. Peter was really funny (in terms of we were laughing at him, and not with him)... Hanna and I found out that Peter had actually only been in Athens from two weeks, and had never actually gone to any of the sights himself.... yeah, DOT DOT DOT haha so we teased him that he had actually just Wikipedia'd all his knowledge. And he kept saying, "maybe this is the basics" or "maybe this is all you need to know" haha! 

As for the sights themselves: the Acropolis was crazy cool!!! The Pantheon, even though it was covered in construction materials, was really awesome to see, but it was suuuuuuper windy, and the rocks were like pelting our legs, so we hurried through... but then somehow managed to be the last people to meet back up at the base. Oh well. It was really, really hot that day so we were glad when the tour was over! Hanna and I went and got gyros and beer with two of the people we met at our hostel: Tom from New Zealand, and Emma from Australia! We had just managed to sit down at a place on the side of the farmer's market street and ordered beers in frosted mugs, when Aaron from Australia met us (he lost his friends and decided to join us for food instead) and the five of us ate and laughed it was so yummy! The gyros are so different from what we have in the States: no lettuce and no cucumber, but FRENCH FRIES instead!!! Yes, my heaven. SO delicious. After we ate, an Indian vendor came up and tried to sell us sunglasses. We all refused, but Aaron got sucked into it, and even though we tried to help him barter down, he gave in way too quickly and so was subsequently ripped off for fake Ray Bans haha. We were all given a free (and rather large) shot of ouzo, which I took like a champ even though I a like physically incapable of taking shots, and decided to head back. On the way Aaron bought a useless tomato toy (we were like, "you HAVE to meet our friend Sarah!!!" haha), it looked like it splattered when you threw it on the floor but then reformed! 

Sarah and Saaya were still sleeping when we got  back, and Hanna went in for a nap so I wandered into Victoria Square (the square right by our hostel) and found an internet cafe. Then I came back and had a beer with Tom and Aaron downstairs before heading up to shower. The girls finally woke up and showered and we got a quick bite in Victoria Square before heading back to the hostel for our "welcome shots" (of ouzo, yucky!!) in the downstairs bar. We were expecting to hang out with our friends in the bar, but they were nowhere to be seen... until the door of room #1 opened, and out stumbled Emma, hanging all over Tom, and Aaron, who wandered out by himself. They had been drinking in their room since I saw them at the bar for a beer!! Neville, another really nice guy we met from Ireland, had just been out to dinner with his friends and re-joined us at the bar. The bartender, Elia from Canada, persuaded Hanna and I to order some Espresso-tinis, which we happily ordered since I was exhausted to tell the truth and not in the mood to party. They were delicious. So for the rest of the night we sang and danced in the downstairs bar (because going out in Athens is apparently REALLY expensive!). Aaron was super drunk and starting singing about jellybeans after Hanna and I persuaded the poor guy to order a drink called the jellybean. He and Tom were supposed to be lovers but then Tom was hooking up with Emma hahah so Aaron had no other choice but to hang out with us. Sarah liked Elia the bartender, and Aaron liked Saaya, so Hanna and I were once again a couple for the night! Haha, unforgettable night. 

The next day we slept in and checked out at check-out time, 11 am. Hanna and I headed straight for the airport since our flight was at 2:30 pm (Sarah and Saaya had a later flight into Santorini), and thank goodness we left right away, because we actually barely had any extra time in the airport at all! We got McDonald's as our first meal of the day (even though I swore to myself no more Mickey D's after the Big Tasty because everything else in the airport did not look yummy and was more expensive) but the evil lady at security took away our drinks!!! :( The flight was a small one, we had to take a bus to our plane and board outdoors!! 

All in all, perfect stop in Athens!