It's going to be a long day.

So, I made it! I am currently in Taipei, staying at my grandma's sister's daughter's place (I think that's how we're related), and already I can tell that it's going to be a long day. Not because I hate it here or anything... I've barely had the opportunity to wander about or anything. No, it's because my plane got here early. It arrived at 5am, local Taiwan time. Since then, it's been getting through customs, baggage, finding my relative at the airport, etc. I finally got to their place at around 7am.

And throwing things off more, it seems like stuff we usually eat for lunch in America, like dumplings and potstickers and stuff, are actually eaten here for breakfast. The place we went to eat was this small store where they cook everything out in front. You basically walk through the kitchen to get to the sitting area. Very small and quaint, and the food was DIRT cheap; a buck for a plate of dumplings? Yes please.

Anyway, this early lunch coupled with the fact that 8:30am here is as hot as 1:00pm in Los Angeles, and the mild effects of jet lag, and it feels like it should already be 5pm. But it's actually only 10am. Woe is me.

In other news, the flight was ok. There was a bevy of entertainment choices, so props to Singapore airlines for that ("Iron Man" + "Eternal Sunshine" + "Top Gear" + "How I Met Your Mother" FTW). I was passed out for the majority of it, but before the flight took off, this baby starting crying. Every airplane passenger's worse nightmare is a crying baby. And as the baby cried, you could feel everyone just go "Damn it" and giving each other concerned, dreading faces. Luckily the baby didn't cry for the rest of the ride.

Alright, must start studying Chinese. I've only been here a few hours and already I can tell, getting around on my proficient knowledge of Chinese is going to be... tough. Trying to exchange some of my cash earlier today for "Taiwanese.. qian" was a terrible experience. Also, a quick shout out to Naki, John and Ross, who should defintiely be drinking/drunk by now to celebrate my landing here, haha

Zai jian

-Justin

P.S. Sunset in Taipei from my relative's place. And yes, it was a long day: