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:

Pre-departure madness.

As a product of the UC system, I never got the opportunity to really embrace the college life. That is, my parents were always an hour away, so I always had a safety net of some sort to bounce back on should I, say, run out of clean clothes to wear, or run out of frozen foods to eat. Thus, the idea of leaving for Taiwan for three months is a little more scary for me than it should be to a normal college student. Besides learning to wash my clothes for the first time, I'm concerned about other more important things as well. These include but are not limited to: exchanging money, having enough money, finding somewhere safe to store said money, finding an unlocked cell phone to use in Taiwan, buying a SIM card without citizenship (which apparently you can't do?) etc. etc. etc. Luckily I have a proficient command of Chinese so I can figure this all out when I get there... oh wait! I don't!

Anyway, let's worry about that until I actually get there. Now, I'm still sitting home in West Covina, surrounded in a sea of half-packed suitcases. The handbook told me that whatever I wanted to pack, to only take half. So that's what I did: I packed all my stuff and threw out half of it. So, here's a list of stuff I threw out, just so future me can look back and be like, "Damn it past Justin! I need that ____ right now!" Here goes...

1. My small camera. Carrying that would have involved another charger, and another set of memory cards. The small camera would have been nice for those several instances I didn't want to carry around my large DSLR, like at the night markets or something, but alas, I am only bringing the D60.
2. My suit. Essentials lists says I need formal wear, but mother says I don't. Thus, not bringing a suit. Also getting chucked: fancy shirt and tie. I think I will go to formal events in my birthday suit, heyo.
3. Half of my shirts. Only THREE of my Threadless shirts are crossing the pond with me. I know, right? What will Taiwan think of my 'Pillow Fight'? My 'Pandamonium'? My 'Loch Ness Imposter'? My 'Nuts!'? The world will never know. Not to mention, all of my button-down shirts, cardigans, blazers? Staying home, along with any pants not made out of denim.
4. My po-jim, aka my hugging pillow. Can't sleep without that thing.
5. Formal shoes. Too heavy, not waterproof enough, kind of a pain in the ass to walk in. Besides, I'm not bringing my suit anyway.

...and just a bunch of other stuff that I can't really think of right now. Besides, packing isn't the only pre-departure madness I have to put up with. I've got to go to the temple to pray to the Buddhas for a smashing good time in Taiwan, go eat my fix of American food (In-n-out, anyone?), get a hair cut, etc. I probably won't be posting again until I land and settle down in Taiwan, so until then, zai jian!



-Justin