around

At long last, I have conquered the imposing edifice that is Taipei 101! It is a building of height and beauty, and can be seen towering over the city from many places in Taiwan. It is the third tallest building in the world, and it is designed to look like bamboo. Months ago, I had known that we would have the Wednesday of June 12th off--it was a public holiday for Dragon Boat Festival. I had asked my boss for two additional days off, the Saturday and Monday before it, so between those days, Dragon Boat Festival day, and my usual Tuesday and Sunday off, I ended up with five straight days of freedom. Because I am a genius. Knowing that I would be leaving Taiwan soon, I planned ahead of time to see some things during that week. Taipei 101 was high on the list, and my co-worker Nicole volunteered to go with me. We had a fantastic  time. Nicole is great company, and we took all kinds of funny/cute pictures during the day. Taipei 101 has, as its name implies, one hundred and...

You can tell you've been studying Chinese if: You see an accent over a letter and read it as a tone, not a change in pronunciation or emphasis. You begin to realize how many MRT station names you've been saying wrong  for the past year. You notice when something isn't  in Hanyou Pinyin. You have a preference for a particular Pinyin writing system. (It's the one you're studying.) You catch yourself trying to read the names of stores you're walking past, just because you can. You prepare in your head what you're going to say to the cashier, rather than just checking to see if the menu is available somewhere in English. You wince at your previous attempts to spell out Chinese words phonetically.

I just bought my ticket from Taipei to Columbus Ohio and I'm freaking out about it a little. 'Scuse my cursing but holy shit. I have been in Taiwan for almost a whole year. July 6th will be the one year mark for my time in Taiwan. I remember getting  here. I remember dying in the heat, getting sick from waffles, getting blisters from shoes, being overwhelmed by the Chinese everywhere, baffled by all the new systems, assaulted by the culture. I remember my first days here. I remember the first nightmarket I visited. I remember seeing my apartment for the first time. I remember buying bedsheets and going places with friends while having no idea of where I actually was. I remember being terrified of getting lost. I remember everything being an enormous tornado of new things that I couldn't sort out. It is the weirdest thing to visit the Guting MRT station area, which is where I stayed and had training for SHANE in my first month. I remember that place when it was confusi...