And the Adventure Begins...

8/21/2011

My journey officially started today. I woke up at 5:11am. My dad was setting off for another week in Houston and we were both taking off around 8am on American Airlines. Kristen, Mom, and Charlie were kind enough to wake up early to say goodbye, even though Charlie probably assumed she was getting fed anyway. We were picked up by Doo Chung or Chow(our personal Korean driver, we didn’t know he was Korean until my dad flat out asked if he was Chinese this morning) He was pretty excited I was going to Taiwan to teach and told me that he needs an English teacher. I told him I’d be his teacher when I return. My dad helped me check in through the international flight, they shipped my luggage right off to Taiwan so lets hope my 99.5lbs of clothing makes it over there ok..Allison said she missed having bagels with cream cheese when she was abroad, so dad and I got everything bagels with a heaping amount of cream cheese. He insisted that we sit in the Chili’s restaurant area and I told him we probably weren’t allowed to on account that our bagels were not from Chilis..sure enough, some lady was quite irritated and walked over to us to inform us that we were sitting in a Chili’s and not a “food court.” I was quick to apologize, but Dad who never fails to make me laugh, said “Ok..can I at least finish my bagel?” We parted ways at the terminal (tears of course)

Flight to L.A. was a cinch. I slept instantly. The lady next to me hogged both armrests and kept nudging me but that didn’t annoy me as much as the chick behind me who decided it was appropriate to take her shoes off for the flight and conveniently place her smelly feet to the left of my arm. Awesome.  I arrived at LAX at 10:15am and easily found my way to Pam and Ray. Pam and Ray have been our close family friends since forever. My mom grew up with Pam and they’ve continued a friendship that’s lasted through grade school and even college. Pam and Ray are total Californians, if that’s a term. They just bring positive happy warm energy and base their judgements of if they got a good “feeling” about something. I love it. Their positive energy definitely stuck with me through the terminal. We ate lunch at some pricey bar. They insisted I order a cocktail, which I would never turn down. I wanted a Pyramid Hefeweizen because I love that beer but the waiter tried recommending this tasty beer that’s similar and it’s on tap..its called “Blue Moon..” We enjoyed our lunch and caught up on our families and they stuck by me and walked me around the airport. Pam and I ventured into every possible shop and checked out prices of designer purses..if she wasn’t there I’d probably make a very irresponsible decision..

They stayed with me until about 2:15 or so when my flight was at 3:55pm. Sent me away and watched me get through the entire line until they saw me hand my passport to the security gate. Its really nice having family friends who are willing to do that. I can see some of my close friends doing the same thing for my children when I’m older. My first noticeably uncomfortable foreigner experience was realizing “wow they really don’t have deodorant out there do they..” The men standing in front of me and behind me just reaked of BO.  I went through some more shops to kill some time but remembered that the flight didn’t have WiFi so I decided to sit down and get my carry on’s situated. Extra reading material and charging my laptop were necessary. The only outlets I found were against a wall in the middle of a hallway that was next to my gate. I faced the wall and plugged in my ipod and laptop and as I was going through my bags I noticed a card that my mom snuck in my bag before I left this morning. It was a really sweet card that instantly made me cry..in the middle of the airport hallway on a floor mind you..But then the funniest little situation happened. While I was facing the wall, hiding my tears, and waiting for my lap top to start up. I noticed a reflection in my computer screen and it was an old Asian woman just staring at me and my computer. She literally was standing behind me for a good minute before I turned around. Instant reaction: What the hell is this creepy lady doing, then I remembered that I should just be friendly. So I turned around and she had a huge smile on her face and pointed at the picture on my computer screen which is of Charlie and our bird Zulee. Charlie’s nose is about one inch away from the bird and its one of my favorite pictures (hence why it’s my computer background.) She told me how cute it was and asked me questions about the dog. She asked if it was a Chihuahua and asked if she was a nice dog. It was cute. 

While I was sitting in the hallway, my name got called over the intercom. I had to go up to the desk and show them papers that confirmed that I was teaching over there. Of course I had a minor anxiety attack because I couldn’t find the papers. After weeks of my mom printing documents and getting me organized, I knew there was no way she’d forget those papers..I called her 4 times and then I found them. That’s all they needed. The plane ride is ok so far. I have a window seat (I was excited to have my own row like the desk told me I would, but an old man moved to the aisle seat) I usually like the window seats but I’m right next to the wing of the place which is always shakier to me. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out the little attached seat remote for the tv. Finally figured that out and there’s no good movies on. I’m watching Arthur on and off. The plane food was interesting. I got the “chicken” dish. It had some green beans/lumens, mashed potatoes, bread roll, salad with Italian dressing, and a little dessert. I had about 2 Sapporos, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I have to pee again and I’m afraid this old man will get annoyed.  I ended up falling asleep 3 times during the 13 hour plane ride. At one point, I didn’t realize that the entire plane was completely dark except for my aisle because I didn’t close my window shades like everyone else did..oops..one  of the stewardess’s had to come over to me and tell me to close them. I just thought it was strange that it was so pretty and bright out but everyone shut their windows at the exact same time. That’s when one of my naps took place. Then around the end of the flight she had me open them and it was dark out. I attempted one of their “sandwich’s” that they were walking around with and took 3 bites and decided the lunchmeat freaked me out in it. When the second meal came around I was napping but woke up right when my neighbor was eating. The stewardess was nice enough to ask me if I still wanted a meal and spurted out some words of what the choices were and all I could make out of it was..something something cheese and something sausage. I politely declined and got coffee instead..

Arriving at the airport was confusing at first. It wasn’t too big of an airport, I was just having anxiety about getting a hold of Andrew Liu when I had zero phone service and zero wifi to connect to. I kept walking towards baggage claim and the “non resident” area. I stood in line for a while with my passport and landing ticket thing and when I got up there the lady told me to go over to the Visa counter to get a landing Visa. The Visa lady told me I didn’t need to get that and to go back over to the other lady. She was nice enough to wave me to the front of the line and just sent me through. My bags were the first bags out, it was awesome. I got them and walked towards about 50 people holding up signs with names on it. My name was on a sign with 4 other names though..spelled Dinna Markovich. It wasn’t Andrew Liu but the guy there just told me to wait in area #5. Noone was speaking English at this point though..a lot of hand gestures were being made. So I sit in waiting area # 5 and guess who walks in! The two Taiwanese little league teams! I just saw them on TV, so I thought it was pretty cool. They were all sitting by me so I took some pictures. I hope that was ok..So when it was time to follow this guy, I realized he was a cab service and he waved me and 4 others around me to follow him, then he started walking at the speed of lightening which was interesting because it was me and 4 bags, 2 older women and their bags, and then a couple. I think its strange that they don’t offer to take bags..or at least walk at a normal pace for you to follow them with all of their bags. So we get into this mini van cab, AC blasting (which is good, it was pretty humid in Taipai) and then we just started driving on the highway. Andrew Liu called the cab driver to talk to me and assured me I’d get there safe and tomorrow we’d have a big day so make sure I get some rest at the hotel. We were on the highway for about an hour and 45 minutes. I kept dozing off like I used to in college when your head would bob forward and then you jerk it back like you didn’t know what the heck was going on. When we saw signs for Taichung, he got off on an exit and then pulls over to pretty much the side of a road where another mini van cab was waiting. It looked super shady but he stops the car and motions to me to go with this new cab driver and I assume its to go to my hotel? Maybe the others were going to a different area.  The area looked kind of run down and I saw a really cute stray dog which made me super sad.  This new cab driver starts speaking to me in Chinese and making a rectangle motion and handwriting motion and I told him I didn’t understand. So I pulled out my passport for him? Then my wallet? Fail. He was getting kinda frustrated. I felt bad for not knowing what he was asking. Then I just re say the hotel name and then he sounded like he had an idea and just typed the hotel name into his GPS and wallah, he needed the address. 

Taichung was really cool looking. Really pretty lit up bridge and buildings. Passed the night markets. I get to my hotel..it’s no Hilton..shit, it’s no Motel 6, but its fine. This boy Sam was there to greet me right away out of my cab and was like, “Diana??” and I asked if I should tip the driver and hes like “No.” He told me that Andrew was out of town for a business meeting and forgot to tell me but he’d be with me for the next few days, almost everyday, helping me out. He had great English and looked around my age. He was living in Vancouver for the past 16 years but didn’t tell me why he moved back to Taiwan. He said he didn’t want to move back but something happened that was a long story. He also said not to worry that he was a felon or anything. Totally reassuring.. So he checked me into the hotel, Fuh Chun Hotel, and told me there was no wi-fi but not to worry, they’d probably be getting me into an apartment the next day. The room is about 9 by 9, plus  a tiny bathroom that looked like what I saw online..one of those shower heads sticking out of the wall with a drain in the floor right by the toilet. It made me nervous. I asked him if my apartment would be this small and he pretty much laughed at the question and was like no way, don’t worry. He also asked if I was hungry or just wanted to go to bed and since I only ate nibbles of one of the airplane meals, I told him I’d like to get something small. He said he’d take me to the night market. We had to leave my room key at the front desk which was strange. I thought it was pretty damn busy outside but he said that this was empty compared to what it usually is. I’m interested to see how tomorrow will be. The night market was crazy, lots of food stands and clothing stands (yayyy) and I saw some more cute stray dogs. Like, reallyyyy cute dogs. He said you can adopt them but not off of the street, you have to go to the pound. Sam was very helpful so far. Pointed out foods that I probably wouldn’t be interested in trying right off of the bat and then got me some chicken that was battered, seasoned however I like (I said spicy), and then deep fried and cut in strips. Only $1.75!! Crazy. He was shocked that I already had Taiwanese dollars, he’s like “Where’d you get those??” (Ha thanks Mom! Always having me prepared!) So this chicken in a paper bag was eaten with a giant toothpick pretty much. Then we got a juice that was amazing. It looked like it was made with lemons and limes but they weren't. He drove me back and warned me numerous times that pedestrians do NOT have the right away, be careful! He also warned me about Taiwanese gangsters..they’re usually really skinny with underwear tops (wife beaters) and crazy colored hair…these are boys mind you. Sam’s taking me to the school tomorrow and to do apartment hunting. Big day! I showered in the crazy bathroom, water pressure and heat was perfect..well good enough for a shower that is a faucet coming out the ceiling..There’s air conditioning, the bed is as hard as a board, and I forgot my blow dryer..boo. I’m glad my mom packed my sheet and pillow case, this is definitely one of those situations where it’s comforting to have your own..I’m on melotonin number 3 today, ready for bed. These little things work like a charm.