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Right before I went on this trip a make up artist told me that there was no way anyone could look good after a plane ride. I decided I wanted to prove her wrong.
On this 15.5 hour plane ride I slept in awkward positions, cried while watching a few movies and ate some pretty amazing food. For some reason, a ride that would usually make me feel very irritable and that would usually seem to last forever went by with about…5 blinks of the eye. The movies were new and some were even tear-jerkers. If you haven’t watched Frankenweenie yet, don’t. You would think that a movie about a dog would be happy right? Well it isn’t, think about it, THE DOG DIES. No movie about a dog dying is happy. Moving on, I also watched Oz, and to be honest I’m unsure about how I feel about it. I don’t really want to spoil it for you; but of course I will. Oz hooks up with Mila Kunis’ character and she gets tricked by her sister to eat a poisonous apple that turns her wicked and green. *sighs* So okay, like we didn’t see that one coming? Why couldn’t she have just gotten the guy though? I was really rooting for her.
Fast forward to landing. I was pretty excited but it was approximately 4am in the morning when I landed; so 4pm Toronto time. As I mentioned before, I wanted to look fabulous. I switched into a pretty top, combed my hair, put on my make up and brushed my teeth! I was rocking the “I know I just got off a 15 hour plane ride and I am still looking fabulous”. My sister and I faced timed our parents and brother at the airport and to be honest I was trying really hard not to cry. Saying goodbye to them at the airport in Toronto I almost cried, and literally half way through the plane ride I wanted to cry too. So sure, I had my sister with me on the 15 hour ride, but I knew I had to say goodbye to her too.
We finally parted at Customs, where I hurried to claim my luggage since I was running late. So apparently, I am so fashionably late that my luggage gets to be placed on the floor for me in its upright position; waiting for me. I grab it, and exit like a fox! Only to find that my AIESEC buddy is late picking me up from the airport. Trust me; I panicked on the inside but remained cool as a cucumber on the out. I face timed my parents until he arrived.
It was pretty awesome to learn that my AIESEC buddy was also into indie music and was listening to Oasis on our ride into the city. I knew he was cool the moment he told me listened to indie music.
It’s always weird driving away from the airport. You never really know how the place that you are staying in really looks like from the airport. This ride was truly an experience. The vast greenery and the tall, tall buildings. Taiwan was a little bit of a paradox.
On the way into the city, Anky pointed out SOGO one of the biggest department stores; leave it to me to find the Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Hermes on the first day huh?
Anky took me for a Taiwanese breakfast, with soya milk, rice with asian things I have never had rolled together before, and congee dough fritters wrapped inside of a flat asian flaky pancake. mmm, delicious!
Afterwards, Anky took me to get my bus pass. There were multiple cuter cards but I opted for the one with the map of the Taiwanese subway. Anky at first laughed because I couldn’t read Chinese, but I figured that it would be easier for me and I could match the words if I needed to. Cutely enough, I received a mini sticker with my purchase. If you collect 40 of the stickers you can trade them in for a prize at the convenience stores! Let’s be honest, we all love free stuff. Espescially when we had to spend money to get it.
Second, I went to meet my Homestay mother who is the sweetest lady ever! She let me unpack, shower and take a quick nap before treating me to lunch right across the street from her house. The noodles were amazingly delicious! They were the Korean rice cakes fried with some chicken and nappa. We also had a soup with a nice soft wonton inside and mustard greens.
After lunch, Auntie took me to the school where I met my beautiful and amazing coworkers! I watched as they gave presentations about their school to grade 6 students and my goodness. I would love to go to Thailand and the Phillipines! Those places make Toronto look so boring and small. The school itself was a huge! At the end of the day at a certain time, they actually have a clean up time! The students go and clean the bathrooms too and even trim the bushes! Gurrrl, I can’t even get my brother to do that!
Afterwards, the girls took me to a supermarket to get some fruit. One of my coworkers had to return home while the other walked me home. Because my homestay mother was out making an extra set of keys, she wasn’t there to open the door for me! Luckily my Coworker stuck around and she even had dinner with us. Due to my eternal jet lag, which I am fighting to write this out which is why it lacks some sassyness (No worries babycakes, sassyness will be back tomorrow) my homestay mom took us to a conveyor belt sushi! I’ve only had conveyor belt sushi once in Japan. I am unsure if this is because of Japan’s conoloziation of Taiwan in the past but this Japanese restaurant was just as authentic as the one I had been to in Japan! Complete with faucets that pump out hot water/tea for you to drink.
Afterwards we took a walk in the park and now here I am, sitting here at 9:32 pm. I am so incredibly tired and I’m 100% sure I left out huge chunks of information. But this is me saying goodnight now.
Sorry that I didnt post pictures, but maybe later. I am falling asleep right now, so sweetdreams sweeties.
