Hello, Tim!
Today is one of those days when I am afraid of oversleeping, for one reason, reiterated throughout these days…
Today was also my father’s departure back to his ship and work. He was supposed to be at the dock by eleven in the morning, hence he left home for the metro station at eight, I accompanied him until he left as the metro carrying him took off for the next station, and I got back home, had breakfast, and some motionless staring at my cell phone screen (in retrospect, it was quite some lame, decadent rotten hours). I put on my jeans that were clearly oversized (I should have looked for my belt) and it was my time to leave to meet my friend Lawrence. I arrived at the Taipei 101 Station promptly. On occasions like this, I am never late.
At five to twelve, I received a text from Lawrence saying that he arrived as well. The weird thing was that I couldn’t see him anywhere. It was only after several exchanges on our cell phones that we realized we were at different stations! We forgot that there are two stations in the Xinyi District, but they are from a different line, so I had to walk all the way over to find him. I could only say I was happy when I finally found him.
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| Lawrence was getting himself a lunch made of Subway. After that, we were too busy talking that I forgot to take other pictures. |
Lawrence is a very nice guy, talkative and friendly. I didn’t think there is a time when there was so much exchange of words during one meal. He talked about his time in Canada, about his interesting and wild blend of nationalities from his classmates. Being in an international school in Canada, he told me, he got the taste of the freedom they were provided with, and how happy he was over there. He was boisterous alright when retelling his life over there, but not once was he being boastful. He didn’t have the sense of superiority when he talks in the role of an international student; in fact, he was modest. He talked matter-of-factly, and I was immensely glad that he was acclimatizing himself so well over there. Frankly, I believe I was also a bit jealous that he can attend the courses in the western style, and I knew by my experience in England that it is the kind of education system I work better under.
He also told me how being away from your native country can feel like. He said he was having insomnia a number of months ago because he was feeling particularly nostalgic. The stress from the presentation that needed to be done at school, the confusing physics courses he was taking kept him from having a good quality of sleep, and it would just be painful thinking about the family he has in Taiwan. The first year can pass by in wonders, he told me, but the second year wouldn’t start too well when you start to miss the place you have called home for over a decade. Staying a mere twenty-five days in England, when compared to the two years Lawrence went through, is not as grand as it used to sound. Lawrence is surely a talkative guy, one might as well say that he talks a bit much, but he is authentic, he doesn’t lie about things he experiences. That is one of his brightest qualities I see in a friend like him.
We certainly didn’t stop chatting after lunch. We literally walked all the way, all the time until he had to leave. We didn’t stop walking, either, which granted me a pair of incredibly sore legs even until he left, and I joined my mom when she came over as well to pick Sophie up. She came to the Xinyi District for an English Camp held by the British Council.
I wish good luck to Lawrence, who will still be staying in Taiwan until the end of August.
This is all for today.
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