I am still waiting for my phone to upload the photos of the last photo, but I already feel the need to kickstart my next one, which should be the one recounting the past week, most importantly, my life back in Taiwan. There will be a part where I (still) talk about Strasbourg, and I want to finish it before I get back in Germany, for Johannes has been teasing me on and on about writing something so far back.
Let's just get to it.
So about Strasbourg (pt. 3)
Continuing on with the journey, I had to say that I felt energized after the light lunch and was ready for visiting the remaining dozen destinations I marked.
In various bookstores I bought some more books whenever I felt like doing so. In Germany, weirdly, I didn't have this high a motivation to buy new books, but maybe it was the notion that I would only be in France for two days for this trip, I grabbed a French children's book that is about a grandfather recounting all the beauties of the nature to his granddaughter, and two of the most renowned books of Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles and Circe, which were translated into French. I wasn't hoping to find them, intact; I asked the bookstore's desk whether they have the two mentioned books, initially just for the sake of spacing French when I still could, but the clerk readily walked out of the counter after my request and reached right behind me - It was there. My breath stopped. They had different designs from the originals, but they are just as elegant.
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| A children's book about a grandfather recounting the beauty of the world to his granddaughter. |
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| The furry big bad wolf in a bookstore featuring only children books. |
Five minutes later, I was out of the bookstore (after requesting for a new copy at the check-out, for there was a small tear on the cover) with a big grin on my face. Some of the bookstores were small, compact, but slightly mediocre, while some were crowded, cozy, and welcoming. I was not satisfied until I crossed out the seventh bookstore I marked on my digital map.
There was an accident happening in the middle of this expedition for bookstores, by the way, and it would be a pity to leave that out. I stubbed over a pole in the middle of the street while I was trying to take a picture of the street view to post on Instagram. Yeah.
Now came one of the most tiring part of the trip. As a kid living for his whole life in an island country, we don't have some natural land borders that marked the reigning powers from different parties, as the waters did the job for us. I was, among my other friends, fascinated how you are traveling abroad by cross a non-physical line, so I decided far before the trip, that I was to pay the German/French border a visit as Strasbourg is the place that fits the description.
The only problem was that, there was a solid 4 kilometers from the city center to the border, and given that I was not willing to look for a jointing transport that would take me to the desired location, I had long decided that I would be going on foot.
Passing a botanic garden with a sedate, kind-looking aged guard and several other impressive buildings, I was there standing in front of The European Bridge, the largest bridge that connects France and Germany over the river Rhine.
I went on and started my way that would take me back to Germany. Kehl, to be more exact, the neighboring city to Strasbourg.
Emily, my classmate, kept telling me there was nothing special to see at the borders and that nothing extraordinary would be happening there, so don't even bother to pay the border a visit. There I was, Emily, and I had some fun, still.
I was temporarily back in Germany, and I promptly took a U-turn to another bridge that links the two countries together. There, I met two middle-aged men taking a selfie. With something brewing in my head after voluntarily taking pictures for traveling people, I put the half-fermented idea into action.
I offered the same thing, taking a picture of the duo, I then made my request (still in French):
"Can I take a selfie of the three of us?"
A smile is spreading across my face at the moment when the absurdity of the request would seem to everyone hit me. People have been talking about how you should be wary of pickpockets, burglars as a tourist, but not only had the people of the day met a Taiwanese guy offering to help take a picture using their cellphones (and they were really trusting, especially with the couple carrying the expensive cannon-like camera, for which I was grateful about) and the men were even requested to join a selfie with a total stranger... Here is the photo that I would never get tired of introducing.
After bidding the gentlemen farewell, I started my five-kilometer trek back to the city center, thinking that it would also be meal time by the time I reached.
Here I'm telling you I brought with me the Zwilinge knife I snatched from the unwanted drawer of kitchenware. It's a handy small knife in moderate condition, and thinking that it would serve both as a lucky charm and something I could cut my chili bread with, I wrapped it up in one of my dish towels and stuffed it into my bag. The conundrum came with the thought about the security controls that enclosed the whole city center, who were checking every person's belongings before admitting entrance. I thought about downright asking them whether it would be a problem to have a kitchen knife with me (still in French) when entering the area, but firstly, I didn't want to be given further safety concerns and secondly, I really liked the knife and I am not ready to hand it in. After changing thoughts to and fro for dozens of times, I stuffed the whole knife into my green pocket bag, the same one I used to store my passport and other important documents. At the end of the day, the security only opened up my bag and gave it a one-time rummage and I was admitted entrance. Well, that was easy.
The sun dipped some time before my second-time arrival at the city center, and the LED lights for the Christmas decorations were lit up, and it was another indescribable magic I was witness ing in person. The streets were draped with traces of silver, of blue, and of any festive colors. The teddybears set on the brink of the windows were emphasized by the lights. You see people stopping every several steps, taking pictures of each shop and commenting on how much effort was put into this to make it true.
I didn't stop walking as the evening stretched on and morphed into night. Along the way, I got myself a seat at Flam's, a restaurant specializing in Flammkuchen, which is virtually the French equivalent to pizza. I had to say I felt a bit out of place, being the only one person who came alone, but I tried to shake it off. I walked back to the patisserie showing some luscious macaroons in the glass showcase. After being caught off guard by the friendliness and the hospitality of the clerk, I bought a box of the jewels that contained 25 macaroons. I was afraid that the fridge wouldn't be accessible in my hostel hence getting them spoiled before arriving in Heidelberg, so I voiced my concern to the clerk, who promptly changed the paper bag she gave me into an insulation bag, a gesture for which I was grateful.
My power bank died, and that meant my phone wouldn't be far behind, judging by the cold weather that contributed to the faster consumption of battery. With no sense of direction to begin with, my anxiety of not having someone (Google Map) to guide me on the right path rose quickly. I got a red marker and a paper bag and wrote down all the landmarks I should be seeing if I was on the right path.
Ultimately, I was back in the hostel. I took thirty minutes to get prepared for bed, and the last thought before I fell asleep was the realization that my legs would be hurting in the coming days.
It was a magical experience altogether as I rewind the whole solo trip and the challenges I threw at myself. I was glad that I came alone, but only because no one would be willing to walk 40 kilometers with me, but also I had wanted this first experience to be mine and mine alone.
... Where next?
Three months is not a elixir of transformation that brings you to view everything that you used to know in new light; it doesn't force you to compare the things you have in Germany to whatever you have in Taiwan. The only thought was that I was home, and that was all that matters.
Given the early arrival, my cousin booked Mme a driver that would take me back home, while I would be fine to take the jointing MRT that was just finished a couple of years ago.
I told Mom that, after getting into the car, I would arrive in thirty minutes. She told me that she had to first go get some coffee filter.
I opened the door of the car to face the bakery right beneath our house, and a smile began to pull at my lips.
Hefting my heavy luggages up to the second floor, my flung my door open after unlocking it with the key I brought with me to Germany. The smell that I didn't notice, the smell of my home, was welcoming, like a warming embrace that congratulates on my return. Mom was not there, presumably still buying the filters, I hurried downstairs once again, only to see Mom walking in my direction in her lime green jacket. She saw me and I ran over, hugging her hard. I am home.
After the breakfast in McDonald's, I talked with my mom about the plan for the day. We had talked about this before and thought it would be appropriate to go visit my grandma on the first day. My grandma was feeling depressed when I was gone, my mom told me. I wanted to protest that I was only gone for my education, but I guess that just how my grandma works.
On the first day, I was surprised to find that I was not quite jet-lagged with the normal sleeping pattern, which was a delight for me.
Two days after my arrival was Christmas, and since Henry studies in Fujen, a catholic school, they had a day-off on the merry day. We organized a cinema visit at noon, preparing to watch Frozen 2, him for the first time and me for the English dubbing.
I still worked to maintain a normal sleeping pattern, but it wasn't that simple as I overslept on Christmas. For thirteen hours I slept (Still I felt a bit tired) and I missed a dozen of phone calls from Henry, which gave me a pang of guilt and loss the moment I bounced off the bed, realizing that I had made a mistake. I felt really bad, but Henry, who figured that I wouldn't be appearing anytime soon, went back home already. He jokingly remarked my telling him that I was not jet lagged two days before that when he asked, and I could only laugh sheepishly. Henry was one of the people who saw my departure three months ago, and I felt like a horrible person to treat him like that. I promised him that we would be having a do-over, and I stared at the clock accusingly once again, disgruntled about the half day that was already lost.
On Christmas Day in the evening, the problem I faced was I couldn't sleep. I was dreaming weird dreams, most of which are related to Christmas while one of them featured a haunted house I was sure to have seen in in one of my past dreams. With the dreams, the night felt like more than seven hours long - but when I opened my eyes, struggling to have a peaceful sleep from then on, I checked the screen saver of my phone first - barely two hours had passed. It was my fist insomnia in years, and I didn't like it. Mom was snoring lightly next to me, but I was having a small meltdown from within, I was sure. At last, my eyelid fell, and I managed to sleep another two hours. I didn't know that jet-lags can be so dreadful, but I think you just have to give it some time to get your biological clock to adapt to the new timezone.
Now came one of the most tiring part of the trip. As a kid living for his whole life in an island country, we don't have some natural land borders that marked the reigning powers from different parties, as the waters did the job for us. I was, among my other friends, fascinated how you are traveling abroad by cross a non-physical line, so I decided far before the trip, that I was to pay the German/French border a visit as Strasbourg is the place that fits the description.
The only problem was that, there was a solid 4 kilometers from the city center to the border, and given that I was not willing to look for a jointing transport that would take me to the desired location, I had long decided that I would be going on foot.
 |
| The guard was a real gentleman, informing me that I wouldn't need to pay for the entrance fee and the time of closing. |
Passing a botanic garden with a sedate, kind-looking aged guard and several other impressive buildings, I was there standing in front of The European Bridge, the largest bridge that connects France and Germany over the river Rhine.
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| As expected, there are several bridges connecting the two banks of the river, but the one in the picture was apparently the more famous one. |
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| There are also trams that take you cross borders. |
I went on and started my way that would take me back to Germany. Kehl, to be more exact, the neighboring city to Strasbourg.
Emily, my classmate, kept telling me there was nothing special to see at the borders and that nothing extraordinary would be happening there, so don't even bother to pay the border a visit. There I was, Emily, and I had some fun, still.
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| Please imagine a line between my feet because that was what I imagined where the actual border should be. |
I was temporarily back in Germany, and I promptly took a U-turn to another bridge that links the two countries together. There, I met two middle-aged men taking a selfie. With something brewing in my head after voluntarily taking pictures for traveling people, I put the half-fermented idea into action.
I offered the same thing, taking a picture of the duo, I then made my request (still in French):
"Can I take a selfie of the three of us?"
A smile is spreading across my face at the moment when the absurdity of the request would seem to everyone hit me. People have been talking about how you should be wary of pickpockets, burglars as a tourist, but not only had the people of the day met a Taiwanese guy offering to help take a picture using their cellphones (and they were really trusting, especially with the couple carrying the expensive cannon-like camera, for which I was grateful about) and the men were even requested to join a selfie with a total stranger... Here is the photo that I would never get tired of introducing.
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| They were undoubtedly bewildered. |
After bidding the gentlemen farewell, I started my five-kilometer trek back to the city center, thinking that it would also be meal time by the time I reached.
Here I'm telling you I brought with me the Zwilinge knife I snatched from the unwanted drawer of kitchenware. It's a handy small knife in moderate condition, and thinking that it would serve both as a lucky charm and something I could cut my chili bread with, I wrapped it up in one of my dish towels and stuffed it into my bag. The conundrum came with the thought about the security controls that enclosed the whole city center, who were checking every person's belongings before admitting entrance. I thought about downright asking them whether it would be a problem to have a kitchen knife with me (still in French) when entering the area, but firstly, I didn't want to be given further safety concerns and secondly, I really liked the knife and I am not ready to hand it in. After changing thoughts to and fro for dozens of times, I stuffed the whole knife into my green pocket bag, the same one I used to store my passport and other important documents. At the end of the day, the security only opened up my bag and gave it a one-time rummage and I was admitted entrance. Well, that was easy.
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| People lining up for the security check |
The sun dipped some time before my second-time arrival at the city center, and the LED lights for the Christmas decorations were lit up, and it was another indescribable magic I was witness ing in person. The streets were draped with traces of silver, of blue, and of any festive colors. The teddybears set on the brink of the windows were emphasized by the lights. You see people stopping every several steps, taking pictures of each shop and commenting on how much effort was put into this to make it true.
 |
| I admit. I am a bad photographer. Please head over to get a real unforgettable picture taken with the lens you were born with, readers. |
I didn't stop walking as the evening stretched on and morphed into night. Along the way, I got myself a seat at Flam's, a restaurant specializing in Flammkuchen, which is virtually the French equivalent to pizza. I had to say I felt a bit out of place, being the only one person who came alone, but I tried to shake it off. I walked back to the patisserie showing some luscious macaroons in the glass showcase. After being caught off guard by the friendliness and the hospitality of the clerk, I bought a box of the jewels that contained 25 macaroons. I was afraid that the fridge wouldn't be accessible in my hostel hence getting them spoiled before arriving in Heidelberg, so I voiced my concern to the clerk, who promptly changed the paper bag she gave me into an insulation bag, a gesture for which I was grateful.
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| Eating all alone :D |
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| Ordering a dessert to fill up the void. |
My power bank died, and that meant my phone wouldn't be far behind, judging by the cold weather that contributed to the faster consumption of battery. With no sense of direction to begin with, my anxiety of not having someone (Google Map) to guide me on the right path rose quickly. I got a red marker and a paper bag and wrote down all the landmarks I should be seeing if I was on the right path.
Ultimately, I was back in the hostel. I took thirty minutes to get prepared for bed, and the last thought before I fell asleep was the realization that my legs would be hurting in the coming days.
It was a magical experience altogether as I rewind the whole solo trip and the challenges I threw at myself. I was glad that I came alone, but only because no one would be willing to walk 40 kilometers with me, but also I had wanted this first experience to be mine and mine alone.
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| Two more desserts to go. |
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| France, I'll be back soon. |
... Where next?
Back in Taiwan - The Jet Lag that Bit Me
The return flight pulled to a stop at around six in the morning, Taiwan time. My heart was pumping with excitement, and my back was groaning in protest against the long hours of airplane seat. But I remember feeling happy about going home.Three months is not a elixir of transformation that brings you to view everything that you used to know in new light; it doesn't force you to compare the things you have in Germany to whatever you have in Taiwan. The only thought was that I was home, and that was all that matters.
Given the early arrival, my cousin booked Mme a driver that would take me back home, while I would be fine to take the jointing MRT that was just finished a couple of years ago.
I told Mom that, after getting into the car, I would arrive in thirty minutes. She told me that she had to first go get some coffee filter.
I opened the door of the car to face the bakery right beneath our house, and a smile began to pull at my lips.
Hefting my heavy luggages up to the second floor, my flung my door open after unlocking it with the key I brought with me to Germany. The smell that I didn't notice, the smell of my home, was welcoming, like a warming embrace that congratulates on my return. Mom was not there, presumably still buying the filters, I hurried downstairs once again, only to see Mom walking in my direction in her lime green jacket. She saw me and I ran over, hugging her hard. I am home.
After the breakfast in McDonald's, I talked with my mom about the plan for the day. We had talked about this before and thought it would be appropriate to go visit my grandma on the first day. My grandma was feeling depressed when I was gone, my mom told me. I wanted to protest that I was only gone for my education, but I guess that just how my grandma works.
On the first day, I was surprised to find that I was not quite jet-lagged with the normal sleeping pattern, which was a delight for me.
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| Feeling home with Mom. I miss home more than I am letting myself admit, I think. |
Two days after my arrival was Christmas, and since Henry studies in Fujen, a catholic school, they had a day-off on the merry day. We organized a cinema visit at noon, preparing to watch Frozen 2, him for the first time and me for the English dubbing.
I still worked to maintain a normal sleeping pattern, but it wasn't that simple as I overslept on Christmas. For thirteen hours I slept (Still I felt a bit tired) and I missed a dozen of phone calls from Henry, which gave me a pang of guilt and loss the moment I bounced off the bed, realizing that I had made a mistake. I felt really bad, but Henry, who figured that I wouldn't be appearing anytime soon, went back home already. He jokingly remarked my telling him that I was not jet lagged two days before that when he asked, and I could only laugh sheepishly. Henry was one of the people who saw my departure three months ago, and I felt like a horrible person to treat him like that. I promised him that we would be having a do-over, and I stared at the clock accusingly once again, disgruntled about the half day that was already lost.
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| Me, my mom, and my aunt celebrating my birthday at a family-traditional place beforehand. |
On Christmas Day in the evening, the problem I faced was I couldn't sleep. I was dreaming weird dreams, most of which are related to Christmas while one of them featured a haunted house I was sure to have seen in in one of my past dreams. With the dreams, the night felt like more than seven hours long - but when I opened my eyes, struggling to have a peaceful sleep from then on, I checked the screen saver of my phone first - barely two hours had passed. It was my fist insomnia in years, and I didn't like it. Mom was snoring lightly next to me, but I was having a small meltdown from within, I was sure. At last, my eyelid fell, and I managed to sleep another two hours. I didn't know that jet-lags can be so dreadful, but I think you just have to give it some time to get your biological clock to adapt to the new timezone.
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| Of course I cooked for the family. |
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| This one was for Dad when he came back. |
Back in Taiwan - Meeting with People
Given only two weeks back in Taiwan, I had a very packed schedule, for I had people from all places to meet. My grandma was the first on my list, and Henry would have been the second had I not ditched him at the cinema.
On Christmas Day, Dad came home for a quick dinner and had to leave early again because his job was calling. That meant that I still had time to go to Uncle Nic's house, whose daughter is my cousin's goddaughter. Yeah. In my family, a lot of connections can be made, but what the more important thing is that we are close. It's their tradition to have a big dinner with people coming together, them being an American family. But since I had dinner already with Dad and Mom, I could only have a little bit of everything, the turkey breast, the cranberry jam, the crown pie and some more dessert. I was observing how it didn't feel like Christmas at all in Taiwan until I went to the dinner. Christmas songs was playing in the installed loudspeaker set, and the sound of people chattering was blended with siblings bantering and name-calling. In times like this I can become a bit emotional, thinking how this can only be the feat of big families, and how I wish it to go on and on when I become older.
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| The desserts. |
~
The Friday after Christmas was one of the days I was looking forward to the most. The girls from EHP are coming over, and I would prepare them dinner.
A dinner for nine, that is not an easy task, I assure you, for not only do you need more different dishes on the table, but also you need them in big quantity.
For days I had been planning for the dinner, all the same time having trepidation that I would not be able to live up to their expectations.
My guests started appearing at around four in the afternoon. Candy told me that she would be able to help out, but when Amy came, she left the kitchen just as fast as she came and joined her in the living room. That's okay with me, for I also wanted to try do everything on my own, and our kitchen was almost too small for two people to walk around in, so that didn't bother me.
Soon most of my friends were there. Melody took my laptop into my room and was working on her project that was due on the very same day while the others were chatting and watching TV, and Selena called in to say that she would be a bit late.
On my menu the main dish was a simple mushroom risotto, made with all the normal ingredients I would be able to get my hands on. My cousin heard about my plans, and told me that if I were to make a risotto for your friends, you make it right. She gave a a package of dried chanterelle, another with dried porcini, both of which are not cheap mushrooms. She rummaged through the cabinet and found two cans of preserved white truffle and porcini and bought a bag of Italian risotto rice from a nearby supermarket. I was thankful, but at the same time I was also afraid that I would be ruining the whole dish with such luxurious ingredients. There was supposed to be procedure as to how this is really done, but as usual, the procedures were thrown out of the window the moment the cooking starts.
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| I forgot who took this snap but it perfectly captured my constant confusion I always have when cooking. |
To a point, the risotto only requires constant stirring and adding more water when necessary, and since I still had two more dishes unattended, I asked Angela for help, stirring the rice so that the rice doesn't get stuck at the bottom of the pot. I quickly dealt with the fish belly and the tomato fried eggs, for the people at the table were already hollering about being hungry.
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| Five dishes, with the soup heating up again on the stove. |
Five dishes, one soup, finally served. It was a very festive dinner, with people talking about heir own sad/funny/love stories that happened in their universities, and almost everyone had their story to share. I ended up telling them how I fell asleep in Yu's bed one time by accident. Okay, so I went to his room with him because I had to get his key so that I could give him a morning call on the following day. We were chatting, and somehow I fell asleep when I was sitting on his bed. This didn't bother him, so he went on watching his Youtube videos. At some point, he felt someone staring at him. Whipping his head around, he saw me staring at hi, eyelids not fully clasping. Yu asked when I twitched once in deep sleep, thinking that I was actually awake, why my eyelids weren't really closed. I answered (which I absolutely didn't remember happening) that "I was probably born with shorter eyelids." and silence.Yu then asked me whether he should carry me back to his room or he should be taking my keys and get the sleeping bag for himself. I answered, "Yeah, I be fine sleeping here (in your bed)." And that was what he did. Of course, this was what Yu told me because I didn't remember any piece of it, and it was both confusing and embarrassing when I woke up at seven in the morning in his bed. Apparently, the story was funny enough to draw laughs from all of them. After the dinner came the dessert that Amy brought. What I wasn't expecting was that it was actually a birthday cake for me! True that my birthday wouldn't come a month later then, but Amy said that since we all were here in my place, there is no better timing for the celebration. I would look back on all the days like this, the days I spent with these lovely people and marvel at how lucky I must have been to have met them at all.
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| A toast to all those that showed up. |
Then came the secret Santa they asked me to host, and even though I will spare the details about who gave what to whom, but you see how all of them are getting more or less what they want because they made announcements to the collective people as for what they wished to receive. Simultaneously, as the host of this gift exchange program, I was to prepare a gift for each of them, getting a gift from each of them in return.
I didn't expect to be in such a hurry when I was in Germany. I practically bought all their gifts in two days, the remaining two days that I had after the test. Even I had to admit, though well thought-out, some gifts, namely the ones I gave Candy and Cathy were not the best I could do. Let's just take a look at the pictures first:
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| It is a Mario hat for Cathy and a music box that plays "Edelweiss" for Candy. |
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| Boy does she look happy with her gift. |
Allison and Cathy gave me the same things, a wax seal set, and though I have told Allison that I had wanted it years ago, Cathy figured it out all by herself that something like this would be of interest for me, and it made me feel guilty about not being able to find something she really liked. This told me that I hadn't been giving it enough thought and I knew that I could have done better. All in all, I had a splendid time with the people with whom I have formed tight bonds. The only down to it was the dozens of dishes I was washing after the party.
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| Crashing in because the selfie countdown was three seconds. |
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| Chatted with Johannes on the phone when doing the dishes helped disperse the monotony of dish cleaning. |
~
This year I had the chance to celebrate the new year with my family back in Taiwan, and I knew that I had to hold on to these chances. My plans for next year was to stay in Germany and see the European Christmas in full swing, but if that were the case, I wouldn't be able to come back in time for the New Year, which would be a pity. With my parents, the aunts & uncles, Eliza, and my babies Sophie and Aiden present, there wasn't much you could ask for. For me, the New Year is special only when you spend it with the right people. We had spicy hot pot for dinner, and to my surprise, Sophie was taking the spiciness fairly well, not even once showing a distorted face when tasting the chili oil on the tip of her tongue. I had some pomelo wine with Eliza, and the grownups are delighted that I have more acceptance for alcoholic drinks. I told them that for now it is still one glass, and that would be it, which is my attempt at keeping it moderate. Eliza left to meet her friends at around ten thirty, and my parents left early because Mom still had to work after that. That left us with not many people until the countdown. Frankly, the fireworks at Taipei 101 is no long of charm for me, but the fact of having a brand new start in a a brand new year is still a notion filled with hope. I'm about to turn 19, and I still have tons of stuff to learn.
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| That is the family. |
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| Before Eliza left for her friends. |
~
On the first day of 2020, I woke up after three hours of sleep, determined not to miss out on the movie appointment I made with Henry this time. I got there a bit too early, so I walked first to pick up our tickets and proceeded back to our rendezvous. Henry showed up, and we leisurely walked over to the cinema again. I wanted to know more about Fujen University, for there used to be this possibility in which I would be majoring in French over there. There seemed to be a lot going on at the same time, and with all the credits Henry is striving to get, he has quite a packed schedule as well. I know that he's still playing the cell phone game we were crazy about, and that he is still working towards to goal to qualify as an exchange student in Japan -well, majoring in Japanese, it only made sense-, but sometimes I just hoped that he still kept up with his German, which he claimed to have forgotten a lot.
We still watched Frozen 2, and I cried yet again at the same places, understanding more than I did in German (of course), and it was a relief the the liked the movie as well. I told him about the plans of meeting Villy and Eric on the following day, and asked he was interested in joining us for dinner, to which he said would be happy to join.
~
After the movie with Henry, I actually planned to stay in the city and wait for my parents to join me in the same area for dinner, but then the plan went out of the window when William called me up at two in the morning on the previous day, saying that it "would be nice" if him and Melody could meet me on the first day of the year, at the same time using that same guilty trip that he's never tired of using (picture this false tone of dismay saying "yeah, so your parents are apparently more important than me and Melody, so much more important that you can't even spent a couple of hours with us." just as to give you an idea of his display of tact and grace.) It meant that I had to reschedule everything, taking a returning metro back to ZZSH, meeting them, and heading back to the exact same place afterwards. Granted, I had a nice walk and a nice chat with them, talking about the lives that we've been living in different paths we had chosen for ourselves, and also about the so called "love problems" that each of us are facing. I actually left the gift I prepared for William back in Germany, and I really am trying to keep my opinions about his new hairstyle choice to myself. But yeah, looking back now, I would have regretted it should I haven't had this chance of seeing him.
~
After telling Eric and Villy about my return, Villy asked me whether I could do her and Eric a favor. The class Eric was teaching, a group of six graders, are "not the most complying kids to teach", which was basically euphemism for "lame students who are unmotivated in learning English". She wanted me and Serena -she was also temporarily back from Canada- to head over to the language school and share with them our experience in learning English with the couple after all those years.
Of course I obliged, it was only the fact that they are six-graders and it was quite a big gap with a freshman in university, and it made me want to rule out talking about how English would benefit them in terms of workplace requirements and university entrances since it would be of almost no use talking about it as it would still be so faraway from where they are standing. I ended up sharing how I stepped into the realm of English novels and how I fell in love with the English style of writing that changed my attitude in learning English- there was a phase of my English progression where almost no improvements could be seen simply because I was not willing to put any effort nor passion into learning it, hence making it something borderline nuisance. Serena shared how she used to cry before the English class started since there was this terror of underperforming and punishments in forms of copying and rewriting were looming all year long. I remembered Eric and Villy telling us how these punishments they used to employ were no longer employable due to the rising voice of parents who were over-protective and sometimes, spoiling. Anyway, Serena and I just hoped that what we talked about would encourage at least one student, so not all would be in vain.
After the small "seminar", Eric and Villy took us to a pasta place for dinner. Henry just came back from his classes and joined us. I was sure we spent more time talking than eating, but it is just the way it always is. I shared with them how I kept going on with both French and German, and I got the idea of sending Eric some voice messages in German as another source of practice.
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| I have many loosely-defined family at the same time, you would say. |
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| The German squad minus Nina (who couldn't join us before she stays at the university's dorm now) |
~
The little two demons were away in Singapore for the first week of my return, which contributed to the result that I only got to meet them in the second instead of sooner.I think three months were not enough to see any notable change in both kids' appearance, and personality-wise, let's say they have stayed more or less "consistent". Sophie got me a very shiny owl plush toy for Christmas,
Aiden had the flu, one said to be highly contagious, so as an effort to separate the siblings, Sophie stayed with us for two consecutive nights.
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| With Sophie. |
I showed her the bottle of Anna (from Frozen) oatmeal I got her from Germany, and she loved it. She said the dried raspberry was a but sour but she liked the star-shaped white chocolate a lot. I got a wooden sword for Aiden, a gift I found at one of the Christmas markets in Munich, and Sophie was afraid that she would be on the end of the sword not many people like to be. I asked her to tell me whenever Aiden would use the sword on any living creature, I would ask Mom to take it away.
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| With Aiden. |
On the last Friday, I cooked both of them some tomato pasta without any remade pasta sauce. Aiden, who somehow remembered the last pasta I made the all those months ago, said that the previous plate of pasta was better. I took in the comment alright, but since it was made with some pre-made sauce, I was not really happy with the result of the lunch - but hey, there indeed is still a lot to learn from the culinary world, right?
~
There was one day I took the metro to 師大 to pay a visit to two other very lovely human beings, Jay and Henry from my middle school. They take different majors, and with the fact that they didn't know each other, I managed to meet them separately. I had breakfast with Jay, who came a bit late because he was too immersed in the laundry business, and we shared with each other about the projects and the life as a university student. I then met up with Henry, who first remarked that I have gotten so much thinner than in middle school. We chatted as we wandered around in the campus, talking about random stuff until we two occupied an empty room just to talk as loudly as possible. It had been a while the last time we met, so we also had some catching up to do. At first, I planned to take one of the courses with Jay on campus, who assured me that there would be no questions asked, but since my dad would be coming home in the afternoon, I also had to leave them early, but it was nonetheless a wondrous thing to be able to talk with them a bit.
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| Breaking the fast with Jay, or J. |
~
Days before my departure, I received a text from my former French classmate, asking if I would be willing to join them to grab a drink when I return. Also missing the guys from the French course, I obliged of course.
On the day of the French course, however, I was written another text message from the same friend, saying that I would be welcome to join them for class before heading to the bar together. It was with half trepidation, half excitement when I stepped inside the French classroom, the very one I used to go to two years ago before I had to leave in preparation of the college entrance exam. No long after my entrance walked through the door Solène, my second French teacher in my life. She greeted me warmly, spending the next ten minutes or so "interrogating" me about my life after leaving the class. It took me some time to find which word in my lexicon would be adequate to explain everything in French, and even though sometimes a feeble word came and sometimes nothing, but I managed to paint an okay picture of how I was going by since then.
Then the class started. They just dipped into the level B1, and according to what Solène must have been reiterating for several times, starting from B1, it was the building of lexicon that really mattered, so we were given the task to try talking about our ideas and expounding vocabularies with our own words. I think it would be safe to say that within the topics that I am comfortable with, I was able to speak without too many problems. Another thing I like about Solène is that she doesn't beat around the bush when trying to correct you, mid speech. She has this quality of cutting in and correcting you without making you feel too bad about yourself.
Three hours flew by, and we went downstairs directly to the bar that Bonnie, one of my classmates booked. It was a fine bar with confined spaces with not-over-the-top music playing in the background, people chattering and giggling on the bar stool accompanied with the clinking of glass and waiters moving around. I ordered the house white wine which was mild in the taste of alcohol and just the right amount of grape taste that I was looking for. It took me around 340 TWD just for that glass, which would be the equivalent of 10 Euros or so, but with the people around me, all welcoming and French-speaking, I had a splendid night.
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| Night out at the bar F Gallery. |
~
By chance, I managed to catch up with Sabrina as well. We decide to have a chat in a cafe. She talked to me about how she was taking up more than three positions in creating a school play for her project, and I simply shared with her all the time spent in Germany and the meetups with the people back in Taiwan. We only chatted for three hours or so, but every minute of it was filled with various memories and recounts of the past three months (taking the average, it would need an hour or so to talk about a month.) Given that she is still an England fanatic, it was a pity for her, not being able to become an exchange student in England simply because it was not offered in her major. She still envisioned herself spending at least three months in England, living the British life she's always so fond of.
~
On my last Monday (which was also the last day) in Taiwan. I dragged Cathy (mercilessly) from her Japanese revision for another morning together. She showed up a bit late (which was not really uncharacteristic of her) and then we had brunch in a pancake shop. The soufflé pancake was fluffy and was not as overwhelming as Cathy said.
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| She refused to have her face in the photo. |
Afterwards was a makeshift birthday celebration for Cathy, whose birthday would days after I left.We hit a Cold Stone for ice cream and I brought out the candles "1" and "9" and inquired whether I should light them up in the department after deciding against it. I mean, the guys gave me my own birthday celebration. Though it was smaller in magnitude, I also wanted to do something for the people I care about. After all, it would be another seven months or so before I would be given another chance to see them. Who knows anything about then at the point?
Back in Taiwan - Shopping
Living for three months in Germany, there were certainly a lot of things that I missed dearly on the culinary aspect. The rice comes in first on the list.
Rice is important for me, and same for Yu. Not only does the rice I bought in Germany tasted less, it was a lot more expensive as well. Therefore, on the fifth day of my arrival, I got 9 kilograms of Taiwanese rice I prepared to bring with me to Germany. The next would be the soy sauce. Granted, in the Asian market, you also get the soy sauce I bought, but they are around three times the price in Taiwan. My cousin got me a bottle of one liter from London, and normally it could last a family for more than half a year, but somehow with Yu, Johannes, and I, the three soy sauce monsters, the bottle was empty when I left. This time, I bought a 1.6 liter with me, hoping it would last me a least a little longer. It is currently in the luggage case in the cargo of the plane; let's pray it doesn't break.
Along with the 1.6 liters, I bought some more variations of soy sauce, hoping to add some different flavors to my soy sauce collection. One of the bottles was for Johannes, who is also a fan my my type of soy sauce. He specifically asked for a bottle of it as a gift from Taiwan, and that was what I did. Hope he likes the brand I got him.
Then come the noodles. To be honest, I would want to bring more than I actually did, but when you were only given 30 kg for luggage, you could only relent and bring only as many packages as possible.
In my luggage there are also sesame seeds, hot pot stock, more Japanese noodles from a very well-known Japanese brand, but here comes the shady part. In my carry on, there are some salty eggs and thousand-year eggs, two of my favorite egg cuisine varieties, and even though it was literally against the custom's law to have either milk, egg, or meat products from other countries, but these eggs are really one of the most worth-mentioning ingredients in Taiwanese cuisine, and I just wanted to share it with people over there. So my plan for now owed be walking as normal as possible through the green gate, mentally crossing my fingers that I wouldn't be questioned. I normally don't take risks like this, especially when fines might be issued due to my actions, but until now it is basically a gamble that I'm playing.
End
Somehow, I am jointing two weeks into one, which was not a thing that I am happy to see, especially so when we are actually really close to the end of this chapter, but unfortunately, I don't seem to have enough time to break it down into two separate letters.
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| Met up with Eliza at the Taoyuan Airport. Her flight left four days after mine. |
This is also the letter of New Year. I hope every year is getting better and better for you and me, Tim. Have a nice 2020.
Sincerely,
Hugo
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