Seven days ago, 10 government-issue garbage bags, blue and bulging, lined my apartment’s rear balcony, casualties of abandonment. My remaining two roommates had vacated days earlier, no longer willing to put up with a gradually melting ceiling and an intransigent landlady. I was preparing to board my flight back to Los Angeles.
A couple months before – shortly before or after our roommate Nick had returned to Toronto, I can’t remember – Ben and I were talking about the way friends come, then go. When you stick to foreigners’ circles, you tend to see the same faces month to month. But you only make so many friends, and those friends – the ones you hop the MRT on a whim to visit, the ones you build restaurant-exploring expeditions with – are the ones who make a foreign land seem like home, sweet home.
With Nick gone, the construction was faltering. We’re all short-timers here, we realized.
“I gotta figure out when everyone’s leaving,” Ben said, “so I know when to go too.” It’s a go or be-left world, apparently. I left.
It was hard, to be sure, but it was a well-spent five months. Should I even bother trying to encapsulate it all? At best, I’ve written about a tenth of what I experienced; at worst, only a hundredth. I saw a country coming to grips with its history, yet furiously building its future: new MRT lines, a high-speed rail, and for good measure, maybe a new Mitsukoshi or two.
Children study English at cram schools that are as ubiquitous as 7-Elevens. Stand at the doorway of one, and you’ll see another down the road.
Scooters weave precariously between buses, taxis, and cars. Pasta joints battle Thai, Japanese, Buddhist vegetarian, and good ol’ Chinese home cooking for hungry mouths. Hop a bus and be at the other end of the country in a few hours; hop the high-speed and be there in 90 minutes.
This was the Taiwan that my friends and I discovered and loved – and the Taiwan I’ve been missing for seven days now. But if there’s anything I learned in my short time in Taiwan, it’s that little is permanent, including being away from one of my new favorite cities. One day soon, I’ll be back.
Welcome back I assume? Or have a safe trip back??
I’ve been extremely envious of your expeditions. It was always something I wanted to do my 20s but got caught up with life and making a living instead. I’m also glad that I got to live part of your adventures through your blog.
I am so happy that you loved Taiwan.
It means something to me.
It also reminds me of how I’ve been taking my Taiwan life for granted…a new found appreciation for me.
Again, you are such a great writer!