Limbo, pt 2: Before the Leap

My adventures have been small this last week.  New restaurants, random bike rides, meandering walks, and the like.  It's been slow, but that allowed me to spend more time with my host family and my godfather's family, which were my real goals.

I definitely feel like I got a lot closer with my brother.  We ate lunches together often, would hang out and talk at home, and would walk or bike for a bit together at night (often to an internet café to play videogames haha).  It was fun and he opened up quite a bit, which was great.  All the while, however, my host parents were a bit distant—probably worried about their son going off to college, and all the while I was an obstacle to spending time with him.  I tried to get out of the way, and it was interesting to see how they opened up after he left.  They really are my Chinese parents, which is absolutely wonderful.  I had a lovely final dinner with my host mom on my final night in Beijing.

I also feel like I got to know my godfather and his family much better, and also, strangely, by extension my own father as well.  I spent a lot of time in the house, catching up on reading, looking for apartments in Taiwan, etc.  While that may have been a bit of a waste of my final days in Beijing, it also meant that I was able to see my godfather and his family much more than I would have otherwise, so I'm thankful for my ability to waste time online haha.  I did get out a bit everyday, however, and got to spend some time with some Yale friends and SYA friends in my final hours as well.  Good times were had, and I felt at peace leaving Beijing.

I've now been in Taiwan for 36 hours, and it's been interesting so far.  It's been slow and meandering, owing to my continued apartment search, trying to familiarize myself with the NTU campus, wandering around Taipei's streets, and, most importantly, the heat—the stifling humidity, against which my one defense is simply walking slowly.  It's been a losing battle.  The heat will take some getting used to, along with the grand-prix-like barrage of motor scooters at every green light, mixing of international and local, new accents, traditional characters, and just about everything.  My first impression reminds me a bit of Tokyo and Hong Kong, but who knows.  It's exciting though, and I'm loving it so far.  More later.