Category Archives: family

Labor Day Weekend

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My brother visited me (and brought me the rest of my stuff) for Labor Day Weekend. We spent most of the time eating at good places and biking around the city.

We rented bikes for $36 apiece a day. (Side note: I went again the next weekend with a female co-worker, rented from the same company and for the same amount of time, and was only charged $14 each. Just girls definitely has its perks.)

But I digress. We biked from the Ferry building along the northern coast to the Golden Gate Bridge (which was covered in fog so we could barely see it!), over the bridge and into Sausalito, where it was really 10 degrees warmer. It was about an 8-mile bike ride with lots of stops to catch the scenery and to walk the bikes up the hills.

In Sausalito, we saw a boy catch a stingray by the side of the road and ate yummy burgers at the Napa Valley Burger Co., then we took a ferry back into San Francisco to return the bikes.

It’s always nice to hang out with the little brother, especially now that he’s a working man and picks up the check now!

Nashville

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So I’m officially back in Nashville. And it’s eerie how this city is exactly the same. Nothing’s changed. You can’t even tell that a devastating flood happened just a few months ago.

I’m living with my parents again for the time being, and it’s like going back in time. My parents moved right after I went out to Taiwan, and now my room isn’t really my room, but more like a storage. The furniture’s the same, the rules are the same, and I’m pretty sure the curfew might be the same too. (I haven’t attempted to break that one yet. I’ve been jet lagged this past week.)

It’s been a week, and I’m already getting a bit stir-crazy. I’ll be looking for some part time jobs while I brush up on those standardized tests again. In the meantime, I’ll try to find a new theme for this blog.

End of an Era

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I arrived in Taipei two years ago on August 8th. I will be returning to Nashville on August 8th. It will be officially two years to the day since my adventures in Taiwan began. (Did I mean to buy the tickets like that? You got me.)

What will I do when I get back to Nashville? Quick preview: seeing friends, job, GRE, grad school applications.

In the meantime, I’m just going to focus on how am I going to cram two years of stuff into two luggages that have to weigh under 23 kg each. This may be my biggest challenge yet.

Family Visit, Week Two

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The family has gone back to the states. It was a hectic two weeks crammed with visits and meals with friends and relatives that my parents haven’t seen in at least ten years. I took three days off work the second week so I could spend some quality time with them.

We traveled to Ilan, where my mom is from, and saw the beach and sand castles.

We stayed at the Shangri La Leisure Farm Hotel, which was located on top of a mountain, so it had an amazing view with trails throughout the orchards filled with fun surprises like swings and drums on a cliff.

At night, the hotel provided sky lanterns that we could write messages on and send off into the sky.

Back in Taipei, we also did the obligatory trip up Taipei 101, but this time, I got to go out on the 91st floor outdoor observatory. It was always closed all those other times. But there really isn’t much of a view. You mostly see big bars.

All in all, it was a good time. I don’t know when I’ll get to see my parents and brother again. Hopefully, by the end of this year!

Family Visit, Week One

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My parents and brother finally made a visit back to Taiwan to come see me. They haven’t been back in nine years, and to them, Taipei has changed so much. We’ve been eating a lot this past week with me taking them out for the good places I know and with our scores of relatives who have been penciled in to their hectic two-week schedule.

We went on the Maokong Gondola, which I thought was going to be one of those short cable car rides to the top of a hill, but it was a rather long (about 20 minutes) ride to the top of Mt. Everest (or at least it felt like it.). If you’re brave enough, you can take the glass-bottom bar. There are four stops along the ride, and it only cost $50NT ($1.50USD) for a one-way ride all the way to the top, and once you make it to the top, you can walk around in Maokong or take it back down and stop in the zoo for a tour.

On Friday night, we decided to take my 20-year-old brother out to the Taiwan Beer Factory, which was hopping by the way, and after a couple of drinks, a bit after 10pm, we hailed a cab to head back home. Just as we’re about to merge on the highway, the entire back side of the cab was smashed in, and my brother and I were thrown against the front seats, hitting our heads with glass shattering all around us. Some car had hit a scooter, dragged it along for a few meters, then slammed into our cab (which also ended up hitting another car due to the force of impact), and continued on to bump into a third car before finally coming to a stop a ways ahead.

The police and ambulances got here pretty quickly. They took us to the hospital and had us checked into the ER, x-rays taken, seen a doctor within 15 minutes. The scooter guy hit his arm and all his skin was rubbed off for being dragged along, but he was okay. The driver of the rampant car was pretty injured.  Our x-rays were fine, just a bump on the head and some scratches from the glass, and soreness is to be expected.  We had to stay at the hospital for a couple more hours for observation and the paperwork to be settled. Luckily the fees weren’t bad; I have health insurance so mine was just $300NT ($10USD), and my brother’s, as a tourist, was about $1100NT ($40USD) for x-rays and doctor’s fees.

My poor brother, he has the worst luck with cabs. The last time he was back, he got clipped by one when walking in an alley, and this time, he gets beaten up in one. It’s also scary that seat belts are not required here in the backseat, just in the front, so a lot of cabs don’t even have them even if you wanted to buckle up.

Then Saturday night, the dinner of my parents and the boyfriend’s parents first meeting took place. It was stressful, but at least we got that first meeting over with, and both sides approve of us and all is good in the world.