4 week progress report.

So, I realized that I've been here almost 4 weeks now, and thought I'd take some time to reflect.

-I've spent almost all my time here in Taipei, the largest city on the island, and the capitol. I told a few people that it felt like living in New York City if it were on the moon. A lot of the shock and thrill I felt in the first few weeks wasn't so much being in another country as much as living downtown in a big city again. Once that wore off, I got kind of numb to it. Its a pain to navigate through the city, to deal with the huge crowds of indifferent people, and to find new and exciting things to see. Once I saw the big tourist sites and a few of the museums (which aren't that impressive, I'm sad to say), I kind of fell into a rut, and it took a while to get out of it.

-Language is still my biggest hurdle, and its sad to say that it's something I wont be able to get a hang of while I'm here. I've picked up a few words, and I'm working on learning more. My goal before I leave is to be able to go to a shop and order something, and pay for it with exact change.

-It makes me sad that I cant communicate with people when I go out. I've been told that most people here understand a little English, but have a hard time speaking it, and would rather save face by pretending they don't understand then to try and speak to an American and not be understood. It's very different from America, where we don't care so much about making asses of ourselves.

-On a more positive note, I'm learning a lot about the culture and history here. There are thousands of little differences, some are annoying but most are unique and add to the experience. While the people can be cold, like you'd expect in any big city, they are often friendly and understanding. They do their best to accommodate me, and seem genuinely embarrassed when they cant do more to help.

So, these are the things that I miss most..

1. My friends and family - you guys are great, and I miss you. I miss sitting on the porch with my parents talking and smoking, I miss the weekly hangouts at the Boyd residence, I miss the 3am trips to IHOP, I miss all of it.

2. American food - They try over here, but its like comparing Panda Express to real Chinese food. And what they call a steak is downright disgraceful.

3. Driving - When I get home I'm going to get in my car, roll the windows down, turn my radio up, and just go somewhere.

4. My bed - I miss my queen-size, pillowtop mattress. Asians love hard beds, its almost like sleeping on the floor. Plus, my feet hang off the end.

5. Culture - I miss knowing what's going on. All the crazy political stuff, even celebrity gossip. I get it secondhand here, and youtube takes forever to load (fast internet would be number 6 if I was going that high). But I miss hearing about it, and talking to people about it.

Now, my five favorite things about Taiwan.

1. Its a beautiful place. The city is surrounded by mountains on one side, and the ocean on the other. I plan to do a lot more travelling in the next few weeks, and I've heard the eastern side of the island is even better.

2. Cost of living. I can go pretty much anywhere and get a good fresh meal for about NT$100, which is about $3.20.

3. The MRT. There are train stations everywhere, the stops are well thought out, and its dirt cheap. I rode it for 30 minutes outside of town, and the trip cost me about $1.25 usd. All the trains are air conditioned, and clean enough to eat off of.

4. The Service Industry Mentality. Like I said before, people go out of their way to help you. It started raining when I went somewhere, and a lady at an information booth actually gave me an umbrella.

5. The food. No place in America gets real Chinese food right. At least, no place I've been to. Kelp soup, shredded cabbage, plum vinegar, fried octopus, BBQ'd tofu, hot tea, and definitely no fortune cookies.

SO, in summery, I have zero regrets about coming here. I've learned a lot about myself, I'm in much better shape then I was when I left, I've taken some pictures that will probably be in my portfolio the rest of my life, and I've got some ideas about what I want to do when I get back. More on those later.

Well, That turned out longer then I expected. Thanks for reading, I'll talk to you all soon.