Taiwan Day 50: Fifty First Dates - Oct. 20, 2013

I remember the night I first arrived in Taiwan. I took a bus to Nangang Exhibition Center then transferred to a taxi to reach TIGP Dorm. It was already 1am when I reached the dorm. I was really hungry at that time but I decided to just sleep and eat in the morning. I woke up at 3am. My stomach really needs something to digest. I asked the guard if there is any 7-eleven nearby the dorm but he said that the nearest store is Family Mart. I went out of the dorm to buy something to eat from Family Mart. I'm not wearing any jacket so it's the first time I feel the cold climate of Taiwan. I bought instant noodles from Family Mart and I need hot water. I press the hot water button in a water station inside the dorm but no hot water went out of the tube. I didn't know that I have to press the unlock button to release the hot water. After figuring it out that I need to press the unlock button, only a small amount of hot water was released. I noticed that water is being boiled again. I don't want to wait anymore since I am already hungry so I just press the cold water button to have sufficient amount of soup for my noodles. The first food that I ate in Taiwan was cold noodles and the rest was history.

October 20, 2013 is my 50th day in Taiwan. I woke up early in the morning to attend the 3rd day of BIT 2013 NYMU (Taiwan Day 48) but to my surprise the lectures in Bioinformatics workshop were delivered in Chinese! I got bored so I decided to go to Tamsui after the lunch break. Tamsui is Taiwan's version of Manila Bay. It is no longer in Taipei City but rather it is in New Taipei City. Since it is a weekend, there were a lot of people. I don't have any idea on what I will experience in Tamsui. One of my PhD classmate told me that I can ride a boat in Tamsui. I noticed a long line of people. I searched for the start of the queu and I found out that people were falling in line to ride a speed boat. I went back to the end of the line to fall in line. Someone at my back asked me about something. I didn't understand what he said so I just replied "I don't speak Chinese". Then that person spoke in a language that was familiar to my ears. He spoke in Tagalog and to my surprise I said "Pilipino kayo?

From that point, I met three Filipinos who are queuing for a boat going to Fisherman's Wharf. They asked me if I know on which line am I queuing. I replied, "Hindi ko alam, basta pumila lang ako". I just thought that the line I am with is the one my classmate is telling me about, so I just followed these three Filipinos so I will have some company. We were able to find the boat going to Fisherman's Wharf and you can just watch the videos about my boat ride. It was another exciting and unexpected experience. I didn't know that I will be riding a speedboat. The ride cost NTD 60 and I just placed my EasyCard on the sensor to ride the boat. I was thrilled while riding the speedboat and I took videos of the views using my Nokia phone. I hold my phone firmly since I might lose my balance because of the big waves and accidentally throw my phone into the river. We toured around the place. I usually take photos of the places that I visited but I seldom had panoramic photos of myself with the tourist spot. One of the Filipinos took photos of me in Lover's bridge so I can have a remembrance of my trip in Tamsui. We also visited this castle looking hotel. I thought I was in Disneyland but I was not and that fairy tale inspired building is the Fullon Hotel. After strolling around we decided to go back home and I heard a lot of stories from my new friends about the lives of Filipino workers in Taiwan. We rode a bus to get to Tamsui MRT.

My fifty first dates is my first fifty days in Taiwan. I'm already halfway in my adaptation and acclimatization process in this democratic China. I will be staying here not for another 50 days but maybe for more than 1000 days. There will be challenges along the way in fulfilling my dreams but one is thing is sure, I have to stick to my game plan which is to "Have Fun!"