First Impressions

Huh. That’s it.

I should’ve sensed that the weather was less than ideal after I got out of the airport at 7 AM and was met by stifling heat and very thick, humid, air. My shirt instantly tightened its embrace, and I remembered some of those summers back in New England when I was younger—not every one of them, just the extreme ones, where I would sit in the basement for most days and sleep on the floor with the fan blowing 6 inches away. I also saw haze in the sky, the likes I hadn’t seen since I lived back in Massachusetts.

So it’s hot. After checking in to the hotel here, I showered, sent e-mails to the family letting them know that I had arrived and then started thinking about what I was going to do. I was awake enough that I knew I could make it until evening time without sleeping, which would help me adjust to the time difference. So I decided to head out about 9:30-ish to explore the campus and the city around the university.

I should say that I’m actually in Hsinchu and not Taipei. I don’t think I had fully appreciated that until yesterday, and I haven’t explored more than a mile away from the entrance to the university. So everything I describe is representative of that and not anything more, so don’t let me color your view of the country—as always, you should judge for yourself.

I hadn’t done much research about the place before coming here…I printed a map of the university provided by the workshop, and that map pointed to three landmarks: the guest hose I’d be staying at, the physics building (which actually is not where our workshop is being held), and the general direction of a Starbucks just off campus. Really, what more would you need? So off I went, into the heat, to explore, figuring it was better to do this at 9:30 in the morning than 1 or 2 in the afternoon when the temperatures would be at their highest.

The campus buildings remind me of 1950’s or 1960’s architecture, and it is fairly bland. By that, I mean that you could blindfold, somebody, drop them off on campus, and provided they didn’t look at the signs, convince them that they were on an American university. There are some artificial lakes, abundant with Koi fish, which are relatively serene. There is a good amount of construction going on, which, unfortunately, takes away from the atmosphere of the place. Other than that, though, the campus is pretty small, so I went off campus to explore.

That’s when it hit me…the smell of sewer. I’m not sure where it came from, but it could be strong at times. I tried to breathe through my mouth. And there was trash all over the place. At first I thought it represented a general “Who cares?” feeling of the populace, but then I never saw a single trash barrel on the street, and I started to understand. If there’s no designated place to throw it out, why not just drop it?

Anyway, that I could deal with, though, it was unexpected. The main road in front of the University, Kuang Fu Rd., was lined with shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, being 10 AM on Sunday morning, most were closed, with metal garage doors blocking the entrances and concealing what the stores actually were. A few were open, and I saw bike repair shops, a Sony store, a dry cleaner, and many formal and informal restaurants making their preparations for the day. I walked around a bit and places began to open. I walked without purpose or destination, just trying to soak up my surroundings. The shops ranged from very clean and well kept, to very old and run down. Eventually I thought of getting food and a drink, I started to search for a good place to eat. That was a struggle.

Now, I only speak one language—I never learned a second. However, I have enough familiarity to go to a Spanish or Mexican restaurant and order something I know I will like. I can do the same at a French restaurant, though I’m sure the waiter would be disgusted by my pronunciation. I even managed to order at German and Italian restaurants when I was in Europe. The advantage there, however, is that all those languages used a common alphabet. I didn’t have that advantage here…all the menus were written with Chinese characters. So I searched and searched for a place where I could go without the shame of just asking, “Do you speak English? And can I have some sort of chicken dish?” If they didn’t have English translations of the menu visible from the street, I was looking for a place that at least had pictures so I could point and grunt in the hopes of communicating what I wanted. While Mr. Donut, Japan’s number 1 donut shop, was always an option, I wanted more than just donuts for lunch, though I’m sure if Nina were with me I would’ve had to been more open-minded about that option.

So I settled in at Starbucks--but I only got an iced tea. I was determined to not eat a bagel for lunch, though I knew it was my fallback option. Eventually I found “Mos Burger” the “Happy Hamburger House” also based in Japan. It’s a fast food restaurant, and I caved. Here I was in Taiwan, eating fast food. But I rationalized it knowing that the hosts of the workshop would be taking care of us the rest of this week and would give us authentic Taiwanese food then. But I ordered a Teriyaki Chicken sandwich, to lessen my shame. With French fries and a coke…shut up!

By this point however, it was even hotter and more humid than before. So I made my way back to my hotel room—and in just a matter of a few minutes, it began to rain and thunder. So I read in my room for most of the afternoon. It was actually very pleasant to just curl up with my book and read for pleasure and without any limit on the time I’d spend doing it…something I honestly haven’t done in over two years time if I’m perfectly honest.

Around 6 o’clock, my phone rang, and I was invited to dinner with a group of the workshop participants. The organizers came with us, and we had dinner at a very nice restaurant with authentic Taiwanese food. It was very tasty—we got a variety of dishes, with the baked cod being the most impressive, as the cod was obviously fresh. Everything else—the vegetables, the cashew chicken, the tofu—was also very good, though I was surprised to find it reminiscent of food that I had at restaurants back in the US. Though I was disappointed that we didn’t get French rolls with our food. We had “Taiwan Beer” with dinner, which was a mild lager reminiscent, a bit, of Heineken. It was very enjoyable, though served in 2 oz glasses…I tried to not just down each pour that the host gave me, but it was hard.

I then returned to my hotel room at 8, and passed out. I woke up at 4 this morning and am planning on checking out Starbucks or Mr. Donut around 6 or 7 and then getting ready for the workshop.

Until the next time…

-Fred