I made it to Taipei! My flight went smoothly, although my 6 AM stopover in Anchorage, Alaska was pretty surreal. (one of the first things I saw when I got off the plane was a huge stuffed stag head staring at me from behind a glass case) I slept about 7 hours on the plane, ate the decent food and didn't get sick, and watched The Social Network.
My aunt and cousin woke up early to come pick me up at the airport at 7 AM local time. We took a bus to the the Taipei train station and then a cab to their apartment. The bus ride took about an hour because of traffic, and in the gray early morning light I could still see the lush green mountains. It was in the taxi, with the cabbie chatting away in a mix of Taiwanese and Mandarin, that it really hit me. I'm here! I made it! I'm back in Taipei, with all the scooters, traffic, palm trees, narrow alleys, the tiled sidewalks filled with plastic stools and food stands, crowds and the markets and traditional Chinese characters everywhere. This is the first time I've returned to a city in Asia, and it felt like a homecoming. Memories from my first trip to Taiwan that I haven't thought about in years came flooding back. Even the sewer smell made me nolstagic.Walking up to my uncle's apartment, where I stayed for so long the first time I was here, was a surreal and amazing moment.
I spent my first day here sleeping, eating, and soaking in the thrill of being here. Seeing my uncle again, who reminds me so much of my dad, was wonderful. As the 5 of us (my uncle, aunt, and their two adult children) sat around in the living room, watching TV and chatting, I felt like I had been absorbed into their family. Even though my 3rd grade Chinese definitely limits my interaction, and I haven't seen everyone for 5 years, it still felt natural. Like I belonged. I am so grateful for their love, warmth, and generosity.
I'm also grateful that there's internet access in their apartment! :) So I will use this blog as a more traditional travel diary during my trip now that I know I can update fairly regularly. And here's my first silly anectdote!
Today I had an adventure at the hair salon. I wanted to get my hair cut before I left the U.S. but wasn't able to make it happen. So my aunt took me to a local hair salon. I've gotten my hair cut in Asia before but it always manages to throw me off. I wish one of my Chinese language classes covered haircutting vocab because I never really know what's going on. This salon was fancy, with flat screen TVs embedded in the mirror for you to watch and hot tea to drink while you're waiting. Also, I got a shoulder, arm, hand, and head massage while I was getting my hair washed. The young woman who was giving me the massage and washing my hair was unfailingly polite, checking in with me every minute or so about how I was doing. Unfortunately, she also talked in a very quiet, high-pitched, breathy voice that made it really hard for me to understand her. Our conversations went a little like this:
"Do you want to [incomprehensible]?"
"What?"
"Do you want a [slightly rephrased but still incomprehensible]"
"Um, I'm sorry, I don't understand."
(I think she actually stamps her foot in frustration at this point) "I said [???]."
(wishing my aunt was next to me so she could translate) "Uh okay."
At this point I'm about to tell her that I'm not from around here and don't know what she's saying, but then she abruptly leaves. I sit there with lather in my hair for about 30 seconds until another hairdresser has to say to me slowly and loudly, "Rinse. Go to the back for a rinse."
Luckily, by the time I show up in the back looking sheepish, someone has explained to my patient but confused hairwasher that I'm an American. I'm relieved, because up to this point I think she probably thought I was either really slow or trying to be difficult. This comes up a lot when I'm in Asia - I'm too tall to really be from around here, but I also look ethnically Chinese and have a passable command of the language, and no one believes that Asians can really be Americans. (To them, Americans are white. End of story.) So the locals usually treat me like I'm a lapsed Chinese - that I may have strayed abroad for a bit but have now come home so my inherent knowledge of Chinese language, customs, and etiquette will take over for me. When I continue to stumble through everyday interactions, people sometimes get frustrated or treat me like I'm an idiot, until I emphasize again then I was born and raised in America (which still sometimes doesn't let me off the hook). My hairwasher seemed intrigued that I was from America and wanted to talk to me about it. She asked if I understood Chinese, and I said I could understand most of what's said to me as long as peope spoke slowly. She said "oh okay, I'll speak more slowly."
She then turned on the water full blast and proceeded to speak to me more slowly, but at the same whisper-quiet volume of before. Which resulted in a lot more of me asking "what?" and nodding okay when she didn't ask me a yes or no question. A particularly ridiculous exchange went like this:
"Did I rinse [something something]?"
"Yes, yes."
"Where?"
"What? (what do you mean, where?)"
"[something something] rinse your hair."
"Yes, please rinse my hair. (didn't you just do this?)"
"No, is there any part I haven't rinsed?"
"Oh. No, no, everything's fine."
Nothing like conversations like that that make me feel like I wasted 4 years of college-level Chinese language instruction.
Luckily, my haircutter was much louder and clearer and with my aunt's help I was able to get my point across. I got a nice haircut in the classic Asian mullet fashion, with feathered layers and all. The whole thing, including a hairwash and massage for my aunt, ended up costing less than $30 US. Sweet.
Tomorrow, I plan on getting some new glasses. I have no grasp of any Chinese vocab one uses when visiting an optometrist or picking glasses, so I'm looking forward to more adventures in miscommunication. :)
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