Back home

I am home. Not in the back-in-my-cozy-San-Diego-apartment kind of home, no. I am home in the sentimental, nostalgic, back-in-the-place-where-I-grew-up-and-lived-for-5-years home. Taiwan was where I spent a fifth of my life. Twenty years ago, my family packed up everything in our home in Yuanli and went to California for good. I was so young, I didn't wonder if I would ever see this place again. But as time went on, through elementary to high school, and especially in college, I kept on wondering when I'd be able to go back to Taiwan.

Taiwan, from my 5-year-old perspective, was characterized by grey skies, scooter rides with my mom from school, train rides to Grandma's eating boxed lunches, trips to Taipei and being mesmerized by the big city, and eating a whole lotta street food. 

So with all these nostalgic, wonderful memories, do I feel at home? It's hard to say. It certainly didn't feel like home when I landed. Trying to get from the airport to my hotel yesterday was a two hour ordeal as my coworker and I were trying to figure out the subway system in the middle of a busy station with all our luggage. A kind young girl who spoke pretty good English saw our pitiful state and helped us buy tickets. When we got to our station, there were no escalators or elevators so I had to lug my suitcase up 3 flights of stairs. Then we discovered we went out the wrong exit and had no idea where our hotel was. When I finally found it 10 minutes later, I checked into the hotel and got upgraded to the "Eagle Suite"-- complete with a hot tub and 3 TVs in the room. It's pretty snazzy, I guess reward for my hard work, and a wonderful place to spend my anniversary with Mr. Roger. In the midst of getting our bearings, I didn't get to stop and think, "I am in Taiwan."  That is, until last night when I went to Shilin Night Market and it all felt foreign yet so familiar. I don't believe I ever went there as a kid, so in that sense it was new to me, but the night market experience is nothing new. 

Today I went to church, and afterwards went window shopping. When I revealed that I wasn't living in Taiwan, I was asked twice if I was back home from abroad. In Chinese, it's asked, "國外回來?" Both times I was asked, I had to pause because I didn't quite know how to respond. In some ways, yes but...you know. 

Anyway, I still haven't quite sorted out my feelings yet, but I am looking forward to two things:

1) Visiting my hometown of Yuanli tomorrow

2) Having Mr. Roger with me for the remainder of this trip. He's coming in ~6 hours! With him by my side, it'll always feel like home wherever I am ♥.