Two days ago, I was on my third flight of my trip and the longest: 12 solid hours from LAX to Taipei. Although I slept on and off, I found myself talking to the other people in my row: a lady in her mid 20s going to Bangkok for five months and a father of two boys going to Chiang Mai for vacation.
Travelers and those affected by wanderlust may not speak the same native languages, but we all have that same spark in their eye when travel is brought up, and understand that fundamentally all of us have the same goal: explore, whenever and wherever. We were a row of individuals from different places with different stories, but what was most interesting is that in talking to them, I realized we were all unconventional and unwavered by societal expectations.
Jet lag kicked in as I left my newfound friends in the terminal to finally set foot on solid ground for what seemed like a lifetime ago. Fast forward through currency exchanges and late night talks with new friends and training had started.
Any worries I had about my new job, training, and moving disappeared when we started off properly with a city tour and had medical examinations completed. Fun fact: Taiwan’s health system is in the top five in the world and I had a complete physical done in 45 minutes–for around $40 USD. The hospital was so clean, efficient, and the staff even nicer. And if you have a National Health Insurance card once you’re an alien resident, it’s even cheaper.
Jet lag had just about kicked me to the curb by dinner time, but with free time on our hands, we had to explore a little bit. Dinner was a dumpling place, where my roommate and I split 20 dumplings for $1.50 each. We found a bubble tea place just a little ways from our hotel after we stuffed ourselves with dumplings. Sitting next to us, three locals were chatting and a very small, adorable, cute puppy was just laying in this lady’s lap.
“He’s so cute!” I told her and she held him up with both hands, repeating what I said before she stood up and offered him to us for pictures. We were delighted to get free kisses and photos, courtesy of the local woman who let us play with her puppy.
This was only day one of training and I’m already convinced no matter where I end up for teaching and what age groups I’ll have, this was definitely so worth all the work and stress I found myself in at points. Taiwan, I’m so happy to be back.
