Home. And yet....

I arrived back in Vancouver on Thursday night, closing a chapter of my life, and starting a new one.

It's funny, because it doesn't feel like I'm coming home. In fact, it feels like I left home. The wonderful friends and "family" I built up over the nearly 4 years, my brothers and new sis-in-law... all left behind. :(

Everything I'm coming back to... is different. So, in a way, it almost feels like I'm coming back to nothing, and have to start again.

*sigh*

以前回家的時候總是有回家的感覺。 這次，回國．．． 卻沒有回家的感覺，而是離開家的感覺。 在台灣四年來認識了很多親戚，朋友，同事．．． 成為了一個新家庭。 能認識這麼多優秀特別的好朋友，而受到他們的照顧與關懷，真是我的福氣。 真的很捨不得；回到家一直難過，超級想念他們。 =_=

咳．．． 只能掛在MSN上等他們上線，保持一點點的聯絡．．．。

Not enough time, Part 2

So, in my 3 weeks left, I managed to squeeze in a fair bit, just making the most of my time left.

- outdoor climbing at Longdong 龍洞, despite a climber falling to her death a month earlier;
- National Palace Museum 故宮 with my dad;
- wakeboarding 滑水 with my coworker in Taipei county - sooooo much fun!
- more indoor climbing at iClimb (that was a constant!), including helping with a kids' activity, ha;
- SCUBA diving lessons - managed to fit this in, yay! 2 days of diving (6 tanks) off the NE coast 東北角 of Taiwan;
- send-off for the iClimb foreign friends (including myself) that were leaving Taiwan;
- new climbing shoes! and,
- picnic and stinky tofu outings.

It doesn't seem like too much, but SCUBA lessons took up 4 days (2 days of class + pool, 2 days of open water), and I went to the climbing gym almost every day, whenever I could, to climb and to hang out at my second home, with my second family. I also accomplished my goal of finishing the overhang climb (although I did "take"). :)

And that wraps up my time in Taiwan....

I have *tons* of pictures. I'll update this post with picture links when I'm done organising them.

Not enough time

The time's gone by awfully quickly.... Since coming to Taiwan, I've been partly busy with handling some personal business (finances, other loose ends) but also with spending time with friends before I leave the country "for good". So here's the Reader's Digest version of what I've done so far in the last 4 weeks:

- watched dragonboat races for 端午節 (hadn't ever done that in Vancouver even!);
- walked a LOT, in Taipei's basin of mugginess;
- caught up with my cousin whom I hadn't seen in some 10 years (he'd been in Japan while I was working here and just moved back to Taiwan);
- went to 九份 and 基隆 and ate ate ate with 3 girlfriends;
- went to 宜蘭 with 3 friends, to eat, stroll through a forest with "divinity trees" (some as old as 2000 years), watch the sunrise over the 望洋 mountain range, lots of mini-trails - half of the 3-day trip was in rainy weather!
- saw my friend and her hubby and newborn baby (hadn't seen her in 6 months);
- listened to a music performance (of an artist I hadn't heard of), bought his first CD on the spot and got it autographed;
- took my dad to Hong Kong and Macau (that's another post altogether);
- met with my "gifted" cousin;
- helped my brother move (earning my keep!);
- hung out at the climbing gym, and climbed climbed climbed: my friends at the climbing gym were kind enough to extend my pass for the month that I unexpectedly had to give up. I'm going to finish climbing that ceiling before I leave!
- ripped open the skin of my palm, because I just HAD to get one more climb in before gym closing....
- scootered out to Nanliao 南寮 for a stroll by the ocean;
- gone out to Longdong 龍洞 for some outdoor climbing (that's tomorrow!).

Of course there are lots of other little meetings with coworkers and friends and my brothers and sis-in-law and cousins etc.

I've given up on a few plans, like going to Beijing (I would've had free room and board if I could find a plane ticket to fit my schedule) and scuba diving lessons (for PADI/NAUI open water diving certification) seem unlikely now. Not sure if I'll be able to scooter up to Taipei either.

I have 3 weeks left in Taiwan. It still doesn't seem like enough time.... :(