Greetings from Taipei!

It's about 8:30am here (4:30pm at home; Taiwan is 16 hours ahead of California), and I'm currently in Eifeh and Dan's Taipei apartment. Eifeh and Dan left about an hour ago for class and Matt's still sleeping. We arrived here last night after a pretty good flight. I slept about half of the 13.5 hours, which isn't bad. During the flight, I also watched the movies All About Steve (eh) and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (pretty funny!) and the TV shows 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother, which I already like.

After arriving in Eifeh and Dan's neighborhood, we grabbed a quick bite in town from the local stands and had some of my favorite Taiwanese dishes, a steamed pork bun/dumpling-like dish, green onion pancake with egg and kimchi, and some warm milk tea with boba. I love Taiwanese food and don't get to eat it much in the states. It's kind of hard to find, and a lot of it is quite different from other Asian cuisines. Although, the first time Matt had Taiwanese food, he thought it was Chinese. I didn't take pictures last night, but don't worry, I'll be on top of my picture duties from here on out.

Last night, among a whole slew of other things I had packed for Eifeh (a whole suitcase full of packages and other things I had been sent with!), Eifeh and I exchanged some things we'd bought for each other that never got mailed. I was greeted with some pretty awesome goodies!

• California Roll-flavored Ruffles chips. They have all sorts of interesting-flavored chips here, and Eifeh saw this one and thought I would like it. They also have beef, chicken, etc.
• A cute 2010 planner. Eifeh understands the value of a good, well-organized planner, and this one's really cute. Last time we were here, we spent a lot of time at the stationery shops, oohing and aahing over all the cute paper, pens, and other office supplies.
• An "Elmo Loves You" Sesame Street mug. It references one of our oldest inside jokes. She's Elmo.
• Hazelnut M&Ms. Another of Asia's unique flavored snacks; I think she got this one in Korea, though, but the packaging is in Russian. They also have orange-flavored chocolate M&Ms here! Dan says they're pretty good.
• Mini camera tripod. This one is super-exciting! It has bendable legs and is really sturdy, so I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it!

She also got me a pretty scarf that isn't pictured, but I'm sure I'll wear at some point during the trip, since it's pretty chilly here right now, in the 50s and 60s (it was so nice in California, mid-70s and sunny!). I'm so excited to be here, though. I'm doing two of the things I love and treasure most in life, traveling and being with a few of my absolute favorite people ever. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures, and I'll try to post again soon!

123,456

Check it. I stopped my car about three blocks from my house to take this picture, because I knew I wouldn't quite make it home at this mileage (it was 123,457 when I got home). That's a lot of miles, guys! Please, car gods, help my car to last another three good years, so I can afford to buy myself a killer new one when this one dies. I'll tell you, though, this car has been solid. My Camry has been GOOD to me! Couldn't have asked for better!

Enough about cars, though. Today is dedicated to running errands, cleaning, and packing. I already took care of all my bills, etc. I just need to stay productive! We can do this! Readyyyyy... break!

Asian travels

One of my best friends, Jessica, just uploaded some old pictures onto Facebook from our trip to Thailand in 2006, and it brought back so many awesome memories. I've loved all of my travels, but Thailand was definitely still one of my best trips ever. In this picture, we were dancing to Thai pop music, hairbrushes and everything, and I believe Jessica's cousin and our other traveling companion were in the room, too.

Thailand was wonderful for us. Good (and inexpensive!) food, friendly people, adventure, and lots of ancient culture (and for me, mosquitos, too--I got hit the worst of all of us). Hopefully, Jess and I can go back one day and have it be as incredible as it was for us the first time. I feel like we spent the entire trip laughing. So much fun!

I don't think I mentioned it on here at all yet, but I've got another Asian adventure coming up soon! One of my other best friends, Eifeh, is spending a year in Taiwan. She double-majored in history and Chinese and studied abroad in Taiwan a couple of years ago, and Matt and I will be spending two weeks there with Eifeh and her boyfriend, Dan! Huge, huge thanks to Matt for making this trip possible for me, because my budget really could not have handled it otherwise. I have a seriously amazing boyfriend.

Spammy

Just received this!

Subject: I hate to do this and email everyone

[insert name] here from [insert teacher's name]' Comm 411 class. This is a bit embarrassing but i was chatting to someone up in the comm Department about the GRE and i am totally spacing on your name. it was at the end of the semester and you were dropping off thank you notes to your Profs. It's kinda hard with so many people in the class to narrow it down. Whatever. You know who you are. Send me an email or something.
To everyone else, sorry to fill up your inbox.

It was me!

Coming home

Boyfriend's been out of town the past few days with his family to attend a cousin's wedding in Arizona, and they're driving back today!

Just received on my phone:
"I'm coming home to you, honey!"

Yay!

2010

Happy New Year!
Buon capo d'anno!

It's 1:22am, and I'm calling it a night. I passed on two house parties (I have work tomorrow morning and a long day ahead), and ended up ringing in the new year with poker (simply as an observer) and a small bunch of philosophy and religion scholar friends.

A nice, laid-back new year for me.

Best wishes to everyone for a phenomenal 2010!

Christmas wish list

As far as Christmas wishes go, it feels a little selfish sometimes to ask for any more than what I already have, which is a lot (both material and immaterial). And truthfully, when it comes down to it, I don't need much to be happy. I've got a lot to be thankful for.

But if we're dreaming big, here are some things at the top of my wish list:

• An awesome job. It would be wonderful to find a job that I love, that I can get with just my bachelor's degree, in a spectacular city, that pays well, with fantastic co-workers and opportunities to advance. And maybe one that is willing to also pay for me to get my master's degree! That's not too much to ask, is it? In this economy?
  
• Incredible opportunities abroad. I'm just about holding my breath for an extraordinary opportunity to work in another country--specifically Italy or maybe Spain--to make a living, expand my résumé and cultural understanding, and improve my Italian or Spanish.
• An awesome new camera. I have a trusty point-and-shoot digital camera that's been really good to me, but I've been really wishing for a DSLR for about three years now and haven't felt comfortable shelling out the bucks to buy one for myself (I obviously don't expect anyone else to buy one for me). My budget in the past year or two hasn't really allowed it, but maybe this is the year!

Dream big, everybody. Dreams come true. Make it happen for yourself. :)