In the morning, I woke up too early to have an excuse not to use the 400-meter track outside my window. The last time was at least 48 years ago, and it’s strange to still have such vivid memories that show how short life is overall. Such a useless thing! I The more I feel we shouldn’t have the worst impact possible each and leave a mess. We’re not worth it, and those condemned to live after us deserve better.
I see some simple improvements in this regard, and for me, one can be connected to Taiwan. At least my first steps inside a building reminded me: You can survive at 25°C, and there’s no point in showing off with freezing temperatures. Michi (“Yunnan-Michi”) had told me about buses in Venezuela where people in summer take winter clothes for a bus ride…
I boarded the ferry to Keelung and looked for a seat, but then someone showed me my cabin—I was torn between embarrassing privilege and feeling imprisoned. Some passengers wanted to see such a cabin, and I wanted to make it clear that I hadn’t chosen it. (I just wanted a seat on board.)
As I was writing, I looked at the clock – 9:54. A little shock ran through me – one minute until the next class and I was ill-prepared. My brain doesn’t need sleep to produce school nightmares.
I was taken to Li’s address, but first I had to meet Yvonne to get the ferry ticket back to Nangan for the 11th. She’s so much like I imagined she would be in person. When Li arrived, Yvonne explained every detail she’d written down, and when she was finished, she started another loop. So Li had to wait quite a while standing next to us, and I tried to stay focused, cooperative, and grateful to avoid an even more elaborate lection. However, I don’t want to diminish Yvonne’s organizational efforts!
Okay, all things come to an end, and Li was able to take me to her home. Glenn, her husband, was having a basketball tournament and meanwhile she invited me to a Japanese/Taiwanese restaurant. On the way back, we briefly looked at the street where her parents and brother lived, where I had stayed in 2015 and 2019. I remember that street well, but my disorientation would have suggested reaching it from the other side.
But the feeling of having arrived back in Taipei anyway prevailed, and Li, Glenn, and I spent a long evening at their home.