Blur

The week went by in a blur. I paid the tuition fee for summer term, attended yoga classes, started reading up on International Relations, got a Stitch stuffed toy, went out with Richelle, Roxane, and my classmates, and realized that I’ve been in Taiwan for 8 months now. Wow!

Since I didn’t really do anything on the weekdays, I’ll just write about the weekend. Richelle and I went to Taipei Main Station because she needed to buy a couple of stuff. After that, we walked to Ximending and looked for the Lattea store. We stayed there for a couple of hours, just talking about random things. Then, we continued walking around Ximending (and buying some stuff along the way) and Roxane met up with us after her class. We went to the hair salon to have our bangs cut. I’m going back there in a couple of weeks to get my hair cut. It’s about time. The last thing we did was go to the 39 Daiso store. It was almost 6PM by that time, so we headed to the MRT station because we were meeting up with my classmates for dinner.

We had dinner at Macho Tacos, the Mexican restaurant where I “celebrated” my birthday last December. Richelle, Roxane, and I shared orders of fish burritos, chicken quesadillas, and pork burritos. Because we (my classmates and I) always have to have dessert, my classmate Nicholas led us to this cupcake store. Again, Richelle, Roxane, and I shared a cheese cupcake, a banana chocolate cupcake, and a chocolate crinkle. Good food = good night! After we parted ways with my classmates, the 3 of us walked around Gongguan and bought shoes! Hihi. The Mares rash guards I bought online also came in the mail today. Eep, I think (I know?) I’ve been spending a lot recently but well…

Yesterday, Starbucks had its monthly buy-one-take-one Sunday, so the 3 of us, along with Gokim, drank frappuccinos. Yummy! After some time, Richelle had to go to the bus station because she was going back to Tainan, so Roxane and I accompanied her to the station, and off she went! It also rained very hard a couple of minutes after Roxane and I got home. Whew! Talk about being lucky.

Some thoughts and realizations the past week:

Sometimes, even if you want to, there will come a time when you won’t be able to tell your friend everything you want to tell them. There will come a point when that friend will start misunderstanding what you really want to tell them – even if it’s really for their own good. When this time comes, you find other people to talk to. After some time however, I’m pretty sure you’ll both figure something out.

In retrospect, there were a lot of things that I could’ve handled better but since we can’t and shouldn’t cry over spilt milk, suffice it to say that I have learned from my mistakes and that I have come to understand how to handle myself (and other people) better. We grow up, we learn.

You spin my head right round right round

Last Tuesday, I was supposed to head straight home after class but some of my classmates asked me if I wanted to have “lunch/merienda” with them, and so I did. We went to this restaurant outside our school called Bobochacha. I wasn’t that hungry so I only ordered a side dish, while they ordered main dishes. It started to rain hard so we stayed there for some time just talking and sitting around.

When I got home, I went to the laundry room and washed my clothes. I thank the person who invented the washing machine, for without it washing clothes would be a whole lot harder. Hee!

Last Wednesday, I was supposed to go to a coffee shop to study, or at least go somewhere to do something but I ended up feeling lazy (and I didn’t want to spend) so I just headed home, locked myself up in my room, and studied. The reason why I wanted to do something was because I realized that for the past 3 months, I’ve always done something on the 18th.

January 18th was spent in the Philippines, meeting up with 2 of my closest friends, and then having dinner and a family photo shoot at Casa Roces. February 18th was spent in Disneyland Hong Kong with my closest high school class. March 18th was spent in Hualien whitewater rafting. Then on May 18th, I will be receiving the “verdict” on my application. I hope I get in!!!

Last Thursday, my classmates and I had dinner at Michael’s Kitchen, this restaurant that serves Hong Kong cuisine. The owner is really from HK, and I have to say, the food and the interior all made me think/look back on my HK trip. Nice! After dinner, we headed to Cosi Cosi Gelateria for dessert. I had a scoop of popcorn gelato, yummy! We hung around the place for quite some time, just chilling out and talking.

Last Friday, I went to my Spanish language class. We watched the movie Que se mueran los feos, but the audio wasn’t good (because there weren’t speakers available so we only had to rely on the laptop speakers) and there weren’t subtitles, so it was hard for me to watch/understand it.

After class, one of my classmates suddenly asked us if we wanted to have dinner together. It was raining so hard and I was the only one who had an umbrella so it was kinda hard. We were running around trying to look for a place. We ended up at this burger place a couple of streets down our school. I ordered the beef, cheese, and mushroom burger. It was huge and it was yummy! Omnomnom! Too bad I wasn’t able to take a picture of it. Here’s someone who blogged about it (it’s in Chinese) — B&O Burger. I’ll try to go back there some other time and take pictures!

This weekend was spent doing homework, reading books, watching movies, and watching the Liga BBVA finals between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Real Madrid won! WOOHOO! I watched it via online streaming, and because of the time difference, the match ended at around 4AM Taiwan time. Yikes!

“It’s like you always find a way to say something that makes her heart turn into knots.” Hmmmmm.

One year later

4 years later, and I’m still here. I was supposed to write about it being exactly 1 year since I graduated from university, and then I realized that April is also this blog’s “anniversary month.” I decided to move to WordPress last April 15, 2008 and I’ve never regretted it since. It’s been 4 years – I can’t believe that it’s been that long! Time really does fly by so fast.

Going back to the original reason for this post… I can’t believe that it’s been a year since I graduated. It seems like just yesterday, I was about to start university, and then I was just writing (and later on defending) my thesis with my partner, and then we were graduating, and now, a year has passed. Let me take this moment to look back and see how the past year has been.

Right after graduation, I started a job at this company (where I earned a good amount of money – money that was used to fund some of my other stuff like the documents for the scholarships and a camera, yay!) and stayed there for around 3 months. I made a lot of friends and memories there so it’s something I don’t regret doing. At the same time, I was waiting on scholarships from Spain and Taiwan. That was quite a stressful period of my life because I had to run a lot of errands, and I had to sacrifice a lot of “sleep time” but it was all worth it. I also accepted this translation job (that I did together with my thesis partner Jad). That was another experience too. We were also able to buy a house – something to finally call our own. We moved there a month before I left.

I got accepted to both scholarships (Spain and Taiwan), which meant more errands and more stress (but all worth it, yeah). I left the company and went to Spain on a one-month summer scholarship. It was so much fun! I was able to see Toledo, Córdoba, Granada, Barcelona, Segovia, Madrid, and a whole lot more places in Madrid. I had a lot of experiences and I met quite a handful of people (but I wasn’t able to bond with a whole lot of people because I kept on going to other places). It probably would have been better had I stayed there longer but I had to head to Taiwan for my other scholarship. I’m already happy with what I got and with the opportunity though. It’s something that I never thought I would get, and it’s something that I’ll forever cherish. I promise to go back someday! :)

After my scholarship to Spain, I went back to Manila for around 8 hours (after more than 16 hours of flying). I packed (well, it was more of I threw all that I could bring on the bed and mom packed it for me), slept, and then I was back on a plane headed for Taiwan. I’ve been for a little over 7 months now. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been to a lot of places in and out of Taiwan. Just 2 weeks ago, I was in China with my parents, visiting our relatives. I also went to Hong Kong with some high school friends – my first trip abroad of such sort. Siiiigh, it has truly been an awesome year. Of course there are times when I miss home and I miss my friends but I’m really thankful for everything that I have. I’m thankful for everything that happened over the past year, and for the things that are still going to happen over my next 2 years here.

Thank You, thank You, thank You!

This is all that I can think of writing for now. Looking back, it’s all still so overwhelming! :)

‘Til next time, Xiamen/China! :)

April 10, 2012

Andrea and I went to the port to see if the ship would leave for Kinmen. There were a lot of people there because the first 2 ships didn’t leave. We were just waiting there playing Tetris with each other. Finally, they told us that the ship would set sail at 12:30PM. The waves were strong so it was like we were on an amusement park ride. Other people were shouting, “wooooo!” every time we would “get hit” by a wave.

We got to Kinmen, boarded the bus to the airport, and then I waited to board my plane. Finally, I was back in Taipei! YAAAAY! :)

Supposedly last day in Xiamen/China

April 9, 2012

It was supposedly my last day in Xiamen, and in China, because I was leaving in the afternoon. Therefore, we did a few last minute tour before I left. In the morning, we had breakfast at this famous satay noodle restaurant. I hear they make everything from scratch/everything is freshly made. It was really delicious.

Then, we walked along the old streets until we finally reached Xiamen University 廈門大學. We met up with Andrea after her class, and then we went to Nanputuo Temple 南普陀寺 beside the university. After walking around for a while, we headed to this spa for a massage. The prices are similar to those in the Philippines, and def way cheaper than getting a massage here in Taiwan so yay! Then, we went to Bank Centre 銀行中心 (owned by Lucio Tan) for lunch! More delicious food! :)

Andrea, mom, and I went back home earlier because I had a ship to catch to Kinmen, but I found out that I was leaving 2 hours later (I originally thought the departure time was 1:50PM but turns out, it was 3:30PM, whoops!) We lounged around at home, played mahjong (hihi), and when the time finally came, went to the port. When we got there, we were told that the trip was canceled because of the foggy weather. I had to rebook my ship and my flight to the following day. We went back home and just played Tetris on DSi. XD

Last day in Quanzhou, and then back to Xiamen!

April 8, 2012

Since it was Easter, we went to Quanzhou’s Catholic church 泉州天主教堂 to hear mass. It was also dad’s first time there because he said that the government closed it down for a long time before. After mass, the church served food so we were able to eat lunch for free! Hahaha.

Dad’s former “workplace” was nearby so we went there in hopes of bumping into his old friends. The person he was really looking for wasn’t there, but he also saw some people and they talked for a while. It’s been so long since he last went there. We also passed by the tulou on the way back to the hotel.

In the afternoon, one of dad’s friend’s employees drove us to Xiamen (in a police car at that! Woo!). We hung out at 8ku’s house for a while, and then Andrea, Albert, and I went to Basao 佰朔茶廊 for snacks. I can’t remember what I ordered but I think it was the Oolong Caramel Mocha 烏龍焦糖摩卡 (oops!) and we shared a Chocolate Souffle 巧克力舒芙蕾. Yummy!

We had dinner at Lucky Full City Seafood Ltd. 潮褔城大酒樓, where we ate a lot of dimsum. Then, we rode a ferry to Gulangyu Island. We walked around for a while, bought DQ ice cream, went to Miss Zhao 趙小姐的店, a tea place, to sit down and drink tea, and took the ferry back to Xiamen Island (?). I wanted to eat oysters so Andrea, Adrian, mom, and I went to this restaurant (鮮蚝館) that serves them. We ordered garlic oysters and cheese oysters. Wee! We eat and eat and eat…

Dear ancestral home, I’m back! Day 3 :)

April 7, 2012

We went to Qingyuan Hill 清源山, also another one of the 18 views of Quanzhou 泉州十八景. We walked through the “Gate to Laozi Stone Statue 老君岩山門”, to “Laozi getting through Hangu Fort 老子過函谷關”, to “Confucius salute Laozi 孔子問禮老子”, and finally to the famous “Stone statue of Laozi 老君岩”. After that, my dad was tired so he stayed there, while mom and I, and this girl who accompanied us to Qingyuan Hill, walked up to the “heavenly abode of Yuanyuan 元元洞天” and to the “Seeing Dragon Scenic Spot 見龍台.” It was a bit hot that day (or maybe it’s because we were climbing up the hill?) so we stopped there, took a rest, and headed back down. We had lunch at this beef place, and then we went back to the hotel to rest.

Later in the afternoon, another one of dad’s friends came to pick us up, and we went to Shishi clothing city 石獅服裝城 because I wanted to go shopping. That was a bit disappointing because a lot of the prices were the same as in Taiwan, and I like the clothes here more, so I wasn’t really able to buy a lot. Then, we went to the beach side, where apparently, a resort (Gold Coast 黃金海岸) is being constructed. The place looks really expensive though. The beach, not so good. Philippine beaches are better, but at least I was able to see a Chinese beach. Haha!

Dear ancestral home, I’m back! Day 2 (Ashab Mosque 清淨寺)

April 6, 2012

After Kaiyuan Temple, we headed to Tumen Street 塗門街 (which means “Clay Street”) where the Qingjing Mosque 清淨寺/Ashab Mosque (in Arabic) is located.

The mosque was built in 1009. It is the “oldest among extant mosques in China” and “has been ranked among the first batch of key national cultural relics in safe-keeping and among the ten most famous temples in China.” The mosque isn’t really that big, but you can see a museum with a Chinese-Islam relations exhibit, stones with Arabic inscriptions, an ancient well, a “lotus cropping out of water” incense burner, sarcophagi, worshiping hall, etc. You have to pay 3RMB to get in.

After the mosque, we bought some shakes for refreshments, and then we went to this music store owned by dad’s friend. We had an afternoon snack of beef and meatball soup, and sticky rice at this small restaurant before heading to Confucius Temple 府文廟 and finally going back to the hotel.

For your information, the Confucius Temple was “…built in the beginning of Taipingxingguo of the North Song dynasty (976 AD). It’s the largest Confucius Temple surviving in South China. The present structure remains original of the early Qing dynasty, and was listed in the key national safeguard cultural relics in 2001.”

Dear ancestral home, I’m back! Day 2 (Kaiyuan Temple 開元寺)

April 6, 2012

Kaiyuan Temple is one of the 18 views of Quanzhou (as approved/promoted/propagated? by the government). According to the information sheet I got, it “is a national key safekeeping cultural relic and a national 4A grade tousit spot. It was built in the 2nd year of Chuigong 垂拱二年 in the reign of Empress Wuzetian of the Tang dynasty 始建于唐武則天 686AD. It was originally named The Lotus Temple 蓮花寺.” I saw the Giant Buddhist Hall, the Twin Pagodas (The East Pagoda is also called the Zhenguo Pagoda 鎮國搭 and it is 48.24m high. The West Pagoda, on the other hand, is called the Renshou Pagoda 仁壽搭 and it is 44.06m high.) Again according to the info sheet, “the Twin Pagodas are gems of ancient Chinese stone architecture and has become the landmark of the historic city Quanzhou.”

My dad said that he used to play here with his friends when he was young. Back then, the place was open to the public free of charge. Now, you have to pay 10RMB to get in. I guess it’s to preserve the place too. He also said that the pagodas were built by men with their own hands. That’s one of the reasons why they’re famous, I think. Imagine building something like this back in the old old days when they didn’t have all the modern equipment/technology that we have today. I also saw in one of the signs that 2 different strong earthquakes (magnitude 9 and 6 respectively) hit the place before, and damaged the pagodas a bit (maybe the insides?) but I think they’re still the original structures from way back… or maybe they were strengthened or something. I’m not sure. Whoops!

Dear ancestral home, I’m back! Day 2 (Tomb sweeping 清明節, 掃墓)

April 6, 2012

After breakfast at the hotel, we had tea with dad’s friend. It was cool because I was able to see how they prepare the tea. The first batch was used to wash the cups, and then we were given the second batch. Mom said that the tea they served us was expensive/high quality tea. Ooh! That’s probably why I liked its taste/flavor. It was different from the teas I’ve drank before. Then, my cousin fetched us and we went to my uncle’s house. My other uncle and cousins arrived, I suggested we take a group picture, and then we headed to the cemetery for the tomb sweeping ceremony. My great-grandpa, grandpa, and grandma are all buried in the same place. It was also my first time to see a cemetery like that. You had to walk through mountainous-y road (?) to get there. I think that cemetery is also one of the oldest in the place, because in the newer cemeteries, the bodies are cremated (I dunno if this goes for everyone though) and put in jars, and then these are placed in small cabinets. From what I heard, it’s because the government does not want to use up a lot of their land space for cemeteries so this way, they can save space. There are also cemeteries where they give you your own plot for the deceased but unless you’re really really rich, you won’t be able to afford it.

After that, we ate lunch at this restaurant (yummy food I might add), went to the tomb of another uncle (whose ashes are placed in one of those cabinets), and then my parents and I went to Kaiyuan Temple 開元寺 (separate blog post).

I’m so happy to meet a lot of my relatives from my father’s side. I don’t even remember meeting them the last time I was in China. I’ve only been there once, back when I was in 6th grade, so yeah, I don’t remember their faces. It’s good that at least now, I have a camera to capture such moments.