brief update in hsinchu, take one

Currently stuck in the dorm at the university in Hsinchu that Daniel's giving talks at this week. The typhoon that's brushing by Taiwan (projected to leave by tonight) has currently shut down the city. Declan woke up at 6am all tired and cranky and finally got lulled to sleep by Daniel's and my boring discussion about the recent Chick-fil-A bugaboo. He was extra tired from not being able to nap yesterday because people were hammering boards around the stores downstairs in preparation to shield their windows from the incoming storm. Turns out the wind ripped the boards apart and there are wood chips everywhere downstairs this morning when we ventured out to get breakfast for our demanding toddler. Daniel left for the office amidst the violent rain and wind because his officemate out-testeroned him by actually biking in from the latter's studio apartment about 15 minutes from campus.

So. The highlights of the trip to Taipei and now Hsinchu have definitely been about being able to meet up with family and old friends. In Taipei, I had dinner with my friend Yvonne, who I last physically saw in 2004 when we celebrated our undergraduate graduation together. We met up at a metro stop and walked together to the Hakka restaurant (really, a small eatery converted from a traditional Taiwanese-style house). The food was excellent and Declan ended up playing with the owner's two daughters in the part of the restaurant that the family lives in so that we adults got a chance to talk and catch up without Declan doing bodily harm to either himself or innocent dinner-eaters. Yvonne hasn't changed at all, from my perspective. She's still very cute, seemingly innocent yet quite mischievous (at one point, Daniel said one of the dishes was particularly good and Yvonne tried to trick him into believing it's rat meat.). Perhaps she seems a bit more mature now, with what sounds like a fairly regimented job that demands a lot of time. I envy being able to go to work, while she said that she had wanted to simply get married and stay home to mind the children. Funny how our places are completely switched, and both of us have to adjust our expectations to suit the other's desired kind of life.

In Hsinchu, I had lunch with my friend Deb and her husband. The last time I saw Deb was at her undergraduate graduation, in 2003. Yep, nine years ago.  Deb has changed a lot physically in how I remembered her, although in all other ways, she remains the same. She seems a lot frailer now than in college, as in Taiwanese girl-thin. She's pregnant and expected to be due three weeks before me. However, my arms are literally like twice the size of hers. I feel like a water buffalo next to her. She works at the same place as her husband, and expects to return to work after taking a two-months-long maternity leave. I think she's one of the most capable women I have ever met, and she's certainly been one of my role models in being confident while in college, and now.

Also, it was really special for me to be able to introduce Declan to my grandparents, who are in their late 80s, and witness my grandmother making Declan giggle by sneak-tickling his armpits.

I am reaffirmed in my absolute requirement for whatever city we live in long-term to have a good public transportation system. Taipei's metro system is a dream. Hsinchu's bus system is decent, given its concentration of sites to see in the city center.  Without these trains and buses, I am lost and made desperate by boring time with a hyperactive child.

Declan's been going through this phase (I hope it's a phase) where he absolutely refuses to let me help him with things. Like walking up or down steep flights of stairs, or sitting on the adult toilet, or getting dressed. Results vary from our yelling at each other in frustration to him falling (into the toilet, for example) and getting lots of scratches. It's super annoying listening to a toddler yelling "OWWWW" constantly while pointing to his self-inflicted wounds. At one point, I told him he deserved the pain. I know. What a horrible mother.

Oh no. The construction people are starting to get back to their drilling. Please, nooooo, spare my child. Spare my sanity.