I made the mistake of telling a few people how I had somehow developed a sense of direction since being in Taiwan. On a recent road trip with my friends Sarah, Luke and Joel, I realized how deceived I was. We spent over 6 hours to get somewhere that was only 2 hours away. During the final stretch, we were driving through twisty half washed-out mountain roads with “Eagle-eye” Joel behind the wheel. Luckily, the Taiwanese are infinitely helpful, even when the language barrier is unsurpassable. We eventually stopped to ask someone for directions thinking that Luke and I would be able to piece them together. The first person we asked kept talking and talking until we had to interrupt him to tell him that we had no idea what he was saying. Then he just motioned to follow him as he sped off around the mountain roads. Finally, we got to a turn where he stopped, got out and pointed to a white line. We gathered that we were meant to follow the white line on our right… and keep following. Easy enough you’d think. It seemed almost too easy so we repeatedly stopped to ask for further instructions, making half the mountain run through hoops to get us the same directions. A girl was walking down the street when we stopped to ask her. She told us to wait a minute as she literally ran to her house, ran back and told us to follow the white line. Another man, when asked the same question, went to retrieve his daughter who came out and told us to follow the white line. My favorite instructions came from the man who made us dinner. We lucked out because Luke somehow has celebrity status in Reili. When we picked this random place to eat they came outside and shouted with glee… “Luke’s here!” The owner spoke a bit of English and knew the place that we were trying to go. Here are his directions : “Follow the white line until you get to a fork where you can hear dogs barking on your left (the man barks repeatedly to make sure we understand what we’re listening for)… turn right there.”
We finally got to this camping spot where we slept on top of our tents in a little gazebo. My feet got rained on, and ants marched across my face but I couldn’t have cared less. The next day we hiked/ climbed/ slipped to a river where we spent the afternoon swimming and exploring. You can’t image how breathe-taking it is to work your way down a riverbed and find yourself at the top of a 200 foot waterfall. The water level was low because the dry season is currently ending so we could sit in the river at the dropping point and gaze into a huge valley. It was hard to leave but as responsible teachers, we eventually had to part from paradise and make our way home.
It’s a little disconcerting to realize that I’m on the last half of my stay here. Coming to Taiwan was something I had never expected for myself but the hardest part of the journey was deciding to do it. Since then, the roads have been (figuratively) well paved. It’s a good life and I’ve had opportunities to do things that were distant longings before. The apprehension over going home is something I’d never imagined to have. But now that I’m settled into a good life here, it’ll be hard to return to the unknown. I am excited about finally entering the health care world which is something I’ve craved since youth.
My family’s coming! They’ve finally booked their tickets and I can’t wait to act as an island tour guide (and show off my Chinese skills). It will be wonderful to have people here who know me outside of this little island. I love visitors! (*hint hint to anyone else who’s thinking of circumnavigating the world). So today I’m hoping to get another driving lesson. This time on a motorcycle! I was inspired by a Swiss couple I met in Borneo who bought motorbikes in Vietnam and drove around the country for two months… I do have a few free months coming up!
