So now I have been here for one week and I have only written one short blog and only touched the tip of the iceberg. I guess I will have to catch you up on the trip thus far. I will try to keep it as short as possible, but in order to not bore you, I might have to do this in a few posts. So we will just start with the very beginning!

Here is a thought that I have had for the last month or so because I have been having problems with mobile phones. How the hell did I ever survive prior to smart phones?? My smart phone broke back in September (or was it August?) and had to revert to my backup mobile, which is only “half smart”. You can’t download apps, there are already given apps. So, no Whatsapp or FB Messenger or Google Maps (only the three most important apps for me). Only texting or calling. Which made me realize how much we now rely on these two methods to communicate. And why not? It is so easy! Running late…just a quick message on Whatsapp to say that you will be 5 minutes late. Lost? Just ask google!

On my first day at the new office, I had to go all old school and actually write down the directions to the office on a PIECE of PAPER!! It worked out fine, but I felt like a cave woman.

So the point is…I had to leave my phone (I did get a smart phone a few weeks before I left) and SIM card at home. I had no fast way to contact Thom and Nicole if I got stuck or lost somewhere. But we planned everything pretty well, covered all what ifs.

After arriving in Taoyuan Internation Airport, I caught the bus to Taoyuan HSR station to catch my train to Taichung. The ride with the train is fast, about 1.5 hours. Thom and I had previously decided that he would pick me up the Taichung station at either 7 pm or 7:30 pm. I was doing pretty well on time. Having arrived in Taichung, I immediately thought that this didn’t feel and look right and wondered if there were another Taichung station somewhere. After waiting about 15 minutes for Thom, I decided to ask around. Came to find out that there is another Taichung station…the Taichung main station. I was at the HSR Taichung station. I had to catch another train to the main station. If you ask me, it is rather confusing to have two stations with the same name. But no one asked me. So there was no way for me to know for sure which station Thom meant and if he was really there. No phone to call or whatsapp (this is where the part about not having a smart phone ties in to my introduction). How can I contact Thom to find out where he was? And the station I was at was rather big, was it better to walk around and look for him or to stay put and wait for him to come to me or should I take my chances and take the train to the main station? What if he wasn’t there? Then I would have to ride back again.

I decided to take my chances and take the train to the main station. That proved to be confusing. Buying a train ticket was not easy, nothing in English. Unfortunately, there was no one working, so I just watched other people buying tickets, I inserted my money into the machine and pushed a bunch of buttons and out came a ticket. I still have no idea if I purchased the right ticket, but I was able to pass the turnstyle, so I guess I did something right! The whole train riding cost me about 660 New Taiwan Dollars (NT$), which roughly equals to about 18.60 Euros.

Luckily, when I got off the train at the main station, I saw Thom and Mason within 5 mintues!! Man, I was relieved!! It was nice to see a familiar face and to see Thom after so many years (about 8)!

We then went to grab a bite to eat, my first meal in Taiwan! It was a tasty meatball soup. We then took a thirty-minute train ride to Yuanlin, where Thom and family live, and then all 3 of us hopped on Thom’s scooter and rode to his place.

Finally I was able to relax and after chatting with Nicole and Thom for a bit, I could go to bed and catch up on some sleep.