guess who's back! not that i informed many people about my having left the country...oh well. i trust you all had a wonderful christmas, filled with laughter and good food =) i know i did. 
but i've never considered how much a trip back to states would make me realize that i've become mired in a love-hate relationship with both california and taiwan. no matter how much i profess my love for los angeles, my hometown, there are actually quite a number of things i hate about it. the same goes for taiwan, although i haven't yet said that i love it. Los Angeles:
i hate how you have to hop in and out of the car and drive for miles and miles before you reach any destination.
i hate how every food item has to cost at LEAST $3!
i hate how the backs of my hands always get as rough as discarded pieces of firewood in winter. but...
i love, no, adore the mind-boggling supply of books. cookbooks in particular.
i love how 9 days out of the 10 that i spent in LA were absolutely gorgeous, with skies of sapphire behind the sun blazing in all its glory. and...
i miss close family and even closer friends.
i miss In-n-Out burgers and strawberry milk shakes. Taiwan:
i hate the mosquitoes. i hate how they can grow as large as a fricken golf ball. mosquitoes, thou art my sworn enemy. (i annihilated one just now)
i hate how i can't read any of the signs here.
i hate how i'm starting to substitute chinese phrases for english ones because the chinese sounds more appropriate! but...
i love how in Taipei, you can walk just about anywhere you darn well please.
i love looking at the lush rice paddies whenever we drive to the airport.
and...
i will miss how easy it is to get super cheap, super good food here =(
i will miss Morrison. well. ANYWAYSS...vacation has been fantastic so far. i can't remember a time when i have been more ching-song (see, there i go with the substitution) than these past 10 days. spent some good quality time with a pair of good pung-yos before i left.. 
ate good food when i got there. it felt like we didn't stop eating from the minute we stepped on american soil. this, my friends, is a deep-dish pizza from BJ's. the two more-than-eager faces in the background are another pair of good pung-yos who came to visit in the summer and are now reformed fobs. 
shot me a pistol and a shotgun. i agree with the theory that every kid should go to a shooting range and shoot a gun, just so they can gain the experience and realize that guns shouldn't be trifled with...those things are loud.. 
learned how to dance. i'm quite sure now that i'm hopeless as a swing dancer. 
spent a good amount of time with these crazy kids. i do love my cousins. 
thoroughly enjoyed winter in california. there's no way you'll be able to see autumn leaves like this in taiwan... it's pretty much what i live for. but - whoa! crazy thought! - no matter, i'll be living there again soon. 
| 
