What a life to lead.

Well I am still here somehow and I am still alive. That is good enough news I suppose. Things are quickly becoming comfortable here in little old Taipei and I think just maybe I am going to be able to survive here. Let's see I suppose a lot of pretty interesting things have happened in the past couple of days.

Let's start all the way back at yesterday. Yesterday was a pretty fun day and it was my first time since I have been here that I voyaged to some other distant part of this island. It wasn't even very hard because I simply had to take the metro all the way down from my house. You wouldn't believe it but if I take the metro, that is directly outside of my house, and I ride it for about 30 minutes, I will arrive at the edge of the island and thus the ocean. It is pretty amazing to consider because I have never lived so close to something as wonderful as water. Now if I actually wanted to go to a swimming beach I would then have to take a bus or something for about ten minutes. But still, there is nothing like eating spicy squid while walking down the fisherman's wharf. And to be honest I don't even know if it was a wharf or if it was the beachfront walkway but it was nice.

I went down with Dunkle yesterday with the intent to meet up with some of his friends from El Salvador to take a nice leisurely bike ride along the river. Now I would have been interested in doing something like this except that it was the hottest point in the day on a day that was already around 94 degrees. Too hot. So instead of trying something that could have easily killed us, we decided to just keep it real in the air conditioned apartment of Flora and Mercedes. This was pretty fun because I got to shyly practice a little bit of some old school Spanish while having a good time with some pretty girls.

After a game of pool in their lobby (which also has ping pong, a movie theatre, a bowling alley, and a library) we decided to go out into the hot ass world in search of some sort of food and drink. This is always the key motivator here in Taipei because it just gets soo hot here that it sometimes hurts to go outside. So it was the two American dudes and the now four Latin girls on a quest to just go hang out somewhere. I can tell you nothing noble but it was all we really needed to do at this time.

After walking around trying to fluff my shirt every five seconds I was getting a little restless. As my shirt developed more and more sweat rings that made me look like a lactating pig rotating over a roasting fire, I desperately needed to go somewhere that would release me from this embarrassing condition I found myself to be in. We found solace in an ideal little shore side restaurant called....... well I can't remember but it was really nice and we were able to get a little food and some ice cold beer. We had a very nice time just hanging out and talking and telling stories about this and that.

After some chit chat and some well deserved shade, we sat in big comfy couches and watched a bright red sun descend into the water. It was a very beautiful sunset on this particular Saturday evening.

Now that we had started the party, the only other thing we could possibly do was to go to a real party. Let me tell you this was a great capstone (or so I thought) to our evening because we had a rooftop party with nachos and good friends. Actually, I had just met all these people but maybe they will be my good friends someday. The best part was being able to see the whole city and bay from the top of the building. By now the sun was gone and a nice wind blew across the balcony and it reassured all of us that maybe life wasn't so bad.

We spent quite a few hours laughing and talking and eating before we realized that it was still only about 9 pm. The girl from Hong Kong had gone as well as the El Salvadorian and Mexican Girls. I was finishing up my conversation with a Turkish couple and a Swedish guy so Dunkle, our Thai friend Steven and I went off to new and interesting adventures.

I will let you know, there was no real reason for any of us three to be going to some other "social" environment except that of our own beds. But certain times, all times, call for just doing whatever you feel like. So after running home and changing into our "sweet douche bag" clothes we were ready for an evening at the uber sheik Club 19. When we arrived to this place, that I could never find again on my own, we were overpowered by a barrage of young go getters excited to spend their next hour waiting in a line in the hopes that their ticket would come and they could go buy overpriced drinks while yelling into peoples ears for an attempt at conversation. I can't say that this place was in anyway my style but considering the fact that I only have one backpacks worth of clothing now, I don't know if I even have a style to stick to.

Nevertheless, I was certainly not about to stand in some line waiting to go to some place. That was when I saw a young gentleman climb out of his Ferrari and go right in. Why couldn't I do that. After some smooth fanagaling, by our friend Steven, we were in da club. No line, no hassles, no pissed off Andrew complaining in a line for an hour. Perfect!

The club was just like any other one where you go in and try to talk to some girl and are finally used to the loud music only to have the volume turned up the second you were going to say something you really thought would win her over. I tried this many times to limited success. The best part of the night was when the three of us said screw this, let's just have a good time. If you can imagine three buzzed up dudes in a club about 8 times too shee shee for them dancing like maniacs to some crappy techno music, you would be accurately picturing us in some Taiwanese club at 330 in the morning. Sometimes I amaze myself. All in all it was the best way to get off all that steam from our earlier stressful day of relaxation and slight flirtations to any girl that would have it.

After arriving home at an hour most certainly too late, Dunkle desperately desired a bit of sleep before he woke up at 7 to take a flight out to the Philippines for a little "visa run." We of course made sure that he was sound asleep before running in his room screaming followed by a nice doggy pile. If only Drew had been there we could have added to our long list of pissed off sleepy people who's only defense is "grow up, you're not a kid anymore." Well I beg to differ. The last part of the night was spent with Steven and I eating Mack's Lounge breakfast (which I totally did not know existed here). He left, and I, eyes closed, stumbled into a most uncomfortable pink bed. A day well spent in Taipei.