Sans Band

Good morning (in Taiwan taime), and welcome to my blog. Here you’ll find reports of the earthly goings on at about 25°N, 121°E, and talk of my journey into the world of Taiwanese culture and cuisine (here’s to avoiding awkward stomach groans, painful corners, and all things BM’ery).

I am sad to report that I fly sans “band” for the present Eastern excursion – brothers Gavin and Adam are with me here in this trans-Pacific Boeing 777 in spirit only. I was quite nostalgic this morning, to say the least, when walking through concourse B at DIA and recalling the three of us gearing up for takeoff into who knew what (sanscontinent.blogspot.com). It was just a September ago. That was a fortunate one off (to under state it), and there I'll leave it.

Some background – the National Science Foundation was very kind to provide me with this trip to Taiwan under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes Program (say it five times fast now), which starts today and ends Aug. 26^th. I am preceded by friends Angela and Walter, who participated during summers of 2010 and 11 – Angela in Taiwan (with the same lab that I’ll be with), and Salty Walt in S. Korea. Stories of their experiences had gotten me antsy for wheels up, as did instructive tidbits from my Taiwanese office mate Hungjui, which all sang of the seafood, the infamous whatever-you-need-whenever-you-want-it night markets strewn about the cities, and of course the kind-hearted, immensely accommodating Taiwanese.

I am in good company for the flights, with a fellow EAPSI student hailing from CU Boulder, and having the travel buddy has been key. Tin foil meals have been succinctly satisfying, and wine minis (complements of UA) are warming. We’ve been very giddy with excitement and wanderlust thus far, but I feel my biological twilight hours slinking in, so that mood will soon wane until we get to where we are going.

We (~25 of us Taiwan EAPSI’ans) have no idea what we are getting into, but it will doubtless be a life-changing experience.

Farewell for now good friends, good family, mountain time zone, and mountain beers. You will be missed, sorely.

--James

Evening update: Just got into our hotel in Hsinchu. After midnight on Sunday, now. Everyone trickling in after the overseas haul is bleary-eyed, but we're all excited to see one another and to finally be here (with some nice beds to crash in).