JYSim for jobless-yokel Sim

The story begins with my friend striking a deal with me going to Taroko National Park for the annual ‘Taroko Music on the Cliffs’ event. It was definitely a way to stay out of boredom after 1 whole week of exam bombardment, and not to mention a way to keep you sane from staring at empty tables and chairs which used to be filled with people drilling for mid-terms. Anyway, I anticipated the event, and looked at it as a ’silver lining’ behind the stormy cloud.
1 week before our exams start that friend MSNed me and told me his braces fell off. He will have to travel half of Taiwan island back home to get it done. I was amused by that idea until the truth dawned on me - there’ll be no one driving me to Taroko for the event.
I wedged the idea in between Biology and A. Chem momentarily, and held firm to my believe that everything will sort itself out eventually. And it did, at least it looked like it did.
A few days later I decided to pay a visit to Taipei, since my Dad’s professor called a few days before asking me to go visit him (without a very firm reason nevertheless). I was hoping the hustle and bustle of Taipei would at least ward me off my post-exam boredom, and I really hope I can sit down at Eslite Bookstore and pour through the endless collection of books there, totally forgetting the passing hours. Nevertheless, this trip is to change my negative views about Taipei and it opened up another of my perspective to Taipei.
So I make my braces-droppping friend book me a return ticket to Taipei, and called up Dad’s ex-classmate as well as the kind professor. We arranged everything very roughly, just as I like (as I hold to the philosophy ‘everything will solve itself out’), and by Friday noon I set out, in my braces-dropping friend’s motorbike, to the train station. I was really grateful for the presence of friend(s) in this new environment, of course, starting everything from scratch is difficult. (here i noticed I started mumbling nonsenses again).
Anyway, I arrived safely at Taipei Main Station (after convincing my classmate I won’t get lost through the phone) and took the metro to my Dad’s classmate’s school just a few hops away.
Even though it was rush hour (4pm) at that very moment, the chaos at the station won’t somehow engulf you like Greenlane at 5pm. Boarding and alighting the metro is still roughly in order, and even though the train is cramped, it’s not as cramped as our KL monorail. The fact that the metro trains come and go every 3 minutes (note: 3 minutes, not 30) is a total blessing for the large crowd of people there.
I joined Dad’s classmate (her) for dinner with her daughter and adopted Mum. Even though they claim the some-sorta-steamboat stull is their favourite but I don’t think I’ll be eating it the next time. The Taiwanese tastebuds are really different from ours. While we exclaim at the aroma and spices of poultry and seafood, they take refuge at the translucent, chewy starch globes and tasteless so-called ‘meatballs’ (cornpowder paste wrapping meat-like stuff).
After doubly convincing her I don’t wish to go anywhere special we returned home, where I sleep for the first time in 2 months without worrying whether my roommate’s alarm clock will ring at 4 in the morning or the fire alarm will trigger because somebody accidentally knocked the button because he studies too much and mistake the fire alarm as his doorknob. However, much to my anticipation, I woke up 3 times in the night. That wasn’t any annoyance as I fell back asleep as soon as I noticed I’m awake.
The next morning I woke up to a beautiful Taipei suburb. I breakfasted at a ‘recommended’ breakfast bar which serves the worst ham and egg sandwitch I tasted for years. Anyway, 30 minutes after that I was walking along the most expensive avenues of Taipei, searching for the famous Eslite Bookstore.
The 24-hour bookstore’s opening hours appearantly has been cut short. Now it opens from 10 to 2 midnight only. So I held my urge to wee-wee and went trotting along the still-empty streets near Taipei City Hall. Taipei 101 was looming ahead, gleaming in full sunshine as the lowest bar hung ‘Taipei 2020 for the Olympics’.
Eslite Bookstore is a place where time comes to a standstill. You’re so surrounded by quality books and the sheer quantity of those books is enough to drown you. Once you found a book you like time will literally fast forward until you set the book back to its shelf again. And the best thing is that Eslite offers a lot of seats as well as a lot of sample books. For me, the indulgence was 7 hours this time, including a lunch break at Basement 2 and shopping for a sweater at Level 4.
My Y3 senior was thick-skinned enough to ask me to buy him a Christmas present. And being a generous guy myself (blush) I looked for those few books I find a must-read - Jim Brickman: Simple Things, Tash Aw: The Harmony Silk Factory, Yvonne Lee: The Sky Is Crazy, and Victor Hugo: Les Miserables. Aside Les Miz, Eslite stores nothing of the above. A flaw indeed.
That evening was spent having dinner with Dad’s prof. and Dad’s classmate. For the first time in my version of Taiwanese history I ate something that had 95% resemblence to our genuine curry. The ‘curry’ here are all fakes, they’re in fact Japanese mild versions which didn’t even taste spicy even if you poured peper into it. The sheer fact that I ate curry should be celebrated after all.
I changed abode that very night, cos Dad’s classmate decided I should spend time with the lonely prof. So I talked with him for 30 minutes (basic things such as ‘how’s Hualien?’, ‘how’s the US?’ (he’s a PR of USA) etc) and went out in search for a clothing store I discovered during my last trip. I ended up falling in love with several jackets, but looking into my wallet (which in fact still have the capability of churning out NT$1000 (RM100)), and onto the slightly oversized jacket, I decided against it. Since I’ve been parading I’m ‘the poor Malaysian student’ in class over these 2 months, it will be unwise to have me spotted with a Calvin Klein jacket and Samsonite bag.
The night past uneventfully following that. I slept the earliest in my version of Taiwanese history.
The following morning was a total blur for me. I woke up with a running nose and it kept running while I;m typing this very sentence. I guess the impact of Taipei air had had its effects on me. We breakfasted together and after some promises of future visits, we trotted out in search for a metro station. I thanked Dad’s prof. repeatedly before purchasing my last single-journey metro ticket for the year (2006) and checked-in.
I returned to a slightly warmer Hualien and passed the day with lots of warm water and 3 vitamin C pills donated by my classmate just now.

Being surrounded by classmates who go home every now and then can be quite a nuiscance to you at times. For example, during some long weekends, almost everybody would flee from school and there will only be be you, the school guard dog and the hostel caretaker in school. There would be melancholic times when from the moment you wake up to the moment you sleep the only words you spoke was ‘a cheese and ham sandwitch, please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘i would like a chocolate croissant and papaya juice with no sugar’. The library’s closed, classrooms are locked and even the vending machines are empty.
For university students like us, returning home has become a thing like visiting Meccah once in your lifetime. It’s a purification of soul and mind everytime you return home, and needless to say Mum and Dad will pack trunks of local specialties for you to bring back to U (and congest the common fridge with boxes of fruits and home-made pickles). Going home is something to look forward to, as I learnt. It’s the best excuse to skip classes, and it’s a motivator whenever you’re reading analytical chem but nothing goes in - ‘i must finish this, i’m going home in 3 days’ time!’
So I exhibit (and feel) the same excitement when my Malaysian senior handed me my air ticket yesterday. Before receiving the MAS ticket my mood was, as usual during a gloomy winter morning, dull and draggish. I’m having the much-dreaded Analytical Chem exams a few hours later and before that my classmate thought it was fun to ’safekeep’ my bicycle because I didn’t lock it when I’m in the canteen. Anyway, the ticket cheered me up, a lot. Seeing the exact dates (which are 2 months away still) when you can finally go home and dive into an ocean of char koay teow, hokkien char and o chien sparked up countless flames in my heart. I placed my ticket in front of the library table I’m using and used it as a motivator for swallowing more chem. facts. But the temptation is too overpowering. Every now and then I picked the ticket up, stare at the carbon-copied letters and imagine beautiful MAS aircrafts parked along Terminal One of Taipei Chiang Kai-Shek Airport, imagined the always-friendly batik-wearing crew speaking Malay to me (now it seem such a friendly language), and I longed to speak Malaysian English back to them (I miss home sooo much you know? Can’t wait to be home for CNY. This year Malaysia hot ar? etc etc).
1 hour before the exam I paraded my ticket in class, which aroused yet another wave of fierce envy (wonder why Taiwanese students are so envious, they get to go home like every week). My brother (the one in my Tzu Chi family) attempted to tear my ticket into a thousand pieces, while some girls asked naively if the name can be transferred to theirs. Of course I managed to brainwash some of my classmates and they completely forgotten A. Chem is 30 minutes away.
The excitement still lingers into the night when I think of so much that can be done in the environment which you were born and bred. Settling stuff would be so convenient (because you knew what to do), and you don’t have to consult your straight-faced classmate about how to book a train ticket and beg him to go collect it from the railway station. You know where exactly to have fun and your lifelong friends are just a phone call away (hope it’s still so in Jan / Feb 07). You know what movie’s coming up on TV3 and ntv7 tonight (sorry, no astro in the Sim family), and you anticipate it excitedly. Definitely, happiness comes from 70% of the things you expect and 30% else from surprises.
Anyway, I repeatedly tell myself I’ll have to struggle through (maybe not that bad lah) another 2 months (with another exam in Jan) before being able to board the immaculate MAS aircraft. Therefore I’ll make the most out of my time here and learn to become an appropriate medical student. I can’t wait to go home, like everybody else.

Winter is fastening its approach when winds as fast as 50km/h invaded Hualien yesterday. The temperature range is huge comparing that of daytime and at night. When the sun failed to shine in the mornings, that’s when you hope you’re still at nice o’l Penang basking in the eternal warming sunlight and (though at times a little too hot) feel the 10am-heat in Botanical Gardens.

2 months into a foreign country and what I missed most is, aside the glorious Penang food, the according-to-me mild and predictable weather of Malaysia. Here a storm can come just as abruptedly as Dr. M went into IJN. Back home there will be gusts of colder-than-usual winds blowing up crisp dry leaves along the streets followed by dark, gloomy clouds blocking your view of a MASKargo 747 before rain starts pouring in. And you’re glad for the downpour, unlike here.

At times of temperory sunshine in the mornings, seeing the golden rays striking into my room (pity my roommates decided to lower the blinds now, so no more sunlight for winter), I think of the temperate sunlight in Gurney Drive. The spectrum of comfortable colours you observe as you’re walking around avenues of pine trees and you see the huge GSC logo and you feel like you can do everything you wanted to this very day. Our sea is a genuine blue with mild waves and winds caressing your face (with no intentions of blowing you off from the wall). Here the sea is a gloomy gray (in winter especially), and winds, as mentioned, is horribly high-speed.

Think of old trees striking into the skies, wide green lawns (as in St. George’s) and yellow flower petals at your feet. And of colourful buildings (grey is nice for Tzu Chi buildings, but you’ll get bored after some while).

Now the food, think of how you can simply bump into any coffeeshop around the corner and surprise yourself with wonderful food (with no artificial flavourings). Think of how you get to sit in a pre-historic building waiting for the energetic char koay teow grocer to toss his gourment skilfully, instead of having to wait in empty, bare rooms with comic books laid everywhere and a tv which blasts buttered news 24/7.

Think of how good o’l teachers still uses the conventional chalk (now marker pen) to teach and you find fun in poking his grammar or pronounciation now and then, instead of the 100%-LCD projector, one-slide-per-30-seconds method, and bookish looking classmates bombarding the teacher with tonnes of intelligent questions after each lesson.

When you can SMS for free (for DiGi) instead of worrying whether this message will cost NT$3 (30 cent) or NT$15 (15 cents) because it’s sent after 5pm or not, and when you can easily nap through the afternoon without having to tolerate your roommates moving about trying to pack for a migration, it’s a blessing.

Saying I’m homesick might be a little biased. I’m just yearning the Penang life, but I can’t part with my classmates either.

No, this blog is not dead yet, just that the writer is too preoccupied with nonsensical stuff and thus slightly neglected posting for 2 weeks. Listed below some ‘recent events’ as far as I can remember:
somewhere in October - my 1000-word Chinese essay got marked 80, which was, in my opinion, not bad since the first draft was ‘incomprehensible’ according to my class monitor. After vigorous correcting and rephrasing by a Chinese-major senior, and some meddling myself, it’s like the 60th-percentlie in my class.
somewhere in October as well - we did cell division for our biology experiment. I did what was told on the book - squash the garlic roots as though it’s Mr. President of Taiwan, dye it with acetocarmine - a rancid-smelling syrup-coloured liquid, and heat it whilke making sure it doesn’t dry up. When I put it under my Zeiss microscope - Abra Cadabra, I see nothing at all except fine strands of…toothpick fibers? I scout around peeking other’s slides, copied some useless notes and went home. One particular senior was kind enough to send me 3 copies of the report his group did 2 years ago (he’s in Y3 now), and I copied non-stop and barrel from those, the only change I did was translating them from Chinese to English. I coloured my pictures and made them look as though it’s a Nobel Prize report, and handed up, only to find some others did only 3 pages (mine was 11) because like me, they see nothing at all too. One week later, before handing out our reports, Prof. Liu commented - don’t think you can get high marks just by copying senior’s reports. What our experiments train you is your thinking skills, so even though you see nothing, just write why you think you failed the experiment and not babble nonsense which I can straightaway sense lying substance. I remembered my report and I thought mine will be scrutinised and framed in the Hall of Shame for years to come. However, upon receiving my report, which was marked 79 (highest 82) on the first page, I sighed a relieve. Maybe I’m good at lying after all.
somewhere between October and November - my computer was infected, luckily nod32 sensed it quickly enough and removed it before it started chewing up my numerous reports uncompleted in Office.
Back to October - we attended a talk for our ‘Tzu Chi Humanity’ lesson. The speaker was Mr. Yin Zhen-Yang, who is quite reknowned as a singer (those exposed to Tzu Chi music will know him as one who possess crystal clear voice). I anticipated the talk as much as I anticipated his music. However, 15-minutes into the talk, I wish I was back in my room watching ‘Over The Hedge’. He just crapped nonsense on stage and I doubted if 5% of those beneath were listening. Worse, we are required to write a 1000-word report on his talk. Even if I start finding faults about him, it won’t even hit 800.
Early November - temperature drops significantly enough to wear a woolen sweater.
October again - Malaysian senior Mr. Yu brought me to this excellent studying hideout - the Gross Anatomy Classrooms. It occupies level 2 of an abandoned-looking building and the interiors are just awesome. Mellow lights with lots of greenery, and 3 Buddha statues readily avaliable for prayers and confession if you accidentally ran over an ant while riding a bicycle. There’s one room with 2-sided windows which I like a lot. Lots of natural daylight and air, and no more sleeping people in the library which tempts you to sleep when you’re hitting a few bumps with stuff like Sxx, Syy and Sxy. Ok, it’s the Anatomy classrooms - where white-robed professors store cold, numb bodies in temperatures below freezing points. Formalin lingers the place at times (like 1 in 7 days), but overall it is a good escapade when you decided against the library because there’s a large chance of spotting your brother (my brother as in my Tzu Chi family) there with piles of books around him higher than Taipei 101.
Yesterday - I spent 2 hours reading and understanding enough substance to express in my own words Annie Dillard’s ‘The Death Of A Moth’ a.k.a. ‘Transfiguration’. Just can’t imagine how she relate a 2-inch moth flying into a candle and burning herself (it’s a female) with the French poet Rimbaud and herself (and her cat, Small). Complex minds. Artists.
Yesterday - my roommate fell asleep with his portable radio on. I tolerated 30 minutes, hoping the battery will die soon, but no. So another roommate and I went treasure hunting for his radio and spent another 15 minutes figuring how to shut that damn thing off.
Yesterday - my friend won 4th, 4th and 1st respectively in the school’s tennis competition. They later treated everyone at a middle-class restaurant. I was napping in the dorm.
Today - my senior used my library card to borrow an Anatomy textbook. After 8 days date’s due, he haven’t returned the book, causing me to lose all my ‘library’s rights’. I’m going to sue him in the police station tomorrow, after all, this is Taiwan the democratic country.