2010, How Did You Get Here?

Some where along this life's journey the years ticked by and we landed in the year 2010. I am not sure how it happened or how I got tele-ported around the world and dumped in the lap of Taiwan to experience the first moments of 2010 in the fashion in which I did. I guess asking "How?" and "Why?" are probably not the questions that will get answered until years from now when Chris and I are looking back at this time in our lives. For now I will just stick with attempting to answer the question, "WHAT IN THE MESS WERE WE THINKING?" I'll start at the beginning.

When planning an eventful New Years Eve, one doesn't typically consider sitting at home in your pajamas for as long as Chris and I did. After much deliberation, we decided we would save that festivity for New Years DAY instead of New Years Eve. So we easily chose the "next best" activity in Taiwan on December 31, 2009: Celebrating the New Year at the Taipei 101 during it's last year of reign as the "tallest" building in the world.

We headed out of the house around 3:00 p.m. to grab a bite to eat before heading into the epicenter of all activity on the island of Taiwan. Chris had his heart set on finding an elusive Canadian restaurant named Bongos which was supposedly set in the Shida (pronounces She-DA) District of Taipei City. We had unsuccessfully hunted for this restaurant two other times, both of which Chris SWORE he "knew exactly where it was". In spite of walking every street and every alley, the restaurant must have avoided us finding it both of those other times. But on December 31, Chris was more determined than ever. After 45 minutes of searching and dragging me along ever-so-willingly-and-without-complaint behind him, we finally found this "hand-held drum" so Chris could eat his deep fried gravy smothered potato fries, loving referred to by Canadians as "putine". :)

Around 5:00 p.m. with full bellies, we decided to head downtown to get settled before too many of Taiwanese masses joined us. Even at that time the streets were full. Only after we got there, did we do the math and realize that we were stuck at the Taipei 101 and had seven hours to kill. After wandering around we found that there were TWO seats left for the 3-D showing of Avatar. Two takers right here! :) Only the movie theater was so full we couldn't even sit in the same row! Chris sat behind me and I sat in front of him. It was such a romantic date. Nerd glasses and all! :)

We got out around 10:00 p.m. to what could only be described as the most concentrated crowds I have ever seen. The mall around the 101 goes for blocks and blocks- and so did this crowd. The roads were sectioned off and people sat wherever they chose. Chris and I attempted to get into contact with friends, but cell phones just were not an option. The towers were blocked and there was no way to get a free signal unless you called repeatedly for 20-30 minutes. I felt as if we had been transported forward in time to the world of the Avatar yet without the convenience of being able to communicate with anyone who wasn't in front of you.

Nonetheless, with the crowd so large and the cell phone service so shady, we eventually gave up on connecting with fellow Americans after several ill-fated attempts. We eventually camped it next to the closest open area with a view of the Bamboo Tower- by a large trash pile. Sitting in an unstructured area with a large group of people who have no genetic capability of understanding personal space proved to be a bit frustrating well before the New Year arrived. Chris and I had plenty of time to examine our own personal weaknesses and come up with a New Years resolution for 2010: Don't go to the Taipei 101 on December 31, 2010. Ha ha.

Eventually, time ticked by and the countdown to the New Year was rewarded with all of the beautiful explosions that had been promised. The colorful explosions surrounded the 101 in a halo of glory and the building was illuminated with Taiwan's slogan for the coming year, "Taiwan Up!" However, I think Taiwan adopted a "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy for the meaning of this slogan.













After we watched One-Million Dollars burn bright and quickly across the night sky in five minutes, we started to think about our next, and most importannt, event of that evening: GETTING HOME. With the crowd moving as one back toward every avenue of public transportation, Chris and I decided to wait about an hour before we joined the stampede toward the MRT. Around 1:00 a.m. we walked the mile towards the MRT hopeful that the crowds would be long gone.

Our hopes were quickly dashed when our crowd stopped moving well before the MRT was even visible. We waited and waited, and moved some and then waited some more. A couple of our favorite students bumped into us and joined in our misery about 1:30 a.m. After moving only a couple of meters in 90 minutes, we decided to hoof it the mile to the next MRT stop. At 2:30 a.m. when we arrived, the next MRT was also packed to the brim with people whose hopes had been dashed an hour earlier. So we figured, why not try the next one. Finally around 3:00 a.m. we successfully made it an MRT that we could get onto, and forward progress towards our much-pined-for beds (and toilets! I can't tell you had badly I needed to pee!).

At 4:00 a.m. we had ensured that our crazy students had arrived home safely and we crashed into bed. Exhausted and overwhelmed, our New Year had officially begun kicking and screaming its way into our lives. We will forever share that memory with 10 million (literally) other people who chose to venture out into the 101 area that night. Worth it for the memories? Now? Most likely. But at the time I seriously wondered: What the mess were we thinking!?