And yet another year is here.
Although as a student in Taiwan, major western celebrations only mean that I have to get prepared for some hardcore butt-whooping at the university just days later (Easter is followed by midterms, Christmas and New Year's Eve are followed by finals.. whoever came up with this deal should really go suck an egg), which is why I've been absent from my writing duties.
But today I take a little break before going to bed, because this New Year's Eve needs to be docummented before I forget it.
I think the universe was trying to give me a little preview of what I need to learn on the 2011; patience. If there's something people know about me, is that I wasn't blessed with patience. But in all honesty and leaving all modesty aside I must say, I even surprised myself by the end (or actually, the start!) of the day and how I managed to keep my cool (maybe I'm growing up at last? Could it be?)
I will write the events of the last hours of December 31st 2010 and the beginning of January 1st 2011 with little blocks that I will call Sprinkles of heavenly positivism that occured (or that I thought) during the moment the not-so-enjoyable events were taking place.
Anyways, lets go to the actual story..
The evening started with a quiet dinner at a steak house with one of my best friends and his girlfriend. Soon, he received a call from a common friend of ours who wanted to join the celebration along with a friend of his (hey! the more the merrier!). We were enjoying a super nice meal, quiet, warm (it was cold) and talking about everything and nothing. At one point while we were waiting for our meals to arrive, we kinda got quiet and had a reflecting moment on how nice it was to spend a night like this; good talk and good friends.. that's all you really need to call it a night.
From the start of the night, we were certainly sure that we were going to spend a quiet New Year's Eve, without lots of craziness. But boy, we were wrong.
The restaurant was packed and it was almost impossible to get a place..
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: Years in Taiwan don't come alone.. we learn that reservations (which are pretty much unheard of back home) go a long way and save you tons of headaches.. we had our places exactly at 6:30 PM, as planned.
..so I understand why the waiter must have been a little loopy. However, what happened next was a really funny scene to wach. Our steaks took quite a while to get there..
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: We didn't care. We were too happy chatting and enjoying the company.
..and when it got there.. I have no idea what happened. The waiter didn't drip. He had our three plates on the tray (which I am sure he has done thousands of times before) and he didn't trip. In fact, nothing happened.. he just kinda lost balance out of nowhere and next thing we know, our steaks and baked potatoes were flying (and they were flying high!) in the air creating a shower of sirloin, t-bone and ribs for everyone to witness.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: All of them landed next to us, in between us and near us.. but none of them landed on us, which when you've spent a good time doing your hair and make-up to look pretty, and put on your expensive French perfume saved for special occasions.. well, you don't want meat on you.. no matter how tasty it is.
Instead of being upset, we just giggled about it and (being quite honest) felt horrible for the poor waiter who seemed to be completely humilliated. We told him we had no rush and that there was no problem (while passing him the pieces of meat everywhere around us).
It took another loong wait for our orders to arrive. I look at my plate, and I am quite sure it's not what I ordered. I tell this to the waiter (the poor man that caused the flying beef before) and he starts stuttering. Now, yes. I'll admit it. I sometimes lose my temper. But I honestly felt horrible for the poor waitress who seemed to blush every time he came 10 feet away from us.. so I just told him it was alright and that it didn't matter, I would eat it anyways. No big deal.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: Later I realized they actually sent me a more expensive plate by mistake. I wanted a boneless stake, but they sent me ribs. It's all good. Meat is meat and I actually ate a plate NTD 100 more expensive than I should have, due to a kitchen mistake.
So we're all done with our meals, and we're now joined by our other friend and his friend, and we're ready to go. We take the bus in the freezing cold (and I am a girl who loves snow and cold weather.. so when I tell you I am cold.. I mean it) We take the bus in the hopes that it will take us closer to the Taipei 101 instead of walking in the cold.. only to realize that the bus wouldn't dare to go near the Taipei 101 and left us halfway between where we were and where we wanted to go. So we had to walk in the cold weather.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: I used to live in the exact same area the bus left us, so not only I got all awe! I used to live here!, but I also managed to use all my short-cut skills to get us where we wanted not only faster, but also avoiding the massive crowds of people.
We ended up inside the Taipei 101 since we had time to spare and we used my good shortcuts, so the men decided it was time to buy whiskey to "warm themselves up" and I seized the opportunity to say hi to a good friend of mine that works in the building and wish her a happy new year.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: I always get happy when I see her. She's a sweetheart and I am glad I got to say hello to her; with the craziness around that building that day, I didn't think I'd be possible.
After them men bought their poison, we walked outside of the building and found 4 young students from our home country as well (the even more, the even merrier!). They were sitting outside eating McDonalds (kudos to them for finding something to eat, everything was full and the line to McDonals alone was a block long inside the building!). So we decided for them to finish their meals so we could all go find a good spot to see the fireworks.
When they were done, we started walking to the little garden that's right in front if the building, and we were oddly surprised by how few people were there. We had place to sit, lounge and talk (despite us jumping up and down to keep us warm!) but.. we got picky. Because we were so close, we couldn't see the tip of the building. So we decided to migrate to the place where we saw the fireworks the previous year (which was, most likely, the best spot ever) and we started walking there.
And that, my friends, is when we saw the crowd. Sooner rather than later, we were trapped like sardines in a can between a mass of Taiwanese people trying to pass through (some of them almost even start a fight! They were that serious about keeping their precious spots, or getting a better one). We had 15 minutes to 2011, and we were trapped. Literally, we couldn 't move. And I am not exaggerating even a little bit.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: Body heat is an amazing thing. After being so cold that we could hear each other's teeth chattering.. we were all suddenly warm. The crowd surrounding us was like a big warm duvet (a really uncomfortable one, but hey! We weren't cold anymore. Win situation!)
Between trying to walk and being pushed by the crowds, it was 0:00 already and the fireworks started..
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: I must admit I wasn't excited to see them, as it's always just the same thing. But being honest, this year had the prettiest firework show I've seen in my almost 4 years in Taiwan. I was impressed.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism (II): While watching the fireworks, I just didn't waste time making resolutions or asking for things. I just said "Thank you God for all the blessings You've given me, and please never leave my side. All I want for 2011 is for You to bring me closer to You. Don't let me go. I'm here. Thank you" I must admit, I got goosebumps and I teared up.
After the show was over, we hung around with my friends and after a while (in Paraguayan time, that's an hour and a bit more) we parted ways; they went to party and I walked to the bus station to go home for what was supposed to be a study Saturday.
I wasn't aware that because of the congestion of people they changed all the bus routes, and between the confused people running all around.. I got overwhelmed and spent 10 minutes trying to figure out the map. A Taiwanese couple saw me (and they were just as clueless as I was) and decided to help me, since we were all looking for the bus station. While walking, they told me they had dinner at the Taipei 101 85th floor restaurant and got to see the fireworks from the inside of the building, how cool is that?
The new bus routes were too confusing, so after asking a while we just decided to go straight to the MRT station.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: People like them give me hope in humanity. Even when they knew (we talked a lot) that I've been living in Taipei for a long time, they still told me to be careful while crossing streets, they still make sure I was never out of sight and they even took funny pictures with me. It was fun meeting them, and they sure are amazing people. Angels I'll always remember..
So. The line to go inside the MRT Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall station. Blocks long. We were in front of the station at 1:30 AM in the morning.
Time I got inside the station (meaning, time I walked down the stairs): 2:40 AM.
Time I got inside the train: 3:08 AM
Time I walked out of the Xindian MRT Station (where I live): Exactly 3:33 AM in the morning (yes, I made sure I made a mental note to remember the times)
So I got home..
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism: I was so patient waiting to get into the train that I even surprised myself. A zen attitude took over my body and I just embraced (and I even dare to say, enjoyed) the moment. That hasn't happened before.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism (II): You know you've made a good investment with rainboots when you have walked in boots with heels for 6+ hours and, although your feet hurt, they're not throbbing or in unbearable pain like other heels. So for NTD 1000, I get to have my feet warm, dry while rocking my Steve Madden boots.
Sprinkle of heavenly positivism (III): I had my keys with me. Our apartment door is never locked, and for some reason they did lock it today. When I got out of the elevator, I find my roommate on the floor. At first, I thought he was drunk. But then he just looked at me and said "Do you have the keys? Someone locked the door" So I saved him waiting time, and I saved me waiting time (and I had to go to the bathroom! So win-win-win situation!)
..and decided to take a hot bubble bath (I've been walking for at least 6 hours now.. I deserved one!) with the Lush Sunnyside bubble bar that makes the water look like liquid gold. Starting the year bathing in liquid lreaxing and yummy scented gold glitters? Hell to the yes!
I laid there in the bath, thought about life, about this new year that comes and I realized.. we spend so much time waiting for a new year to make resolutions, when we forget that every new day, every new hour, every new second is an opportunity for us to change what's making us unhappy.
So my resolution for this year is not to have any. Just to be thankful for every blessing that comes my way, and rock the carpe out of the diem.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
May 2011 be filled with blessings for all of you.
