Taiwan

Hey readers, this is my last post on China Time. I have been back for two weeks now and school is going just fine. Anyway, after leaving Beijing, I went to Taiwan for a week to see friends, eat great food, and enjoy the tropical weather. First I spent three days in Taipei going to all the regular tourist spots, Freedom Square, Shilin Night Market, Shida Night Market, Taipei 101, Forbidden City and more.  After that I went to a small town on the west coast of Taiwan to see an old teacher of mine. In the one day that I was there I ate Beetle Nuts which are served by ladies wearing very little clothing(the nuts taste horrible but people eat them because of their high caffeine content), went and saw the ocean (no beach here), rode a moped for the first time (very fun), and had some of the best hotpot I have ever had. After that I went down to Kenting which is a the southern most tip of Taiwan which had absolutely amazing beaches and great hamburgers, yes, hamburgers; and they were probably the best two hamburgers I've had in the past few months! The night market there were was open every day so the two nights I was there I got to go out and look at what everyone was buying and eating. I left Kenting after two nights on the high speed rail which took me from the southern most part of the island to Taipei which is near the north. We had the day in Taipei which I spent very last-minute gift shopping. Then the next day I woke up at 3:30 am to get to the airport for a 6:30 am flight. Getting on the transfer flight in Detroit was a huge culture shock for me because I wasn't one of the only Westerners on the flight. I wasn't sure whether to speak Chinese or English to my friend if we didn't want others to hear us. We ended up sleeping most of the flight so it went really smoothly.
Getting back into the US I imagined having ridiculous jet lag, as China is 12 hours ahead of my current location. But in the end I didn't have any at all, no naps and no sleeping in classes (thankfully). I guess America time isn't that hard to adjust to. Although I had no jet lag, China has been on my mid ever since I left; I definitely miss the place. I was used to the pace of life, the breakfast food, talking to people on the street who I will never see again, and used to being around all my new friends, but despite the fact that I am not there any more, I will definitely be going back, sooner rather than later and will adjust just fine to China Time.