Sometimes, stories just kind of tell themselves.

Yesterday, I was told that the chest x-ray that I got at home before coming to Taiwan wasn’t detailed enough (no picture), and that I’d have to get a new one along with a blood sample done in order to be able to continue living in the dormitory. By Thursday (two days?).

So yesterday afternoon I was sailing around by bus and went to three different hospitals to find the one that could get me in. It was China Medical University hospital in North District, pretty far from the university in Wufeng by bus (although not if you want direct service: today I learned there’s a shuttle between the two because they’re sister institutions).

Anyway, I was in a little bit of a rush. And I was a little agitated and kind of stressed about this last-minute dormitory health check scenario, since I really didn’t have much time and, worst case scenario, I lose my living situation (?).

I went through the physical at CMU Hospital and headed back out to get back to school sometime in the evening. And I didn’t think to check my pockets or backpack, so I was surprised when earlier today I got a call from an unknown number followed by a message telling me that it was CMU Hospital letting me know that I’d left my passport with them and that they were keeping it at their desk.

I told them I’d be back tomorrow morning to pick it up, since I was kind of busy today, but then about an hour later I had a meeting with my professor and — through some tangent of whatever conversation we were having — I mentioned that I had left my passport at CMU Hospital and he decided that I needed to get there right now. I mean, he was probably right, it was important.

So he went to drive me to the university hospital with the shuttle service to CMU.

Unfortunately, though, when we got there, we learned that the timetable for the shuttle bus listed on the web page is old and inaccurate. The shuttle bus wasn’t going to come for another 30 minutes. My professor told me at first that I could just go sit in the lobby at the hospital here and wait for the shuttle, and then looked at me and back at the steering wheel and just decided to drive me straight there immediately, which was kind of surprising. I mean, he’s a busy person. I felt kind of bad for taking up his time like that.

We sat in the car and just talked to each other for around 20 or 25 minutes, since the trip to North District is a lot quicker by car without all the stopping (it’s Taichung’s turn to implement transit-priority traffic signals!). I ran into the hospital and ran out with my passport a few minutes later.

I was still thinking about how nice it was of him to be driving me like this on the same route back when he looked over the side of the road and asked if I wanted food. I told him I was all set, since I assumed he probably had something to go back to at school, but he just kind of actioned his way through my thin shield of politeness and we U-turned right in front of a meatball stand by the side of the road.

He asked if I wanted soup to go with the meatball. I said, “no thanks”. He bought two.

I’d love to imagine what the woman behind the stand was thinking seeing him sitting there on the seats right in front of the stand like that, with me on the side looking all like a clueless foreigner.

It was great, though. The meatballs and the soup. There’s bamboo in the soup, actually, which I hadn’t realized was edible before.

After I took a few bites, the professor said to me, “I bet you wouldn’t go somewhere like this by yourself.”

I admitted that that was probably true, but that I usually didn’t like going to restaurants by myself, anyway. I said, “I’ve been to some of the night markets, though. Like, Zhongmei St and Yizhong St and around there.”

“Sure, but those are for tourists. This is real.”

…

“I know.”

…

When you find someone who’s skilled at reading people, and at interacting with people, and at being a person, I think that that definitely goes way beyond languages and cultures and whatnot. Sometimes appreciation is necessary.

After work today, I went downtown with someone I know from work here and the weather had really cooled down. Actually, he asked if I needed a jacket, but it was still warm, which was kind of funny. The wind was strong for a little bit. It’s been pretty deafeningly hot and humid every day, so this is a nice change.

Then I went to the hardware store. I know I’m far from a local, but it’s still funny to me when I go to the hardware store to buy hot glue sticks and rubber tubes and the cashier behind the register isn’t sure if I speak any Mandarin, like maybe I’m a tourist who just came for the exceptional texture of Taiwan melting adhesive (?).

I know I tend to be obsessive, but I’ve stumbled across more of what I like in Taichung just living my life than I have walking around looking for it. And I think that’s by design. If you go looking, you’ll find the most obvious things first. And if that’s not what you’re looking for, you’ll never find what you want.

So, really, I do think that this city is a great one. But I’ve learned that the best way to appreciate it is not to try.

I’ll probably pause posting for a while. I always appreciate the read, though.

晚安！