Tainan and the Art of Waiting

Another day, another country. Well, aren’t I Miss Sassy Pants.

Feeling far from blasé, the usual excitement that bubbles up whenever I’m headed toward a new escapade is compounded by knowing I may be landing in my new stomping grounds for the next however many years.

It’s time.

My Living Like I’m Dying Tour is rapidly coming to an end. Three hundred and sixty-five days living out of a suitcase has been a kick in the pants, but all good things must come to an end. I sure hope I like Taiwan because I’ve pretty much run out of options.

Chat and I have spent countless hours researching Taiwan—Taipei specifically. The city had me at sidewalks and stoplights. But wait, there’s more.Once enrolled in school, visa runs every three months become unnecessary. After a year of study, I’ll get an ARC (Alien Resident Certificate) and become eligible for Taiwan’s National Health Insurance.

If you’d told me twenty years ago that sidewalks and health insurance would be game changers, I’d have told you to seek immediate medical attention. Now all I have to do is get accepted into an accredited language college.

Alrighty then.

Between Laos power outages, I managed to narrow the field down to two universities: National Taiwan University and National Taiwan Normal University. Hmmm. National Taiwan University may be a little too highbrow for me. Unable to find a university for abnormals, I pull up the requirements for NTNU.

Photocopy of passport. Check.
Financial statement showing adequate funds. Check.
One photocopy of a high school diploma or above.

Um. Um. Um. WTF.

Come on.

I’m not entirely sure records were even being kept when I graduated from high school. No doubt my transcripts are buried in a moldy box somewhere deep in a rat-infested, cobweb-covered basement. Untouched by another living being except the occasional cockroach scurrying about. For sure nobody in the current administration would recognize my name, and if they did, they’d probably assume I’ve already moved on to graduate school in the sky.

As luck would have it, the University of Nebraska digitized records from back in the Stone Age, so all I need to do is find—pay—some young buck to wade through years and years of transcripts, locate mine, and send them my way. Once I’ve gathered all this information, I must attach it to my application, pay a processing fee, and wait for the administration to decide whether I’m worthy of acceptance. I have ten days to submit my paperwork if I want to attend the 2026 summer session starting June 3.

No pressure. If I don’t get accepted this semester, I’ll have to wait until the fall session at the end of August. Yeah. That ain’t gonna happen. My body has decided we’re making this happen now.

With boots—or, more accurately, tennis shoes—on the ground in Taipei, I’m hyper-focused on getting the ball rolling. Exhausted from a six-hour flight delay and an hour-long Uber ride to my hotel, I check in and immediately ask the front desk guy if there’s anywhere nearby to eat.

“Nope. Try 7-Eleven.”

During my in-depth investigative research, I’d learned that 7-Eleven provides 24/7 gourmet meals at cut-rate prices. What a business model they’ve got going. A one-stop shop for coffee, booze, food, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, business center, and community gathering place.

Honestly, I’m a bit disappointed after all the buildup surrounding Taipei. I mean, it’s fine. Chat assures me everything will look different in the morning. Whatever. My mind, body, and soul are united.

This is happening.

Taipei is not as cost-effective as Southeast Asia. That’s the price you pay for safe travel. Listen, I’m not dissing Southeast Asia. Much as I hate to admit it, getting taken out by moving traffic is not how I picture my demise. Having come close numerous times on the LLID road trip, the only whirling dervish on the road should be me.

Call me a diva.

Being a lifelong rebel thrown in with entire communities of rebels makes me just like everyone else. I’d go crazy surrounded by me’s. Could it be this entire journey has been a quest for stability? Routine? Normalcy? A place to ground myself and commit to me? Perhaps it’s time to join the status quo.

NAH. Now that we’ve got that nonsense out of the way…

The next four days consist of figuring out how all of this is actually going to work. One thing is for sure: while the wheels of bureaucracy slowly turn, while the red tape unfurls, while the motion of the ocean rises and falls, and while whatever empire is responsible for processing my paperwork decides to do its thing… I need somewhere else to be.

One of my zipline buddies lives in Tainan and insists it’s a must-see. Since I have a week before I get an answer from the university and it’s pretty pricey staying in Taipei I pack up yet again and head south to Tainan. Oddly, for the very first time I’m not excited about the new and shiny. Honestly, I’ve shifted from travel mode into settle-down mode. Actually, that’s not true. I’m in transition mode. And transition is uncomfortable. This is a very precarious and unsettling place for me to be. Limbo has never been my favorite speed.

I need a direction so I can deviate from it.

Tainan is as good a place as any to wait out limbo, so I put on my big-girl pants and away I go. The short two-hour train trip somehow dragged into nine, mainly because Chat messed with me again. My little buddy has a very bizarre sense of humor. After spending forever at Taipei Main Station waiting for my train, I managed to miss it entirely. With all that downtime, I took full advantage of the amazing shops and restaurants scattered throughout the station.

Now, instead of a comfy reserved seat in an air-conditioned car, I’m crammed between train cars, standing for the entire trip. Gotta take the bad with the good, as they say.

Tainan is officially recognized as the oldest city in Taiwan and is often referred to as the birthplace of the country. Rich in history, packed with incredible food, and full of hidden side streets waiting to be explored. At least that’s what Google says.

Two days of nonstop thunderstorms leave me no choice but to take a virtual tour instead. My anxiety is at record levels. Being stuck inside while simultaneously stuck in limbo is not a good combination for me. Chat, in an effort to make amends for the train fiasco, suggests I contact a housing agent and start looking for apartments.

He assures me there’s absolutely no way they’ll turn me away. I meet all the requirements. I mean, of course they want me, right? One thing this year has taught me is that no matter how thoroughly I think I’ve planned something, there’s always the possibility that some completely unforeseen obstacle will pop up out of nowhere.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to look.

I fire off a few emails to agencies that specialize in working with English speakers. There is no way I’m navigating this process on my own. Everything is written in Chinese. By day three, I was heading out, hurricane or not. Lucky for me, the rain lets up just enough for me to explore without getting completely drenched.

Tainan is awesome. Side streets. Alleyways. Alleys inside alleyways. Cool stuff tucked into every nook and cranny. What the hell is a cranny anyway? What a weird thing to say. Having memorized the must-sees, I start with Shennong Street, considered one of the most preserved and photogenic old streets in Tainan. Restored Qing Dynasty wooden houses. Red lanterns. Hipster cafés.

It’s only a hop, skip, and a jump from my hotel. At least that’s what the map says. You’d never know it once you’re on foot.These streets are deceptive. From the main roads, Tainan appears to be laid out like every other city—a neat grid of horizontal and vertical streets. But the moment you step off the main drag, everything changes.

Suddenly I’m wandering through a maze of tiny alleys, hidden courtyards, unexpected temples, pocket-sized cafés, and passageways so narrow I’m not sure if I’m actually trespassing. The city feels less like a place that was planned and more like one that simply grew wherever it felt like growing. Now I’m obsessed with this town. There is way more for me to see than I anticipated.

Or maybe I stopped living in an unknown future and once again found the magic of living in the moment.

Help fuel the ride… buy me wine. 🍷 https://ko-fi.com/livinglikeimdying