Three days left in my non-refundable hotel stay in Tainan when my acceptance to NTNU waltzes into my Gmail inbox.
Chat says, “I told you so.” He’s told me a lot of other things that haven’t exactly panned out, but I opt to let this one slide. I’m too excited. Overall, Chat has been a tremendous asset.
OMG. This is it. This is really happening. My twelve-month search for my next docking station has finally been decided.
On the one hand I’m elated. My other hand is frustrated as hell.
I’m ready, willing, and raring to bolt. However, leaving Tainan now would mean throwing even more money down the proverbial drain. Something I’ve become quite adept at. School won’t start for another six weeks, yet I’ve got several jigsaw puzzle pieces that need to fit together for a smooth and cost-effective transition. Where do I even begin?
Being somewhat of a puzzle aficionado, I know from experience it’s best to lay out the corner pieces first. Get a feel for the perimeter.
Now if I can just figure out what those corner pieces are. I know where the school is, so that’s the best starting point. From there, my agent will (hopefully) find me several housing options within walking distance. Kind of wild not having wheels. From the minute I turned sixteen, I’ve had a car.
As much as I enjoy walking—and as much as I’ve loved the freedom a vehicle gives me—it’s kind of nice not having to deal with one. No more speeding tickets to contend with.
One piece down. Four hundred ninety-nine more to go.
It occurs to me that my best problem-solving usually involves imbibing a fine wine. This is a momentous occasion, after all.
May as well celebrate.
Meandering through the maze of alleyways in search of libations is a good warm-up exercise for the old noggin. Although my directional dyslexia muddles the process a bit. As luck would have it I manage t stumble upon a stunning wine bar. This turns out to be one of the few times my inability to follow a compass worked to my advantage. This place is swanky, for sure.
Walking through the doorway of the wine joint, I loudly proclaim, “Now this is my kind of place.”
My exuberant entrance causes the woman sitting at the counter to burst into laughter and nearly choke on her appetizer.
The two employees behind the bar chuckle as well.
Agog at the oasis’s vast wine selection, I explain to the guy behind the bar my never-ending scavenger hunt for palatable vino throughout Southeast Asia. Agreeing wholeheartedly, he tells me he and his wife moved from Japan to Tainan to open this very establishment and share their love of wine with others.
“You will be rewarded tenfold from above,” is on the tip of my tongue, but my internal auto-correct changes the verbiage to “cool.” My filter, in desperate need of a major deep clean, overshares as I fill him in on my grand plans of moving to Taipei and studying Mandarin.
We shit shat about this and that, and after gathering a list of his must-see recommendations around Tainan, I leave with the promise of returning in one year’s time to give him my progress report.
Who knows if he really cares, but I plan on going back to check in anyway.
Unless I flunk, of course. Then I’ll probably be kicked out of the country, so what will it matter?
God, what if I flunk? What will happen to me? I’ll become an entity without a country… ejected from the space station, my tether severed from my spacecraft, doomed to drift through space forever. A pile of bones in a spacesuit.
God, that’s depressing.
Here I go again, flinging myself into stories of what-ifs.
Perhaps it’s time to change my doom- and- gloom “what ifs” for something a little more optimistic. Like, what if I win 3.4 Million in the lottery?May as well aim high.
With such a large dartboard to throw at, I’m bound to hit something, So what if I don’t hit the bullseye. I’m fine walking away with anything over a hundred grand.
Any who ha…
There is still plenty cool stuff to explore. I should take advantage of it, It may be my only time off for the next however many years it takes me to master Mandarin..
Anping Tree House. Recommendation number one from Mr. Wine Shop owner.
Anping Tree House… OMG.
Beautifully creepy. Eerie. Unsettling. Echoing. Luring. Disturbing.
Instantaneously, my mind goes straight to The Last of Us. I’m trudging through a Cordyceps apocalypse with Bella and Joel, surviving moment to moment beneath the tangled roots. Only in this scenario, humanity no longer exists. The only remains of civilization lie crumbling beneath the massive, never-ending roots of the banyan trees.
Talk about a puzzle.
Throughout Anping Tree House the roots twist in and out, over and above one another, weaving themselves around everything. There’s no beginning or end. Just an abstract intertwining of arms reaching, grabbing at whatever they can—trying to connect, yet ultimately overtaking everything they touch.
The nonsensical, never-ending journey…
Sufficiently creeped out, I quietly walk away.
Leaving the Cordyceps behind, I make my way across the barren lands, through the burnt out woods to the original remains of the city. This was once the residential heart of Taiwan’s first international trading port, where merchants, fishermen, and their families lived after Anping evolved from a Dutch settlement into a thriving Chinese port during the Qing dynasty.
Today, many of those narrow lanes remain lined with traditional red-brick courtyard homes, weathered compound walls, and centuries-old architecture that has been lovingly restored while still functioning as part of a living neighborhood. The threads of old and new Tainan weaving together.
Just as the old banyan roots at Anping Tree House intertwine, the city melds together organically and seamlessly. With no clear demarcation’s distinguishing new versus old this would be a bitch of a puzzle to try and put together.
Not that I would even find the time to work on it, let alone lay out all the pieces. I’m about to embark on the largest puzzle I’ve ever attempted. Fingers crossed I have all the pieces. Nothing worse than putting it all together only to realize one piece is missing.
Hopefully, I don’t lose one under the couch.
Jigsaw puzzles are more fun with wine. 🍷 Buy me a glass.
