I completed my first trip back to the US for some work (and a bit of fun as well)... it was interesting to pay attention to what it all felt like - being back in Portland, seeing friends, seeing the town, you name it.
We’ve only been in Taiwan for 6 months, but it was a surprise how much had already appeared to change around town - houses and buildings that weren’t there when we left etc (though to be fair, neither Julia nor I were in Portland much after Labor Day, and when we were there, we were pretty pre-occupied with getting set to move). But either way, it reminds me how much will be different after 3 years have passed.
I was on a regional jet for my LA to Portland flight, which I mention not because I’m a plane geek, (though I am), but rather to point out that I walked off the plane into the outside air - no jet bridges at PDX for those planes. Even with the jet exhaust etc, I was amazed at how good the air felt, how clean, how fresh, how breathable and how different it is from the air here in Taiwan. It’s a bit scary to realize that I’ve gotten accustomed to Taichung air - perhaps I’ve just thrashed my lungs into submission already?
It was a similar experience in drinking water straight from the tap, happily and eagerly. Here in Taiwan, drinking from the tap probably won’t kill you, but it’s rare to see anyone do it - I think it’s reasonably ok in terms of microbes, they probably chlorinate the heck out of it, but who knows about the water mains to get it to the tap. But more likely an issue is the high possibility of chemical pollutants - which gives me a bit of pause when it comes to local veggies as well. I see the water running out the back of factories into the waterways that irrigate farm fields and rice paddies. What could possibly go wrong there?
Numerous people have asked what I missed most about Portland and the US. At the risk of sounding too Portlandia for my own good, this trip helped me answer that question. Kale. We can get stuff that they call kale here.... but it’s not comparable to any of the kale varieties you see commonly. It’s much more closely akin to lettuce or something - who knows, maybe it’s got loads of vitamins and stuff, but it looks and feels like it’s got a nutritional value only slightly above iceberg lettuce, though it is greener and leafier. So there you have it.
I did also notice the difference in the noise of the city - even downtown Portland is not as loud as Taichung. Same with the vegetation and topography - it’s very green here, and we have mountains (when you can see them) but seeing Doug Firs and Mt Hood every time I turned around - *that* was nice.
Sunset this time of year is profoundly different between US and TW...granted there's no daylight saving time time change here in Taiwan, but even with that, this far south, summer's a whole different deal in terms of time of sunset. The sun set here in Taiwan today at 6:37PM - a far cry from Portland sunset today at 8:45 - and it's almost a month until the Solstice.
We haven’t been here long enough for real homesickness to take hold I don’t think - there’s been too much to do and to learn - no time to really get into that funk so far. But I did notice that I felt very much like coming back to Taichung felt like coming home. I cannot see us living here forever, but it’s very happily home for now.
