Week in Review

This is for my sister, who likes to read about what I've been doing.

Minnesota
So after Vegas, I parted ways with Christina and flew to Minnesota. My flight was delayed landing due to a big thunderstorm. We circled around the MSP airport for about 45 minutes before we were cleared to land. I slept through the whole thing, but when I got off the plane I heard that people could see lightning all around us while we were flying and that a bolt had hit the tarmac. I didn't think much of it until my friend Kristine found me at baggage claim extremely relieved. The power had gone out, including cutting the phone line, and she didn't know about the delay or if I had been waiting for an hour. The streets were flooded and so her fiance, Jim, had trouble getting to the airport. What should have been a 5 minute drive turned into a much longer ordeal.

Anyways, they got me safe and sound and we went home to Richfield, MN. Lucky me, I'd just been camping and had my headlamp handy to see my way around the house. Just their side of the street had power cut. I finally got to see Kristine's house, which really reminded me of childhood and going to her parents' house in South Windsor. It's got a very homey feel, and a similar kitchen counter to hang out and chat at. Besides darker hair, Kristine hasn't changed much, and so it felt like old times. It was hard to believe that 8 years has gone by since I'd seen her last.

I spent the mornings at University of Minnesota, St Paul campus, where Kristine will be pursuing a PhD in Economics this fall. She was taking a brush up math class in the mornings. In the afternoon, we hung out at her future mother-in-laws, who did have power, and running errands around town. We also had a nice lunch with one of her good friends. I can't remember the name of the place - an Irish? place on a corner somewhere that serves the largest sandwiches I've ever seen. We also took a nice walk around one of the 10,000 lakes MN is known for, which reminded me of Green Lake back home. And at the very end we made a quick stop at the Mall of America, which has an amusement park for kids within it and an aquarium. We ran into some students of Kristine (she was a high school teacher for 6 years, before resigning to attend grad school), which was fun to witness.

Washington
I flew into Seattle at an ungodly hour and took the shuttle around 3 am to Emery's. I was happy to crash in his king sized guest bed, but had a little trouble falling asleep as being back always makes the Seattle/Redmond memories do a 5 year instant replay through my head. I went into downtown Seattle in the morning to the TECO office to get my visa (6th and University). $100 fee gets processing done by the next day. Rush processing is same day. The woman at the office was extremely nice and I felt great leaving the office, sure to return the next day, getting things done ahead of schedule.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. My dad called me the next morning to say the TECO office had called him (I had put his phone number down since I'd be canceling my cell service soon). Apparently, I had run out of visa pages in my passport and they couldn't finish processing. Arg! I went in and tried to point out the blank pages, but I'd never realized those back pages are just for endorsements. I blame the US immigration officers who constantly stamp a random page in my book, instead of going in order. Due to 2 migrant stamps, the last 2 visa pages had been taken up unnecessarily.

So I ran to the Passport Agency on 2nd Ave, where you normally need an appointment to even see anyone. The security guard gave me exception for having an upcoming flight, but asked me to prove it. Silly me, I had put my ticket aside in a safe place at home in Redmond so I wouldn't lose it. So instead of fighting traffic and missing the 1 pm return deadline, I then ran/bussed to the International District back to my travel agent's. Lisa, of Asian Pacific Travel, was happy to print me a copy of my itinerary. I ran back to the Passport Agency with all the paperwork.

I stood in line to get a number. The young man at the desk flipped through my passport, noticing all the countries I'd been to recently, commenting on each one saying he'd been there as well. He asked why I needed more pages, and I told him I was going to Taiwan (one place he'd never been). He asked me what I do, and I could only respond after some hesitation, "I travel." I explained how I've funded it so far and he seemed impressed. He then suggested that I consider grad school and working for the national Foreign Service - a degree in International Relations might help get me a job to be placed abroad. He described some of the places he'd been and it sounded really intriguing. He was only sent from DC to Seattle for 2 months to deal with the huge backlog of passport requests.

As I waited I watched families go up and get passports for the first time, and several men who had driven from hours away (Spokane and Portland) making a point that they wanted their issues resolved during their scheduled appointment. After an hour, my number was finally called. The second man I talked to was also from out of town and had a good sense of humor. He got me processed through and said I could give me an appointment Monday or Tuesday. I pointed out that my flight was 4 am on Tuesday and he made the logical conclusions to get me back in on Monday at 11 am.

Fast forward to Monday - I went in to pick up my passport, which was a painless process. I then walked it back over to the TECO office, where for some reason, I thought they had already done the processing and would just stamp the visa in. With my luck, I should have known it wouldn't be that simple. The woman said nothing had been done and that I could come back the next day. I told her I needed it today and had to fork over the expedited fee ($36). She said to come back at 4:30 pm, just before closing and that hopefully the person who processes them would return in time. Oy!

In the end, I got my multi-entry, extendable visitor visa, good for 60 days, and extendable up to 180 days. In my time in Seattle, I also managed to sell my Honda (the sale of which will help fund the rest of my travels), see baby Atticus (who is extremely tiny and cute and has a great "power arm" move that I love), and move out of Emery's garage (big thanks to Angie and Sonja for housing my stuff). I even got to play a tournament: Spawnfest up north in Burlington with some friends from Traffic, and watch incredible games of the Japan teams vs the local elite teams (Riot and Sockeye) - #12 on Buzz Bullets may be my new favorite ulty player. I was also lucky enough to be in town for 2 Troutings -- all of which made me feel like I was missing Seattle before even leaving!



Taiwan
Theresa and Chewy kept me calm and on schedule in my last hours in Seattle, driving me around after I'd sold my car, helping me pack and doing the hundred last minute items I hadn't had time to take care of since most of it was spent unexpectedly fighting for a Taiwan visa. I went to the South terminal at SEAtac, which I'd never been to. Must be the Asian wing, as everything was written in Chinese. My EVA flight went smoothly in the Deluxe cabin, as did my immigration and baggage pick up. I took the Evergreen Express bus for NT$135 into Taipei to the Nanjing E Rd MRT station. The men who sold me the ticket assumed I could speak Chinese, and the man who announced the bus' arrival did as well. Things were straightened out and they were sure to pass the message on to the driver to make sure I'd get off at the right stop.

I arrived at my PoPo's place only to forget which buzzer to use! I ended up hitting all the buttons before someone let me in. I really haven't done much except unpack my 2 bags, listen to PoPo and use up all my brain power to try to understand what she's talking about (I'm guessing I only understand 30% of what she's saying), and as a result slept a lot (an evening nap, and sleep for the night). I'm only slightly jet lagged, having woken up at 4 am.

I still haven't met my cousin, who got in from work while I was taking my nap, and who returned home from dinner after I'd gone to bed. Hopefully I'll get to chat with him some time today.

That's the summary of the last 7 days!