Noooow It's Officially 2013 For A Texan Girl!

Tuesday January 1^st, 2013

In my eyes, I was in the future. That’s right, the future I tell you! I had a premature New Year’s celebration in Taiwan. See, I couldn’t accept it was 2013 yet for two reasons. One, it is a very hollow feeling holiday in Taiwan because it’s Chinese New Years that matters to them. Two, a full year will have truly passed for me when it turns midnight in Texas. So after sleeping in from the Taipei 101 visit, my alarm sounded around 10:00AM in order to get up and watch the Times Square ball drop livestream.

Three hours of that livestream and the idea of 2013 warmed up to me. Partying to the music, laughing with the devoted spectators and excitedly counting down, it was the vest way to celebrate the New Year in a foreign country away from family. My lovely sister did join me on Skype for the Texas countdown, provided by my Animal Crossing DS game. ;D She toasted with wine and I with a bottle of water. XD Good times, good times!

Oh! I should mention the first meal of 2013. My Taiwan 2013 first meal was a toast sandwich with egg, bacon and cheese inside, cooked by host grandmother. My Texas/real 2013 first meal was a honey and oat Nature Valley bar. Now THAT’S how you start the year on the right foot! As I am a sucker for symbolism, I was determined to have 2013’s first bit of food a healthy one, symbolizing this year will be a healthy one. (A.K.A. I will lose this unwanted weight Taiwan has given me) Yes, that intertwines with a New Year’s resolution of mine but it’s not an empty one. No, I proved slimming down was possible with my determination and hard work in America. The trick is to do it again with not as favorable resources. But my will is strong and I have a trick up my sleeve. Wish my luck guys! ;D

A long nap was had to recharge, dinner and then movie. It was cool taking a visit to the movie theater because I hadn’t yet attended the movies outside of Rotary and it’s a tradition to see one for New Year’s in my Texas family. There was a problem choosing the picture because the movie I really wanted to see, ‘Rise of the Guardians,’ so happens to not show in Taiwan anymore. Gosh darn it! For personal reasons I wanted to watch ‘The Hobbit’ for the first time in Texas but such and such happened and my host father bought tickets for the two of us to see ‘The Hobbit.’ I’m not going to dive into that but let’s just say I had mixed feelings about this.

Movie theater/mall/ferris wheel at Neihu

No, I won’t give you spoilers but I shall say…L…O…V…E! ^__^ I want to reread the book now! Maybe I might search for a copy in Taiwan. ;P

Let’s just focus for a minute on differences between movie theaters in Texas and in Taiwan. I’ll give you a list.

      I.         Taiwan has assigned seats. When you buy your ticket, you pick your seat then and there, like a concert seat tickets.

    II.         There are no previews before the film. I found that sad because previews are always fun to watch as you fizzle up excitement for upcoming movies. I’m not sure but from what I saw, I think previews play on TV screens at the food area. The only problem is, you can’t hear anything and people walk in front of you, hence blocking your view sometimes.

  III.         Though the movie can be in English, it will have Chinese subtitles. Luckily, 3D tended to make the subtitles seem faint but their presence was still annoying to me.

   IV.         Most everyone leaves right as the credits start. Usually a good few people in Texas will stay, read and listen to the credits with hopes for a secret scene at the end. Well not in Taiwan. My host father let us stay till the end on my behalf and by that time, the theater was practically empty.

     V.         The particular theater we went to was located on the 6^th-9^th floor of a mall. When the movie finished and we got out, the whole place was shut down except for the movies. All escalators were off so it created a big backed-up line for the elevators still in service.

With visions of dwarves, braided beards and awesome bunny sleds (LOVE!), January 1^st, 2013 ended for Andrea.