Italian-Taiwanese Fusion Madness...

I just ate penne pasta with chopsticks. Odd and absurd are the only words that come to mind when I try to describe the experience in my head. But absurd in the way that it was completely natural for me to pick up the chopsticks, even though they were situated next to a folk, and find a way to work the pasta into my mouth. By the third piece of pasta or so, I realized what I was doing and what it said about how quickly we've adapted ourselves these last few days. I thought about switching over to the fork, considered it for a good second, and kept on pludging away at the penne, one piece at a time, picking them up through the middle with my two chopsticks. It was comfortable, and I kind of liked it. I also liked that the penne had CHEESE in it. I've been going a week without any cheese in my diet and I was having cravings.

I've been here less than a week. Yet, I feel that Taiwanese culture has been easy to adapt to. The people and the environment are both very friendly. I like Taiwan (or Taipei, at least) much more than I thought I would. I won't say I had low expectations, but I probably never would have chosen Taiwan as a destination. I would never be able to call this home, but it's a great place to spend a few weeks, or a couple months... I'm not itching to go just yet, but come October I think I'll be ready to move on.