Driving challenged...
I haven't had a car for months now. The implication of this little "issue" is that I haven't been driving and I am now taking public transportations. To be honest the biggest drawback is the inconvenience of immobility.
Since moving back, my Dad has decided to buy a car. Now, there a few small differences between driving in SA and driving in Taiwan.
- First of all, the two drives on different side of the road, that's correct Taiwan drives on the right hand-side of the road, while SA on the left.
- Secondly, the roads are so much narrower in Taiwan, i.e. people tend to park next to the road to get on or off, making the drivers to zig-zag through the traffic, which is entirely different from SA (well, except when you go downtown).
- Thirdly, there are thousands, if not millions of motor-bikes on the road... watch out for the bikers!
- Fourthly, due to the horrendous traffic conditions in Taiwan, 99.9% of the cars are automatic drive. What seems to be the problem? I only drive manual gear. I've always driven manual in SA, so need for me to learn how to drive automatic. I know, it sounds like a pathetic excuse, but it is true.
Summing up all of the factors above, I'm patrified of driving in Taiwan. Personally, I'm still trying to adjust to this driving on the "other" side thing. Everytime when a car turns a corner (be it I'm in the car or not), in a split second, I think "shit, we are turning into the wrong side of the road! We gonna crash!!!!". Then I realised my mistake. I seriously doubt this fear of driving on the other side of the road will subside soon. Well, if you take into consideration that I almost climbed into the wrong side of the car, I don't think I'll be driving any day soon.
jule
Close of a chapter, start of the next
I'm not sure this is the Nth time that I'm trying to write this blog... well all the previous postings have gone down the drain, since I tried to be fancy and uploaded photos. So I've decided to go back to basics and just write.
Well, what can I say? I've been "silent" for a while, but now I'm back. There has been quite a change since the last time that I've sat down to properly write something. Let's see, I've moved house, left a job, moved back to Taiwan... There were so much I wanted to share and write, but they seem to have escaped me over time.
Perhaps I should start with moving back to Taiwan. I think this was and still is a "difficult" part. Difficult in the sense that I've never thought about moving back at this stage of my life. I've always thought that I'll have a few more years of travelling around the world before moving back permanently. In my mind moving back is like settling down, and I wasn't ready for that yet. Now I'm back it does feel a bit weird, afterall I've been away for such a long time. Everything somehow seems somewhat familiar, yet unfamiliar. It is for sure a more fast-paced society, information over-load. Who knows? This may just turn out to be a good change. At least I'm sure my folks are happy about it. I think in a way they were worried that they are going to loose a daughter if I go to Dubai.
By all means I still dream of and want to trekk the world with backpacks on my back. It just that the plan has been put on hold for a while.
Right now, I'm just focusing on getting a job... I cannot live off of my parents any longer. Afterall, I am an adult now, I have my degree. I suppose to be able to make a living for myself and not rely on my parents. Well... I'd think that with the advantages I have, I would be snatched up by companies with a click of the fingers. But I'm starting to doubt it.
It is also quite a bit of change, having to start thinking realistically about life, making a living, etc. I think I've read somewhere before that "AIESEC is a practice run of reality, but AIESEC operate in a real world so it cannot be just a practice run" or something alone that line. Anyways, my point is there is actually a difference between what one does in AIESEC comparing to what one does outside of AIESEC, i.e. reality and yourself. I don't know about other people, and I don't want to speak for everyone. But at least for myself, when I was in AIESEC everything is about AIESEC, it is what you sleep, what you eat, what you breathe - it is your life. But life outside of AIESEC is about you and you alone. Sure, you'll probably find a job that you devote as much to it, but somehow you don't live it... that's just what I think.
I think we are all young and restless once, and AIESEC is the perfect way of writing that chapter in one's life. So, for those people that are still living AIESEC, enjoy it. For those that has ended that chapter, I'm sure it was a sweet-bitter symphony that you'll be proud of.
This is the close of a chapter, and the start of the next chapter. I wonder where it will take me...
jule
