Two Years

Hello everyone, or anybody that can read this. Long time no see, isn't it? Well, routine gets into my life.

But today I have a reason to remember: two years since I landed for the first time in Taiwan. Time runs pretty fast, it seems to me. Well, it will get worse probably.

Hope to see you soon.

One Year

Even if it may not seem so, I landed in Taiwan exactly a year ago, in a cloudy and humid April afternoon, after a long trip from Europe; with some vague images about this place in my head, but, in reality, with a whole world to discover. How many changes and how many new things I have experienced in one year; positive, most of them. I have met a large bunch of people; with some I have some kind of friendship, not with all, of course; some have already left the island, while others have just arrived; a very reduced number of people have gotten very close, some one much much more. New roads.

Right now, I am looking ahead to the second year. A lot of work to finish, and more to start. With doubts, certainties, knowing what is coming, gettig ready. Excited and not missing too much the land that I left behind —that does not mean that I do not miss them—, and wondering if I should look even beyond that. Maybe it is too early yet.

A year is made of many scenes, little details, big ideas, sad moments, exciting instants, unforgettable memories. I cannot cover it in a few lines. So, I must keep on walking. To be continued...

"Set Them Free"

A Jordi's post in the SeNSe SeNSo blog (warning: in Catalan) today made me embark on a time travel, to a time not so distant —with the IRA and unionists, and the British army, playing their macabre game in Ulster; apartheid in South Africa—, that apparently and for the time being, as things have changed, has been happily left behind, with all the difficulties, wrongs and rights in the world.

And following with music, I could not avoid connecting this song,

Biko (by Peter Gabriel), to this other one,

Silver & Gold (by U2), probably one of the first reasons for the beginning of a great friendship 20 years ago, at least (Ok, Edge... play the blues!!).

As many others, these are songs that still move me (yes, my eyes fill with tears and my nose starts running). I hope it happens for a long time still.

Reading again

I was going over my e-mail last Sunday when, for some reason I cannot remember, I started reading again, for a good while, messages from my family of the weeks before and after coming to Taiwan. It was not planned, I just found myself doing it; but it was interesting. To remember funny or good sentences of one or the other; or when they told me about the latest deed of the little one or how she was beginning to do her own things; insightful exchanges between my brothers; flat-out rants over any subject that inevitably made laugh, etc. I spent a long while laughing and smiling.

I also realized, reading what I had written, how much things change from the beginning and comparing to months later. There is a lot of uncertainty during the first days, everything is new, the personal mood is very variable. Little things sink you, others lift you up. A few months later, all is much more stable and you begin forgetting those feelings, and think that they never happened. The new reading of those messages helps me to see, as if I needed that, how well I feel right now.

Autumn

Of course, I had been told that fall in Taipei was very nice. Now that winter is coming, at least the astronomical winter, I can confirm it. That does not mean that we did not have grey or rainy or cloudy days, some not very pleasant, or that we did not suffered sudden drops in temperatures, but it has been almost a week with clear blue skies and a very nice Sun. It was a little bit chillier towards the end of last week, but this one is almost perfect. A few real fall days, even if it is already December.

As for me, I really like these mornings when I walk to work and I can gaze at those clear skies and see how the light slips through the green trees. I could even smell the just-cut grass in front of my office this morning.

No news, I know, it reminds me of those very cold days in Columbus, when maybe all was covered in white because of the snow, the river was frozen, but there was that nice Sun that, at least, brought some warmth to your heart. Small daily joys.

And this afternoon, to Hsinchu, going to the ALMA-jT workshop, with my half-finished presentation. The forecast for tomorrow and the weekend says it will be colder. We'll see.

Seven

So, lately I am remembering too many things. It is seven years today since we had our show and we got a title and some paper!. Mentally, though, we had finished a month and a half before that, and it was easy to see in all the celebrations we had. How things have changed in all this time. It is what usually happens when a stage of life is finished and another begins.

As it happened several times before —it is my fault I am always somewhere else— we will not be able to have a proper commemoration. Ok, we will sooner or later.