Spacing around at JV’s

February 15, 2011. Written in Shanghai, China.

After coming back from Taichung, it was raining in Taipei the whole time. I decided it was a good time for some relaxing.  At the 8 bed mix-dorm of JV’s I would wake up at around 13:00, in an early case that is. I would spend most of the day lying on bed writing some posts for my blog or just surfing the net, next to my good friend Quinn, who was mostly doing the same thing, although he has been seriously searching for a job in Taipei, while I have been doing absolutely nothing.

Talking about doing nothing, I didn’t mention the Swedish guy Thomas yet. The lazy Swede has been staying at JV’s for almost 1 and a half year now. He doesn’t go to school or work, but just drinks and drinks. It is a funny fact though that his Chinese is better and more natural than that of any other student I have met so far. Learning goes faster at the bar than at school, I suppose. Thomas’s body is full of tattoos, so his first impression can be quite scary, but he is actually more friendly than almost anyone I have met on my trip so far. Moreover, he is an interesting person with a story. After spending a year at Sony in Japan, he moved to Taiwan, where he has been actively hanging out with the locals. The staff told me that it is hard to distinguish his Chinese from that of a regular Taiwanese.

When I would get bored, I would go up to the living room of JV’s, to bother the staff in their work. If they would have nothing to do, sometimes we would play some blackjack for small stakes, or go to the nightmarket that is just across the street to have some food. One day, there was a reporter that came to write about Taipei’s nightmarkets, so we would go with the whole hostel and eat all the nightmarket has to offer. Guests come and go at JV’s. One night, I had a long conversation about the connection between language and customs with an interesting British guy teaching math in Shanghai.

Sometimes, I would call over my Japanese speaking French friend Raphael, and we would talk about life until he would have to catch his last bus, or we would go out for some dumplings together. And then of course there was Wendy, the girl I had visited in Kaoshung. February 2 was her birthday, and Vanessa, the owner of the hostel had her birthday the next day, so at the night of the 1st, we all went to the club. At this club, you can drink as much as you want, and me and Coke (a staff member who goes by this name) would get ourselves a shot called “Lemon drop” all the time. The next morning, when I asked him to write on my paddle, he wrote “Lemon drop is good but Coke is best!” . Now that is the best message on my paddle so far. It is short, funny and will instantly make you remember the writer. Let’s see if there will be someone to write something even better in the future!