And just like that, as quickly as it had arrived, we are already bidding farewell to summer of 2020. It felt like only yesterday when I was in New Jersey brainstorming ideas in my sketchbook on ways I can milk this summer for all that it was worth. Despite it being a bit different compared to a quintessential New York summer where days are lined up with glorious summer block parties, hipster Brooklyn concerts and late night food excursions, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, in more ways than one I almost feel as if it was better.
A few memorable highlights that commemorate this truly one-of-a-kind summer include:
- Collaboratively filming a lip dub to one of Janet’s classics, “Together Again” with friends quarantined from all around the world
- Tidying, redecorating and improving my room to be more functional and still aesthetically pleasing (with help from Muji, Wayfair and TJ Maxx)
- Weekly recurring day drinking in Central Park… details a little blurry
- Attending a dino-nugg party with all sorts of fun dinosaur shapes from T-Rex, stegosaurus to pterodactyls. Uh, who says eating food can’t be fun?
- Dying from an outdoor HIIT workout at McCarren Park in Williamsburg. It took a week for my legs to recover… no joke!
- Deep late night conversations fueled by $2.50 pie slices at Martha’s Country Bakery (a place of high sentiment to me – ask me why)
- Getting that ‘glazed doughnut sheen’ with coworkers through an intensive Peloton class over Zoom
- Venturing far into Murray Hills, Queens for a haircut and eating affordable freshly made kimbap in Kissena Park afterwards
- Learning and performing “The Cup Song” featuring Anna Kendrick from Pitch Perfect at a virtual talent show amongst friends
- Making delicious dumplings from scratch with other dumpling-minded individuals at my friend’s online cooking workshop
- Attempting to embrace my youth by learning a TikTok dance to ‘Yummy’
- Day trip to Edison for a low-key day of Topgolfing, ping pong, pool, and 蛋挞 hunting at Kam Man Chinese Supermarket
- Finally getting around to editing two separate vlogs of my trips to Spain and India from a few years ago
- Spending an extended July 4th weekend in Killington, Vermont for a summer getaway with old and new friends. Not going to lie, still a tad bitter about not being able to get my Belgian waffle from Waffle Cabin.
Rediscovering my balance in this next leg of my journey
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be leaving this Saturday for Taiwan until at least the end of the year. The idea to go back to Taiwan emerged from a casual conversation I had with a friend a few months ago who told me that she decided to go back to spend the summer. I remember feeling an alien feeling of excitement creep up and knew that it was the right move for me.
This will be a great opportunity for me to spend quality time with extended family but also recollect the balance (平衡) that I have lost over the past few months. The tolls of this imbalance has indefinitely stifled my creativity and it has been challenging to say the least to maintain productivity or feel any sort of inward motivation. Maintaining this so-called balance is a crucial part of who I am and I’m hoping to reclaim at least a part of it during my stay over there.
So, what are my plans while I’m there? This trip is unlike any of the other trips I’ve made back it marks the longest period of time I’ve stayed in Taiwan. Aside from still maintaining a work schedule, I hope to finish the second part of a project that I worked on years ago. In the year 2015, I spent an entire month living in Taiwan after graduation taking care of my grandmother and during that time I worked on a personal project called “Taipei: A Reservoir.” This project was a site-specific publication that documented the “remnants” of my mnemonic associations to the country as a child. It was intended to be a two-part project but that second part never came to fruition due to my sudden move to New York. This time around, I hope to revisit and finish what I’ve started!
In addition to what’s mentioned above, I am making a conscious effort to continue my summer goals for this trip. I’ve mostly ever done annual trips that have longest been two weeks at a time, most of which was preoccupied with spending time with extended family. So if anybody out there has friends that are open to grabbing a drink and meeting up, would greatly appreciate the introduction! Also, I can’t wait to practice and finally improve my Mandarin! Excited to share with you all my stories in the motherland 🙂
