The worst job ever.

Hi guys, so I wanted to take a little break from the LDR stories and tell you guys a story about the worst job I’ve ever had. Also, the shortest time I’ve worked somewhere and also the first official job I’ve ever had. I keep saying that the company I worked for, for three years is the first job I had because I don’t consider the job I’ll be talking about now, as a real job since I left after two days. Basically I was fired after two days but I was more than happy to leave. So let’s get into the details, shall we?

I just finished my education at high school and had to look for jobs. I started looking online and found several jobs, which I applied for. It took a long time to actually find one and I didn’t even care what kind of job I’d get in the end. I had bills that would start to come in on the first of September and I needed a job. I didn’t even care anymore. I applied for cleaning jobs, jobs as an English translator for companies, long story short: I tried everything. Until eventually I came across a job fairly close to where I lived, as a hotel maid / chambermaid. I was going on a vacation in August for three weeks so I could only begin in September. I applied for the job nonetheless and within a few days I got a response. They asked me to come over for a job interview and I was thrilled. So far, I hadn’t come so far so you can imagine the happiness I felt. I arrived at said hotel for the interview with all my papers and stuff ready. I was introduced to this lady who wasn’t going to be my superior but I would run into her a few times during work.  I had to fill in my information and we went over every single detail of the contract. She was real nice, but at that point I still did not meet the person who was in charge of the hotel maid position.

 

The contract contained the following: I’d work for 15 hours a week. I would have to be there at 9 A.M. , start the shift at 09:30 and finish at 12:30 P.M.  So I would work for three hours a day, five days a week. I know I have dyscalculia but you guys can do the math right ? Three hours a day, five days a week, equals 15 hours a week. Right? Okay let’s get that straight. We discussed some things together and she asked me what I did outside of work.

At that time, my stepfather had recently gotten his daughter back and took her in with us. However she required constant attention and could not be left home alone. When we would come back from our three week vacation, work would start for all three of us and school would start for my (at that time) stepsister. She would go to a certain type of school for children like herself and only have half days of school. So, she would finish around 1 P.M. What this meant for us was that we all had a certain type of schedule to follow at home as soon as we’d be back. My mother would work until 3 in the afternoon, my stepfather until 4 in the afternoon and I would finish at 12:30. Because I was the one to finish first and my work would be pretty close to her school, I’d be the one to pick her up. Traveling from my work to her school would take about 20 minutes so I’d arrive there around 1 P.M. The school had a type of daycare as well in case parents couldn’t pick up their kids on time but they would charge a LOT of money if the kids would stay after 1 P.M. At the time we didn’t have that much money so we couldn’t afford to keep her at the daycare.

I told the woman at the job interview all of this, thinking that she would eventually pass it on to the lady that was actually going to be in charge of my position aka my superior. All was well and I signed my contract. I would begin on the 1st of September and work for 15 hours a week. Remember, she told me this countless of times guys. 15 hours a week, three hours a day. I know I keep repeating it but this is important for later.

Before we went to Poland for our three week vacation I was shopping with my mother and we would take the bus from and to the mall, and back home again. It was a hot summer that year so obviously I didn’t wear my winter coat with my deep pockets. I wore my summer jacket that had these real small pockets that couldn’t fit my phone into them. I did however have a pocket on my chest and I’d put my phone in there so I could see it at all times. On the way home from the mall, in the bus, I remember the bus was especially wonky that time. It was an older bus and so the bus would be more prone to shaking around when driving. When we got off the bus we went home and when I arrived home I realized that my phone was gone. I ran back to the bus stop and there was already a new bus there waiting but the old one was gone. I checked everywhere, even a supermarket nearby where we went to hours ago but figured it must’ve fell out of my pocket while being in the wonky old bus.  So I didn’t have a phone anymore. Work couldn’t contact me and we didn’t have the money to buy a new one. Not having a phone for three weeks during my vacation was fine though. While I was there I bought myself work shoes and a pair of pants for work, because my job was only going to provide me with a t-shirt.

When we got back from our vacation I still had about one week  before work would start for all of us. My mother got a new phone and a new phone number during that week, after having her old phone number for over 9 years. I knew her old phone number but not her new one. I figured I wouldn’t really need it since I didn’t have a phone. We called my phone company and asked if they could get me a new SIM card ASAP and we would try to get a phone to put the SIM card into. My mom then decided to lend me her old phone until I’d get the SIM card from my phone company. Which I was supposed to pick up a week later on a Tuesday at 1:30 P.M. So I had a phone with me to listen to music to whilst I was traveling. I couldn’t call with it, couldn’t send messages with it, only listen to music on it.

The first day of work started for me. I arrived well on time for my first day, finally met my superior for the first time and she gave me my t-shirt. She showed me around, introduced me to my coworkers, gave me a keycard that opened all the doors in the hotel and taught me a bit about cleaning rooms and what to do. It was pretty easy for me to keep up because I was used to most of the chores: cleaning toilets, showers, vacuuming rooms, dusting off furniture, changing the garbage bags in the bins. Only making the beds was a bit different for me because they have a certain way to do so and the bed has to look perfect for the guests. After all, it was a five star hotel. So I’m done with my first shift, the clock strikes 12:30 and I get told I’m done and get to leave. My superior was very happy with me, for my first day. I left feeling confident and ready for day two. If this is what my job was going to be like, I didn’t mind it.

Afterwards I pick up my stepsister at her school and go home. When my mom came home she told me that tomorrow she would finish work ealier, go to the mall and wait for me there at the phone store. Because that day would be Tuesday and I’d get to pick up my SIM card and finally use my phone again. It would be a lot easier since my mother and I could call each other if there were any changes in our plans and schedule for my stepsister. So the plan for Tuesday would be: I go to work, finish at 12:30, pick up my stepsister, go to the mall with her to meet up with my mom and get my new SIM card. Easy enough right? – Right.

I go to work that morning, arrive on time again and my superior even compliments me for being the only one who gets to work on time. I start my shift and an hour into my shift, I am in a hotel rooms shower, cleaning it thoroughly… When I .. Rip out of my pants. I squatted to get down to the floor level of the shower to clean that and I ripped out of my pants! I was so shocked, I just reached around and felt that my pants had ripped exactly where my butt was !! I was mortified. I wasn’t nearly done with this hotel room yet and I had no spare clothes with me since I arrived at work already wearing them. I finished cleaning that room thoroughly though, because I’m a professional and I didn’t want to leave a room half clean / half dirty in case the owner of the room would come back. After I finished I looked around four different floors for my superior, while covering my butt, showing my not so flattering panties. When I finally found her I told her the story, but I was so extremely embarrassed. She took me to a lost and found room of the hotel where there were a few pants from people who stayed in the hotel! They weren’t even washed or anything. I tried on a few pants but during that time I was at my heaviest and could only (barely!) fit into a man’s jeans. It was a yellow pair of jeans, covered in what seemed like white paint splatters. I was disgusted, who knows what was really on those pants. I couldn’t even fully fit the pants. They were so tight around my hips and I had to keep pulling it up.

I was not happy at all but decided not to let this bother me. I was almost done with my shift and then I’d go home first and change into normal pants before meeting up my mother at the mall. When 12:30 rolled around, I couldn’t see my superior at all so decided to finish the room I was working on for five more minutes and told one of my coworkers that it was time for me to go. She then looked at me questionably and said: ‘Uhm, I don’t know what she told you(the superior), but we work until 3:30 every day.’ I tried to explain to her that my contract was for three hours a day but she kept saying it wasn’t so and that I should probably find the superior and ask her personally. So I was already running a bit late and looked for her. When I found her and told her the deal she gave me a not so happy look and told me: ‘You work until 3:30, you only work until 12:30 on your first day.’

Wait what? ‘No, no, you don’t understand. The lady at the job interview went over the contract with me several times and explained to me that I work 15 hours a week, three hours a day, five days a week. Which would be from 9:30 until 12:30.’ She just looked at me and gave me a VERY displeased look, saying: ‘Well, I know so-and-so a lot better and longer than you do, so I’d know she wouldn’t tell you that. Unless you’re lying to me now, Naomi.’ Wait okay, hold up. You’re now saying to me that I’m lying?! No no no no noooooo, honey, no. I was getting defensive about it and kept insisting that this was so. She then went downstairs with me and showed me the contract she had of me and guess what it said? I work from 9:30 until 3:30 every day.

Now at this point I was really confused. I don’t know how this happened, clearly I was told differently during the interview. Clearly I am not lying. I know for a 100% that this is not right and that there was a miscommunication somewhere. But I’m way too confused to figure that out right now. Meanwhile my superior is impatiently tapping her foot with this real smug look on her face because she is “right” in this moment. She finally breaks the silence by saying: “So, anyways. I have a lot of work to do and you as well. I planned you into this schedule for the whole day and we need to get to it.” Woah now hold up a moment. I explain to her the story that I really need to go and pick up my stepsister and have an appointment at 1:30. She shrugs and causally says to me: ‘You know, I have a daughter and I sometimes have to let her stay at daycare as well. So be it. Work comes first.” At this point this lady is really starting to piss me off. First of all, you may be able to do so but my family cannot. We do not have the funds you have so we cannot afford this. And secondly, you’re just being a bitch right now.

Of course I didn’t say this to her. I try to explain to her that we cannot and I really cannot stay until 3:30 today. I have no issues whatsoever in staying longer the next day, working overtime and doing what I was supposed to do today. I have no problem with catching up or taking over a shift with somebody else. I don’t even care that even though during my interview I was definitely told different, I now have to work much more than I was told. She gets pissy with me now saying simply: no, I cannot let you go now.

Okay. That’s it. I tell her: I cannot stay today. Tomorrow or any other day but not today. When she finally gets that I’m not going to give in, she says: okay, can’t you call home and explain to them the situation and try and figure something out? “Well, I’d love to but I have no SIM card in my phone, I was supposed to pick that up after picking up my stepsister. ” – Okay then I’ll let you call home with our phone, how about that? “My mother isn’t home right now.” – then we’ll let you call a mobile number even if that’s more expensive. At this point I know it all sounds like excuses but you guys read the backstory in this post I typed. You probably know what I’m going to say next to this less than understanding woman: “I don’t know her number, she changed it a week ago after having the same number I memorized for 9 years.”

I can tell she’s getting mad at me and you know what I can understand that it now sounds like I’m completely making all of this up but you know what? I wish I did make everything up at that point. This really happened to me and I know it sounds weird but it’s just all a very misfortunate situation. Honestly, the mistake lies with your coworker for miscommunicating with both of us. This is not my fault.

She finally opens her mouth and says: “Well, you know what? I’ll leave the decision up to you. I say that I really need you right now and that you cannot leave. You say you have to. But if you choose to leave right now, I want you to hand in your keycard, send your shirt to headquarters in a different city and leave this building.”

This lady is seriously blackmailing me now. Oh so just because there’s been a mistake made on your end, and I have plans that I cannot change right now last minute, you’re basically saying that because of that, you’re misusing your “power” as a superior and telling me you’ll fire me for this? However, I stood my ground. “Then I’ll choose to leave because my work doesn’t come first. Family does.” I’m not going to let my mother and stepdad pay the jackpot for daycare when they do not have that money. I’m not going to leave my stepsister who has personal disorders, alone at her school while we promised to pick her up. I will most certainly not pick a bossy, unfair, unreasonable, bitchy superior over all of this. She just looks at me and says: “Alright, then hand in your keycard please. I’ll write down the address of headquarters so you can send your shirt to them.” I start to sob at this point and burst out into tears. Though I’ve been very serious up until this point. I am a sensitive person. I tried to reason with this woman. This whole situation is not my fault. It was my first job and I literally had it for only one day. And all in all, I can’t stand being mistreated when I haven’t done anything wrong.

She “tries” to calm me down, but not really because she’s an asshole. She moves me out of the lobby where we’ve been standing all this time so hotel guests won’t see me cry. All I want at this point is leave but she keeps talking to me, making me feel guilty. Eventually I stop her in the middle of her talking and say: I’d like to go now.

I hand in my keycard and go to the toilets to come to my senses and calm down. At this point it’s already 1:30 P.M. I am late for my appointment, my stepsister is waiting for me, as is my mother who can’t reach me at all and my parents now have to pay a lot of money for those 30 minutes my stepsister stayed longer. Even longer because when I’ll get to her, it’ll be 1:50 P.M.

I left the hotel still emotional with the address to send the shirt to. Wearing those filthy white stained man pants. FYI, I never sent the shirt back. I kept it on the bottom of my closet until we moved to this house, then I threw it away. As a big middle finger to that “superior” who told me to send it back. Looking back now, I’m glad I dodged that bullet. If that’s what you’re gonna be working for, you’re better off without them. My mom was totally fine with it, she did tell me that she knew this hotel was known for mistreating their employees but I was so happy that I had a job finally, that she didn’t want to ruin this for me. She only hoped that what she heard about the hotels staff wasn’t true.

Also, looking back, I hate that I cried back then but it was just a really bad situation. I felt hopeless and mistreated mostly. I didn’t do anything wrong. My day already started off bad and maybe it was a sign. You could look at it as ‘just a pair of pants ripping right in the butt area’ but maybe it was a sign. That: “this job can kiss my (now) visible butt.”

Ah, you live and you learn though. So this was my worst job ever story. It was long, I know. But I needed to tell you every single detail of it. Because those little details would matter later in the story. However, I thank you for reading up so far and have a good day! P.S. I hope you never have to be in a position like this 🙂

My LDR (Long Distance Relationship) .

The moment you finally find a person who’s worth going trough all the trouble for. When you finally feel happy and know that the both of you want this to really work. When you finally realize why it didn’t work out before. That’s when people around you start.
Ever since I’ve gotten into this LDR with my boyfriend, I’ve gotten the sweetest… but also the most annoying questions ever. My favorite one’s from people who don’t quite seem to get it are the following:
– “Do you really think this is going to work? Being away from eachother and all.”
– “Do you trust him? No, I mean like.. Really trust him. When he’s out and all, don’t you think he’s out with other girls? I mean, there’s no way you could really check, right?”
– “Why can’t you just find somebody from your own country? Isn’t that much easier?”
– “So you’re dating a Chinese guy, ching-chang-chong!”
– “Oh, he’s Taiwanese? – Well, it’s all the same isn’t it?”

And here’s my long rant. For all those people who say things like this or think like this.
First let me start off by saying that I’ve always somehow been interested in either love, or life abroad. Even now, my mother says she always knew I was going to be living somewhere else. She still believes this. At a very young age I taught myself English by watching Oprah, Doctor Phill, freaking Maury. Whatever my grandmother was watching at that time. I started reading childrens Barbie books in English and tried to sing along with English songs as much as I could. At some point in my life I found the internet. I found chat sites, where you can meet people from all over the world. I think I was around 12 years young when I first started ‘talking’ to people online. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t always fun or normal. Because there are a lot of creeps and perverts around. And I won’t say I was smart enough at that young age to realize that they were ‘bad’ people. I learned though. And my first real long distance friendship begun when I was 13. I met a girl from California, USA. And I still talk to her to this day. 7 years ago I met her and we still talk. She knows my mother and my mother knows her. We often Skype eachother and my mother joins the conversation when I’m sitting in the livingroom.

Now as for relationships and crushes.. This also happenend when I was younger. My first real crush happenend when I was 15. An American guy I met through a friend of mine online. When that didn’t work out, I went from American guy, to American guy to .. well you guessed it. This went on for about 2 years, when I finally gave up my obsession with America and American guys. I found out that most American guys were just like Dutch men. And to me, Dutch men just weren’t attractive. They were party-animals, blunt, unappealing, rude, irresponsible and just horrible. I couldn’t get myself to like them. But after two years of trying, when I was 17, almost 18.. I decided to let it all be. Love would come to me when I’d least expect it right? I stopped looking for love on the internet, and abroad. I started living my life outside of the “internet-bubble” and I told myself that I’d really have to give Dutch guys a chance.
After all, if I didn’t, I would never get a guy. I would end up being alone and miserable. I needed to stop looking for love online.

When I just turned 18, I met a Dutch guy online. Online, yes but at least he lived in my country. Actually he lived 30 minutes away from me. Almost right away we went on a date and kissed on our first date. The only problem I had was that I didn’t feel anything for him. Sure, I was excited and nervous but that was only because I’d never had a date before. At that point I never gotten my first kiss until that date so that’s what made me nervous. His kisses didn’t do anything. They didn’t make me feel butterflies or happy or in love. It was just.. Meh.
And just like I expected, him being a Dutch guy, he wanted to go way too fast and he was extremely irresponsible. We stopped  ‘dating’ after 2 months, we had only seen eachother 4 times in those 2 months.
The next guy was a way older guy, he was at a bar where my parents and I were at that time. The same night he kissed me and said he wanted to give it a try. Again, I didn’t feel anything. Nothing. If anything I was confused and feeling miserable for letting him kiss me. I wanted it, but I also didn’t want it. It was a very weird situation for me. I saw him two days after that and then I ended the contact between us.
Then I tried it with two other Dutch guys. It didn’t work. I just never once felt a thing. I didn’t want to be with them, I couldn’t see myself be with them. I didn’t see a future with any of them.

I gave up. I knew it before. I just had to try it but everything I thought before was true and happenend: Dutch men, are just not for me. I gave up on it. I stopped looking for good and started focussing on my work and bills and whatnot. Then one random night I stumbled upon ePenpal. I created an account just for the heck of it. For fun. I wasn’t going to look for love anymore because I was ‘over that’. And we all know how I met my boyfriend on there…

But here’s the thing.. When he hugged me for the first time, touched my hand for the first time, in general: when he got close to me.. I felt THINGS!
Things, I never felt before!!! I felt butterflies, I felt love, I felt warmth, I started blushing, acting weird. I couldn’t say what I wanted to say to him, because it was almost as if he completely shut me down with just one look. Why did I feel these things with him and not with any other Dutch guy before?
Is it because he lives 18 hours away from me, on the other side of the world? – No.
Though having a partner from another culture and side of the planet is interesting. Because you can always learn from eachother.

It’s because he’s from a culture where children are raised differently. I’m not saying Westerners are all trash because here I am, you know. I’m just saying that in my country the divorce rate is extremely high. Drugs are within only a few feet from your house. I grew up in a culture where sexualization of females is normal. After midnight, you only see naked women on the tv. In a culture where videoclips like Rihanna’s ”Pour it up” is normal. I mean, have you seen that clip. It’s half naked women twerking and dancing talking about money and other materialistic stuff.
Sometimes I walk the streets and I see couples literally dry humping in public. I can’t go out after dark wearing something simple like a hoodie and jeans because I’m afraid of groups of men. There’s assault, the streets are not safe, there’s kidnappers, loverboys, everything.

I walked one night in Taiwan, in less clothes I’ve ever worn before(because of the heat) and not one single man looked at me. I spent one night outside alone for a few hours just sitting in a busy street smoking. Lots and lots of students, groups of men walked by me. Not one said something rude, disrespectful or harmful. I was safe. Because it’s a different culture and my guy is no different.

He’s the first guy I’ve ever met(I’m serious!) who actually cares. When I’m upset he calms me down. He tells me he’s there for me and he’ll be by my side. He’s willing to go nights without sleep because I’m 6-7 hours behind. On Skype we watch movies, talk for hours about everything and nothing, talk about serious deep topics, talk about our future, study together. When I was there, he made me feel safe and at home. Feelings I have never once had before with a guy.
Every night before he sleeps he tells me “Goodnight, bunny“. And every morning he wakes me up with a text.
When he’s out with friends, I let him be. Because I know how men need their space with their friends.
But he always messages me within an hour, updating me about what they’re doing. He’s sending me pictures and sometimes he talks with me for hours on end, while he’s out with his friends.
He really wants a future. He really cares.

So in conclusion:
– Yes, he’s an Asian. What’s it to you?
– Yes, I really do trust him and I don’t need to further explain that to you.
– Yes, I really believe it’s going to work between us.
– No, I don’t want to date an asshole from my own country if I can get the sweetest, most endearing person I’ve ever met before. Even if that means I have to travel 18 hours to see him.
– No, he’s not Chinese and you’re f*cking racist.
– No, it’s not all the same. Shut the hell up.

This is my life. My choices. My love. My happiness.
We are willing to work hard for it. We are willing to save up energy, time and money to see eachother.
We are commited to make this work and to some day have a future.
It’s not easy. But we’re doing this.
And I have to say, that even though it can be really f*cking hard… In the end, a LDR is all worth it.

Taiwan ~

Hi guys! It’s Thursday now and I got back last Tuesday. I can’t tell you guys what an amazing trip it has been. First of all, it was my first ever trip on a plane. It was.. exciting. So let us start from the very beginning and I have a feeling it will be a long post.

The day of my departure:
The 23rd of August, I wake up around 7 AM. Even before my mother and John do. They said they would wake me up since I have a hard time waking up in the morning. But that night I almost didn’t get any sleep. Let’s call my friend TY since those are his initials. I had been talking to TY until 2 AM that night and I almost wanted to stay up the entire night so I’d knew for sure I’d be tired enough to sleep on the plane. Alas, I found myself to be very tired so slept for a few hours. When I woke up the first thing I did was take a shower. Since I knew I was pretty much going to be travelling for an entire day. I then decided to eat a sandwich even though I really wasn’t hungry. It wasn’t long before my mother and John also woke up and they were very quiet about me leaving. I almost thought they didn’t care much about it. Finally an hour after I’d woken up, John had made the first comment about it. We were all smoking in the garden of our house but I was the only one standing. Of course out of excitement and being extremely nervous I couldn’t even think of sitting down. “You nervous, Naomi?” To which I replied: Oh… Of course not! Not nervous at all.. No no… Just extremely nervous.
They had decided they wanted to leave around 9:15 so we could be way ahead of time and we could avoid any possible traffic jams. Thankfully for me(because I am pretty sure I couldn’t handle any more drama) there were no traffic jams at all, all the way to Amsterdam. When we got the airport, John dropped me and my mother off because he wasn’t allowed to park his car there for very long. My mother and I smoked a cigarette and John came to us anyways. My mother shot three pictures of me standing infront of the Airport Entrance and shared them on her Facebook immediately. Then when we had finished two cigarettes it was time for my mother and I to head inside. I said goodbye to John and walked inside.
I was extremely nervous and both my mother and me didn’t know what to do or where to go to. We asked some staff questions about the checking in and getting your boarding pass and then, 2 hours and some minutes before I had to board I embraced my mother tightly and tried to hold back my tears. She said she wanted me to be safe and return home safely. And as soon as I would land, I’d have to let her know. I agreed to do this and walked through the line of people to the security area as my mother kept waving until I was out of sight completely.
This was it… I walked on and saw a passport control point. I had to stand in line and put my passport in a machine the moment it was my turn. Everything was well and so I moved on to the next point: the checking of the luggage. All this time I still had both of my bags. The big black bag I wanted to check in the plane and the white one I was going to carry with me as hand luggage. They checked my bags and I went through the machine , which was a bit odd for me but I managed. On the other side of the machine(the one where you lift your arms so they check your body scan) both my bags came out. I had sealed my black bag before I went through the security in the entrance hall to make sure nobody could put anything in it. The woman on the other side of the body scanner told me it wasn’t allowed to seal your hand luggage like that.
“But this isn’t my hand luggage. Only the white bag is my hand luggage”.  I told her. She then smiled and asked me: How do you want to get the black bag with you then honey? You were supposed to check that in earlier.
But because she saw nothing weird on the scan of the bag, I was allowed (only this once) to take both my hand luggage and my regular luggage with me on the plane. Even though, the bags together were already starting to weigh down on me, I decided I’d take her offer and just do it. It would save me a lot of time when I’d arrive in Taiwan because I wouldn’t have to go through Baggage claim.

I arrived at the lounge of the Airport and ordered a Caramel Frappuccino at Starbucks and a croissant to eat. I wanted to make sure I had some food inside my belly but not too much in case the flight would make me sick. I had some pills in my hand luggage in case this happend but I’d rather not use it. After two hours of waiting and talking to TY on Facebook Messenger in the mean time, it was time for me to board. I got extremely nervous at this point but remained to look calm. I walked through the hallway that connects to the shuttles and found mine. There I had to wait a few minutes before I could get on the plane. So I decided to update my status on Facebook, telling everybody I was leaving. I messaged my mother and TY that I really was going now. I get on the plane and look for my seat… When I finally find 33A I am shocked.
“Do I really only have that little space for my legs? Well.. Maybe once we start flying it will be more comfortable. After all, this flight is 12 hours.” But I was wrong. Once I sat down, it really didn’t get any better at all. When we took off, it felt awesome! Not once did I feel sick or bad or scared during take off , flight and not even with turbulence. It just reminded me of a bumpy road in a bus. Two hours after take off, I got a big meal to eat that was actually really nice for an airplane meal. I tried to watch some movies, but turned them all off after 20 minutes of watching… I tried to get some sleep but that also didn’t work because the sound of the plane is quite loud. I was able to see down below until we reached Budapest, that’s when the clouds were in the way and I tried to get some more sleep. When it was ”morning” even though you have no sense of time anymore on a plane ride that long, we got another meal. This time a bit smaller but still very good and enjoyable. Then a few hours before landing we got another big meal. Then FINALLY, I arrived at Bangkok, Thailand. This was going to be my lay-over airport. I had to get off the plane(even though nobody had told me this before) , I got a re-boarding pass and had to go through Bangkok’s security check as well. That’s where they took away my washing detergent because it was 200 ML’s and thus, too big to carry with me. For the love of everything, I just couldn’t find my re-boarding gate. Nothing was on my re-boarding pass so I decided to ask the staff. Their english wasn’t quite good but they were really helpful. As I almost started to cry because I only had 20 minutes left to board, the guy who helped me finally found my gate and walked me all the way to it. So that I wouldn’t get lost. Then he said goodbye and I kept thanking him. There I was waiting for 15 more minutes and decided to message TY and my mother.

Getting on the next (but still the same) plane, I saw we only had 3 hours of flight left until arriving in Taipei, Taiwan. That’s when I got nervous again. Not because of the flight because that’s awesome… This time I got nervous because I was about to meet TY for the first time. Was he really going to be there, waiting for me at the aiport? I mean, we had been talking literally every single day, since the day we met in October last year but still…. Was he going to be there? If he sees me, what will he think of me? I am a big girl, always have, always been. And guys, he’s the friend that I was falling so hard for. Since the first day I met him on ePenpal, I had a crush on him. But it only got bigger and stronger because he’s such a great guy. Really different from European guys and that’s what  I loved so much about him. This guy was mature, knew what he wanted and what he didn’t want, he was looking for a real relationship but couldn’t find anyone, he wanted the same things in life I wanted. And ontop of that, he’s just the sweetest and funniest guy ever. After three hours of flying… I arrived. I had to go through immigration (which was a whole different story on it’s own, believe me) but when I finally got through immigration…. I put my bags down on the floor of the entrance hall and when I looked up… He had already spotted me. I saw him and suddenly got more nervous. What was that look on his face when he saw me? Did he look disgusted, tired, what? Why doesn’t he smile? Is he not happy I’m here now???
The first hour or so went by slowly. It wasn’t awkward but it wasn’t entirely smooth either. The moment I stepped outside… The weather… Oh my god. Tropical, for sure! I can’t even describe it.. It’s like a hot wet blanket is being put over your entire body and my sweat glands were working overtime. I arrived there on the 24th of August and it was time to move to the Hotel.

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From this part on, I am not going to be extra extra specific apart from a few more things… I just wanted you guys to know how my entire flying expierence went.
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The first week went by slowly. I had a lot of trouble withdrawing money from ATM’s there. On day 3, I still didn’t have any money and TY had paid for everything up until that moment. Then I had to call my bank all the way from Taiwan to figure it out and we were able to find a bank that accepted the Cirrus a.k.a Maestro logo that I have on my card. Finally being able to pay him back, I was happy again. The first thing I noticed about Taiwan, is how nice the people really are. No fights, no screaming, no yelling.. No nothing. And strangers are more than happy to help you out if you need a cab or any other help at all. Especially because I was a foreigner, some elderly people were super nice and asked me a lot of questions. The second thing I noticed: All cab’s are yellow!
Over in my country the cabs are whatever color the driver wants their car to be so seeing REAL cabs that were yellow was pretty funny. The prices in Taiwan are extremely cheap if you come from Europe, where we use the Euro. NTWD(New Taiwanese Dollar) is pretty awesome and it feels like you’re rich over there. Cigarettes… wow. Just wow. The same quality of cigarettes, the only difference is that the cheapest pack of cigarettes over there, is 1 euro and 20 cents. The most expensive one, might be up to 3 euro’s. However my cheapest one over here will cost me 6 euro and 20 cents… So, this was amazing. When the first week came to an end.. I also noticed another thing………..

We were walking around and because you drink A LOT more water and tea-related drinks, you’re bound to pee more. So TY tells me we’re close to a gas station and we’ll do our business over there. We walk to the public bathrooms and he goes into the man’s room (of course) as I walk to the ladies room. As I open the door…. I am confused trying to find the toilet. I close the door to see if it’s behind it… I mean… That hole in the floor with a flushing mechanism above it… that… no. That can’t be … How… How do you use it? What….
Most, if not ALL public female bathrooms have urinals in the floor for us women…. Yep.
I walked out and saw TY already waiting for me. I asked him: Uh… So… Where’s the toilet?
When he walks with me and opens the door he starts to laugh… That’s it. He tells me it’s because people here don’t want to touch anything with their naked body. Which makes a lot of sense, knowing I use toilet seat covers in my own countries public bathrooms. And apparently, a lot of women tried standing on an actual toilet while peeing and so accidents happenend. So they changed most of the public toilets to those urinals in the floor. You take off your pants, squat and do your thing……….. Yeah. I did not pee there in that moment but told him I’d rather go to a normal bathroom.
After walking for another 40 minutes we found a Campus where they had ONE ‘regular’ toilet… Though it was covered in ants on the floor, I was happy to take it.

All the time we stayed in the hotel in Taichung, TY had slept on the floor in his sleeping bag. He has his own student dorm room a few floors below my room but wanted to stay in my room regardless. I had a whole bed to myself and he slept on the floor but said he didn’t mind. Knowing he sleeps with no matras as well… and knowing he likes hard surfaces to sleep on… I guess he really didn’t mind.
We were friends…. Good friends. It felt good being around him. We went to Kaohshiung(his hometown) and stayed at three different hotels for one night and had to check out the next morning. However, this time we had but one Hotel room with one bed so he decided to sleep next to me. I had no problems with that! I knew he wouldn’t try anything(even if I wanted him to) and really, we would only sleep. So after sleeping next to him in the same bed for like three nights straight, when we went back to Taichung. It was my birthday.
We got a birthday cake, skyped with my mother(like we did every day already), he bought candles for me, and he was holding the phone while skyping my mother as he sang Happy birthday with my mother. He then told me to make three wishes and then blow out the candles.

The only wish that came to mind was: Please let us kiss before this vacation ends.
And I repeated it twice more because I didn’t expect more than that to happen, IF it would even happen at all. He had not given me any reason to believe so. But me, being the hopeless romantic I am…. You know… .Sigh.

That night when we went to bed and we were back in our old hotelroom he decided to sleep in his sleeping bag again on the floor. I thought that was kind of weird. After all, we had been sharing a same bed for three nights already with no problems. Why change his mind now? He noticed I was a bit dissapointed about that and said he didn’t shower so didn’t want to sleep next to me because he felt dirty. When I continues to mope around he said I was like a little kid that didn’t get what she wanted. In a joking way of course. To which I replied: Yes. ( like a kid would say ) . When we got up to turn off the lights he suddenly grabbed me and hugged me. Which was….. Weird. Touching eachother when you’re not a couple in Taiwan is really not done. There’s almost no contact of the skin or bodies against eachother unless you’re a couple. And even if you are you still don’t do it in public.

But it was also nice, the hug, the embrace. And I decided to just accept it and enjoy this moment. Still a little bit sad he wouldn’t sleep next to me. The day after my birthday we decided to not go outside because it had been raining the whole day and it was going to be raining the whole day too. We decided to lay on my bed, watching movies on his laptop. I already noticed he kept moving closer to me on the bed but didn’t think much of it. However, when we went for a cigarette in my bathroom he would keep touching my face and repeat the same thing over and over again: You’re so beautiful, you’re like a Diamond in the rough, you’re so pretty… You could be a model here.. The structure of your face is so beautiful… You’re so pretty you don’t even know it.
At some point I didn’t even know what to tell him anymore. I was too shy. Eventually when we were sitting on the edge of the bed, I wanted to kiss him on the cheek… He kept touching my face and giving me that look… A look you give someone when you like them. I wanted to, but when I moved my head closer to his, I chickenend out and just moved my head towards his neck… That’s how we sat there on the edge of my bed like that for a while. While he was stroking my back softly. We continued to watch more movies and eventually… he put his arm around me while watching movies.

That made me look at him and he looked back. We just stared at eachother for a while and there was something. I always read about it in books and you always see it in movies right? Where there’s a pull?? Like two magnets.. A feeling that’s just getting stronger…. And then he moved his face to mine and kissed me.

My wish had come true. And for the FIRST time in my entire life it felt like an entire dream came true. I’ve always wanted to befriend a guy, and then end up being with him… I’ve liked him since the first day I met him and for the first time I’m not the only one who felt like that. For the first time I didn’t get rejected by the one I truely had feelings for. And when I kissed him… I wanted to kiss him back. With the other guys I’ve kissed it never felt like I really wanted to. But with him… The touch of his hand already made me weak and gave me butterflies. Imagine what his kiss did to me.. I was overfilled with joy and after the kiss I felt my entire face get warm so I hid it. To which he replied: You’re so cute.

The remainder of that evening we didn’t watch the movies we started anymore. We would kiss, touch and mess around the entire night. Just a side note… we did not have sex. He told me we both weren’t ready for that yet. But some day… yes.
It was so nice. I told him about the wish I had made and his reaction was a certain look in his eyes. A look that says he was really happy to hear that and then he kissed me again. He’s by far the sweetest guy I’ve ever met in my entire life and I stand by that.. Even now. When we’d sleep, he’d hold my hand the entire night. And if I left the bed to go pee and come back? – He’d grab it immediately again. He would kiss me on his own, hug me on his own… Put his arms around me on his own. For once, I was not the only one who really wanted this… We both wanted this and the last week went by way too fast…..

We went to Tainan, and some other places as well.. made lots of pictures and memories…. We enjoyed eachother’s company, we laughed, we watched movies, we walked a lot, held hands…. Everything. I never thought he liked me back… he was always so vague and distant when I even got a little close to him like that. And in the first week, I wasn’t even allowed to drink from the same cup as he. But in one week, a day after my birthday… everything changed. We were still friends at the same time. It wasn’t just like: Oh, we’re a couple now. No… We were still friends too. So if something awkward happenend during messing around with eachother, we’d just both start laughing like idiots and kiss eachother. We would still act the same way, talk the same way. We’re not calling eachother baby or honey all of a sudden. We already had our own petnames for eachother even before we met. But we’re not using them more now… Only when we want to. He’s still TY to me and I’m still Naomi to him. That’s the greatest part about being with your friend…. A friend loves you already. He’s already seen you in your best and in your worst moments and he still loves you. You discuss much more with a friend, so he knows you. He knows of you, about you. And still decides to love you. They truely love you for who you are. That’s why I’m so glad I’m now dating my best friend.

He’s the best….

When my vacation came to an end it got hard for me.
I knew I couldn’t hold him, touch him, kiss him or hug him at the airport. Because public displays of affection are just not done in Taiwan. The morning of my departure, he woke me up by kissing me…. It woke me up feeling happy and in love. But then immediately got sad because this was probably going to be one of the last kisses I was going to have for at least another year. Saying goodbye was hard and I was trying SO hard not to cry guys… He was so calm and he helped me relax. He told me: this is not the end, this is really only a start. Next year we’ll see eachother in person again, and we’re going to continue to skype with eachother like we already did. We can still talk everyday. See eachother every day.

Those words only hurt me more.. I wanted to stay with him and his beautiful country. I wanted nothing more than that. The feelings and energy this guy has given me and still gives me… is amazing.
I have promised myself to really go for losing weight this time. I am commited to it. Dedicated to it. He’s going to be my motivation. Next time I see him, I want his jaw to drop. He already thought I was beautiful? – Well, then you’re going to LOVE me after I lose more weight. I already started by jogging every morning since I came back home(which I’ve never done before). I am now counting my calories everyday and changed my diet to things with less sugar and fats. Also I’m staying away from potatoes, since that’s what the Dutch eat a lot.. but it also makes you fat.
And every time I feel like I can’t take it anymore… I think of TY. I think of him. Seeing him again next year.. maybe even this winter if we’re both lucky. And he’s my motivation, he gets me going on. I can do this, he helps me on Skype and he’s there for me…

He’s amazing.