There are too many shadows in this city. The skyscrapers stand tall at every corner. It's not only the corporation buildings, either. Even the residential buildings shoots to the sky, like a forest in the temperate zone, fighting for a little bit more of sunlight. She therefore cultivated a habit on buses, that she always presses her cheek to the cold glass windows, and looks up. On the bus she could be slightly taller than the pedestrians on the street, the cars trapped in traffic, and the river-like scooters streaming through the city. She is also slightly closer to the sky at the same time.
People always say this city is ugly and has no style of its own. The gloomy weather also brings too much rain in its residents. The vendor by the street pulled out his canopy, and returned back to the pan to produce more scallion cakes, steaming and crispy. She peeked at other customers and found there are no facial expressions, just a blank. They took the food, paid their fee, and strode on into the rain. She likes her scallion cakes with cheese. The cheese melted to the heat, stickily pulling the cake and formed silk-like stripes that stick everywhere, reminding her of the lanes that she passes everyday.
This is a fast-growing city, yet at the same time a slow-paced one. Just a few blocks from the MRT station and the scenery changes. This district where she grew up in is one of the few greenery spots left in Taipei. Sitting besides the mountain and shouldering the river, she learn that description from her primary school. Across the river banks the mountain ridge rests. When the classes seemed difficult to focus on, she'd follow her mom's suggestion and let her eyes rest upon the green sights to relax them. It is said to prevent near-sightedness, but she ended up still has near-sighted eyes. It is a light one though, so she doesn't always wear the glasses. She often walks in a world that looks blurry. The unchanged part is that she still tries to look far, searching for the mirage-like green spots in the distance.
She has not turn on the television at home for a while. The politicians and celebrities and their rambling stories give her headache. It is said that in the centre of the city, a group of students has occupied the congress. She admires their courage. She has always been a good girl, a good student. She was the type that always wins the first prize in the exams, elected the class leader each semester, and always keep a handkerchief in her bookbag even when the teachers did not ask them to. She admired that girl who stood out against the boys, chasing after them until they apologized for the misdeeds they'd done to other girls. She didn't even remember her name though. She wondered whether that girl is in the current protest as well.
For her, life goes on like the normal days. Go to work, get off work, follow the boss' orders, these are more important. Life is all about earning some money to sustain oneself after all. Her job is not bad, she goes to work early in the morning and back home when it's deep into night like everybody else. Sometimes she meets up with oldtime schoolmates for a meal, sometimes she visits the restaurnats recommended by famous bloggers online. She does not lack of expectations in life. She had known long ago not to expect too much, therefore there won't be too much disappointment. This is the only balance in life she could grasp. She stood up and gave her seat to the old lady who just got on. The lady spoke Mandarin with a heavy Taiwanese accent, volume loud enough for everone on the boss to hear her appreciation. She felt slightly embarrased, so she only nodded and smiled, then looked out of window again holding on to the poles.
The lights were shining bright outside, the bus drove past windows after wondows. She wondered whether she could see her own reflections on those windows.
