Back on U.S. Soil

So, after a long but very fun 5 day tour all around Taiwan, we made it back to Sansia. We stayed one day, then Lily, Daniel Spencer, and I were off on a plane again. This time, it was back home.
Somehow, we booked a flight with an 11 hour layover in Hong Kong. It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but there was some confusion. We arrived at Hong Kong airport at night, then proceeded to try to find the Delta desk so that we could get our boarding passes for the remaining flights. To do this, we had to go through HK customs to get to the airline desks. Here came the flaw in the plan: the Delta desk did not open until 5 am the next morning. Therefore, we spent the night watching movies and sleeping on chairs. Finally, we got our boarding passes and made it to our gate with plenty of time.
After 14 hours in the sky watching 4 movies and semi-sleeping, we made it back to the States! I was so very excited to be back home. It was nice to see my parents, but sad because I had to leave the very next day to move into my dorm. So right now, I am blogging to you all from my university!
My summer in Taiwan is really something I cannot forget. I met so many people, saw so many things, and went so many places. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people. I am so grateful to all our TA's, teachers, and coordinators. Hopefully, one day I can return. 再见，台湾！

Current Status...

Well, we are all here in Kaohsiung, which is at the very South of Taiwan. I will fill you all in on what we have done on this 5-day tour around the island. There are many interesting stories. For now, I am too tired and occupied with other matters to post something long. As much as I love Taiwan, I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends in the States. Talk to you all soon (perhaps in person)!

Final Presentations

The night before, most of us stayed up until 4 AM, and some didn't even get sleep. Really, there's not much to say about this, other than we (7 people) presented for 3 hours. Go us. It's what the teachers wanted, so it's what they got. Also, the president of NTPU was only there for the introduction, so it took the pressure off the situation a little. I think our individual presentation were good, and everyone's Chinese has improved since we have been here.
Group presentations were a little more interesting. Daniel, Daniel, Rob, and Stephanie serenaded us with their ocarinas. Some of them started laughing halfway through the songs, so they did not always end with 4 ocarinas. It was pretty funny.
I did my group presentation with Lily. We did a short dialogue, then sang the song 老鼠爱大米, as I have mentioned before in my previous post. However, we changed up some of the words to make it about Taiwan and how much we will miss it. So cheesy. One part, instead of singing 我爱你就像老鼠爱大米(I love you like a mouse loves rice), we changed it to "I love you like a fat kid loves cake." So when we sang it in front of everyone, we both busted out laughing right before that verse and had a hard time finishing the song. Oh well. It was funny. Good news: we all passed!
Afterward, we went to a restaurant called Mr. Pumpkin and had lunch with the president, Lydia, Ya-Ling, our teachers, and our TA's. It was pretty sad because our teachers all gave us good-bye gifts and little written letters. Our teachers and TA's have done so much for us to make us feel comfortable and welcome here in Taiwan. I really do dislike good-byes and hope that we will all keep in touch via facebook or other means.

Formosa Fun Coast, Yeliu Geopark, Beach, and Jioufen

Three days before our final presentations on Friday, the TA's took us to Formosa Fun Coast, a water park near Taipei. It was a lot of fun, but we were all worn out after 7 hours of traveling and playing in the water.
The next day, we went to Yeliu Geopark, where the famous "Queen's Head" is located. Honestly, from all the pictures I had seen, I thought it was going to be as big as the Sphinx. It was about 15 feet tall. The scenery there was amazing, but I was little too hot to fully enjoy everything. The pictures turned out great though!
Afterward, we took the tour bus to a beach. When we got there, it was pretty much deserted. The only person there was the lifeguard. Our own private beach! The TA's (Jovy and Summer) played in the water with the rest of us while Daniel Cook and Stephanie gave everyone swim lessons. Those two hours flew by and were so relaxing.
Our last stop of the day was Jioufen, a little town/village in the mountains. It has a lot of markets and little shops selling some tourist things. I did find an owl ocarina for my grandmother and also some good tea. I liked Jioufen because there was a lot of history in there, and the scenery was beautiful from atop the mountain.

Hong Kong Pictures III (Last one, I promise!)

Hong Kong Pictures II

Hong Kong Pictures

Weekend in Hong Kong

*WARNING*: Lengthy post to follow.
This past weekend, I flew to Hong Kong to visit my friend Cecilia (whom I had not seen in about 13 years) and to explore the city. I have not been to the HK since I was in the second grade, so I was very excited. Again, Lydia was a really big help in helping me book my flight tickets and order a taxi.
Thursday afternoon, I left Sansia for Taoyuan International Airport. I arrived at 4 PM, and my flight was scheduled to be at 6:25 PM. We ended up departing at 8:45...over 3 hours in the airport is not fun. However, I was too excited to get to Hong Kong to let that dampen my mood. Once I arrived, I took the airport express train to Hong Kong island, where I met up with Cecilia. We had not seen each other in so long, but correspond via facebook and snail mail. It was nice to see her whole family again.
On Friday, we sat down and decided what to do for the next two days. That day, we ended up going out to lunch with the whole family at a restaurant nearby their apartment. We ate some traditional Cantonese dishes like spicy salt porkchop, stir-fried vegetable, fish fillets in corn sauce, bitter melon with beef, and shredded duck with bean sprouts. I was so very happy because I had been craving Cantonese food in Taiwan. Also, I had a Schweppes Cream Soda for the first time in many, many years. Hong Kong food=happiness. After lunch, we went to Tom Lee, a music store chain, so that I could look for some Chinese sheet music. I hit the jackpot! I got so many books...Jacky Cheung, Sam Hui, a little Jay Chou...After a little bit of shopping in Wancai, we headed up to The Peak. To get there, we had to take the Peak Tram. The line was so long, but it did not take us much time to purchase our tickets. We got into the tram a little late, so we ended up having to stand. I felt like I was going to fall backwards onto somebody because during some parts of the ascent, we went up at at 45 degree angle. It was all worth it though...even though it was a little foggy that night, the view of Victoria Harbor is still breath-taking. It was so gorgeous that we ended up staying for a couple hours up at the sky terrace. To finish off the day, we took the bus back to Cecilia's neighborhood and had a very late dinner at 11 PM.
On Saturday, I had delicious dim sum with the whole family. For those of you who do not know, dim sum is kind of like Chinese brunch. It is usually eaten in late morning, around 10 am. There are various small dishes you can order so that you get a sampling of everything. And of course, tea is served. After this, we went downstairs to the plaza to shop in Jusco, the "dollar" store. I found a lot of cute, random things there, so it was productive. After a quick rest, we went to Goldfish street (a street where they have all aquarium stores), Flower Street (they used to sell flowers here), and Toy Street (they have a lot of random little trinkets). Later, we took the MTR to Tsim Sa Tsui and saw the Peninsula hotel, Avenue of Stars, and the HK skyline in the day. Avenue of Stars is kind of like what they have in Hollywood with the stars' names and handprints on the ground. I saw the Bruce Lee statue!! Then, we met up with Cecilia's parents and had dinner at a noodle and soup place. The beef rice noodle soup was so very good and authentic. Afterward, we all went back to Tsim Sa Tsui for the laser show. Every night at 8, the HK skyline buildings light up and flash to a music program and lasers shoot out from them to make for a very pretty show. I really think Hong Kong's skyline is so beautiful and unique. Victoria Harbor is gorgeous during both the day and night. To get back to Wancai across the harbor, we took the Star Ferry. It was nice to have that breeze in such humid weather.
Sunday morning, I went to mass with the whole family since they are Catholic. It was interesting...it was all in Cantonese, but I understood what they were talking about. Afterward, we had breakfast at a VERY traditional cafe. It was made to be just like a cafe from the 50's or 60's. I had very delicious french toast and lemon tea. After a little grocery shopping, it was off to the airport to fly back to Taipei. I had a wonderful, memorable weekend, and am so thankful for the whole family's generosity and hospitality. I hope to visit this amazing city in the near future.

Short Hair!

So, I decided to get my hair cut here in Taiwan because stylists here actually know what to do with thick Asian hair. Lydia took us to a salon in new Sansia. It was only 21 USD to get my hair washed, cut, and dried. I decided to go with a shorter style because it is just way too hot to have long hair here. So much hair is gone...Overall, I am satisfied with it.

Calligraphy and Ocarinas

A few weeks ago, we had another Chinese culture class. We learned how to write Chinese calligraphy. I have done this before, but I still am pretty bad at it. I just do not know how much ink to put on my brush.
Afterward, we learned about Chinese instruments such as the erhu and pipa. I tried to play the erhu, which is a two-stringed instrument with a bow. It is harder than it looks. Later, our whole group learned to play the ocarina. I was so excited. It is actually very easy to learn, and we all played several songs, including "You are my Sunshine," "Happy Birthday," and "Amazing Grace." We make a pretty good ocarina band.

The pressure is on...

Right now, I'm taking a break from preparing for tomorrow, a big day for our whole group. Tomorrow, we are doing 10 minute individual presentations and various other group presentations for our teachers, coordinators, TAs, and the president of the university. The best part: it's all in Chinese. I have decided to do a powerpoint presentation for my individual portion. For the group part, Lily and I are doing a short dialogue and singing the chorus of a song called "Laoshu Ai Da Mi" (老鼠爱大米).
Needless to say, we're all a little stressed because there is so much to do and we don't want to let everyone down. Hopefully, I'll finish early enough to get a good night of sleep. Wish us all luck!
By the way, here's a link to that song, with pinyin and English translation.

Quest for the Elusive Durian

Last week, Stephanie, Lily, and I went out to Taipei to see a movie when the boys went hiking for 7 hours at Wulai. We found a good theatre online, and proceeded to find it. We made it to the correct MRT station, but that's when we started getting lost. After getting turned around a little, we decided to hail a cab...but the taxi took us to the wrong theatre. This one was kind of sketch and it only had old movies. So, it was back to finding another cab and we finally reached our destination. MUCH nicer, but it was a little on the pricey side for Taiwan---about 10 USD for a ticket. The three of us decided to see "Inception." It's about a man who works through dreams; it's a little strange, but it's a thinking movie. I highly recommend it. If you liked "Shutter Island," then I think you will enjoy this. Afterward, we went to Banqiao night market. This was a letdown...there really wasn't much to see, buy, or eat there.
Another good thing about that night---I finally found durian! I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but I have been looking for this fruit since I have gotten here. As we were walking to the night market, I spied the spiky fruit across the street at a Carrefour (a popular grocery chain here). I bought a small one for us to try and carried it around the night market and on the MRT. It hit my leg a few times and scratched me. I went to great lengths to try this fruit...haha. A few nights later, Jeremy and I decided to crack it open. Really, it was a bit anti-climatic because durian is known as the "king of fruits." I had heard it is supposed to be really smelly, and that Andrew Zimmern (host of "Bizarre Foods") couldn't even eat it. It turned out to be not much of a challenge at all. I would call its smell pungent, but not unpleasant. This may be due to the fact that the one I picked is not fully ripe, so it does not have that fermented odor. Also, the texture was very creamy, and when you freeze it, it is almost like ice cream. I think it is delicious.

Fun on the MRT, Indigo dyeing, and Yingge Ceramics

Now that we've figured out how to navigate the MRT relatively well, some of the boys of our group have started to play some games. It all started when we were all going somewhere, and the train was packed. Everyone was in the train except me and Lily. I ran down to the next train and jumped in right before the doors closed, thinking that Lily was right behind me. As the doors closed, we all saw her standing on the platform all by herself. It was alright, though, because we met up with her at the next station. Still, it was pretty funny. Taking inspiration from this, Daniel jumped in a train with Stephanie one time. As the doors were about to close, he jumped out, leaving her in there by all by herself. It's pretty funny, but I think I am next in line since I'm the only girl who hasn't been left behind. Haha.

One Friday, we also had a field trip to Old Sansia (Sansia Lao Jie) to learn about indigo dyeing. It's a somewhat complicated process, in which the dye is made from the woad plant. Once fabric is dipped in the dye, it is exposed to oxygen, which turns the green color to a beautiful indigo. After learning about how the dye is made, we were allowed to make our own bandanas with whatever patterns we wanted. Really, there is no way to mess up the patterns. Everyone's bandanas ended up looking really pretty. After indigo-dyeing, we went to Yingge, which is famous for its ceramics. First, we visited the Ceramics museum. It was interesting, and at the end, we all went down to work with a little clay. When I sat down and looked around the room, the average age around us was 8 years old. We just had fun messing around and making random things. Daniel C made a McDonald's french fries and Rob made a man going through mid-life crisis. We were just being silly... After this, we all headed to the streets to Yingge to buy some souvenirs. I found a nice tea set for my parents. I'll be hand-carrying this box on the plane so it doesn't shatter.

Wind-surfing, Karaoke, and Kung-fu Fighting

As I've mentioned before, we've also been taking business classes once a week in addition to our Chinese classes. For business class, we have different people come talk to us about various aspects of business in Asia. Our second speaker was a professor of Sport Management. Afterward, we all went wind-surfing. When they said "wind-surfing" on the schedule, we were all imagining going to the ocean; however, they took us to the little "lake" next to our dormitory. It was quite funny because there were signs that said "No wading or Swimming." I guess we broke the rules. Oh well. Aside from this, it was pretty fun. I guess it was for the better that we had our first wind-surfing experience at a place with minimal wind because it made it easier to learn. I was quite bad at turning directions, but I only fell into the gross water once!

Somehow, a girl named Danielle from the United States found out about us and expressed interest in meeting our group. She was really excited about meeting more Americans since she has been teaching English here for the past 4 months. We all decided to meet up with her at karaoke, a popular thing to do in Asia. Karaoke was fun, cheesy music videos and all.

One day, we had a cultural class and learned some kung-fu forms. It was more hilarious than anything...especially when we had to do pairs and perform. I'll spare you all the pictures.

Playing some more catch-up

I'm still a little behind, so I'll just briefly go over some of the highlights.
A couple weeks ago, we moved into our new dorms. Previously, we had been staying in the building next door with 4-person rooms. Now, we are in the graduate student dormitories, with 2-person rooms. The good thing about this move is that we now have no curfew, whereas before, we had a 12:30 AM curfew. Bad thing...there were ants everywhere when we moved in. I guess this is because we are now on the 2nd floor instead of the 10th floor. Fear not! They are all gone now thanks to my trusty anti-bacterial spray. Haha.

Another note-worthy event is our trip to Shilin night market, the most famous night market in Taipei. There is everything there...street food, clothes, shoes, jewelry, souvenirs...and everything is so very cheap. I finally got to try stinky tofu (chou dofu). It really was not as bad as I had expected. Truth be told, I was left wanting something...I was a little disappointed. The feared stinky tofu was really not as horrible as people make it out to be. In addition to this, I ate fried chicken filet (jipai) and a tofu dessert (douhua). It's a lot of fun, and there are so many people there that you have to walk sideways most of the time, especially on the weekends.
Another thing to know about Taiwan: there are night markets everywhere...I've been to three so far---Shilin, Shida, and Banqiao. My favorite is Shida because it is a little tamer than Shilin and the clothes seem to be of better quality. For food, though, I would definitely go to Shilin.

One weekend, the TA's took us to Danshui, which is right along the northern coast. There, we saw Fort St. Domingo, which used to be where the Spanish and British had the start of their colonies in Taiwan. I really enjoyed it because it is really interesting to see the history and evolution of the island. After the fort, we walked along the old streets and along the Fisherman's Wharf where there are various vendors selling food and random knick-knacks. My favorite part was at night when we went up to the famous Lover's Bridge. It was nice to take the ferry across the water and watch the sunset. Overall, I would say Danshui is kind of a tourist trap, but still a nice day-trip location...and so close to Sansia (only 1.5 hours on the MRT)!

Afternoon tea with the animals!

The Friday before last was very busy for us. We went to visit the Taipei City Zoo. It's a good size zoo, and I saw many animals native to Taiwan. It was interesting to look at some of Asia's wildlife like the Taiwan black bear and a few pandas. Also, we met Tina, another NTPU student going to State in the fall. It was nice to chat with her and answer her questions about our school. Unfortunately, it was a little to hot outside for me to fully enjoy everything in the zoo. I often found myself taking refuge in the parts of the zoo that had air conditioning. Haha. I definitely feel like the best was saved for last because at the end we rode in these cable cars that took us up the mountain where we could see a beautiful view of the city. When we arrived at the top of the mountain, we walked for about 20 minutes to a tea house. There, we learned how to pick tea leaves, dry them in the sun, and crush them. After this lesson, we all had a little tea ceremony. The owner of the tea house was so very nice and welcoming; he let us drink his award-winning Tie Kuanyin tea (Iron Buddha tea) and taught us how to fully enjoy it. It was definitely very interesting to see how it is all prepared because I drink tea quite often.

Later that night, Jovy took Stephanie, Rob, Lily, Jeremy, and I to a teppanyaki-style restaurant in Sanshia. It was kind of a hole-in-the-wall type of place, but it was really delicious. I think I made a mistake in ordering my meal with the "ma la" option ("numbingly hot"). There were so many red peppers in there. My eyes were watering so much, but it was delicious. All in all, it was a very tiring, but good day.

After a hiatus...

First off, I am a bad blogger for not updating in so long. This post (and possibly a few others) will hopefully remedy this.

The week before last was our first week of classes. In that time, our group has experienced so much of Taiwan. The following events may or may not be in order...

The last thing I talked about was our Chinese class. I am getting used to it, so it's not as bad anymore. We have another presentation, paper, and test on Monday, so tomorrow will be another hardcore study day. Anyways, we only have Chinese class 3 days a week, so we have cultural class and business/economics class the remaining days. The week before last, we had our first business class. NTPU got a chiropractor to come speak to us about his profession and lobbying the Taiwanese government for recognition of chiropractors. We talked about the statistics, and how it the salary for a chiropractor in Taiwan is much, much lower than in the U.S. (only about $60,000). Also, we discussed doing business overseas and how it is sometimes difficult because of bribery and other ethical issues. I felt like it was very pertinent information and interesting to learn about since I may one day work internationally. Later that day, Lydia took us to Neihu Technology Park, the HQ of many large corporations. We listened to a talk about the economy and the development of the tech park. After that brief speech, they took us around the area, where we toured a sports complex. It's pretty amazing...it had pretty much everything you would want to do...swimming pools, racquetball, badminton, and basketball courts, workout rooms, and the biggest rockwall I've ever seen. Later that night, Lydia and the TA's had to leave, so we were left to make our own plans. We decided to go to Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world, after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The district around Taipei 101 is very nice, but that is really no surprise. The elevator going up to the top (or almost the top) was so fast...I could feel my ears pop several times during our ascent. When we got up to the top, it was amazing...the city is really gorgeous at night. I would say it is a really good way to end a day.

The next day, we had our cultural class, so we went to the National Palace Museum. I was really excited about going because in this museum, there are housed more treasures of China than Mainland China has. Apparently, during the Civil War, Chiang Kai Shek and his troops took many of these antiquities with them when they fled to the island of Formosa (now called Taiwan). It is said that if the curators were to rotate all the pieces on display everyday, no piece would be repeated for 100 years. I was amazed to see these pieces of history, and the craftsmanship is really amazing. After our tour, most of the people in the group wanted to leave and get massages, but Jeremy and I still wanted to see the rest of the museum. After about 45 minutes perusing all the galleries, we met up with the rest of the group and headed to Shilin Night Market, one of the most famous night markets in Taipei. I had been looking forward to this before I even got on a plane to Taiwan. There are so many people there...and so much good food and inexpensive things to buy! I finally got to try stinky tofu, one of the famous street foods. It is made by fermenting tofu in a solution (I don't really know what is in this mixture). Then, it is fried, cut up into pieces, and finished off with cabbage and hot sauce. It was not as stinky as I expected, since everyone always says it is *so* horrible. Really, it was not that bad, and the taste was not as good as I imagined either. It just tasted like regular fried tofu that was very porous on the inside. Afterwards, we tried dou hua, a kind of gelatin-like texture dessert made of soybeans. I really love it; it is silky and slightly sweet from the syrup that they pour on. On top, there is also a bit of crushed ice. You can add a variety of toppings to it like red beans and other gelatins, but I like mine plain. After we were all shopped out, I went with Jeremy and Kochia, an NTPU student who is going to State this year, to search for durian. For those of you who don't know, durian is a spiky fruit that has a horrible smell, but is very delicious. We walked 4 or 5 blocks to look for this, and my feet were killing me after all the walking we had done that day. Alas, our search was fruitless. I did buy some of my favorite, longan (literally, it is translated dragon's eye. Mmm, delicious.).

I'll just go ahead and end this post because it's getting long...

Chinese tests are hungry in the morning...

First off, sorry for not updating for such a long time. NTPU has been packing our schedule everyday pretty tight, and we just had to move dorms this weekend. Of course, this included extensive cleaning and organizing. I will inform you all in my next post about last week's fun-filled week.
Today, we had our very first test in Chinese class. All of us stayed up until at least 2 AM studying for it. We had around 80 characters to memorize, along with idioms and grammar patterns. Even with all the studying we did, our class's test was really difficult. It consisted of a speaking section in which we had to give a 3 minute presentation on a street food we tried at Shilin night market (more on that in another post), a listening section where the teacher spoke and we wrote down her sentence, and free answer section, and a fill-in-the blank section. That test had me for breakfast. I feel like I royally screwed up, but we will see tomorrow, I guess. Though, it's never a good sign when the teacher looks through the completed tests and then tells us maybe she should make it easier next time. Sigh...
The up-side of all this is that the fast pace we are going at forces me to learn quickly. My reading and writing have improved a little in the time that we have been going to class. I feel more in the loop during class meetings now. Also, just being here in Taiwan and interacting with the people has definitely improved my speaking skills. I feel more confident in my speech and my vocabulary has expanded greatly. It feels so great to go places and be able to communicate with people without stumbling through a sentence. Right now, I can hold a decent conversation with someone about mundane topics, but there are still blips when I fail to find the words to say what I want. Hopefully, I will be fluent by the end of this trip. All I have to do is listen and speak more! Keep an eye out for an upcoming blog post about our adventures this past week! For now, I bid you all good night.

The REAL first day of class

Today, we actually had our first lesson in Chinese. It definitely did not go as well as I had hoped. Our class is taught in Mandarin, which I expected. However, what I did not expect was how difficult it would be to have a Chinese grammar lesson in Mandarin. Also, the vocabulary was all new...and though I knew synonyms for many words, that does not really help. I figured things out eventually, but it took longer than I expected, which is frustrating and somewhat discouraging.

Well...on to the good news! I woke up at 8 AM this morning. Finally a decent hour! Also, my experience in class today will motivate me to study harder. I will memorize all those new words and vocabulary tonight. Therefore, 是時間復習 (time to review). Wish me luck, guys!

Weekend

This past Saturday, we all went out to spend the day in Taipei City. Most of the people went out ahead of us, but Lily and I stayed behind to wait for Jovy, one of our TA's. She took us out to Ximen, a popular market where they sell pretty much everything you could imagine---clothes, jewelry, food, etc.. Apparently, it is the young people's hang out. It was more expensive than we anticipated since the prices were comparable to ones in the States. Still, it was nice to walk around. I think it was because of the way I dressec that day, but most people could tell I was ABC before even talking to me. The shopkeepers spoke to me in a combination of English and Mandarin.

After Ximen, we all went to a big bookstore in another part of the city, where I bought a book for my mom. I think I may go back to look a little longer. Then, we had coffee (my first ever caramel macchiato! haha) and took the MRT back to Sanshia. Jovy took us to a large supermarket where we bought some fresh fruit...dragonfruit and guavas.

On Sunday, four people from our group decided to go hiking and see a waterfall. I originally planned on joining them, but I decided against it since it looked like it was going to rain. Also, I think I needed a day of rest where I didn't sweat like crazy. It was nice to just spend the day reading and relaxing. Next week, I hope to find a nearby church to attend. Around dinnertime, Jovy called me up and asked if we wanted to eat. So we all went out to a hotpot restaurant not too far from our university. I ordered the ginseng hotpot and it was delicious. All of our TA's are so nice and helpful; it's really great to have them here with us. All in all, I would say it was a good weekend.

Food, Part I

...Because there will definitely be more food posts to come.

First day of Class!

Today I was very excited because it was our first day of class. Not only was I anticipating learning Mandarin, I was also looking forward to a slower day, with less activities and heat. The TA's and one of our professors introduced us to various computer programs that we could use to type in Chinese and translate between traditional characters, simplified characters, and pinyin. I enjoyed it quite a bit; I believe I will use these programs and websites frequently.
Afterward, we went to lunch at an Italian restaurant with our TAs, then had our class conversation time with them. We discussed our field trip yesterday and also cultural differences. There were some awkward silences since we were doing all this in Chinese to practice our language skills. Hopefully we will be more talkative in future sessions.
Later, we just all hung out with a few of our TAs. Their names are Stella, Jovy, Simon, and Ting. They took us to their palatial-looking apartment complexes to play pool, ping pong, and sing karaoke. I am really thankful for our TAs, coordinators, and professors. Everyone here is so nice and helpful. Also, I already feel like my Chinese skills are improving from just being immersed in the culture. It makes me so happy to be able to hold a conversation or sing karaoke in Mandarin. Hahaha. Well...it's time for a very late dinner. Talk to you later!

Dharma Drum Mountain and JuMing

Yesterday, we went on a very long field trip with Lydia, Queenie, our professors, and all our TAs. Our destination: Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山, Fa Gu Shan), a Buddhist temple founded by Master Sheng-Yen. I was expecting an ancient temple carved from the rock of the mountain, but it was actually a very modern complex. The views were very pretty because you could look down on the city from high up in the mountains. We spent our time there touring around the temple and visited the Great Buddha Hall, the library, and various other places. Later in the day, they fed us a vegetarian lunch, which made me happy because I got to eat some dried tofu (豆腐,乾, dofu gan)! Haha.

After DDM, we all piled back into the bus and drove to an art museum to look at the works of the famous Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming (朱銘). It was pretty neat, but I was just so tired after a day in the sun at the temple. It did not help that the tour of the art museum was outdoors due to the size of many of Ju Ming's sculptures. At least it was overcast, so there was no burning sun that day. Anyway, Ju Ming had two main series at the museum---The Living World (about the military) and Taichi. His Taichi series was really interesting to me because it is more abstract and leaves more to the imagination of the viewer.

After all of this, we returned to Sanshia, where Lydia and Queenie introduced us to the non-sketch part of town. The places we had been before were so cramped that I felt like I was going to be hit by a moped. Not this part of town! I was so happy to discover this area. It is quite close to our dorms, and so much nicer. There are wide sidewalks and cars actually seem to drive less crazily. There are also more restaurants, so we found a place to eat beef noodle soup (牛肉麵, niu rou mian). It is pretty much one of the biggest Taiwanese dishes. It was so delicious...best thing I've had here, hands down. Lydia told us this was the "more expensive place," so imagine my surprise when it was only 110 NTD ($3.43). I love Taiwan. Love, love, love.

Under the Taiwanese Sun

Yesterday was our first day in Taiwan, so Queenie took us to explore Sanshia (三峽), the district that our campus is in. First thing you notice as a pedestrian: there are SO many mopeds everywhere. Second thing: People cut way to close to you as you're walking. I will count myself lucky if I don't get clipped by a vehicle this six weeks... Also, in Sanshia, there is a street called Sanshia Old Street (三峽老街) where you can see Japanese and European inspired architecture. There, we visited some tea shops and Buddhist temples.
It is 32 degrees Celsius here (89.6 degrees Fareheit), which may not sound too bad, but the humidity is really what gets you. Yesterday, all I ate was an egg and bacon toast sandwich the whole day because the heat just took away all of our appetites. Good thing is, my meal was only 35 NTD, which is roughly $1 US (1 USD=32 NTD).
Today was such a very long day. We started out with breakfast in Sanshia---hot and sour noodle soup with oysters and beef tripe (I think). It was very good and very cheap, like most food here. Then, we took our placement tests to figure out which class we would fall into. I felt horrible about the exam, so I was very surprised when I got into the advanced level! Afterward, we had a traditional Chinese meal with all our professors and then traveled to Taipei City. I think I was worn out before we even had lunch...it is much too hot here. At least I had more than one meal today! Perhaps I will acclimate to the humidity here soon.
Anyways...I am dead tired even though it is not yet even 9 PM. Sorry for the long, unorganized post. Time for bed...晚安!

Time Traveling...

So...I made it! After 20 plus hours of grueling travel in a tin can, we are all in Taipei. We arrived around 9 PM of July 5. After picking up our luggage, we met with the people who will be helping us, Lydia and Queenie. They took us to a convenience store last night to buy foldable mattresses. Yes. Then, we all moved into our dorms (I am rooming with two MSU girls, Stephanie and Lily), I took a shower, and all collapsed in our beds. I woke up at 7:30 AM, but feel fine! The jet lag is definitely not as bad as it could be.

Today, I woke up and was greeted by our wonderful view. I guess I was too dead tired to notice anything last night. The landscape so picturesque...I wish I had a view like this at State.

We are all about to go out in a bit to explore the city since we have a free day. Then, it's back to studying a little since our Chinese placement test is tomorrow. First day in Taipei...so excited!

Less than a week...

...until I get on an airplane and fly away to Taiwan to study at National Taipei University (NTPU)! Six days until I go off to Taiwan for six whole weeks.I am excited, anxious, nervous...and madly packing and checking things off my list. I have many goals for this journey, but right now, my biggest concern is getting everything into my luggage.