7/22 Itinerary

8-12 Teaching, Students in my second class crowded the computer to play the online version of TKO. There were probably 12-15 of them around the computer.


12 Meeting & Lunch : We had my favorite fish today MmMmMmMmM!

1-2:30 Jade Market Part II : Gifts bought here are going to be Christmas gifts because they were SUPER nice.

While I was there this very kind lady gave me a smiling Buddah for good luck and money. It was completely free. She kept looking for her husband but wanted to give it to me because she said that she had worked 24 years in Taipei, Tinan, and Kaohsiung and that I was very pretty and she wanted me to have it.

7-9 pm Yoga (Wish me luck! Aparently the leader is as flexible as a jellyfish!)

7/21 Itinerary

8-12 Teaching
12-1 Lunch Meeting
1-4 Dream Mall
4 Home with host family
8-10 Skype with my family
10:30 Bedtime!

I was so excited to get to bed early! It was so nice! I put off a few things I needed to do, in order to do so but it was so worth it in the end!

Dragon Fruit!

Tonight at dinner dessert was quite unexpectedly pink! It was so cute!


Tina said that it looked like a UFO and proceeded to make spaceship noises:

7/20 Itinerary

8-12 Teaching
12-1 Lunch Meeting
1-3 Morgan and I wandered about near campus and explored some of the safe looking alleys and shops near school. Then I went back to the office to check email and chat with friends.

4 pm MODERN TOILET! (see next entry)

7 pm Met Jane for dinner before her next meeting with the team captain of the French life saving team. She is very cute when she tells me about her frustrations about life. She and I shared about our lives then she had to rush off to her meeting. I hope to have many quick dinners with Jane in the last few days we have left. She is very sweet and fun.

MODERN TOILET!

I am was very excited about this restaurant! It is very silly but it was worth the laughs and pictures we took. The premise of the restaurant is that you sit on toilets, eat out of toilets, and drink out of them too! I can only begin to describe the humorous situations that ensued upon arrival, so here are a few photos.




Cathy and I ordered ice cream and had no idea we could have all split one!

My awesome cold cranberry tea came in the bed pan Mimi is so perplexed over here:

7/18 & 19 Itinerary - Taipei

This Saturday and Sunday we were in Taipei. We saw everything! It was super fun, but really tiring. I am so glad I got to see all that we did see. The program director Helen and her husband Michael played tour guide this weekend and fearlessly navigated the group of 12 all around Taipei.

7:40 am Meet at the train station

8:00 am High Speed rail departs, leaving Amy (still on MRT), Michael and Sunny (to wait)

9:30 am Arrive Taipei, wait for rest of the group

10:20 am MRT to Chang-Kei Check memorial

11:15 am Arrive memorial, changing of the guard

12:15 am Leave memorial

1:00 pm Explore train station looking for food – Hong Kong style food

2:00 pm Youth Hotel Owned by the government (very nice!)

3:00 pm leave for National Palace museum

6:30 pm leave museum in a bus, eat open flame hot pot (very hot, very yummy)

8:00 pm Oldest and largest Taipei night market

9:00 pm walk to hotel

10:00 pm showered and sound asleep

SUNDAY

8:00 am wake up dress

9:45 am leave hotel (15 mins behind schedule)

10:00 am MRT to Taipei 101

12:30 am leave Taipei 101 for Handicraft Mart

2:15 pm leave handicraft market

3:00 pm wander about the train station – find food

3:40 pm leave Taipei and eat on the train

5:30 pm arrive in Kaohsiung

At 6:30 pm host family takes us to dinner at a very nice Restaurant called Hansin's. It was Hong Kong style (see earlier entry) and we ate and ate and ate some more. So much food and so yummy! We tired a little of everything!

Taipei 101

Although the tower is called Taipei 101, the observation deck is on the 88th floor. We had a chance to ride the fastest elevator in the world and take some awesome photos:






Here is a link to all of my pictures from Taipei!


Click here for the Pictures from Taipei!

The Hong Kong Style

Okay. I must say that upon partaking of this cuisine for the first time, as a westerner, I was quite shocked that a restaurant would serve food cold. However the more I thought about it the more it made sense in this time and place.


Hong Kong style is when food is brought to you on a rolling cart or tray and then unwrapped and handed directly to you. However it is served in the state that it appears to you. For example: the dumplings were on a steamer cart while the broccoli was not. Therefor the Broccli was cold and the dumplings (amazing, best dumplings yet) hot.

For dessert a familiar face made an appearance! FLAN!
However, not being much a FLAN fan i decided to try something new and had the grey concotion in the first bowl on the tray. It was had a sweet undertone and hundreds of tiny rice balls floating in in. It was sweet enough but not sickly like many American treats.

A Saturday in Taipei

First stop The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. We were awed at the space allowed for this monument in the midst of such a large city. We took pictures in awe and humor:




Most importantly, we stayed for the changing of the gaurd. These guys are intense!

They remain motionless at arms for hours and an attendant comes to wipe their sweat and adjust their uniforms.


We are stayed in a very nice youth hotel! Because the hotel was across the street from The Grand Hotel, first impressions gave a lot to be desired. However, we loved our stay. The rooms had the three things every American hopes for: cold room, clean sheets, and hot water.


After we checked in we went to one of the oldest, biggest, busiest and smelliest night markets I have seen. There were thousands of people swarming this tiny block! The noise alone would have made most people turn and run, but here in Taiwan shopping is quite the hobby!


Humor for the evening: A toast claw machine:

7/17 Itinerary

FRIDAY Week 2! The realization that the trip is almost half over is starting to set in. I am very sad to be leaving a place that I may never return is breaking my heart. Today's itinerary is as follows:

8-12 Teaching
12-1 Meeting
1-4 KTV! Karaoke Taiwanese style! This place looked more like a grand hotel than a Karaoke joint! You rent an entire room with a huge projector and then you punch in the number for the song you would like to sing. You are seated most comfortably on a couch facing the screen and there is no public embarrassment! The theme is good times and fun!