第八個星期：Holidays and School Fairs

星期一：Today is independence day for Taiwan, also known as Double Tens Day since it's October 10th, so we got off school. Independence day here is nothing like in the US. There is apparently a military parade in Taipei but that's mostly it. We stayed home most of the morning, but when it was cooler in the evening we went out and visited a park that has an outdoor pavilion thing that's notable because it's entirely covered in oyster shells. From there we headed to the arts district to finally get some pineapple cakes from the Famed Sunny Hills Bakery. This bakery is supposed to have the best pineapple cakes in Taiwan, which I definitely agree with, but they're also awesome because they give you a free one and a cup of tea anytime you go into their store.

After that, we ate some noodles, then headed to Lotus Lake where there was going to be a light show later that night. There were lots of food stalls and street performers out when we got there, so we watched a guy perform a dance with a giant light up yo-yo, then the light show started. It was pretty cool, they projected lights up onto the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas in time with music while traditional dancers danced in front.

(oyster shell park)

(insanely delicious, and free, pineapple cake)

星期二：Today after class I decided to head to the cultural center to see what it was since I'd only ever been at night. I still haven't figured it out, though. On the outside it's a nice park where different groups were dancing or doing tai chi, but then there is a massive building that had all it's doors locked, so I'm not sure what's in it. I did buy a mango drink and a bagel and picnic outside though, so it was nice even though I failed at my mission.

In the evening my host mom and I went out for Italian food that was actually really good, and the afterwards she got me a cup of lemon aiyu jelly to try. Aiyu is a kind of jell-o drink made from squishing the seeds of the aiyu plant into a jelly and then adding fruit juice. On it's own the aiyu jelly is tasteless, but with the juice, it becomes a very refreshing jell-o-like drink.

(my picnic spot)

(aiyu jelly)

星期四：Today in the afternoon I had PE where we ran instead of danced which wasn't terrible other than it was way too hot outside, and then I had my calligraphy class where the professor spent the day going over our work from last week's class. I ended up with quite a few red marks on my paper and that was even with him going really easy because I'm a foreigner. Calligraphy is probably not going to be my new pass time, but it's at least a fairly relaxing class.

After the afternoon classes, I headed to choir where I was actually useful and taught the English words to a song they were trying to learn. Also a girl from Malawi joined, so I'm no longer the lone foreigner.

(my corrected calligraphy next to the example sheets)

(Wenzao Choir)

(the other day from our performance at the freshmen's welcoming ceremony)

星期五：After school today we all headed over to Anthony's house to made puppy chow/muddy buddies. On Sunday Wenzao is having a school fair to celebrate it's anniversary (the fair happens every year but this year is actually its 50th anniversary) where all the clubs and some of the international students will have booths, and all the proceeds go to charity, so we decided to make a Halloween themed booth and sell muddy buddies.

Making the muddy buddies was quite the process as we had decided to make about 175 bags. We had an assembly line process, but we were all very bad about snacking while cooking, so after about four hours of muddy buddy making and too much sugar, we were all very loopy and tired and crashed.

I headed home to hang out with my host family as my host mother, brother, and aunt were all headed to Burma in the morning to visit my host mom's brother who lives there.

(making and eating the muddy buddies)

(the finished product)

星期六： Today I slept in, did homework, and then my host dad took me to get some noodles and chocolate bubble tea (it sadly tasted like normal bubble tea, I don't know where the chocolate was).

After returning home and taking a nap, we headed out to go see a concert in a park later that evening, only to realize when we tried to use the elevator (you have to scan your key to use it) that we'd just locked ourselves out of the apartment. After walking down all the stairs, he checked to see if the car had a key with no luck, so he headed to his mother's house to get a spare, and I headed off to Aozihdi park.

This park is the second largest on Kaohsiung and it's really quite nice. By the time I'd explored all of it, my host dad arrived, and so did Heather, who also wanted to see the concert. The three of us had dinner and then Heather and I headed to the concert while my host dad decided to head back and visit with his mother.

The concert was really cool as it was all in Taiwanese, not Chinese. Most people who speak Taiwanese are older (they're just starting to teach it in schools) so we were the only foreigners and some of the only young people. There were booths set up giving away free fans and pinwheels and a few had games to play, so it was really nice. The music was also all really great, and a the performers were apparently pretty famous with the older generations. At one point one of the performers was handing out signed posters, but by the time Heather and I got up to go get them, she was out. A few minutes later, though, a lady who worked there came up, handed us a poster, and, once she figured out we spoke Chinese, invited us backstage to meet and take pictures with some of the singers. While there are lots of times I wish I didn't stick out quite so much here, this was definitely not one of those times, as we were the only ones invited backstage.

After getting some pictures and listening to a few more songs, Heather and I decided to head home. On the way home, though, I stopped by the mall by my house because they're having a giant Peanuts promotion thing for their anniversary, so the whole mall is decked out with snoopy and Charlie Brown statues, which is really cute.

(Aozihdi Park)

((backstage with one of the more famous singers, though I sadly don't know his name)

(two more of the performers)

(the signed poster)

(the Peanuts decorations at the mall)

星期天：Today was the Wenzao school fair. We arrived and set up our booth, putting up Halloween decorations, and donning witch hats ourselves, and setting out the muddy buddies, and then started selling. Our best strategy was sending out all the guys with signs and sample cups to go talk to all the girls (Wenzao is mostly girls since it was an Ursuline school for a long time, and many of them are quite interested in the American guys) and then send them back to buy from us. We actually did really well and sold out in about two and a half hours. After that, I walked around the fair with Becca, played a balloon popping game, which I lost, and then bought a Wenzao T-shirt. I also got Vietnamese fried spring rolls, Beijing egg wraps, Indonesian tea, and an interesting milk tea flan popsicle. Overall it was really fun, and it was cool to see that a ton of people actually showed up to participate, but it was also hotter than it's been in a few weeks, plus both the UV and air quality level were labeled as dangerous today, so I was ready to head home and nap once we sold out.

(our Halloween decorated booth)

(the fair)

(50th anniversary sign)

(the iEARN Taiwan team came out to buy our snacks)