第九個星期：Sugar Factories and KTV

星期一：Today we had off school in compensation for the school fair, so we had a trip organized to go to an old sugar factory. Becca and I ended up taking the MRT together there and we discovered that the train ends up going above ground after it gets out of the main city, which was cool because we got to see the suburbs of Kaohsiung. Once we got there, we all got to pick out a bike to ride, and then we headed off to take a drumming lesson. Since the sugar factory doesn't operate any more, it's been turned into a kind of small arts district, place to bike, museum, and a center for Taiwanese traditional drumming. We all got to take a lesson where we learned a bit of the basics about traditional drumming, and then we got to go watch a performance by a group called Ten Drums. They were really good and incorporated a lot of cool elements into their show, like flooding the stage with water. From there we headed to learn a bit more about the different kinds of drums, how they're made, and visited a temple where you can hit different drums for good luck, so I chose to hit one that's supposed to bring you good luck in school.

After lunch we had a few hours of free time, so Becca, Mackenzie, and I rode around most of the factory. We saw lots of old trains and buildings and even explored a bomb shelter. We also got some traditional ice cream at the end. The sugar factory is famous for their ice cream and I got a pretty good ice cream sandwich. It was really fun to ride bikes, too, as they're normally considered a "risky activity" by NSLI-Y, but since we were technically in an enclosed space, they decided it was okay to let us ride around.

After the sugar factory, Becca, Mackenzie, and I headed to the mall, mainly because it was air conditioned, and then Becca and I went out for soup dumplings, which is always wonderful.

(learning how to play the drums)

(traditional percussion instruments)

(visiting the temple with the drums)

(view while riding the bikes)

(the sugar museum)

(old trains)

(it was great to ride bikes for a bit)

(soup dumplings with Becca)

星期五：Today was our first day of volunteering with an elementary school we've partnered with. Five of us chose to sign up to hang out with sixth graders for eight Fridays throughout the year; we're not really helping the, with English a lot, mostly it's just a cultural exchange where we just play with them at recess and help out in art or music class. Anthony, Becca, and I are in the same class, so we each presented a PowerPoint introducing ourselves, then each student got up and said a few sentences in English about themselves and asked us questions. It was so cute because they were all very direct about it, saying things like, "I'm so-and-so and I like sports and music and I'm cute"' or one boy even said, "Hi! I'm fat! But I'm happy I'm fat!" We then got to play with them at recess, and since and I came play any sports to save my life, I hung out with a group pf girls who were reading off to the side. After recess the students had PE, so we had a break and actually got to have tea and cookies with the school principal which was really nice. When the students came back, we headed to music class where we taught them the Cupid Shuffle, played some games, and then all got juice boxes.

One that was over, we headed to Mackenzie's house where she taught us a little Mahjong, a traditional Chinese game, and ate some interesting seafood pizza. We then headed to KTV, a kind of karaoke where you rent a private room with your friends that's pretty much my favorite activity, where we met up Pablo and had an awesome night singing 80s ballads, 70s disco, and lots of Britney Spears because they didn't really have anything too recent.

(the sixth graders were showing off their art project and made a sign for us)

(juice boxes after music class with the kids)

(KTV!!!)

星期六：Today I did homework all morning, but in then evening my host dad and I went for a walk around a really nice park by the Love River to watch the sun set over the mountain and then had some noodles at an apparently famous spot that definitely was really good.

(the Love River)

(sunset over the mountain)