星期二：I never have afternoon class on Tuesdays, but, today, Becca also didn’t have class as hers was cancelled. After wondering around for a bit and buying bubble tea, we decided to head to the children’s science museum where they were having an exhibit about the Terra Cotta Warriors. You couldn’t take pictures in the exhibit (boo) but it was really interesting; they went really in depth into that period in China and had tons of artifacts, including some warriors and a horse drawn carriage.
Once we finished that special exhibit, we decided to explore the rest of the museum. While it was fun in that all the exhibits were interactive (my favorite kind of exhibits) it was really empty because everyone else was at work or school, so we were often the only ones in an exhibit which was a bit creepy. Overall, though, we had a good time pretending to be children and playing all the interactive games.
星期三：Today was the election, which was pretty devastating, but, even in the midst of all our shock and sadness, there were some good parts of my day. For one I had my normal Wednesday tutoring, but my tutors did a great job of distracting me and making me talk about other things. The second that everyone, except one student, in my Chinese class decided to go out to eat pizza (the one student who didn’t go is my in-class language partner who we know as the egg boy because he eats ten raw eggs a day). The pizza place was super delicious as it was actual brick oven pizza and we had a good time getting to know each other a bit outside of class. After that we still had some time, so we headed to a nearby bakery where we bought a bunch of cakes and pastries to all share.
(pizza can definitely cure sadness)
(this cake helped, too, and I don't even really like cake)
(all my classmates in my Chinese class minus one)
星期四：Today we were all pretty drained from the election, but my family took me out to a really nice Japanese restaurant to celebrate my host grandma’s birthday. The food was really good, though they completely stuffed me, and it was nice to spend a little time getting to know my host grandparents.
星期五：Today we had our volunteering at the local elementary school. Anthony, Becca, and I are in the same class, and we were each supposed to present about a volunteering activity we had done. I presented about bringing toys to a children’s hospital, and, while I had prepared a nice presentation, I totally forgot all of my good Chinese, so I’m not sure any of the kids got what I was talking about. After giving the presentations, we met up with Heather and Mackenzie to go to music class where we taught the students “You Are My Sunshine”, they performed a dance for us, and then we played some different games.
Later that evening, my host sister came home from her university in Taipei to spend the weekend with us as we, and a few other host families, were headed to Kenting on a host family organized trip.
星期六：Today the four of us got up fairly early to head to Kenting; the drive there was really beautiful and we stopped on the way for some traditional shaved ice. Once in Kenting we spent a little time at a national park that had a lighthouse and some beautiful ocean views. After picnicking under a tree, we headed out to see some fossilized coral reefs on the beach. They were really cool and, while my host sister was a bit scared of climbing over them and stayed behind, my host mom was super determined (she was also wearing platform leather sandals I might add) and climbed all over them, leading my host dad and me across to see the ocean.
After that we headed to a different national park where we met up with Mackenzie and her family, Anthony and his family, and Becca and Pablo who had tagged along. After hiking some and learning about some different edible plants, we reached the beach and were officially on the southernmost point of Taiwan. The views were stunning all around so we spent about an hour just wondering around and taking pictures. Once that was done, we headed back.
From there all us NSLI-Y kids really wanted to go swim in the ocean, and even though not one member of any host family got in with us, they were nice enough to take us to the beach. It was absolutely stunning as we were swimming around as the sun was setting.
Once it got too dark to stay in the ocean, we said goodbye to Becca and Mackenzie and her family, and then the rest of us headed to the hotel where we would be spending the night. The hotel was really cool as it was built to look like the Tang Dynasty period in China.
After putting our stuff up, we all headed to a night market where my host family finally got me to try stinky tofu. This is a really famous food in both China and Taiwan and it’s literally tofu that has been fermented in a broth of also fermenting shrimp and vegetables. The smell is pretty appalling and can be detected at pretty much every night market in Taiwan. I took about two bites and then decided it was definitely not my cup of tea, but I’m glad I tried it because you can’t live in Taiwan for a year and not.
(lighthouse at the national park)
(the fossilized coral)
(my host sister and me picnicking)
(at the other national park)
(the actual southernmost tip of Taiwan)
(the great view from the tip)
(lots of giant rocks)
(we look a bit silly but we were having a ton of fun)
)perfectly timed splash of water)
(family pic while getting blown over by the wind)
(silly picture of all the families and students)
(and one more)
(swimming at sunset)
星期天：We all got up today and, after breakfast, headed out to the beach to climb over more fossilized coral (I will mention that my host mom was still wearing platform sandals). It was even more gorgeous than the last beach as it had clear pools full of fish and starfish and a lovely ocean breeze.
After that, we left the hotel and went to a lookout point where you could get a great view of the coast while also getting blown over by the huge winds coming in off the coast. We then went to one last beach to stick our feet in the water, and then began the trip home.
On the way home we stopped at a famous baozi shop where they have a million flavors of baozi, and, after that, stopped at a famous temple that is popular because it houses the most powerful god out of any other temples in Taiwan.
Once back home, we all took naps, and then headed out for some absolutely delicious fried soup dumplings.
(this is the entrance to our hotel room complex)
(the placed artifacts around to make it more realistic)
)looking out over the rooftops)
(family pic in front of out room)
(one more family pic)
(view while walking out to the beach)
(more fossilized coral)
(dramatic pic of Anthony, Pablo, and me)
(cool looking dead coral)
(the gorgeous ocean)
(a less dramatic pic of Anthony, Pablo, and me)
(one more national park)
(we went here to stick our feet in the ocean)
(pic of my host mom and me after she essentially rock climbed in heels)