第二十五個星期：We Went Camping and it was Cold

星期一：Today after school everyone but Joey took a little field trip over to Heather’s house because, over the break, she had decided to buy a little turtle. While we aren’t sure how she will take care of it or what will happen when she goes home, the turtle is absolutely adorable and we all fell in love. We spent a few hours passing the turtle around, laying on her bed, and eating all of her candy, and it in general was just a really nice afternoon.

(Heather's turtle Peng Hu, also known as Peng Peng)

星期二：After our class in the morning, Kripa and I had our meeting, and we decided to get some soup dumplings because at the rate I’m going, why not. We then met up with Mackenzie and Becca at a café, and all headed over to a movie theatre where we saw Hidden Figures. Not only was the movie sooo good, but it was nice to go out and see a movie as that is the first time I’ve been to a movie theatre in Taiwan.

星期三：After eating a delicious lunch of Indian food with Becca and Mackenzie, I decided to go exploring a bit on my own. I started by going to a park close to my house that is on the banks of the Love River. The weather was so nice and all the flowers were in bloom, so it was a really lovely walk. From there I walked to the Hakka Culture Museum. The museum was really small but it did a good job of explaining the history and traditions of the Hakka people, a relatively large minority group that came over from China a few hundred years ago, and it was also really beautiful as it was built in a traditional Hakkanese style. After that I walked back through the park and found a giant electrical tower that has now been made into a viewing platform.

(the Love River)

(so many flowers everywhere)

(the Hakka Culture Museum)

(a cool bridge in the park)

(my new host family's apartment building)

星期四：Today I met back up with my old host family for the afternoon and evening. We haven’t been able to meet up since I moved out, so it was really great to see them. Only my host mom and sister were home, so I went to lunch with them and their family friend who I met before a few times. I also met the friend’s daughter for the first time which was fun because she actually goes to Wenzao and we hope to meet up again sometime. We all mostly spent the afternoon just catching up, and then went out again for dinner, but it was a really nice time.

(with my old host sister and the friend's daughter)

(with my old host mom)

星期五：The most eventful thing today was that at one in the morning there was a 5.6 earthquake. Everyone and everything was fine, but it was pretty scary as it is the first earthquake I've actually been awake for.

星期六：Today Anthony and his host family picked me up early in the morning to take me to Nantou where a few of the other host families were camping and, since my family was unable to go, they were nice enough to take me. I piled into their very packed car full of way too much food and camping gear for one night, and we made the drive to Nantou, the province in the middle of the island. It also happened to be the coldest weekend so far in Taiwan, and it was raining, so I had on a ton of layers, gloves, and a scarf, which seemed pretty ridiculous for Taiwan.

We ended up arriving before any of the other families so we decided to go ahead and head to our destination, Sun Moon Lake. Since Nantou is in the middle of the island, it is the only province without a coastline, but it holds Sun Moon Lake, the largest lake on the island. We first went to a temple that has a really great view of the lake, and then went to a famous set of stairs where there are 366 steps, one for each day of the year, and you are supposed to find your birthday and read a fortune. While I found my birthday, I didn’t understand the fortune.

We then went and got some lunch at a restaurant that’s insides were entirely made from cardboard; it was a really cool concept and I was surprised at what all they figured out how to make. After lunch we went to the campsite to meet up with all the other families. The campsite turned out to be an old elementary school that was converted into an activity center, so, while we were using tents and it was super cold, we weren’t totally roughing it. We spent the rest of the afternoon making a million dumplings and eating, and then in the evening we all roasted s’mores and played card games before getting into our tents and freezing all night.

(temple at Sun Moon Lake)

(with Anthony at the temple)

(view from the roof)

(wishes/fortunes on the birthday stairs)

(cardboard restaurant)

( made a friend at the campsite)

(we made some s'moreos)

星期天：The morning of the camping trip, all the students got up early to make breakfast for everyone. While it wasn’t a total hit with the families, we made a very American breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. After breakfast and putting up all the camping stuff, we all headed to the lake to take a boat tour. The tour was nice and stopped at a few little islands, but it was pretty cold the whole time. We then all went and had lunch together, and then headed back to Kaohsiung.

(waiting for the boat)

(now on the boat)

(the water was all a really beautiful turquoise color)

(group picture with all the families and NSLI-Y kids that went)

(there was a town at one of the boat stops and I saw these cute owls)