星期一：Today we had off school for the 228 remembrance day, so instead of going home after our trip to Taitung, we went to the grandparents house in Pingtung. The day started out pretty weird as I ended up meeting two random foreigners from Sweden and America introduced to me by my host cousin. It was weird, though, because my host grandparents live in a tiny aboriginal town in the middle of the mountains and I'm not sure why any foreigners would just happen across there, but apparently these two did. Later that night there was also a traditional wedding going on; while I didn't go because I have no connection to the couple and so wasn't invited, I got to see my host grandma and cousin get all dressed up in their traditional clothing to go.
I really spent most of the day, though, with my little host sister and her neighbor friend who is five. They let me eat some of their camdy in exchange for playing five million games of Uno, but at this point I'll do anything for host sister bonding so I agreed. My little sister has recently gone insane with Uno though, we play it for about an hour every night now, in the car, on the train, and I keep thinking she'll get bored of it, but she definitely doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
(playing Uno with my host sister and her friend)
星期五：Today we had our final exam for our Chinese classes. I think the exam went okay, but I was a bit sad for the semester to end because it felt really fast and I really liked and got to know my teachers and classmates this semester. After the test though, I couldn't find anyone to go out with for the afternoon as we all finished our tests at different times, so I went out to get some curry and then headed to the Fongshan district of Kaohsiung where a lot of old sites are. I first went to the Fongyi Academy, an old temple and school from the Qing Dynasty rule where government officials were tested and trained. It was really pretty there and I bought a delicious kumquat popsicle and just chilled for a while. I then went to a subway station that's also the Kaohsiung Art Center. They had some cool outdoor art, but the actual museum part was closed. There was a tiny exhibit about the history of the Fongshan district that had lots of old photos of Kaohsiung . From there I walked a little to the old West Gate of the city. It was really old and cool to find it still hanging out in the middle of the city. After that I went to my favorite stationary store, 9x9, then went home.
(class photo with our teacher Ms. Liu)
(at the Fongyi Academy)
(also at the academy)
(I ended up in a super old part of town)
(at the artsy subway stop)
(some cute sheep)
(the western gate)
星期天：Today we all went to a farm an hour away for some farm labor. We had told Jenny and Kripa that we wanted to go fruit picking, but apparently that equalled hard labor which was an interesting surprise. We took a bus out there and had a kind of tour guide to tell us facts along the way which was actually pretty cool. When we arrived at the farm, it was actually in a really beautiful mountain valley. We were instructed by a nice farmer how to pick weeds and fertilize mango trees. After finishing that, we had a nice lunch of food from the farm then a break in which Mackenzie and I walked around and found a super peaceful temple in the valley. After lunch we picked more weeds, used a plow machine thing that was pretty scary, came across a herd of goats, and then finally picked some fruit, though we picked guava which I don't even like. We then had some delicious grilled corn and headed home exhausted and smelling like a farm. Overall it was not what I expected, but we got to all wear cool farmer hats, so that at least made my day.
(on the farm)
(I got a cool hat)
(found a peaceful mountain temple)
(doing some hard labor)
(rice paddies on the ride home)