Lauren's Adventures in Taiwan

Due to the fact that I had a 5 day weekend for the moon festival, I had to make up one day of school. Unlike American schools, they do not build extra days into the school's calendar...thus the fact that I ended up at school on a sunny Saturday morning at 7am sharp. I knew that it would be a different day than any other school day starting from the ride in the car. Insted of listening to the news on ICRT (the English radio station) they were playing the top 100 American hits. Being at school on a saturday was like any other day of the week - but I attended Monday's classes. It was actually quite uneventful. I had 2 hours of Chinese, 4 hours of nothing (because teachers chose to cancel classes so they wouldn't have to go to school), and 2 hours of sewing class. It was a perfect day just to relax and have fun! For once, the weather was slightly cooler (maybe low 80s with a breeze)...I had McDonalds for lunch instead of dumplings and bought some pearl milk tea as well!

Unlike my classmates, who only had Sunday for their weekend, I got Monday and Tuesday off as well. If I was anything besides a foreigner, I would've still gone to school. But since everyone was taking midterms, I didn't have to go. I got permission from my host parents (and American ones, too!) to go to Taipei with one of the school's English intern teachers. So, Monday morning, we left bright and early for the big city! :) I have decided that Taipei is almost its own foreign country because so much is in English and so many people speak English. When we got to the bus station (it cost us $9USD round-trip for the bus tickets!), we headed straight for the nearby MRT (aka subway) station. I LOVE the subway in Taipei. It is so clean and well-marked...they have a fine for eating or drinking anything besides water! I bought an easy card for the subway system, because I knew I would use it a lot in just one day as well as in the near future!

Taking the subway was so easy - I chose to go to the world's tallest building...Taipei 101. Being a Monday morning and all, it was empty. And the sky was pretty clear, so I couldn't have chosen a much better day! The elevator to the top of the building takes 36 seconds AND is pressurized (so one's ears don't hurt as much!). It is sooooooo darn cool, everything about it is! :) I was AMAZED by the view from the top - it was like flying in an airplane because I could see all of Taipei and Taipei county. I also got to see the owner of Taipei 101...believe it or not, he's a foreigner. A foreigner loaded with cash! The indoor observatory that I ended up in was pretty empty - the only English-speaking foreigners I talked to were ones that were heading to their homes shortly. But the vendors said that on the weekends, it is packed full with people! I had ice cream (for lunch! just kidding...I had Subway later!), wrote some postcards to family, and took LOTS of pictures. I then opted to walk 2 flights of stairs to the outdoor observatory on the 91st floor. It was even more amazing than the indoor one! The view was unobstructed by glass...and it was extremely windy. My hair became a tangled mess. I got to hear the wind damper (which I saw on the 89th floor - it weighs 660metric tons) in action...it soundsl ike fingers on a chalkboard! And I got to see the tippy-top of the building...where the spire ends and the rest is sky! Taipei 101 is such a sweet building, not just for the views, but for the architectural beauty of the whole thing!

3 hours later, it was time for me to descend. Believe it or not, Taipei 101 is the size of 1.5 Eiffel Towers - it was a long way down when I glimpsed over the edge! There is a mall in the bottom 5 floors of 101...very expensive and very fashionable. I stopped in so many stores (that I could never afford) just because I could...I was on my own! Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Coach, Gucci, Prada, Hermes, Tiffany & Co., etc. etc. In Tiffany & Co., the salesman even told me to try on their latest line...I politely declined because I was just window shopping. Tiffany & Co (and all the rest!) are expensive, no matter what the country! I did buy some clothing (at a store kinda like american eagle) and a book in english. Taipei 101 is home to a HUGE [mostly] english bookstore. There were so many foreigners! It made me really happy!!!  For the rest of my afternoon, I did some more window shopping at a department store place across the street from 101 and accessible by pedestrian bridge. I had Starbucks...Starbucks is universally the same, the words are different! When I ordered, they wrote "E" on my cup so that when my order was done, they would announce it in English!

Before I had to leave Taipei, I caught up with my host brother at National Taiwan University (the biggest, and best school in all of Taiwan). We talked briefly and he bought me Mister Donut (Japanese donuts that kick Krispey Kreme's butt) and then I had to leave! I met up with my teacher, bought dinner and some pearl milk tea, and we headed back home!

My 2nd day of no school (aka Tuesday) was much less eventful. I did some of my homework, slept, swam in the apartment complex's pool, ate lunch, slept, and ate dinner! Now I'm back in school and couldn't be happier! :)

Warmly,

Lauren

Hello again! I feel rather bad for not updating my adventures after last weekend. I have been crazy busy with my school and host family...but most definitely the best possible kind of "busy"...I LOVE it here! :)

LAST weekend (which would've been the last weekend in September and the start of October) my siblings came home. I can't really remember too much about what we did as siblings, but I do remember going to a Rotary-sponsored party for the Moon Festival (they were having it one week in advance). They TOLD me that I had to sing a song. I really had no option, but my host bro helped me out of this one. I think that he is a really good guitarist, and so we ended up singing together. We chose 2 songs - "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynard Skynard (because its the first American and older song I could think of) and "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter (that would be my generation American pop!). It was a lot of fun, and we even got red envelopes with $$$$$$ for participating. My 2 siblings and myself took off and just sat and talked while the Rotarians and their wives finished partying.

The next morning, we took them back to Taipei. We woke up early - 5:30. But it was fun, nonetheless. We actually had to wake up so early to attend a funeral of an important Rotarian from a different district. And let me tell you, Taiwanese funerals make American funerals look pretty low-key. This gentleman was very important, so it was a very lavish ceremony. Everyone signed a guestbook and was given a yellow ribbon to wear and a towel. They NEVER give towels for wedding/bridal shower presents...only funerals. And everything was white. A shrine kind of thing was at the front of the room - and there were white plastic orchids and such everywhere. The ceremony was conducted in Taiwanese, so I didn't understand a word...except when they counted. Because we were there, and representing my host rotary district, we had to bow to the picture of the deceased man and his closest offspring. Before we bowed 3 times, someone in our group offered fruit, water, and wine to the gentleman. All we had to do was watch and bow when told to do so. Another American came too (he lives in Taipei) and it was nice not to be the only foreigner! :) After the funeral (which went for a couple of hours - there was also no body on display, thankfully!) we went to lunch. We crammed 5 people in the backseat of my host dad's Nissan Teana. I think that's a Nissan Maxima, maybe, in the USA...whatever the bigger one is! My host dad dropped all of us (my mom, host sibs, and the other American and me) at the MRT/Subway station. We took the subway to my brother's college and walked around for a bit. The subway is cheap and phenomenally clean. They have rules that you cannot eat/drink when in the stations/on the trains. Water only. And if you are caught eating/drinking something else, you get charged $7,000NTD. That's over $200US! We couldn't really decide where to go after lunch, so we went to a japanese donut store first. These donuts are seriously waaaaay better than Krispy Kreme and any other American donut I've ever eaten. It was a beautiful day, so we chose to go to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall. The memorial hall has a music hall, drama theater, and shrine to CKS. The shrine was really cool. We walked the 80 some odd stairs to the top and took pictures. They have armed guards that resemble those outside of Buckingham Palace. We tried really hard to make them move...we noticed that one of them started to have twitchy eyes. :) It was lots of fun! We left the CKS memorial and dropped my host brother off at his college. We then drove up into the mountains (Yangmingshan National Park) to take my sister to her college. It was beautiful from up there...and about 10 degrees cooler as well with a super strong wind! I really enjoyed it because we could see all of Taipei and a large chunk of Taipei county. It was really hazy, though.  We left my sister behind and headed back into the city. We ended up where the political protests are happening - the main train station. It was REALLY cool, I'm not gonna lie. We walked into the middle of the protesting (totally safe, and there weren't many people there!) with a police escort and took some pictures. I was wearing green (the darkest color I own for the funeral!) which is unfortunately, the color of the pro-Chen party. And everyone around me was wearing red...they are anti-Chen! But it was sweet nonetheless. My mom and dad wanted to look around the extremely huge mall in the bottom of the train station, so the other American guy and myself wandered off. We played a few arcade games of basketball and browsed through several stores. It took us awhile to find my host mom and dad, though, because the mall is HUGE. And confusing. But whatever, we made it happen! We had McDonalds for dinner (just me and the American!) and then we left for home!

And now for THIS weekend! Everything in between (aka school!) has been wonderful! No complaints about anything!

I have been most lucky to have a 5 day weekend this weekend! Friday was a holiday for the Moon/Mid-autumn festival and Tuesday is Constitution/Independence Day...aka Double 10 Day. Saturday was the first day that we celebrated. The moon festival is kind of all weekend long. My host bro and sister came back from Taipei on Saturday. We had a barbeque at home with lots of other people - my dad's parents, his younger sister, the cousins, and an "uncle" figure. It was a ton of fun! Yesterday, Sunday, Tina's friend from the east side of Taiwan came to visit. We all went out to lunch together at this HUGE buffet. Afterwards, her friend chose to go to the National Taiwan Science and Technolgoy Museum. It is very big, and we didn't get to see all of it. But, ironically, we did get to see a traveling display from the USA. Even more ironically, it was SUE the dinosaur from Chicago's Field Museum. My host bro and sis and myself joked about this for quite sometime...the exhibit was in chinese and english, but we found it so funny that I came so far to see something that is usually just 3 hours from my home! We went to another BBQ for dinner, and then the night market. There were soooo many people at the night market, and we didn't stay for very long. Just long enough to walk around and get dessert!

Today, I have yet another BBQ with my classmates. It'll be fun. But I think once this weekend is over, I will have had enough Taiwanese-style BBQs to last me for awhile! Tomorrow (Tuesday, Double 10 day), I'm going to a wedding in Puli. And hopefully watching the phenomenal fireworks display on TV!

That's an annotated version of what I've done. I know I've left things out...like a field trip I took in school. E-mail me with questions and I'll respond! I've gotta do some homework and write my monthly report! :)

Lauren