Putting my fingers to the keys and typing

Just a free flow of thoughts:

• Thoughts on Taiwan: I love it. I have extended my stay for one year now, which means I will most likely be back in January. This is a country that has the nicest people and that know what it means to be free. The people are always so helpful and have a smile on their face whenever they help. Compensation is never in order after receiving help. In the West people will refuse compensation until they are asked a couple times. In Taiwan, people do things for you and will refuse compensation or might get a little upset if you don't respect them. The same is with gifts, I am not one to accept gifts but in Taiwan they come often. Friends insist on getting things for one another and have no payback. When I am given something, normally food, I always ask how much I owe them. They refuse to take anything. It is not like me to just not payback. Money is not on their minds, it is the thought that counts. So what I do is reciprocate their actions by buying them something.
   
• Thoughts on my mind: Everyone thinks their mind is different than others, but in reality I find many people who are similar to me. My mind might be very free-flowing and might change often, this might be because I am still young and don't know what direction to take. I like people to think I have stability in my life, but I don't. I love everything which helps and hinders me. I love to try new things and open my mind to everything. Normally when I try something new I have two reactions: either I love it, or I don't like it at all (which doesn't happen often). I run into this all the time. The most recent example is here in Taiwan: I have fallen in love with this county and the people and don't want to leave. I try not to find negatives in life where-ever I am. When I try to think of something negative in Taiwan, I really can't think of one.
  
• Classes: So far classes a going great and I love them all (minus my culture class, which is not unexpected that it has not gotten better). Mandarin is by far my favorite course, maybe it is because of my motivation to learn. But even though I am a very political person, while I am here politics isn't my number one class any longer, it has become Mandarin. The reason for this is because I feel that a second language is extremely necessary in today's world, and Mandarin is a great language to have to get around in the world (also it is fun and challenging). My law class is another challenge because it is a subject I have not previously learned too much about. Law turns into a course that compares many countries views on lawyers and international law. This is always a great thing to hear because I know my opinions on law and lawyers in the U.S. but not in Taiwan, Mexico, or Ecuador. 

The busiest week ever

There are a couple reasons I have not been able to do a blog post recently. The first reason is that I am not doing much lately, traveling has stopped and I have began studying a lot. As stated previously, I have been taking my Mandarin course five days a week for three hours per day. This has kept me very busy. I have never been so busy in my whole life.

Full-time Mandarin is just that, full-time. I rarely have the ability to go out and hang out with friends which is a downer. But there is a very large upside to learning the language; after three weeks of being in the course I am not able to carry on some conversations. This is obviously no where close to fluency but I am on my way. Normally Mandarin takes up about seven hours per day, at least (not including talking to Taiwanese and extra studying some days). For me, I am not learning the language as fast as most so I need extra time to study. Recently, I picked up a language exchange with two Taiwanese twice a week for two hours; I talk to them for one hour in English, then we talk or work on my assignments for another hour. Then I also talked to a Japanese student in my class and we are going to work together outside of class. He barely speaks English so it will have to be mainly Mandarin spoke, which will help us both.

I have tried to break away from the international students more and more. By doing this I am meeting more Taiwanese and am using what I have been learning in class outside. This is essential in learning the language, and most likely the reason why Spanish did not stay in my mind. Also the Taiwanese don't drink and party all the time, which is a good thing because I am not here on holiday, I am here to study. I do like to go out some nights or have a couple drinks every once in a while, but not as much as the other international students do.

Much of my time lately has been spent in the last week is in the upper campus. The upper campus houses the dorms and has most of the Taiwanese that are not from Taipei, along with the international students who don't want to be partying and around only international students. Eventually I am hoping to move up there, maybe within the next month.

Just today I woke up early and went with my language exchange and her friend to MaoKong (猫空) and took a gondola ride to the tea houses up on the mountain. On our way up we took the see-through car called the Eye of MaoKong and it was really cool to be able to see how high we were just by looking down. When we got to the top we went to a temple that was recently built and then made our way back to a tea house. At the tea house everything is made with tea or using tea. We had a meal of rice that was cooked with tea, meat that had a tea based broth and some vegetables that were steamed in tea. Everything was extremely good, I could eat up there everyday. After our meal we then had our tea. This was another very interesting part and very cultural. I have never actually made tea like a Taiwanese before, I normally take a tea bag and throw it in water, sometimes adding honey. When you prepare 茶(tea) in Taiwan you get two tea pots, 二杯子 (two cups), the 茶 (tea), and a bowl. What you first do is heat the water then add the hot water to the bowl. Then a smaller tea pot goes into the water with the tea in it. You add water to the smaller pot and wait thirty seconds. You then take the tea pot and pour it into a tall cup, this is a cup that you smell (like wine, the smell enhances the taste). Once you smell it you take the smaller cup and put it on top of the tall cup upside-down and flip. After you flip it you carefully remove the tall cup and your tea is ready. It was very new to me and I thought it was a new fun way to drink tea. 

From rain to earthquakes - Alishan and Tainan

The past few weeks have been quiet exciting. School has finally begun and I am all settled into the course that I am taking. My favorite course has to be International Law Practice because it is a course that has many Taiwanese students that are studying for law school in America. Alongside them are one girl from Mexico, one girl from Ecuador, and me. We all bring different experiences we have with international law and the UN. Originally the course didn't have enough students in it to continue the class but we came and filled in the openings. This made the professor tell us that the course would be taught in half Mandarin and half in English and we could stay and make it so there is a class, or we could leave; we all thought it would be fun to take it and meet some Taiwanese students. The professor greatly appreciated us staying.

Our first nights rest

After our first week of class was over we had a long weekend, as if my vacation has not been long enough yet. There was much deliberation but we finally decided to go to Alishan for the weekend. Alishan is a mountain in the center of Taiwan and is known for hiking and it's beautiful sunrise each morning. We departed from the bus station at 23:00 and assumed that it would take around five hours to get there, well we were wrong. It took us about two and a half hours to get to the train station was to take us to Alishan. Then we found that the train to Alishan was broken and we had to take a bus which was not too big of a problem, if the bus didn't come at 06:00.

Alishan - Beautiful

So we were stuck in a bus station in Chiayi for about four or five hours. So we found a small spot to sleep for the 'night'. Finally we got on our bus to Alishan. I had about two hours of sleep that night so I slept on the bus for three hours. After arriving we went to our hostel and set down all of our things we went for our hike. There are not too many words that can describe how this hike was. To be honest I felt sick from the lack of sleep and did not have the best time at all, oh - and did I mention we were there during a downpour of rain... After about three hours of hiking we decided to head back all soaked from the rain. I was tired, and cranky, so decided to take a nap. I woke up around 18:00 and got some food and drinks. We all drank and ate some food in the rooms with some other travels we met, one from Madison, WI.

Forest Railway Station at Alishan, 05:00 sunrise

The next day we had to move out, because it was a hostel for only the night. Our train left at 04:00 to see the sunrise at Chushan. We got up there and waited for a bit, and it was almost as good of a sunrise as our hike was the day before. The time came for the sun to rise and we saw nothing the horrendous fog made us not be able to see anything, almost like seeing a sunrise in England.

Emmaida showing the beautiful sunrise

So far, the trip isn't going so well. We regrouped and had a laugh about it but had to find something to do or somewhere to go because we had no accommodation and there were no hotels to stay in. After a bit of discussion we decided to head south and hopefully find something or sleep in another bus station. Next destination: Tainan.

Tainan is located in the south west tip of Taiwan and is very historical. This is the area that the Dutch first came to and 'settled'. Once again, we had no accommodation there and being that this was a holiday weekend and a historical city we were traveling to, all the hotels were books three months in advance. Many Taiwanese go to Tainan to visit family and to their families temples. So we were asking on the train, practicing our broken Mandarin to get a place to stay or to see if anyone knew of something. Out of no where a man told us he would help us find a place to stay. He took us around the city for a short while asking in hotels and then took us to one near the train station. They said they had one room and it was 'Japanese Style.' This is an interesting concept which simply translates to some mattresses on the floor. The price was high but we had no where else to stay, so we took it.

Fort Zeelandia

After dropping our bags and seeing what a room for eleven looks like, we met up with one of the travelers, Nicholas, buddy from NCCU and her friend. They carted us all around the city while we ate everything we could find in the city. Our first dish was at a day market and we had octopus balls and a ham bao with chicken. Then our amazing guides took us to Fort Zeelandia, a Dutch built fort in the 1400's. This is very historical for Taiwanese and a big part of Taiwan history. Afterwards we traveled to a couple temples, which are everywhere in Tainan. During the evening the girls took us to the largest night market in Tainan, and maybe in Taiwan. The night market was huge and had wall to wall people. Lines for food were practically non-existent. After much squeezing around people and being in peoples way we just took a break and waited for the others. This night market is a must see, but patience is required, luckily I had patience this day. After this our guides left us for the night and went back to their homes and said they were coming for us again at 11:30 the next morning for more touring of Tainan.

Ham bao

Octopus balls, not bad 

Just a side note, Taiwanese are the nicest people in the world. I see it like a job interview. When one is a job interview they are asked 'What is a flaw you have?' This questions then has to be answered in a way that it is not actually a flaw. Taiwanese would say 'Well I give a lot to people and never want anything in return at all.' 

Ah night markets in Tainan.

So we returned to the hotel and got ready to head to a bar for the evening. This was a nice place to relax. We had a couple drinks and played some pool for the evening. It was a 'Western' bar or more like an American bar. The atmosphere was very home-like and it felt good to have that feeling for once.

Just making fools of ourselves during an earthquake

We left the bar and returned to the hotel around 02:00 and slept until our wake up call at 11:00. Our wake up call was quite an interesting one: an earthquake. Being on the lucky 13th floor of a hotel during a 6.2 magnitude earthquake is not what I thought I would wake up to. But I wanted to experience an earthquake so that was my first. We all left the room and ran down 13 floors to the ground, in very little clothing. When we got to the first floor everyone was staring at us like we were crazy, which we were and we decided to do a walk of shame back upstairs because we were safe.

The girls arrived and laughed at us for our stupidity and we learned it was the biggest earthquake in Taiwan in two years, pretty exciting. They took us first for more food, this day was for a Tainan specialty, eel noodles. I was very afraid to try this at first but I learned that I am making the right decision to try everything that is put in front of me, eel noodles taste amazing.

Eel noodles, with chili powder.

Fort Provintia

After lunch we ran over to another Dutch fort, Fort Provintia. This is another famous fort that is in Tainan, adding to it's colorful history. We ran around to another temple and then to a Confucius garden to rest for a bit. Then the Museum of Books, very briefly because we wanted to see more of the city. Our dinner was in another night market, but this one was much smaller and we got another famous meal: instant noodles. This is like Ramen, but they make it so much better by adding meat and egg to it; you would never know it was instant noodles. We had to make our way to the train next because we had to come back to Taipei. First we took another stop to get more food of course. I got a shaved ice and fruit, which was heavenly and a lime juice with gelatin. The girls then gave us a present, living up to the Taiwan way of always giving and never wanting anything in return. The present was pudding from Tainan, another delicacy in the city.




Which concludes our adventure to the south! We all had fun and in all I approve of both place, just plan on Alishan in the summer rather than winter or spring. Tainan is a must for all travelers.

Goodbye Tainan

Not your average home in Taipei

The day after this we were invited to a house, which is rare in Taiwan, to watch the Oscars. When you hear a house in Taipei, it is normally a mansion. This was, a mansion. I have never, and don't think I have been in a bigger 'house' (the White House is big but is also a place of work). The owners father just passed away so the whole first floor was filled with flowers, probably around 400+ flowers in the bottom floor alone. Then we took the elevator to the third floor to the KTV (karaoke) / theater room. We attempted to get the TV to work, but failed, so we drank a bit then took a cab to the mother's home of the girl that invited us. This was more of a normal sized home and we all just ate a lot of food and had some drinks.

Our Thai meal to thank the girls for all they did to help
us around Tainan 

This past week was not so interesting, we all were tired and broke from traveling so we just relaxed around the university. I had only one class this past week but this next week starts Mandarin which will be five days a week three hours a day, which I can't wait for. To thank the girls we took them to a great Thai restaurant and then just went to the river to relax for a bit in the evening.

Settling in

Things have been getting even better after getting acquainted more to NCCU. Classes have still yet to start. But after one more day I will get the chance to begin my courses in Taiwan. I have choose to take the following courses:

• Society and Culture in Modern Taiwan on Tuesday
• Elections and Democratization in Taiwan on Wednesday 
• Land Use and Urban Development on Thursday
• Part-time Mandarin course on Monday and Wednesday

I am really excited to start because the break has been very long, but very fun. I made the right decision to come to Taiwan early to travel and experience all I could in the month before courses began. 

In the past few days I have done a bit more traveling around the north and to places that I have been before (but this time with people from the I-House.) 

Tea fields

A few of us took our first trip up to Maokong which is located right behind my university. Maokong is the largest tea growing area in all of Taipei. We took a bus up because the gondola that normally takes people up was closed on Monday. This was a really amazing place to go because it was a warmer day and we had a perfect view of Taipei from the tea house at the top of the mountain. When we got off the bus I smelled a beautiful scent of tea and herbs growing, it was like I was in a giant tea bag. We had our little tea party before we took the nauseating ride back down to the campus for dinner. 

Tea party!

The food on campus is very good. Since most of us do not know the names of restaurants we just call them by the way they look, for example 'Blue Chairs' (named due to the chairs being blue...) has great food for very cheap. There is also a map that was given to us that has restaurants named 'Cheaper drinks' or 'Red bean cake!'

A couple days later we had our orientation for the I-House where we were able to meet with the staff and have all the students together for a meet and greet. This was a great thing to do because we all sat around for hours talking to one-another about where we are from and the question that is asked far too often, 'Why Taiwan?'

After that we had our schools orientation which was very long. It was nice to get acquainted to the area from them but I am more of a physical learner than a mental learner, so experiencing the campus would have been more beneficial for me. Either way, the day went by fast and we are all now officially NCCU students!

Lin Family Mansion Garden

Another trip we took was to the Lin Family Mansion. This mansion is a hidden treasure in Taipei. A historical place in Taipei city is normally hard to find but this place is amazing. It is located right in the heart of Taipei and you would never know it existed unless you were looking for it. The size doesn't seem to be as big as it really is. This mansion was built in the late 1700's and has a beautiful garden and really is a 'typical' home that one would think about when they think of Asia. The home is very open and has a beautiful pond. The thing that was most amazing to me was that I noticed towards the middle of our time inside that you cannot hear the city at all. I noticed how quiet and beautiful it really is to have a home like this in the middle of a loud city. 

One of the parts of the mansion

The sign said 'No Entry':
Me: 'I want to go in there'
Lawrence: 'Americans always want to go
where they are not allowed'

Cobra meat... for the low price of 300NT
There was more meat on the leaves than the snake

The same day we all took a stop to snake alley, this is a tourist trap just for the shock value of eating a snake. Historically, it used to have many snake shops to eat from but now it only has about three left. Many tourists come to drink snake blood or eat snake. We tried eating cobra, which was kind of a disappointment but still very fun. When people ask 'what does snake taste like?' my only reply is, I don't know because there is very little meat on a snake. The meat was very little and the price was very high (300 NT or about $10 USD), which doesn't seem like a ton of money, but here it really is a lot since a big meal can be purchased for about 120 NT. Either way, this spot is great to go to just due to the shock value of the situation. 

Top of Jiufen

The other day a French girl I met at the I-House, Sophie, and myself traveled to Jiufen. It is located in the far north east and was an old Japanese gold mining town. The town was the inspiration for the location for the film Spirited Away. This was a favorite movie of mine when I was a bit younger so I wanted to see exactly what the town looks like in real life. It was very rainy when we went, but Jiufen is normally very rainy and cold, as it is near the coast. There wasn't much similarity between the movie and the town but I did notice a few buildings that might be used in the movie that were in the town. This is a must see for anyone in Taiwan as it is very historical and beautiful, also very much a tourist destination (which is very rare, even in Taipei) due to the making of the movie.

Very famous road in Jiufen

Back to Senfoni Wine House
My buddy Atilla (the owner)
didn't show until later

Yesterday evening I met up with the old Homey Hostel friends to head back to our favorite (and probably only) wine bar in Taipei: Senfoni Wine House. This was such a fun time to reconnect with everyone and have some fun. The owner now knows me by name and thinks I am a local (but I have only been there two times total). I was just very observant and noticed that he changed his menu, got new business cards and got a new couch. Dana jokes with me that I am a strange man that I keep the Turkish man's business card; but why would he give me one if he didn't want me to keep it (haha).

Evenings in the I-House lately have been a lot of fun. There is never a dull night. Everyone is doing their own thing and there is always something to do. Some nights we head out to a club and have some drinks and socialize with other international students and the locals; some nights we will all gather and watch a movie in our common room; other nights we just all go down by the river and have some drinks and just talk. 

It is hard to put into words how happy I am in this place. My personality is one that I get very anxious to stay in one place too long. This getaway was perfect for my health and my need for travel. The people here are always welcoming and always willing to help in any situation. For example last night my cab driver was teaching me some Mandarin, despite his inability to speak English. This really didn't hold him back to explain different things to me. You learn the 'international language' fast if you cannot communicate using words. Either way, me and the driver did some language exchange, he would point to something and tell me the word in Mandarin and I would say it in English and then I would repeat it in Mandarin and him in English. It turned into that he taught me the words: left, right, straight, stop, red light, green light. I had to use them to direct him back to the I-House, it really was so nice of him to help me and it taught me to learn fast because if there was a red light I would have to tell him to stop. 

The Great Move

A couple days ago I had to say goodbye to the best hostel in the world and move to my school. As much as I am going to love my school here I will miss Homey Hostel. Up until this point my life in Taiwan has been much like a vacation, and who can complain with that. Honestly, I never want this vacation to end. When I got to the dorm I was first lost but after finding someone who could direct me to the International House (I-House) I came into a quiet place.

The dorm I am in (pictures will be posted soon), is a great size. There are two beds, a refrigerator, three closets, a bathroom with a shower, and a balcony. The first day was a very quiet one, I registered for classes and went to dinner with Hsien after he showed me around campus. I came back to my room to find a little infestation, ants (which isn't too surprising living near a mountain and out of the city)!

This made the first night interesting. I began just by killing the ants and then more and more cam. I had no clue where they were coming from. Eventually I get fed up and found there were too many so I went out and got bug spray. I sprayed my whole room and have not seen any since. Besides this, the dorm is very clean and so is the common area that has chairs, a sink, microwave, and a refrigerator.

The only problem right now is it is very quiet! There are about four people on my floor and I have yet to see them. The reason for this is that school does not start until the 20th of February.

The next day I got way too bored here, because there is still no one, so I went back to the city and went to what might be my last lantern festival of the Dragon Year.

Float at the Taipei Lantern Festival

This was so cool. Words can barely describe how cool this was. There were a ton of floats that were created and lite up Sun Yet-sen Memorial Park near Taipei 101. The lights just looked amazing. While walking along, JoJo and myself heard that there was a show that was going to happen. We headed up the memorial stairs and waited to see what it was. In the middle of a fountain was a huge dragon that looked like a float, but then it's lights turned off. All of the sudden fire sprang from the fountain and water shot in the air. The water sprayed about and created something like a screen. On this screen of water there was a light show that was projected onto it. The lights flashed about and a story was told about the dragon. This was something I don't think I will ever see again in my lifetime.

The dragon coming alive on the screen of water

That is an understatement

[Side note: Taiwan manufactures a lot of LED lights so there are lights everywhere. I have yet to go to Tokyo but for a small country there sure are a lot of LEDs, get ready for some cool light festivals]

The Year of the Dragon is Upon Us

The other day we had our fourth sunny day in the three weeks I have been here. It really sounds a lot worse than it really is, after a couple days of rain you barely notice it. This country truly is amazing and I couldn't be happier here, even with all the rain. 

The infamous, visible, damper that
'holds' the building up

On our second sunny day I woke up late, due to the long nights in Homey Hostel talking to people from around the world, and decided to travel to the second tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. This building is very unique (or I think so because I am a nerd). The building is the tallest green structure on the planet; everything is recycled, the lights are always on low until late in the evening, and they recycle everything. The building also has the only view-able 'damper.' A damper is a big ball that is held up by a lot of steel cords and pistons that make sure the building does not fall over if there is a strong wind or an earthquake.

When I got there it was in the mid-afternoon and I got my ticket and cued up. The wait was very short, about an hour. I got on the elevator and they began speaking in Mandarin for about twenty seconds, then started speaking in English; I didn't even hear the English because by the time they were done with the Chinese, we were at the top; I later found out that was the worlds fastest elevator I just went up. The top was absolutely beautiful. The city is not a big one, about half of Chicago, but very dense; it was amazing to see the density from above. After walking around a bit more I found that there is an outdoor viewing area. This was something I could not miss out on. After climbing up a stair cases I was able to look out from a roof; for being that high it was not too cold or windy. From here I began to see the sunset. I couldn't have picked a better time to go, I was able to watch the sunset behind the mountains of Taiwan; such a beautiful thing to see.

Beautiful sunset from Taipei 101

Me and my buddy Hsien

After this I had to rush over to meet with my 'buddy' from NCCU, Hsien, each student is given two buddies to help them get acquainted to the city and area. My suggestion would be (if possible) go early and get acquainted alone or with other travelers and use the buddy as a tool and a friend and you might get along a lot better. I met him across town at 台北國際藝術村 (The Taipei Artist Villiage). During this evening they had a lantern festival and live music. I was able to meet with his 'soul mate' who was really nice and we all had a really great time. Like I previously said, students are given two buddies, I have no clue who my other one is, neither does Hsien. That is how buddies can go, some are great some are not there. The area is a really great one and one to visit for sure. The town was abandoned a few years ago and was going to be torn down but some artists saw lots of history there so bought it and now have art studios all over it. Very cool place for music and art, quiet at night but great in the afternoon.

Have to wear the RedBird Shirt!

Following that day we had yet another day of sunshine! Such a change of pace. When we see sun here, we run outside. This day a group of us from the hostel decided to head to Chiang-kai Shek Memorial Hall. This was such a sight to see in the morning, as I had been there once at night. The memorial hall features a changing of the guard about every hour, very similar to the guard changing in Washington D.C. at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The main difference is this one is much longer and a lot more 'grandiose,' I use that lightly because it is a very famous ceremony and am not trying to belittle it at all. When the guards are all in place they must stand still. When I say still, I mean not move a muscle. Some people say that blinking is a natural thing, not for these soldiers. These soldiers cannot even blink or they will lose their jobs or get punished. After about ten minutes the soldiers begin to tear from not blinking. After this we just had a bit of fun before heading for a great Taiwanese meal, which they always are.

The guard beginning to cry from not blinking his eyes

Irene, Jo Jo, Kai, and myself having fun in the sun (Chiang-kai Shek Memorial behind us)

Travels in The Heart of Asia

Taiwan can be summed up in many ways. This culture is very diverse and the influence of Asia can be seen all around the country. 

A little blurry but I was on a plane about 18 hours
 (zero sleep in 24), give me a break!

Officially I have been in Taipei, Taiwan for a little less than three weeks and couldn't be happier with the decision I made. I decided to go to a country that I knew little-to-nothing about. My motive for coming here alone was to see if I could survive somewhere that I knew nothing about and still have fun. I have always loved traveling but was not sure if I could handle this step, but I think anyone can. 


When people ask me 'was there a culture shock?' or 'are you homesick?', the answer to both is yes but not very much on either question. The culture shock really has been the language, luckily I am staying at a great hostel (Homey Hostel) with some great owners who make my life so much more smooth and introduce me to many different people from Taiwan and all around the world. 


For anyone who is thinking about studying in a foreign country, they have to arrive at least a week before you can move near the school to get acquainted with the food, culture, and maybe pick up some language too. 

Calligraphy

Either way my last few weeks have been jam packed. We have just finished Chinese New Year last Monday, which was fun and a bit boring at times. One thing to know about Chinese New Year in Taiwan: everything is closed! Night markets are open but restaurants (minus Western fast food) are all closed most of the nine days. The good thing is that at the hostel we were able to have a hot pot on Chinese New Years Eve and celebrate our own international hot pot feast and learn how to do traditional Chinese Calligraphy. After our hot pot we got ready for the night, it is tradition that during Chinese New Years Eve you have to stay up all night to celebrate the defeat of the evil. We all went out to Spark 101, a very famous night club and just had a great time celebrating. Another night we were invited to one of the hostel owner's friends house to have another hot pot with a German family and some hostel go-ers. Here I had another Asian experience, dessert in Asia can be much different than in the West. We had some plum wine that the host had been making for almost a whole year.  

Happy New Year!

So windy at the top!

I was able to travel a little outside the city to a place called Yehliu (野柳) with a very nice Korean girl  which in the north coast of Taiwan and is a geo-park. Sandstone here has been eroding into amazing rock structures. Some of the rocks have been eroded into some really cool shapes, and the most famous looking like a queen (appropriately named 'The Queen's Head.' The one downside was the amount of rain that we were in during our trip there. Taiwan rains, rains a lot (maybe 3 days straight a weeks); normally just a light rain but sometimes it comes down pretty good.

Mahjong after dinner
(not with money this time)

I also got the opportunity to hang out a few times with my 'pen-pal' Jack. I met Jack through my dad who works with Jack's uncle. He is about my age so it is perfect. We first took a trip with his friend Michael to the most famous dumpling restaurants in Taipei. The next time I met his family for a traditional Chinese New Year dinner, normally consists of about five dishes. This meal was so good and I learned a ton from his father (who even gave me a red envelope!) and really made me feel at home. We finished our night by playing Mahjong, which is difficult to begin learning but when I got the hang of it I had a lot of fun. Then this evening we went out again with Michael to the National Palace Museum. This holds a ton of different art from China, particularly during the Qing dynasty but some that date extremely far back, some of the oldest artifacts I have ever seen in person. 

Our lantern inflating!

My other major trip was to Pingxi (平溪區) for the infamous Lantern Festival. Here we took a taxi up into one of the one hundred mountains in Taiwan to send off lanterns to the Gods for our new year's wishes. Unfortunately my wish was written in English and everyone was joking with those of us who wrote in English that the Gods cannot read English. Either way this trip was a lot of fun, a full day long and really shows the countryside of Taiwan. The town is built near an old mining town that you take bamboo and write a wish on it the stick and hang it somewhere around the town. There are hundreds of bamboo sticks all around this town, really makes the ambiance very cool. 


A Canadian friend and I did travel to Longshan Temple, which is near the hostel to see all those praying during the New Years. This was a great taste of the culture because the temple is very beautifully decorated and there were many people praying and leaving offerings for the Gods. This is not the first temple I have been into but by far the largest. I don't know much about the Buddhist religion/philosophy but Jack's family is Buddhist and said they would teach me about it. 

Near the wild dog area, very cool grave yard
though. The graves are build all over this
mountain. Christain, Tao, Buddhist, and
Muslim were the ones I saw.

The other day I did have my first frightening experience and it had to do with a four legged friend. There are many wild dogs outside of Taipei and in the countryside. While hiking one day I was on a path and came to a grave yard. The path led me through the grave yard, which was pretty cool to see except for one thing I saw a wild dog. The dog was asleep luckily, but as I was walking by the dog awoke, and under the one dog was another two dogs. I saw them smelling the trail I walked through. This scared me a lot because these dogs are known to be very vicious. Luckily I did the wrong thing and hopped up a hill and got away. Later on I was walking up another hill and came to a small town, maybe two or three homes on this hill. I saw a small dog on a roof that began barking at me, I didn't think anything of it until a huge dog came out from the side of the home and started to walk towards me. I did the stupid move again of attempting to turn around and walk away (this makes dogs think you are going to attack just have your guard down), so the dog began to run at me. Another stupid idea came into my head: run away. That is a problem when you are on a mountain, there are very few places to run to. Luckily I made it a couple hundred feet and jumped off a ledge that led into another grave yard. The dog was feet above me barking and going crazy. After a couple scooters driving by I waited and heard a man walking down the hill, that was my chance to get away, which I did and am alive to tell people: 1. Don't turn your back to a wild dog, stay still and even if it comes up to you it will only smell you and walk away, and 2. Don't run from a wild dog, you will lose, I almost did. But besides that, there was a 'squater's' home up there. Someone was living in the grave yard. I was told that some people decide to pack up and move away from the city because they don't want to be surrounded by people, others are just impoverished (but there are few of both). Either way I was scared a few times on the hike but it is all an adventure and a learning experience, nothing you could read in a book.

As far as the food goes: well coming here I thought I would lose a lot of weight, this food is too good. I have to watch what I eat here more than I do at home. The food is so cheap and it is way to easy to eat a lot. Everything is new when it comes to the food though. It never hurts to try something new, so I make an effort to do that every day; whether it be baby squid or all the variations of tofu that Taiwan has to offer (minus chòu dòufu [stinky tofu], I have not had the courage to try that yet). My favorite food so far is a type of cake that is molded into animal shapes. The cake batter is like a waffle or pancake batter, but they are too good and my guilty pleasure. So to end this long blog, I will leave you with some of the food I have been eating!

Homemade dumplings, made by
everyone at a dumpling making party!

Fresh Taiwanese seafood, right
from the ocean!

           

Beef noodle in Pingxi

Best chicken soup ever!

Green onion wrapped in dough (so good!)

The waffle pancake things!

A little taste of home, a great Turkish
 man who owns a wine bar treated us
 to pizza, cheese and crackers