First Few Days in Taipei
This is a picture of the NUMEROUS face masks that everyone likes to wear to avoid swine flu from people like me.
Finally, internet! I'm sitting in my new dorm room with my 3 roommates, and finally have internet after 3 days without. I have to catch everyone up! One of the first things we did was celebrate Mother's Day. Here's a picture of my host mom (left with highlighted hair), her sister-in-law, and her mother-in-law.
After the vegetarian lunch (mother-in-law is vegetarian because of her Buddhist beliefs), we went to Taipei 101. For those of you who don't know, Taipei 101 is the world's tallest or 2nd tallest building in the world. There are 101 floors!
Here's a picture from up top, on the 89th floor.
Here's a picture with one of Taipei 101's mascots...I didn't understand it either.
The next day we did more tourist things. First, we went to Chang Kai Shek's memorial hall. In 1949, Chang Kai Shek came to Taiwan and started Taiwan as we know it. On mainland China, this begins Mao Zhedong's reign.
Next, we went to one of Taiwan's most famous Buddhist temples. People would light 5-6 incense sticks and carry them around praying to various gods and goddesses. Each one represented something different. One goddess helped you bear children and look after them. Another one helped you during exams, so on and so forth. You would also toss your incense into certain 'cauldrons' in some kind of order that I didn't understand. There was a path that you followed in the temple, something else that I couldn't quite grasp.
My impression of Taiwan has been really positive. My Chinese has improved a lot, at least the speech has--not so much the reading or writing. I've eaten all sorts of cheap and delicious foods (even an attempt at an American hamburger). I've been told that I'm unusually tall, dark and handsome--I've been compared to their most famous singer. Apparently, Wang Li Hong is an artist that is also an ABC (American Born Chinese) that went to Taiwan and started a singing career. It's weird to think of tan as a negative, but in Taiwan and most of Asia the darker the skin the uglier! As for me, I'm definitely tan. We'll see how that plays out. I look forward to meeting with the Dean tomorrow to discuss the rest of my stay in Taiwan!
Keep up to date!
Finally, internet! I'm sitting in my new dorm room with my 3 roommates, and finally have internet after 3 days without. I have to catch everyone up! One of the first things we did was celebrate Mother's Day. Here's a picture of my host mom (left with highlighted hair), her sister-in-law, and her mother-in-law.
After the vegetarian lunch (mother-in-law is vegetarian because of her Buddhist beliefs), we went to Taipei 101. For those of you who don't know, Taipei 101 is the world's tallest or 2nd tallest building in the world. There are 101 floors!
Here's a picture from up top, on the 89th floor.
Here's a picture with one of Taipei 101's mascots...I didn't understand it either.
The next day we did more tourist things. First, we went to Chang Kai Shek's memorial hall. In 1949, Chang Kai Shek came to Taiwan and started Taiwan as we know it. On mainland China, this begins Mao Zhedong's reign.
Next, we went to one of Taiwan's most famous Buddhist temples. People would light 5-6 incense sticks and carry them around praying to various gods and goddesses. Each one represented something different. One goddess helped you bear children and look after them. Another one helped you during exams, so on and so forth. You would also toss your incense into certain 'cauldrons' in some kind of order that I didn't understand. There was a path that you followed in the temple, something else that I couldn't quite grasp.
My impression of Taiwan has been really positive. My Chinese has improved a lot, at least the speech has--not so much the reading or writing. I've eaten all sorts of cheap and delicious foods (even an attempt at an American hamburger). I've been told that I'm unusually tall, dark and handsome--I've been compared to their most famous singer. Apparently, Wang Li Hong is an artist that is also an ABC (American Born Chinese) that went to Taiwan and started a singing career. It's weird to think of tan as a negative, but in Taiwan and most of Asia the darker the skin the uglier! As for me, I'm definitely tan. We'll see how that plays out. I look forward to meeting with the Dean tomorrow to discuss the rest of my stay in Taiwan!
Keep up to date!
It looks like you're having a good time! Miss you ABC.
start carrying a parasol to stay "light"! hahaha